THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.
BY SUPERINTENDENT ROY.
The dedication of Christ’s Church of Wilmington, and the building of the Teachers’ Home and the rebuilding of the school-house were duly noted in the American Missionary, as the plant of that seedsman Mr. J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass. The picture of the same three buildings has also adorned our magazine. Now comes the Conference of the State to inspect the working of this machinery, to test the quality of its products and its capacity.
Arriving one day ahead of the opening, we take a leisurely visit through the several departments of the school, and find it reconstructed after the most approved style of the Grammar School. We find it presided over by six accomplished lady teachers, Misses Chandler, Warner, Fitts, Jewett and Bishop, and Mrs. Steere, who has charge of the musical department. We find it numbering 220 pupils; we find custom work done; we find the temperance text-books proposed by the A. M. A. introduced, as in all its schools of the South, and working wonders in laying the foundations for a temperance-loving generation. We test the capacity of the Home and find it elastic enough to take in sixteen guests beyond the fifteen of the regular family; we find it a marvel of convenience and taste and economy. We find the church edifice a gem of beauty, with its noble bell, which does double duty in serving the church and the school; and we find the saving of several thousand dollars of expense and the superior quality of workmanship due to the personal supervision of Rev. D. D. Dodge, the pastor, who selected the material and had the jobs done by the day. We hear of a Sister of Charity, who says that the only thing in Wilmington she covets is this group of buildings. We hear of citizens pronouncing it an ornament to the city. We hear of leading pastors in the city saying that it is doing the best work in Wilmington for the colored people. We find that the entire work on the three buildings was done by colored mechanics, except one master mason on the brick work and a dozen days of bricklaying.
And so the Conference finds itself in situ. The opening sermon is preached by Rev. A. Connet. The moderator of the last year is re-elected for this year, Rev. G. S. Smith, of Raleigh, a graduate of Atlanta, a member of the Executive Committee of the State Temperance organization. Rev. A. Connet is made registrar in the place of Rev. D. Peebles, who has left us to go and look after the other “twin relic” in Utah. When we were organizing this body at Raleigh, with five churches, I asked Dr. Tupper, the President of the Shaw (Baptist) University there, how many churches they had in the State. He answered, five hundred, “but never mind,” said he, “I can see that in twenty-five years you will have a great church work as the result of your school process.” So to the five we this year add two, those at Troy and Pekin, with two more coming on. While we are here, a Council, called in the regular way, ordains as the pastor of those two churches Mr. W. H. Ellis, a graduate of Williams. The sermon was preached by Supt. Roy; the prayer of ordination offered by Rev. J. P. Les Strade; the charge delivered by Rev. G. S. Smith and the right hand presented by Rev. Islay Walden. The two educated colored young ladies who teach school in those two churches are present to report their work, thus showing how by our plan the school and church work go hand in hand. Every church is represented, and so is every one of the seven schools of the State. As the churches must have their narrative of the state of religion, so the schools must have their report of operations, with discussion as to measures and principles.
An evening is given to the subject of temperance, especially to the business of reconstructing, reorganizing and resupplying the temperance army after its recent defeat in the State, and preparatory to the next intended assault upon the devil’s stronghold. The process of recruiting was beautifully illustrated when Miss Jewitt, with her class and a blackboard before the great assembly, brought up the enthusiasm as they represented the deadly poison of alcohol, how it is made, what its effects upon the physical system, upon the mental and moral nature. The topics of infant baptism, family training, Sunday-school management, were duly handled. In the local Sunday-school of two hundred scholars, the Conference appeared to pay its addresses, and offered the same courtesy to the day-school. Some of the city pulpits were supplied. The whole was an occasion of stimulus and of encouragement. Slowly but steadily our work is advancing in the old North State. Our two lady missionaries for the State, Miss Farrington, supported by the ladies of Maine, to labor in connection with this mission in Wilmington, and Miss E. P. Hayes, sustained by the W. H. M. A., of Boston, laboring at Raleigh, where she had taught many years, were present to report their work and to add to the inspiration of the occasion. It is said that there are not many models of patents in the Patent Office in Washington furnished by women; but these women show a wonderful ingenuity in devising ways and means for doing the people good, and reveal a vast amount of good accomplished.