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January 6, 1909. THE PRESBYTERI/
civilization of the Southwest will not be determined by
.any swift or mechanical process. The character of the
future is being decided by the conditions of today. It
is this fact which gives such tremendous significance to
Home Missions in Texas.
The present status and the signs of the time make it
imperative that Gospel work be done quickly and adeT..
-L < ?
MU(llu;. ?.?it \ciy nature 01 ine case, a new country,
ambitious men, alluring opportunities, the ideals which
dominate thought and action are industrial. There is
an impatience with things moral and spiritual and religious
; particularly if in any way they seem to hinder
the untrammeled pursuit of gain. There are multitudes
of men in Texas who would call themselves good
citizens who seem to think that spiritual ideals of life,
religious fidelity to God, cultivation of purity of heart
and practical recognition of conscience are things negligible,
or at least of secondary value, in the substantial
upbuilding of the Commonwealth. There is a fever
in the blood of Texas for the quick conversion of her
latent domain into marketable wealth and power. And
therp is f nocciKilif^r i.u:_ e 11 ' * *
incil tins tcvcr, inis lust tor material
progress, may so run riot as to consign the future
to the gross worship of some Egyptian calf and put
upon her civilization the plague spots of spiritual degeneracy
and decay.
What Texas Needs.
I have sympathy with the program which would
make two blades of grass where but one grew before,
and with the ambition to see the waste places become a
garden; but what Texas needs today and for tomorrow
is not so much captains of industry, as more men and
women who love God and truth and righteousness;
God's noble men and noble women who, in whatever
lot or station they may live, will stand like great granite
boulders for that which is nure and true and rSnrV.*
Truly there is no sublimer enterprise than to foster the
missionary activity of the Church of Christ, to transform
this coming empire into an empire of God. If the
children of the Kingdom are wise in this their'day and
generation, there is no time to play at Home Missions,
but the hour is come when devout men and women
should lay their lives and their treasure upon the altar
for God and the Fatherland.
Do these conditions lay a specific duty upon Presbyterian
people, as such? Home Missions in Texas is an
enterprise in which other great communions of the
Church of Christ are putting forth their strength and
investing their substance. We sometimes see the enthusiast
for Presbyterian Home Missions figuratively
tearing his hair and evidently in a panic with the fear
that the land will be pre-empted by the other denominations
of the Church. To me the urgency of Home
Missions in Texas does not lie so much in the competitive
activity of other Churches.
There is something needed in the future of this State
which the other denominations can never supply. In
saying this I speak no word against the worth or value
of any Christian communion. But the Texas of the
future will never have certain elements of strength and
etokltU.. ?:ii i * *
win not nave tne nnest ideals of personal and
organic life, in a word, her civilization will be lacking
OF THE SOUTH. 9
in some of the noblest, most vital, qualities unless the
Presbyterian Church, under God, does her duty in and
for Texas.
The great doctrines of the Presbyterian system tend
to produce a type of character which is distinctive, and
to impart a quality to human thought and action which
will come from no other source. The future of Texas
will not be as great, and the structure of her civilization
will not be as fine, as it might be unless there is builded
into it something of the granite and iron, something of
the reverence for God and law, something of the dignity
and stability, which I am persuaded will be put there
nnlv Kv fv?/? ttiflt~* 1?* *
j v.v. mi.uvuvc ?ji me jrrcsuyterian L-nurcii.
And the urgency of Home Missions in the great
Southwest lies in the fact that if the coining structure
is to contain these elements and the traces of our handiwork,
these cannot be put on at the top, but must be
worked in at the foundation. If we fail to do it now
the opportunity will be forever lost.
It is not a question of competition with other Churches,
it is not merely a question of the prestige and comparative
greatness of the Presbyterian Church, but it
is the deeper, far-reaching question of whether the coming
Empire of the Southwest shall have in it those elements
of strength and blessing which it was our distinctive
and divine mission to impart.
San Antonio, Texas.
PLUMTREE AND THE BOYS' SCHOOL.
By Rev. J. P. Hall.
A friend once arriving at Plumtree asked, "How did
you ever find this place to locate the school here?" It
is, from the railroad, ten miles deep back in the wild
and beautiful mountains of western North Carolina.
The region carries a full load of undeveloped resources,
shielded by forests and rocks. The roads are up and
down and in the streams. Here and there is a saw mill.
and further back from the coves the hidden homes peep
out.
Beginnings at Plumtree.
Two men who were horn anrl rearo/1 of P1n.-.ift-aa.
. . IVUIVU Ub X lUUIklVV ^avt
us an invitation five years ago to open a Presbyterian
school here. We chose a laurel thicket on the bank of
Toe river in view of the two village stores to build the
little Blue Bonnet church and school. It is the spot
where in earlier days the mica miners coming in on Saturdays,
would shoot off the choicer parts of a b?ef. A
witness of the old and the new at Plumtree often says,
"I am reminded while sitting in prayer meeting that my
seat ilist the nlarp thie *<-? V."~~" "
j r-"? "appttl.
Within a year after the little school was begun a boys'
school was planned. The place was always crowded
with boys. The congregations at church would often
be made up of only boys and men. Mr. C. W. Burleson
gave the pretty seven-acre campus, and Dr. S. L.
Morris found a friend who gave one thousand dollars
to help build the pleasant dormitory which soon became
the happy home of many a worthy boy. Another year
and Morris Hall, with recitation rooms and auditorium,
was built, students' hammers being largely used in its