The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-01

preached Dives funeral was telling
about his many virtues and making
the impression that he was in heaven,
at the very time the poor fellow
was begging for a drop of wa
to cool his parched tongue. AS l am
talking about preachers, | wish
has been made a science and
ranks as profession, the style of
| preaching has been so changed that
any topic may be discussed, from the
pulpit, the professional preacher may
| be quite as successful in winning
| lame, as any other professional. In
fact. / don't know but the
preacher has the shortest and easiest
| road to success. He has but one book
to study, from which to select topics;
| whereas, in other professions, many
and some very hard to be understood,
| books have to be mastered.
/ don't think there are many MN
| iSterial professionals down South, as
| yet but, the day is coming when we
may expect that they will make their
| appearance Now and then one has
! sprung up in our midst but he soon
went North where his professional
services would command better pay,
| and where greater latitude is allowed
| in the pulpits. Almost any piney
I
! ton, hailing from the South, can
| make q reputation, UP North. if he
will descend to the low business of be-
lifting his kin-folks down here, and
of praising and admiring the superb
GRITTY of that Puritanism which, like
PhariSeiSm, has never been able to
see any good only in itself. Some
years ago a North Carolina preacher
went as a fraternal messenger to a
Northern convention or conference, of
his denomination, and in the address
he made before that Northern confer
ence, he stopped over in his praises
of the North, its institutions and its
general superiority over the South;
while, he humbly acknowledged, as
true, many things which had been
untruthfully charged AGAINST the
South. The consequence was he re-
| ceived q call to a church away up in
| the cold regions. He came back home
/ after awhile-after he had lived
among and found out more about Il
people he supposed were our superb
! orS-but his brethren have never
| thought as we'll of him, as they did
! before he went off in a wild goose
| chase after a little notoriety.
AS an illustration of what ] mean
! by professional preachers, | will re-
! late q circumstance.
| Soon after the war, a Northern To-
| y
in Raleigh, and some time, during the
year he attended the Raleigh District
| Conference. A few days after. he
came to my office, and the Conference
matters, he had witnessed, were dis
cuSsed. l asked him which of the
preachers preached, and what he
thought of their preaching.
Jaw, WE'LL he said, Jaw, yes, as
to matter they preached we'll enough,
but as to manner, aw, I-well-I must
say it was horwibul. They don't seem,
aw, to have any deah of elocution."
"They seemed to have a pretty fair
knowledge of the Bible, did they not?"
[ asked.
''Well-aw-I guess so. But, aw,
you know, aW, it is not so-aW, essen
tial, in preaching, what a man says.
as how he says it. For instance. aW,
| had a cousin, a blacksmith, who de-
cided, aw, to enter the ministerial
profession. He did not think of vast
ing his time at any theological insti-
tute, aW, but, aW, very Sensibly put
himself under the tuition and elocu-
tionary training of q retired actor,
and, aw-yes--in less than year he
was able to command salary of two
thousands dollars. It's not-aw.
brother-what a preacher says but
how he says it,
think he was mistaken. what he
says and how he says it, are equally
essential.
1 picked up, the other day, a cata-
logue Of the Raleigh Female Semi
nary, of the session 1S71-2-thirty-
three years, or, one-third of century,
/ ago. The Board of Trustees We're: Rev.
T. H. Pritchard d. D., President; r.
S. Pullen, John G.. Williams, Col. j.
M. Heck. Maj. A. M. Lewis. p. f. Pes
cud. Mai w. w. VaSs, w. G.. Up
church. l.. II. Adams, Thos. H. Briggs,
IF. p. Hobgood, James Poteat, Rev. j.
S. Purefoy, B. 2. Williamson, Rev. H.
Lennon, Rev. j. d. Hufham, Rev. j..
B. Stewart, Capt. j. e. Marsh, Capt.
r. d. Graham, w. T. Faircloth, Hon.
d. S. Reid and Col. j. Il. Morehead.
! Twenty-Five in all. OF that number,
| two-thirds, if not more, are dead.
Their names and faces once so famil-
lar. are almost forgotten, in the
places where, but a little while ago,
everybody knew them We older peo-
pie remember them, and cherish the
recollections of the days when they
were with us, and by their upright
lives and we'll directed efforts, were
making it possible for the generation
following to be wiser, better and hap
pier than they. 1T is sad common
tary upon the gratitude of a church
or a community, to say that, they do
not HOlu III ploHcI reverence lIiOSt
who planted the trees which are bear
ing such delicious fruit. They pluck
and eat, yet forget that love and sacri-
flee planted the trees which yield the
fruit they SO much enjoy
Thirty-three years aSo school facili-
ties were medgre as compared to
those of to-day. st. Mary's. The Raj
eigh Female Seminary and the Raj
eigh Male Academy, were the schools
we had. / don't think Peace Institute
had been opened; if it had, 1T had not
acquired such notoriety, as a frst-
class institution as it now enjoys AT
any rate, what | have said is true;
school facilities thirty three years ago,
were meagre, as compared with what
we now have. And why are we so
blessed, to-day? Because those who
planned and labored then, planned
and labored for this generation as well
as for the times in which they lived.
Like true philanthropists, they did
not exhaust all their love, in the self
ish effort to bless themselves and
their children; but, in imitation OF
Him whose gospel is to save to the
uttermost, in all ages. they labored
to bless the unborn as we'll as those
who were living. The Baptist Female
| University, with all of it's fine advan-