The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 122

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122 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Commencement and Jubilee Ceremonies
at Immanuel College.

In the presence of a large concourse of people
from the immediate vicinity and from distant towns
and cities, seventeen students, on May 24, received
their diplomas at the twenty-third annual com-
mencement of Immanuel Lutheran College. Of these
students fourteen are graduates of the Academic
Department; one, Elizabeth Croom, has finished
the courses of the Normal Department and will
teach a Lutheran school in North Carolina; and
two graduates have completed the courses for the
ministry, namely, Culberth Malloy, called as assis-
tant pastor to Superintendent Frank Alston at
Kannapolis, N.C., and J. Wilbur Twitty, who will
teach in Luther College at Selma, Ala. The com-
mencement address was delivered by the Rev. George
F. Schmidt, of New York City, who spoke on
“Golden Opportunities of Consecrated Young
People.” The annual sermon was preached by the
Rey. Fred Foard, of Monroe, N.C., on Prov. 3,17:
“Her [wisdom’s] ways are ways of (MELEE, and
all her-paths are peace.”

In connection with the exercises a brief, but im-
pressive service was conducted by Prof. Henry
Nau, Ph. D., president of the institution, and the
Rey. John Fuller, of Mount Pleasant, N. C., to
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opiate
of the senior member of the faculty, Prof. Frederick
Berg, into the ministry. This jubilee is of special
interest to. the readers of the LUTHERAN PIONEER
since Professor Berg was the first resident mis-
sionary of our Church among the Negroes, his first
charge having been a congregation organized by
him in 1878 in Little Rock, Ark.

‘Although in his seventy-third year, Professor
Berg has thus far enjoyed good health and hopes to
continue his work at Immanuel, where he com-
mands the respect of the students and the high
esteem of his fellow-laborers. In token of their
respect and esteem the students dedicated the com-
mencement number of their magazine, The Red and

* White, to the jubilarian, while his coworkers and
former students presented him with a purse of gold
and a gold cross. Wx. H. Grnrxe.

A Black Belt Experience.

S Tired and weary after two long services in the
backwoods of Alabama’s Black’ Belt, I headed my
‘Ford toward Selma—sixty-five ete, lonesome miles

to the north. It was about 11.30 at night when,
within ten miles of my destination, a dark figure
jumped to the center of the road and motioned
frantically with both arms for me to stop. Recalling
some unpleasant experiences I had previously gone
through on dark and lonesome roads late at night,
I was undecided whether to step on the gas and pass
up this lone person or to stop and offer aid.

The lights of my car revealed, as I slowed down,
a battered old Ford on the side of the road, so I con-
cluded that the man was in trouble, and I stopped.
My conclusion was correct. The colored man’s first
question to me was, “Captain, has you got any
bulbs?” Assuring him that I had no extra bulbs,
but that he could find his way into Selma by the
lights on my car, he hurriedly and gratefully
climbed back into the driver’s seat, and together we
started toward Selma. -

What a sight my lights revealed as they played
on the car this colored man was driving! The
fenders were fastened to the body by means of hay-
wire; the top and the curtains were flying in the
breeze like flags, and the body gave evidence of
forceful contact with telephone poles and other
equally obstinate obstacles. When I urged the driver
to make a little better time, he assured me that the
snorting and coughing engine was being taxed to
the utmost in making about twelve miles an hour.

I resigned myself to my fate, hoping against
hope that the casings on my friend’s car would hold
out until we reached Selma and that the engine
would not expire. But my hopes were soon blasted,
for one of the rear casings, groaning under the
weight of two women and three men, gave way with
a report like that of a pistol shot. After a struggle
with the Old Adam I decided not to leave the party
in darkness, but to wait until the casing could be
repaired. I was fully repaid for this victory over
the Old Adam; for my opinion concerning condi-
tions in the churches for the colored in Alabama
was again confirmed.

A “spare” hung airless and rusted to the rim on
the rack in the rear of the car. ‘This casing the
occupants of the car succeeded in prying loose in
the following manner: It was placed on the ground;
the two women, one of prodigious proportions, stood
with both feet on the rim, while the two men firmly
gripped the casing and pulled with might and main.
In repairing this fourth shoe for the old Ford, many
boots were used, exactly four if my memory serves

Mme right. A considerable amount of grit and gravel

went into the casing unobserved by those doing the
repair work. After working for somewhat more