“The music furnished by the graduates particularly attracted me,” said a lady teacher who heard it. “I have always contended that the negro had a passion for music of a certain rich and melodious kind, but could not appreciate its delicate shading, and could have no conception of it as a science. I am ready now to say I was mistaken. Though the music the other night was nothing extraordinary, I heard enough to convince me that its interpreters had a good idea of symphony, and could with proper training, rise to a high degree of excellence. The solo ‘I’ll Follow Thee’, was one of the sweetest things I ever heard in public or private. The voice of the young woman who sang it was pure and clear, every cadence soft and melodious, every note in perfect tune. It was a genuine revelation.”
“The whole entertainment was a revelation to me,” remarked an old planter. “I attended the exhibition out of pure curiosity, never dreaming that it would impress me as it has done. I have always scouted the idea of negro education, and I may say I have been its enemy. I am perfectly willing to give way now, however. But I have one lingering fear—that it will take a wrong direction and have a tendency to create an idle class and deplete the ranks of labor, farm labor especially. If those who have the training of the negro will keep this danger before them and guard against it, then the result of their labor will be good; but if they fail and allow their pupils to think labor is degrading; to think that man’s only province is to cultivate his mind, then the result will be deplorable. This I notice, however, has already been seen, and I cannot say I have any fears on that score from the Le Moyne Institute.”
Perhaps no subject has been more discussed than this since the exhibition last Monday night.
THE INDIANS.
CATHOLIC MISSIONS.—RECENT CHANGES.
REV. MYRON EELLS, S’KOKOMISH, W.T.
About 30 years ago a Catholic priest came here, taught the people, baptized some of them, made a few Indian priests, and left, so that for many years previous to the assignment of the Agency to the American Missionary Association they had received little religious instruction. Intermarriage with some of the tribes where the Catholics have had teachers has kept up remembrance of those early times. One Indian especially, who has been among the very worst, belongs to this class. Having failed to conquer the agent, he gave up, but when he returned seemed determined if he failed in one way to try another, and so began to revive the old Catholic religion, and he has held such services frequently for a number of years.