DENOMINATIONAL FRATERNITY.--From High Point, N. C., we have the following:
One of the great hindrances to the evangelization of the colored
people in the South is the constant flaunting of denominational
banners by ignorant and unprincipled preachers. But I am happy to
say, that at our special services on Lincoln Memorial Day, this
spirit of evil was buried in High Point, at least for one day. It
was pleasant to see Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists
working harmoniously together to make the occasion successful. One
brother and wife gave us 45 cents, and the pastor of the Baptist
Church, after speaking a word in behalf of the American Missionary
Association came forward and deposited a quarter on the table, at
the same time urging his members to give liberally to help it
overcome its great burden of debt. I am pleased also to note the
self-denial of two faithful members, a mother and daughter of our
own church, who out of their poverty gave 50 cents each. Both of
these good women are out in service, and although their earnings
are very small, they never give less than 25 cents each whenever
special efforts are made to raise money for the support of the
work.
GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCES OF THE PAST.--Rev. James Brown, of Anniston, Ala.,
recalls some memories of the past:
When we met as a church on October 22, to pray for the success of
the American Missionary Association, it was touching to hear the
testimony of people from thirty-five to fifty years of age as to
the self-sacrificing spirit of the missionaries of the American
Missionary Association, as they came from Talladega to this
section more than twenty-five years ago. Some told how the
missionaries had to hide from place to place to keep out of the
reach of the Ku Klux, the speakers being almost eye-witnesses to
the murder of Mr. Luke, a few miles from this place. If some of
our Northern friends could have heard the words of gratitude for
the work of the American Missionary Association, and seen the
tears of joy over what has been accomplished, they would know that
their labors and gifts had not been in vain.
LIBERAL GIVING FROM A SMALL INCOME.--Rev. A. L. DeMond, of Lowell, N. C.,
writes:
The people have had a heavy burden upon them during the hard times
of these winter months when there is so little for them to do in
the way of earning money. Of their little means they give freely
and gladly. Many of them are paid for their work in provisions at
the stores so that they do not receive much money. One poor woman
said to me: "I can always give a little something because I get
_forty cents every week_ for my washing." She lives in a little
log cabin, through the sides of which the wind often whistles, but
every Sunday she gives something for the church of Christ.
A POOR WOMAN’S FINE FEELING.--One day last year our laundress sent her
oldest boy, a lad fourteen years of age, on an errand. He was gone an hour
or more longer than she expected him to be. Upon his return she asked him
what he had been doing all that time. He told her that an expressman had
been run away with, and had been quite badly hurt. He had helped get the
man into a store, had gone for a doctor, and had done all that he could
for him. When he left him the man told him to go to his office the next
day and he would give him something. The boy’s mother at once said that he
mustn’t think of taking anything for what he had done for the man when he
was in trouble.
Who can say that the colored people are incapable of fine feeling? This
poor woman was certainly not so well provided with this world’s goods that
she had no use for money. On the contrary, she was a widow, with a family
of five children that she had kept together and had sent to school at the
cost of much sacrifice and years of hard work at the washtub.