I have thought for some time I would try to do less, and tell you more about it. But the things to be done are nearer at hand and more exacting.
The Sabbath before school opened I went into the country, eight miles from here. One of the students had been working there during the vacation, teaching day-school, without receiving enough to pay his board, carrying on a very successful S. S., and holding meetings. I believe twelve had shown a change of heart and life. Nearly one hundred people met in and around a log schoolhouse hardly large enough to hold half the number. Those outside, however, were about as favorably situated as those within, for the crevices between the logs were about as large as the logs themselves. A Congregational church, of six men and women, was organized. Three others expected to unite with them, but were kept away that day. Four or five more will unite soon, and we have reason to expect a vigorous church there. It is one of the best and largest neighborhoods in the region, and the people have already set to work upon a church building. The next Sabbath I was there again, and baptized six persons.
Last Sabbath I went up to Anniston, twenty-five miles away, where another student is in charge of the Congregational church. There have been twenty-one conversions in this church during the summer. I immersed nine, baptized nine by sprinkling, and received nineteen into the church. The little church building was crowded to its utmost capacity in the evening, hardly room enough being left upon the platform for the speaker. The church and parsonage adjoining, finished and painted with taste, clean and tidy inside and out, as well as the energetic and faithful pastor and his wife, and their earnest, quiet, decorous people, remind one of a New England village church. The contrast with most of the neighboring churches is very marked.
I go again next Sabbath to Childersburg, twenty miles south, to baptize and receive into that church quite a number of converts.
The school is unusually full this term, and the spirit of the pupils is marked by all of us.
A New Pastorate—“Pauses” in Prayer Meetings not yet Introduced.
REV. CHARLES NOBLE, MONTGOMERY.
I have seen all my people in their homes now, and some of them repeatedly, have had a crowded and very pleasant reception at the “Home,” and begin to feel as if I knew the ground. I see great reason for encouragement. We have 60 members on the ground whom I can find, and who seem to be quite as consistent as the average church members at the North. This, out of a list of 77, seems to me a pretty good showing. Half of the absentee list is accounted for by the former teachers who have not taken their letters, and students at Atlanta and Talladega. I have more reliable “prayer-meeting” members in proportion to our number than most pastors enjoy. “Pauses” in the prayer meeting have not yet been introduced. The majority of Christians who come to prayer-meeting at all seem to take it for granted that they must take an active part in carrying it forward; and the majority, male and female, do so with great acceptance. They are free from the “Shame-facedness” of Northern Christians about religious activity; and have not yet fallen into any routine ways. Of course they are generally ignorant; but I find their spiritual exercises very quickening and helpful to me. In this respect the work is very delightful. We sustain two prayer meetings every week, at the church Wednesday evening, and from house to house Monday evening; and I have begun a young people’s meeting Sunday evening half an hour before regular service, which opens with good promise. The Lord has given us one soul as a pledge of His readiness to bless. A bright, promising young girl has been seeking Christ for a long time, but has been hindered by the general superstitious notion that she must have a vision or tangible evidence of God having heard her prayers. She has finally been persuaded to trust God, and try to walk by faith, and has found peace in believing. So we can already set up our Ebenezer, and go forward.
Outside of the direct church work I am impressed with two things especially. First, that a good number of the people are making substantial progress in material things. They show a very healthy tendency to seek the outskirts of the city, and to obtain homes of their own. Montgomery is girdled all around with little cottages (not very fine, to be sure, but a vast improvement on the plantation cabins), which they have built on land bought with their savings since Emancipation. The Democratic Legislature a year ago took advantage of this fact, and, by drawing in the city limits, changed Montgomery from a Republican to a Democratic town, throwing out a thousand colored votes. This shows the extent of the movement.