Twelve years among the colored people. A record of the work of Mount Calvary chapel of S. Mary the Virgin, Baltimore

(ev.G.B.Pe^y.

regulated minds, the case was very different -with the emo-
tional but ignorant blacks, who had only just been emanci-
pated from a state of slavery, and were as yet utterly unpre-
pared by education or training to follow or understand the.
formal set discourses of the Evangelical pulpit. Hence the
surroundings called not only for elasticity in the services
and the method of conducting them, but also for objective
teaching that should act as the schoolmaster to bring them to
Christ.

Mr. Perry speaks out boldly and intelligently on the "color
line." As a Northerner, he had not been out of reach of
race-prejudices. He had seen in the New England churches
the far-off galleries reserved for the negroes, and had watched
them filing up to the Altar to receive the Holy Communion
" after those ' in gold rings and goodly apparel ' had been first
served at the Lord's Table." It was, therefore, nothing new
to him to see the line of demarcation drawn so rigidly between
the whites and the blacks in the South. But what did im-
press him was that, though an "unreformed Northerner, and
an advocate of the colored man," he found

quite as much genuine attachment to the colored man in the South as
in the North. If in the South there be a more deep-seated feeling
about the negro's social equality, right of suffrage, and his mingling
with white people in schools, hotels, and public conveyances, there is
much less feeling of personal aversion to him on account of color than
in the North. . . . Southerners have grown up with them as play-
mates or foster-brothers to whom they are tenderly attached, and do
not scruple to show marks of strong affection. Old household servants
bear relations to their former masters and mistresses which are utterly
unknown in Northern households. [Bishop Polk, of Louisiana,] was
by inheritance and through marriage a large slave-holder. He had no
scruple of conscience to make him think of freeing his bondmen ; but
his conscience bade him care for them— for their bodies and for their
souls. . . . One of these slaves, who was his brother in Christ,
was drawing nigh to death. The Bishop had administered to him as a
Christian priest. Still watching by him, he said, "Tom, is there any-
thing else I can do for you?" The answer was, " Yes, master, if you
will only lie down by me on the bed, and put your, arm round my neck,
and let me pnt my arm round your neck, as we used to do when boys
lying under the green walnut trees, I think I could die more easily."
Thus, lying in the embrace of his master, he passed away.

This would not be the spirit of the average Northerner, who
would give him every civil right, indeed, but would as lief his
colored brother would keep his distance, and be heard of and
seen by him as little as possible : yet, till a union in feeling
md sympathy is established, there is but little hope of the
rue advancement of the negro.
In the case of the colored people among whom Mr. Perry
is working, they themselves drew the "color line," and while
still dependent on Mount Calvary, preferred that their ser-
vices should be conducted in a separate building. The church,
which is of Baltimore limestone, originally belonged to the
Swedenborgians, and has had added to it a chancel, which is ,
fitted up in such a manner as to be typical of the teaching
afforded to the congregation. In every respect the service is
thoroughly ornate, and, as such, is loved by the quick-blooded,
excitable, and emotional sons of Ham. Schools have been
attached to it as a necessary and essential part of its work.
These attract the colored children from the denominations
outside the Church, especially the Methodists, who willingly
send their children where they can be carefully and religiously
trained up without being compelled to go to the Boniai
Catholic schools, in which alone hitherto had such an educa-
tion been afforded. A sisterhood with colored sisters has
likewise been established, as welT as a home (S. Mary's) for
colored boys, all of which annexes are rearing up a race of
future Churchmen, whose aid will be a powerful adjunct tc
the working of the Church among the freedmen of the South,
Many of those thus educated in the very arms of the Church
will doubtless repay her fostering kindness with interest. Of
their number some will become Sunday School teachers, son
lay-readers, some permanent deacons, some priests, to evf
gelise their colored brethren. And on the subject of a coir
clergy to minister to the freedmen of the South, Mr. F
has a word. He protests most emphatically that any "
legislation ; ' lowering the standard of the priesthood

(&mm &mxm\m.

/Twelve Years among the Colored People. A Record of the
Work of Mount Calvary Chapel of S. Mary the Virgin, Balti-
more. By Calbeaith C. Pebky, Priest in Charge. New York :
James Pott & Co. 1884.

Any one who can throw light upon the working of the
Church among the colored people of the South, will be wel-
comed by the readers of Church literature. More especially
welcome will be such a book as Mr. Perry's, which is not only
a record of successful labor, but is also full of valuable hints
, as to the organising of similar work elsewhere. He has
more than touched on his methods ; he has intelligently set
forth his difficulties in the past, his anxieties for the present,
and the " great uncertainty of the whole problem of the
future of the colored people." The tale is simply told, but
j its very simplicity is its highest recommendation. Its inci-
dents supply the local coloring and impart a realistic air to the
I history, as complete as if the author had taxed his brain to
I the uttermost to supply us with a highly finished piece of word-
! painting, whose very exuberance might give rise to the sus-
|ici&n of exaggeration. What should serve to impress the
' reader with the truth of the story, is the fact that the writer is a
Northerner, whose prejudices, if he ever entertained any,
should be altogether on the side of the negro, and should
I show themselves in language of more or less strong severity
against the former slave-holders. Of this there is no trace.
On the contrary, Mr. Perry's style is singularly free from any
bitterness or unkindness. When he has to narrate facts, he
does so with perfect dispassionateness, naught extenuating
nor setting down aught in malice — " speaking the truth in
love." His sole endeavor is to put forward the religious aspect
of the work, and of what sort it has been to attract and keep
together the colored people. Distinctly and emphatically the
writer claims, that the adoption of an ornate liturgical service
has been the means of drawing a largo number of persons to
the Church, and thereby of causing them to embrace the Faith
of Christendom.

Mr. Perry himself began his ministry under trying circum-
stances. Not only had he been obliged to leave one diocese,
because of what the authorities looked upon as extreme
views, but he also succeeded at his present church "an
idolised rector — deservedly esteemed — but whose work had
been peculiarly, we might add, unfortunately, personal,
and who had deserted to the Roman Church." It was feared
that many, who were known to be in a state of uncertainty
and doubt, would follow him, as, indeed, seven communicants
did. Thus Mount Calvary Church had come under the ban,
though the Bishop and his family attended its services regu-
larly. Incidentally it may be mentioned, as evidence of the
absurdity of the accusations that were brought against the
clergy, that because Mr. Perry wore in church a yellow silk
handkerchief round his throat, which had been severely affected,
he was at once delated to the Bishop — whose gift the hand-
kerchief had been, as well as the order to wear it in the
church — for having introduced a ritualistic novelty in the
shape of a " gold amice ! " In 1873, the work was begun by
the transference of the colored congregation from S. Philip's
(abandoned) Mission to the Church of S. Mary on Mount
Calvary. They migrated there, nathless the warnings of
the other city clergy, who gave them notice that, because of ,
the rampant Ritualism in that church, it would not be for |
their advantage to connect themselves with Mount Calvary ; j
-'but," naively remarked one of their number, "we have [
•jailed in vain on these clergy to help us. What can we do J
'out come to you?" For these clergy there is, of course, this
~> be said. They had been educated up to the idea that
>th Faith and Salvation came "by hearing," and that being
ached to was all that was necessary, either for white or
-ed people. They forgot, however, that, though their
v might hold good in the case of the intellectual and
<sd whites, with their well-balanced and thoroughly

' color line ' will certainly prove fatal to the Church's growth
among them (the freedmen)." The Order of permanent dea-
cons, "after the primitive model, might be usefully revived.
. . . It might be a distinct Order with a confessedly lower
grade of scholarship," and might be found as useful among
the colored as among any other people. Mr. Perry, however,
has no doubts as to the need of colored priests to labor among
their race-fellows, but in the face of his own experience he
does not believe that none but colored clergy can work among
them. In the main he thinks the theory is correct.

Clergy of their own race can accomplish a work among them that no
white men do, however willing to make all requisite sacrifices. They
'alone can enter into the very heart's sanctuary of the negro, and view
things from his standpoint. They are free from suspicions, with which
a great number of the colored people continue to view the most devoted
of their white friends. But the clergy of their own race must come
from the very best and most favored of their people, and be fully
equipped to bear favorable comparison with their white brethren. No
inferior article will pass.

On this Mr. Perry lays particular stress, and points out that
the colored people are possessed of an " unfortunate but
general disposition to disparage those of their own race," so
that if these colored clergymen are, even in outward seeming,
looked down upon by their white brethren, or treated as their
inferiors, intellectually or socially, "their failure is certain."
This, however, need not be. There are plenty of young men
of the proper stuff, out of whom priests can be made, who
would need no dispensations from the subjects required of
; candidates for Holy Orders. They have to " be sought out by
'the Church, assured of brotherly sympathy, and properly
trained and educated. Their education will take time. Bet-
ter hasten slowly than repent at leisure. "

One more extract and we are done. It speaks for itself,
and in it Mr. Perry unwittingly bears testimony to the secret
of his success among the colored people.

White clergy, to be of any use among them, must be liberal minded,
Ifwrge hearted, sympathetic men. They must not regard them solely
ffrom an Anglican standpoint, and not be blind to their virtues and
iamiable traits. They must be ready to become as a negro to the
negroes if they would win the negro, as fully as S. Paul became as a
Jew to the Jews or as a Gentile to the Gentiles. They must be moved
as little by bitter taunt and prejudice as was our Lord by the words :
"This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." The missionary
does not hesitate to live on most familiar terms with Chinese, Hotten-
tot, or Esquimaux. The explorer for mere scientific purposes will do
the samr. The true friend of the spread of the Gospel will learn to
;oU^io.t«> audi intercourse from that which is for merely political dema-
gogical purposes. The writer does not blush to own that he has laughed
in their joys and wept in their sorrows, eaten with them, slept with
them, been their guest, and entertained them, known them as friends
and companions. He who is their spiritual father, and fears in so doing
"to lose his social position," has no "social position" worth guarding.
Yet the writer does not deny that in the earlier years of his work he
sometimes winced under taunt and scorn, and that he keenly felt some
dear friend's dislike to be seen with one who had been on the street in
the company of his colored parishioners.

We reluctantly lay aside this fascinating volume, whose
mere perusal reads like a colored idyl. We would most cordi-
ally recommend it as one of the soundest books on the subject
that we have ever come across, and may well be bracketed
equal with Judge Tourgee's "Appeal to Caesar," as one of the
most thoughtful treatises on the Negro Problem that has yet
appeal 1

TWELVE YEAES

AMONG

THE COLORED PEOPLE.

A RECORD OF THE WORK OF MOUNT CALVARY
CHAPEL OF S. MARY THE VIRGIN,
BALTIMORE.

CALBRAITH B. PERRY,

Priest in Chargb.

NEW YORK :

JAMES POTT & CO.,
12 Astor Place.
' 1884.

Copyright, 1884.
By JAMES POTT & CO.

PEEFACE.

The following pages were begun during a few
weeks of enforced rest from active labor, in response
to repeated requests from friends, benefactors and
fellow-workers for information respecting the
methods adopted in carying on the work of St.
Mary's Chapel. It was hoped that by a brief
history of the work the information could be more
satisfactorily given than was possible by private
correspondence. To the fulfillment of this pur-
pose it was sought to add such details as would
make a permanent record prized by the colored
people who have been associated with the parish.
In carrying out this very restricted and simple
purpose, the review of difficulties of the past, the
singular perplexities of the present, and the great
uncertainty of the whole problem of the future of
the colored people, have tempted the writer to
extend the plan, and to ofEer some suggestions,
and to draw some inferences from a somewhat ex-
ceptional experience, which he trusts will not be
wholly unacceptable nor unprofitable to such read-
ers as may be induced by their interest in the sub-
ject to consider them.

In performing the task, it was impossible not to
foresee that in the endeavor to tell the whole truth

4

JJreface.

and to express his opinions with entire candor, he
would hardly escape wounding the feelings and
perhaps call forth some earnest, if not bitter, dissent
alike from the people of the North, of the South,
and from the colored people themselves. But he
felt no less convinced that it was only by telling
the truth and the whole truth that he could
contribute testimony of any value in the solution
of a problem of great difficulties doubtless, but of
still greater importance. He has long since learned
that he can rely upon the indulgence of his friends
for all errors of judgment, many of which will
doubtless be detected in these pages. A more
general public he does not venture to hope to
reach. For defects of any other character his
only apology must be that he makes no pretension
to a right to enroll himself on the too-crowded list
of authors, other than an intimate knowledge of
the things of which he writes.

The Author.

Mount Calvary Clergy House,
Nov. 1st, 1884.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. PAGE
Introductory 7

CHAPTER II.

The Writer's first Introduction to the Colored
People, with some reflections resulting
from further acquaintance 21

CHAPTER III.
S. Mary's Chapel and its Services 60

CHAPTER IV.

The Schools and the Cause of Christian Edu-
cation 85

CHAPTER V.
S. Mary's Home 125

CHAPTER VI.
Our Faithful Departed 141

Conclusion . 165

TWELVE YEARS AMONG THE
^ COLORED PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

The work among the colored people at Mount
Calvary Chapel of S. Mary the Virgin, began in
the year 1873. Some reference to the events of
the three years preceding is necessary in order to
explain the writer's connection with it. The cloud
under which he began his work will account for
obstacles and annoyances which will appear later
in the record. These it is important to recognize
and to distinguish from difficulties necessarily
connected with labors among the colored people.
They will also serve to show that no political or
sectional motive led him to labor among them.
The fierce and protracted struggle through which
he entered the ministry may also furnish a sort of
apologia pro vita sua, and account for what may have
been in his earlier years an unnecessary aggressive-
ness and harshness in pressing principles which
he holds no whit less firmly to-day but, he trusts,
with more gentleness and a wider charity to those
who differ from him.

7

8 Sttoelne Wears &tnong the (Eoloreir J)eaple.

Unable to obtain Priest's Orders in the diocese
where he had begun his labors,* at the invitation of
Bishop Whittingham and Vestry of Mount Calvary

* In justice to himself the writer adds an explanation of
the cause of his ordination being postponed in Rhode Island.
He had been censured for certain expressions in a sermon
upon the Doctrine of the Real Presence. The sermon was
presented as a mere seminary exercise. The statements,
though perhaps unguarded and crude, and characteristic
of an undergraduate, were pronounced by eminent and
strictly conservative divines to be defensible. But in addi
tion to this alleged offense he was soon after with a number
of his classmates in " Retreat " making preparation for his
approaching ordination. Retreats (seasons of united prayer
and meditation), now quite familiar to the Church and
countenanced by many of our bishops, were then ranked
among the "novelties that disturbed our peace." The
then Dean of the Seminary, who, as Dr. Mahan cleverly
expressed it, had changed his ecclesiastical coat so fre-
quently as to be suspicious of the loyalty of others, sent a
sensational telegram to several of the bishops in regard to
their candidates. In dioceses such as Albany and New
York little effect was produced ; but in Rhode Island, a
" Retreat " was regarded with horror proportionate to the
ignorance of its nature. The rector of the old parish
church by which the writer had been recommended to
the Standing Committee, refused his signature to the
required testimonials, and the majority of the Vestry re-
quested the withdrawal of their signatures which had
been already given. Several, however, refused to join in
the narrow policy, and remained his steadfast friends.

But for the ever-liberal and kind-hearted character of
the Bishop of Rhode Island, and the persistent mediation
of Prof. Seymour (now Bishop of Springfield), who had
come to Rhode Island to present the candidates for ordina-

Introbitctort].

9

Church he became Associate Eector of that church.
Having received warning from Ehode Island
against so dangerous a refugee, and already sus-
picious and irritated by the perversion of the late
Eector of Mount Calvary to the Church of Borne,
the Standing Committee of Maryland made a
condition of the writers receiving ordination that
he should pass an examination before the Bishop
in the presence of a special and extra-canonical
commission of clergy.

It was a formidable ordeal for a young deacon.
He well remembers the impressive form of the ven-
erable Bishop of Maryland, surrounded by seven
prominent clergy of his diocese, and the fiery, yet
kindly glance of the eye beaming with the encour-
agement which he so frequently gathered from the
same look in after years. Nor can he forget the
five weary hours of inquisition. Its history does
not properly belong to these pages. Before taking

tion. his ordination to the diaconate would probably not
have been obtained at that time. At the expiration of a year,
his ordination to the priesthood seemed hopelessly post-
poned. The Associate Mission in Providence, of which the
present Rector of Mount Calvary was the head, was
disbanded, Mr. Coggeshall (the late Father Coggeshall,
S.S.J.E.), removed to the more liberal Diocese of New
Jersey, and the writer, although much attached to his little
flock at S. Gabriel's, and to a bishop in whose family he
had enjoyed a son's privilege and intercourse, at length
yielded to the persuasions of his old friend Mr. Rickey to
accept the Associate Rectorship of Mount Calvary Church,
Baltimore, where the hearty welcome of Bishop Whitting-
ham had been assured him.

10 Sfoetoe Dears &mong X\)t Colored People.

leave of that group of doctors of divinity, how-
ever,— some of them since become dear friends of
the writer, and none, he trusts, his enemies — it
may not be uninteresting to describe the closing
scene. After hours of ferreting for hidden heresies,
the crucial point of Sacramental Confession was
reached. The deacon wras asked if he felt at lib-
erty to use any form of private absolution, and if
so, what form. He replied that while feeling him-
self at liberty in private ministration to use any
form connected with the teachings of our Church,
he should use that in the English Prayer Book.
Upon the expression of disapprobation of several
of the clergy, the bishop, bending forward, asked
in his eager way: "Do you remember, Perry, any-
thing in the preface of our Prayer Book that
proves your right to do so?" In reply the words
were given : " This Church is far from intending
to depart from the Church of England in any es-
sential point of doctrine, discipline or worship."
" Right !" exclaimed the bishop, falling back in
evident satisfaction. Dr. Dalrymple, whose jovial
face, beaming with suppressed merriment, is not
chiefly associated with the work of an inquisitor,
then asked :

" Does it seem of no significance that that form
was omitted from our Prayer Book ? 99 Without
leaving time for reply, the bishop interrupted with
vehemence: " Dr. Dalrymple, by the principle
your question implies, you would make of our
Church nothing but a miserable Protestant sect."

3ntroimct0r£.

11

He then related how, when a Unitarian minister
called on him to ask the terms upon which he
could entej the Church's ministry, he took from
his shelves an English Prayer Book and read him
the Athanasian Creed. This did not convince the
doctor. He pressed the deacon further till the
bishop again came to the rescue, while the ex-
hausted deacon sank back glad of a respite. " Dr.
Dalrymple, let me tell you what happened in the
earlier years of my ministry. A man came to me
bowed down with the weight of a great sin. I
used those ' Comfortable Words ' that you have
recommended to Mr. Perry to use under such cir-
cumstances, but these and similar promises did
not comfort him. Then I said, Kneel down, and as
in the presence of God, acknowledge your sin. He
did so, and I stood up and repeated over him those
words that you have condemned in this young
man. Now, Dr. Dalrymple, did I do right, or
did I do wrong ? " The doctor replied that he
was not sitting in judgment upon his bishop. The
bishop insisted on an answer. Dr. D. said with
some spirit, "Bishop, you invited me to assist in
examining this young man — you have turned the
occasion into one of examining me ! " Still the
bishop insisted ; by this time those who knew him
will fancy the color of the good doctor's face and
bald head. He seized the generous brimmed hat
from the floor, and while he rapidly polished with the
silk handkerchief which he drew from it, his head,
which now glowed like an inverted caldron heated

12 Qlxotlvz IJears &mong tlje Coloreb people.

in the furnace, he said as he half rose, " Bishop, if
you insist upon my answering, I shall leave the
house." " Just as you please/' said the undaunt-
ed bishop ; " but I wish an answer before you go."
This was too much, and the doctor blurted out,
" Well, bishop, if you insist, I think you did
wrong." A scathing rejoinder followed on the part
of the bishop, which cannot be recalled, but it was
the final single combat of the battle, and soon
after, when the deacon had retired for half an
hour and had been readmitted, it was announced to
him that the majority of the clergy had expressed
an opinion in favor of Ordination. It is but jus-
tice to add that, before leaving the house, Dr. Dal-
rymple approached the writer and said : " My
young brother, I do not think you ought to be in
the ministry and I have done all I could to keep
you out. But my brethren here think differently.
I have discharged my duty. Kow give me your
hand, and promise me that since you are to be or-
dained we shall be good friends." The dear, honest
old man faithfully kept the agreement, and many
a pleasant invitation was afterward given, and,
when possible, accepted, while he was one of the
most generous and ready contributors to the work
at S. Mary's. Would that all the brethren had
taken the same generous, genial course !

The bishop, having announced the decision of
the clergy, rose, and, with an earnest, searching
look in his eagle eyes, said : " And now I shall have
to ask you the same question I require to be an-

Jntrobnctorg.

13

swered by all whom I ordain : Do you accept the
XXXIX Articles in their plain, grammatical, but"
— and, pausing, he threw out, in his emphatic way,
his long index finger — " their historical sense?"
On receiving a ready assent, he brought his hands
together, exclaiming, "Thank God, thank God !"

The intimate intercourse with the Episcopal
household, which was a privilege from that day ;
the tender, fatherly counsel, the sympathy in
trouble, the frequent guidance in many little de-
tails of parish work, would appear improbable to
those who only have heard the Mount Calvary
clergy described as arrayed against the bishop.
These relations will be understood better by those
who knew how loving and true and kind the
bishop could be to those whom he felt it neces-
sary, at times, to rebuke more sharply, and to con-
demn more strongly than those for whom he felt
less responsibility.

On one occasion one of many requests had been
made by the Bishop about details of ritual at Mount
Calvary and S. Mary's. This time it was that none
other but black or white stoles should be used.
Other churches of the city, without let or hinder-
ance, were using the other ecclesiastical colors. A
promise of obedience was given, but not without
the suggestion that it seemed a little hard to be re-
strained from such slight excesses of ritual when
there were other churches by omission violating so
many rubrics and canons. "Well, Perry," replied
the bishop, with a smile, "what is the use of be-

lieving in bishops if you are not ready to suffer for
your principles ? If I should interfere with the

practices of S. " — mentioning a typical Low

Church parish — "they would not obey me."

Those who, ignorant of the true relations with
the bishop, have represented the clergy of Mount
Calvary as ruthlessly delighting in tormenting
their bishop, have utterly failed to appreciate the
delicate position in which the clergy found them-
selves. They came into the diocese when, as he
saw his eventful episcopate drawing to its close,
the bishop shrank from meeting, with enfeebled
powers, fresh conflicts. Yet while he strove to
avoid collision, when called to act, with his old
intrepidity he spared neither himself nor others in
fulfilling the duty. Some who saw him painfully
rise to vindicate himself in that convention, when
he had been presented by priests of his own diocese
for trial, recalled the dignity and indomitable cour-
age, mingled with anguish, of Thorwaldsen's Dying
Lion.

Mount Calvary Church, to which these clergy,
but lately from the seminary, were called, was also
in a critical condition. An idolized rector — de-
servedly esteemed — but whose work had been pe-
culiarly, we might add, unfortunately, personal,
had deserted to the Koman Church. It was com-
monly reported that many of the congregation
were about to follow their former guide. Many,
certainly, were naturally distressed and disturbed.
It is believed that only seven communicants, all of

Jntroimctorg.

15

them women, were lost to our communion. But
sudden changes in teaching or ritual, even had the
clergy desired them, might have produced disas-
trous results'.

The welfare of their flock pressed upon the
hearts of these young and inexperienced clergy no
less than consideration and reverence for their
father in God. They had reason to know that
many things, although some were personally dis-
tasteful to the Bishop, would not have called forth
censure but for intense pressure from without.
They knew from himself that in most important
points he sympathized with them — that, as he
himself expressed it, he disliked only the fringes
of a work which otherwise he heartily approved.
Under these circumstances some differences were
inevitable. To those who knew the strong, fiery,
dogmatic natures of those great, generous souls,
Bishop Whittingham's and Joseph Richey's, it is a
proof of the considerateness of both that in nearly
all points, after the first moments of heat, a loving
agreement was reached. The interference on the
part of a bishop in such minute details of ritual,
such as material of the vestments, the distinction
between the color of the ornamentation and the
groundwork of a stole, and the like, would have
been resented by many of the clergy who accused
Kichey of a refractory spirit ; but to Richey his
bishop was a father, with much higher claims
upon him than that derived from canons. The
bishop also freely acknowledged that he directed

16 Stoehie Dears ^rnong thje (Colored People.

in matters which he did not seek to regulate in other
churches. For this there were several reasons.
His own relationship to the parish from the first
had been most intimate ; Mount Calvary was
spoken of as the bishop's church ; he and his
family attended its services. He himself alludes
to another reason in a letter to Richey : " Painful
facts, daily coming to my knowledge, in illustra-
tion of the evil results of ' letting alone 9 your pre-
decessor in the course so disastrously pursued by
him." But perhaps the chief cause was that
Mount Calvary was made the center of attack by
a school of churchmanship that had battled with
him throughout his Episcopate. It was his wish, at
whatever cost except that of principle, to avoid oc-
casion for further conflict. In cases where personal
preferences alone were concerned the Mount Cal-
vary clergy were repeatedly yielding to his wishes.
On one occasion the daily press had, without any
foundation whatever, announced the " blessing"
of the new altar of Mount Calvary, and also re-
ferred to the disuse of the Processional Cross on
the occasion of an Episcopal visitation. This,
brought to his official notice, called forth a
formal and formidable letter from the Bishop for-
bidding the clergy severally and individually from
any blessing of the altar, as it had led him to sup-
pose that either they were about to arrogate Epis-
copal functions by blessing it themselves, or had
committed schism by inviting some other Bishop
to intrude into his diocese, since, he added with

Stttroimctorj). 17

amusing irony, be had no reason to suppose the
services of his assistant bishop had been secured.
He also requested the discontinuance of the "ges-
tatory cross." Without a moment's hesitation, Mr.
Bichey briefly replied in the name of the clergy
that the bishop might rest assured that had the
thought of blessing the altar been entertained,
which was not the case, he would have been asked
to officiate, and that the use of the " Processional
Cross," at his request would be discontinued. It
seemed as if the note could have barely reached
the Episcopal residence when the brief reply was
received: "Dear Brethren: You have rejoiced
the heart of your bishop and fulfilled his highest
expectation of you. Your loving friend and
brother, William E. Whittingham, Bishop of
Maryland." The matter which unhappily embit-
tered the last days of the bishop and caused so
much sorrow to the clergy of Mount Calvary in in-
flicting pain upon him in their stead while they were
helpless to relieve him, was of a different nature. In
discontinuing the use of the Commendatory Prayer
at funerals, a custom of several clergy of the Diocese
at the time and of not a few of other Dioceses,
it at first seemed to them that they were asked to
yield truth which they were bound to defend. But
as soon as the bishop, with that skill which was a
chief element of his greatness, so placed the matter
that obedience could be given without the wound-
ing of consciences over-sensitive in the estimate
of some, but which he respected, the clergy with
2

18 Qlmzlvc fears &mong tl]e (Eoloreb Jkople.

alacrity yielded. With characteristic delicacy the
Bishop wrote : " By looking again at my letter of
the 24th, you will perceive that it is an expression
of regret for 'offense' 'afforded' — not committed
— and therefore in the nature of expostulation and
warning — not of censure or disciplinary admo-
nition." Bemoving all difficulty in acceding to his
wish by the ground upon which he placed it, he
added : "No doctrinal point is in discussion, but
a rule of practice, and that not of private, per-
sonal practice, but of the public official practice of
one exercising a trust under authority." Had
others shown a like wise, tender and conciliatory
spirit, the judicial archives of the Church would
not now be disfigured with a record at once cruel,
ignorant and unjust. The disagreements of the
clergy of Mount Calvary with their bishop were
published on the housetops. The affectionate per-
sonal relations of which we have spoken could not
then be made known. However the bishop may
have spoken to them or of them in moments of
irritation, he ever continued to affectionately urge
them to remain at their posts in his Diocese.

When Mr. Richey told him of his acceptance
of a very honorable position in the Faculty of a
College, and his proposed resignation of Mount
Calvary, he replied that he took the responsibility
of forbidding him to leave the Diocese, as he could
not spare him. Mr. Richey submitted "without a
murmur, though at great sacrifice to himself, and
then, contrary to his judgment and inclination.

Jntrobuctorj).

10

Bishop Whittingham did not use language care-
lessly ; yet in a letter, dated August 28, 1877, he
thus sanctions the work which will be the subject
of these page$, speaking of its " remarkable degree
of good success": "In my long experience I
have known none more signal, and in my judg-
ment complete, as regards both spiritual and tem-
poral." " Under Mr. Perry it has my entire con-
fidence."

It might be of more questionable delicacy to
dwell upon the delight of family intercourse in
the bishop's household permitted to the young
clergy, especially while living as near neighbors.
The pleasure, however, cannot be resisted of recall-
ing the morning when the saintly De Koven, call-
ing with the Eector of S. Paul's on the Mount
Calvary clergy, found the writer very ill. Ascend-
ing the stairs to his sick-room, he met that dear
and well-loved partner of the Bishop's joys and
sorrows on the stairs with a tray. " Why, Mrs.
Whittingham, how came you here ? " said the
Warden of Eacine. "Oh," replied the kind
friend, " I am just coming down from giving a
luncheon which I bring every day to my boy."
" Why ! is your son here ?" inquired the Doctor.
" These young clergy are my boys," explained
the dear friend who for days had prepared with
her own hands and brought to his bedside little
delicacies to tempt the appetite of the convales-
cent. When he recovered, the bishop sent a
large yellow silk handkerchief, which he strictly

20 Qimtlw fears &ntong tl)e (JToloreb JJeople.

charged his young clergyman to wear as a pro-
tection to his throat, when he first officiated in
church. It was with great glee he informed the
Bishop that the latter was guilty of "introducing
ritualistic novelties, as there was much excitement
at a 'gold amice' having been worn at Morning
Prayer!"

It is hoped that these anecdotes of one whose
life, even with the delightful and just record that
a dear friend has written of it, caunot be too well
known, will excuse what might otherwise seem for-
eign to the purpose in hand. If not, let it be per-
mitted as a tribute of justice and affection to a
loved and lamented bishop, and to a dear brother
priest, whose memories are among the writer's
dearest treasures of the past. It is believed, also,
that the knowledge of those earlier events will
not be useless in forming a right estimate of much
which will follow in these pages.

CHAPTER II.

THE WRITER'S FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THE COL-
ORED PEOPLE, WITH SOME REFLECTIONS, RE-
SULTING FROM FURTHER ACQUAINTANCE.

Soon after coming to Baltimore, the writer was
asked to conduct a service in S. Philip's Mission.
This little congregation of colored people wor-
shiped in a small hall over a feed-store on How-
ard street. The Opera House now occupies the
site. The room gave evidence of care and an at-
tempt at reverence, yet it was cheerless in the ex-
treme. On one side was a large tank, used as a
font by a former pastor, an eccentric clergyman,
afterward by times a member of the Oriental
Church and a Baptist. The small altar had once
been a shopkeeper's counter. An altar frontal
spoke of loving hands but poverty of resources.
On this absurdly diminutive altar were two tiny
candlesticks. They were not even as large as
those carried by a prominent New York rector in
his pocket to his church, who in reply to the pro-
test of a brother clergyman that they were ridicu-
lously out of proportion to the spacious building,
said quietly: " They will grow." They have
grown. Between these candlesticks was a black
walnut cross as large as the altar. As it was the

22 Stoeltic Dears ^tttoug tl)e Coloreb fJeople.

gift of Dr. Milo Mahan, it has been carved and
gilded, and returned to S. Mary's, out of loving
reverence for the lamented donor. It appears
large on the present altar, which is ten times the
size of the little one at S. Philip's.

But these peculiarities were forgotten, when the
service began, in the enjoyment of the hearty
responses, the sweet music, the reverence, the
unostentatious yet ardent earnestness of the peo-
ple. The enjoyment was not seriously inter-
rupted even by the rats which ran about the
floor during the service. In this cheerless room,
amid great discouragements, these colored folks
had loyally and persistently maintained services,
though frequently for months at a time without
the presence of a clergyman. At such times one
of their number acted as Lay reader, and the parish
visiting, care of the sick and relief of the poor were
systematically divided among the communicants.
One of these Lay readers is now the Rev. James
Thompson, successfully working in Chicago. He
had been ordained before we first knew S. Philip's.
Another is the Rev. C. M. C. Mason of St. Louis.
Of his earnest work among his people in that city
the Bishop of Missouri and clergy of St. Louis
have spoken in strongest terms. Mr. Mason, after
the breaking up of S. Philip's, became one of the
most active workers in S. Mary's, and to the lovely
Christian example of his wife, the daughter of our
Senior Warden, Mr. W. H. Bishop, and to her
energy as organist and choir trainer, S. Mary's

ifirst Acquaintance. 23

owes much of the success of her earlier years.
On the death of his wife. Mr. Mason moved to St.
Louis and assisted his old friend Mr. Thompson.
When the latter accepted a call to Chicago, Mr.
Mason, strongly urged by the bishop, received
Holy Orders and became rector of the vacant parish.

An extract from a communication of Mr. Mason
to the Monthly Chronicle, a paper published in
the interest of the colored people in the earlier
years of our work, will best relate the end of S.
Philip's.

After describing the starting out of S. Philip's
mission in the year 1868, from the older congrega-
tion of S. James', whose existence at that time he
writes, " might have been considered precarious
owing to the sad neglect they were treated with by
the churches in this city," the letter gives an
account of obtaining the consent of Bishop Whit-
tingham to hold services, and of his placing the in-
fant mission under the charge of the Eev. A. A.
Curtis of Mount Calvary Church. It is singular
that they should have had this early connection
with the church in which they were to find a home
in after years. The Rev. W. D. Martin, now of
Eastport, Maine, but then one of the vestry of
Mount Cavalry Church, acted as their lay reader.
Then follows the history of several years' struggle
under various missionaries, after which the letter
proceeds as follows :

"We had received notice that the building in
which we had erected our chapel had been sold to

the city and would shortly pass into its hands ;
not being able to secure another in the neighbor-
hood, and with the countenance of our friends
turned from us, our days as a congregation seemed
numbered. Mr. Maitland, a lay reader who had
often been with us, thinking to cheer us in our
trouble, got several clergymen, among them the
Eev. Fleming James and Rev. Hugh Roy Scott, to
come down at about the last service held at our
chapel. Mr. James preached. He took for his
text, Ex. xiv. 15, " Speak to the children of Israel
that they go forward. " There was a great deal to
cheer in the sermon, — there would have been more
if we could have known just then who was our
Moses. Immediately after the service we appointed
a committee to wait upon the rectors of the
churches who heretofore had assisted us to see if
any of them would take us in charge. The com-
mittee, at a following meeting, reported that all
those waited upon had expressed for various rea-
sons their inability to do so, except the rector of
Mount Calvary (Rev. Joseph Richey), who said if a
hall could not be obtained, he would make pro-
vision in his church, even to the extent of a special
service should we desire it ; though all the petvs
were free to all who chose to come, at any and every
service.

On Sunday, May 11, 1873, the Missionary con-
gregation of S. Philip's was dissolved. On Sunday,
May 18, the people who composed it identified them-
selves with Mount Calvary Chapel of S. Mary the

SixBt QUxjuaintance.

25

Virgin. It is a little singular to remark that the ser-
mon preached at the first service (11 o'clock a.m.)
by the Rev. Mr. Perry, priest in charge, was from
the same text in Exodus that the Rev. F. James
took for his ; it caused some of us to think that we
had found our Moses. At the evening service the
rector of the parish, Rev. Joseph Richey, preached.
In the course of his remarks, in stating why they
expected to succeed in a work that others had so
signally failed in, he said, "We have given you an
altar no whit inferior to that in the parish church ;
your services shall be the counterpart of those in
Mount Calvary, and everything that is necessary
for the edification of the people there, its likeness
shall be given you." We were treated no longer
as outcasts to whom it should be considered a
sufficient favor if the smallest trifle was given, but
as children of One Father, bought by the Blood of
One Redeemer, and sanctified by One Holy Spirit."

And so the work has been successful, was so
the moment those utterances were given with the
determination to act upon them.

Mr. Smith, the bishop's secretary — now the
Rev. J. Stewart Smith — often acted as lay reader
at S. Philip's, and it was at his suggestion that
the delegation called on the Mount Calvary Clergy
whom he had already interested in the cause.

The senior member of this committee, Mr. Rich-
ard Mason, a veteran in church work, frankly
confessed that the city clergy had warned them
against "Ritualism/' and that it would not be

26 gfoetoe Dears ^tnoug U)e Coloreb people.

to their advantage to connect themselves with
Mount Calvary Church, "but," he naively added,
"we have called in vain on these clergy to help
us. What can we do but come to you ? "

The lion-hearted Kichey was not the man to
turn a deaf ear to such an appeal, however lim-
ited his resources. While his invitation to the
colored congregation to attend the services of
Mount Calvary was heartily appreciated — the italics
in the above letter are Mr. Mason's — they strongly
urged that their separate existence should be main-
tained and a place of worship provided.

They undoubtedly were right. However much
any distinction in God's house or at God's altar as
to race, color or condition is to be condemned, it is
practically necessary, at least for the present, that
the Church should extend among the colored peo-
ple chiefly by getting them into separate congrega-
tions, or where that is not possible, by holding
special services for them.

It is said that, at the North, offerings are with-
held on the plea that the negroes to-day are as
much the parishioners of the Southern clergy as
are the whites, and that therefore there is no need
of incurring expense by furnishing for them spe-
cial clergy and churches. This is pure "theory."

The writer speaks as a Northerner, an "unre-
constructed" Northerner, and as an advocate of
the colored man. Yet he is bound to acknowledge
that he finds quite as much genuine attachment to
the colored man in the South as in the North, If

£ixst Acquaintance.

27

in the South there be a more deep-seated feeling
about the negro's social equality, right of suffrage,
and his mingling with white people in schools,
hotels, and public conveyances, there is much less
feeling of personal aversion to him on account of
color than in the North. Only those who have
lived in both sections of the country can rightly
comprehend this difference, or perhaps fully believe
in its existence.

Southerners have grown up with them as play-
mates or foster-brothers to whom they are tenderly
attached, and do not scruple to show marks of strong
affection. Old household servants bear relations to
their former masters and mistresses which are
utterly unknown in Northern households. Even
those closer relations of blood, which form the dark-
est and foulest feature in the history of slavery, are
not without examples of the love that would nat-
urally spring from such relationship.

Southerners would resent dining with colored
people as fellow-guests at a hotel or restaurant,
or even sharing a seat in the railway car, unless
they traveled as servants with them. We have
known ladies who would have struck from their
visiting list a friend who entertained a colored
guest, even the most cultured, but in times of lone-
liness or illness would share their bed with their
old " Mammy " without hesitation. The events of
the last twenty-five years have greatly disturbed
those relations, yet among the old Southern fami-
lies there remains much of the former tenderness.

28 Stoetoe $ears QVmong tl)c (Eoloreb People.

well illustrated by an anecdote of a Southern bishop
often related to the writer by this bishop's dear
friend, himself a representative Southerner, and
which we give in the words in which he has writ-
ten it out for us.

" Only one personally familiar with what has
ceased — thank God ! — knows how many were the
checks to a master's power, and how many the coun-
terpoises to the burden that rested on his slave.
Often very dependence begat an affectionate in-
terest, and early associations made loving friends
without a thought of being equal friends.

"An incident in the life of Bishop Polk, of
Louisiana, will illustrate what is asserted. He
was by inheritance and through marriage a large
slaveholder. He had no scruples of conscience to
make him think of freeing his bondmen; but his
conscience bade him care for them — for their bodies
and for their souls. In fact, a sense of responsi-
bility was one cause of loss of fortune to him. He
was their master, and therefore could not escape
from duty toward them. As in other respects duti-
ful, he was their faithful religious teacher.

"One of these slaves, who was his brother in
Christ, was drawing nigh to death. The bishop
had administered to him as a Christian priest.
Still watching by him he said, 'Tom, is there any-
thing else I can do for you?? The answer was,
* Yes, master, if you will only lie down by me on
the bed, and put your arm round my neck, and let
me put my arm round your neck as we used to do

-first Acquaintance.

29

when boys lying under the green walnut trees, I
think I could die more easy/ Thus lying in the
embrace of his master he passed away."

The average Northerner, on the other hand,
while he may without concern see the negro at the
ballot-box, occupying a neighboring stall at the
theater, or with equal freedom using public con-
veyances, is nevertheless indifferent to his wel-
fare. With a shrug he leaves him to take his
chances with other men, and rather prefers he
should keep at a distance. With few exceptions,
he is as unlikely as the Southerner to entertain
him at his table, and feels very thoroughly that he
has too long been a prominent factor in politics —
in which he is undoubtedly right, though the
blame is not to be laid to the colored man — and so
desires to hear as little of him as possible.

This marked difference of feeling toward the
colored people has long prevented hearty co-
operation of the two sections of the country in
working earnestly for their good. Yet until such
union there is little hope of their true advance-
ment. As President Haygood* well says, "In no
rational view of the case is this a question that one
political party or section of the country can solve
alone. If both parties, and both parties working
together, can solve it, they will do well. It would

* Rev. A. G. Haygood, D.D., President of Emory College,
Oxford, Ga.,who in " Our Brother in Black," while writing
as a Southerner, deals with the problem with great fairness
and cleverness.

30 Qlwcivz Hears ^tnong tlje QLoloxzb Jteopk.

be a misfortune to the country if either one of the
parties could solve it independently of the other
party. This is not a party or sectional problem,
it is the task of the nation"

In this matter of drawing a "color line 99 in the
churches there is little difference in the two sec-
tions of the country. In an old New England
church, we well remember the long line of neatly
dressed people with black faces coming from the
far-off gallery to make their communion after those
"in gold rings and goodly apparel" had first been
served at the Lord's Table. This custom is not
exceptional in the North.

To expect more of Southerners than of North-
erners is unreasonable. It is certainly the duty of
clergy and congregations of all Christian churches
to welcome colored communicants with that char-
ity which bears in mind that God is " no respecter
of persons/' but where there are a sufficient num-
ber of colored people, it is no doubt, at least while
prejudice remains so strong, best for themselves
that they should have churches of their own. In
the South there would often not be room in exist-
ing congregations for colored people. Hiring a
seat in Spewed churches" is contrary to their
customs and generally beyond their means. They
are not unnaturally too sensitive to occupy "free
seats 99 in some obscure corner. But there are other
and still more justifiable reasons. Only by gath-
ering them into separate congregations can services
and teachings be adapted to their condition and

-first Acquaintance. 31

wants, and so only can an active and personal
share in parochial work be theirs. As a part of a
white congregation, they would remain an inap-
preciable element. There could then be no sphere
of labor for colored clergy. The colored people
would not probably be found in choirs, vestries or
parochial societies, nor taking part in diocesan
affairs. They would therefore have little personal
interest in the Church's life and growth.

With these arguments the delegation from S.
Philip's urged their request. A place where they
could continue a distinct congregation was prom-
ised them if Bishop Whittingham approved.

The bishop readily gave his approval, although
on account of some former relations to the congre-
gation he requested us to begin our work among
colored people without relation to S. Philip's, and
under another name. The name of S. Mary the
Virgin was adopted for the new enterprise. A
few colored women who had long been communi-
cants of Mount Calvary Church and some others
gathered from the neighborhood were assembled
for the first service on Sunday morning, March
23, 1873, in the chapel of the All Saints Mission
House, No. 85 Preston St.

The All Saints Sisters of the Poor, at the request
of the Mount Calvary clergy and with the hearty
sanction of the Bishop of Maryland, had sent from
their mother house in London three of their num-
ber to establish the Order in Baltimore. These
English Sisters took a lively interest in the colored

32 fttodt)* Sears &mong tlje (JToloreb people.

people. Until we could obtain a building they
loaned their chapel, and soon after, one of their
number was assigned to work among the colored
people, for whom a Mission House and school on
Biddle Street were opened. At the first service, a
celebration of the Holy Communion, the priest in
charge was celebrant, assisted by the Rev. Evelyn
Bartow.

While worshiping in the Mission House we
had as server a comical little fellow, Henry, the
son of our cook at the Clergy House. He shall
describe himself. The Eev. Arthur Ritchie, dur-
ing that year one of our number, had observed the
way in which the colored people sort each other
out into " brown skinned men," "dark skinned
men," "yellow men," "light" and "fair" peo-
ple, while with cruel irony they sometimes speak
of white people in distinction from "colored" as
"plain people ! " This accuracy of classification
is apt to puzzle the uninitiated. So Mr. Ritchie
asked the boy, " Henry, are you a dark skinned
boy or a yellow skinned ? 97 " Fse neither, Massa
Ritchie, I'se kinder ginger snap color, sah ! "

Red cassocks had been suggested for use in the
choir, by Mr. Smith, the bishop's secretary, who
had won the bishop to the plan.

Later, owing to their offending some over-tender
consciences, the bishop said one day, " Perry, you'd
better send those cassocks to the dye-house." The
hint was taken and they became a more sober blue.
On the morning that the red cassock was to delight

first 3tqttaitttcmc£. 33

Henry, in spite of the anticipation, he, as was
not unusual, overslept himself. The cassock, owing
to some delay, remained unfinished, even sleeve-
less, in the sisters' workroom. About the middle
of the service the celebrant was startled by a
stealthy noise, and turning, saw Henry creeping
on all fours toward the altar, his black face, legs,
and arms protruding from the unfinished cassock
like the black head and legs of a huge red-winged
beetle.

Two months later we obtained a small hall on
Pennsylvania Avenue, near Orchard Street. Sun-
day, May 18, we held our first service there. The
larger portion of S. Philip's congregation, about
thirty communicants, then joined us. Had the pres-
ent beautiful marble altar and mosaic reredos then
adorned Mount Calvary, Mr. Eichey could not have
referred truthfully — as mentioned in Mr. Mason's
letter — to St. Mary's as its equal. But the ex-
temporized chancel was very pretty. The altar
was large and effective, its three re tables brilliant
with lights and flowers. Behind and at the sides
were hangings of white and blue. A surpliced choir
had been trained by Mrs. Mason, and the singing
was such as many a church might have emulated.

By the kindness of a friend, for whose generous
aid we cannot be too grateful, we were enabled to
call the Rev. Alfred B. Leeson, to assist in the
work. He had just entered on his labors when
the same friend purchased for our use a neat
chapel of white " Baltimoi'e County marble/'
3

34 Sfoetoe Uears &ntong tlje ©oloreb JJcopk.

situated on Orchard Street near the corner of
Madison Avenue. Orchard Street is exclusively
inhabited by colored people ; St. Mary's Street in
the rear of the chapel hardly less so. Yet both
are broad well-shaded streets, quite different from
the alleys into which most of the colored people
are crowded. The chapel is conveniently situated
almost directly across the street from Mount Cal-
vary Church. On Sunday, S. Matthew's day,
Sept. 21st, of the same year we held our first ser-
vice in our new home.

So with blessings beyond our fondest hopes, the
work began among a people whom the Church had
so long neglected. To the first effort in their be-
half they heartily responded, and from that time
have not failed to do their part. An intimate knowl-
edge of them has deepened the impression that while
they are as far removed from the ideal of the novel-
ist as the genuine Indian is from Cooper's " noble
savage," yet they possess amiable and noble traits
which have received scanty justice from their
white brethren. In estimating the character of
the colored people of this country, it is difficult to
do them justice on account of their juxtaposition
with a people of chiefly English origin. By no
people are they more likely to be severely judged,
in contrast to no people would they appear to
greater disadvantage.

The character of the English speaking people,
what is popularly termed Anglo-Saxon character,
has undoubtedly many noble traits. The English

iHrst &c*jnaiutanc£.

35

folk seem fitted and destined to become masters of
a great part of the world. In colonizing, in the
extending their language and in controlling
thought, they rival the Greeks, no less than in ex-
tending their empire they rival the Romans. They
carry with them into all lands sturdy virtues,
honesty, truthfulness, energy, and a sort of robust
manliness which never fails to command respect.

But their advent is not an unmixed joy to a
weaker race. They are prone to exterminate as
well as predominate. Before the march of their
superior institutions the aborigines vanish. Un-
like the warmer hearted Latin and Celtic races,
the Englishman has little power of adaptation to
the national peculiarities of other nations. Where
he cannot convert to his own standard he tramples
out. What he cannot assimilate he will not tole-
rate. As the genuine Englishman will eat, dress,
and work in a tropical country as he would in
England, and despises all food but joints of beef and
mutton, no matter in what climate, so he finds it
hard to do justice to virtues that he does not possess,
or condone the absence of those that are character-
istically English. He has little power to put him-
self in another's place. To the true Britisher, one
of another nation, and still more one of another
race, is as the Gentile to the Jew, the barbarian to
the Greek.

An acquaintance of the writer stood in an Italian
post office when an Englishman came in to have a
letter registered. The Italian postmaster, who

36 QLmivc fflears &mong tlje Coloreb JJeopU.

could understand though he could not speak Eng-
lish, took the letter and, in Italian, inquired the
name. The Englishman, who did not understand
a word of Italian, replied somewhat sternly, "I
wish it registered." "Si, Si, Signore, certamente;
che nome? With reddening face, the Englishman
thundered, "I wish it registered." How long
these pertinent replies might have followed cannot
be known, for the American gentleman at this
point stepped forward and said : " The postmaster
is quite ready to send the letter, sir, but asks your
name." "Aw!" replied the now pacified repre-
sentative of the British lion, " I did not under-
stand. How unfortunate for these Italians that
they do not understand our language."

Exclusive of the negro, the inhabitants of the
United States are chiefly of English origin. As
Mr. Freeman well observes in his sagacious but
thoroughly English Impressions of the United
States," "though the infusion of foreign elements
has been large, yet it is the English kernel which
has assimilated these foreign elements." It is our
privilege, as he claims for us, as it may well be our
pride, to belong to the great family of "English
folk." Yet this "infusion of foreign element," as
well as many other causes, as of climate, national
institutions, early French influences and the like,
have greatly modified in us the character which we
may term English or British, since Anglo-Saxon
is not unreasonably condemned in the above work
as a misnomer. Not without the loss of some of

£h&t &nfuaintcmc£. 37

the sterner, manly characteristics of our English
forefathers, the bluntness, the shyness, the ex-
clusiveness, the' inadaptability of the genuine
Britisher have also to a great extent disappeared
in his "American cousin." But we have not lost
those English traits which serve to drive out and
exterminate, instead of raising and assimilating,
weaker races, as may be seen in our attitude toward
the three of the great families of mankind in our
land — the Indian, the Negro, the Mongolian. The
presence of these alien races is an offense to us,
largely because they are so dissimilar to ourselves,
while their virtues — virtues which those who know
them best testify are characteristic in each of these
races — count for little because they are not English
virtues. For example, do gentleness, endurance,
gratitude, warm affection, amiability, a dread of
bloodshed, and deep, devotional spirit count for
nothing in the negro character? But it is his
alleged dishonesty and unchastity that are alone
dwelt upon, and chiefly because he is contrasted
not with the white man in general, but with Eng-
lish speaking peoples, who especially pride them-
selves, though we fear with ever lessening claim,
on honesty and chastity. But the African is
a son of the tropics. His blood has boiled for
ages in equatorial heat. Aside from all questions
of the influence of slavery, resemblances to his
native character among white peoples should be
sought not among the descendants of those who
were nursed amid the cold mists and bracing blasts

38 QTrodue Urns QVtnong l\)c (Eoloreb tkanle.

of the North Sea, bat among the children of
warmer climes beneath southern skies. If he is
lacking in the ferociousness, the lore of slaughter,
and the devotion to selfish interests which are ever
reappearing in those in whose veins flows the blood
of the Norsemen and the Vikings, it is not
strange that he should reveal the passionate yet
indolent tendencies of all Southern races.

It was during a brief stay in Italy that this
thought forcibly impressed the writer. The kind-
ness of dear and honored friends there, whose pa-
tience with his inquisitiveness he cannot too grate-
fully acknowledge, gave him unusual advantage in
gaining an insight into the character of the people,
in spite of his visit being confined to a few weeks.
No one would think, unless from very Anglican
prejudice, of classing as among inferior races the in-
habitants of that fairest of all lands, the successors
and at least in part the descendants of the people
who once ruled the world, who in later times have
gained more glorious victories in the realm of
thought and art, by Dante, by Petrarch and
Sappho, by Raphael and Michael Angelo. If to-day
young Italy rising to a third career of greatness,
with the invincible and immortal vigor which
neither Rome's decline, nor Papal oppression
could shackle with eternal chains, is not allowed
to be, as the writer felt, the most fascinating and
in many respects one of the noblest of the peoples
of the earth, yet who would dare to look with con-
descension upon the Roman or the Florentine, or

-first Acquaintance, 39

even the Neapolitan or the Venetian? Yet in the
working classes of these lovely cities, especially of
the last two named, are found many of those traits
which are common, as we believe, to all Southern
natures, but from which as " negro characteristics "
we turn with aversion. An intelligent English lady,
who has for many years kept house near Naples,
spoke of her love for the lower classes of Southern
Italy, but she added that one must know them
well to feel so toward them. The first impression
was of their dishonesty and untruthfulness. Sums
of money and valuables might be left unguarded,
but she knew that many families were being fed
from the pilfering from her store-room. This they
did not consider stealing. They seldom told ma-
licious or deliberate lies, but their excuses did not
bear the light of truth. Winning in their ways,
grateful and faithful to those they loved, they
were a race of affectionate children. Could the
colored servants of a Southern household be more
accurately described ?

In loveliest Venice too, the chorus that early in
the morning wakens one who dwells near the
mouth of the Grand Canal, the ceaseless chatter of
gondoliers, peasants and beggars gathered on the
Riva, mingled with snatches of song, mock quarrels
and bursts of laughter, while from the narrow
"Calli" are heard the pathetic, pleading cries of
the hucksters, chanting the merits of their wares,
are not unlike the noises that are heard through
the open windows in Baltimore at the same hour,

40 (&wivt H&zaxQ ^ntong ll)c Qlokrreir tropic.

when the sprinkling of streets and the washing
of marble steps begin. The colored people are
not less like the Venetian, as Howell cleverly de-
scribes him, "loving best of everything a clamor-
ous quarrel carried on with the canal between him
and his antagonist ; but next to this he loves to
spend his leisure at the ferry in talking of eating
and of money."

Howell quotes a recent Venetian writer as say-
ing, " No one can deny that our populace is loqua-
cious and quick witted, but on the other hand no
one can deny that it is regardless of improvement.
Venice, a city exceptional in its construction, its
customs, and its habits, has also an exceptional
populace. It still feels, although sixty-eight years
have passed, the influence of the system of the
fallen Eepublic, of that oligarchic government,
which affording almost every day some amusement
of the people, left them no time to think of their
offended rights."

The "cake walk " and nightly dance served much
the same purpose in causing the slave to forget his
bondage. Even the form of their religion, the wild
orgies of the bush-meeting, left their moral train-
ing as neglected as the empty ecclesiastical pageants
of the Italian Church left that of the Venetians.
The lack of work at Venice, and the small amount
of work expected or required from the slave also
have produced like results. Both people seem, in
the expressive language of the colored people, to
have " been born tired." So long has every career

first ftnjtiamtatu*. 41

worthy of ambition been closed to them, they have
ceased to strive. Nature adapts herself. The
organs of sight in the mole become small, in the fish
of subterranean caves they disappear. No wonder
the negro has in many respects (as he expresses
it), " de-vanced instead of advanced." The great
difficulty of stimulating the colored people to
throw off this lethargy has been one of the chief
discouragements to be met by those who have
labored among them. But a trait that has for
ages been crushed out demands time for restora-
tion. The convalescent walks with but feeble
steps at first in daisied fields, which yet he may
have viewed from his window with longing eyes.

The two peoples have the same power of lightly r
throwing off sorrow and misery and laughing
through their tears. They have grown content with
their lot. A feast of polenta and a half glass of the
cheap native wine, and the Venetian is happy as a
king. Its memories furnish an agreeable topic for
thought and conversation the rest of the day. It
is of little moment if he sleep under his cloudless
beautiful sky. Climate makes the colored man of
America differ from him in this last respect only.
To pay his rent and keep a roof over his head is
his first anxiety. Landlords prefer colored tenants
to white ; they say that they are more sure of their
rent. In the matter of eating there is a closer re-
semblance to the Italian. None enjoy good eat-
ing more than the colored people. They are born
cooks and epicures. Soft shell crabs, canvas backs

and terrapin are more frequently found at their
feasts than would be supposed. But they are as
cheerful and content when they return to their
frugal meals — if meals they have. Many house-
holds have no regular meals. Each member of
the family comes in from his work when he can,
"snatches a bite" — his mouth as full of laughter
as of food — and is off again.

This simple, childlike nature, improvident, cloak-
ing misery beneath laughter, has been at once
the protection and the curse of both peoples.
One who lives among the Italian peasantry or the
Southern freedmen grows to expect little of them,
and to love them and indulge them as children.
Who can resist the pleading look from the deep
violet eyes of the picturesque youth who has listless-
ly guided your gondola to the landing, when you
know that a few soldi dropped into a hand ex-
tended with a courtier's grace will bring a gleam
of sunshine from the beautiful eyes and from the
full ripe Italian lips a torrent of benedictions that
will flatter you into thinking yourself generous ?
If the colored people have not as a rule the same
eloquence of beauty, they are not destitute of grace,
and it is with much the same feeling that the true
Southerner regards the " old time " negro.

There are few street beggars among the colored
people. There is little need of soliciting on the
street. Besides the fact that they are content with
little, and that although they may berate each
other with their tongues they are very generous in

£ixst QUrfttciintannr. 43

aiding each other in real need, there is for the older
generation " ole massa " as a last resort. Aunt
Tilly "Hasjis dropped roun' to see if Massa's bin
well all dis time, cause Aunt Tilly thought a mos'
Massa must ha' done gone away, caus? she 'lows
it seems like he mos' forgot Aunt Tilly so long/'
and as the faithful old soul drops a courtesy with
the words, "Spec' Honey ain't goin' to forgit Aunt
Tilly dis time no how, is ye ?" few genuine true-
hearted Southerners would resist the appeal. Much
of this old patriarchal feeling remains in all parts
of the South, and many an old household servant
is kept comfortably housed and fed by children
and even grandchildren of former owners.

There is something which peculiarly appeals to
the strong Anglo-Saxon heart in this relation of
dependence, as the strong-hearted oak seems to
woo the vine to wTind its tendrils about its sturdy
limbs.

Yet however kind-hearted this manner of treat-
ing the colored people may be, and perhaps neces-
sary in past relations, it will not now fit him for
that struggle in life which in his changed con-
dition he cannot escape. For the younger genera-
tion at least it is mistaken kindness. It belongs
to that same tendency of which Howell complains
in regard to the Venetians, "really fatal to all sin-
cerity of judgment, and incalculably mischievous
to such down-fallen people as have felt the baleful
effects of the world's sentimental, impotent sym-
pathy."

44 (&mlvc gears ^ntottg t\)c (Eoloreb Jjkopk.

There are graver charges against the colored
man which we must not ignore. To his alleged
dishonesty we have already alluded. Clear notions
of the right of property is probably among all na-
tions a result of civilization. The absolute savage
cannot draw a very distinct line between " meum"
and "tuum." Slavery was a poor instructor in
this principle of social economy, and it is not re-
markable that such ideas of the right of possession
as the African may have brought from his native
wilds should have been sadly confused. Dr.
Tucker, in his "Relations of the Church to the
Colored Race,"* a witness that cannot be im-
pugned as prejudiced in the negro's favor, thus
apologizes for this habit of pilfering. "It never
seemed wrong for the slave to steal from his own
master. He was but property himself, and it was
'all in the family/ Besides he worked for noth-
ing, and it seemed to him but justice that he
should enjoy some of his master's good things, for
which his labor paid. Something of this feeling
the owners also had, so that petty pilfering was
looked upon by both races as a matter of course, a
thing to be winked at. * * * This was always
in all countries one of the natural results of slav-

* We by no means agree with much in Dr. Tucker's pam-
phlet, but we respect his candor, and as a discussion of the
question from a strongly Southern stand-point, it demands
an attentive consideration. Both it and the able answer by
Dr. Crummel, a representative negro, should be carefully
read by those who would master the "negro problem."

-first Acquaintance. 45

ery * * * They would rarely steal money even
when they had opportunity."

This amounts to an acquittal of the negro as a
race of any characteristic tendency to steal. To
help himself to his master's .goods is the natural
instinct of the slave of any race. It was so of the
Eoman slaves, who were captives of all races. The
slave's way of looking at the question is well illus-
trated by Sambo, who, when rebuked for stealing
his master's turkey, replied, " Sambo no steal tur-
key. Sambo massa's, and turkey massa's. Turkey
jis much massa's when he inside Sambo as eber."

Were dishonesty universal among the colored
people as a result of past slavery, it could not be a
cause of surprise. But it is not. There are men
and women among the colored people upon whose
honesty entire trust may be placed. We may well
hope, therefore, that in a state of freedom, and
with the restraints with which civilized society
protects itself, the negro will become sufficiently
honest to cause the white man to lock to his own
record on Wall Street before he points the finger
at his black brother. As to the charge of univer-
sal untruthfulness in the negro, Dr. Tucker points
out that the "instinct of concealment" also is a
necessary result of slavery. It is indeed the excep-
tional school-boy who will not lie out of a flogging.
Such virtue could not be expected in the slave.
It may be predicted, however, that the negro, in
common with all Oriental peoples, and with South-
ern Europeans, will never have as strict a standard

46 (twelve $kars ^tnoug tfye (loloreb JJeople,

of veracity as that which seems to be naturally
connected with the bluntness and coldness of
Northern races.

But the gravest charge that has been made
against the negro, one that may not be ignored in
any candid consideration of his character, is, that
chastity is unknown to him. It must be acknowl-
edged that revolting facts seem to justify the asser-
tion. Atrocious deeds that appear not infrequently
in our papers seem to make men guard their wives
and daughters from some of their former slaves as
from brute beasts.

It has been customary to assert that licentious-
ness is an element of the African character brought
with him from his native home, a necessary trait
of barbarous life. The assertion seems wholly un-
warranted. It is apparently only a welcome but
futile subterfuge of the white man, who may well
shrink from regarding the degradation of his black
brother as the result of his own institution.

Dr. Crummell, who has lived twenty years in
West Africa, says of the native women, " Their
maidenly virtue, the instinct to chastity, is a
marvel. I have no hesitation in the generaliza-
tion that in West Africa, every female is a virgin
to the day of her marriage. The harlot class is
unknown in all their tribes. I venture the asser-
tion that any one walking through Pall Mall, Lon-
don, or Broadway, New York, for a week would
see more indecency in look and act than he could
discover in an African town in a dozen years.

irirst QUxjuaintcmce. 47

During my residence there I only once saw an in-
decent act." Bishop Penick, formerly of Cape
Palmas, himself a Southerner, and "called into
court " as a witness by Dr. Tucker, says, " It is a
very rare exception to find a young woman or man
by look or gesture conveying an immodest impres-
sion. So one may walk through a heathen town
full of almost naked people and see less immodesty
than in some of our most fashionable streets in
some of our best cities." "It is a very rare thing
to see a native man or woman do an immodest act
or to say an immodest word."

In order to add testimony wholly independent
of any controversial bias, the following letter has
been obtained from a distinguished missionary of
the University Mission to Central Africa. It is due
to the kindness of a friend, Mr. Edward Wink-
ley — himself preparing at the Missionary Theo-
logical College at Dorchester, for the same mission
field — who asked Mr. Johnson's opinion of the
statement contained in Dr. Tucker's speech, " That
what we call morality, whether in the relation of
the sexes, or in the sense of truthfulness, or in
the sense of honesty, has no lodgment whatever
in the native African heart." This is his reply :

Jan. 23, 1884.

Dear Sir,

Mr. W. Las brought under my notice some paragraphs
which represent the negro as devoid of moral feeling.
After seven years intimate communion with Africans in
East Africa between 5° south and 16° south, I feel called

48 (twelve Sears QVmong tl)t (Holoxch JJeople.

on to testify to the moral practice of the natives I have
come across.

The marriage tie is respected, and the youth of each vil-
lage lead a life generally free from gross immorality.
Partly owing to the hardships attaching to their life, they
are very slaves to eating and drinking, and even if native
beer abounds are very besotted. Any use of bad language is
a gross offense against society. and is only picked up from the
coast people. Venereal diseases are only known as imported
from the coast. Lying is stigmatized as from a bad heart,
and in judging of apparent acts of deception we must re-
member that very often a different standard of truth is
adopted in dealing with foreigners, even when people are
honest in dealing among themselves. Theft is summarily
punished, and we often leave articles about in reach of
natives and nothing is lost. The difference between a good
and a bad heart is considered a radical one, and all good
actions are no mere chance phenomena but due to the good
heart, and vice versa. Here we see the terrible results of
the slave trade. When the people reach the coast they
have had a shock sufficient to banish ideas of decency, of
fidelity, and of all self-respect, and may well doubt if the
good heart exists, and cease to seek it. No wonder if
slaves are grossly sensual and sometimes thieves, and lie to
them they have no respect for. (Signed)

W. P. Johnson.

An All Saints' Sister, now in Baltimore, but
who has been laboring for five years in quite
another part of Africa, at the Cape, permits me to
add that what is stated above of the natives of
Central Africa, is quite true, not only of the Bush-
men and Hottentots, but also of the many negroes
at the Cape, brought originally as slaves from the
interior, and that the colonists much prefer the

iHrst ^cqncimtance. 49

latter as servants to such whites as they are likely
to obtain, on account of superior honesty and
truthfulness.

From the testimony of such competent witnesses
we must conclude either that the African tribes
are exceptionally chaste, or what, alas! seems but too
probable, that unchastity being not a law, but a
violation of nature, is a result of civilization and a
lesson which the white man has taught the negro.

Can it be questioned that this lesson has been
taught in the most degrading way during the two
hundred years of slavery ? Dr. Crummell draws
the picture in very plain language and with a
vehemence which is natural to an indignant cham-
pion of the negro race.

After allowing that there was a large class of
good slaveholders who, "like baronial lords, like
patriarchs of old, like the grand aristocrats of
civilized society, were kind, generous, humane " —
they were "noblemen" — he proceeds to describe
those who were of a far different character :

" They herded their slaves together like animals.
They were allowed to breed like cattle. The mar-
riage relation was utterly disregarded. All through
the rural districts, on numerous plantations, the
slaves for generations merely mated as beasts.
They were separated at convenience, caprice, or at
the call of interest. When separated each took up
with other men or women as lust or inclination
prompted. Masters and ministers of the gospel
taught their slaves not only that there was no sin
4

50 ®tDdu£ treats &ntong tl)e (ftoloreir Jkople.

in such alliances, but that it was their duty to

make new alliances The cases are

numerous where men, sold from one plantation to
another, have had six or eight living wives, and
women as many living husbands. Nay, more
than this, I have the testimony where one man
less than fifty years old was the father of over sixty
children ; of another man who was kept on a plan-
tation with full license as a mere breeder of human
beings! .... But it should be remembered
that these gross sins are common as well among
the whites of the South as among its black popu-
lation. It filled them full of lust as well as their
victims."

Eevolting as this description maybe, we are not
aware that these, and even more distressing details,
are anywhere denied. Dr. Tucker, in his own
pamphlet, admits, indeed emphasizes, these same
facts. Every one who has worked among the
freedmen is perfectly familiar with this condition
of things. In our own work we have had under
our pastoral care women who, in former days, were
kept upon plantations solely for the purpose of
raising children for sale from fathers, both white
and colored, selected for their valuable qualities.
Even in the case of good owners, it was, on large
plantations, the household servants who chiefly ex-
perienced their kindness or profited by their exam-
ple. The management of the field hands was neces-
sarily left to subordinates, and their great numbers
prevented their being housed or treated like human

-first &njttaintcmcc.

51

beings. Many Southerners sought to excuse to
themselves this system by believing they were not
human beings. Learned professors wrote books,
still extant, excluding them from the plan of re-
demption, and a lady of a large Southern city told
the writer she had become unpopular among her
friends for expressing a belief that they had souls.
The example of the whites with whom their inter-
course was most intimate did nothing to lift them
from their sins. From unimpeachable testimony
the writer knows of bands of dissolute young men
who, taking advantage of the strict regulations
which forbade, under penalty of severe punishment,
the free colored people from being out of their
houses after 10 p.m., or from social gatherings,
without expensive permits, would drag men from
their homes, beat and bind them, and return to
outrage their wives and daughters. As a colored
man's testimony was not received in the courts,
there was no redress.

Says Dr. Tucker : "That the white people were
at heart no better than themselves, they were posi-
tive. Had they not proof ? Whence came so
many mulattoes ? " The temptation which came
from the opportunity of being the petted favorite
of an owner and escaping hardship as the price of
virtue, especially as the tempter who asked consent
had the right to compel, was still more demoral-
izing than acts of violence.

So by the force of example, by the dictates of
self-interest, and often by compulsion, the colored

people, whether slaves or free, were taught to dis-
regard every principle of purity. How can chas-
tity be looked for in less than twenty years after
emancipation, when for two hundred years they
had been trained to disregard it ?

With such a training it were not strange if
chastity were utterly unprized or even unknown
among a people who are all either freedmen or
the descendants of slaves. But such is not the
case. In spite of past traditions, in spite of their
defective religious systems, and notwithstanding
the prevalent licentiousness and increasing tend-
ency to disregard the sanctity and indissolubility of
marriage among Americans, to whom they should
look for a better example, a great number of
former slaves since emancipation have settled down
into chaste and orderly households.

If in parts of the South there are, as is claimed,
great numbers living together without legal mar-
riage, so there are other parts where so to live ex-
cludes the guilty from all intercourse with the
more orderly and intelligent. It must be ad-
mitted, indeed, that the great mass of colored
people are far, very far from prizing chastity as
they should, yet there are many young women in
our own congregation whom we not only could
point out as virtuous, but some as modest and as
pure in thought and feeling as could be wished.
To reach this point when surrounded by tempta-
tions unknown to those in higher circles of society,
is surely a proof of what grace can do for them,

and should be a sufficient incentive to hasten with
Christian love to bring others to the same condition.

We recall these things of the past not to revive
old issues. The institution of slavery has forever
passed away, as much to the satisfaction of all the
better class of Southern people as of Northern.
The former may condemn the manner of emanci-
pation, and some of its results; few, if any, regret
that slavery is no more. Let it be forgotten and
forgiven, a curse upon the master no less than upon
the slave; a curse, which if it found its stronghold
in the South, was at first chiefly brought upon the
land by the North. But in judging of the present
character of the colored people, or in forecasting
their future, these facts of the past cannot be
ignored without leading to injustice and error.
If, too, the white man is chiefly responsible for
these evils, it should lead him to pity rather than
censure, to hasten to remedy the evil they have
caused rather than shrink from its results. What
selfishness and lust have wrought, that the grace of
God can in His own good time counteract. If it
lead any to more earnest efforts to hasten this
time, the purpose of the writer will be attained.

It has been hoped, moreover, that the foregoing
consideration of the traits of the negro, as a race,
and the comparison of him with other types of
mankind, might somewhat indicate the character
of the laborer who will most successfully work for
his good and the spirit in which the work must
be undertaken.

54 Ctoelue gears Slmong tfje Coloreb People.

There have been strong advocates of late for in-
creasing, at any price, the number of colored
clergy, and many have affirmed that they only can
effectually accomplish the conversion of their peo-
ple. The necessity of colored clergy and laymen
has been strongly pressed by a recent conference of
colored clergy of onr Church held in New York.
Any suggestions that come from the most intelli-
gent of their own race, should be heartily wel-
comed by those who are truly interested in them,
and demand respectful consideration. The ob-
jection that is said to have been made by a bishop
to such a meeting, that the Church knew well
enough how to conduct her work and needed no sug-
gestions, is absurd. The proof of its absurdity is
the lamentable failure of the Church thus far in
the work. Yet we regret the apparent meaning
of the resolutions that none but colored clergy
should work among colored people; a meaning
which we have been informed upon the best
authority it was not intended they should convey.
In the main they are right. Clergy of their own
race can accomplish a work among them that no
white man can do, however willing to make all
requisite sacrifices. They alone can enter into
the very heart's sanctuary of the negro and view
things from his standpoint. They are free from
suspicions with which a great number of the
colored people continue to view the most devoted
of their white fi'iends.

But the clergy of their own race must come

-first SVcxfitcriniimce. 55

from the very best and most favored of their
people, and be fully equipped to bear favorable
comparison with their white brethren. No in-
ferior article will pass. An unfortunate but
general disposition to disparage those of their
own race makes it difficult under the most favora-
ble circumstances for colored clergy to gain the
respect of their people. If the colored clergy- are
treated as inferiors by their white brethren, or if
there be any recognized difference of intellectual
requirements, or any ecclesiastical disabilities by
which they are distinguished from them, their
failure is certain.

No doubt the permanent diaconate after the
primitive model might be usefully revived irre-
spective of color. It might be a distinct Order
with a confessedly lower grade of scholarship.
Catechists, teachers, and lay-readers may all be
useful among the colored people, as they may
among any people. But any " class legislation"
lowering the standard of the priesthood on the
"color line" will certainly prove fatal to the
Church's growth among them.

Such legislation is, moreover, wholly unneces-
sary. There are many intelligent, sensible, well-
mannered young colored men who would require
no dispensation from literary qualifications. They
need only to be sought out by the Church, assured
of support and of brotherly sympathy, and properly
trained and educated. Their education will take
time. Better hasten slowly than repent at leisure.

56 STtoetoe gears &tnong t\)c QLoioxcb people.

In the mean time white clergy must do much of
the work. For many reasons it is best they should
be engaged in the work for many years to come,
even if there were as many well educated colored
clergy as could be wished. There are traits of
character and results of civilization which can
thus best be imparted from the dominant to the
advancing race. Thus too, will the bond of fel-
lowship be best maintained between the two races
and mutual suspicions allayed.

White clergy, to be of any use among them, must
be liberal minded, large hearted, sympathetic men.
They must not regard them solely from an Angli-
can standpoint, and not be blind to their virtues and
amiable traits. They must be ready to become as
a negro to the negroes if they would win the negro,
as fully as St. Paul became as a Jew to the Jews
or as a Gentile to the Gentiles. They must be
moved as little by bitter taunt and prejudice as was
our Lord by the words "This man receiveth sin-
ners and eateth with them." The missionary does
not hesitate to live on most familiar terms with
Chinese, Hottentot, or Esquimaux. The explorer
for mere scientific purposes will do the same. The
true friend of the spread of the gospel will learn
to dissociate such intercourse from that which is
for merely political demagogical purposes. The
writer does not blush to own that he has laughed
in their joys and wept in their sorrows, eaten with
them, slept with them, been their guest and enter-
tained them, known them as dear friends and com-

-first ^ofncrintanee. 5?

panions. He who is their spiritual father, and
fears in so doing "to lose his social position/' has
no "social position" worth guarding. Yet the
writer does not deny that in the earlier years of
his work he sometimes winced under taunt and
scorn, and that he keenly felt some dear friends'
dislike to be seen with one who had been on the
street in the company of his colored parishioners. A
wounded soldier may tear the poisoned barb from
the quivering flesh lest it impede him in battle, but
it is not without anguish. But it is to be acknowl-
edged with devout gratitude to God that in the
last ten years a marked change in sentiment has
taken place. Some who once looked with suspicion
on the work now fearlessly, aid and defend it.
Some of the most ardent Southerners championed
it from the start. Notably did one of Maryland's
noblest laymen, now called to rest, who languished
in a Northern fortress for his principles during the
war, but never wavered in his confidence in the
clergy who directed the work at S. Mary's, nor
failed in finding an excuse for their mistakes.

It is likely that clergy who will be ready to go
forth in this spirit to labor among the colored peo-
ple will be largely drawn from the higher ranks of
society. Such men, it is said, show most endurance
in military life — they are certainly not least likely
to "endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus
Christ." They are also least sensitive about "en-
dangering their social position." It is at all events
absolutely necessary that they should have acquired

58 (tiottoe gears Qlmong tl)* (Eoloireir People.

refinement and the marks of good breeding, if not
" to the manner born." Few so quickly detect the
gentleman as the Southern negro. They respect
"quality," but "have no use fur poJ white trash.'5
Persons of refinement can most freely mingle with
them without losing their respect, or without ex-
hibiting the condescension which they resent. At
an after-dinner speech at an anniversary of that
admirable institution, the Missionary Theological
College at Dorchester, England, a gentleman of
long experience in Central Africa spoke of this
same instinctive recognition of a gentleman as a
trait of the natives, who in their own language dis-
tinguished between " gentlemen " and " gentlemen
gentlemen." "There is doubtless," he said, "work
for all in the ministry, but send only the sons of
gentlemen to Africa."

It was the need of men of refinement and intel-
ligence who would go forth in the spirit we have
indicated that was felt by that noble martyr of our
communion, Bishop Patterson, in his work among
a kindred race, the blacks of the Meianesian Isles.

"It was never the way," says his admirable
biographer, " where 3Ir. Patterson reigned, to
have one sort of work for the white and another
for the black. Black people are no worse than
white, and it was contrary to the main idea of the
mission that a white man, because he was white,
should have a right to make a black man work be-
cause he was black." "In truth, what he did
want, were men equal to himself, and he was the

.first QVcrfuamtcmce. 59

only man who did not know that such men are
rare. He would not have any one who would de-
spise the natives, and wisli to make Englishmen
of them. God did not make all the world Eng-
lish, and what these natives were intended to be
was a something very different from Englishmen.
They must lead a godly and a Christian life, but
he wished to teach them to do this by making
them see for themselves what was wrong in their
own customs, and leave it off for that reason, not
merely copy what their teachers did."

These principles, upon which the Church in the
South Sea Islands was successfully built, are those
upon which rest the conversion of the colored peo-
ple of the United States.

CHAPTER III.
s. maky's chapel and its services.

The property which was placed at the disposal
of the clergy of Mount Calvary Church was an
edifice built for the use of a small congregation
of Swedenborgians. It was of white Baltimore
limestone (an inferior kind of marble, easily
worked, and effective in appearance). The build-
ing was two stories, the lower, with floor a little be-
low the street line, had been used as a boys' school-
room, the upper as a room for services and worship.
It was about fifty feet long and forty feet broad,
outside measurements. Soon after we had begun
to use it, a porch was added in front, in which was
placed a double staircase leading to the upper floor.
The design of this addition, while in keeping with
the rest of the building, relieved the front on
Orchard Street. By it, very considerable addition
was made to the seating capacity of the chapel.

In 1878, it was found that the work required an
enlargement of the building. The generous giver
of the chapel assured the clergy that the houses
and land in the rear, fronting fifty-five feet on S.
Mary's Street, would be given whenever the time
came that an addition could be made without in-
curring debt. To this end, by the help of those

S. ittarjj's (Jltjajjel anb its Services. 61

interested in this work, and in answer to personal
appeals among the clergy of the church about ten
thousand dollars was raised by the priest in charge
of the work. The property was conveyed to the
Diocese of Maryland in trust. The dwellings on
S. Mary's Street were removed, and on Sunday,
September 7, 1879, the corn'er stone of the addi-
tion was laid by the Kev. Dr. Rich, Dean of the
Convocation of Baltimore, in the presence of a large
congregation of clergy and people. The addition
was about seventy feet long by fifty-five feet wide,
and is so constructed that it furnishes transepts
and chancel, while the older portion is the nave of
a church about one hundred and thirty feet long.
By the side of the chancel is a porch with stairs
leading to *S. Mary's Street, a choir room, about
sixteen feet square, an organ room and priests'
vesting room. The architectural treatment of the
old portion made it possible for the accomplished
and attentive architects, Messrs. Wyatt & Sperry,
to make the new part, while agreeing with that to
which they were adding in general design, in detail
much more impressive, and, while not carrying
the new walls to any greater height than the old,
by breaking the roof at the transepts, they prevented
the long low look which must otherwise have been,
but which now appears of such liberal proportions
as almost to make the observer forget what the
real size is. The chancel is about twenty-five feet
wide by twenty-eight deep. The need of a passage
from one side to the other, behind the altar, made

02 Qtwtlvt gears ^ntong tl)c QLolovcb JJcopU.

it necessary to put up a partition which is con-
tinued as a screen in front of the east window, and
serves as a reredos. The light coming out from
either side at times presents a halo-like appearance,
a fit accompaniment of the Presence on the altar
below.

The chancel arch of brick, supported on two
polished Aberdeen granite columns, was erected by
the Sunday School, and by friends of the Rev.
Harrison H. "Webb, the second colored clergyman
in Baltimore, as a memorial of him, and of the Rev.
Joseph Richey, Rector of Mount Calvai»y Church
at the time that the clergy there undertook this
work.

The choir rails of solid oak break on one side
into a rounding pulpit. These were the gift of two
ladies in memory of a faithful nurse, whose lov-
ing care in their childhood is thus recalled. The
choir stalls were given by the members of the choir
and by the guild. The floor of the choir was laid
in wood by the members of the Sinking Fund
Association. The altar-rail was the gift of two
officers of the army stationed at the fort, who took
great interest in S. Mary's. The altar, which had
been built by the priest in charge, assisted by the
young men of the congregation, does service until
a permanent one is provided to take its place.

The work went on with the usual interruptions.
No secure foundation for tower and chancel could
be found until a depth of sixteen feet had been
reached. Other hinderances occurred, and it was

8. illarji's <£l)a:pd anb its Senrices.

03

not until the Feast of the Purification of the B. V.
M., Feb. 2cl, 1880, that the services were first held
in the new part, and then the walls were but freshly
covered with nndried mortar, and it was with
danger to health that any could sit in the new
part of the church. Still no ill effects followed,
and from that day on it has been shown that the
church was none too large for the people who
ought to be gathered in.

The finishing of the church was left until all
the cost of the erection of the new part was paid.
As this is gradually in process of accomplishment,
at divers times steps have been taken for needed
articles. The last was the seating of the church
with permanent benches, the offerings of individ-
uals and families.

So far God has blessed us. There is much yet
to be done. The basement, the front of which is
the Vinton Chantry, used for most of the services
except those of Sunday, is still unfinished, al-
though used as a school by the sisters. And mor-
tar and paint are called for to make more comfort-
able and to keep in repair that already erected.
We may not be in debt, and we must go on.

The above description of the building is kindly
contributed by Mr. Paine, whose indefatigable at-
tention in superintending the building of the ad-
dition has made him more familiar than the priest
in charge with the dimensions and other architect-
tural details of the building.

The description would suffice were there not in

the chancel some articles of no great intrinsic
value but prized for their quaintness and their as-
sociations. Their enumeration will be pardoned by
the casual reader for the sake of those who are moro
personally interested. On the altar shelves, or re-
tables, are the cross given by Dr. Mahan, and six
candlesticks engraved with the names of those in
whose memory they were given, Rev. 0. P. Vinton,
James D. W. Perry, and H. B. J. On festivals,
vases of flowers and branched candelabra are
added. The panels of the altar are decorated with
curious paintings of the Crucifixion, the Annun-
ciation and the Magi. The latter are oddly enough
represented upon horses. The panels were painted
for the altar by Monks of the Eastern Church in
Jerusalem. They are in the peculiar Oriental
style, brilliant in gold and with stiff conventional
figures. They were the gift of Mr. David Jamal,
a brother of the Rev. Chaleel Jamal, a Syrian priest
of the English Church. Mr. Jamal visited the
clergy in Baltimore, and made an interesting ad-
dress at S. Mary's. The " Yankee curiosity " dis-
played during his visit is probably remembered by
Mr. Jamal, and will certainly not be soon forgotten
by his traveling companion on a trip made during
his visit to Mount Vernon. Dressed in his native
costume, Mr. Jamal had not only the usual escort
of "ragamuffins" in the streets and circle of in-
quisitors on the steamer, but the climax was
reached on the grounds. Left a moment alone
before the door of the dining hall while his com-

S. ittartTs CEtjapel cmb its Senrices. 65

pan ion secured seats, he was found opposite to an
" American/' such as is seen represented on the
stage and portrayed in the pages of English novels,
but the only living specimen we ever remember to
have met. He was a true " Brother Jonathan " of
the Western type, with striped vest and baggy,
short-legged pantaloons. An enormous straw hat
shaded his brown face and shaggy brows. He held
a huge stick extending backward under one arm,
while the end in front of him he energetically
whittled with a jack-knife that might have served
a butcher. As he rolled a " cud" about in his ca-
pacious cheek with a movement of jaws like a con-
templative cow, his calm gaze was steadfastly fixed
on the amazed Syrian. As we approached, the
spell was broken, the huge lips parted, and delib-
erately out rolled the words, " Stranger, he you
Injun?" We confess it was with relief we took
the return steamer, but our woes were not ended.
Among the crowd who again gathered around our
friend, one was suddenly struck by a " happy
thought." From the depths of his pocket he pro-
duced autograph book and pencil. It was the sig-
nal for a hundred hands to dive into as many pock-
ets. In a moment we grasped the situation. Our
turn had come to be the Yankee. We rose, hat in
hand. " Ladies and gentlemen, this Syrian gentle-
man is my guest and friend. He is not on exhibi-
tion, yet all day he patiently and with a gentle-
manly forbearance which puts us to shame has
satisfied curiosity. Now you are about to tax him
5

66 Sfodt)* QtaxB ^ntong tl)c Qloloxcb people.

further by asking for innumerable autographs in
Syriac. I know he is incapable of refusing you.
To-morrow night he addresses my colored congre-
gation, and we take up a collection for his brother,
a Christian missionary in Jerusalem. I hope no
one will ask for his autograph who does not, as he
approaches, drop a quarter in my hat to be added to
that offertory." The experiment was not as great
a damper on autograph hunting as we had expected,
but it added about $8.00 to the offertory. In spite
of American curiosity, Mr. Jamal expressed much
pleasure in his visit, and on his return sent us these
illuminated panels.

The marble altar steps bear the inscription :

f Ecce Agnus stabat supra montem. f
f Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere
nobis, f

f In Memoriam Eebeccae Webb f Eequiescat in
Pace, f

Mrs. Webb, the wife of the Eev. Harrison Webb,
was one of the most earnest of the communicants
who came from S. Philip's to S. Mary's. She lived
many years in the family of the lady who gave us
our church property, and her faithfulness increased
her mistress' interest in her people. The only
other objects to be specially noted in the sanctuary,
are two stools skillfully and tastefully carved from
solid blocks of wTood. They are the work of native
Africans of the Gold Coast. Seen with several
similar specimens at the Centennial Exhibition of

6. iJtara's Cljapel cmb its Smnces. 67

1876 in the English Colonial exhibit, they were
supposed to be for sale. On inquiring, it was found
that they were to be sent to the Kensington Mu-
seum, but the Colonel in Her Majesty's service, who
was one of the British commissioners, with great
courtesy and kindly interest in the work, promised
to do all he could to secure a pair for S. Mary's.

Some months after the close of the exhibition
they arrived from England with impressive docu-
•ments of presentation, officially signed and sealed.
To the delight of S. Mary's congregation the daily
papers announced that Queen Victoria had pre-
sented Acolyte seats to the chapel. It is hoped that
the publishing of this will not cause Her Majesty
any inconvenience from the " Church Association. 99

On the oaken choir rail, a legend is carved re-
ferring to all to whom memorials are placed in the
sanctuary : " Grant unto them, 0 Lord, Eternal
Rest, and let Light Perpetual shine upon them."
At the ends of this rail are the polished stone col-
umns which support the chancel arch.

On the sandstone base of one of these memorial
columns is the inscription : f In memory of Joseph
Richey, Priest, f Him that overcometh will I make
a Pillar in the Temple of my God.

On the column on the other side are the words :
f In Memory of Harrison H. Webb, Priest, f Be
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a
crown of Life, f

Mr. Richey is already known to the reader.
Mr. Webb was for many years the Rector of

68 Stoetoe gears Qltnong tlje (JToloreb people.

S. James' Chufch, Baltimore. When old age had
withdrawn him from active labor he became a de-
voted attendant of the services of S. Mary's. He
often assisted in the service, and occasionally
preached. He was buried from S. Mary's.

As the oldest of our male communicants, to whom
reference has been made in a previous chapter,
stood admiringly before this really fine arch and its
two solid pillars, he exclaimed : " Little did I ever
expect to see two beautiful columns rising, one in
honor of a white priest, the other of a black priest,
joined in an arch, symbolizing unity, and pointing
toward Heaven." In front of the choir rail is a
lectern of oak, its design an eagle standing on an
Egyptian column. It bears above the capital of
the column the inscription : f In Memory of Oliver
Perry Vinton, Priest, f and on the face of the
pyramidal base, f Some time Priest of this Church.
Entered into Eest June XV, MDCCCLXXX.
Whose soul GOD rest and grant a joyful rising in
CHRIST JESUS. Amen. The lectern was the
gift of Mr. Vinton's brother, Arthur Dudley Vin-
ton, Esq. Upon the lectern is a handsome Bible,
one of many gifts to S. Mary's of the Kev. H. G.
Batterson, D.D.

Seven lamps hang in the chancel arch. The
large central one was the gift of an ever generous
friend, Mr. Lyman Klapp ; three were given by
S. Clement's, Philadelphia, and the remaining two,
recently added, were left as a legacy — in addition
to $50 for the Home — by a devoted communicant of

S. illarp's dljapel anir its Smrices. 69

S. Mary's who lias lately been laid to rest, Miss
Rosa Sythe. Her sister Lizzie, a no less lovely
character, dying the year before, left a similar leg-
acy, $50 for the Home, and $50 with which the
chapel was provided with a silver chalice.

The basement is divided into three rooms by
glass folding doors. The two parts under the nave
and transept are used for the day schools and Sun-
day schools, as wTell as for evening entertainments,
guild and society meetings, and the like. In one
of these rooms is the Sunday-school library, in a
neat black walnut case, the gift of Mr. Robert
Garrett.

The portion of the basement under the chancel
is the Vinton Memorial Chantry. Here week-day
services are held, thus saving much expense in light
and fuel. The Chantry is quite unfinished except
the altar and its baldachino. During the com-
pletion of the altar, the Rev. H. 13. Smythe, who
had aided in designing it, went to his father's
home in Michigan for a few weeks' vacation. A
few days later came tidings of his death. His name
was therefore, in loving memory, inscribed on the
base of the altar.

The decorated canopy above, resting on Egyptian
columns, bears the inscription :

f This Chantry is dedicated to the Glory of God,
and in Memory of Oliver Perry Vinton, Priest, by
S. Mary's Congregation and Sunday-School, f

and on the space below follows a prayer adapted

70 SEtoetoe Bears &ntong t\)t (JToloreir People.

from the " Gebetbuch " of the Christian Catholic
Church of Switzerland, as given in the General
Convention Journal of 1880.

Look, 0 Lord, upon Thy Son Whom we present
before Thee, our pure, holy, and immaculate Sacri-
fice: For His faithfulness' sake grant unto him and
unto all who sleep in Christ a Place of Refreshment,
of Life and of Peace.

The Lectern in the Chantry is a portion of the
reading-desk of the old S. Paul's Church, afterward
used at S. Phil's. On it is the family Bible of
Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, a dear friend of the
priest in charge and a generous supporter of his
work at S. Mary's. The book was the gift of Mr.
W. T. C. Wardwell, a fellowr townsman of both the
general and the writer.

This completes the list of memorials in the
building, excepting three stained glass windows in
the church. One contains a suitable inscription to
Sister Harriet of All Saints, the Sister Superior
when the colored sisterhood was inaugurated. It
was a wrell-deserved tribute of affection from the
congregation. Another window is a pretty memo-
rial to two infant children of a lady friend of the
work. The third is in memory of Mrs. C. M. C.
Mason. The harp in one of the panels recalls her
services to S. Mary's, and the scene of the conversion
of the Ethiopian by S. Philip her connection with
the earlier mission. Another window is about to
be added in memory of Sister Mary Clement, and
• a fourth to Emma Piper, the daughter of one of

6. Ittarjf s (Efjapel anb its Smuces. 71

the Business Committee, a gentle and devout
child, who looked forward to being a Sister.

The seats which have been mentioned as the last
addition to the church, are "free and unappro-
priated"— a condition of holding the property.
Connected with the free sittings of the two
churches, Mount Calvary and S. Mary's, is a little
episode of our work worthy of record. It was once
the custom for the few colored communicants of
the former church to sit in two or three of the rear"
pews. After Mr. Eichey's invitation to the col-
ored people to freely attend the services, and before
S. Mary's was provided for them, a considerable
number of colored people came, and ignorant of
any regulation on the subject, sat wherever there
chanced to be a vacant seat. A collision with
some of the white congregation followed. The
fact was brought to the notice of the clergy. On
each pew of Mount Calvary a printed notice de-
clared the seats 66 free to all." The clergy called a
Vestry meeting. Nowhere could have been' gath-
ered a group more thoroughly representative of
Southern sentiment. In the honest and manly
tone peculiar to him, Mr. Eichey told the Vestry
that as the clergy did not wish to remain to the
detriment of the parish, they offered their resigna-
tions; that if they were to remain they could not
consent to there "being a lie on every pew." If
the colored people were excluded from free sittings
it should be distinctly stated. He reminded them
that as he was and ever had been in thorough sym-

72 QLwzlvz QtaxQ &moug tlje Colored \)zopk.

pa- thy with the South, this to him was not a ques-
tion of politics.

Probably never before in Maryland had the ques-
tion been directly confronted. For a moment there
was silence, which at length was broken by one of
the deservedly most influential and honored among
the Yestry. He referred to the attachment to the
Southern cause of his uncle, who was long impris-
oned in Fortress Monroe. Yet that uncle, he said,
who was a Roman Catholic, would never accept
the privilege granted his age and station of making
his confession at the priest's house, for to kneel
in the line before the confessional with colored
people or the poorest beggars he considered a part
of his Catholic practice. " Often/' added the neph-
ew, "I have felt inclined to wait to commune
at Mount Calvary with the colored people as a
proof of my own disapproval of any distinction
in God's house." Meanwhile another equally in-
fluential member of the Vestry— a distinguished
member of the Maryland bar — sat thoughtfully
pulling his black mustache. Looking up suddenly,
with the serious earnestness that often flashes from
his dark eye, he exclaimed, "Gentlemen, let our
religion be before our politics ; for one I vote that no
distinction be made in the seating of the church."
Without a dissenting voice the principle was estab-
lished; their strong and Catholic convictions pre-
vailed.

No serious trouble resulted from the decision.
The little irritation shown on the part of some

S. iilarg'a Cff^apel aub its Strains. 73

came chiefly from those who had not been identified
with the Southern cause. Since S. Mary's has
opened, the colored people have preferred to attend
services in their own chapel, but when on special
occasions, or at celebrations of the Holy Commun-
ion at hours that make it more convenient, a few
are present at the services of the parish church,
there is seldom, we believe, cause to complain of
their reception. Bishop Whittingham had, indeed,
only consented to the establishment of S. Mary's
on the understanding that the colored people were
a part of Mount Calvary congregation, worshiping
separately only for convenience sake. For this
reason, he requested wTe should have a daily celebra-
tion only at Mount Calvary, as it could serve for
both. He also suggested, on the same ground,
such shortened services at S. Mary's as would be
best adapted to the congregation, since the full
services wrere said daily in the parish at Mount
Calvary.

Then followed the more amusing side of the
story. Mr. Kichey had cautioned the white people
against crowding out the colored people at the
opening services of S. Mary's. The same veteran
colored communicant, to whom we have more than
once referred, came to the priest in charge seriously
troubled because he had heard that wThite people
were to be discriminated against at S. Mary's. He
expected to bring with him to the first service a
white friend with whom he wished the privilege of
sitting, and he hoped in S. Mary's " there would be

no discrimination as to color." This was told with
great glee to the Mount Calvary Vestry, and yet
subsequent events proved the old man's fears not
wholly groundless, for it was often amusing in the
first days of S. Mary's to be summoned just before
vesting for the service, by some lady who had rolled
up to the door in her carriage, and wished to be
told where the white people were to sit. The in-
formation that, like the colored people, they were at
perfect liberty to occupy any vacant seat, did not
always seem to be received as a privilege. White
people have shown annoyance when colored people,
in their own chapel, have taken seats next them,
and taking no pains to conceal their displeasure,
have changed their seats. This, however, is excep-
tional. Many white people come freely to the ser-
vices, and show a hearty, fraternal sympathy.
Some white people attend and commune at S.
Mary's altogether. It must be confessed, however,
that at night services, when the largest number of
white people, and often wealthy ones, have been
present — it has been observed the offertories are
smallest.

Among the conditions upon which the property
was given was the requirement that the church
should be maintained exclusively by voluntary offer-
ings, without the aid of fairs or festivals of any
kind. No debt was to be incurred, and daily ser-
vices were to be maintained. These conditions have
been conscientiously kept. About ninety dollars a
month is received through the offertory for current

6. ittanf s CCIjapel ant* its Services. 75

expenses. Including special collections for mis-
sionary and other purposes, the offertory averages
annually about one thousand three hundred dol-
lars. The priest in charge receives only his salary
as Associate Rector from Mount Calvary Church,
but S. Mary's congregation contributes four hun-
dred dollars of the salary of the assistant. As the
best means of educating the people to systematic
giving, a modified form of the envelope system is
adopted. Each attendant of the services is asked
to give monthly a specified sum, to be placed in the
alms basins in which a collection is made at each
Sunday service. The amount of the pledge is left
to their own conscience, but the pledge once made
they are held strictly accountable for its payment.
The financial affairs are conducted by a business
committee, nominated on Easter Monday by a bal-
lot of the people, and appointed by the priest in
charge. There are two wardens, a treasurer and
secretary, and six other members. The most
onerous duties fall to the secretary, who keeps the
record of the receipts through the envelopes. The
other members of the committee distribute the en-
velopes to the contributors in the districts severally
assigned to their care. S. Mary's has been pecul-
iarly fortunate in a succession of faithful officers.
Mr. W*. H. Bishop, Sen., from the beginning of the
work, has combined with the office of warden the
responsible duty of treasurer, often to his own cost,
but always to the advantage of the church. The
office of junior warden has been filled faithfully by

76 Zwelnz gears ^tnong t\)c Coloreb People.

Mr. Eichard Mason, Sen., Mr. W. H. Thompson,
and now by Mr. Jas. Hughes. Mr. C. M. C. Mason
was succeeded as secretary by Mr. W. H. Clarence,
a young man of unusual energy and faithfulness in
the discharge of duty. Since his enlistment in the
army, the post has been rilled by Mr. Alfred C.
Price, who has industriously carried on the work
of his predecessors. The other members at present
are, W. H. Thompson, Eichard Piper, James Blay,
C. A. Johnson, James Eoyer, H. B. Jackson, Lloyd
Toomey.

As has been intimated, the services on Sundays
and great festivals are in the church upstairs, those
on ordinary week days, the daily evening prayer, a
choral service and address on Friday nights, and
such early celebrations of the Holy Communion as
have been arranged for the week, are in the chantry.

The Holy Communion is celebrated not only each
Sunday, but also Thursdays, special holy-days, and
in Lent and Advent daily. The usual hour of the
celebration is 6:30 a.m. It is so early in order to
accommodate many who live at service. When the
number of clergy in priests' orders permits, there is
a second celebration on Sunday morning at 7:30
a.m. But even when there is only the very early
one, a considerable number of men who, employed
as barbers or public wTaiters, have been unable to
go to bed on Saturday until long after midnight,
yet find their way to the church at this early hour
by the cold moonlight of a frosty winter morning.
In spite of many being so situated that they can

6. ittara's Chapel anb its Smrices. 77

get out but one or two Sundays during the month,
the average number of communicants on Sunday
mornings during the past year has been 49, the
numbers running from 23 to 90. This is exclusive
of Christmas and Easter, when there are from 150
to 200.* In 1873 there were about 30 communi-
cants, there are now 384. There have been 880
baptisms; 423 persons have received confirmation.
Many of these have sought employment in other
cities, and so the seed is scattered. This is one
of the great advantages of working among the col-
ored people in the centers of population, for they
are constantly coming and going.

When, a year ago, the writer received a hearty
English welcome, on the first Sunday spent in Eng-
land, in the charming little vicarage nestling
among daisy-eyed fields and green hills at
Prestbury, the first familiar face that he saw as
he looked from the pulpit of the lovely old Parish
Church was a black one. One of the parishioners
of S. Mary's had several years before left Baltimore
for the West Indies, and now unexpectedly appeared
to greet him. Best of all, the vicar — now alas !
driven by persecution from the beautiful home of
his boyhood— declared she was one of his most ex-
emplary and devout communicants.

On Sundays, after the early celebrations, morn-

* A good example in this respect is set them by Mount
Calvary Church, which reports 475 communicants, and where
the average number of communicants each Sunday at the
early celebrations is about 85.

ing prayer and sermon follow at 11 o'clock. The
Sunday-school, at the close of its session in the
basement, assembles in the church at 4 p.m. for
a short musical service and public catechis-
ing. At 8 p.m. a shortened form of evening
prayer is sung, followed by a sermon. The chants
used are Gregorian (Doran and Nottingham*),
the hymns are set to inspiriting tunes, interspersed
at night with those familiar to the Methodists, such
as "Coronation," "There is a Fountain," or
"Xearer, my God, to Thee." On High Festivals,
more difficult music is rendered, the Communion
Services of B. Tours, Monk, Mac Farran, or Schu-
bert, while at the offertory are introduced the "Alle-
luia Chorus," the Gloria of Mozart's Twelfth Mass, or
" Mighty Jehovah." The surpliced choir is under
the direction of Mr. C. A.Johnson, our organist, and
leader also of the "Monumental Band and Orches-
tra," who kindly furnish us an instrumental accom-
paniment on the chief festivals. On such occasions,
so far as the number of available clergy permits,
the ritual is more ornate, especially at the Solemn
Celebration. Although even such services are quite
plain as compared with those of many of the English
churches, or some in our own country that have led
in the restoration of Catholic usages, yet as far as
possible the church's seasons are appropriately
marked, and the services rendered attractive by
banners, lights, flowers and a well ordered service.

* The excellent American edition lately published by
James Pott & Co.

S. iftarg's Cfjcqtfl arib its Qzxvites. 79

Doubtless, as has been often claimed by writers
on the subject, an ornate ritual is especially
adapted to the temperament of the colored people,
and a dry wearisome service repels them. But the
work of Christian grace in the hearts of these
people cannot be accomplished by music or ritual.
A bright service will help to draw people within the
reach of instruction, and will be always loved and
prized by those of any race or condition who have
learned to make it the expression of earnest devotion,
but permanent success in afTecting the lives of the
people and saving souls must be sought by deeper
methods. The fearless and full presentation of sac-
ramental teaching, the use, when needed and volun-
tarily sought, of confession and priestly absolution,
the frequent and carefully prepared communions,
the constant unwearying work of the sisters among
the people, the requirement of obedience to God's
laws as the test of true religion, are among the dis-
tinctive features of Catholic teaching upon which
have been placed confidence in building up Chris-
tian character among them. So may the Church
do for the negro what a religion in which the
element of excitement and highly wrought feeling
prevails can never do. God forbid that we should
fail to recognize the great work done by those re-
ligious systems which have prevailed among them
while the Church has so sadly neglected them.
Without that work they might have been worse
than heathen. Those who know them can testify
that many an old Baptist brother or Methodist

80 ®rodt)£ gears &ntong tl)C (Eoloreir JJeople.

sister, though the}7 have gone u shouting to glory,"
have gone with a pure heart and undefiled life.
No good is done to the cause of religion or of truth
by an indiscriminate denunciation of such forms of
religion as they have known. But as loyal children
of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, Ave must
believe that she can show "a more excellent way/'
and the more thoughtful among themselves are rec-
ognizing the fact that the need of Christian mo-
rality, as the basis of any true service of God, has
often been lost sight of in a religion which was too
apt to mistake the loudest shouter for the highest
saint.

In proportion to the length of time that they
have led the lives of regular, faithful communi-
cants, we find is overcome the tendency to seasons
of "back-sliding/' and periods of religious indif-
ference, a tendency partly owing no doubt to past
religious training, but also, we believe, to a shift-
lessness and lack of will-power, that to a great ex-
tent still characterize them as a people. These traits
it may be expected will in turn be remedied by
Christian training and education, enforcement of
civil laws, and the fuller appreciation of their
personal responsibility in their condition of free-
dom. Their advance thus far gives no cause for
despondency.

To awaken them from these seasons of luke-
warmness, services of a more special and excep-
tional character have at times been successfully re-
sorted to. As the early Church substituted Chris-

S. ittarg's dtjapel cwb its Smrices. 81

tian festivals for heathen holidays, so the Church in
the same wise and conciliatory spirit may wean the
colored people from the excesses of "Eevivalism,"
by adapting herself to their ways while yet lead-
ing them to a higher life. Of such a character is
the preaching of "missions." Two "Ten-days
Missions" have been given at S. Mary's, one in the
first years of the work by the Eev. A. G. Mortimer,
another, more recently, conducted by the Eev.
George C. Betts. The immediate results of a mis-
sion are no real test of the good accomplished,
which will only be revealed at the Last Day. We
have every reason to believe, however, that God
blessed both these efforts for converting souls to
His service, both by adding to the number of com-
municants and by awakening to new life and zeal
those who were such already.

An example of an effort to interest the peo-
ple, of quite another sort, are the parish festivals.
The first which we kept, S. Matthew's Day, 1882,
commemorated the tenth anniversary of the first
service at S. Marj's. There was a bright service
in church and a stirring sermon from the Eev. B.
W. Maturin, S. S. J. E. A bounteous supper was
then served in the school-rooms. The Hon. B. K.
Bruce, that most distinguished representative of his
race, presided, while at the guest table were a num-
ber of clergy and other distinguished guests, both
white and colored, the ladies not failing to adorn
the occasion, not only the wives of the distin-
guished president and speakers, but those who
6

82 Qlmtlvt |)*ars &ntong Xt)t doloreir JJtople.

were quite as distinctly not of the colored people,
as Mrs. Charlotte Johnson (daughter of a distin-
guished Virginian), Mrs. Barry, and others. The
presence of the Baltimore Eifles, in uniform,
added to the gayety of the scene. Mr. Bruce, after
a happy little speech, called on Mr. Langston, TJ.
S. Minister to Hayti, and others of the guests to
respond to sentiments, and at midnight the bell
called all to the church to give thanks for a very
happy festal day in a solemn Te Deum.

Another parish festival has just been celebrated,
when as president of the supper we were favored
with the presence of that staunch churchman as
well as highly esteemed physician Dr. A. T. Au-
gusta, while among the preachers and speakers were
the Dean of Baltimore, Dr. Eich, Eev. Drs. Fair
and Hyland, Eev. S. C. Stokes, Eev. H. C. Bishop
of Charleston, Eev. J. B. Massiah of Newark, and
others.

There are frequent entertainments of a less for-
mal character for the purpose of social intercourse,
such as suppers conducted by the female parochial
societies. The Saint Faith's Guild of School-
girls and the Young Women's Guild of S. Mary the
Virgin, have their little teas arranged by the Sis-
ters. S. Mary's Young Men's Guild has conducted
several successful entertaintments, dramatic, lit-
erary, or musical, and under two successive and
faithful Guild Masters, Mr. E. A. Blay and Mr. W.
E. Tilghman, have done something toward uniting
the young men in the work of the parish. On the

g. Iflcmi's Chapel anb its Smrices. 83

whole it must be admitted that the result of Guild
and Society work has not been all that had been
hoped for. The great irregularity of the colored
people in attending meetings or performing pre-
scribed duties, partly owing to the nature of their
employments but still more from lack of sense of
personal responsibility, and their tendency to petty
jealousies are among the causes which it is hoped
time will somewhat remove.

The details given convey a very inadequate
idea of our method of work, yet it is hoped it may
be of some service as a guide to many who have
asked to know it. Those of our readers who can
come and see for themselves may be sure of a hearty
welcome.

The church building is now complete in its main
features, and, except a trifling sum, being rapidly
paid, is free of all debt. It is sufficiently beauti-
ful, especially in the appointments of the chancel,
to teach that it is for the glory of God, and not
erected chiefly with the thought of the convenience
of worshipers, nor made poor because their owrn
homes are necessarily so. Some Avail decoration
and additional stained glass, some casing and plas-
tering in the school-rooms, and similar "finishing
touches " are needed for its entire completion. This
will all doubtless be provided by the voluntary
offerings which it has been found the congregation
readily supply for the perfecting of a building
which they regard with an honest pride and an
earnest affection. Already a "nest egg" is laid

84 ®toctoe gears &tttong trje Coloreb people.

by toward a reredos in which can be placed a mar-
ble panel representing in basso relievo the Adoration
of the Magi, the work and generous gift to S.
Mary's of the colored artist residing at Borne, Miss
Edmonia Lewis. Too long it has lain in its pack-
ing box, but we felt bound to pay all our honest
debts before carrying on the work of ornamenta-
tion. Among a people imaginative by nature,
and many of whom read with difficulty, it would
doubtless be useful to use well executed designs
of Scripture scenes, or other pictorial decoration.
We confess we have sometimes indulged in an am-
bitious dream of seeing upon the Avails of S. Mary's
two scenes from the life of one of the martyrs
of our own communion. The first scene should
represent young Patterson standing on the shore
of that South Sea island, his arms about the necks
of the two naked, black savages at his side, while
he watched the white-winged ship sail away to that
English home he had left forever. The second
should be of the martyred Bishop, his body pierced
with five wounds and the palm branches crossed
above him, floating toward his disciples in that
lonely boat. The teaching of such a life, the living
for others and not for self, surely would not be lost
if thus kept before the colored people of the United
States.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SCHOOLS.

Christian" education has "formed a prominent
feature in the work of S. Mary's Chapel. In the
schools have been met the greatest successes as
well as the greatest discouragements and disappoint-
ments.

The permanence of any work of our Church
among the colored people will largely depend upon
church schools. The earlier work of our Church
among them was severely censured for too exclu-
sively pressing educational work. From these cen-
sures, as well perhaps as from their own reports, it
would appear that while the general principle was
a good one, they made some fatal mistakes in carry-
ing it out. Schools were established where no oppor-
tunities were afforded of church services. So they
become an end, not a means. Instead of concen-
trating funds on a few centers and establishing
first class institutions, the work was spread out so
thin as to be to a great extent ineffectual. In
strong contrast to this weak policy of the Church
have been some of the most successful efforts of
other religious bodies.

"Let me take you," said a prominent colored
Methodist minister in one of the largest Southern
cities, as he held open the door of his carriage to

86 ®toebe gears &tnong t\]c QLoioxzb JJeopLe.

the writer, " to s^e what your Church is doing for
my people." As we drove thither, he continued,
"I am a member of the English Church, I came
to this country from the West Indies. After being
excluded from one church after another on account
of the color of my skin, I determined I would never
connect myself with the Episcopal Church until it
became Christian." We stopped at the door of a
little building — one might almost say "shanty."
We entered. An old white-headed negro greeted
us warmly. He was a kindly old man, rather in-
telligent. He carried us to the end of the room
where he had a class of the older children. These
he taught during the week and acted as lay reader
in this same building on Sundays. At the other
end of this Pro-Chapel was his wife, a nice old
aunty with Madras kerchief on her head, trying to
teach a younger class their letters. We use the
word trying advisedly, for if by accident a child
sometimes called a letter by its right name the
aunty was pretty sure to tell the child it was wrong.
This faithful, devout, but ignorant old pair were two
who appeared on the list of missionaries employed
by the church, and this the only mission station for
the colored people in one of the largest and most
influential of the cities of the South. We had
tremblingly passed under a portion of the ceiling
where the plaster hung threateningly like the
sword of Damocles. The old man took advantage
of the opportunity— he was naturally clever as well
as amiable. He showed us a subscription list for

3ri)£ 0cf)ool0.

87

the repair of the building. " We would like,
Kcverend, to patch that a' plasterin' and tidy up
a bit with whitewash an' paint." . Eegretting to be
unable to subscribe a larger sum, S. Mary's, Bal-
timore, was placed on the list for $5.00. The old
man's eyes glistened with tears ; so large a sum,
lie said, had only once before been given them —
and yet the names of rectors of wealthy parishes of
the city were on that list. " Come/' said my guide,
" let us drive where I can show you another school
for my people." Again we drove together through
the broad shaded avenues, while passers by looked
up with scorn that two of different skins were driv-
ing together, though they were those who preached
the gospel of Jesus, the Carpenter. We draw up
before a stately building. Within are several hun-
dred scholars. The higher classes are making ex-
cellent recitations in Virgil, in geometry, in liter-
ature, and from these halls, filled with neatly dressed,
well disciplined and bright-faced pupils, were an-
nually going forth teachers to every part of the
State. It was not a State institution. A Method-
ist chaplain during the war lntd conceived the
idea, and heartily sustained by his denomination,
had built and organized this school, and was him-
self the principal.

As the Church's work has been chiefly planned
by the rectors of Northern parishes, who have lit-
tle intercourse with colored men unless as sextons
of their fashionable churches, while little oppor-
tunity has been afforded those who actually labored

88 Sfoebe Uears &tnong tlje Color eb People.

among the colored people to suggest or in any way
make their experience of service, it is not sur-
prising that these and other still more fatal mistakes
have been made. While so little was doing to re-
lieve the real grievances which the colored people
suffered at the hands of the Church, Southern sen-
timents were wantonly and needlessly disregarded.
Some years since a lady teacher, a white woman,
was employed by the Board of Missions in a city of
the far South. She boarded at the house of the
negro clergyman in whose parish she taught, an
unpardonable error of judgment, even had he not
been charged with gross misconduct. He has
since been deposed. Considering the scandals
connected with it — scandals well known to the
clergy of the city — it was worse.

But the general principle of establishing church
schools wherever wrork is undertaken, is a sound
one. Said a colored Methodist "Bishop" to one
of S. Mary's wardens : " I see my people as they
become educated are leaving us. I do not wish
them to become Eoman Catholics. If your Church
will provide for them as she ought, I would gladly
advise them from my pulpit to go to you if they
have made up their minds to leave us." For many
years at least, it is probable that it is chiefly this
better educated portion of the colored people that
the Church will win. At some future time great
masses of the people may be ready to come to her.
In one notable instance in Virginia it is claimed
they are so ready. There have been some remark-

&\)C 0ct]00lQ.

89

able signs of lute of seeking Holy Orders from the
Church in the body known as the " A. M. E.
Church," although this originated with the most
intelligent among their "Bishops" and preachers.
Allowing for these exceptions, probably in the
country parts and certainly in the cities — where our
experience leads us to speak with more certainty —
it will be the more intelligent element that will be
drawn to the Church. The school, therefore, pre-
pares the soil from which the young generation of
the Church will grow.

Moreover, the colored people are very ambitious
for their children, generally grateful to those who
benefit them, and, in spite of the assertion of many
to the contrary, they are very fond of them. Hence
not only are the children in such schools educated
in the Church's ways, but through the children the
parents are drawn to her. We do not think we
should err in estimating considerably more than
one-half of the increase of S. Mary's congregation
as the result of our schools. At the very beginning
of our work a parish school was established. It
was begun in the basement of the church, on the
13th of Sept., 1813, with twenty-nine boys and thirty
girls. From the first, pupils have been charged a
small tuition fee, averaging ten cents weekly. That
is lightly esteemed for which nothing is paid. All
fellow workers among the colored people whom we
have consulted agree that it is best not to make the
schools absolutely free.

At first, the clergy took turns in acting as prin-

90 ®tD£lt)£ Sears &mong Uje (JToloreb people.

cipal, the heavier burden of work falling to Mr.
Leeson, indefatigable in bis labors. One of the
Sisters superintended the girls' department. Ladies
came in at various hours to assist. It was, however,
found undesirable to continue the school in this
way. Kind as the volunteer service was, it was
irregular, and the constant change of teachers dis-
organized the school. The parochial work increased
so rapidly that the clergy could not give the needed
time to school teaching. After a number of exper-
iments it has been found best to accept the services
of only such volunteers as can give with entire
regularity definite hours of the week, and so take
exclusive charge of specified studies. Several Mount
Calvary ladies still teach in the school in this way
with greatest benefit both to the minds and the
hearts of their pupils. One deserves especial notice,
as from the very opening of the school having given
her services daily, and for the whole day, as a labor
of love. Surely the labors of those kind friends
will not be forgotten Avhen the Master cometh with
His reward with Hi in.

Where a fixed salary has been given, it has, as a
rule, been found best to secure colored teachers.
Others usually connect an idea of degradation with
teaching colored children, and accept the task only
when other employment fails. Children quickly
detect this spirit, and are neither respectful nor
studious under them.

Soon after opening our schools a house was rented
for a boarding school for girls. Many colored men

®1)£ 0ct]0Ols.

91

in the South at that time held important and lucra-
tive positions. They were sending their daughters
North to be educated in schools, most of which
were under influences very hostile to our Church,
in some cases hostile to all Christian teaching.

The establishment of this school troubled some
of the truest friends of our work, and called forth
bitter censure from others less friendly disposed.
That colored girls should be taught music, French,
and Latin was contrary to all their convictions.
It did not occur to them that even if these studies
had not been to the girls' advantage, their parents
had the means and the desire to obtain such an
education for them, and that it was vastly better
that they should receive it under the restraining,
conservative influence of the Church, and in a
school where they were permitted only to advance
step by step as rapidly as they could advance
thoroughly, than in the irreligious institutions estab-
lished chiefly for political ends, or in schools where
a superficial education was garnished by a smatter-
ing of instruction in wax flowers and gaudy needle-
work. Besides, we must deal with hard facts.
There were at that time colored men, not only as
now in all the professions, but al>o United States
senators and members of Congress. Whatever
one's theories on the subject, is it to be expected or
desired that such men or their families should re-
main ignorant? Would those who consider it a
stain upon the honor of their country to see any
but a white man sitting in the Senate, or placing

92 Stjoetos ©ears &tnong tti* Coloreb JJeopU.

his signature upon the paper currency, feel less
humiliated if instead of being gentlemanly in de-
portment, and occupying the position with dignity
and ability, he had been an illiterate boor? Is it to
be wished that he had selected for his wife, in whose
drawing-room must be seen the ladies of the White
House, and who mingles with the highest of the
land in state receptions, an ignorant and vulgar
woman instead of one whose quiet grace, gentle
courtesy, and intelligent conversation have wTon the
esteem of all who have known her? Is it well if
we are to have priests from this race, wTho, if priests
at all, must in their office be the peers of any priest,
and be raised above all laymen, that they should
not have wives of education and good taste to
make their homes centers of refinement? So plain
seemed the answers to these questions, that clergy
and sisters hesitated not to establish the school.
For several years it was well rilled with boarders
and day pupils. When political changes came in
the South, by which fewer colored men held lucra-
tive positions, it became more difficult to maintain
it. A number of good schools had in the mean
time been opened in the South, and our own was less
needed. Death and other causes had diminished
our corps of laborers, and it was difficult to maintain
both the school and a boys' orphanage which had
been opened in a small house which it had already
outgrown. We, therefore, closed the school, and
moved the boys into the house it had occupied.
But it must not be thought that the life of this

(£lic Schools.

93

school, short as it was, was fruitless. We have
had gratifying tidings of old pupils in various parts
of the South. Some have become efficient teachers.
Nearly all have remained steadfast Christian church
women. Some have had sore trials in the difficulty
of being allowed to commune where there were no
special church congregations of colored people.

In the day of the boarding-school the Bishop of
Hayti sent three girls of his diocese to be educated
in our school. Two were long since returned to
their native island as communicants of the church ;
the third, Miss Alice Baker, remained with us and
became a most efficient teacher. She has lately
returned to Hayti under appointment of the Board
of Missions to teach in one of the bishop's schools.
She will be greatly missed in our own work, where
she has endeared herself to all.*

A number of girls, now of S. Mary's congrega-
tion, who were trained as day pupils of our school,
are marked for purity of life and conversation,
gentleness of manners and faithfulness to duties.
Their good influence is frequently spoken of, and
its genuineness can be best illustrated by a remark
made by a prominent colored man of Washington,
himself a Congregationalist: " You do not know,
sir," he said, "how far beyond the circle of your
own congregation the work of S. Mary's is felt. It
used to be that in entertainments given by our
people in Baltimore, a young man might be talk-
ing to a perfectly respectable girl, with low-necked

* See note on last page.

94 (grotto* IJears ^ntong t\)C Coloreb JJcojilc.

dress, resting his hand upon her bare shoulder un-
rebuked. But it is often said by our young men
in Washington that you cannot now do that on
account of the example of the S. Mary's girls."

The boys' school has had a still more varied his-
tory. Owing to the difficulty of holding both
boys' and girls' schools in the crowded basement,
before the enlargement of the church, a house was
rented with the expectation of a clergyman under-
taking a boys' boarding as well as day school for
advanced pupils. Failure of health and other rea-
sons caused this clergyman to retire before the
school was opened, leaving the house rented for
three years on our hands.

In this dilemma we were so fortunate as to se-
cure the services of a young man who desired event-
ually to study for the ministry, but in the mean
time was glad to engage in church work, without
other remuneration than " board and lodging."
Mr. Charles C. Quin for three years efficiently and
earnestly taught the school in the house, 180 W.
Biddle Street. His courtesy and kindness to the
people caused him to be as much beloved by them
as he was prized by the clergy. Having out of
kindness prolonged his stay beyond his original
intention, he went to North Carolina to fulfill his
long cherished wish of receiving Holy Orders,
where he remains doing faithful work.

When we first embarked in Christian education,
zealous friends supplied us with a number of gen-
eral principles for our guidance, e. g. :

QL\]C Schools.

95

"Colored children are quite precocious to a cer-
tain point, beyond which it is impossible to educate
them."

" If there are any very bright pupils in a school,
it will be sure to be traceable to white blood in
their veins.-"

" Only the blacks will have the necessary endur-
ance for education. The admixture of white blood
weakens body and mind."

These are mere samples. After twelve years ex-
perience of a school of from one hundred to two
hundred children, none of those rules seem to
" work." Practical experience is the best mode of
exploding such theories, which can be pretty much
reduced to the simple proposition that in the mat-
ter of mental training, colored children are much
like any other children under the same circum-
stances.

It may perhaps be laid down as a rule — though
we have found some apparent exceptions — that the
imaginative faculties are more strongly developed
in the negro than the logical. The power of mem-
ory is also strong. They are more likely in the fu-
ture to produce historians, poets, artists and musi-
cians than mathematicians and philosophers. They
are more likely to furnish Darwins than Bacons,
inventors than patient investigators. As for deter-
mining any fixed laws of mental progress by a color
test, there are not yet sufficient recorded data
for such generalizations. Of the two pupils who
advanced farthest in S. Mary's schools, t. e.

96 ®tt)dt)£ QtaxQ Qimong trje (Eokrreb JJeople.

through Virgil, Cicero's orations, algebra, and so on,
one was lighter than most white men, with blue
eyes and straight flaxen hair, the other's face
would hardly have shown a mark upon it from char-
coal. They kept pretty even pace while in the school.
The former w7as quicker, the latter the more steady
plodder, and it is possible this will be found to be a
usual difference between the mulatto and the black.
But we would not venture the assertion without
further corroboration. While among both the
blacks and mulattoes there were such encouraging
pupils, there were naturally others equally imper-
vious to ideas.

We trust one honest fellow will pardon our using
him as an example. He has since turned out a
good, steady, upright workman. His schoolmates
— after the manner of boys — nick-named him the'
"india-rubber boy." There seemed to be no
bones or fixed joints in his body. When G. was
asked a question he would, begin to wriggle.
First he would shuffle his feet, then his ankles
would begin to twist, then his legs to writhe,
finally when arms, legs and whole body were
going through painful contortions and. gyra-
tions, out would pop the answer from his mouth
with a sort of explosive force of desperation as if
from an air-gun. But the answer thus pain-
fully worked out was not always satisfactory.
For G. had a way of mastering one long word,
the first that struck his fancy, early in the day.
This was made to do service in answering all sub-

Schools.

97

sequent questions of a puzzling character. On
one occasion, when he had just finished his
geography recitation, he was called in the his-
tory class to give the name of one of the Pres-
idents of the United States. He began to writhe
with unwonted energy, at last, after seeming to
wriggle up from his feet the whole length of his
body, out popped the unexpected answer, "Archi-
pelago, sir."

But our pupils were not all like G., though we
have found many through whose long-darkened
intellects it was slow work to diffuse light. We
have, however, carefully compared our schools with
those attended chiefly by children of the laboring
class, both in this country and in England, and we
believe they would not compare unfavorably. As
less likely to be considered prejudiced in their favor
on so important a question, we give the opinion of
the chairman of the Diocesan Committee on Edu-
cation :

•

Rectory, Church of the Redeemer, \
Charles Street Avenue, V
July 20, 1880. J

Reverend and Dear Brother :

Having attended, as a member of the Committee of Re-
ligious Instruction of the Diocese, the examinations of your
Schools for Colored Boys, I want to say to you how much
impressed I was with the results of your work.

I saw enough, I thought, to solve the doubts of any one
concerning the capability of the colored race for intellectual
attainment. I am sure, at least, the mistakes made by the
boys were as few, and the results of the examinations were
7

98 Gttoetoe gears ^tnong tlje Colorcb JJecrpU.

as good, as would have been found in any school of the same
grade in the city.

The readiness and accuracy with which the boys told the
prominent facts of the history of the country, and with
which they worked out at the blackboard even quite compli-
cated questions in arithmetic, were noteworthy; but I was
especially gratified to observe that in such studies as Eng-
lish grammar, for instance, they made an effort to think —
as good and as successful as I have been able elsewhere to
see.

The discipline of the school was excellent, and the bearing
of the boys as modest and respectful as could have been de-
sired ; and I most cheerfully say to you that I should con-
sider it a downright misfortune to the Church if the experi-
ment which you seem to be making so successfully in behalf
of the race should fail for lack of support or encouragement.

Yours truly,

Geo. C. Stokes.

Rev. Calbraith B. Perry.

The Dean of Baltimore, himself an experienced
and successful teacher, having on a number of oc-
casions attended our examinations, expressed the
like opinion, while Bishop Whipple wrote, in 1870,
" Daring my recent visit to Baltimore I visited the
schools under the care of the Eev. Calbraith B.
Perry and the Sisters of S. Mary's. I was much
pleased with the schools. It seemed to me an
honest effort to grapple with and do the work for
this people in the self-sacrificing spirit of Christian
love."

At the opening of our school at adjoining desks
in the front row sat three intelligent boys. They
were often spoken of as illustrating, not the "in*-

Qll)C Schools,

99

sectarian character" of the school (as the phrase
goes), we never boasted of that, but the diversity in
religious faith of its pupils. One was the lay server
at our own altar; another, sanctuary-boy at S.
Francis', the Roman Catholic church for colored
people; the third, the son of a Methodist minister.
The last that was heard of the preacher's boy was
in the State Penitentiary. The others have had a
more creditable career. The "sanctuary-boy" re-
moved with his family to Philadelphia. Devotedly
attached to his mother, a devout Romanist, who
wrell deserved his affection, he regularly attended
church with her, until one day he said, "Mother, I
have reached an age when I must think for myself.
I attended S. Mary's school too long to be satisfied
to remain in your Church. I wish to find an Epis-
copal Church with which to connect myself." The
mother, of course, regretted his choice, but she her-
self, while living in Baltimore, had become very
fond of S. Mary's, and did not seek to dissuade him.
He has ever since remained faithful in the com-
munion of his choice. He became a messenger boy
in the United States Signal Service Office, and so
approved himself to his employer that when the
latter was appointed to a position in the water-
works, he took the lad with him, and promoted
him. He now, after his hard day's work, devotes
his evenings to study at the Franklin Institute, and
bids fair to make a successful mechanical engineer,
an honorable, as he has already become an indus-
trious and conscientious man.

100 Qiwzlvc gears ^mong t\)t Coloreb PeopU.

Our own server, the son of our senior warden,
and brother of the Mrs. Mason whose earnest work
has been recorded in a previous chapter, from an
early age desired to enter the ministry.

When he and a schoolmate who had the same
purpose reached the highest grade of our school, it
became a question where they should complete
their education. Their friends had not the means
to send them to Harvard or other Northern institu-
tions which were occasionally graduating colored
men. The Church made no provision for them.
Just at this time Prof. Babbitt, then of the Univer-
sity of South Carolina, whom the Priest in charge
happened to be visiting, promised them a welcome
at Columbia, and they were cordially received by
professors and students, both white and colored.
A few months later the University was closed. The
young men returned to Baltimore greatly dis-
heartened. One of them, Bishop, the server of
whom we have spoken, was still ready to persevere.
His companion abandoned his purpose and became
a school-teacher. Bishop Whittingham, ever ready
with counsel and encouragement, advised entering
young Bishop at S. Stephen's, Annandale. We
regret to say its officers were not then ready to open
its doors to colored students. We understand they
now act on a more liberal policy, and we make no
further reflection on the events of the past which
added to our discouragement and kindled the in-
dignation of the Bishop of Maryland.

No choice seemed left but to prepare the young

fflje Schools. 101

man at home, as best could be clone, for the Semi-
nary. Kindly aided at times by others, Prof. Witte
of Baltimore, and Mr. Schaefer, now a highly esteem-
ed teacher in Charleston, S. C, but then a Harvard
undergraduate, the clergy conducted him through
his studies until he was prepared to present him-
self to the chaplains of the Diocese for examina-
tion in all the studies prescribed by Canon. He
passed successfully, complimented by his examin-
ers, and wras admitted a candidate for Priest's
Orders by the Standing Committee of Maryland.
He entered the General Theological Seminary in
New York, the first colored student to enter, as
well, it is believed, as the first to apply since Mr.
Alexander Crummel, now the Eev. Dr. Crummel
of Washington, had been refused admission some
forty years before.

It deserves to be recorded that Mr. Bishop
not only received a cordial welcome from the
Faculty and the Dean, the present Bishop of
Springfield, as well as from his successor, but also
from his fellow students. When the attention of
the Church was called to the expediency of es-
tablishing special institutions for the theological
education of colored men, a memorial was prepared,
and signed by the Seminary students, candidates
from Southern Dioceses taking the lead, setting
forth the willingness to cordially welcome colored
candidates to the existing Seminaries and Theo-
logical schools, and the consequent uselessness and
inexpediency of establishing special institutions

102 QLxoclvc Ueirs &mong \t)e (Eoloreb JJeopU.

for the purpose, at additional cost to the Church
and with necessarily less advantages to the can-
didates.

Mr. Bishop had grown up with the idea of assist-
ing after his ordination at S. Mary's. At that
time he inclined to make school teaching his es-
pecial future work. This was one cause of so long
retaining the house on Biddle Street, ill-adapted to
its use as a day school, but admirably situated for
a boarding school, which it was intended to open
as soon as Mr. Bishop should return to be its
principal.

Mr. Bishop, having completed the full course of
study and graduated, returned to Baltimore to be
Ordained. But many more were the discourage-
ments to be met by this young man in entering
the Ministry of a Church where so often has been,
deplored the lack of colored clergy. A mistake
had been made in registering Mr. Bishop's name
at the time he applied to Bishop Whittinghain as
Postulant. Although the name had been correct-
ly reported at conventions during the three years he
was a candidate, there was a delay of some months
until the Standing Committee should satisfy
themselves that Hatchens Chew Bishop was the
same person as Hutchens Smith Bishop. In the
meantime he quietly taught the school, having
succeeded Mr. Quin. After their next meeting it
somehow transpired that no action had been taken
upon the papers which had appeared to be at fault
only in this confusion of name. They were care-

&f)£ 0cI)0Ols.

103

fully drawn in the prescribed form, the one signed
as the Canon directed by the Rector and Vestry of
Mount Calvary Church, the parish from which
Mr. Bishop went to the Seminary ; the other by
the Rev. Dr. Hodges, Rector of S. Paul's Church,
and by the Rev. Dr. Richey, Prof, of Ecclesiastical
History in the General Seminary. In response to
Mr. Bishop's inquiries addressed to the Standing
Committee through their Secretary, it could only
be learned that the testimonials were "not satis-
factory." No hint could be obtained how they
could be made satisfactory, or in what respect they
were not already so. Nor were inquiries address-
ed to Bishop Pinkney more successful. He re-
plied, "I am not admitted to their council board.
All that I know is what you know full as well."
Subsequent events seemed to exonerate the Bishop
from any desire on his own part to block Mr.
Bishop's way. The Bishop had expressed an affec-
tionate interest in his course at an earlier stage.
He had always known and esteemed his father and
his grandfather before him. He wrote, in reply to
a respectful but earnest appeal from Mr. Bishop's
father, "I truly sympathize with you in your dis-
appointment, and regret that the Standing Com-
mittee felt obliged to so act, and would do any-
thing in my power to gratify you in this or any
other matter, for I have much regard for you and
your father, and remember most pleasantly his con-
stant kindness to me in years gone by. But,"
he added, " I cannot do anything to promote your

104 Gtoetoe Pears ^ntong tt)t QLoloxzb JJtopLe.

wishes in tin's matter." The Bishop had shown
much interest in the work of S. Mary's itself, had
himself handsomely contributed to its erection, and
when it was nearly completed, one night, after a
service held there, wThile quietly smoking in the
study of our Clergy House, had experienced much
gratification at the part the colored people had
themselves taken in building the church. Amused
at hearing of a friendly rivalry between the two
wardens, one of whom was earnestly collecting
funds to put glass in one of the large transept
windows then filled with muslin, because the win-
dow on the side where the senior warden usually
sat was already filled, the Bishop promptly said,
" Tell your warden to give the money he has col-
lected toward the debt on the building. I will
send you $50 with which to put in the glass."
When after his Ordination to the Priesthood in
another Diocese Mr. Bishop sought readmission to
Maryland, the Bishop received him without any
hesitation, and the last official communication with
the Priest in charge of S. Mary's was a letter to
carry to Europe. It is so pleasant to remember
as his last act after all that had passed, that it is
given here in order to do full justice to the Bish-
op's kind heart and courtesy.

Washington, D. C, U. S. A.

March 6, 1883.
The Rev. Calbraith B. Perry is a Presbyter of the Diocese
of Maryland, and at this time associated with the work of
Mount Calvary Church in the city of Baltimore. He is a

(Elje Schools. 105

gentleman of fine culture, able, and of fervid zeal, and is
highly esteemed for his many virtues, and by no one more
than myself. Any civility shown to him during his sojourn
abroad will be regarded as a personal favor to me.

William Pinkxey,

Bishop of Maryland.

[seal]

, Although this letter drew a picture which wras
quite an objection in using it, lest the contrast
with the original should become too conspicuous,
yet its kind expressions could not but be prized by
the possessor as a proof that its writer had no such
personal feeling toward him or his work as some
were wont to intimate. The fact seemed simply
to be (so far as the Bishop was concerned), that he
had no information in regard to the action of the
Standing Committee whatsoever — although the
secretary of that committee had referred Mr. Bishop
to the Bishop " to learn from him what the Standing
Committee had done — the reason for their action —
and what he (Mr. B.) was to do"— and that with his
peculiar notions as to the sovereign powers of the
Standing Committee, he felt neither liberty to act
nor to inquire into their action. Although he
showed irritation when further pressed, and utterly
refused to advise his candidate what to do, there
was nothing in his action which could be construed
as unfriendly to Mr. Bishop.

While some were confident that the real reason
which the Standing Committee kept as impene-
trable a mystery as the Egyptian Sphinx, was an

106 Qvotlvc ©ears Qlmong t\]c CToloreb JJeopU.

unwillingness to receive the signatures of the clergy
who had signed the papers — owing to so-called
Ritualistic tendencies — ohters believed that the
question of color was the real one. Some of the
oldest Maryland clergy not immediately interested
in the matter have always maintained this opinion.
But in a question which clad itself in such Eleusinian
secrecy, and which has ceased to be of any practical
interest, it is perhaps best not to waste conjecture.
Sufficient has been said to explain a strong and
intense feeling of indignation and suspicion of
offended rights on the part of S. Mary's congrega-
tion and the colored people generally. This found
expression in resolutions adopted at a meeting of
the colored people, which, however, called forth no
more response than the previous communications.
The belief has remained deeply rooted in the mind
of the colored people throughout the city. The fact
has been gleefully proclaimed by those hostile to
the Church, and who are glad to argue that she
'was too aristocratic to wish to admit the Negro.

The difficulty itself was solved by the kindness
of the Bishop of Albany, who received Mr. Bishop
into his diocese by letter of transfer from Bishop
Pinkney. He was ordained on Sunday, April 3d,
by Bishop Doane, in his cathedral, the very same
papers that the Maryland Standing Committee had
declined to pass having been approved by the Stand-
ing Committee of Albany. Sunday evening he
preached by invitation of the Eev. Dr. Harrison, at S.
Paul's Church, Troy. The cordial hospitality he

QTlie Schools.

107

received at both the Episcopal residence and at
Dr. Harrison's, the presence of his friends and rel-
atives and the kindly words of sympathy of emi-
nent laymen of that tine old city did much to re-
lieve him of the feeling of being an outcast from a
diocese he had loved, and in which with filial
loyalty he desired to labor. For a time Mr. Bishop
served parishes in the northern part of New York,
by his Bishop's appointment. But the difficulties
of longer supplying his place in S. Mary's Boys'
Academy caused Bishop Doane to send him to
finish out the term of his diaconate in Baltimore,
and while not permitted to officiate ministerially,
he resumed his school duties. Although, after
his ordination to the priesthood, he was received
by the Bishop of Maryland, enough had occurred
to account for his hesitation about remaining per-
manently in the diocese. The difficulties of a young
colored clergyman starting out to work among his
race, with the natural suspicion encountered from
both white and colored people, the difficulty of any
young man doing priestly work in a congregation
where he had grown up as a boy, even if always
respected, as it was universally allowed Mr. Bishop
had been, were greatly increased in his case by the
additional difficulties Ave have narrated. The
school during these delays and changes had suf-
fered and Mr. Bishop found the task of building
it up less agreeable than he had anticipated. The
Mission in South Baltimore, of which he took spe-
cial charge, struggled on with few friends and en-

108 £wclvc gears ^mong tf^e Colored people.

conragements. It is not surprising, therefore, that
after remaining to assist in the work while the
priest in charge took a holiday in Europe, he after-
ward, with the regretful but full consent of the
latter, accepted a call to Charleston, and has suc-
ceeded at S. Marks his old friend at Columbia,
Mr. Saltus, who has been cut off in the beginning
of a promising and meritorious career. At Charles-
ton Mr. Bishop has received a welcome that well
accords with the long-established reputation of the
congregation to which he has gone, and so another
fledgeling has floAYii from the ecclesiastical nest at
S. Mary's, and is the fourth of the clergy who
may to a greater or less extent be claimed as her
offspring.

Hardly more brief could have been made the
details of a painful chapter of the history of S.
Mary's, too intimately connected with her strug-
gles to be omitted. The Academy in the mean-
time had suffered from these changes. For years
it had been with difficulty kept waiting for Mr.
Bishop's return. It had in the meantime not been
without advantages. The Eev. George B. Johnson,
of ''S.James's African Church." of Baltimore, a
teacher formerly of S. Paul's School, Concord, had
given his services as instructor in some of the
higher branches. The clergy of the parish were
also instructors in the school, and Mr. Perry D.
Eobinson, a young colored graduate of the admira-
ble "Institution for the Education of Colored
Youth " in Philadelphia, had been employed, first

Schools. 109

as Mr. Bishop's substitute, then as li is assistant.
On Mr. Bishop's leaving for Charleston, Mr. Rob-
inson became Principal. He was universally es-
teemed by clergy and people, and thoroughly satis-
factory as a teacher. But the load of carrying on
this school had become too great for the shoulders
of the clergy, or perhaps, from continual " belabor-
ing/' their shoulders had begun to weaken* A
few months after Mr. Bishop's departure, the other
assistant, the Rev. J. 0. Davis, was obliged to
withdraw his valuable services, and his place could
only be temporarily rilled. This crippled the task
of maintaining a school for which constant appeals
for funds were necessary, and which, calling forth
little enthusiasm from white or colored people,
seemed Herculean.

The lower departments were handed over to the
Sisters, and are still continued in the basement of
the church. The house on Biddle Street was
given up. The few older boys who remained were
removed to the choir-room of the church, where
Mr. Robinson, under great difficulties, completed
the year for which he was engaged. On the 16th
of June, 1884, the scholars, joined by former pupils
wiio had been under Mr. Robinson's instruction,
met with their parents and friends in the basement
of the church for farewell exercises and a straw-
berry treat. It was made as happy an affair as
possible, but it was necessarily with regret and
sadness that a work on which so much labor had
been spent, so many hopes builded. was now sus-

110 arrojeh)* QtatQ &ntong i\]t (Eoloreb people.

pended. Especially did it cause pain to part with
Mr. Robinson, whose influence for good among the
young men of our work had been very marked in
addition to his excellence as a teacher. After
original essays from Masters Blay and Owens,
readings by Masters Berkly Waller and Francis,
and a dialogue by Masters Francis, Bright and
Thomas, and a " Spelling Bee," a copy of Shake-
speare was presented to Mr. Robinson with a little
farewell speech by Master Edward Adams, which,
as the last production of the school (and it is given
just as written by him without aid or correction),
may appropriately close the history of S. Mary's
Boys' Academy :

"It devolves upon me to offer you, in the name
of the Rector and pupils of S. Mary's Boys' Acad-
emy and their friends, a slight token of their es-
teem and regard. To myself it is a source of great
pleasure to be made their mouth-piece on this occa-
sion. Iam not now addressing you as our teacher,
but as our friend, our dear trusted friend and very
much-tried friend — for how often have we not
tried your temper and your forbearance.

u Dear teacher, we will ever keep your name en-
shrined in our hearts, and shall look back to this
school not as an abode of penance, but rather of
pleasure, since your kindness and amiability have
so rendered it, our studies having been illuminated
by your patient graciousness.

"The little gift we offer you is of no intrinsic
value, but it is rich in love, gratitude and respect.

Schools.

Ill

Please accept it, and with it our united hopes that
your life will ever be as happy as you have made
ours."

It is not our purpose to chant a coronach over
this school. It accomplished much that we trust
has entered into the permanent life of S. Mary's.
The portions of the schools still conducted by the
Sisters, schools of about 200 pupils, are successful,
and at least give the most necessary parts of edu-
cation. We should have been glad to have contin-
ued the more advanced schools for boys and for
girls, but they were burdens we could not longer
carry. Had they been sustained as they deserved
to be, they would still be in existence.

But neither will we have the discontinuance of
the school interpreted as a change of conviction as
to its need. Some one will yet take up this work
in Baltimore and make it a success.* Two insti-
tutions are greatly needed, and if the Church is
wise, either as general or diocesan institutions or
by co-operation of the city parishes — for it is too
much to expect of any one — she will establish

* Since the above lines were writjten we learn that the Or-
- der of S. Joseph, of which our former assistant Rev. A. B.
Leeson is now Provincial, has opened for colored young men
in Baltimore such an academy as we, for lack of support, have
abandoned. We can only wish for the Roman Church, as
for all who are ready to labor for a people who so greatly need
the efforts of all, the success their efforts deserve. Her
work is not accustomed to be abandoned for lack of means ;
but is it not a disgrace that our own Church is not in the
field ?

112 Stodt)* gears &tnong il]c Qlolovzb Jkopk.

them, and thus gain the influence among the col-
ered people which will result. One is an indus-
trial school where girls can learn ho use- work,
needle-work and laundry-work. Nothing can be
more important to the white people, as well as to
the colored. Thus will be trained honest, indus-
trious and skillful household servants, seamstresses
and laundresses.

The second is such an academy as it was attempt-
ed to establish in connection with S. Mary's. One
for girls would be useful. For boys it is greatly
needed. Here would be gathered from all quarters
under church instruction the most intelligent
representatives of their people — those who were
studying for special departments, as law or medi-
cine, or mechanical pursuits, or fitting for higher
colleges. From them would grow up influential
laymen, and from among them the Church would
be likely to cull the best material to send to her
seminaries. The constant demand is made for
more colored clergy. But how and where are they
to get their education? The last General Con-
vention emphatically refused to amend the Canons
so as to lower the required intellectual standard
for the priesthood. Such an amendment was
strongly urged by the SewTanee Conference of
Southern Bishops and Clergy. But many who
labor among the colored people, and the writer
among that number, and the great majority if not
all of the colored clergy themselves, believe that
such an opening of the door to an illiterate Priest-

®f)£ 0cl)00l0. 113

hood would be fatal to the Church's work among
them.

But to keep this door of a " short cut" to the
ministry carefully closed, yet to give no aid to
enter by the regular way, is cruel and unjust.
From Mr. Bishop's case it can be seen that there
is no bar to their entering our seminaries. An-
other, Rev. Mr. Massiah, has graduated from the
General Seminary since, and there is a colored can-
didate there at present. The Philadelphia Divin-
ity School has graduated several, and they have
been treated with marked kindness by the Bishop of
Pennsylvania, as well as by the professors and stu-
dents.* But where are they to get the requisite

* The following information was kindly furnished by the
Bishop of Pennsylvania after the above was in type. Among
the names of the colored clergy which he gives appear
several of those who have been exceptionally successful.
This strengthens our position that educating the colored
clergy in the companionship of the white and with equal
advantages, is the best means of insuring their success :

Episcopal Booms, Philadelphia, November 6, 1884.
Dear Mr. Perry :

The following colored persons have graduated at the
Philadelphia Divinity School :

Rev. W. H. Josephus, ordained 1871. Died Nov. 19,
1873.

Rev. Joseph N. Durant, ordained 1869, Codington Col-
lege, West Ind.

Rev. Henry L. Phillips, ordained 1875. Moravian Sem-
inary, Jamaica.

114 Sfojetoe IJears &ntong tlje (toloreb People.

diploma to be admitted as candidates for priest's
orders, or the training necessary to pass the re-
quired "examination of literary qualifications"?
They ask for no " dispensations " from the canon-
ical requirements in their behalf — they only ask
the opportunity of acquiring this preparation.

Writes a clergyman of a Southern diocese, one
of the most earnest and self-denying of the labor-
ers in this field of work, after expressing his dis-
sent from the action of the late General Conven-
tion:

u And then, when thus blocking our wheels, they
promised us money, and talked about $50,000.
Where is the money? The only sensible course

Rev. Joseph L. Bryant, ordained 1879, Lincoln Univer-
sity.

Rev. Peter A. Morgan, ordained 1877, Lincoln University.
Rev. Paulus Moort, M.D., ordained 1882.
Rev. J. Benjamin Williams, ordained 1882. '
Rev. J. Pallam Williams, ordained 1882.
Rev. Alfred C. Brown, ordained J 884, Cambridge High
School, Mass.

I have also ordained the Rev. W. F. Floyd, now in Louis-
ville, Ky., and last June, the Rev. Thomas G. Harper,
King's College, London.

I have now in the school a colored candidate, William
Adger, who graduated two years ago from the University
of Pennsylvania. I have had many more under my care.
I feel deeply for this class of men, and have done all in my
power to elevate and cultivate them. In some cases I have
been greatly disappointed ; in others greatly comforted.
Very truly yours,

Wm. Bacon Stevens.

0rt)00ls. 115

in the work would seem to be, if colored men are
to be educated priests, to provide for their educa-
tion at the South in Kaleigh or elsewhere; but
when you demand that they shall be educated you
give them no chance. Only $400 could be raised

for Kaleigh. What shall I do for M ? I want

to get him into some school at the North. He
ought to go one year to a preparatory school, and
I believe he would then go through college swim-
mingly. You great c sticklers' for an educated
ministry ought to show your zeal now, and help
forward the work. What institution bids for him?
Black as black can be! Surely somebody will take
him and be glad of the chance! He must get a
satisfactory diploma ; nothing short of Harvard
will satisfy the Standing Committee, though a
white man can get in with the weakest sort of an
education! But, joking aside, can you help me
find a place for him, as honest a man and as ear-
nest a churchman as ever went upon this earth,
but the sun has touched him very harshly. He
learns easily, and is well along in his books."

It is a shame that the Church has not long since
established several well endowed institutions to
meet this need. There are many reasons why no
better place could be found than Baltimore in
which to locate one of them. But the reader must
not be wearied with their enumeration.

We would add only a word in regard to one or two
difficulties in this matter of education and their pos-
sible solution. It must be confessed that the char-

11C gfoetoc Uears &tnong t\)c CToIoreir JJeopU.

acter of the younger generation of colored people
who have received the advantages of education is in
many respects extremely disappointing. As they
enter upon manhood and womanhood they betray
a great distaste for labor. Unwilling to take the
positions that their parents have occupied, of house-
hold servants, they do not show sufficient diligence,
perseverance, and "push" to secure or retain po-
sitions of a more independent character, even when
opened to them. Great half-grown men work for
a little while, spend all their wages in fine clothes,
pleasure excursions and entertainments, and with-
out shame are content without contributing to the
maintenance of the household, to depend upon
hard-working parents, scrubbing, washing and
toiling in every way for those whom they are
rather pleased to see "play the gentleman," and
whom they foolishly though fondly indulge. The
younger generation of colored people of the best
educated classes are adopting a style of living ab-
surdly extravagant and utterly beyond their means.
A young girl is offended if her gallant does not
call to take her to the evening entertainment in a
hired carriage. The style of dress upon the street
of a Sunday afternoon is astonishing. It is not
that it is in itself ugly: many of the colored
people show great refinement of taste in combina-
tions of color and form. But one wonders where
the sons and daughters of hard-working mothers,
who struggle to meet the monthly rent, and some-
times require alms to enable them to do so, can find

0tl)00l0. 117

money for the rustling silks and brilliant feath-
ers, the "nobby" suits and glittering ornaments.
In a word, there is a general tendency — not without
marked and praiseworthy exceptions, we are glad
to allow — to extravagance and improvidence, com-
bined with idleness and frivolity. There is little
appreciation of the dignity of labor; there is no
true ambition by persevering industry and judi-
cious economy to acquire fortune.

It is useless to seek the causes of all this in the
past. They can be found without looking far.
The old regime of slavery was a poor teacher of
the dignity of labor, of economy, of thrift, of am-
bition, or of self-respect. The sudden change to
liberty, the flattery and sentiment that have been
lavished upon the "freedman," with the neglect
of his real advancement, and many other causes,
combine to produce the condition we have de-
scribed. It is not so important to seek its explana-
tion as its remedy. It is of the greatest impor-
tance to white and colored people that the remedy
should be applied, and at once.

With Christian people it scarcely needs to be
argued that the first requisites are a thorough
training in Christian morals and the grace of God
to form and strengthen the character to live by
Christian rule. But God works by and through
human instrumentalities. The work must be
done not only by the colored man — his white
brother has his part to do.

What is required from the former is evident.

118 Sfoetoe Sears &tnong tl)e Coloreb JJeople.

They must continue to grow manly, brave, ener-
getic, ready to battle and to win. It is required
of all people — especially is it necessary for a people
struggling for existence in a land and among races
like those of the United States.

But in this they need help. Indeed, since so
large a portion of our population as the negro ele-
ment cannot decay and perish without spreading
corruption and death about them, they need, if
necessary, compulsion. If need be, they must be
spurred on in the race, forced by stronger wills
until their own wills are strengthened.

But it is easier as well as better to draw than to
push. We may push them to the wall ; up hill
wre must lead them. We must present some ade-
quate incentive if we would see them struggle up
to honest, industrious effort. At present that in-
centive is lacking.

Some will reply, Let them be content with the
position they have ever occupied. In the first
place, that position no longer exists. No longer,
as in the days of slavery, is a great retinue of
servants attached to every gentleman's establish-
ment. New spheres of labor must be opened to
them, or perforce many must remain idle. But
wrere this not so, in their new condition of freedom
it were still necessary to furnish higher incentives
to their efforts. You cannot dam a stream with-
out causing it to stagnate and grow putrid. The
artificial barrier of slavery is down. The law of
mankind in unrestrained freedom is progress. Of

Schools. 119

course the great mass of the colored people — as of
every people — will remain in humble positions.
But the advance of those who struggle to the front
keeps the whole body in healthy motion. The ad-
vance of those who have the ability to struggle
cannot be impeded with impunity. But at pres-
ent the progress of the colored people is arti-
ficially blocked.

With few exceptions (to be noted hereafter,) the
only fields open to them are the work of the min-
istry and politics. No people are helped by the
former being sought for the sake of personal ad-
vancement. As to politics, the reader may prob-
ably conjecture how elevating is the eager race
after the few political prizes with which both
parties cajole, delude and coquet with the col-
ored race. In fact, there is hardly anything in-
juring the younger generation of colored men
more than attention to politics. Thrown into the
excitement and temptations of a political cam-
paign, they are flattered and bribed with delusive
promises to influence the votes of their people.
This end accomplished, they are left to wait in
idleness for the fulfillment of promises of political
advancement. Generally, they wait in vain. The
few prizes distributed among them are for the
most part conferred upon the most unscrupulous
and unworthy, since such can be most " useful."

Nearly all other avenues of honorable advance-
ment are closed against them. The jealousy of
the "trades unions" prevents their learning or

120 QLmclvc Hears &tnong ti)t (Jloloreb Jkople.

practicing mechanical pursuits. Trustworthy
architects and contractors have told us that no
builder would dare to employ a colored carpenter,
no matter how satisfactory and respectable a work-
man he might be. Carpenters who have attempted
to apprentice colored boys have been warned by
the all-powerful i( unions" that they must dismiss
them.

It is said to be different in some parts of the
South. Where there is great scarcity of white
labor, colored people may find it less difficult to
obtain employment in these pursuits. Nothing
breaks down prejudice like necessity. Charleston,
3. C, can hardly be accused of being deeply im-
bued with "Northern sentiment/' nor is it longer
under "carpet-bag" control. Yet a friend there
furnishes the names of a large number of colored
men in important and lucrative positions. Not
only are there twenty-five colored men on the
police force, but one is a lieutenant, having com-
mand of both white and colored officers, and is
" considered one of the most efficient officers on
the force." Another is a magistrate. The largest
dealer in fish and game is a colored man. Five
tailoring establishments (one the largest in the
State, the proprietor being worth about $200,000),
one shoe store, one cigar manufactory, are owned
and carried on by.colored men. Three wholesale
and retail butchers, two workers in sheet-iron, two
house-builders and carpenters, two blacksmiths,
two wheelwrights, four cotton-shippers, one ship-

Stje Schools. 121

builder, two deep-sea pilots, two companies of
masters and owners of coasting vessels (the first
owning six vessels), two others owning "fishing
smacks/' appear upon the list, while others are
responsible and well-paid clerks in drug and gro-
cery stores.

But we speak of the condition of things in Bal-
timore. No colored teacher is employed in the
public schools of this city, even in those provided
exclusively for colored children (yet there are
16,000 colored people employed as teachers in the
United States, some of them surely fit to teach in
the public schools of Baltimore). No prominent
business house would venture to employ a colored
man in any position higher than porter. They
are occasionally required to do the work of ship-
ping clerks and other responsible duties on account
of their trustworthiness and experience, but with-
out either the name or the pay. The devil is, in-
deed, less fastidious. Bar-rooms and gambling
saloons give men good opportunities, and such po-
sitions are eagerly sought.

As we have said, there are a few exceptions.
They strengthen our argument. The position of
public caterer has ever afforded an opportunity for
colored men to acquire a competence, and some of
the most respectable and best colored men of the
city are so employed. Four keep large and well
patronized "provision stores." They are men
regarded by their people as leaders of integrity.
Two of them are vestrymen of S. James' Church.

122 Sfoetoe gears &tnong tlje QToloreb people.

The late John Lockes was the president of the
Chesapeake Marine Kailway and Dry Dock Co.,
the only business corporation of colored men in
the city. He died worth a considerable property,
and was universally liked and respected by his
white acquaintances as well as by his own people.
His successor in office (another vestryman of S.
James' Church) is a man of like character. These
exceptional cases, as well as some few others who
have acquired some property, as barbers, caterers,
sextons, undertakers and the like, are among the
most intelligent, modest, courteous and upright
men among their people. There are too few of
them to exercise an extensive influence and coun-
teract that of noisy and unscrupulous politicians.

Should not the business men and Christian phi-
lanthropists of Baltimore encourage the colored
man thus to become a thrifty, honest and produc-
tive element of the community? Only by throwing
open to him more of the prizes of life, only by fur-
nishing a worthy goal for his ambition and reward
for his industry, will this be attained. The cap-
italists who would establish a manufactory of any
kind where colored men should find employment
and be rewarded with honorable positions, as clerks,
accountants, superintendents and the like, and ul-
timately with an interest in the concern when —
and only token — they became qualified for the posi-
tions, would not only do a work of philanthropy
and patriotism, but also, we believe, carry on a
lucrative business. As President Haygood, of

Schools. 123

Emory, well says, " The first thing of all to do is
the simplest, yet, perhaps the most difficult — clear
the way. Remove all hi n derail ces; make the paths
straight — not strait; give him the best chance
possible. If all this were done, the problem would,
by and by, solve itself. To do this, to give him
this best chance possible, it is not impossible that
some of us white people of the South must, first
of all, put ourselves through a course of schooling
in right views on this subject."

Said Senator Brown of Georgia, in the United
States Senate, December 15, 1880 : " Under the
slavery system the relations were kind. When the
Avar came on it was supposed by many that they
would rise in insurrection and soon disband our
armies. They at no time ever behaved with more
loyalty to us, or with more propriety. Since the
end of the Avar, when, as Ave thought you very un-
wisely gave them the ballot, they have exercised
the rights of freemen with a moderation that no
other race Avould have done. Therefore I say it is
our duty in the South, especially, and 1 think
yours in the North as well, to encourage them,
and, as they are noAV citizens, to elevate them and
make them the best citizens possible."

Let this liberal sentiment prevail. Give the
colored man a fair chance. Discriminate neither
for nor against him. Either course is an injustice
to him. Let him measure himself and under fa-
vorable circumstances discoArer his own weight.
Let him unhampered rise to that position for Avhich

124 QLtqcIvc $)*ars ^moug tfje Coloreb People.

God intended him, and be sure he will rise no
higher. His social position is in nowise concerned
in the matter. That, like every one's social position,
will take care of itself. He only asks for fair play
in the battle of life. Well says Kev. Dr. Marshall: *
"With no race does kindness, forbearance and
justice go farther than with the negro. Could he
as a man receive his honest dues — be fairly dealt
with in every relation of life — for twenty years, he
would amaze mankind with the outcome and the
improvement of which he is capable."

* " The Colored Race Weighed in the Balance, being a
reply by C. K. Marshall, D.D. of Vicksburg, Miss., to the
speech of the Eev. J. L. Tucker, D.D." Dr. Marshall cer-
tainly deals some heavy blows " straight from the shoulder,"
not only at Dr. Tucker but at our Church. In regard to some
of the charges against the Church, she has certainly laid
herself open to them ; as to others, he would no doubt speak
more gently did he know her better. Certainly she is not, as
he would seem to represent her, the great exponent of an-
tinomianism. There is much good common sense in his
book, and valuable testimony from one who evidently
knows what he is talking about, as well as very much that
is very cleverly and comically told.

CHAPTER V.

s.mary's home.

Ox the south side of Biddle Street, just beyond
the Richmond market, stands a plain three-story
brick house only to be distinguished from its
neighbors by a small gilded cross over the door.
On the door-plate maybe read the words " S. Mary's
Home." Here, unobtrusively and quietly, is carried
on one of the most important of the departments
of our work. Ring the bell ; a sister probably
will open the door. Her habit, her distinctive
dress, may be recognized as that of the All Saints'
Sisters of the Poor. Two of these sisters reside at
the house. One of the two is the sister in charge
of the work carried on among the colored people.
On entering, you may encounter another sister,
whose dark face, beneath the neat white cap, may
be a surprise, and whose habit of dark blue, may
suggest the name of her Order. This is a sister
of S. Mary's and All Saints. When S. Mary's was
begun, one of the most effective instruments of the
spread of the Roman Catholics among the colored
people in Baltimore was a large and successful
sisterhood of their own race. The mother-house
of the Order is in Baltimore. Branch houses are
established in several cities of the South. Their

12G Stoetoe gears &mong tlje Coloreb JJeopk.

visiting from house to house has been the means
of converting large numbers to their communion.
Their care of the sick was deservedly praised ;
while a large boarding and day school for girls,
receiving pupils from all parts of the country, fur-
nished, if not in every respect, a thorough and use-
ful education, yet an attractive one, embroidery
and music holding prominent places, and gained
them a great influence not only in Baltimore, but
throughout the land. It was felt that if our own
Church would win this people she must not be
content with jealous eye to look askance at such a
power, or, in idleness, to expend her strength in
loud-mouthed lamentations over the "spread of
popery/' but, giving all credit and well-earned
praise for the labors of others, must emulate their
zeal by using similar means to propagate, as we
believe, a purer faith and practice. With this in-
tent, the establishing of a colored sisterhood was
undertaken, and in the year 1876 the first sister
was received as a novice, and at the expiration of
her five-years' novitiate "professed" or admitted
full sister — the first colored sister, it is believed, in
the Anglican Communion. There are now two
full sisters, one novice and one postulant. The
growth of such an Order is necessarily slow. The
novitiate is unusually long, that it may give time
to "make full proof of their ministry." There is
special need to guard against its becoming an asy-
lum for those merely seeking a home and support.
There is often need of further instruction than

6. ittan^s £)ome.

127

simply in the " rule " and life of a Sister. It may
therefore be many years before there will be the
number needed for our own local work, to say noth-
ing of responding to the calls that already come
from home and abroad for colored Sisters. Clergy
who come in contact with colored people could do
much to hasten this time if they would keep the
subject before them, and make known to them that
there is such a sisterhood where those may be re-
ceived who are called of God to the noble work of
loving self-sacrifice.

But only the threshold of the Home has been
reached. On entering, to the left hand is a neat
though plain reception-room. As one rests a mo-
ment before going over the house, there may be
heard merry laughter and noisy shouts through
the closed folding-doors. It is quite possible there
may be sounds quite the reverse of laughter, and
some not altogether amiable words from childish
lips, for we are not about to introduce to the reader
cherubs or the "good boys" of Sunday-school
books. But there they are, tumbling about in
comfortable yet controlled freedom, a dozen or
more little fellows, most of them with curly heads
and black faces, in which glisten bright eyes and
white teeth — the younger boys of the Orphanage.
Through another open door, if it happens not to
be during school hours, will be seen in the long-
yard, which extends back to Howard Street, a
dozen or so of the older boys playing with their
tops or with ball and bat. Here are sheltered a

128 Qlwlvc IJcars &tnong tlje dLoloxch people.

score of little colored boys from four to twelve
years old, otherwise homeless or rescued from
houses of wretchedness, clothed, fed, educated in
the parish day school, and, best of all, lovingly
taught to grow upas Christian men, and therefore
useful citizens. How is this institution supported ?
is often asked. Invariably the reply has to be
made, "We do not know, except that God pro-
vides for it." It is a marvel to ourselves that the
end of each year finds the Home without debt. It
is a fulfillment of the promise, "Dwell in the land
and be doing good, and verily thou shalt be
fed."

The Home wras undertaken at the earnest solici-
tation of the colored people themselves. There
was no shelter or orphanage for colored boys of any
description in the State of Maryland except a re-
formatory institution. It was said to be not un-
common for parents or guardians of children left
without support to cause them to commit some
petty crime in order to hare them sentenced to the
Reform School. It is an excellent institution for
its purpose, established and superintended by char-
itable and influential citizens because before its
establishment there was no place to send juvenile
colored offenders except the city jail. But a
reform school is no place for innocent children.
When, urged by the representations of the colored
people, we announced our intention to open a
Boys' Home* a public meeting was held enthusi-
astically indorsing the movement, when several of

129

the colored Methodist ministers and other prom-
inent colored men made stirring appeals. The
yearly rent was pledged and a hearty support.
But "out of sight, out of mind.'' Within a few
months nearly all the subscriptions failed. The
quiet work was not of a character to keep up an
enthusiasm, and with the exception of a very few,
some within and still fewer without S. Mary's con-
gregation, the colored people show little concern
about its necessities. They have not yet learned
to encourage movements in their behalf.

This house is rented for $500 a year. The rent
is partly met by the income of the day school, the
weekly ten-cent payments from each pupil; the
Sisters teach in the school without other remunera-
tion. For the rest of the rent, just as the prospect
darkens, and the time that it is due draws near,
some kind friend, most often unsolicited, sends
five or ten dollars to the Sisters' relief. To our
shame, in this country, be it said, it is quite as
often a pound from friends in England as five
dollars from those near home.

Every day a Sister goes out with basket over her
arm, through the markets, and into shops, and re-
ceives what the dealers choose to give her. If it
were not contrary to their traditions, there could
be pictured the English homes of refinement, and
in some cases of luxury^ which they have given up
in order to come to a strange land, to live in com-
mon as Sisters with those of a long despised race,
to be as mothers to fatherless little ones, and to
9

130 Stoetoe IJears &ittong t\)c QLoloxtb JJeopIe.

live upon the charity of those who fill the baskets
which they themselves carry through the markets,
and from door to door, a contrast which, in itself,
teaches what self-sacrifice the service and love of
Christ can call forth.

To the credit of the marketmen be it said, that
however slow the wealthy are in being moved by
this example, it is not lost upon the butcher and
greengrocer at his stall. The basket never goes
home empty. With a cheery smile, one after
another throws in a chop or bit of steak, two or
three potatoes, or a handful of fruit. Except that
the colored people themselves give one or two
"pound parties*' each year at the Home, all com-
ing with their little parcels — sometimes a larger
one, a bag, and once even a barrel of flour — as
an offering to the good Sisters, whom they have
learned to bless, and that now annually a Christ-
mas offering is sent in paper bags, all the food is
obtained by this daily begging of their bread, and
so kind has been the response that there has been
no lack. On the contrary, ten or twelve famished
households have at times been helped by the Sisters
from what they have spared from their own little
store.

But as the work increases, as more Sisters are
added, and the teaching of the schools and visiting
of sick and poor require more time, it will be al-
most impossible to depend solely on this uncertain
income, especially for such regular expenses as
rent and fuel. It seems, too, a great pity that a

6. ittarjTs £)ome.

131

much larger number of children should not be
taken. They could be cared for with compara-
tively slight increase of labor and money.
* The time must soon come, therefore, to make an
effort to purchase or erect a suitable building for
the Home. It can be undertaken by the weary
work of gathering small sums throughout the
country. But, oh! how many toilsome days and
anxious nights it would save those engaged in
the work, if some liberal layman or laywomau
should be moved to build or purchase a suit-
able building for the Home. There are noble
gifts, like Wolfe Hall and Shattnck Hall. There
are schools and orphanages furnished by our
Church for the white men on our frontiers — for
the red men, for the Chinese, the Mexicans, the
Greeks — but the names which will be ever grate-
fully remembered by the colored man as connected
with generous gifts and institutions established for
his improvement, such as General Armstrong and
General Howard, and Mr. Slater, are not of our
own household of faith.

Having visited the dormitories — airy, sunshiny
rooms, with snug little cots, which are covered
with bright counterpanes — one passes down the
high steps of the Home into the street. Here a
Sister leads a little procession of boys starting for
their afternoon walk, or on their way to school or to
Church. Here comes another Sister from market,
with well-laden basket on arm, great mingling of
scraps of meat and various odd things on top, red,

132 Qlwzlvz gears ^tnong tt)t (Coloreb People.

green and gray, all which will be duly sorted, and
make dishes not unsavory.

Behind her, two of the larger boys, Charlie and
Berkley, or Albert and Tom, drag, like a goodly
pair of prancing ponies, a little wagon — a toy with
many children, but here serving the sensible pur-
pose of carrying for the Sisters the overplus.
A propos of Berkley and Albert, we must close our
account of the Home with two episodes connected
with its life.

Berkley, a quick-witted little fellow, very u light-
complected/' as our colored friends say, enter-
ed the Home with an older brother, not only
"bright skinned" (another name for those nearly
white), but very bright in mind. In his studies
he rapidly outstripped all the boys of his age in
the school. After a few years he was too old
to longer remain in the Home. His studious
habits, which had quickened his natural gifts, as
well as his good conduct and zeal in religious
duties, made it a matter of regret that his culture
should not be carried further. Kind friends in
Oxford, England, offered him an education there,
while Father Benson, the Superior of the Society
of S. John the Evangelist, has given him not only
a home, but all of a father's care and interest. A
short time ago, when the writer saw for the first
time the graceful towers and quaint, crumbling
archways of that shrine of scholarship, the little
fellow, in his stumpy silk hat and funny little bob-
tailed coat of the English school-boy, was the first

0. Jtlarg's fjottte.

133

to welcome him to Oxford. And it was a cause of
great thankfulness to hear that not only did he
lead in his sports and was a general favorite among
the sturdy English boys — for his being colored has
no other effect upon his companions than of giving
them an unusual interest in him, so ignorant are
our English cousins of our American class preju-
dices— but that he also excelled in his studies, and,
according to the master's testimony, exercised a
good influence by his example of Christian con-
duct. So has started the first, as we might say, of
the graduates of our Home.

Connected with Albert Wahzhewakka Morgan,
there is a more dramatic history. It was Easter
Eve, 1880, and around the font at S. Mary's was
gathered such a group as, probably, has not been
seen upon our Atlantic coasts for many a long day.
In snowy surplice and stole stood the command-
ing figure of an Indian priest. It was the Eev. J.
J. Enmegahbowh, the first "red man" ordained
to the ministry. Around him were gathered the
clergy of S. Mary's and the little surpliced colored
boys who acted as servers. Before him, at the
font, knelt an Indian girl to whom he was sealing
the name of Elizabeth Amelia, as from the baptis-
mal shell he poured the regenerating drops upon
her head while, at the rail of the baptistery, stood
the old Christian Indian chief Minnegoshig,
the English Sisters of All Saints, the colored
Sisters, the young Haytian girl whom Bishop
Holly had sent, and a number of the congre-

134 t&mlvc QtaxB &tncmg X\\t Coloreb Jteople.

gation of S. Mary's. It was truly a Pentecostal
scene.

About a year before this event, a ring of the
door-bell of S. Mary's Home had startled the sis-
ters at a late hour. On opening the door, a lady
stood there with a poor, dark and downcast-faced
girl by her side. A dear old sister, whose sweet,
wrinkled face has become loved with almost a holy
reverence by the colored people, was at that time
in charge of the Home. To her the lady said :
"We have brought you this poor Indian girl, sis-
ter. We found her a homeless wanderer upon the
streets of Annapolis, in danger of falling into a
degraded life. We knew not what to do with her.
We have brought her to you." What could the
sister do but give her shelter ? Yet it was a puzzle
to provide for her. At this time the Home was
full of the boarding pupils, of whom we have
spoken. It was doubtful if the girl was a proper
companion for them ; very ignorant, it was certain
she could not be instructed in the same classes
with them. It was, therefore, with some misgiv-
ing that the Sister, in the morning, informed the
chaplain what she had done. Touchingly she told
the tale. The girl, some fourteen years before,
had been left on an Indian battle-field, one
of three little " papooses " the only living crea-
tures remaining among the bleeding corpses.
A private soldier, finding and pitying this little
thing, took her home to his wife. For some
years they treated her with great kindness. But

S. ittarg's fjame.

135

the soldier " took to drink " and in turn was taken
to prison. His wife, some years after, followed in
the course of her husband, both as to his habits
and habitation; so poor Elizabeth was homeless.
What could the chaplain say but that the Sister
could not have shut out this poor girl in the dark,
and that somehow we must make room for her.
Besides, some burning words of Bishop Whipple,
while the chaplain was yet in the Seminary, had
greatly interested him in the wronged red man,
and he has ever felt that those words have done
much in giving direction to his life. Although
God has seemed to send him with the gospel
message to another people, yet here God seemed
directly to send to him one of those in whom his
interest had been first awakened. A corner was
found for poor Chatry, as she had been called,
and, half as a house servant and half pupil,
she was carefully taught, at the same time, house
work and the elements of an education. Her
nature, at first somewhat stubborn and wayward,
and bearing many marks of the degrading associa-
tions of her life, soon yielded to the gentle teach-
ings of the Sisters, and when she had been carefully
prepared, it was decided she should be baptized on
Easter Eve. Only an hour before the appointed
time for the service, the chaplain heard, accident-
ally as men are wont to say, but certainly prov-
identially, that an Indian clergyman was in town,
and so, hastening for him, the result was this
deeply significant group about the font.

136 8foelt)£ tytaxz ^ntong tlje QLoloxtb JkopLe.

But the part of the story that reads most like a
romance — yet most touchingly true — remains yet
to be told. Enmegahbowh and his old chief re-
turned to their western home. Soon Minnegos-
hig's only daughter was taken from him by death.
The loving and sorrowing father, remembering
Elizabeth, in whom at the time of her baptism he
had evinced a lively interest, made the request
that she might be sent to him as his adopted
daughter. We should have preferred to give
her a more thorough training, but she had ex-
pressed a desire to live and labor among her peo-
ple, and now God seemed to open the way, and we
dared not to question His time. The Sister in
charge accompanied the girl, in order to see her
safely established in her new home, and was cor-
dially welcomed and entertained by the Rev. Mr.
Enmegahbowh and his wife. One can easily see
that there was much of a trying nature in Eliza-
beth's new position, and it was not without fric-
tion at first that she adjusted herself to her changed
relations, but her short life ended in victory.
The end can best be related in the words of the
Rev. J. A. Gilfillan, the missionary at White Earth
Reservation, in a letter to the Sister received soon
after her death :

"It gives me great pleasure to tell you of one whom you
loved. Elizabeth was one whom grace had ripened for her
early home. She was always gentle, kind and good. She
was perfectly pure in her life, truthful and loving, and ful-
filled every duty of life with quietness and patience. She

S. Jttarg's tyomc.

137

took care, faithfu] care, of several sick and dying persons,
dying of consumption, and was unwearied in watching with
them ; sometimes being as far away as sixteen miles from
this place. There was a quietness and loveliness about
her disposition, and about all she did, which endeared her
strongly to these who knew her. She was indeed one of
Gcd's unnoticed and unknown ones ; but great in His eyes,
I believe and trust. One consumptive whom she faith-
fully nursed to the end was a daughter of Rev. Mr. John-
son— 4 Enmegahbowh/ [After referring to some of the
misunderstandings and trials to which we have alluded,
and to her falling ill while at the 44 Government House, "
"where the white people, good, kind people took care of
her," he continues :] " Thence she was brought, at her own
request, to the Bishop Whipple Hospital, adjoining my
house, and there she had every care and attention that love
and skill could devise. Her adopted mother came to see
her there, and was with her much of the time. . . . You
will see from what I have said there were some painful
passages in her life. . . . Those things did her no per-
manent harm — were permitted in the good Providence of
God and worked for her eternal good. She never, regretted
having come to Minnesota. Elizabeth was buried under
the shadow of the Church of S. Columba, by the side of her
adopted father, who had always been remarkably kind to
her, and where the white people will lie who were kind to
her. Hoping you may meet many such lambs in Paradise
as the one you were permitted to train and send out here,
and with prayers for every blessing upon you and your
work, I am veiy respectfully your brother in the Lord.

J. A. Gilfillan."

One such record as this is enough of reward and
encouragement for those who have labored for the
Home or have aided it.

On her return, the sister expressed a lively in-

138 Qlwclvt tyeaxQ &iuong ll)c doloreir Jteople.

terest in the red men and shared with the chaplain
the desire to be of further service to them. Short-
ly after, the latter, in a conversation with the Hon.
Carl Schurz, then Secretary of the Interior, ex-
pressed his readiness, to take one or two Indian
boys into the Orphanage, which had by that time
taken the place of the boarding school. The Sec-
retary suggested that it was not unlikely that the
Government would be glad to send a large number
of them to the Home, in which case there would
be an appropriation made for their support, as at
Hampton and Carlisle. The undertaking of this
more extended work needed further consideration,
as it would require increased accommodation and
the employment of a greater force than the sister-
hood then or now could furnish. The chaplain
promising to refer this plan to the sisters, again
assured the Secretary that, in any event, one or
twTo would be gladly received into the Home. The
latter inquired what amount would be expected
for their support. When told that no remunera-
tion was asked, that their care was undertaken
only as an act of charity, he exclaimed. "What !
you are ready to do this without pay ? You are
the first man who ever entered this office and
wished to work for the United States without
being paid for it. You certainly deserve to have
your request granted." Some months later, when
it was feared the memorandum of our offer had
been lost in the immense files of papers of the In-
dian office, a telegram was received, stating that

S. iiXara's fjome. 139

from a late night train a little Indian boy would
be delivered to us. He came, the silent little fel-
low. He was a son of an Indian interpreter, whose
dying request of the officer of the U. S. Army who
stood over him was that his boy should be brought
up in the white man's religion and the white
man's ways. So a second time did God seem to
send us one of His little ones of this long-injured
race. He was adopted as a ward of the parish, and
each year the children bring their Sunday-school
offerings to the altar on Low Sunday for the
support, at the Home, of little Albert, who, we
trust, is growing up to be of future service to his
race.

These details may help to impress upon others
our own firm conviction that, in the mission work
among the colored people, the aid of Sisters will be
found of the greatest importance, if not absolutely
essential. As in other work, the gentle, tender
ministrations of a woman, especially when devoted
wholly to such work and hence skilled in it, will
make itself felt in the sick room, in the desolate
home of the poor, in sorrow and in sin. The dis-
tinctive dress protects them in alleys and courts
which other women may not enter with equal safety
and propriety. Above these advantages, and with-
out speaking of that other highest blessing, which
is beyond human reckoning, the answer to the fre-
quent united prayers of such a community and to
the loving sacrifice of their service, there is another
light in which the establishment of sisterhoods is

140 Qtodtte $)ears Qtntong tfye ffioloreir Jteople.

of inestimable benefit. While the exaggerated ac-
counts of the universal impurity, dishonesty and
untruthfulness of the colored people are not true,
yet as Ave have already admitted, that whatever may
be their characteristics as a race, their previous
condition and associations are sufficient to account
for the fact that their passions are ill-controlled ;
and that, among the more ignorant, the marriage
tie is held in light esteem ; that untruthfulness and
dishonesty are, alas, too common, and that still
more generally they are marked by a singular ab-
sence of any spirit of self-sacrifice for the general
good. Now the establishment of well ordered and
thoroughly trained sisterhoods among such a people
is the lifting up of a standard of purity and self-
sacrifice which cannot fail in time to do much to-
ward correcting these very faults. This better
type of life becomes familiar to them in the daily
ministrations of the Sisters in their homes, iu their
instructions in school, in Bible classes and guild
meetings, while the integrity of the life itself is
protected by the rule, the mutual moral support,
and above all by the life of prayer in the commu-
nity.

This influence will be still greater when as in
the case of the sisterhood w7e are now describing,
women of their own race are admitted. So it has
proved with the colored people. So it will doubt-
less be found to be in Africa, China, among the
Indians, indeed among any people wTho need to be
lifted to higher tone of life and morals.

CHAPTER VI.

OUR FAITHFCTL DEPARTED.

Mount Calvary Church, which has taken so
active a part in the defense of the Catholic prac-
tice of praying for the rest and refreshment of the
faithful departed, has laid to rest, in the short
space of eight years, three of her priests and two of
the sisters working in the parish. Believing in the
communion of saints, those who were left behind
could not think that they would be forgotten in the
prayers of those now brought nearer to God in the
joys of Paradise. Their loss at the time, however,
was grievous to bear, and the interruption of their
earthly labors added to the many difficulties with
which the work they loved has had to contend.

This record would seem cold indeed, did it omit
to pay some tribute, however brief, to memories so
dear and to labors so untiring.

The brave-hearted rector of Mount Calvary
Church under whom was undertaken the work of
S. Mary's, has already become known to the reader
in the preceding chapters. His earnestness, his
manliness, his devout tender spirit, fired by a zeal
that might well in his case be called a consuming
zeal, have doubtless already been recognized.

Joseph Richey was one who from early boyhood
exercised a controlling influence over his compan-

141

ions and fellow-workers and drew to himself de-
voted friends and ardent admirers. His enthusi-
asm, his brilliant intellect, the positiveness of his
convictions, were singularly blended with a wo-
man's tenderness and sympathy. Men who widely ,
differed from him respected him, and those who
had keenly felt his reproofs, loved him.

Mr. Eichey was born in Newry, County Down,
Ireland, Oct. 5, 1843. From early childhood he
was disciplined by severe trials. At the age of ten
he was brought by his parents to the United
States, and in 1859 he came to Baltimore to be
educated under the care of his brother, the Eev.
Dr. Thomas Richey, then rector of Mount Calvary
Church. Later he was a student of S. Stephen's
College, Annandale, and thence went to Trinity
College, Hartford, where he graduated in 1866. In
the General Theological Seminary, from which he
graduated in 1869, the friendship between himself
and the writer began. He was loved, respected
and admired by his fellow-students, and took the
position of a leader among them. His first parish
was S. John's, Delhi, N. Y , and for a short time
afterward he was assistant at the Church of the
Advent, Boston, which wras then under the charge
of the Society of S. John the Evangelist. Thence
he was called to the rectorship of Mount Calvary
Church. The call to succeed Mr. Curtis presented
as many difficulties as attractions, and Mr. Eichey
made a condition of his acceptance that his semi-
nary friend should be associated with him in the

©itr -faittjful ^Departed. 143

responsibility of the rectorship. This was cordially
agreed to by both bishop and vestry. The two
young men began their work, and were soon joined
by the Eev. Evelyn Bartow, who continued for
nine years faithfully engaged in the work of
Mount Calvary. It does not belong to this work
even to briefly sketch Mr. Kichey's short but event-
ful career. His monument is in the spiritual
growth of the congregation, the daily celebration
which he re-established with the promise of the
bishop that it should not again during his epis-
copate be interrupted ; in the beautiful altar he
erected ; in the work of the sisters whom he invited
from England ; in the deep conviction with which
his boldness, sincerity and sound learning caused
many to grasp Catholic truth. These ends, how-
ever, were not accomplished without great wear and
tear to a constitution which when he entered on
his work seemed iron. When his co-laborers, as
they saw his strength wane, suggested a diminu-
tion of labor, it resulted only in his taking a larger
share himself, in order to relieve them. In addition
to his pastoral duties, he undertook exhausting
labors in a girls' school, the establishment of which,
under the All Saints' Sisters, was the darling wish
of his heart. In the midst of these labors came
the presentment for trial for alleged erroneous
teachings. He bravely bore the attack, but none
the less the iron entered his soul and deeply
wounded him. Great nervous strain was inevitable,
even when the attack was confined to himself and

144 gfoeh)* Dears &tnong tt)t doloreir JkopU.

his associate. When the bishop, because, as he
said [Annual Address, Conv. Jour., 1875], he dis-
covered in the articles charged, neither the offence
of "advised teaching of doctrine contrary to that
of this Church, nor the violation of ordination
vows/' refused to proceed to trial, and so brought the
envenomed attack upon himself, Mr. Kichey felt the
bitterness of the situation most keenly. At length
the strong constitution broke down. The congre-
gation, with loving haste and lavish generosity,
provided means for him to seek restoration to
health in Europe. -The journey, as Bishop Whit-
tingham well expressed it in his address after Mr.
Richey's death, proved to be "a vain effort for
recuperation of faculties absolutely worn out by
inordinate work."

He was passing up the Rhine toward Switzerland
when his health failed rapidly and he turned back
to England. He barely reached London in time
to die. The end is thus described in a memo-
rial sermon preached soon after his death by one
who was his dear friend and for many years his
spiritual father, the Rev. Dr. Brand:

" To the knowledge of all but himself he was dy-
ing when he reached London on the evening of
the 17th of September, and yet he passed away un-
expectedly. He had seen his one personal friend,
Father Benson, in the evening. About six the
loving mother of All Saints' Sisterhood left him,
having been arranging with him that he should re-
ceive the Blessed Sacrament in the morning; at ten

©nr -faithful SDcparteb. 145

he sent word to her by a sister that he felt better.
The Kev. Mr. Brinckman, chaplain to the All
Saints' Sisters, who was in the same house, was with
him as late as two in the morning, and then went
down to his room, thinking that he was going on
as usual ; but at five he gave a deep sigh and passed
away. This was on the morning of S. Matthew's
Day." It was on S. Matthew's Day four years earlier
that he blessed S. Mary's Chapel for its first service.

On S. Luke's Day, Oct. 18, 1877, that loved
form lay in its oaken casket before the altar of
Mount Calvary, where he had so dearly loved to
celebrate. For him was pleaded that Eucharistic
sacrifice which he had so often offered for others;
at 7, 8, 9 and 10 o'clock at Mount Calvary, and at
6 and 7 at S. Mary's. At noon the order for the
burial of the dead was said, and then the long pro-
cession— the longest funeral procession many
thought that had ever passed through the streets
of Baltimore — followed the sacred remains to S.
John's churchyard at Waverly. The words of one
who knew and loved him well, the Rev. Dr. Brand,
in the sermon already quoted, may well conclude
tli is tribute to his memory:

u In respect to all teaching and practice Mr.
Richey was guided by his belief in one Catholic
and Apostolic Church. In no respect had his the-
ological principles changed since his ordination,
and in all sincerity had he taken his vows which
bound him to " minister the doctrine and sacra-
ments and the discipline of Christ as this Church
10

146 Sfodtie gears &ntong tt)t Coloreb Jkople.

hath received the same. Mr. Richey was emphati-
cally of that school which calls itself Catholic.

" To the discipline of the Church enforced by
rightful authority, he unfeignedly submitted. I
was with him in attendance on the sessions of the
last general convention, when zeal burnt against
the ' ritualists 1 and the result of legislation was
feared. He at that time said to me, ' The conven-
tion can pass no canon that I am not ready fully
to obey.' He Avas a true and obedient son of the
* Church, which is yet not wholly conformed to the
conceptions of one who cherished the life and
spiuitof the earlier ages.

" His bold maintenance of his convictions and
his spirit of obedience to rightful rule were shown
by painful circumstances, which forced him to
meet manfully a notoriety from which his nature
shrank. I need not recall the facts, which are but
too fresh in your memory. The intended trial was
averted by your clergy rightly submitting to the
godly admonition of their bishop, and promising to
avoid what had been an occasion of stumbling ; yet
without abandoning, and without being asked to
abandon, their conviction that, although not com-
manded in Holy Scripture, nor distinctly set forth
in our service book, commemoration of the faith-
ful departed is legally observed in the English
Church, is clearly a primitive usage, and one famil-
iar to, probably practiced by, our Lord and His
Apostles as Jews, certainly never condemned by
Him or them.

<2>nr Jraitljfnl EDeparteir. 147

"You best know the faithfulness and loving na-
ture of his private efforts to lead in the way of holi-
ness. Of his entire devotion to his work — his
Master's work — all are cognizant. In labors he
was abundant. Your clergy will tell you that,
while prompt to spare them, he never spared him-
self. I myself have seen him later than two o'clock
taking his first morsel of food after constant labor
from six in the morning — a labor so wearying to
the body through the spirit — and this at a time
when the disease which cut short his days gave him
little rest in sleep. And yet his complaint was
that he neglected duties.

"One so faithful to others could not have been
negligent of his own soul. I think he was tender
in his dealings with you. 1 know that he was
severe in his judgment of himself. He was as hon-
est with himself as he was humble. Save one who
long years ago left me to mourn, having at even a
much earlier age reached a wonderful spiritual de-
velopment, he was of all men the most spiritual-
minded I have ever known."

Mr. Eichey's place was very difficult to fill.
None but a single man could become the senior
priest of the clergy house, and rare gifts were re-
quired to minister to the much tried and now
deeply afflicted congregation.

No motives of delicacy would excuse the writer
from acknowledging the kindness of the vestry and
congregation in urging him to accept the vacant
rectorship. The fear that the remembrance of his

148 Qlxozlvz QcaxQ &ntong (Coloreb JJeopLe.

friend would continually make him painfully con-
scious of his own inability to fill his place would of
itself have caused hesitation in accepting the call.
Other reasons strengthened his conviction that it
was his duty to decline it It did not seem right
to abandon a peculiar missionary work to which he
had devoted himself, and especially at a time when
it might be hazardous to turn the work over to a
stranger unacquainted with its needs. He declined,
however, not without regret, especially as he fore-
saw that as the work at S. Mary's increased, the
opportunities of intercourse with friends he dearly
loved must grow less frequent. Generously appre-
ciating his motives, the vestry continued their kind
consideration for him, and extended the call to his
intimate friend, the present rector of Mount Cal-
vary, the Rev. Robert Hitchcock Paine. Mr. Paine
had been formerly invited to join the work in Balti-
more by his friend Mr. Richey. One may eulogize the
dead, but, of the living, good taste permits one only
to say that the writer has had reason to remain
grateful to the vestry for enabling him to thus re-
new a friendship of earlier years with him who,
with sympathy, untiring energy and kind consider-
ation, has sustained all the efforts at S. Mary's in
addition to his faithful and arduous work at Mount
Calvary.

A previous chapter has related that the first to
join the clergy of Mount Calvary for the express
purpose of assisting in the work among the colored
people was the Rev. Alfred B. Leeson. He came, as

(Dnr ^cutrjful Dqmrteb. 149

all the assistants in the work have come, immedi-
ately after graduating from the General Theological
Seminary. He had been with us somewhat over
a year when it was discovered that he was post-
poning his ordination to the priesthood because he
had thought of joining the Church of Rome. The
bishop was at once informed of the fact. On being
pressed by him to receive priest's orders or to give
his reason for delay, Mr. Leeson frankly acknowl-
edged his doubts, resigned his position, and soon
after made his submission to papal authority.

Nothing could have more seriously threatened
injury to the work nor awakened more prejudice
against it. The excitement over Mr. Curtis' seces-
sion from the Church had hardly subsided when
this new trouble arose. It wTas found that Mr.
Leeson had been in correspondence since his col-
lege days with Dr. Stone, a recent convert to
Rome, and that friend's influence, and nothing con-
nected with his life in Baltimore, prompted the
step. But this did not prevent cruel suspicions
and accusations of the work at S. Mary's. Mr.
Leeson had been an indefatigable, earnest worker,
and, as he deserved, the people were devotedly at-
tached to him. The Sunday-school, the guilds
and some other departments had been left wholly
to his care. It would not have been strange had
many followed him, especially among the younger
people who had been more with him than with
the other clergy. Yet neither then nor since his
return to the city as one of an Order especially de-

150 Qlmclvz treats &mong X\\t (Eoloreb JJcople.

voted to labor among the colored people (so far as
is known), has a single one of S. Mary's commu-
nicants joined the Roman communion. In the
meantime no inconsiderable number of Eoman
Catholics have been received at S. Mary's.

Fortunately at this very time a young relative of the
priest in charge, the Rev. Oliver Perry Vinton, son
of the Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton, of Trinity Church,
New York, had been ordained, and having for
some years evinced a lively interest in S. Mary's,
was ready to decline tempting offers in order to
join in its work. Mr. Vinton had graduated at S.
Stephen's College, Annandale, in 1873, and at the
General Theological Seminary in 1876, and had
been ordained Deacon by Bishop Potter. Although
never physically strong, he entered enthusiastically
into his labors in Baltimore without any sparing
of himself. The people soon became very much
attached to him, a certain gentleness of disposition
combined with great courtesy and refinement of
manner, reached their hearts, and these gifts, with
other advantages of birth and early training which
would have made him an ornament in society, be-
came the means of winning, Christianizing and ele-
vating the humble people to whose welfare he con-
secrated these powers. Mr. Vinton, not content
with his share of work at S. Mary's, longed to
plant seed in some new field which he might watch
and tend. Although it was feared, at the time,
that his zeal outran his strength, one had not the
heart to discourage such effort. A mission called,

®ar iFaitljfttl JBepartsir. 151

at the bishop's request, Epiphany, was started in
South Baltimore. Many of the colored people of
that quarter of the city are very poor and ill-housed,
and nowhere are the ministrations of the Church
more needed. A small hall on Leadenhall Street
was rented. The site proved to be not well chosen.
The clergy lived too far away to conduct the work
effectually. The necessary aid in the way of money
and lay help could not be obtained. Mr. Vinton's
earnest efforts, therefore, were not rewarded with
much immediate success. This did not cool his
ardor. The less the response of the people the
greater his efforts ; until his spirit of sacrifice, his
patience and his gentleness began to win them.

Not infrequently when an evening meeting of
young men had been appointed, Mr. Vinton would
find that the sexton had forgotten to unlock the
door. He would get the key, and himself sweep
out the room and light the fire. At other times he
would patiently sit upon the steps, on several oc-
casions in a drenching rain. Very often he waited
in vain for the expected guests (for engagements to
meet the colored people are most uncertain), and
wTould return at midnight to the clergy house pale,
weary and disheartened. A cold, taken on one of
these occasions, first revealed disease of his lungs.
Mr. Vinton's ardent, sanguine temperament did
not permit him readily to relinquish his work. As
neither rest nor medical skill succeeded in check-
ing the ravages of the disease, he at last went home
to his family in Pomfret, Conn., but only to die.

152 Qlwclvz QtaxQ Qttnong tlje Coloreb JJeopIe.

On the night of the loth of June, 1880, he pain-
lessly and peacefully passed away. At his own re-
quest, his body was brought to Baltimore to be
placed by the side of his friend, Mr. Richey, whom
he had greatly loved. After a celebration of the
Holy Eucharist at S. Mary's, the bier, preceded by
the choir and clergy chanting a solemn Miserere,
was borne by S. Mary's Business Committee across
the street to Mount Calvary. The choristers of
Mount Calvary, and such clergy as had vested there,
met the procession at the gate and proceeded into
the church. The burial office was then said, and
at the conclusion of the service a long funeral train
composed of both Mount Calvary and S. Mary's
choirs, and a large number of clergy, white and
colored, friends and relatives, and a great many of
both congregations, accompanied his remains to
Waverly, where sorrowfully but hopefully he was
laid to rest.

The work at South Baltimore was for a time
carried on with great difficulty, but on the death
of Mr. Vinton's successor, there being no assistant,
it had to be abandoned. It would probably not
have been resumed had not a lady of indomitable
energy, Mrs. Robert C. Barry, asked that she might
reopen the Sunday-school. Almost unaided by
the clergy, who have been too busy to afford much
help, she has gathered a Sunday-school of 125
scholars, and one day in the week has held a
mothers' meeting of thirty women. A small tene-
ment was rented on West Street, in the poorest and

(EHtr -faithful IDeparteb.

153

densest populated section, and the words "Vinton
Memorial " were placed over the door. In every
kind of weather this lady has been at her post of
duty. Even during the winter, when small-pox
was raging in that section of the city, although
from the mission house seventeen yellow flags could
be counted on the neighboring houses, the fear
of disease did not keep her from her work. The
grateful people might easily have been gathered, if
proper provisions for them could have been made.
We had hoped that long ere this some generous
churchman would have given one of the many
vacant lots of land in the neighborhood or the few
hundred dollars needed for building a small chapel.

A year before Mr. Vinton's death, when it be-
came evident that he had no longer strength to
labor, another assistant was called. The Eev.
Herbert Baring Smythe came, fresh from his semi-
nary course. So full of enthusiasm was he, so
blessed with physical strength and spirit, so de-
voted to his work from the very start, that it was
hoped he would for many years brighten and
lighten the burden now sorely pressing upon the
shoulders of the other clergy. He had peculiar and
rare gifts for the work. He did not know the
meaning of discouragement. In his private life
devout and almost austere, his manner with others
had never a tinge of gloom, but was bright, sunny
and cheery. Passionately fond of music and well
skilled in its science, he never wearied in training
the choristers, and he went in and out of the clergy

154 Sfoetoe tycavs ^ntong tlje (Eoloreir JJeople.

house singing in rich, deep tones snatches of song
like a happy bird. Full of sympathy and godly
counsel for the mourner or the penitent, he was
equally at home in merrymaking, and no pleasure
excursion was considered complete without Mr.
Smythe. The amount of work that he could press
into a day was marvelous. When the writer, one
night, noticing his weariness urged him to attempt
less — "Why?" replied he brightly, "I am very
tired each night, it is true, but why should I not
be ? I rest well and am ready for the same work
the next day." When preparing classes for con-
firmation he would wait in his room till one o'clock at
night for men employed till after midnight at hotels,
and then, in his stocking-feet? that the other clergy
might not be disturbed nor expostulate with him
for "overwork," would slip down to the front door
and let them in, and give them an hour's instruc-
tion. It has been the writer's privilege to live in
daily intercourse with noble and earnest men. Some
have fallen asleep ; others are still left to him ; but
he thinks that he has never intimately known any
one whose character, take it all in all, seemed to
him so nearly perfect as Mr. Smythe's.

God saw fit that this noble soul should not be
without trial in the furnace of affliction. One
shadow fell over his happy life in Baltimore. The
unending theological controversy in the diocese
that has already so often appeared in these pages
sought another victim. Without in any way being
directed against Mr. Smythe personally — for he

CDur ifaitfyfttl Wcpaxtd. 155

was hardly known to the members of the Standing
Committee — the contest for a time centered upon
him. His testimonials signed, as the Canon re-
quired them to be, by the clergy and vestry of
Mount Calvary, were not accepted by the Standing
Committee. Like other unwilling exiles from the
Maryland Diocese, he was forced to seek ordina-
tion to the priesthood in a diocese of more liberal
views. Cordially received by the Bishop of New
York, he was ordained by him. The acrimony of
the attack, and especially the wholly inexcusable
hesitation in accepting his word — he was the soul of
honor and frankness — wounded a deeply sensitive
nature and seriously affected his health. The re-
sult will be stated in a short memoir furnished by
the father he so dearly loved. Little did we think
when we stood by the grave of Mr. Vinton with
the elder Mr. Smythe, who was at the time visiting
his son at our home, that in another year we should
be sorrowing by his sid£ over Herbert's grave. Very
different from the great concourse of people at
Waverly was the scene on that frontier of civiliza-
tion where his father in missionary zeal had gone.
Surrounded by a new congregation, who had known
the son only through the loving description of his
parents, but who showed the tenderest sympathy,
the Holy Eucharist was celebrated on an extempo-
rized altar in the place of worship, kindly loaned
by the Presbyterians. Clad in his Eucharistic vest-
ments, according to his dying request, he wTas laid
to rest in the lonely prairie more than 1,000 miles

156 Qlwivt $ears &ntong itye doloreb JJeople.

from his Baltimore home. His body, now removed,
lies beneath the shadow of a beautiful church in
Canada. His father, at our request, has furnished
the following brief memoir :

MEMOIR OF THE REV. H. B. SMYTHE, A.M.

Mr. Smythe was born in London, 27th of Feb-
ruary, 1854, and was brought in childhood by
his parents to this country, his father settling as
Rector of S. John's Church, in Helena, Ark. From
his earliest youth he aspired to the holy ministry
of the Church, and from his first consciousness he
corresponded with this aspiration, and looked for-
ward to a life of service at God's altar. With
that in mind, he kept himself pure and free from
aught that might interfere with the fullest service
he could render.

After a blameless boyhood, which endeared him
to all who knew him, he entered Racine College
in 1870, and graduated in 1876. Aided by the
loving counsel of his revered instructor and adviser,
the Rev. Dr. De Koven, he passed through all the
departments of Racine, aiming to fit himself, with
God's guidance, for his high calling. There, as
at the General Theological Seminary, which he
entered in 1876, he won for himself the love and
respect of all his classmates and instructors, who
looked for great blessings to the Church, from his
steady perseverance, his entire consecration, his

bright and amiable disposition, and his apparently
strong and vigorous constitution.

Keady to give himself up to his chosen work, in
the spring of 1879, his desire was to return with
Bishop Schereschewsky to the China Mission, in
regard to which the following memorandum is
found on the fly-leaf of his pocket Bible: " April
17, Vigil of Maunday Thursday — to night I offered
myself to the Bishop of China." He was hindered
in this, however, by the delicate state of his
mother's health.

Mr. Smythe was ordained to the diaconate June
15, 1879, at Christ Church, Croswell, Michigan.
His father, being the rector, presented him to
Bishop Gillespie, of Western Michigan, officiating.
He at once entered on his work in Baltimore,
where, in preference to many tempting offers else-
where, including a call to be assistant minister at
the Church of the Ascension, Chicago, he accepted
a call to labor among the colored people in Balti-
more, in the work carried on by the clergy of Mount
Calvary Church.

Mr. Smythe was ordained priest in New York,
by Bishop Potter, June 27, 1880. His father, the
Rev. Wm, H. Smythe, preached the sermon, and
assisted, with the clergy of Mount Calvary Church,
Baltimore, and others of New York, in the ser-
vices on that occasion.

Of his short ministry no adequate account can
be given in this brief memoir. Those who were
writh him can alone testify of his labors in season

158 Qlwclvc gears &tnong l\\t Coloreb people.

and out of season, and of symptoms which, all un-
consciously to them, as to him, began to weaken
and impair a vigorous and seemingly well-estab-
lished constitution. Circumstances and contro-
versy, in no sense intended as personal, but which
centered to some extent in himself, made his en-
trance into the priesthood a time of trial and
perplexity, from the consequence of which Mr.
Smythe's timid and retiring nature had not re-
covered before, after a year of active service, God
took him to that Haven of Rest :

" Where happier bowers than Eden's bloom,
Nor sin, nor sorrow know :
Blest seat ! through rude and stormy scenes
I onward press to you."

These trials, borne with patience and fortitude,
served only to deepen the side of his devotional
character. The daily celebrations of Mount Cal-
vary were his especial joy. Not one morning in
two years, as deacon and priest, did he fail to
attend the pleading of the one sacrifice, once
offered. One year of work in the priesthood and
his toil was over.

At the close of June, 1881, he left Baltimore for
a holiday, to which he had looked forward with
joyous anticipation, meaning to spend at least a
month with his loving parents, the Eev. Wm. H.
Smythe and wife, at Port Austin, Michigan. On
his way home he tarried for a few days with his
brother, E. H. Smythe, LL.D., at Kingston, Can-

<2>ur Jraitliftxl EDcpartefr. : 159

ada. Here, however, he became conscious of the
presence of active disease ; but bearing up until
he could be nursed by a loving mother, he hastened
home. There, after a fortnight of seemingly
slight fever, his enfeebled frame was attacked with
acute peritonitis, and after a few hours of intense
suffering, in which his faith and trust never fal-
tered, sustained and comforted by the love of God,
extended through the sacraments of the Church,
and the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost, he
breathed back his soul to God who gave it, in the
arms of his loving mother, July 22, 1881.

This mournful fact was immediately telegraphed
to Baltimore, to the Eev. Kobert H. Paine, Eector,
- and the Kev. Calbraith B. Perry, associate Eector
of Mount Calvary Chi*rch, who immediately hast-
ened with all speed to the chamber of death at
Port Austin. The funeral was performed, with
all due solemnity, by these loving companions in
labor. The Eev. Mr. Paine acted as celebrant at
the holy communion, and he and Mr. Perry made
affecting addresses on the solemn occasion.

There on the shores of Lake Huron were laid*
away the remains of one whom all who had known,
loved, July 27, 1881. May he rest in peace, and
have a joyful rising in the day of Jesus Christ.

It might seem that the record of death were full.
Still more lives, however, were given to consecrate
this work. A year before Mr. Eichey's departure,
we had knelt around the death-bed of one whose

160 gfodre Dearo &tnong t\)t Qlolovcb People.

life seemed scarcely less important to the work than
that of the clergy. Sister Harriet had been sent
oat as Superior of the All Saints' Sisters in Balti-
more, and for three years, with rare wisdom and
great devotion, she had filled the position. It was
during this time that, aided by her judgment and
zeal, the colored Sisterhood was successfully begun.
Sister Harriet had been one of the three postulants
of the order at the time it was organized in Lon-
don in 1856. She became noted in England as one
whose sympathy and counsel were sought by every
class in life. In America she maintained the same
reputation, and when she was laid to rest (the first
buried in the now well-filled lot at Waverly), she
was followed to the grave by a great number of
white and colored people, jvho sincerely mourned
the loss of a friend who had soothed their sorrows
and solved their perplexities. She entered into
rest March 12, 1876. At the funeral services at
Mount Calvary Church, twenty vested clergy in the
choir showed their respect and their appreciation
of her work, and the eighteen sisters present
represented several religious orders. The Kev. Dr.
Leeds, and the Eev. Messrs. Leakin, Wiley, Chip-
chase, Gibson, Cranston, Hobbie and Eose acted as
pall-bearers, and the All Saints' school filled her
grave with flowers. Sister Harriet's memory will
be held ever dear in Baltimore, though the affec-
tionate and generous care which the Kev. Mother
in England has, from the first, bestowed on the
American work, has made her loss felt as little as

©ur ,f aitljfixl JOepartcb. 161

possible by the selection of her successor, and has
supplied a number of other accomplished and
devoted sisters for the work both of Mount Cal-
vary and S. Mary's. Again death entered and
took a very lovely character to her reward — Sister
Mary Clement, the teacher of S. Mary's parish
school. The girls under her care regarded her
with the affection deserved and the respect
inspired; although she well loved them and the
work, she gladly accepted the release her Lord
gave her from a lingering illness, and her grave is
the fourth in the burial-lot at Waverly.

This tribute may be paid to the dead. Good
taste forbids the same free expression of the living.
Yet it must not be thought that there is no cause
for thankfulness for their services. An earlier
chapter has shown Mr. Bartow's interest and
connection with the work. While two of the
clergy of Mount Calvary have been more especially
assigned to the work at S. Mary's, the other clergy
have taken a deep interest, and frequent exchanges
have been to the advantage of the congregation
as well as a relief to themselves. Mr. Bartow con-
tinued to preach at S. Mary's twice a month, and
when he accepted a call to a parish in New Jersey,
he left many friends in S. Mary's, as well as a
great number in Mount Calvary. His successor,
the Rev. George Herbert Moffett, has aided from
time to time in the schools, and it would only be
necessary to mingle among the people to know
how gladly they welcome him when his many
11

162 QLmclvc gears &mong doloub JleopU.

duties at Mount Calvary permit him to preach or
otherwise assist at S. Mary's.

After Mr. Smythe's death, his place was tem-
porarily filled by the Eev. Charles H. De Garmo.
He spent only a winter with us, but he left a deep
and lasting impression upon the congregation.
Few, in so short a time, could have become so
universally beloved, and it is another illustration
of our assertion that those who are especially
marked by gentleness of disposition and unusual
courtesy of manner are peculiarly fitted to labor
among the colored people.

The Eev. James Oswald Davis was our latest
assistant. At the close of two years of faithful
and earnest work, he has recently accepted a call
to be assistant at the Church of S. Mary the
Virgin, New York. He retired from the work
from circumstances beyond control, regretted by
clergy and congregation. During his stay he was
particularly successful in the organization of sev-
eral guilds and the more complete systematizing,
under the sisters, of the care of the sanctuary and
similar work.

It has been already intimated that the formation
of guilds and societies among the colored people
has not been found as fruitful as had been
expected. This arises from the irregularity of
members in performing duties and attending meet-
ings, partly the result of the nature of their oc-
cupations and partly from their own peculiarities.
Yet every means that tends to make them more

CDttr faittjful Departed. 163

punctual or increase their sense of personal
responsibility should be employed, and the diffi-
culties in keeping up their interest may be over-
come. As a people, they are certainly fond of
forming societies, especially of such as have a great
number of officers or are employed largely in the
discussion of constitutions and by-laws. The
most popular societies among them are what are
known as '' beneficial societies/' which make pro-
vision for sickness and death among their mem-
bers. When these have been honestly and wisely
conducted, they have done much to encourage
thrift and to prevent distress. Their odd and, it
must be allowed in some cases, somewhat grotesque
costumes or "regalia," as they appear in attend-
ance at funerals, is somewhat startling to one
unaccustomed to them, while many of their names
are still more remarkable, as, for example, the
following, selected at haphazard from such as are
known to the writer : u Galilean Fishermen," " Be-
nevolent Daughters of Ebenezer," "Sons and
Daughters of Moses," "Freed Sons and Daughters
of Abraham Lincoln," "Sons and Daughters of
Jerusalem battling at the gate of Glory."

We have completed the list of our regular assist-
ants.* Mr. Bishop's stay at S. Mary's was fully
treated in a previous chapter. Besides those men-
tioned who were canonically resident in the diocese,

* At the present time the Eev. Charles G. Maturin, late
curate of S. Barnabas, Pimlico, London, is, for a few months,
most earnestly and acceptably assisting in the work.

164 Stnelue $)ears &tnong tt)c (toloxcb fleople.

others, for a short time, have supplied vacant places,
such as the Kev. George C. Street, whose kindly,
genial ways will not be forgotten, and the Eev. J.
B. Draper, who more recently, for some months,
labored energetically at S. Mary's. These pleasant
associations, writh the occasional visits of Bishops
and distinguished clergy, and the readiness of clergy
of this and other dioceses to be present on festival
occasions and to assist in times of need, have done
much to cause the congregation to recognize the
unity of the Church,* and to feel that, no longer
outcasts, they are regarded with fraternal feeling
and interest.

* As one of the most effectual means of uniting in Chris-
tian fellowship the two races should be mentioned the
labors of those ladies who, with unwearying patience and
faithfulness, have been fellow- workers of the colored
teachers in the Sunday-schools and Day-schools.

CONCLUSION".

The preceding chapters, which, it is feared, are
somewhat disconnected and incomplete, have aimed
not only to entertain those who have personal in-
terest or association with the work recorded. In ad-
dition to this the writer has hoped to make some
contribution, however trivial, towards the solution
of a great problem which is before the Church.
The solution itself he does not attempt; that is
left to wiser heads. If he succeed in turning
towards the subject the thoughts of those more
competent to solve it, whose duty the Church makes
it to at least attempt a solution, if he succeed in
demonstrating the danger of delay, or furnish any
information that affords encouragement or skill in
grappling with it, his object will be accomplished.

The uplifting of a people freed from slavery and
made citizens, likely forever to remain with us as
such, and to increase and not decrease in numbers,
is of the utmost importance and brooks no dally-
ing.* There has been no attempt to conceal the

* The last pages of this work were in press before the
writer had read Judge Tourgee's last book, " Appeal to
Caesar," the most thoughtful treatise on the "Negro Prob-
lem " that has yet appeared. Had the book been met
earlier, some of its startling statistics and irresistible con-
clusions drawn from them, would have been quoted to en-
force the writer's own appeal to Churchmen to render unto

166 Qlmlvc tears &mong tt)* Coloreb Jkople.

difficulties of the task. That a great portion of the
colored people are living in dense ignorance and in
sin, cannot be denied. But it has been the object
of the preceding pages to prove:

First, that great as are the evils, they have been
exaggerated. They are by no means universal.
The exceptions — exceptions very marked, and in-
creasing under favorable circumstances, are a guar-
antee of the possibility of altogether eradicating
them.

Secondly, that the evils are not inherent and
necessary characteristics of the negro race as such.
They are not ''native traits." They are largely
the result of the white man's dealing with the black ;
it follows that it is his duty to undo the evils he
has done.

Thirdly, that the Church can overcome these
evils. It has been a chief object of this book to
present actual cases in which the Church has done
so. Moreover, the victory has been gained amid
opposition and complications in nowise necessarily
connected with this special work, but springing

(rod "the things that are God's," no less than they are
things which affect the welfare of Caesar. No Christian
ought — more than any patriot or legislator — to neglect a
careful study of the facts wrhich the author of "Appeal to
Caesar " presents*. Those most prejudiced against his for-
mer works will acknowledge his fairness and breadth of
sympathy in his treatment of these facts. The book will
form a valuable hand-book of necessary information and
useful suggestions to all engaged in any department of
work among the colored people.

Conclusion.

167

from local and temporary causes. Such difficulties
need not therefore be taken into account in esti-
mating the chances of success elsewhere.

No attempt has been made to conceal difficulties.
They arise chiefly from the apathy and unreasonable-
ness of the North, the sensitiveness, prejudice, and
theorizing of the South, the ignorance, the self-
ind ulgence and indolence of the colored people them-
selves, and the unwillingness of all three to unite
in the sacrifice necessary to accomplish the end in
view. These are difficulties that can be overcome,
and ought to be. The barriers are not insur-
mountable.

Can Christian men long remain indifferent if the
Church faithfully and persistently presents the case
to them ? Those who have loudly insisted on the
unity of the nation, which necessarily implies
unity and community of interest, must see the vital
importance not only to those who live in closest
proximity to the danger but to the whole land, of
purifying and enlightening this element of our
civilization. At least let the Church, so long as
her offerings for her conversion remain the miser-
able pittance that they now are, abstain from
boasting of her eagerness to open her arms to the
colored man. Does the declaration publicly made
that the North is ready to supply the means when
the South has devised the way represent any honest
sentiment in the North ? The " Sewanee Con-
ference" proposed a plan and asked for legislation
, from the last General Convention, 1883. The special

168 QLxoclvc QeatQ &mong ttje Coloreb people.

legislation asked for was deemed unwise. It need-
ed important modifications. Granted ; we think so.
But could not some better way have been substi-
tuted? Is it not as important that the Grace of
the Sacraments committed to the Church should
be dispensed to these five millions of people as that
the form of words in which the Sacraments are ad-
ministered should be enriched ? Was the response
that "the Board of Managers for Domestic and
Foreign Missions be requested to appropriate the
sum of $50,000 per annum for work among the
Colored People " mere irony ? If to devise a plan
was not the business of the legislative body, as
was claimed by some, was it not of the Board of
Missions? Is it not somebody's business? A
joint resolution of both Houses declared that
the work of the Church among the Colored
People "ought to receive a large share of the
cares and benefactions of our Board of Missions."
How large a share of care it may receive the Board
of Managers alone can testify. That it does not
receive a large share of the benefactions is abun-
dantly shown by their reports. We asked bread;
they gave us a stone.

But all this does not excuse those Dioceses in
which are found the largest number of the colored
people, from earnestly prosecuting the work. Let
the cry that the South is too poor to do so be raised
no longer. It is sheer nonsense. That the means
and men at the disposal of the Church of the South,
or indeed of the whole Church, are not commensu-

Conclusion.

169

rate with the work to be done, is most true. In-
significant indeed are the offerings of all Christen-
dom for converting the Chinese Empire. Yet we
keep, a Bishop and a little staff of missionaries
as a spark of Gospel light on the face of that vast
realm. The South is not too poor to make a be-
ginning. Undoubtedly parts of the South are poor.
But is Baltimore poor ? Is Richmond poor ? Is New
Orleans or Charleston or St. Louis ? Are they so
destitute of fine churches or wealthy laymen that
there cannot be one properly sustained work among
the colored people in any of them? — one church
hospital or charity of any kind, one educational in-
stitution at all worthy of the Church ? Why talk
about what they cannot do, when they have not
done what they can ? It is not so much the means
that is lacking as it is the will.

Doubtless the manner of working will have to be
mended and modified to suit the necessities of the
case. Prejudice must bend before duty. The
Church at the South must be ready to learn as well as
to instruct, to receive suggestions as well as to make
them. We should be loath to believe that Dr.
Tucker speaks for the whole Church in the South
when he says, " When Northern Christians of any
name propose to help the negroes, the Southern
Christians draw back with a feeling of despair
mingled with anger ; " or that his exhortation " Send
no Northern missionaries down here " would meet
general indorsement. Does he confound his breth-
ren in the priesthood with " carpet-bag " politi-

I

170 Qfoetoe $)ears &tnong tlje (Eokrreb people.

cians! Such language is preposterous and does
vast injury to the cause. More than one can tes-
tify that " Northern men, proposing to help the
negro/' have met a hearty welcome and God-speed
from many thoroughly representative men of the
South. When the opposite feeling exists, and in
some quarters it does exist, it had best be ignored
and allowed to die with as little attention called to
it as possible.

The magnitude of the work, its difficulties, its
many-sided aspects, demand the offerings, the wis-
dom, and the willing personal co-operation of all
sections of the country and of both races. Let the
results of experience be gathered from all quarters,
both within and without the Church, and then let
her wisest counselors, white and black, represent-
ing all parts of the country, unite with singleness
of heart and purpose to deduce from the evidence
before them the surest methods of success. Guided
by their counsel, let the Church go forth, in har-
mony and in strength, to the work, and let the
willing laborer be welcomed without asking wheuce
he comes or what the color of his skin.

The colored people must do their share of bend-
ing to the needs. They too must conquer preju-
dice, hardly less strong even in regard to color
lines among themselves than the prejudices of the
whites. They must be ready to respond to efforts
made in their behalf, and must sustain them
whether made by representatives of their own
. race or by others. If a bishop bravely stands

(Conclusion,

171

forth for ecclesiastical rights of colored church
men, as the Bishop of South Carolina seems to
have done, his action should receive generous re-
cognition not only — as it has — from the estimable
congregation which he championed, but from the
colored people everywhere. They must hold up the
hands of those who do labor for them, or who in
their behalf brave public sentiment ; otherwise few
will be encouraged to add themselves to the num-
ber. They must be no less patient with prejudices
which are natural to the former master than they
are with traits which are characteristics of the for-
mer slave. They must cease grumbling and repin-
ing over the want of advantages which, however,
they may manfully seek by all legitimate means,
while they must make the best of the ones which
they have. They must cease to regard themselves
with indolent and contented self-complacency, to
expend their best energies in idle self-vindication,
lest it be said of them as of those Corinthians
of old who " commended themselves/' that they
"measuring themselves by themselves and compar-
ing themselves among themselves are not wise."
That the negro should have been driven into this
unfortunate frame of mind is not strange. As a
recent writer among themselves has truly said,
st He has been made the victim of the most exalted
panegyric by one set of fanatics, and of the most
painful, malignant abuse and detraction by another
set. The one has painted him as a sort of angel,
and the other as a sort of devil ; when in fact he

172 SfodtJe Dears &tnong ti)c Color cb people.

is neither one nor the other; when simply he is a
?nan, a member of the common family possessing
no more virtue nor vice than his brother."

But this same author, Mr. T. Thomas Fortune,
who is a prominent and clever leader among his
people, and whose book " Black and White" con-
tains much that is marked by shrewd common
sense, seems to cast a slur upon Christian labors
among his people. He apparently places all hope
of their progress upon secular education and ma-
terial prosperity. It is a symptom of a dangerous
sentiment spreading among their most intelligent
class. This tendency doubtless finds its cause,
though not its justification, in the very imperfect
way that Christianity has been presented to them.
The tendency is natural, but none the less pernicious.

The difficulties we have enumerated face the
Church. None of them are invincible. For victory
our Church is furnished with weapons which, we
believe, no other religious body, no other moral
agency, possesses. Let her but enter the field bravely,
fearlessly, with energy and with self-sacrifice, and
the victory is assured. As for mere social ques-
tions, as another has wisely said, the best way ot
dealing with them is to ignore them. The Church
has nothing to do with them. They will take care
of themselves. Neither can the colored people ex-
tend purely social privileges by legislation, nor the
Avhites so restrict them. Social relations are regu-
lated by laws not subject to human control. In
her own sphere the Church has her canon of Chris-

(Eonchtsion.

173

tian charity imposed by Him who is no respecter of
persons ; unmoved by worldly considerations, let
her do what is right and leave consequences to
God.

With these objects in view, the writer trusts he
may be pardoned for having so long tried the
patience of his readers; and in closing his book, he
would make his own the beautiful prayer uttered
in Westminster Abbey by that able and worthy rep-
resentative of the negro race, the Bishop of Hayti :

"0 Thou Saviour Christ, Son of the Living
God, who when Thou wast spurned by the Jews of
the race of Shem, and who, when delivered up
without cause by the Eomans of the race of Ja-
pheth, on the day of Thy ignominious crucifixion,
hadst Thy ponderous cross borne to Golgotha's
summit on the stalwart shoulders of Simon the
Cyrenian, of the race of Ham, I pray Thee, 0
Precious Saviour, remember that forlorn, despised,
and rejected race, whose son thus bore Thy cross,
when Thou shalt come in the power and majesty
of Thy eternal Kingdom to distribute Thy crowns
of everlasting glory!

" And give to me then, not a place at Thy right
hand or at Thy left, but only the place of a gate-
keeper at the entrance of the Holy city, the new
Jerusalem, that I may behold my redeemed breth-
ren, the saved of the Lord, entering therein to be
partakers with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of all
the joys of Thy glorious and everlasting King-
dom!"

174 (Jtoetoe Sears &tnong t\)c Coloreb People.

Note. — While these pages were passing through the
press a better — upon quite another subject — was received
from the Rt. Rev. Dr. Holly containing the following grat-
ifying sentences : " I am glad to say we find Alice to be all
that our fondest hopes could have pictured to our imagina-
tion. Many thanks for this most substantial service that
you and your worthy co-laborers have thus rendered to the
poor, struggling Church in Hayti." May God continue to
bless the work of Alice and of her noble, self-sacrificing
Bishop. A Philadelphia paper has also recently announced
that Mr. James (i. Davis, the former pupil of S. Mary's,
whose creditable course in Philadelphia has been alluded
to, has by competitive examination won the first honor
in his class at the Franklin Institute, and in consequence
has been assigned the work of preparing the drawing of a
steam-engine for the annual Exhibition.

Twelve Years Among the Colored People. A Record j
of the Work of Mount Calvary Chapel of St. Mary the
Virgin, Baltimore. By Calbraith B. Perry, Priest in
Charge. New York. James Pott & Co.
We have read this little volume with deep interest?,
and do most cordially recommend it. The subject is
one which is deservedly attracting attention at the pres-\
ent moment, and here we have a graphic, readable ac-\
count of actual work done, during a period of twelve I
years, by a priest who has devoted himself with self- J
sacrifice, and enthusiasm to the arduous task. While
others have talked, Mr, Perry and his co-ad jutors have
worked, and worked hard. We do not mean to imply
that good hard work has not been done for the colored
race in other places besides Baltimore, but we are sure
that in that city both at St. Mary's and at St. James's,
the work attempted and performed has been peculiarly
worthy the attention and recognition of the Church.

Mr. Perry's volume is a history of the congregation
of St.Mary's since its foundation some twelve years ago.
It consists of six chapters with the following titles. I.
Introductory; II. The writer's first introduction to the
colored people, with some reflections resulting from
further acquaintance; III. St. Mary's Chapel and its
services; IV. The schools and the cause of Christian
education; V. St. Mary's Home; VI. Our faithful de-
parted—Conclusion.

These chapters are all interesting; the style is on the
whole racy and telling, though we stumbled upon a few
sentences that were obscure in construction, and a few
words and phrases which will no doubt be corrected or
struck out in a second edition. The great merit of the
book is that it is a truthful account of the experience of
an actual worker in the field, not the views of a mere
theorizer. If the Negro is to be made an intelligent and
useful citizen, if his newly acquired liberty is not to be
a curse to himself, and to us who gave it to him, relig-

ion and irue education must do their work, and not a
day should be lost by us in grappling with this mighty
problem. We hope therefore that this modest, but
really valuable little volume will be as widely read and
as carefully considered as both the subject and the
treatment deserve. And after such a record of faithful
labor as this, "ritualistic" or not, we venture to predict
that Mr. Perry and his fellow workers need not any
longer fear a repetition of the cruel attacks of the
Standing Committee of Maryland, some of which are
recorded in the volume, and will be the amazement of
intelligent Christian readers.