NOTES IN THE SADDLE.
BY FIELD-SUPERINTENDENT C. J. RYDER.
“Men are four: He who knows not and knows not he knows not, he is a fool; shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not, he is simple; teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows, he is asleep; wake him. He who knows and knows he knows, he is wise; follow him.” So runs an old Arabic proverb. A sermon delivered by one of our A. M. A. pastors, before a class just graduating from one of our Southern institutions, proves that in educational matters this pastor was of the fourth class according to the Arabic classification. The text of the sermon was Philippians iii, 13-14, and the preacher spoke as follows, according to report in one of the local papers:
“There are important lessons in these words of the Apostle Paul for you. In finishing the course here you have only made a beginning. The real work and the prize are ahead. A foundation has been laid on which you must build, patiently, carefully, wisely. Healthy spiritual and intellectual life are characterized by progress. This is the touchstone, like a shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day. Education is the full development of the man, and we know that development is a gradual, almost imperceptible process. It is the leading out of the powers and capabilities which he may possess. You do not educate a man when you simply tell him what he did not know, but you do educate him when you make this knowledge imparted a part of himself, thus causing him to feel what he ought to feel—conscious power and manhood. Education which does not make a man more manly and independent, is a decided failure. It means growth. It is a man’s duty to grow. Remember, then, that you have not apprehended—for what you must apprehend or lay hold on, is Christian character and manhood in its highest sense.”
Such manly and discriminating counsel coming from a graduate to other graduates of his own race, proves that it is safe to appeal to the results in proof of the value of higher education among the colored people of the South.
Most refreshing news comes to us from a far-off church in Texas. “Last Sabbath,” writes the faithful pastor, “was a high day for the church here. Thirteen united with us, and many others were greatly revived. Meetings of intense interest are still being held, and many are coming forward for prayers and consecrating themselves to the Lord.” A revival in midsummer! What a surprising phenomenon in religious work at the North, but not so surprising for the South, for there most earnest Christian work is often done during the heated days of summer. The pastor who reports this encouraging work has charge of three churches, and travels every week some fifty miles by wagon in order to fill his appointments. He regrets his inability to visit all the stations in his field regularly at present, on account of the great interest at this one point and the imperative demands there are upon him for special services here. He begs the prayers of his brethren to whom he writes, and may I not ask, through these Notes, for the prayers of a much larger circle than those reached by his letter?
These Notes seem to be a scrap-bag, or a sort of patch-work quilt, made up of bits gathered from different letters. Let me add one more as illustrating two things: first, the extreme self-denial of many who are contributing to the work of the A. M. A., and also as illustrating the high appreciation of this self-sacrifice on the part of those who are doing the work in the field. A teacher whose economy in traveling expenses had been so marked as to call for commendation, writes: “It seems to me that we are in honor bound to be more prudent in the use of A. M. A. money than in the use of our own. Some of the money given for the work in the South comes from very humble people. I have heard of a poor woman in ——, who earned her living by washing and scrubbing, yet saved out of her scanty earnings a half cent a day for the A. M. A. It would be a shame to any one to spend such money carelessly.” There are noble heroism and self-denial on both sides of the line which divides the two classes of those engaged in the work of the A. M. A. When the new Acts of the Apostles is written, it will include in its records not only the Pauls and Peters who have gone out into this great Southern field, but also the Tabithas “who are full of good works and alms-deeds which they do” in their own homes.
“Where is the New South?” I repeat the question asked by the editor of this magazine last month. Report just reaches us that Rev. W. A. Sinclair, while traveling with his bride, has been violently and brutally put out of a first-class railway coach and forced into a “smoker,” although he held a first-class ticket which he bought of the regularly appointed agent of the road. I do not know the circumstances connected with this new outrage, but I do know Rev. Mr. Sinclair, and know him to be a quiet, unostentatious, unobtrusive Christian gentleman. There could have been no excuse for this outrage. The “New South,” evidently, is not on the railway trains in Georgia.