The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-12-19
SELF-HE:LP
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! gro, the new Negro with advanced
Ideas and lofty aspirations, the new
Negro, the result of the Christianiz-
! ing influences and civilizing forces
or the new South, the Negro who be-
| heVes In doing things and exhaust
ing all available resources within,
before calling on outside aid.
Bishop Cottrell is we'll known
throughout the South. His name is
household word among his people
In the State Of Mississippi. The
greater part Of his life has been de-
voted TO the uplift of his people, and
SO successful has been his work and
SO pronounced the influence he
Yields over the people of this race
IN mississippi that he is regarded
with quite as much attention by them
as is Bishop Charles B. Galloway bv
the while people. Anowing some
thlng OF the hardships of reconstruct
ton days and of the difficulties in
the way OF an ambitious Negro who
sought to educate himself, knowing
Aull we'll that the path was a thorny
one, and the effort fraught with de-
pnFat1ons and disappointments, he
nightly concluded to eipend his en-
efs1es to makt things more tolerable
for the generations following.
When Governor Vardaman's veto
OF the legislative appropriation made
1t necessary for the State Normal
school at Holly Springs. Miss, an
institution for the training Of col
o-ed youth. to close its doors. the
Negroes in Mississippi in the Colored
Methodist Episcopal Church, instead
OF raising up III mass meetings and
heaplng anathemas upon the Gov
ernor, set TO work to build for them
selves an institution greater and
better than the one formerly run by
the State.
Without publishing 1t from the
housetops Or sending skyrockets in
the air. they worked one year, two
years. three years , four years, five
years. giving their means as God
had psospered them, and in that time
had secured sufficient means to pur-
chase more than 500 acres Of land. a
portion OF whico was witsin the CITY
limits OF Holly Springs, and erect d
magnificent building for school pur-
poses at a cost Of $38,0OJ.
Every cent Of this amount has
been paid in cash. and during the
last year there has been erected on
the grounds another building, a
| three-Story dormitory for boys, at
cost Of SIG, 200. Altogether the in
stitutiOn as it now stands represents
| an outlay OF nearly 575, 900. This re-
markable and surprising feature
about the work is the fact that OF all
this money less than $2,5O0 came
from white people and not quite 5000
from beyond the borders 0f the
State
The accomplishment Of this task
by the Negroes Of mississippi 10 a
record-breaker in the history OF the
race. The Negroes in the Colored
Methodist Church in that State have
raised on an average Of $4,000 q
year for the last six yeara, for, the
| work Of the Mississippi Theological
and Industrial School, ard at the
same time have kept up all the
claims OF the church. A careful in
vesttgation will show that while a
| gOodly number Of them own their
| homes and are prosperous farmers,
the majority receive Iess than SO per
| week.
The strongest agency In the Ne
gro's uplift is the church. In the
light Of his intensely emotional ma
ture ii is fitting that his religion
Ishould' be determining factor in
his finA salvation. AS crude and
unintelligent as much Of his church
Worship has been, the fact Is patent
that more Of his development is due
to his religion than to any other
agency. He recognizes his obliga-
ton 1T this regard by providing bet
ter houses Of worship. paying his
preachers better salaries and de-
handing a trained ministry. Chris
tianity and education go hand In
hand--the church working for the
school, the school for The church,
tend to give the Negro a development