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The Campus Mirror
Published by the Students of Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
During the College Year
VOL. v.
NOVEMBER 15, 1928
Number 2
SPIRITUAL INTERPRETA
TION OF A GROUP OF
NEGRO MELODIES
A group of Negro melodies formed the
subject of a series of chapel talks which Mr.
Howard Thurman, instructor in Biblical lit
erature gave, beginning Oct. 15. He gave
the religious message which these spirituals
brought to Negroes a long time ago and the
religious message they bring today. The
singing of the spiritual preceded its discus
sion each morning
The first was, “We Are Climbing Jacob’s
Ladder." After Jacob’s dream in which he
saw a ladder reaching from the earth to the
sky, he awoke and was convinced that God
was in the place where he was. Mr. Thur
man said that the people who first sang that
song had a past filled with a wide variety
of tragedy, a present both crushing and de
moralizing, and a future most uncertain. He
spoke of the advantages and disadvantages
of day-dreaming. Sometimes we day-dream
because we have not the courage to face the
present, while at other times it is the only
thing that keeps the spirit alive, that keeps
people from suicide. “We are climbing Ja
cob's Ladder and every round goes higher
and higher.”
The second melody discussed was “My
Soul is a Witness.” Creators of these songs
felt their kinship with the Hebrew chil
dren. “A witness,” he said, “is one who tes
tifies to what he has seen and known. The
more personal the knowledge, the more sig
nificant it is. “Each one should know for
himself that God is real. Far back in the
years the same thing was shared that is be
ing shared today. Don’t think that you are
being peculiar—that you are being different
from the Hebrews who have lived deep lives
in the past, he added. “In the life of these
do 1 make my appeal, ‘who will be a wit
ness for my Lord?’”
“Everybody Talking ’bout Heaven Ain’t
Going There." This spiritual contains the
same truth today that it contained one hun
dred years ago. Mr. Thurman brought out
the fact that this spiritual originated in the
time of slavery, when the slave said, “There
must be two heavens—one for the master
and one for me. But that cannot be, for
there is only one God. Oh, I know. The
master is having his heaven right now, and
I’m having my hell; but later on I shall
have my heaven and he, his hell." This
spiritual suggests that people who live un
der pressure—who live in a master-slave re
lationship find it almost impossible to be
honest with each other.
"The Blind Man Stood on the Way and
Cried,” has to do principally with human suf-
(Continued on Page 5)
AUTUMN ON OUR
CAMPUS
By M. A. Dunn
“Who hath seen the winds?”
Its unseen presence blows the red,
brown, and golden leaves, swirling
over the campus. Occasionally a
leaf from one of the evergreen trees
will fall too, chased by the wind.
The men rake the leaves into piles
and before they finish one part of
the campus, the other part is lit
tered again. All winter the breath
of the West wind blows the leaves
helter, skelter over the campus.
This is Autumn.
PRESIDENT OF BOARD OF
TRUSTEES VISITS
SPELMAN
To see Mr. Trevor Arnett, President
of the Board of Trustees of Spelman
College, on the campus during the week
end was a pleasure, and to hear him
speak in Chapel Monday, Oct. 22,
1 1928, added much to that pleasure.
Having expressed his usual happiness
to be at Spelman, Mr. Arnett stressed
the point that we should try to do just
a little better the things that we are
doing. He used an illustration from
Paul’s trial before Agrippa. When
Agrippa said. “Almost thou persuadest
me to be a Christian," Paul said, ‘‘I
wish you were not almost, but quite
what I am.”
“Some students,” he said, “are almost
good students, but there is a difference
between almost and quite. It would
be much better to do a thing entirely
than almost.”
He added that many people almost
succeed. In conclusion he said, “Don’t
have almost in your character. Have a
complete fulfillment of what you are
trying to do.
MISS AMELIA NJONG-
WANA TALKS AGAIN
ON AFRICA
On Oct. 12, 1928, Miss Njongwana gave
her second talk on Africa. Some people
think that if they go to Africa they will be
friendless, but this is not true. She stressed
the fact that you can find friends if you
go to Africa.
Miss Njongwana said that in parts of Af
rica there are entire groups of people who
have never attended school, and that she
spent much time trying to learn about such
people and also trying to encourage them.
Sometimes instead of going to school, a child
has to tend the cattle or do something else
less attractive. The Africans have not fully
realized that it is quality and not quantity
that really counts.
Miss Njongwana worked three years
among some untaught people before she re
ceived any salary. She reported that unless
there are at least thirty pupils in a school
and an average attendance of twenty, the
Cape Colony government does not pay the
I salary of the teacher. After she had begun
J to receive a salary she worked seven years
j for thirty-five dollars a year.
Spelman students are anxiously waiting to
hear more about Africa.
SMITH - SPRING - HOLMES
ORCHESTRAL QUINTET
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Smith-Spring-
Holmes Orchestral Quintet gave a program
in Howe Memorial Chapel that delighted the
audience.
They gave selections from Braham, Liszt,
Mendelssohn and Victor Herbert, also some
of Mr. Smith’s and Mr. Holmes’ own com
positions. Mr. Smith and Mr. Holmes are
both versatile; the former played the trom
bone, the saxophone and the basset horn
and the latter played the saxophone, flute
and cornet. One of Mr. Smith’s delightful
encores was his famous composition, “Sorter
Miss You.”
Miss Graff, an accomplished violinist,
thrilled the audience with her rendition of
the andante and allegro vivace from the
“E Minor Concerto.”
The Spring sisters are both talented; Mis>
Lotus Spring is the cello soloist and Miss
Coyla Spring, the reader, soprano and
pianologist.
There were solos, readings and ensemble
numbers, making the program varied and de
lightful. The audience gave hearty applause
and the artists were generous in giving en
cores.