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August 14, 19121
COLLEGE AND
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.
The recent election of Dr. Robert
Henning Webb, a distinguished graduate
of Hampden-8idney (class 1901) to
the chair of Greek in the University of
Virginia, suggests the fact that he is the
fifth graduate of the old college to hold
a seat in the faculty of this noble seat
of learning,
Tht first of these was Prof. Ch&rleB
Scott Venable (class 1842. of Prince
Edward county, who occupied the ohair
of M schematics from the close of the
war between the states till near Ms
death in 1900. The second was Prof.
Stephen Oeburn Sou thai 1 (class of 1836)
of Amelia county, who was a member of
the Faculty of law from 1867 to 1883.
when he died. The third i? Prof. 'William
Wynn Thornton (class of 1868) of
Farmvllle, Professor of Higher Mathematics,
and the fourth if Prof. Robert
Montgomery Bird (class of 1897) of
Petersburg, of the department of Chemistry.
Prof. Webb will take charge of his
chair at the opening of the approaching
session and will doubtless establish a
reputation for ability and fidelity second
to none who have preceded him.
It Is a striking fact that all five of
these distinguished men are natives of
Southaide Virginia, which seems to indicate
that this portion of the commonwealth
hi inhabited by a people equal in
intellectual force, scholarship and moral
Integrity to that of any other part of the
state. Hampden-Sidney has done a
great work from the beginning of its
career for the Southaide country and
later, not only for Virginia, but throughout
the whole country, its graduates and
alumni now being found in many of the
states prominent not only In our leading
literary Institutions, but also in law,
medloihe, the ministry and other important
departments of human effort.
Richmond, Va. R. M.
MONTREAT.
By Mamie Bays.
The conference in the interest of the
Country Ohurch?'its problems and work
?will Btand out as one very unique
feature of the Summer Assembly at
Montreat this year. It is probable that
thig conference is the first of the kind
ever held in the South, and tavany helpful
suggestions were derived from the
addresses delivered from the practical
exchange of Ideas.
Some of the most practical suggestions
given during the conference were
those of Rev. Mc. C. White, D. D., and
Presi/ton* u mm -? ?
aj. 11. him, ui me Agricuuural
and Mechanical College, both of
Raleigh. In the course of his second
address Dr. White called attention to
the important fact that of the 3,400
churches in the General Assembly of
the Southern Presbyterian Church ( 1,300
are now without pastors, and tbis further
fact also, that of the 442 candidates
tor the ministry in the churob last year,
361 were from the country and only 32
from the city, and one-'half of the en
'ire number from farmer's homes. He
emphasized the fact that a lack of ministers
means a lack of country churches
an<l vice versa.
a remedy for these conditions, he
8??gested first of aH that more prayer
be made for more young men to enter
'be ministry. He showed in this conaction
that the number of men graduat,nK
from the theological seminaries
each year jn jUB^ sufficient to meet the
Varan?iss made by those ministers who
I>hsb away each year. He called attention
next to the fact that even If the de
1HK F RE SBYTERIi
maud for preachers should be fully met
the chuTch would not at the present
time be able to give them ample support.
The second remedy which Dr. White
suggested was for the elders of the
church to do much preaching until more
preachers can be secured, and he sa.d
there Is nothing In the Bible to prohibit
the elders preaching.
Dr. White recommended also that
preachers arrange their "work so. that
they can preach in as many places as
nnoolkl.
yvnNlilflO*
His final suggestion was that the
theological schools and the church be
more lax in their educational requirements
of ministers and make It possible
for some men of limited educational advantages,
who are known to 'be men of
consecration and influence for good, to
preach. He claimed that In the church
there aro many places where such men
would be useful. Other denominationshe
said, have proven the success of
meeting this condition in the way in
which he suggested. Those denominations,
he said, have preachers Cor city
and country, no church without a
preacher and no preacher without a
church, and that fact had proven a
6ica>. ouuree 01 Birengtn in the Methodist
Church. In keeping with this argument.
Dr. White made the suggestion
that theological schools provide a
course of English Bible study that boys
not highly educated could take and prepare
themselves for preaching in a
large number of churches.
Giving other statistics regarding the
country church, Dr. White said that
within a radius of four miles around
an abandoned church in Wake county.
North Carolina, and within sixteen
miles of Raleigh, there are five hundred
people not identified with any church.
The Presbyterian Church, he said, must
go out in the country and claim her following
If she Is to do her duty, and she
can do this by using her preachers
and laymen more.
Speaking of the country church and
the pastor, Dr. Hill said that both seemed
to have loBt the grip upon the
country which they formerly held. He
gave as reasons for this condition the
wave of prosperity which h;>s swept
ever the country recently anl the Ink
of parental control, children being* allowed
to get out of the habit of going to
church. He emphasized the subject of
parental control with the statement
that when parents cease to contro.l children
cease to reverence parents.
Dr. Hill said also that in -many instances
the membership of churches is
too large for them to accomplish the
most good, and that often too much
cmi'iiaaiB is piaveu upon courcn ouildings
and too little upon church organization,
with the reeult that the
church is losing her power.
With reference to the young people
and the country church, Dr. Hilf.said
that at the present time boys are leaving
the farm in larger numbers than
ever before, and that in order to correct
this condition boys should be taught
that they can make as good a living on
the farm as in town; and, further, that
children on the farm should be given
conveniences for their work; also, the
young people In the country should be
provided with rational amusement and
recreation, and should be encouraged
to make scientific research in connection
with thelT studies and work, and
In this way become more analytical.
The conference In the Interest of the
Sabbath school and Young People's
Work Is In session this week. Mr. A. D.
Mason, of' Memphis. Is presiding over
this conference, at the request of Rev.
IN OF THE SOUTH
A. L. PhilllpB, D. D. It is a source of
regret to the conference that! ?r. Phillips
is unable to be present, on aooount of
the illness of his wife. Rev. L. S.
Chafer, of Nortblleld, Mass., is conducting
the Bible Hour this week, and
the following named are the otlier
speakers: Prof. Patterson Wardlaw, of i
Columbia, S. C.; Rev. A D. Watkins, of
Spartanburg, S. C.; Mr. Lewis Collins,
of Ashevllle, N. C.; Mt. W. S. McClanahan,
of Roanoke, Va., and Mr. Mason.
Rev. S. Nye Hutchison, of Norfolk, Va.,
will preach the sermon on Sunday, with
which the conference will close.
There has been a large increase in
the visitors to Montreal this week.
Every room in both hotels is reserved
and the tents are already being brought
into use.
OMINOUS OMEN IN KOREAN TRIALS.
Japanese Presbyterian, Known As Imperial
Judge. Transferred.
That the cause of foreign missions is
very near to the heart of the American
people is shown by the fact that such a
powerful dally newspaper as the New
York "Herald," as a matter of newspaper
enterprise, is personally Investigating
the true conditions in Korea,
which have led to and are surrounding
the trial of Korean Christians at Seoul.
These Christians and some American
missionaries, have been charged by the
Japanese with a plot to assassinate the
Japanese Governor-General of Korea.
It is now probable that our State Department
will be asked to take a hand
In /lAifAlnnmAn^O V? f wntiafAn A f
ill ucvciv^iuciua, lis i luc iiauoiui vs?
Justice Watanabe. a Presbyterian elder,
from bis high position on the bench in
Korea, to a diplomatic position, is considered
by friends of the missionaries
as a very sinister move on the par": of
the Japanese.
The "Herald" of last Saturday says:
Just before the present trial of
Korean Christians began in Seoul, with
its revolting revelations of confessions
extorted by torture and its farcial implication
of a score of the most respected
of American missionaries, Jananese
authority removed from his high sphereof
judicial usefulness the one judge in
whom Korean Christians would have
felt the utmost confidence and to whose
arbitrament they would have submitted
their case without a shadow of distrust.
mat aistinguisnea jurist was NODuru
Watanabe, designated five years ago by
Japanese appointment as Chief Justice
of Korea. Justice "Watanabe is a Christian.
and officiates as an elder in the
Presbyterian church in Seoul. Korea,
which is chiefly frequented by Japanese
Christians, rather than by the converted
Koreans.
The Chief Justice always has manifested
a friendly spirit toward the Korean
Christians, and toward the missionaries
and teachers, who, as Mr. Ohl
has said, are dedicating their lives in
Korea fro the cause of the Prince of
Peace.
The Chief Justice has frequently"
preached in the churches of the native
Christiana, and often has accepted invitations
to address them on religious
and anniversary occasions. His reputation
for Judicial wisdom and integrity
has been as unsullied as has been bis
fame for broad humanttarianism.
T -. n A?--A
oiiiinirr iiiiiiiviiuiihviv
In the appointment of Justice Wata- <
nabe. to the highest post in Korean
jurisprudence bv Jananese selection,
there is a story worth telling. Inwnediatelv
after the per od following the annexation
of Korea to the Japanese Empire.
there followed in Korea an ordeal
not unlike that suffered bv the Southern
States dtrring the reconstruction era. <
(949) 15
under the blighting influence of a horde
of Incompetent and unscrupulous federal
appointees, who were then graphically
designated as "carpet baggers."
Korea, like the Confederate States, was
conquered territory. Japan covered it
with a bureaucracy of military and
semi-military martinets, whose petty aggravations
goaded the native Koreans
to desperation.
Even the courts, In the earlier days
of the Japanese regime, usually gave a
Japanese litigant the advantage if his
adversary chanced to be a Korean. The
government In Tokyo soon saw that this
policy was fosterling a spirit of unrest
and rebellion, little calculated to promote
the peaceful assimilation of an
annexed territory. To offset this sinister
influence, the central government,
with a master stroke of statecraft, appointed
Mr. Watanabe to the Korean
Chief Justiceship.
Korea applauded the selection, and the
Christians especially thought they saw
the dawninir of a now on rvf eonlHr an H
righteousness. When the arrests of
teachers and pupils of the mission
schools began nearly a year ago, the
one reassuring thought in the minds of
Americans and Koreans was that, under
the Jurisdiction of Chief Justice Watanabe.
they would be assured a fair trial.
Impartial Judge Transferred.
They and their friends were astounded
last month when the newspaper organs
of the Japanese administration announced
In flamboyant style that, In
recognition of his distinguished attainments,
Justice Watanabe had been designated
by the government in Tokyo for
one of the highest honors it could confer.
He had been named "a special imperial
commissioner to Investigate the
judicial systems of Europe and America,
in behalf of the Empire of Japan."
Prom the accused Koreans and their
friends went up a groan of indignation
and fear. The obvious suspicion was
voiced openly that Japan had created
this new dignity for their most just
judge for the express purpose of putting
him out of the way before the
Korean court could listen to the farcial
evidence, in the fabrication of which
Oeneral Akashi and his military police
bad been busy with their mediaeval adjuncts
of physical torture.
To this charge, the official Japanese
press made reply that the implication
was most unjust and ill-founded, as
Justice Watanabe naa Deen a.D
long as two years ago, which was many
months before the first revelations of a
plot against the life of Governor-General
Terauhl.?The Presbyterian.
WASHTTTGTOTf OTT TTATIO*AL LTFE.
"I make It njy earnest prayer that God
would have yon, and the Senate over
which you preside. In his holy protection;
thait he would incline the hearts
of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of
subordination and obedience to government;
to entertain a brotherly affection
and loTe for one another, for their fellow
citizens of the TTnlted States at
large, anid particularly for their
brethren who have served In the field;
and finally, that he would most graciously
he pleased to dispose us all to do
Justice, to love mercy, and to demean
ourselves -with that Charity, humility,
and pacific temper of mind which were
the characteristics of the Divine Author
of our blessed religion, nd without a
humble Imitation of whose eavmple in
these things we can never hope to be
a happy nation."?'Part of the Circular
Letter Addressed to the Governors of
the Thirteen States.
The windows of our soul should always
be opened heavenward.