The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1917, Page 35

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

. _ Our schools, we are pleased to state, have made

nm en gt ne ee rr eee =

The Lutheran Pioneer. 35

old Creole part of New Orleans. It is many years
ago, but the remembrance of that morning’s stroll
is still vivid before me. The old architecture of
the buildings, tiled roofs, and solid blinds; the
narrow streets with their rough pavements and open
gutters; the somber solid cement fronts of the
houses; the large “galleries,” adorned with beauti-
ful wrought-iron fretwork; the open-arched door-
ways, affording a glimpse of the slab-paved court-
yards within and specimens of various beautiful
tropical plants, — all these were the objects of con-
tinual attention and admiration for me at that
time. And when upon my recent visit I sauntered
along Chartres and Royal and Bourbon and Dau-
phine Streets, the brick and stuccoed dwellings,
the great doorways and mullioned windows, the
arcaded alleys, the “galleries” and jalousies, the
mined courts with their charming and secluded
gardens, the picturesque old tile roofs, the pleasant-
faced, French-speaking old Creoles whom we met,
the numerous antique shops with their piled-up
dusty litter of old furniture, plate, glass, china,
and the equally plentiful old bookstores, with their
great piles of musty books in ornate bindings, ap-
pealed to me as strongly as they did twenty-eight
years ago. Though the old French Quarter of
New Orleans may not be what it was years ago,
though large parts of it have been given over to
Italians of the lower class, it still remains the
most interesting and romantic part of the city. —

But I beg your pardon! It isn’t a description
of New Orleans and its old French Quarter that
you want to read, but an account of the impression
made upon me by our Colored Missions there.

First of all I wish to state that our six missions
in New Orleans are strategically well situated.
St. Paul’s on Annette Street, Trinity on Elmira
Street, and Redeemer on Dupre Street, are so
placed that one or the other can be convenienely
reached by any Colored family “down town.” Also
Mount Zion on South Franklin Street, Bethlehem
on Dryades: Street, and the new mission in Car-
rollton are, advantageously located. ‘The location
of the new ‘Trinity Station is particularly ex-
cellent, and I believe that Carrollton Mission, just
because of its location, should also become a great
power for good. Of course, Carrollton is a difficult
field, but if properly worked, there is reason to
believe that God will grant us a rich harvest there
in time.

The visits that we paid our various Mission-
Sonoots in New Orleans afforded us much pleasure.

long forward strides during the past eight years.
The public schools of the city have been much
improved in late years, and their advantages have
been almost trebled. While the Colored public
schools may not have been improved to the same
extent that the white schools were, yet it remains
true that the city’s interest in her Colored schools
has greatly increased in recent years. New Orleans
at present has sixteen schools for Colored children.
Several of these schools are near our mission-
stations, and I greatly feared that our cause might
suffer because of their proximity. But I am grati-
fied to state that my fears were unfounded. The
superior advantages which the public schools may
have in the way of handsomer buildings, more
complete teaching apparatus, free tuition, and the
like, have been more than offset and outweighed
by. the faithful work of our mission-teachers and
pastors and the recognized beneficial influence of
the religious instruction and training received in
our schools. Z'rinity, for example, has been obliged
to retain the old society hall in which it formerly
had its home, and here Miss Johnson is instructing
the primary pupils, while Mr. P. Robinson is kept
busy teaching the grammar grades in the school-
room which, it was supposed, would be sufficiently
large to accommodate all. the pupils of the station.
St. Paul’s, though it has a large and well-equipped
public school in the near neighborhood, enjoys a
large enrolment, which fact speaks well for its
corps of four teachers. Rev. “A. Wiley, Messrs.
W. Seeberry and J. Thompson, and Miss Sylvina
Raymond are kept quite busy taking care of this
large school. Our observations made at St. Paul’s
induce us to believe that the teachers are convinced
of the importance of their work, and are trying
to give the pupils their best efforts. Redeemer
School is taught by Miss Sophia Raymond. This_
mission is housed in a dwelling which the proprietor
has kindly remodeled for our purposes. The neat
appearance of the pupils and their ready answers
speak well for them and their teacher. At Mount
Zion we were delighted to find the old veterans,
Messrs. Vix and Meibohm, at their wonted task.
Mr. Meibohm had been ill and obliged to rest a
few weeks, and should probably not have been in
the schoolroom at the time we met him there, but,
old war-horse that he is, he couldn’t be induced to
stay out of the harness. Mr. Vix we found the —
same genial person that he was years ago, and just —
as much interested in his work and pupils. The

large primary class of Mount Zion School is i
charge of Mr. Berger. The rah of bts Beth-