NOTE 11
(Chapter VII, page [191])
Similar to the work of Mr. Glennie and of Mr. Weston (after whom Weston Chapel was named) was that of Mr. Drayton.
The Rev. J. G. Drayton was both a clergyman and a planter, his plantation being the far-famed “Magnolia” in St. Andrew’s Parish, of which he was rector. Besides Magnolia chapel built by him, he ministered regularly for many years from about 1850, to two other chapels for the Negroes—Barker’s and Magwood’s, in the same parish. From a letter of a descendant of Mr. Drayton’s, these extracts are quoted rather freely:
“In looking back to them, I now realize how out of the ordinary these Services were; how beautiful the feeling existing between the priest and his people; how simple, sweet, and uplifting it all was—even to a little child—to sit there listening to his words, feeling that greater love through his love. The picture of him that I carry in my memory I wish that I might send to you. One cannot put an influence into words. His face during the prayers; the high, weird singing of the Negroes in the familiar hymns; the breath of the fresh spring woods as it brought the Easter message through the wide windows—all blend to make the memory. I remember, too, a ceremony that was always amusing. It was his habit before Service to distribute among the poorest of the congregation a contribution which, later, they placed, with the air of millionaires, in the alms basin. And then, after ‘Marse John’ had exhorted them to his and their satisfaction, there was a great crowding around his small phaeton. The drive home was frequently made lively, and precarious as well, because of the gifts of ‘frizzle fowls’ and ‘yard aigs.’ The roads were often bad and the eggs good, and one had to be careful.”
After the destruction of Sherman’s raid, being left very poor and the phæton destroyed, Mr. Drayton, though an old man, never faltered but used to walk some twelve or sixteen miles each Sunday to hold at least three Services in the houses of the parish. (The chapels were burned in the raid.)
NOTE 12
(Chapter VII, page [197])
Notable among the founders of schools and parishes was John W. Perry, who spent his life in Tarboro, N. C., as rector, founder of a parochial school, and missionary over a wide area. From his school went his gifted son, now Principal of St. Athanasius’, Brunswick, Ga. Another is the Rev. James S. Russell, D. D., founder of St. Paul’s School and many missions, and Archdeacon of Southern Virginia. Had it not been for St. Augustine’s, and St. Paul’s, the Church would be barren indeed of workers. Still another is the Rev. Hutchins C. Bishop, whose strong personality has quickened the life of the negro churches of New York, and helped to treble their growth. Others are the Rev. Henry S. McDuffy, long a worker in North Carolina, now a fine spiritual power, with Dr. Henry Phillips, in the life of Philadelphia; the Rev. Primus B. Alston, founder of the parish and school in Charlotte, N. C., the soldier of steadfast faith and loyalty; the Rev. Geo. F. Bragg, a church-builder in his first years in Virginia, and for thirty years rector of old St. James’, Baltimore, whose intense love for the Church has been contagious, and whose loyalty to his race has been an inspiration to them; the Rev. Geo. G. Middleton, who built his church and rectory in Natchez, Miss., for he was a carpenter and followed his Master in trade and calling; the Rev. William V. Tunnell, Warden and Professor in King Hall and rector of St. Phillips, Washington, an inspiring teacher in classroom and parish; the Rt. Rev. Henry B. Delaney, D. D., Dean of St. Augustine’s Raleigh, his Alma Mater, Archdeacon of negro work, and, since 1918, Suffragan Bishop of N. C., and acting in that office for all the Carolinas; the Rev. Dr. W. T. Hermitage who served nearly all his ministry in North Carolina, building churches and giving a son to the ministry.
Education was bringing about new class relationships within the negro race itself as well as between the Negroes and the Whites; and upon these men and their associates devolved the task of adjusting these relationships. Wisely, with Christian patience and grace and faith, have they accepted the call and met the difficult duties. Looking back upon these forty years, it must fill the student of the story with admiration for these sane, steady, Christian leaders. Reflecting upon the great difficulties which beset them, surely only the most profound sympathy must be felt.