The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-27
THE NORTH
MUST HELP
Methodist Ministers Refer a
C0lOred Pastor.
MADE APPEAL FOR HELP
But as His Church is Affil ated With the
Northern Branch, It Was Deemed
Proper that 1t Should
Aid Him.
MADE APPEAL FOR HELP

With an equal degree OF politeness and
pcsltveness, the Methodist ministers Of
Richmond yesterday gave somewhat Of
tho cold shoulder to local colored bro
Their. when, In his search for contributions
and other assistance, they respectfully
referred to the Northern branch OF the
church.. with which no Is affiliated.
It must not be inferred that the preach
ers manifested any lack of sympathy for
the efforts of their co-laborer in the work
OF the ministry. The contrary is the case.
They were willing to encourage him at
every turn. II he needed any encourage
ment, SO far as that went. but they took
the stand that, to use the language of the
street, 1t was rot up to them to take
up the cudgels and set out actively for
the benefit OF a colored church that seeks
Its direction from another section of the
land and the denomination. Therefore, 1t
referred the request without more ado to
the parent body. and left 1t to this latter
to see that Its child does not suffer.
Appeared B.for Them.
The minister in question Is the Rev. T.
odist Church (colored), of Richmond. For
some time past the Rev. Thomas has
been seeking to enlarge his work here
to the extent of establishing a mission in
Manchester. To this end he has succeed
ed in securing place for the services and
also in collecting modest sum, not quite
sufficient, however. for the purpose he has
in mind. He needs some $500 more. and
it Is understood that $50 was due this
morning.
However this may be. the colored min
lister appeared at the conference of the
Methodist preachers az the city at Ccnte-
nary yesterday morning and stated his
needs. The ministers were naturally In
terested in any work for good, but they
did not SO readily respond to an appeal
for active assistance in the way of con-
tributions from themselves or from their
churches. The final outcome of the mat
ter was an instruction to the secretary
of the conference to address a letter to
tho Northern branch, recommending the
work of the colored minister whose
church. as stated, belongs to the Northern
branch. This. however, was the utmost
that was done. The request for aid. will
then go to the Northern headquarters.
and with the recommendation Of the
Southern pastors, the colored church OF
Richmond may obtain the funds 1t needs
SO badly.
The incident was reported to have been
entirely pleasant. and agreeable. There
was nothing calculated to cause II feeling
on either the one side or the other.
I'VE expressed sympthy with the BROTH
Ell In his work." sad one OF the minis
tiers afterwards. shut we didn't see tit
to go out collecting for him. He be-
longs to the Northern Church. and when
his conference meets white bishop from
the North comes down to preside over It.
We have colored churches in the South,
but colored bishops as we'll. We don't
mix them up. The church asking for as
sstance is the charge of this Northern
branch, and the contributions should
come from this source. not from us. We
gave him letter to the Northern bishop,
however. There was nothing whatsoever
about the incident that could be mis-
taken for anything unpleasant"
Alb utne re nv.
Another little happening OF the meet
Ing Is OF particular interest A promi-
nent Methodist layman interested In the
work at the penitentiary addressed a
letter to one of the pastors, asking for
aid in raising a sum of money for the
purchase OF Bibles for the convcts. In
the letter he referred to the fact that
the Methodist pastors never preached at
the penitentiary, and he seemed to sug-
gest that it was by the choice Of the pas
tors, or through their fault, that this
was the case. The communication was
read at the conference by the pastor
who received It, and 1t caused good
deal of talk. Finally, it was decided
that 1t should be made the occasion for
an official statement from the conference
OF the real reason why Its members do
not speak to the prisoners more often.
which reason Is that they have no oppor-
tunity to do so. Some time ago they
made an effort to arrange for periodical
visits to the prison, but were unable to
do so. Every Sunday was taken up by
some other denomination, and while
something was said about giving them
the fifth Sunday in the month when 1t
happened to have one no regular plan
could be adopted. The ministers there
fore declare that 1t Is not of choice. but
of necessity, that their visits to the
penitenhary are so few and far between