We have been laboring hard to educate and develop ourselves for the past two years. We have built a house worth about $2,500, and secured about 16 acres of land. Those who ought to know say that a more desirable site is hardly imaginable. We enrolled the first year 175 students, the last year year 183. We have 5 Sunday-schools in operation, with an average attendance of 50 each. We have been able to collect very little tuition. Many are not able to pay, and many are able but indisposed. But God has blessed us with teachers willing to suffer and work.Our work has been greatly blessed by a visit from two good brethren. Dr. Carter Helm Jones, one of them, preached two sermons for us and left us with brighter hopes and stronger faith. In the forenoon he preached from the text, "By the grace of God I am what I am." A crowded house hung on his every word, as, by his zeal and eloquence he won the hearts of our mountaineers. In the afternoon the house was packed again and he preached from the parable of the talents. Stout-hearted mountain men broke down completely and wept over the graves of their buried talents. He asked us to sound a trump of resurrection over those graves. Several professed conversation. If Bro. Jones could only have stayed and preached for us a week I feel sure that we should have had a great ingathering.
Why would it not be very Christlike for our strong churches to send their strong preachers to the weak and struggling outposts for just a few days each year? There would be no reward for it, of course, except that reward which God gives to faithful and loving service. I feel certain that if our strong churches could understand just how needy we are, they would send us their preachers for a few days each year.
Bro. T. J. Humphreys, treasurer of Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, accompanied Dr. Jones, and by his earnest, Christian spirit and kindly manner completely won the hearts of our people. The visit, though short, was the greatest blessing ever received by our people. We go about our work with renewed zeal and determination. May God soon send us another such.
Oneida, Kentucky.=========== [From The Baptist Argus, July 4, 1901, p. 4. Transcribed and scanned by Jim Duvall.]
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