The American Missionary — Volume 44, No. 05, May 1890 by Various
page 22 of 105 (20%)
page 22 of 105 (20%)
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membership almost this entire sum. Industrial classes are held regularly
in the same building, taught by the pastor's wife. A kindergarten, in which a large number of little children are regularly taught, is also a department of this missionary work. I noticed among the other children a bright little French boy in this kindergarten school. While waiting for a train in the depot at Washington, I noticed an old colored man very busy reading a book. Looking over his shoulder, I found that he was studying Barnes' Notes on Matthew! No white man was better employed than this. And this incident is typical of the desire of the colored people to learn, especially that which throws light upon God's word. Excitement ran high in Florida over the murder of United States Marshal Saunders. A Southern man on the street, not knowing that any Northern man was present, remarked to a friend as follows: "I would not give $250 to any man to shoot a United States Marshal, but I would give $500 to help defend any man that shot him." The colored people were agitated over this murder, for it hinted at the possibility of general outrage and murder, in which they would be sufferers. I heard in a colored church in St. Augustine the following prayer: "O Lord! overcome those who oppress us, not by sword and bayonet and blood, but by the power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." When the spirit that that prayer breathes becomes the spirit of the whole people of the South, black and white, the present desperate condition of things will come to an end. The Girl's Industrial School at Thomasville, Ga., is crowded with pupils. The dormitory accommodations provide room for only forty pupils, and forty-two are already there. One feature of the work in this school is especially worthy of mention; and that is, the thorough study of the |
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