The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-07-12
ON THE WING.

ON THE WING.
DARLINGTON C. H., S. c. July.
| On Sunday last had the pleasure of at
tending service in the Methodist church IN this
place. This being the time for the quarterly
meeting of the circuit, the Presiding Elder,
Rev. j. r. BOYD, preached. The life and
character of JOB formed the subject OF his very
interesting discourse. Warm as it was'
listened for one hour with unfagging atten-
tion, wondering all the while that the idea had
never struck me before Of considering JOB as
one of Us--a Southern man. DR.. b. drew q
striking analogy between the fate Of the man
of Uz and of our country, between his friends
and comforters and ours. By the latter l
presume he meant the Democratic party,
though he did not say so. May the parable.
hold good in the part for us yet to come, and
our latter end be more prosperous than we
were before the misfortune Of war overlook US.
The Methodist Church in Darlington is
large, commodious, and handsome structure,
presenting both within and without neat and
tidy appearance. They have an excellent
choir here, supported by mslodeon, which
was skilfully played by q lady formerly OF
Charleston. Of religious denominations the
Baptist, believe, takes the lead; being the
first established and the most numerous They
also have handsome church, but are at pres
ent without pastor; the Rev. Mr.. BEALEns
who for number of years had sustained that
relation to the congregation, having recently
accepted call from Norfolk, Va. The Rev. A.
J. SrAFFoRD,a a graduate Of Wofford College;
s. c., is the pastor of the Methodist Church;
and the venerable Rev. WM BREARLy has for
wears been the shepherd of the Presbyterian
flock at this place.
The colored people have two churches OF
their own, one Northern Methodist and one
Baptist. The black sheep appear to- have no
prediction for white shepherds. On the con-
trary they are decidedly homochromatic in
their tendencies, believing that colored
preacher only can fully appreciate the doubts
and perplexities that harrass the colored mind;
he alone can minister comfort to the troubled
colored soul. Owing to the foreign influences
that have been brought to bear upon the ne
groes, they have almost everywhere become
entirely alienated from their former pastors;
especially is this the case in the Methodist
Church. There are, however, two pretenders
to the vacant throne: Northern Methodism on
the one hand, and African Methodism on the
other, both of whom are industriously present
ing their several claims The former has the
advantage of superior organization, and an un-
limited command of men and means, counterbal-
anced, however, in great measure, by the
prejudice in favor of the color Of the African
M. E. Church It is fair, therefore, to as
sume that as soon as the students of the colored
Theological Seminary in Charleston (under the
AUSPICES of the white Northern Methodist
Church) shall go forth, the field that is black
for the. harvest will be almost exclusively
theirs.
There was good academy here formerly;
but the building was seized by the military as
public property on the occupation Of the vii
lage, and the teacher and school turned out of
doors. 1t has served as barracks ever since.
A large and handsome United States flag is
floating to the breeze in front of it on top of
tall liberty pole.
Like every visitor to his town, was struck
by its many large and handsome shade trees
Such oaks (water and willow oaks mostly,
believe), are rarely to be met with away from
| their native forrest. These trees are seen all
over the place, in the front yards of the private
residences, and on the public square. Some
of them, we were informed, had been trans
planted hither from their native seaside soil in
Christ Church Parish For the comfort OF
the Dryads which remained behind, we will
here state that the emigrants are in most
thriving and aourishing condition in the home
of their adoption. A few trees were destroyed
by the fire last year others have been planted
in their stead, in greater number and regularl-
ty, and in few years this square will present
one of the finest oak groves in the State
Darlington is the military centre of the East
ern subj District, and the headquarters of Capt.
| H. s. HAWKINS, Of the 9th U. s. Infantry The
garrison is composed of one company. The
men are said to be very orderly and under ex-
cellent discipline. Indeed l should have been
surprised to have heard any other report OF
| any part of the regiment commanded by Gen..
CL1rz Captain or Major HAWKINS Il forget
which is the correct title) is very much liked,
spoken Of among the citizens as high-toned
gentleman, and as Offering striking contrast
to some of the officers who preceded him.
The notorious Rev. WHITTEMoRE has his
headquarters here. did not learn his exact
position. But from all could gather, l came
to the conclusion that he sustains the triple
character of preacher, teacher and bureau
agent, and is ambitious, moreover, to engraft
fourth role-that of politician-upon his already
multifarious engagements l was told that he
is the superintendent of large and weli-gov-
erned school, taught by several Northern ladies.
Mr.. W. is active and energetic, and has given
proof of considerable talent for organization IN
the establishment of schools. That his effort
at religious propagandism have not been crown
ed with equal success is perhaps due, first, to
the fact that he is of the wrong color, as we
have already iutimated above; and perhaps still
more because his aim is not single, as is e1-