NEWS FROM THE CHURCHES.
Marion, Ala.—“We had an interesting day, yesterday, in our church. It was Communion. Four girls from twelve to sixteen years old, and one young man of twenty years, were received on profession. A Female Prayer-meeting has been commenced at the ‘Home,’ and promises well. The Teacher’s Meeting is also held in our parlor every Friday night. Our evening meetings are well attended. We enjoy singing the ‘Gospel Hymns.’ The people almost all sing, and are not afraid to hear their own voices. Last evening seven or eight of the brethren took part, and one woman felt constrained to say a few words. Perfect harmony and good-feeling seem to prevail in the church, and the prospects for the coming year are quite encouraging.”
Macon, Ga.—“Our church is greatly blessed in connection with the Week of Prayer. Daily meetings have been held for three weeks, and the interest continues good. Several conversions have cheered our hearts.”
We have been favored with a copy of the “Minutes of the South-western Georgia Teachers’ Association (colored), held at Howard Normal School, December 1, 1877.”
The graduates and students of Atlanta University seem to be the leading spirits in this Association. The exercises were very much like those of similar associations or conventions, though without the set speeches of old wheel-horses, which are of doubtful advantage.
That parliamentary gymnastics were not entirely ignored is evident from the following quotation: “It was moved that the roll be called, for the purpose of members paying their dues. Thereupon quite a discussion arose, when the previous question was called for; the previous question was seconded, but the main question was lost.”
The report says of the address of the President: “He very graphically described the field in which we are to do the work that is to be done, and how it is to be done. He said that he felt sure that ‘the Great Disburser of Human Events’ held something good in store for the Negro. Teachers, you are the salt of the race; lose not your savor, but keep pushing on in this grand cause of education, and the heights may yet be reached in our day.”
The Committee on the Educational Condition of South-western Georgia gives the reins to its tropical imagination for a moment, when it says: “We are exceedingly sorry to find our people in some places sleeping on Poverty’s bedstead, covered with the blanket of Ignorance.”
Their statement that, in the eight counties reported, the public-school fund pays only from thirty-three and one-third to eighty cents a month per pupil, and that for three months only, would seem to indicate that the public-school system of Georgia is not very expensive or uniform in its operation. But it is to be hoped that this little plant, so cautiously set by the poverty-stricken farmer, may have a steady growth into a large and symmetrical tree.
We are glad to note the enterprise of our colored friends in sustaining and directing for themselves this Howard Normal School, and in holding these educational meetings, and we recognize in it one of the cheering results of our work.