|
3
Athens; Winterville. Having received a card from Mrs. Armor of Greensboro requesting me to address the Athens District W.M.S. tomorrow, I left Oxford this morning at 10. Reached Athens about 1:30 p.m. Took dinner at Dr. Kendall's.
4
Leaving Athens at 4 p.m., I got to Winterville about 4:30. Was assigned to Hunicut House, run by Mr. Feagin.
5
Winterville is a small Railroad town of hospitable inhabitants and growing prosperity. Will. Hutcheson, of "1892" lives here.
6
A social reception was given to the delegates, in the night. I did not go.
7
A beautiful moon-lit night. Had a delightful walk with Carrol Feagin―a small boy―around the village.
10
Oxford. A beautiful day. The serene beauty of the nights we now enjoy―Oh, I wish I had the power to describe it!
12
1. To indulge in such words as "Had I done" or If you did" so and so etc. Avoid them.
13
2. To regret that "Might is right" in international or interracial affairs.
14
3. To lament the inconsistency of a strong man or a strong nation.
15
In this world of inconsistencies it is well that some people are inconsistent.
16
It disgusts me to be asked my age. Some Americans are strange animals. They laugh at the Orientals for the custom of asking a stranger's age, and then they practice it themselves. Almost everywhere I went during the summer I found some fools to ask my age. Reverend R.A. Young, Doctor of Divinity, once asked my age on a street car in Nashville. Yet he as well as others of his kind would have thought me impolite and outlandish and uncivilized if I asked their age.
17
Dr. Candler suggests my establishing a Corean Mission to be supported by Emory boys. I would gladly avail myself of this, were I able to go back to Corea.
18
There is peace in silence that the world cannot give, luxury in solitude that the excitement of society can not furnish; beauty in an October moonlight-night that can only be best appreciated in peaceful silence and luxurious solitude.
19
It is a high privilege to hear Dr. Candler preach so often in Oxford. This is a luxury that many a good man and woman wish in vain to taste. I have seen in Dr. Tillet, an exact man; in Dr. Hoss, a good man; in Dr. Smith (A.C.) , a wise man; Dr. Martin, a scholarly man; in Dr. Kirkland a broad man; in Dr. Dudley, a magnetic man; in Dr. Candler a great man.
20
Dr. Candler advocates seizing Cuba by force (in case of Spain's not selling it) on no other ground than expediency. Then he denounces anti-Chinese legislature as unjust and un-Christian. Why is it any more unjust to exclude a people for expediency than to rob another for expediency? Is it human to err?
23
Oxford. Sunshine and rain. Decidedly cool as soon as the night sets in Clear and starry sky.
24
Have just returned from Dr. Candler's house where I enjoyed a hearty laughter (which "doeth good like a medicine") and a heartier supper. The occasion for the laughter was this:―I told Mrs. Candler that a phrenologist had remarked that I have a pair of good lungs and poor faculty for observation. Upon which she good humorously asked "What did he say to be the weakest part of your system?" "My stomach," I replied. "Tell him" said she (dear She!) laughing, "he lied. For I know your stomach is the strongest faculty you have". I enjoyed the joke immensely and amply proved at the supper table the truth of her assertion Moral: Practical experiment is better than abstract theory.
25
Mrs. Cartright asked me if I would wish to be back here after I shall have returned to the East. I told her that I would very often. Indeed, after my return to the East no place in America I shall wish to see more than Oxford, and no friends to meet more than Dr. and dear Mrs. C. and her good mother. May God's blessings be on them!
26
The shortness of my memory is astonishing. It was no longer ago than the first part of last month that I played logomachy (a great deal) in Greenville. Today when I tried to play some, behold! I had forgotten all the rules and methods.
27
Wrote to Professor W.B. Bonnell.
30
Cloudy. 10:30 p.m. Just home from the church. Dr. Y.J. Allen gave a very inspiring talk on missionary work in China. His personal reminiscences of college life and a running account of his work in China were interesting and stimulating.
31
One of the great secrets of his success is perseverance. It must have been no joke for a Southerner to leave home for China as a missionary in "58 and stick to the work over 30 years. Given a man of such grip; success always follows in any walk of life.
32
"Christ our Lord never promised us happiness. That word is nowhere found in the Gospel. He came to give us blessedness. Happiness may result from worldly prosperity; but blessedness is spiritual, independent of outward circumstances" etc. Dr. Allen.
35
Oxford; Starsville. At 9 a.m. had an interview with Dr. Allen. As usual he was full of encouraging words. He said that he was glad to find my character well spoken of; that Dr. Candler expects a historical character in me; that I should stay here another year besides this to get the B.S. degree; that I ought not to be impatient etc.
36
These words suggested the following thoughts:―
37
1. I have great work before me. I want to establish a Christian education in Corea, to create an intelligent and manly ministry that will awaken the slumbering faculties of my countrymen; to build a self-supporting church.
38
Many friends entertain considerable expectations in me.
39
I tremble, when I contemplate my weakness in the face of my high mission and of my friends' expectations.
40
2. The greatest obstacle to my belief or faith is the inferiority of one race to another and the evils resulting therefrom. Why did not God give equal chance to all the races. Caucasians no superior to Mongolians and Africans no worse than either in physical and mental powers. If he did, the shameful and unjust deeds of killing out one race by another, according to the inexorable law of survival of the fittest would not have disgraced the pages of history. Would He do so, yet could not? Then where is His wisdom? Could He do so, yet would not? Where then is His love? O mystery!
41
But need I indulge in such thoughts so paralizing to my faith? Where there is no remedy, there should be no regret. A physician called on to cure a disease would outrage commosense and neglect his duty if he wasted his time in lamenting over the existence of physical evil instead of applying his best knowledge and means to the alleviation of the pain. All we poor mortals can do is to do our best in our respective spheres and leave the Why's and What-will-be's to God.
42
It has often chilled my most sanguine aspirations―the thought that Corea might not be the "fittest" to "survive". Then what? My business and duty are to contribute my best to make them fit to live. If they can not be so made after a fair trial, then they are not fit to survive. God help me to look at things as a man.
43
Resolved from this day, that I shall not indulge in the availless and harmful habit of regretting why certain providencial dispositions are so. I am intelligent enough to doubt; I want that higher intelligence of believing.
44
3. Stay here another year besides this! Impossible! Nothing short of direct revelation can make me stay here longer than the present school year. Not that I prefer China to America. But that my conscience would not allow it.
45
At 4 p.m. Brother Daniel and myself went to Starsville on our way to Newborn where I was to address the people on Sunday.
46
Spent the night in Brother Howell's, a well to do and Christian family.
47
Farmers are very busy now―picking, ginning, packing and marketing cotton occupy much of their attention and time. One can pick from 100 to 200 lbs a day for 40￠ a lb.
50
Oxford. A beautiful day. Left Newborn at 7 a.m. and reached the College at about 11:30.
51
My Newborn experiences―
52
1. The ride both ways was delightful enough, but the inquisitiveness of Brother D. was simply abominable. He seemed to be thrice dead to the sensibilities of others.
53
2. Newborn is a small town of about 300 inhabitants. They were hospitable to me. Dinner and supper at Brother Jim Freeman's. His daughter, Ella May is a buxom girl of about 15. Saturday night and Sunday breakfast at Brother Joe Freeman's. An elegant dinner on Sunday at Brother Childs: Sunday supper and lodging at Brother Gay's. Mrs. Gay is a trim little woman.
54
3. Met Brother Ed. Stowe, whose brother J.J.S. I had known in Wesley Hall. Brother Ed. seemed to appreciate the fact that I was an acquaintance of his brother.
55
4. Brother Daniel is a faithful pastor, earnest preacher and a good collector.
56
5. I heard him pray God to bless, bless, bless, help, help, help him, his relatives and friends, to do far more than he could ask (!!!) and then to save him in heaven. What a heathenish prayer, this is!
57
6. A very sweet lady friend wrote in my album "May haven's richest blessings ever attend you; may your path through life be strewn with brightest roses, and in the end may you have an abundant through the beautiful gates into the city of gold" etc. Very childish are such wishes. Christian life is that of a soldier. Pathway strewn with brightest roses makes very poor walk for a man-in-arm. I pray for neither hardships nor flowery bed of ease but for Christ-like manhood.
59
20th. Thursday. A warm day.
60
Oxford. Tomorrow being a holiday on account of Columbian Celebration, the Y.M.C.A. prayer meeting was held this afternoon. Homer Bush led it. There were a number of short experience talks but none gave me pleasure more than that of Luxley Wiggins. He said something like this: "Brother, Bush it is said that you can count all the religious boys in the Coll. on your fingers. This is false. I said the same thing last year, but I know it was, in a modified sense, a lie. Many are Christians without making much noise. Since I have begun to do better, I have found out that there are more Christian boys than I had suspected. I have no Christian experience to tell. But I want to serve God. Pray for me." Jesus, hear him!
61
Luxley is a little man of fiery nature. A phrenologist told him that he (L) had more thunder than lightening. By all he was recognized as a hard case. He ridiculed everybody who tried to be a Christian. He called all believers hypocrites. Such was the Luxley of last year. But when he came back this Fall he showed a change. He has been observed to take front seats in the church to be more serious and more approachable in manner. The short talk he gave this afternoon explains all. If he gets religion it will be a genuine article. May the Holy spirit help this young man to consecrate himself to God.
62
Love of money. "The father weakens himself by piling up money; the son weakens himself by wasting it. One despises the other; and in that either is right; for both are small." Dr. Candler.
63
1492.................................................................................................................................1892
68
CHAPEL CHURCH OXFORD, GA, 10 A.M.
72
BY THE COLUMBIAN CHORUS CLUB.
79
Members 7. Professor Bonnell
83
2. READING SCRIPTURES―PSALM C.
86
4. PRAYER:―BY DR. M. CALLAWAY.
87
5. CHORUS―"TO THEE, O COUNTRY!"
88
BY THE COLUMBIAN CHORUS CLUB.
90
BY DR. W.A. CANDLER. (It is good for us to live in this age. There is only one thing better: that is to have lived later")
91
7. DOXOLOGY―"OLD HUNDRED".
94
THE EMORY PRESS, OXFORD, GA.
96
Dr. Candler's Address:
97
"What is it that we celebrate?
98
Not the finding of the continent―for it was neve lost.
99
We do not celebrate the coming of a Continent to us; but the coming of us to it.
100
Mirgration is a condition of civilization. All the great steps of civilization have been taken by migration.
101
Migration: 1. Only the best migrate.
102
2. Improve on old systems.
103
3. Mixed breed between different families of the race, producing the greatest race.
104
On the discovery of the New World, Spain went forth to worship Gold, but England to worship God.
105
In England, even in this 19th Centruy, a plebian boy can not go to a school built for gentlemen; but in this country, poverty is no dishonor provided it is coupled with honesty and goodness.
108
"Up to the dwellings where cometh no strife. The dear ones are gathering home".
109
I could hardly believe my ears when, about a month ago, I heard of the death of Brother O'Quin, an Emory graduate of '92. He was a Mississippian. I never thought of his dying so soon when I saw this honest face beaming with joy during the commencement last June.
110
Mrs. Towns, the mother of dear Dona, died on the 13th September. Though I have never seen her, my affectionate memory of sainted Dona, made me feel the loss very much.
111
Hutchison, another "1892" Emorian, died a few days ago. I saw him and talked with him at his home when I was in Winterville about 3 weeks since.
113
23rd. Sunday. Cloudy all day long.
114
Fall Term Revival Services begun.
115
Dr. Moon preached―long winded as usual. His sermons are like a piece of dry bread dipped in cold water: perfectly wholesome but perfectly tasteless.
116
Dr. Candler preached at night. He said:
117
1. "You often hear people talking about seeking the witness of the Spirit. Nonsence!! If you are a child of God, the Spirit will testify it without being sought. Are you not a child of God? Then the Spirit will not testify your divine sonship for all your seeking."
118
2. "It is well said that you have to fight your way to Heaven against sin, world and the devil. It is equally true that you have to fight your way to Hell against providence, godly influence and the spirit."
119
3. "You put off religion by pretending that you are predestined to be lost. That is a lie. If you believed this you would not let any of us sleep tonight by mourning and howling."
120
4. "I hear men talk about historical faith, saving faith, etc. This is all stuff. There is but one kind of faith. If you believe in God and his Christ your life will be controlled by the faith. If what you say or think to be faith does not guide your motions and actions then the trouble lies not in the kind of faith but in the absence of faith of any sort. A belief that does not affect your life either for better or for worse is no faith at all."
121
In these records I do not even attempt to be verbatim accurate.
124
Cloudy and rather cold.
125
Dr. Candler preached on indecision. Was so sleepy that I could not hear but a part of the sermon.
126
Several boys went up to be prayed for: among whom L.L. Wiggins was one. There are some boys who seem to think that going up to the altar is the sum and substance of religion. Some, I notice, go up to the altar whenever a revival comes around; yet they live no religion. No use asking others to pray for us unless we are willing to pray for ourselves.
127
The world is full of promises, but it is fuller of broken promisers.
128
Providence is a mystery; the less we talk about it the wiser we are.
131
Rained in the morning-cloudy and cold.
132
Dr. Candler preached. Among other things he said:
133
1. "We speak about time and eternity as if they were two things of distinct nature. Not so. We are in eternity now. Death will not change anything but only fix your life in wait it is now."
134
2. "Every spiritual man is a man universal. Christ was the Son of Man because He did not belong to any particular age or race. Every great spirit, therefore, is in some measure a Son of Man unconditioned by time and circumstances."
135
Nath. Thompson let the after-meeting. Among those who manifested interest were L.L. Wiggins; Jim Mann; Fruman Jones; all Seniors.
136
Quite cold in the nights.
140
Dr. Candler preached. Nath led the after-meeting. Some of the characteristic sayings of this noble man of God;―
141
1. "Sometimes I wish I might die to be turned into a sweet singing bird to cheer some lonely hearts with some heavenly songs".
142
2. "Blessed is the poor in spirit.'―Boys, I do not know what this here poor in spirit means. But since Christ says it is a good thing, I want it."
143
3. "I am not only willing to deny myself the luxuries of life; but to divide even its necessaries, if needs be."
144
4. "I would just as soon go out there and straddle a warm to go home on as to go to heaven on my feelings."
145
5. "When I got religion, even jay-birds sang sweet, sure as you live. My Texas pony which I had thought the meanest thing in the world seemed to have become a better creature."
146
These words would mean nothing but for the fact that Nath. says what he means and does what he says.
148
27th. Thursday. Cold―rained and hailed a little while before dark.
149
Dr. Candler preached. Brother Budd led the after service. Two boys, Byce, L. Timmons, professed conversion. Gus Thomilinson, whom I once thought to be impervious to all religious, feelings and appeals, went up to the altar. L.L. Wiggins said that he did not see the use of going up to the altar as long as he did not pray for himself in private.
151
28th. Friday.Bright and cold.
152
Dr. Candler preached on prudential morality compared with spirituality. The former is selfish (1) ; unsteady (2) ; proud or conceited (3) ; and restless (4) . The latter is (1) humble; (2) sympathetic; (3) serene; (4) constant.
153
Nath conducted the after-meeting. He said that the only objection he had to his religion was that of a boy to a piece of fried chicken; it's not big enough.
154
On the suggestion of Dr. Callaway, Mrs. Pattillo prayed. The first time I ever heard a lady pray in a public meeting in the chapel church.
155
Several of the young ladies asked interest in prayers. Among them were Mrs. Lizzie P., Nanie M. and others.
158
A windy but beautiful day. Felt rather bad this morning owing to the poor rest had night last.
159
The Few Society celebrated its Anniversary. Flora decorations, music both vocal and instrumental, and full house showed that the Fews determined to make the occasion a success.
160
Ed Stephens made a very neat and clever speech on the duties of the educated. It was good. It might. nay, would have been better had it been spared from such puerile and sophomoric chestnuts as "the government of the people, by the people, for the people," "the home of the brave and land of the free". "Anglo Saxon blood" etc. Certainly Americans are now a people great enough to spare these short breeched eulogies.
164
Came down here yesterday afternoon, at the request of Brother Warlect to talk for him. A delightful day.
165
Had a good and appreciative audience. Dinner at Mrs. Bower's. She is an energetic little woman, pious and intelligent withal. her mother, an old lady, seemed to be very well informed. She said that the Southern people, by not raising all they needed here, but by delegating the cultivation of corn and wheat to other sections, and by devoting themselves to cotton, are suffering the penalty of overproduction. Her political economy was at fault in this. But she only voiced the ideas and notions of the farming population of the south.
166
Supped at Brother Florence's. A beautiful night.
169
Left Shady D. at 10 a.m., reached Oxford at 12. An ideal day.
170
Dr. Candler preached. Too sleepy to hear him well. He said "Christ never emphasized future as you and I do. He concerned Himself more about what you are than about what you will be."
171
Brother Budd led the after-service. L.L. Wiggins, Shipp. Stephens, McNair, Richardson, Brooks all seniors manifested interest in the after-meeting. Was rather surprised to see L.L.W. halt between two opinions so long considering his decisive character.
172
This meeting is far better, in spirit and in mode, than any held last year. There is little smoke but more heat.
173
The set of new boys this year are of nobler sort than last years. The senior class of 1893 is more solid than that of 1892.
|
