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PLANTATION SKETCHES
BLACK DINAH
PICTURE from the old plantation in
Virginia rises before memory’s eye —
the quaint old house built back in 1630
in the old colonial days, built certainly
for defense, if the narrow windows
high up are allowed to speak from their
resemblance to port holes, the broad,
grassy lawn, shaded by a great variety
of beautiful trees, sloping smoothly
ll
down to the banks of a stream, which cut the land
in tidewater Virginia. What pleasant, social days
were those, when the gentry of the south were
planters, owning plantations and many slaves!
What tender and lovely friendships grew up be
tween children in the families! The stream was
no banner to social intercourse, for there were
plenty of boats, bateaux, skiffs and yawls in the
boathouse, and the “neighboring” between fami
lies on opposite sides of the stream was almost a
daily thing. Among the children that gathered to
play there was one baby, just one, precious and
dear to the hearts of all the children of the neigh
borhood. She was taken care of (?) by a portly
darky, Black Dinah, who stood much on her rights,
considering herself a dignitary with great author
ity among the children. “Case I has to take care dis
yere chile, no matter what comes.” True, her zeal
was not alert. If she were sleepy (and her normal
condition was laziness) the larger children were al
lowed to take care of the baby, to hold its little
hands and help its uncertain footsteps. When her
ease and comfort demanded it, she could lay down
the responsibility of “dis yere chile” and pursue
her own pleasant way, undisturbed by qualms of
The Brazilian Baptist Contention
HERE has just closed, in the beautiful
city of Rio de Janeiro, a most profita
able and harmonious session of the
Brazilian Baptist Convention. I might
first speak a word about the city itself.
There is not a city in the wjrld which
has such a combination of natural beau
ty as Rio. Her background is one of a
semi-circle of mountain ranges, whose
T
feet are washed by the waters of one of the most
beautiful bays in the world, and whose peaks as
cend heavenward to receive the caresses of the
clouds.
Travelers visit Europe and return telling us of the
beautiful snow-covered peaks, but instead we will
show them, not the cold lifeless snow-covered
peaks, but instead we will show them the peaks cov
ered with life —eternal life —and beauty; covered
with the foliage whose leaves never wither and
whose blossoms never fade. Who could desire
more beauty? Rio is a city of more than nine hun
dred thousand souls, most of whom are lost. But
our missionary force is making mighty attacks on
the great beast and will one day be victorious. We
have in this capital city as noble and consecrated a
band of missionaries as will be found anywhere on
the globe.
The'Convention met with the First Baptist Chui cl.
where Rev. F. F. Soren is the noble pastor. Brother
Soren is a native of Brazil, was converted in the city
where he is now pastor, took a full course in Wil
liam Jewell College, Liberty, Mo., and afterward a
full course in the Southern Baptist Theological Sem
inary. After finishing his education he returned to
Brazil and became pastor of this church. He is
loved by all his people and by the entire Conven
tion. For the second time he was unanimously
chosen president of the Convention. The first
meeting of the Convention was taken up in the or
ganization of the Convention, appointment of com
mittees, and hearing the welcome address delivered
by Brother Soren and responded to by Brother Nel-
The Golden Age for August 20, 1908.
conscience. In alert moments, she was rather pred
atory, and appropriated to her own use the best
that belonged to the children —the choicest fruit
and cakes and lunches, the most comfortable seat,
indeed, the best of everything was regarded by
Dinah as her perquisite. If, at any time, the chil
dren permitted their sense of injustice to precipi
tate them into taking vengeance on Dinah, she at
once seized the baby and held it as a bulwark be
tween herself and the irate enemy. She said:
“You’d better not hit dis chile; I’m gwine take
care dis yere chile, if you hurt dis chile I'll tell.”
And so the children, who loved the baby, let Dinah
go unpunished.
This is a true picture, and it has its replica
in the political situation for the last twenty years.
The liquorites have seized whatever they wanted,
the best and the fairest, have demanded all sorts of
privileges and exemptions from all laws, civil, mor
al and divine, and when the friends of reform have
attempted to grapple with the monster iniquity,
they, like Dinah, in the name of Thomas Jefferson,
have seized the Democratic party and held it as
a bulwark of defense for their w 7 icked traffic, say
ing: “Don’t, you’ll hurt this child. Let us take
care of this child.”
And I dare say, the Republican party child has
been treated in the same way in northern and west
ern states. To the plain, direct thinkng person,
who loves home, who loves his country and believes
in an unstained manhood, and a protected woman
hood, it seems that the “child” ought to take a
few licks, if it is to remain in the keeping of the
liquorites. M. T. G.
son. All the .officers of the Convention except one
vice-president, were chosen from the natives.
The first night of the Convention was given over
to the discussion of the different Brazilian missions.
Nearly all these addresses were made by the na
tive workers. There were some splendid discussions
given. One after another told of the blessings of
the Lord on his field during the year, of persecutions
endured for Christ’s cause and of the needs of the
fields. The missionaries are seeking by every pos
sible method to encourage and develop the native
force.
Sunday morning the house was filled to its utmost
capacity to hear the Convention sermon preached
by Dr. W. B. Bagby. It was a truly great sermon.
Our hearts were melted with compassion and our
eyes saw visions as he told of the needs of Brazil,
the work accomplished already and the opportuni
ties yet ahead of us in this land of the “Southern
Cross.” Many of the missionaries said it reminded
them of the Southern Baptist Convention. Brother
Bagby is much loved by the church in Rio, for it
was he who began the work in this city and toiled
for sixteen long years in the struggle. It was
quite appropriate that he should be chosen to preach
the sermon.
The afternoon was given up to the discussion of
distinctive Baptist principles. The addresses were
all well prepared and will result in great good to
our cause. The Brazilians are by nature a liberty
loving people and find in our form of Church gov
ernment the very thing they like.
Long before the preaching hour Sunday night the
house was filled to hear Brother Ginsburg, who had
been appointed to preach. The crowds continued to
come. Every corner of the building was filled, the
people, many of them, standing in breathless si
lence to hear the message of life. Brother Gins
burg is an attractive preacher and handles the lan
guage like a native. He preached a plain evangelis
tic sermon and God used the message to the sajv&»
tion of many,
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were given up
to the hearing and discussion of reports pretty
much as in the Conventions at home. Monday night
we had the report of the Foreign Mission Board
and Dr. Bagby thrilled every heart by telling of the
great work that he was permitted to do in Chile.
At the close of his address a voluntary offering
was made for the support of the Chilian work and
about SSO was received. I would like to give a
detailed account of the Convention, and an account
of all the missionaries, but time and space forbids.
There were present twenty-eight missionaries com
ing from all parts of the field. Some of these mis
sionaries were on the road three weeks, or more,
spending much time and money to be here and help
plan for the work. They were all well and happy.
Not a discouraging note was sounded by anybody,
but all cherished the highest hopes for the coming
of the Kingdom in Brazil.
The hospitality of the Rio people was fine. The
entertainment was all free. The daily papers pub
lished daily reports of the work. The believers
voted the gratitude of their hearts to the mission
aries for coming to them with the Word of
Life, to Dr. Willingham and the churches at home
for making it possible for us to come.
To a man who had been here only six months
these things all made him feel good. The next ten
years will see wonderful things for the Baptists of
Brazil. The Lord is ready to give us the land as
fast as we advance. During the past year there
were 1,189 baptisms, an increase of more than two
hundred over the previous year. There were opened
about seventy new preaching places and the contrib
utions advanced about $3,000. The average con
tribution per member for missions, education, etc.,
was $4. This is a fine showing for a mission field.
It may not be known to all of your readers that one
half the Baptists, on all foreign fields, where the
Southern Baptists are doing work the past year,
were in Brazil. But this is a fact and there are
only forty missionaries, counting men and women,
in Brazil.
Our next Convention meets in Pernambuco. We
hope to have a delegation from home to visit this
Convention. The arrangements are being made
now. Reduced rates will be obtained on the steam
er. This will give the workers at home a great
opportunity to visit the field here and see a truly
great country.
With love to all God’s people, I am yours and
His, F. M. Edwards.
San Paulo, Brazil.
•6 *
No Nore Liquor Drummers.
The court of appeals in Georgia has won another
laurel for its brow.
Through Judge Richard B. Russell (we used to
call him “Dick”), Judge B. H. Hill and Judge Ar
thur G. Powell concurring, the new and virile court
has handed down a decision comporting with the
spirit of law and common sense, that solicitation
for liquor orders cannot be made by letter on the
1 ‘ dry ’ ’ soil of Georgia.
Bravo, gentlemen!
“Good eye, Mr. Umpire!” as the fans cry out
when a fine decision is made.
Common sense teaches any man that it is as much
a violation of the spirit of the law for a liquor
seller to solicit orders by written language in prohi
bition territory as it is to try to sell by spoken lan
guage. Let other states do likewise.
And now one step further, and we will be as far
as we can go until we force congress to stop inter
state shipment.
Let the courts stop newspapers from advertising
liquor in prohibition territory. The same spirit of
the law is violated when a paper, for the sake of
money, becomes a whisky drummer. It cannot es
cape either the name or the fact. If the paper
does not wish its whisky advertisers well, as it
does all its other advertisers, then it is accepting
money under false pretenses and could be prose
cuted for fraud. One by one the cords are tighten
ing. John Barleycorn is gasping for breath!
