The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-04-15
THE IDLES.

+ y * * X = x x = * y = +
The Baracas and the Philathea*
seemed to have possession Of the city
the past few days and The Herald
and News was full Of it. So I was
crowded out. I reckon it was we'll
I believe the Baracas are doing 8
good work and Mr.. Hudson must be
a. GREAT man from all thai is said OF
him.
I wonder if all the Baracas know
why the name and how it originated.
! I know there are some who are not
Baracas who do not know the origin
of the name. In fact I heard some
one ask about it the other day and
| the person to whom the inquiry was
I directed could not answer. It was
great event for Newberry to have
within her gates the founder Of this
great organization which has under
its banner a half million souls. I
saw him. He is an ordinary looking
man with a kindly smile for every
body. But as to the name. l read
in the Anderson Mail the other day
an extract from an article by Rev.
C. E. Grassland, writing in the Pres
byterian Standard, as to the origin
of the name. Here it is
"In the 10th chapter Of II Chron-
icles will be found the story from
which 'Baraca' is secured. Briefly it
is this. The Kingdom Of Judah was
threatened by an army Of its enemies.
Good King Jehoshaphat prayed unto
Jehovah for deGverance, and the
Lord answered this prayer by vexing
the hosts Of the enemy, so that they
fell upon and slew each other. Thus
when King Jehoshaphat and his peo-
pie went from Jerusalem out to the
scene of the camp Of the enemy, they
found most of them slain and the
remnant fed. They also found so
many jewels and riches that they
were three days gathering up the
spoil.
"Then comes tho 26th verse, as
follows: And on the fourth day they
assembled in the valley Of Beracah !;
for there they blessed Jehovah, there
fore the name Of that place was call
ed the Valley Of Beracah unto this
day. The margin translates this
Beracah as blessing
"When Mr.. Marshal A. Hudson
organized his first class for young
men, he wanted a name for it. In
carefully reading his Bible he came
upon this word meaning blessing,
and seized it for his class. The spell
ing Of the word was changed slightly,
so as to permit making Of the mono
gram design which is so familiar in
well-organized Sunday school today.
"Baraca has indeed been a real
blessing to thousands, and literally
hundreds of thousands of young men
all over North America and the
world. It could not but bless them,
when it has brought them into tho
Sunday school and to the Bible and
to God.
'In like manner the young ladies
have most appropriate name for
their organized classes. The word
'Philathea" is made-up from two
Greek words, and means Lovers Of
Truth
"The history Of the derivatio:,
these two great words in our modern
Sunday school and religious life will
make an interesting item for the
scrap book -
WiIlowbrook must be a place Of
beauty now. Wonder if Mr.. Wright
saw my suggestion to have night
devoted to the Eastside. I wish he
would issue some invitations to some
Of the "plutencrats'' on the Eastside
and give them special concert so
that they might bring their wives
and sweethearts and children and
thus see for themselves what can he
done in so short a time. IF that
park could be extended from the
power house to Calhoun street or
even to College street it would be a
great thing for this town and it
could be done a. great deal easier than