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'Real Education—Part of Our Social Creed.
ELIEVING, as we do, that in the
training of the youth of the country
lies the hope of their usefulness in the
future as citizens, as individuals and
as Christians, we ardently advocate at
all times and for all people a system
of true education which shall result in
untold benefit to a community, or to
the world at large. By “true educa-
B
tion” we mean a course of developing study that
shall fit the student for the highest fulfilment of
any duty to which he may be called and which shall
at the same time, keep him in harmony with his
surroundings and with the best sociological condi
tions. Hence we have always felt that the educa
tion of the Negro, if conducted in a practical man
ner, must necessarily prove of value to the individ
ual as well as to the community in which his lot
is cast. This belief we share in common with some
of the ablest thinkers and writers of the day, and
we believe that those who fail to agree with us in
this conclusion are merely those who have either
given the subject but cursory attention, or who have
at some time, viewed only the evils resulting from
injudicious educational attetnpts which left the
student unfitted for practical place in the domestic
economy.
Spelman Seminary, Atlanta.
One of the best equipped and most modern insti
tutions for the education of the Negro is Spelman
Seminary, Atlanta, Ga., which is devoted to the
industrial and practical education of young Negro
girls, and which is already foremost among the
many agencies used for the benefit of the Negro
race.
This institution was founded in 1881 by two New
England women, Miss Sophia Packard and Miss
Harriet B. Giles, who were commissioned by the
Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society
of Boston, and who came to Georgia in the interest
of the colored women of the state.
They began their work in the basement of Friend
ship Baptist church, Atlanta, with only 11 pupils,
but the school increased rapidly as its genuine work
and worth became known, until, today, it numbers
nearly four hundred students.
Its Support and Scope.
Its total plant is said to be estimated at about
$300,000, it has a faculty of over forty professors,
and although it provides a complete college and
normal course of study, it also makes a special
effort to train young Negro women as nurses, teach
ers and missionaries, as well as giving them thor
ough' courses in printing, typewriting, basketry,
laundering, cooking, sewing, dress-making, millinery
and in the “theory and practice of all those; arts
which are essential to the making of happy homes.”
It is strictly a Christian institution and careful
attention is given to spiritual instruction. It is
conducted under the auspices of the American Bap
tist Mission Society but receives its material sup
port from the woman’s branch of this society and
from the Slater Fund as well as from the General
Education Board and from private contributions.
Its Name.
The name “Spelman” was given to this seminary
in honor of the parents of Mrs. John D. Rocke
feller, who were both interested in this movement,
as is Mrs. Rockefeller herself, as well as her hus
band, the latter having made handsome donations
to the work.
The Hospital Department.
This is one of the features of the work at Spel
man, ‘and is among the first hospitals of the kind
in the .South. It is doing a noble work among the
Negroes of Atlanta, and the nurses trained there
give fullest satisfaction to the leading physicians
of the city. Although not altogether a charitable
institution, McViekar’s Hospital opens its doors to
those in need at all times, and there have been times
when, other hospitals of the city being over-crowd
ed, McViekar’s has been the only place where a de
serving but suffering Negro could be cared for.
The Golden Age for January 3, 1907.
By S. T. ‘Dalsheimer.
Wise Supervision of Its Students.
It is the aim of (Spelman 'Seminary not only to
fit its students for Work in the outer world, but to
care for them after they le|a.ve the institution. No
position is accepted for a student of Spelman unless
the authorities of the school are assured of the
proper care being given to the young woman, one
of the chief requirements being that she shall oc
cupy a perfectly protected apartment, not separated
from the household which she serves.
Spelman Students as Missionaries.
In 1891 a missionary training school was opened
at Spelman, and already six students have gone to
Africa as missionaries; five to the Congo and one
to East Africa. Twenty-four young women have
been graduated from this department, and are
serving in the home field or as teachers and workers
in different communities.
Appearance of the Institution.
There is no educational center in the South which,
to the observer, presents a more attractive appear
ance than docs iSpelmian Seminary. It is situated
within twenty acres of cultivated land, has eight
or ten handsome; brick buildings and is equipped
with all modern conveniences, until it might be
termed a center from which radiates an atmosphere
of the highest civilization and cultivation, not
only along intellectual, but along industrial lines, as
well.
An Evening at Spelman.
Recently the writer spent an evening at Spelman
Seminary on the occasion of a lecture delivered
to the students by Mr. William D. Upshaw, editor
of The Golden Age. This lecture is but one of a se
ries given by the prominent speakers, ministers and
other citizens of Atlanta. By these lectures it is
designed to establish and to emphasize a spirit of
mutual helpfulness between the two races. These
evenings take on new meaning since the recent race
riot, so deeply deplored by all good people. These
eyes of the world have been turned anew on Atlanta
and speculation has been rife as to the manner in
which the city and state would dispose of a prob
lem which has long confronted the iSouth in a gen
eral way, but which suddenly became an acute issue
in Georgia. That the issue has been met with wis
dom and intelligence, there can 'be no manner of
doubt, and the eager interest with which the stu
dents of Spelman Seminary listened to Mr. Upshaw,
and the welcome accorded him by the faculty, be
speak an hour from which great good will come.
Mr. Upshaw’s Audience.
In addition to the student body of Spelman Sem
inary, there were preseint on the occasion of Mr.
Upshaw’s lecture, about a hundred male students
from the Southern Baptist College, and these young
mein were as attentive and apparently as interested
as any body of students in any one of the many
colleges in which Mr. Upshaw so often speaks.
The text of Mr. Upshaw’s talk was not unlike
what it would have been had he been speaking to
any other young people of any other college, and he
began by telling Uris hearers of his great desire in
life} —to inspire the young. He spoke feelingly of
his passion for young people and of his work for
all things that made for the betterment of youth.
He told his own unique life story, in part, and
brought himself into instant touch with his hearers
by the personal heart-note in his talk. He expressed
some surprise that, with his own devotion to the
cause of education and of those who were seeking
to learn and to know, that he should be addressing
a Spelman Seminary audience for the first time,
but hoped that with this beginning there might 'be
other and equally auspicious occasions.
Fie then said that he would use as a sort of sub
ject for his message one that had always appealed
to him, and which he felt would appeal to his
hearers.
“Voices to Youth.”
This subject was tliej “Voices to Youth,” and he
touched with practised hand upon the various voices
which appeal to the heart of those who listen for
an upward call. He told of the first voice of all—
“ The Mother’s Voice,” for which the child listens,
and which inspires in the unconscious infant a sense
which we call “Hope”—-then, “Ambition,” which
is “hope intensified or hope in action”—Ambition,
ia quality which has made men and nations, and
which , rightly directed, should mean purpose.
“Few know what it is to have a big purpose linked
to God,” said Mr. Upshaw, and he then illustrated
this theory by apt and appropriate stories inter
spersing his talk with illustrations which could not
fail to impress themselves upon the hearts of his
hearers.
After elaborating the first voices, which spoke of
ambition and purpose, lighted up with a delightful
sprinkling of mirth, Mr. Upshaw mentioned other
“voices to youth,” such as opportunity, “the voices
of those who love us,” and, in conclusion, he said:
“I bring to you all as a Christmas present this
message, to he|lp you learn this lesson. Remember
it is all a failure, and our lives must count for noth
ing unless we hear another voice—the voice of the
Lord Jesus tenderly calling, and unless you hear this
voice in your heart, and know the Lord Jesus Christ,
you have missed the best that even the most com
plete education could ever bring.” The speaker
closed with a tender prayer that deepened the sa
cred impressions of the hour. The occasion of Mr.
Upshaw’s address, as well as of the addresses of
the other prominent speakers of Atlanta, will mark
an epoch in the attitude of the white to the colored
population of Georgia, and we hope and believe that
with the common ground of a great mutual purpose
and a great mutual belief in spiritual truth, that the
iSouth will eyolve for itself a tenable and practical
solution of a situation which, if carefully and pray
erfully handled, may soon cease to contain any ele
ment of the “problem” which now seems to be
perplexing the entire country.
Under the sensible, consecrated leadership of
such ia truly great woman as Miss Giles, supported
by her cabinet of earnest helpers, good and whole
some seed-sowing for the centuries is going on, and
the harvest is even now being felt and gathered
more truly and widely than the unthinking masses
can measure.
Summer.
A riot in the rose-bush,
A scuffle in the grass;
The frightened flowers wonder
If war has come to pass.
A chatter and a clatter,
A wriggle and a squirm,
And all the row about a plump
And juicy little worm.
—Robert Loveman.
The Bishop and the Waffles.
It would indeed be a queer bishop who could
not tell a good story on himself. The late Bishop
Dudley, of Kentucky, was wont to relate with much
relish an interesting experience which he once had
in connection with waffles.
At ia fine old Virginia homestead where he was
a frequent guest the waffles were always remarka
bly good.
One morning, as breakfast drew near an end,
the tidy little linen-aproned black boy, who served
ait table, approached Bishop Dudley and asked in
a low voice:
“Bishop, won’t y’ have ’n’er waffle?”
“Yes,” said the genial bishop, “I believe I
will.”
“Dey ain’ no mo’,” then said the nice} little
black boy.
“Well,” exclaimed the surprised reverend gen
tleman, “if there aren’t any more waffles, what
made you ask me if I wanted another one?”
“Bishop,” explained the little black boy, “you’s
done et ten ’ready, an’ I t’ought y’ wouldn’ want
no mo ’. ’ ’ —Lippincott’s.