Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-19

duced more preachers than any other seven
towns of its size within our knowledge.
Not less than fifty preao hers have started
out from that section in the last twenty
five years; among the number are three
bishops. LomaS and Harris of Zion Church
and Beebe of the Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church. There is at least one
white preacher who takes pleasure in tell
ing that his father. who was also q preach
err, was converted through the labors o1
Father Evans the pioneer black preacher.
Episcopal Church South, whenever it meet
In Fayetteville. occupies some time in eulo-
gies of Father Evans, and the speakers
refer to him as the father of Methodism
in North Carolina.
''The church having opened the way for
the development of the black man, other
means have followed and still others will
follow. until his opportunities are equal
to those Of any other race, and his rights
and excellencies are acknowledged by all.
Possibly there may then he a union of all
who are of the same faith and order with
out race distinctions. The African Church
will then have accomplished its special
work-and not till then. Till then there
must be 10 faltering, no looking back to
the fieshpots Of Egypt; every branch Of
the African Church must use all the means
within its reach, TO the end that the race
may stand in the front ranks of civil and
religious liberty"
The morning celebration was closed with
the singing Of Zion" an original hymn,
written especially for the occasion.
Sketch of Bishop Hood.
Bishop j. w. Hood, the orator of the oc-
casion, was born in Chester county, Pa, in
1881. He was licensed to preach in 1856,
and the following year was received into
the quarterly conference of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church at New
Haven, Corn. He was ordained a deacon
in Boston, Mass. in September 1850, and a
fau dav lata 1a6 oil In ft.a
latter city he remained rntil 1862, when he
was Ordained az. elder. Later he moved to
Boston.
He organized the same year church
composed of eleven members, in Massa-
chusetts settlement of Hard-shell Baptists.
In 1863 he was stationed at Bridgeport,
Conn. After six months service in that
charge he was sent as missionary to
North Carolina. He had charge for three
years at New Berne two at Fayetteville
and three and half at Charlotte. In 1872
he was elected a bishop. He was a dele
gate to the ecumenical conference in Lon
don in 1881; also in Washington city in
1891, and was the first colored man who
presided over that body. He is the author
of book of sermons, which has been
adopted by the general conference a
standard work
The Afternoon Program.
At this afternoons meeting the Origin,
Progress ard Achievements of the A Nj. f..
Church as an Educator Of the Negro Race
During the One Hundred Years of Her
Existence" 1.-The Future of the A. NJ. E.
Zion Church." "Our Literature" and Our
Girls and Their Opportunities will be dis
cussed by some of the best speakers in the
conference.
The program for this evening comprises
addresses on the following topics: Our
Numerical. Intellectual and Religious
Strength How May We Best Secure the
Loyalty of Our Children 10 the Church"
Our Civil and Religious Liberty" 'Wo-
Development of Our Sunday School Work
and "Origin anG Development Of Our Mis-
sionary work.
Yesterday's Late Sessions.
After the close Of the report of the pro-
seedlings of the conference in yesterdays
Star, Bishop Small. who had also acted
during the year presiding elder of Phil
adelphia district, made a report. said to
have been the best ever made for the dis
trict. showing large advances along every
line of church work. The report also re-
ferred in feeling terms to the recent death
of Rev. Dr. Stitt of Philadelphia and Rev.
Mr. Docket of Harrisburg
Rev. DIR. Daniel, presiding elder of Balti-
more district, stated that while all. or
nearly all, the churches under his supervis-
Ion were prosperous that Of Galbraith
Chapel, Washington, Of which Rev. DIR.
Chambers was pastor, was especially
worthy of mention.
Requests for the reappointment of most
of the pastors were presented from the
churches, but in some instances new men
were asked for. There was no night ses-
sion of the conference, a recess being
taken from the adjournment yes terday af
ternoon until this morning. in order to give
the members and others an opportunity TO
hear Rev. J. H. Hector, 1.-The black knight"
as he is called, deliver lecture, en-
titled THE Devil Dressed in White" The
lecture was listened to with great interest
and the audience was kept in an almost
continual roar of laughter by the speaker
from the time he began until he closed his
address.