HON. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT.
In the death of Mr. Straight the American Missionary Association and the colored people of the South lose a firm and helpful friend. Mr. Straight passed away on February 21, 1896, in the 81st year of his age. When the Association in 1869 planted a school for the higher education of the Negroes in New Orleans, La., it found there a few persons of Northern birth, but who had long resided in that city, and were men of established character and of large influence, who took interest in the proposed institution and gave it their encouragement and support. Among these persons the Hon. Seymour Straight was most conspicuous for his deep interest in the project, for his useful service on the Board of Trustees and for his large gift at the outset--in view of all which the institution took his name.
Under Gen. Sheridan's laudable desire for good government in the[pg 132] city of New Orleans, Mr. Straight was made a member of the City Council. In 1868 he was appointed by the Chamber of Commerce as a member of a committee in regard to improvements in the cities of the State. In 1872 he was appointed a member of the International Penitentiary Congress, to assemble in London, Eng., which appointment, however, he was unable to accept. He received other marks of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens. In 1869, at the incorporation of the Straight University, he was appointed President of its Board of Trustees, which position he held till the time of his death. A good man has gone and his works do follow him.
MISS EVELYN E. STARR.
Our school at Greenwood, S. C., mourns the loss of one of its teachers, who, though she had been but a few months in connection with the school, had endeared herself to both teachers and pupils. Miss Evelyn E. Starr departed this life February 6, 1896. The principal of the school writes: "She came to the work with a sincere love for it, was intensely in earnest, and devoutly Christian."
Bureau of Woman's Work.
Miss D. E. Emerson, Secretary.