Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-23
coNvEKr,Ne THE SAILORS.

CONVERTING THE SAILORS.
Work oftbe Savannah Port sOciety-Re-
port of the President and Chaplain
More Funds Needed for its support
The Danger of the Sea Portrayed BY i
DIR. Bowman.
The forty-secOnd Anniversary of the /
Savannah Port Society was celebrated at /
the Evangelical Lutheran church last /
uight. A large number Of persons was /
present and deep interest IN the work /
Of the society was manifested. Rev. W. |
:. Bowman preached the annual sermon !
and the opening prayer was made oy
Rev. j. E. L. Holmes of the Baptist
church.
After the opening services, which con-
sisted OF music. prayer and reading from
the scripture, Mr.. r. B. Reppard, Presi.
dent of the society, read his report which
is as follows,
THE PRESIDENTS REPORT.
Anotheryear has passed, and as is our custom
we meet to give an account OF our steward
ship. What have we accomplished as So
ciety ami what are the prospects for the iu
tures We find ourselves at the close OF tne
year with our chapel free OF debt and S4,OOO OF
Savannah city bonds invested. But what OF
the work. Our chaplain has been faithful 10
the discharge of his duties, full OF labors toll
OVERLOOKING. Have we as members
OF the society performed our whole
duty2 Wherein have we come shOrt2
How can We improve the coming year.
Let Us as members Of the society resolve to do
our utmost TO advance the cause, which is
worthy OF our best endeavors. Your aid Is
| needed TO secure new members. Nothing has
been done the past year towards this. BY
death, resignation and removals our
membership has been very much reduced.
Can not each member secure a new one and
hand the names to the treasurer
THE CHAPLAJN's WORK.
The Chaplain. Rev. Richard Webb, then
made his report as follows:
Through the merciful providence Of our
Heavenly Father l take pleasure in present.
| ing my sixteenth annual report. have tried
to visit every vessel arriving IN this port. and
some of them many times over; on all Oc-
| cssiOns leaving the crew reading matter IN
| their own language. frequently, as oppor-
| pOrtunity offered, preaching TO them the Cos
| pei. / do not know how much good has been
! accomplished, but the day of the Lord will re-
| veal il. have sOwed beside all waters, knowing
| that though Paul may plant and ApOllos
| water, God alone can give the increase.
/ have found IL impossible to get more than or
| 10 sailors on an average at the Bethel at anv
/ OF ms services. with from 10 TO 20 citizens. At
/ least three-fOurths of the seamen coming to
4 this port are nOn-EDglish speaking. The
/ proper person for chaplain IN this port would
/ be man who could speak in the Scandlna-
| Wan tongue and English; he could get good
| congregation Of NOrwegians and Swedes every
| Sabbath morning; and English speaking at
| night. I have made loss visits to vessels OF
/ Ii sizes living the flags of II different nations
! and have distributed among them 35,6'b
| pages Of tracts in u different tongues
have also distributed, exclusive
| in English. zoe numbers Of the sail
! Or's Magazine" ZOOS OF the "Sesman's
| Friend and Life Boat" and 2,SOS interesting
/ religious papers. Of nOn-sectarlan charac-
/ ter, and ll6 Bibles and Testaments. have
| preached l3l sermons, and made frequent
| visits to the hospitals and attended many fu-
| am still Offering from an accident. aud
/ find myself hardly able to do my accustomed
/ amount Of visiting, but by the grace OF Sod,
1 VIII do the best can as long as am IN your
| employ
Mrs. Webb, assisted by few lady friends.
I has kept up a sabbath school OF 80 scholars an
the year, 10 whom they gave picnic IN the
/ spri1g. and a reception. with rewards accord
! Ing to merit, and other presents at Christmas.
MRS. wEBB's SUNDAY SCHOOL.
At the conclusion OF his report Mr..
Webb presented Mrs. Webb's report re-
/ garding her work. She reports a consid-
| cradle increase Of scholars since the first
Of the wear. so that they now number fifty;
also, that she is greatly gratitied by re-
| ceiving additional help in teaching, and
| desires to return her heartfelt thanks to
her cO-laborers for their faithful services
/ during the past year.
SAVANNAH AND THE SEA.
After making his report Mr.. Webb said
| that Savannah owes much of her wealth
| to the sea. While there is not much
! shipping owned here, yet the cOastlng
| vessels are of the very best and every ship
| that carries away cotton from here leaves
| from 81, 600 to $4,000. fOut OF gratitude If
for no other reason, he thought Savannah
| ought to do all in her power for the sea-
| men. He said he was crippled in his
/ work for want of funds TO buy tracts and
other reading matter, and that Savannah
I L.. 4 rvaf hn 0rL-
FUNDS IN THE TREASURY.
Nj. J. ". Burroughs next presented
/ his report 1t showed total receipts, in
Guiding a balance of $lS7 40 from last
! wear. amounting to $j51 &C.; total eXpen-
diIure amounting to 1865 SO. leaving a
I balance of $1S5 IS.
THE ANNUAL SERMON.
DIR. Bowman then delivered the annual
| sermon. Speaking of the impression the
| sea made upon Solomon, he said that In
the laJter's time people only vent to sea
for business, Dut no" that suc1
! wonderful improvements have been
| made in navigation thousands 90
| 10 sea for pleasure. The immensely
1 Of the sea is appalling. 1t contains
l145, 100000 square miles, Two ana a
half million billions 0f cuoIC af0s ana 0Oo
| parts Of the entire earth is sea. Its depth
| IS generally about three miles, but recent
| explorations have discovered places much
deeper.
| The speaker then portrayed the danger
/ Of navigating the sea. and described the
power of the waves. The heart OF all, ne
| said, should 90 out to those who are con-
! stantIv surrounded by its dangers. There
! is an adage. if YOU would learn to pray,
/ 20 to sea; but il is better that those who
| 20 TO sea should first learn to pray.
! Those who spend their life at sea are
away from home influence. Their toll,
| exposure aud associations have demon
| alizing effect. They are IN danger OF a
! hell OF seething waters in this world, ana
| A hell Of seething tire in the next. when
/ they come ashore in the beautiful city
| Of Savannah, hundred cOlOTed
| lights, the nymphs of the pave and the al
| lurements of the gambler tempt them,
and to meet them there is but one man,
| Rev. Richard Webb, Chaplain OF the
| Seamen's Bethel. Ore man for life,
dozen for death; one voice for good,
| chorus for evil.
! At the conclusion Of the sermon col
| lection was taken up for the benefit OF
! the society.
OFFICERS ELECTED.
| After the congregation had been dis
/ missed the members of the society held
/ their annual business meeting. The iOl-
| lowing officers were elected for the en-
| suing year:
Presldent-R B. Reppard.
First Vice President. l. Stoddard.
| Second Vice President-JOseph ID.
/ Weed.
! Treasurer. W. Burroughs.
| Managers-R. b. Reppard, Joseph ID.
! Weed, J. +. Wheaton, ). p. Hamilton, }.
/ l. StOddard, c. II. DOrsett, David Wells,
/ j. G. Rowland, Z. l.. Neidlinger.
THE RECENT CHARGES OF FRAUD.
/ What Postmaster Brown, of Macon, Says
bout the Matter.
/ II W u,v,-,, pos4uastar of Macon