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A College student, not a professor of religion, was accustomed to kneel down and pray before retiring to bed. His roommate, who was prayerless and profane, speaking of it, said:

“It’s on account of a promise he has made to his mother, I suppose.”

Of his roommate’s praying he spoke thus sneeringly, but his conjecture was probably correct.

Happy are those sons whose mothers teach them to pray, and whose influence over them on account of a pious example, is so powerful that they are constrained to do as they have been taught.

The young man who was not ashamed to pray, even in the presence of his irreligious roommate, has been for years a member of the Presbyterian Church, was joined in marriage to a pious lady, and fills with honor a high station connected with one of our State governments.

The other, who made light of a mother’s holy teachings, was a young man of talent, and a good scholar, but after leaving college he failed to occupy a prominent position among men. He died a few years ago, probably as he had lived, a scoffer.

To a pious mother’s influence many of our best men trace their elevation in the world.

 via The S.S. Times

Source

Collection: African American Newspapers
Publication: The Christian Recorder
Date: April 18, 1868
Title: A Mother’s Influence
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Diplomatic Tommy

He Induced His Sister to Attend the Football Game

“No, Tommy,” said his sister, “I’ll not give you 50 cents to pay to see the football match; you have seen a number of baseball games during the summer, and I think that is enough.”

Tommy was dejected for a while and kept quiet, and his 23-year-old sister began to congratulate herself that she had silenced him for a time at least, and she would not be bothered by his teasing.

Suddenly Tommy’s face brightened and he turned toward his sister, but she was busy with some needlework, and was all unconscious of the thoughts that were running through his mind. After a while he went over and stood beside her and watched her fingers as they dexterously knitted the bright colored yarn into fancy mats and things without names for a church fair to be held in a short time. There was silence for a while, only broken by the far away notes of a harsh hand organ as it ground out, in spasmodic time, the “Boulanger March,” in the next block.

At last Tommy broke the silence and said softly: “Do you remember Mr. Nice-fellow, who used to talk to you so much at the hotel in Saratoga?” “Yes, Tommy. Why?” “I guess you haven’t seen him recently, have you?” “No, Tommy. When we moved last spring I believe he was in Europe, and I did not know his address, so did not send him a card. What makes you ask the question?”

(more…)

February 23, 1882

Although the epidemic of smallpox visited the north-western provinces of India in a fearful manner, causing 58,00 deaths in the single year of 1872, all attempts at introducing vaccinate on as a protective measure were resisted by the superstitious natives. They looked upon smallpox as a visitation from a deity, called by them Sitts, whose answer had to the appeased with special sacrifices and pleasure.

In spite of all this, however vaccination, although under peculiar circumstances was gradually introduced among the natives.

The Thekens, a tribe that still practice infanticide to a horrible extent, first allowed their female children to be vaccinated, being convinced of its fatal termination, and hoping thereby to get rid of this superfluous progeny. All the sons, however, were carefully guarded, Smallpox broke out in four of their villages, a short time afterwards, which carried off nearly all the boys, while the girls escaped the disease.

This unlooked for termination induced the natives to resort to the opposite practice, compelling the boys to be vaccinated, while the girls were left unprotected.

Besides this, a large number of cases were observed where children were concealed by their families from the vaccinators; in almost all instances these died, when those vaccinated escaped smallpox.

via Align Deutsche Zent of Brazil.

Collection: African American Newspapers
Publication: THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Date: February 23, 1882
Title: Vaccination In India
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

It is interesting to note that fear and confusion over vaccinations were every bit as common in the Western world just a few generations before.

An 1802 cartoon depicting the early controversy surrounding Jenner's vaccination theory.

Photozincography, sometimes referred to as Heliozincography but essentially the same process, known commercially as zinco, is the photographic process developed by Sir Henry James FRS (1803–1877) in the mid-nineteenth century.

This method enabled the accurate reproduction of images, manuscript text and outline engravings, which proved invaluable when originally used to create maps during the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain during the 1850s, carried out by the government’s Topographical Department, headed by Colonel Sir Henry James.

Zincographic Map of Southampton

While the Ordnance Survey’s Directory General Henry James (Ordnance Survey) claimed to have invented the process, a similar system of document copying had been developed in Australia. John Walter Osborne (1828–1902) developed a similar process for use in Australia and for the same reasons as Sir Henry, to avoid using the tracing system of the pantagraph.[4] While developed at the same time Sir Henry’s process, however as Sir Henry explained to a representative of Mr. Osborne in the quote below, he publicized it first.

I therefore handed this gentleman a copy of my Report, and desired him to read the account given of our process at page 6 of that Report, and to examine the copy of the Deed bound up with it, and not to show me the description of Mr. Osborne’s process if it was differed from ours. After reading it, he said at once it was the same process, and I then told him it was useless for him to attempt to take out a patent as my printed Report had everywhere been circulated.

Sir Henry, despite being the person who oversaw and set up the photography department, was not the actual inventor. The head of the photography department at Southampton, Captain A. de. Scott, did much of the ground work and basic development on photozincography. Sir Henry did acknowledge the work of Captain A. de. Scott in the development and use of the system in the introduction to the photozincographied Domesday Book. Despite this it was Sir Henry who gained most of the public attention through his pamphlet on photozincography. He was knighted in 1861 for services to science. (Source: Wikipedia)

Ordnance Survey Photography Building

Newspapers in the 19th century carried announcements and pronouncements about advancements in science. This was a period of rapid growth in scientific discoveries and newspapers were the primary way ordinary citizens learned of new advancements. It was up to the newspaper writers and publishers to communicate the advancements in a way that non-scientifically educated readers could understand and appreciate like in this article from The Christian Recorder below.  This article and others like it are available to Accessible Archives subscribers in the African American Newspapers Collection. (more…)

After the Civil War was over and slavery was abolished throughout the South, many of the abolitionist and African American newspapers switched their focus from the fight for emancipation to the education of the newly free blacks throughout the South.

Short lessons and sermons, like the one below, circulated from paper to paper where, it was hoped, the new rights and responsibilities of the former slaves could be taught quickly in a way that would spread among the newly enfranchised citizens.

True Manliness

Manliness respects two things: proper views of one’s self, and right conduct toward others. Respect yourself, as a man, the one being in the image of God, and you cannot do a mean thing. It is only in self-forgetfulness, that any person stoops to sin. (more…)