St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-13
PLATFORM MEETING.
bishop Taylor, OF Africa, Shone in
Great Splendor.


AT the First NJ. E. church, last night.
was held what is styled a platform
meeting" 1t had been announced
through the press that Bishop Taylor,
OF Africa. Rev. Dir. Crawford and Rev.
DR.. Hard would be present. The two
latter failed for some reason oappear,
though the congregation had the pleas
ure of listening to Bishop Taylor.
The pastor, Rev. e. 3. Wilcox. apollo
giZed tor the absentees, and then intro
duced Bishop Taylor.
Bishop Taylor is a man of little
above the medium height, with a long,
white flowing beard. not unlike that of
the patriarchs of Abraham's time. The
speaker read a selection from Isaiah,
which ne briefly commented upon in an
easy style. with no attempts at orator.
ca flights, after which he spoke as fol-
lows:
Africa is the greatest wilderness IN
the world. 1t constitutes about ONE
fifth OF the terra firma of the globe. To
the north there are the Desert of Sahara
ana Egypt, which are lower than the
countries to the south. The general
topography Of the country is that of
oNitS oi OiOfoecu pidlSduS, IiSlHS lIOHf
7.OO0 to 5000 feet above the sea. Then
there are great mountains. from which
the rivers descend, which tend to pre-
cluae interior navigation. The con-
tlnent Is practically surrounded by
GORDON OF middle-claSS traders, who
Keep ouJ what commerce would other
Wise go there, and keep in that already
there. There are about 200 steamships
plying between Africa and Europe.
MOST OF the products constituting arti-
cieS OF commerce are transported Oh
the heads and shoulders of men," The
speaker then gave a listof the products
indigenous to the Dark Continent.
There are, "said BishopTaylor. ''butfew
paths TO the interior of Africa. This
rich continent supports, it is estimated,
2O0,Ge0.000 OF people. The natives have
been accused of laZineSS. As to this,
may say they work up to the full meas
ure OF their necessities. One thing is
certain. you will find fewer paupers in
Africa than in any country under the
sun. The work of the men consists in
smelling iron ore. which is converted
Into steel and iron, from which their
implements of agriculture and warfare
are made. Gold abounds, and the men
make this into Jewefry and ornaments.
The men also do the spinning and
weaving of the cotton. Their looms,
although unlike those of enr fore
fathers, do their work Oh the same prin-
ciple. You may think they learned
these ideas from outside nations,
but they did not. | think these
ideas came to them from Shem, Ham
or Japhtheth The men build the
houses and make the clearings, but the
women plant the farms. A lazy, idle
man is fined bullock or its equivalent.
Of course the men Go the fighting, and
there is no end OF it. The women man.
ufactu the pottery and the salt, and
are excellent cooks. Polygamy is prac-
tlced, and each man clears a farm of
about two acres every year for each one
OF his wives. l never saw more Splen-
did Spe clmenS of muScularity than the
African woman. l have frequently
seen all African woman with baby Oh
her back carrying a hundred weight
upon her head, and tri piping along cas-
lily and gracefully. These tribes HAYES
hospltabe habit of clearing farm Or
the use of strangers. This is placed In
charge of the great queen of the tribe.
A stranger need but report himself to
her. and the products OF this special
farm are his TO enjoy. They will even
cut and dry wood and tie in bundles for
the strangers fire. l found no such a
crime as theft i'll the interior. 1t is
capital offense. punishable by death or
reduction to slavery. Nearer the coast
the civilization of rum prevails, and
there thleyery is very common. Intel
iectually. think, the natives will COM
pare favorably with other peoples.
while physically they are not to be sur
passed. Spiritually, have found them
JFachable ana susceptible to good intiu-
enees. On the other hand, they are all
bound down by cruel superstitions.
The eyangeliZation of Africa is too
stupendous an undertaking for any one
man or generation of men. The
methods formerly applied in Africa,
which answered in Asia, are too narrow,
and do not bring results. Formerly
the Methodist Missionary society ex-
pended S37. 900 annually in Liberia, hop
ing to swing out and eyangeliZe the
continent. This did not work. At last
was turned loose in Africa. / opened
up series of conferences with chiefs
and got tracts of land for mission farms.
Industrial pursuits We're encouraged.
The nursery mission was a great aid
We adopt little heather before they.
become heathen. We educate them and
try TO convert them before they are six
years old-the proper time to do it in
any country. The Lord now has 10000
600 little black lambs bleating over the
dark mountains of Africa.
1.-The formative period for character
building is in the nursery. This is the
work of the mother, and glorious work
1t IS. If mother takes high official
positions and forsakeS the nursery, In
my opinion, she has left the greater and
nobler work for The lesser.''