Part 3

“The meeting was in progress when we entered, many talking or standing ready for a chance to be heard, others jumping and clapping their hands. One man, who gesticulated fiercely and screamed hoarsely, exhorted the brethren and sisters to ‘look out for the devil—he’s after yer—he’ll run yer inter the briers, but yer mus’ put on yer shoes—he’ll knock yer down, but yer mus’ get up an’ run, an’ put on yer shoes.’ Finally, in his frenzy, we could distinguish nothing except, in broken utterances, ‘put on yer shoes! put on yer shoes! put on yer shoes!’ amid the shouts of laughter and cheers which urged him on, coming chiefly from the female portion of the audience. He at length sat down exhausted, when a woman rose in mid-air, with a wild scream, coming down head-foremost, while all around were others shouting or jumping up and down. This, with variations, continued amidst quavering, weird music, the big cape bonnets bobbing to and fro, keeping time. At length the minister, who seemed to prefer order, wished to close the meeting, when immediately the people began to disperse, he calling to them to keep their places until after the benediction should be given, but they paid no heed. Whereupon he proceeded to lecture them on this wise: ‘If I were at one of your houses and should take my hat and leave without saying good day, you would think it was a piece of very ill politeness,’—and more to the same effect; but the tide not being stayed, he called upon a fine-looking young man to pronounce the benediction, which he did with such an air of ease and grace as contrasted strangely with all the surroundings, and I turned away in silent wonder at him, as being one of such a crowd. I never felt so truly thankful for a better way that is opened to them, and that even a few are struggling to elevate themselves,—are found sitting ‘clothed and in their right mind,’ learning truth.

“For there _is_ a brighter side, and it is only by keeping in mind the motto, ‘_look_ on the _bright_ side’ that there is encouragement to make continued efforts for the uplifting of those who do not wish it for themselves. That there are noble exceptions we are glad and thankful. The little church planted here, as a branch from the true vine, though in number small, is noble in its strength of purpose, and the willingness of heart found in each member. So eager to learn, so thankful to be taught, it has been a pleasure to teach them as they have come to our night-school.”

At the closing session of our Sabbath-school, five young men made short addresses. Their words were hearty and stirring, and expressed a deep satisfaction with what they had gained in the school, as they looked back over the time they had attended, one of them adding modestly, “Not that I would have you think that I have learned so _much_ of the Bible, for I don’t know anything of any great account.” Ah! but what he has learned he has practiced so faithfully that he is a shining light to all who know him, and his words are eloquent with the power behind them of a consistent life. All of these young men are a power for good in the city. Two others, members of the church, are not in town, but we believe they are living true lives elsewhere.

I close by giving you the quaint words of two prayers, offered when the family was away, and jotted down by the one teacher who was left in charge. The excellent spirit shines through the strange clothing:

“O, Lord! please make us wise enough to see sin before we get to it, that we may shun it; and won’t you please cause people to fall out wi’ their ways and accept your ways.”

For the teachers gone North:

“Bless those who is absent; be with ’em and keep an eye on ’em, and bless ’em week in and week out; bless those who is afflicted and isn’t feeling well; help ’em to get out of the state which they is in; prop ’em up in strength and also in grace, and prepare ’em for the work they is calkerlated for. Teach us Thy way, and make us more wiser in reading Thy word. Help us to grow more steadfaster, more loviner, more sincerer, and more wiser.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA.

Brewer Normal School—The Year’s Work.

J.D. BACKENSTOSE, GREENWOOD.

This institution has just closed the best year of its history, and looks out upon the year to come more hopefully than ever before. The examinations on Tuesday and Wednesday were close, and eminently satisfactory to all present, and there was a good attendance.

The great day, July 4th, dawned. The morning was a little cloudy, the air was cool and delightful. A great crowd of people assembled at eleven o’clock in the morning, to hear orations from four of our former students: W. W. Frazier, R. J. Holloway, B. H. Wimms and L. C. Waller, who are now engaged in teaching. The young men acquitted themselves nobly, and all who were present speak highly of them.

The dinner given by the patrons and friends of the institution equalled anything of the kind ever given in this place. The table was loaded with everything that heart could wish for and that loving hands could provide. An exhibition, consisting of speeches, recitations and dialogues, interspersed with singing, took place in the evening. The house was filled to its utmost capacity, and it was with difficulty that the speakers could make their way to the stage. All present seemed delighted with the exercises.

Prizes were awarded to Miss Louise Griffin and Miss Maria Logan for being the best speakers.

Several of the white citizens of the place, including Rev. Mr. Smart, of the M. E. Church south, and Prof. Hodges, of the Male Academy of this place, were present at the exhibition, and expressed themselves as pleased with what they saw and heard. All the colored pastors of the place, with the exception of the African Methodist, were present during most of the exercises, and seemed delighted with the proficiency exhibited.

During the year the students’ rooms have been neatly furnished, and are now quite comfortable. The students have made gratifying progress in their studies, and we feel that a year’s advancement has been made. Twenty-six of our students are now engaged in teaching, and over eleven hundred pupils are under their care.

We have met with hindrances. We have been accused of prejudicing our students against their church, and of punishing them if they did not attend our Sunday-school; but, despite all this, our school has been unusually full, and our Sunday-school large and interesting. The students have all gone to their homes, or to some work, to make preparation for their return next fall.

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GEORGIA.

Atlanta University—Examinations and Commencement.

REPORT AND COMMENTS BY A GEORGIA EDITOR.

[_From the Macon Telegraph and Messenger._]

For several days the Board of Visitors, appointed by the Governor to the State University, have been diligently attending the recitations of the several classes of this colored seat of learning, and are greatly pleased with what they have seen.

The pupils are perfectly orderly, well behaved and respectful in their demeanor, and not a few are good scholars, and give satisfactory evidences of progress.

A large preponderance are of mixed blood, and several would pass for white anywhere. There is no perceptible difference, in the aptness to learn, between the mulatto and his coal-black associate. Perhaps the latter sticks closest to the text-book, and is less disposed to investigate. But this may be owing to his superior tractability and habits of obedience. Some of the best students, male and female, are full-blooded Africans.

They read Greek and Latin, demonstrated problems in mathematics, discoursed upon international law and the Constitution, recited history, geography and grammar, and, in short, pursued successfully the curriculum of our highest schools.

To the questions propounded by the Board, too, they usually gave sensible and intelligent replies, showing powers of thought and self-reliance not commonly attributed to our colored people. Indeed, while it would be wrong to say that the recitations were _perfect_, yet it can truly be affirmed that they were highly creditable, and compared well with the examinations of our white institutions. Again we repeat, the decorum and behavior of the entire body of students indicated a most marked improvement, as compared with former years, and was unexceptionable.

The teachers are inferior to none in the State for thoroughness, patience and skill in imparting knowledge. They possess the confidence of the pupils, and, under the wise administration of President Ware, everything moves like clockwork, and no serious outbreak has ever occurred.

The discipline is mild, but resolute and excellent. We could detect, after seven years’ operation, not a stain upon the spotless floors, and no pencil defacement or knife-marks upon walls or furniture, while, on the contrary, everything was in print throughout the building.

There are now in attendance upon the Atlanta University 244 students in its various classes and departments, as follows: Regular College Students—Seniors 4, Juniors 10, Sophomores 3, Freshmen 7; total 24. In the Scientific School there are 6 students; in the Preparatory Department, 37. In the High Normal School, 72. In the Normal School proper, 104, and one post-graduate student. These sum up 244 pupils, as above stated.

Thirty-seven Alumni have gone forth from the University, _thirty_ of whom are engaged in teaching, _four_ are ministers or pastors of churches, two are mothers of young families, and one has deceased. It is a noteworthy fact, also, that every graduate is a professor of religion.

The resources of the University are derived from the annual appropriation of $8,000 made by the State, the donations of the American Missionary Association, amounting in the past year to $1,615.28, and one permanent scholarship of $300. Board per month, including tuition, room, fuel, lights and washing, is only twelve dollars, hardly sufficient to cover bare expenses, and certainly not affording one cent of revenue.

The students are required to sign a pledge to abstain from the use of liquor and tobacco; they enjoy the advantages of an excellent miscellaneous library, which contains some illustrated volumes and standard works very rare, and of great value. It was for the most part the gift of the late R. R. Graves, Esq., of New York, and contains 5,000 volumes.

On Tuesday, His Excellency, General A. H. Colquitt, was pleased to spend the morning in attendance upon the examinations of the University, and expressed himself highly gratified with the progress made by the pupils. At the close of the day’s exercises, President Ware invited him to address the assembled school. The Governor responded, in one of his emphatic, eloquent, sensible and touching talks, which was listened to with breathless attention, and repeatedly elicited unbounded applause. His advice to the pupils was paternal and faithful, while as a Christian he did not fail to point out to them the value and supreme necessity of the salvation of their immortal souls. It was an address that reflected more credit upon our worthy and popular chief magistrate than the grandest oration pronounced before the most august assemblage in the land. After he had concluded, several members of the Board of Visitors were invited to make remarks. Among those who responded were Judge W. D. Harden and Rev. T. G. Pond.

The exercises of the University of Atlanta closed June 27th with the usual commencement programme, and the delivery of diplomas and certificates to fifteen graduates.

The Lloyd Street Church was probably as closely jammed and artistically packed as ever were the contents of a sardine box. There were no vacant spaces, no possible squeezing in of another auditor, no interstice, window or aisle opening that did not have two occupants where one only could be comfortably accommodated. As a rule, too, the colored assemblage was well dressed and orderly, barring the occasional plaintive wails and impassioned screams of sundry pickaninnies who their mothers would insist should have a place in the picture.

The writer, unavoidably detained by other duties, did not arrive upon the scene until the exercises were considerably advanced. Then came the tug of war to reach his associates on the stage. He charged two or three times, but was ignominiously repulsed and hurled back, like chaff before the wind. But the _bonhommie_ of those simple people was excellent, and tumbled and panting for breath, your correspondent at length reached the rostrum, and obtained a comfortable seat hard by.

It is sufficient to say that those it was our privilege to hear acquitted themselves with credit, and their enunciation and training as elocutionists evinced much care and skill on the part of the teachers of belles lettres in the University.

Some of the graduates, both male and female, are intelligent looking young people, and really exhibited powers of original thought in their essays and speeches that would have done no discredit to any institution in the country. Their manner and demeanor, too, was uniformly courteous and unexceptionable, and we confess to a very deep interest in their future welfare and career.

It is just as well that our people should at once fully grasp and comprehend the problem of the negro’s future. He is a citizen both of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Georgia, and possessed of equal rights and privileges with the most favored of the Anglo Saxon race. No law can be enacted which does not include and apply to him, and the freedman is now an essential and integral portion of the community. Hence, it should ever be the mission and duty of the superior race to treat him kindly, and to spare no pains to elevate this new element to its proper place in the body politic. They, equally with ourselves, help to make the law-givers and rulers of the country, and how can they act intelligently in the premises unless educated and duly qualified for the responsible trust, which, doubtless, was prematurely and unadvisedly _thrust_ upon them by the gift of the ballot.

We must deal with circumstances as we find them, and not look backward, but forward and upwards. The negro race is a fixture in the South and will never die out, either by emigration to Liberia or from natural causes. It is susceptible of great improvement, and can be made largely conducive to the welfare and prosperity of the country.

The exercises over, President Ware, after a short, but singularly appropriate address, delivered the diplomas and certificates of scholarship to the fifteen graduates, remarking, that as they were printed in English they would not be in the predicament of some bachelors of arts who could not translate their own Latin diplomas. Thus ended the examinations and commencement of the Atlanta University.

We cannot, in all candor, pass on without again commending this institution to the good will and sympathy of the white people of Georgia. It is conducted upon proper and conservative principles. Its president and corps of instructors are honest, faithful and capable. Its pupils well behaved and exemplary. Its influence, we fully believe, will be for good to the African race, and it is to be hoped that the State will ever continue to bestow her patronage upon a foundation which is doing more than any other to elevate and bless the African race, which is destined to form an important element in the future politics and government of the country.

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Lewis High School at Macon. Examinations and Entertainments.

MISS ANNETTE LYNCH.

It has been my happy privilege to visit this institution, after an absence of two years, and note the progress made by the pupils, as shown in the recent examinations and closing exercises of the school-year of 1878.

As a former teacher in the school, I was better able to judge of that progress than a stranger; and truly, looking back to those who were promising pupils then, but in lower classes, and seeing so many of them now in the highest class, and doing credit to themselves and teachers, is not only gratifying, but an encouragement to all who have taken an interest in the work here through all its vicissitudes. The school is now under the very able management of Rev. M. O. Harrington and wife, with Miss L. A. Abbott as assistant, and has ninety-three pupils enrolled. It is answering well the purpose of its establishment, viz.: To provide for colored pupils at Macon and surrounding places a higher education than the common-school, without the expense of going elsewhere.

The examinations on the 13th and 14th were listened to by a large number of the more intelligent of the colored patrons and friends of the school. Members of the press were also present, and showed themselves highly pleased. The pupils went through their examinations in all their various studies in a manner which showed they were perfectly familiar with all they had gone over in their text-books. All showed thoroughness and promptness, from the lowest to the highest class. Problems in algebra were demonstrated, axioms given, translations from Latin and English sentences analyzed and parsed, in a manner that did credit to teachers and scholars.

On the night of the 14th, a literary entertainment was given by the pupils, which included vocal and instrumental music, with essays, declamations, etc. Two allegories, “The Pilgrim’s Choice,” and “Light Hearts’ Pilgrimage,” deserve special notice, for not only the beautiful manner in which they were rendered, but for the life-lessons they taught, and the mental power developed by those who had so successfully learned their long and difficult parts. The essays, “Missed Lessons,” and “Little by Little,” and “No Excellence without Labor,” showed marked ability in the pupils, and a strong desire to aim high and persevere in their efforts to obtain greater advancement. The quartette singing was listened to with almost breathless attention; and, indeed, one could not help thinking that here was a band that, with proper training, might in time rival the famous Jubilee Singers. I am sure little Miss Kitchen, the youngest of the singers, would even now create a sensation in any audience; her fearlessly clear, high tones give promise of a “star” singer, could she have proper training.

Teachers and scholars deserve great credit for their efforts, and their merit is appreciated to that degree that they have been called upon to repeat the entertainment on the 17th.

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A Bright Day in Athens.

MR. JOHN MCINTOSH.

May 24th, the closing exercises of my school came off. Between the hours of nine and four o’clock, over two hundred persons gathered into the Knox’s Institute, to witness the closing exercises and a spelling-match between my school and another from a different section of the city. Prof. A. Brumby, of the Georgia University, and the Mayor of Athens, were present. These distinguished visitors remained some hours, and, on leaving, spoke very encouragingly to my pupils and patrons. They said that they noticed many indications of progress and thoroughness.

Prof. Brumby said he was perfectly astonished, and so were his pupils who came with him. He said good work was being done at the Knox’s Institute, and he hoped that this work would continue. The Mayor said many good things, among which were these words: “You are not only being taught lessons in books, but also lessons of virtue and morality.” He bade us go on. My school beat in the spelling-match, and this encouraged my pupils greatly. The Athenians are awake. I shall return the latter part of June to labor for three months under the free-school system.

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The Religious Work in Georgia.

REV. F. MARKHAM, SAVANNAH.

The religious work of the A. M. A. in Savannah and the vicinity has never been in as prosperous a condition since I have been here as at the present. The increase in the congregations and the membership has been greater than any previous year.

At Savannah, twenty-four have united with the church; fourteen children have been baptized. The Sabbath-school has more than doubled in numbers. Over two hundred scholars are enrolled; the average attendance is about one hundred and sixty.

Ogeechee Church, which is ten miles from Savannah, has received nineteen members. Brother McLean has the confidence and support of his people. He is doing a good work in the Sabbath-school. His wife is a good worker, and a great help, especially in the Sabbath-school. There are about fifty scholars in the school. They also teach a day-school and a night-school.

Plymouth Church, at Woodville, three miles west of Savannah, Rev. J. H. H. Sengstacke, pastor, has had an interesting work of grace in the Sabbath-school. Twenty-eight united with the church, mostly from the Sabbath-school, which has about seventy-five scholars. The day-school numbers now about fifty; in the winter it had a hundred; now the children have to work.

East Savannah is two-and-a-half miles from the city—a little village of colored people. A few whites are there, who live by selling liquor to the colored people. There are nearly three hundred children in that vicinity. The A. M. A., by the assistance of a Boston friend, built a little church there. J. H. Stephens, a student in my theological class, started a Sabbath-school, and preaches to the people. The children are very wild, though some have bright intellects, and can make useful men and women; but they are as uncultivated as the children in the centre of Africa. It is very hard to keep the attention of such children, and secure a regular attendance at school. Mrs. Markham and Hattie B. Markham and Mr. Floyd have been going out regularly every Sabbath to work in the East Savannah Sabbath-school. Sometimes they have had eighty or ninety scholars, then only forty or fifty; the average has been about sixty.

I can see a decided improvement in the conduct of the scholars. They come in and go out orderly, pay better attention, and begin to understand what a Sabbath-school is for; when they leave for home, they do not make such hideous noises, but go along the street more quietly. They have to be taught everything. There are thousands upon thousands of children in Georgia in the same condition. We hope soon to be able to organize a church at East Savannah, of twelve or fifteen members.

Belmont is four miles south-west from Savannah. The church here is supplied by Wilson Callen, a very faithful man of God. The church suffered here by a bad man, who preached for them, but was last year expelled from church. He claims to be a preacher still, and is doing what he can to draw the people away. The work is gradually improving, both in the church and Sabbath-school.

Louisville, two miles south-west of Savannah, has a church of about twenty-five, and a Sabbath-school of about the same number. Brother Callen supplies this work also, and is growing in the confidence of the people, and his school and congregation are increasing. We hope for a revival here.

Midway Church, in Liberty Co., is about thirty miles from Savannah; Rev. J. E. Smith, a graduate of Atlanta University, is pastor. This church is in a healthy and prosperous state. Since Rev. Floyd Snelson left here, to go to Africa, there have been added nine members. I hear many encouraging things about Brother Smith’s work there. There are now about two hundred and forty members. Here is a fine opportunity to do good. The most of the people are securing permanent homes. The colored people need to be taught to act and think for themselves, and feel responsibility.