The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1912-03-29

every TWO persons nOlQ song DOCK ana all
sing. We looked up several times to see
whether the roof was being lifted from the
house or not for the voices of these young
people stirred our very soul. When the ben
ediction was said number of them pressed
forward and demanded an introduction,
each of them shaking hands with us and
pointing to our picture that was framed and
hanging in the rOstrum. Many of them
said: 81 passed the Reverend's home this
afternoon and saw you ON the gallery and
knew you by your picture" Many Of them
complained and said: "The Reverend should
have told us you were coming, that we might
have decorated our church." Another said
eve have some American flags, some Brit
ish flags, and cannot see why the sexton
did not hang them up. When great men
come from England or the British colonies,
we decorate with British flags; when great
men come from the States we should deco
rate with the Stars and Stripes, but we
think that all the flags should be put out
now, the Panama flag, the flag of Great Brit
ain and the Stars and Stripes" We in
formed them that we were there on a mis-
sion and not for display, and asked them, or
requested them, that they would not noise
our visit abroad until we should have seen
more Of the work. This created suspiz
ciOn and there was a constant whisper and
speculation to know what we were there for.
Early next morning a committee was
formed which not only put us to wonder but
had Rev. Thorbourne and his wife guessing,
for they aid these men should be at work.
When they called and demanded an inter-
view with us, we Cd not know whether it
was an American mob, or a Panama reverie,
or what it could be But the speaker soon
broke the news to us. He said that it was
known that we were secretary of the Board
and that we were not introduced to the
meeting and would not make any eXplana-
tiOn; that but a short time since it was noised
abroad that the work was to be turned over
to the Southern Baptists, or some other
Board, and the present preacher, Rev. Thor
bourne, was to be moved. After smiling,
we said to the brethren that they should
give themselves no uneasiness. We then
asked them if they had read English history,
and told them that Cromwell said: Great
bodies move slowly" We told them that
the National Baptist Convention was great
body and that it moved slowly, that if there
were any likelihood of Rev. ThOrbourne be-
ing moved in the near future, the fact had
not been made known to us, and that before
we left the Zone we would make a clear,
clean statement of our visit, but informed
them that before making any public speech,
we must see several of the officials, both the
state and religious officials. They seemed
to be intelligent men and accepted our par
tial explanation and asked us when we
would speak for them. We informed them
that we would speak to the young people at
three o'clock Sunday, to the church at eight
p. m. Sunday, and to the men Monday night,
and would hold a church meeting Wednes-
clay night. This gave entire satisfaction,
and the gentlemen left us happy, for we did
not want to come in contact with a mob
They assured us that they meant no harm,
but that their church was planted there and
and they were determined to protect it at
any cost.
The fiesta season of the Panamains was
on hand, and the people began to parade the
streets. We could hear in every direction
flies, flutes, bagpipes, tin horns, bugles,
brass bands, drums, guitars, mandolinS, vi
olins, accordions and every other kind of
musical instrument that has ever been man.
ufactured by Italians, French, Germans,
English, Chinese, Japanese and every ether
nation, and last but by no means least we
saw the old-time bone knockers and the
up several times through the night to see
whether the Comanche Indians had stormed
the town or not, we were again assured by
Rev. and Mrs. Thorbourne that this was the
fiesta season, that the people were jolly
and good-natured, but there was no harm.
At five o'clock we were up. Mrs. Thor
bourne had our coffee and cocoa ready
and at six o'clock we were aboard the train
for Empire. We have already said we had
a complimentary ticket from the Panama
railroad and it cost us nothing to travel
Arriving in Empire, we went to the First
National Baptist Church of Empire. Here
we were again surprised. We found we'll
built chapel, thirty-fve feet wide by fifty
five feet long, being the main auditorium.
We found in the rear of this building three
beautiful dwelling rooms, with a lavatory
These rooms were unfinished
and were built to accommodate pastor and
his family. On examining the inside, we
found a neat No. 18 pulpit which had been
manufactured by the National Baptist
Church Supply Company. of Nashville.