El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-10-15
SLAVE NOW A BISHOP.
Wesley J. Gaines. a preiate in
African Church. Talks of the
past. Present and Future Of the
Negro.

Past. Present ana Future OF inc
Negro.
Portland oregonian.
Wesley John Gaines, of Atlanta, Ca,
one of the nine bishops Of the African
Methodist Episcopal church, and one
OF the foremost prelates of his denom-
ination, arrived In Portland yesterday
morning to attend the sessions OF the
Puget sound conference OF his church.
which comprises the states of Oregon
and Washington. He will remain
here several days, and his programme
includes a sermon at Grace Methodist
church Sundsy morning.
Bishop Gaines Is a prominent figure
in the upbuildlng OF the African
church, and a man who, in respect to
stirring life incidents, has probably no
equal in modern church history. Born
q slave OF slave parents. a chattel OF
the great Georgia family of Toombs, he
early In life had a ''call" to the minis
try, inspired, perhaps by attentive list
ening TO the sermons of Bishop George
F. Pierce, of Georgia, then q powerful
exponent OF Methodism
That was when l was 9 years old
80 years ago." said the bishop yester-
day, In a reminiscent tone. 81 had no
education, and there was a law against
the teaching of slaves. L had q friend,
however, and through him l learned to
read aud TO write. He WAS white
boy, poor, but OF great heart, and he
loved me as brother. feared that
he would betray me II 1 told him l
wished to learn, and so 1 used to get
him to make the letters in the sand and
leave them there. When he went
away / would study them. When |
learned them, George showed me how
to write names, and In course of time |
learned to read and write. Nineteen
years ago." continue I'd the bishop, in a
tremulous voice, 81 met George in At
lants, broken in heart, broken In
health, broken in fortune. He had lost
his wife, bad lost his fortune and had
contracted consumption. He asked me
for dollar. Give the friend OF my
childhood, the teacher dear to my
heart 81! Twenty was too little for
him. But $50 was all could spare,
and that gave him. With that $50
piece he made $500 peddine apples that
winter. he is dead now; God bless his
ashes"
That is the story OF Bishop Gaines
early life. Soon after the civil war be
began preaching, and his swork in be-
half of his race was so successful that
in 1888 he was called TO the bishopric-
an horor he hardly dreamed Of in 1866
when he was performing the duties
of n country pastor at the magnificent
salary Of 80 a week, paid when collect
ed. In all his service he has striven
hard to better the condition, spiritual
ly aud temporarily, and he has accom-
plished much through his lectures on
the needs OF his race. That Is sub
ject upon which he always keeps
thoroughly informed and upon which
he 10 always prepared TO speak. Yes
"a rAa his attention CALLED N a N
article by Dunbar, the negro poet. in a
New York religious journal, in which
the poet held that the progress of the
colored people was retarded by the eff
forts OF the well-mesning whites TO
choose for them, occupations not exact
ly TO their liking.
~ have not read the article" said
the bishop, "hut have my own opinion
on the matter. | think the negro
should do Just what the white man has
done. The Jews have had as hard a
time as the negroes have ever had, and !
they have conquered. In their case |
industry was the quality that won So |
10 should be with US. III we aspire to |
greatness and influence, we must do as |
the Americans aud English have done |
depend on our own selves aud make |
our way up. Rome built her own great |
empire. English asked favors from no |
ODcs OUT puS0Su utFSclI 10 tue
America has striven for and risen to |
on earth. and the grandest OF them all.
The individual should follow the ex-
ample of the nations.
zone thing we should do is to forget /
the past. We should forget that We
we're ever slaves; forget the bnrdeus we
have borne, the woes we have suffered.
We should never look back. We
shou d look hopefully into the future
aud struggle for the best. / mean To
EAST no r. Election upon Mr.. Dunbar. / |
speak only from experience. / know
the South thoroughly, and in my
book, recently published, 1 tried TO
solve the negro problem, IL there be
,ue. l believe the whites should be
enient with the masses OF the colored.
The white men are thousands OF years
Ihead OF Us in the battle of life, 10 edu-
atiou, wealth aud moral character.
We have been held osck by Slavery
he curse of any, nation or any race.
rney had no such obstacle to impede
heir progress, but now must say that
q their prosperity they have not for
rotten their poor colOret bre-
hreu. They have helped Us in many
ssys, and all sections OF the country,
East and West, North aud South, are
.lways ready TO extend the hand TO
he negro.
IN reg ard to Mr.. Dunbsr's state
nent, 1t Is my opinion that the negro
> like the white mani he bring
is mind and heart 60 his work be will
ucceed. / remember back 10 lS66-7-S,
shsu | was pa'tor of a church with a
promised salary OF 50 a week aud board
There were then dozens OF negroes 10
he constitutional convention and the
drawing Sll day. They
ised to laugh at me and tell me to go
O some outside county aud get elected
% office. But l preferred to serve God.
md | continued nv work. Five years
ater one of those men pswned bis 500
,old watch to q So q week pastor. To-
lay none of them has any money
They spent their earnings in riotous
living. 4
There are hundreds OF instances to
,rove that q negro can succeed if he
will try. / know men, slaves before
he war, who are now wealthy. Only ,
short time ago one died, leaving S75,-
'00 In 1873 that man had only few
dollars. Ebert Head, another former
lave, had 100000. Strange to say,
ur old men are the ones who have
riches. Our young men do