For the Christian Recorder.
<< JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> , ESQ.
MR. EDITOR:- The numerous readers of the Recorder, and the literary portion
of our people, generally, will be pleased, no doubt, to learn that this celebrated
colored poet has returned in excellent health from his recent tour in the West
Indies and Central America. We may justly expect a rich literary treat from
his gifted pen of his wanderings in those sunny climes. The talent, energy,
and integrity of this young man, are surely destined to win for him a prominent
place among our celebrated colored Americans. That his report of Honduras will
finish his mark, cannot be doubted. We have had the pleasure of an interview
with him, since his return. His remarks were moderate and deliberate, and misrepresentations
of Honduras were reasonable and devoid of exaggeration. He expressed himself
as being highly pleased with Honduras; but would not, he said, like to see a
great influx of emigrants to that country, as they would necessarily suffer
for the want of proper necessaries and facilities on their arrival. He would
advise a few at a time, of the right stamp, but the masses of the colored people,
he thought, would not like Honduras. Mr. Menard speaks of returning again soon.
More anon.
G.L.C.
New York, September 18th, 1863.
May 30, 1863
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Poetry.
For the Christian Recorder.
TWILIGHT WINNINGS.
BY << JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> .
(Inscribed to Miss S.L.T.)
I love to roam at evening,
Amid the twilight dew;
And pluck from Nature's flowers,
Flowers of crimson hue.
And if amid the bowers
I chance to find a rose,
I'll keep it for the bosom,
Where my thoughts repose.
I love to roam at evening,
With "Cora" by my side,
And hear sweet music floating,
Upon the evening tide.
Sweet "Cora's" voice is sounding,
I hear its mellow flow;
It sounds like angel music,
Upon the sunset glow!
I'm going, going, going,
With "Cora" love to roam,
Amid the twilight winnings,
And dream of joys to come.
Washington, D.C. March 30th, 1863.
March 21, 1863
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
ERRATA.
MR. EDITOR:- I beg that you will be kind enough to allow me to correct a very
laughable error which appears in the last line of the second verse of my poem
entitled "LIBERIA," published in your invaluable sheet of the 7th
inst. Please read "fiends" and not "friends." Our Liberian
friends would be angry at me should they understand me to say that they would
not compromise with friends! In presenting my best respects to your good printer,
please say to him, If he don't keep both eyes open, I shall take the delicate
trouble of reporting him to the muses!
Yours, while I live,
<< JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> .
Washington, D.C. March 12th, 1863.
March 7, 1863
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Poetry.
For the Christian Recorder.
LIBERIA.
BY << JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> .
LIBERIA! O, immortal name!
To Afric's sons and daughters;
It glows like an undying flame
Upon their hearts and altars!
Oh, country 'neath the torrid skies,
With hills and placid rivers;
And sons that scorn to compromise
With friends and nigger-drivers!-
I love thee for thy verdant brow,-
Thy sunny vales and mountains;
I love thy woodland choir that swells
The music of thy fountains!
The light-winged zephyrs from the sea
Are in thy bowers sighing;
And FREEDOM, RIGHT and LIBERTY,
Upon thy plains are vying!
Beneath the gospel's potent voice,
Thy native tribes are crying;
And heathenism's rugged voice
Has ceased its plaintive sighing.
Oh! country of the sable race-
The germ of Freedom's dower;
The stuborn nations of the earth
Ere long will feel thy power.
LIBERIA, rise!- no longer sigh-
Thy night is nearly over;
For Freedom, Liberty and Right
Over thy plains doth hover!
Washington, D.C., Feb. 9, 1863.
March 14, 1863
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Poetry.
For the Christian Recorder.
MUSIC.
BY << JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> .
Sweet Music throws her arms.
Around the weary heart,
And with her mystic charms,
Bids its rude cares depart.
Like incense sweet it falls,
Upon the din-worn ear;
And with her voice she calls
The soul from heavy fear,-
Like odor sweet it floats,
Upon the midnight air,
Like angels' softest notes,
From the celestial choir!
Sweet Music- gift of Heaven!
Disperser of our wo,
To thee is power given,
To cheer us here below.
We hear thy voice below-
We hear it sound above:
Which fills creation full,
Of life, and joy, and love.
Washington, D.C., Feb. 19, 1863.
February 14, 1863
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Poetry.
For the Christian Recorder.
TWILIGHT MUSINGS.
BY << JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> .
Twilight shades are 'round me falling,
Like bright memories of yore:
And the bright and golden sunbeams
Gem the western clouds no more.
Luna, from her orb so lofty,
On the earth begins to peep:
While the doleful voice of midnight
Calls the hum of light to sleep.
I am thinking, pondering, musing-
While the twilight fades away:
Of some brighter, sweeter hours
When this heart of mine was gay-
Of some angel forms and faces,-
Of the joyous long ago,
Who are now with angels winging-
Where immortal pleasures flow.
Evening songsters' notes are falling,
Like the dew drops from above;
And on twilight's shades I'm wafted
To that purer world of love.
Washington, D.C., Jan. 28, 1863.
February 21, 1863
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
For the Christian Recorder.
THE SPRING OF LOVE.
BY << JOHN WILLIS MENARD>> .
There is a fountain deep of love,
In every human heart;
A fount that never drieth up,
However choked by art-
In childhood's days of innocence,
It knows no resting place;
Recircling all our little world
Within its fond embrace.
But after-years come freighted with
Earth's selfishness and pride;
Which choke the sacred fountain up,
Until it seemeth dried;
Yet he who deeply probes the heart-
Who searcheth it with care:
Will find, e'en in the stoniest,
That fountain still is there.
For tho' it seem beyond thy power,
The worldling's heart to move,
That heart, couldst thou but reach the fount,
Would overflow with love,-
And often when we deem it lost,
It gusheth forth again:-
The worldliness that buries it,
Its sources cannot drain.
There is in every breast a lamp,
That never goeth out;
Tho' sadly is its blaze obscured,
By falsehood, fear and doubt,
The lamp of truth! by Heaven bestowed,
To light man's devious way;
Who ever duly heedeth it,
May never go astray.
If one there be to love and truth,
Seems dead for evermore,
Believe it not, but humbly strive,
Their winnings to restore:
Assured that tho' they may at times
In vain exert their force:
All heaven-born things must ever be
Undying as their Source.
February 18, 1875
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
EDITORIAL BRIEFS.
Insincerity is blood cousin to hypocrisy.
In our last issue we wrote April 14, instead of February 14, as the 115th birthday of Richard Allen.
Louisville can boast of a well organized and well conducted “Building Association.” We are under obligation to (who?) for a copy of the Commercial in which a cheerful account is given of its doings.
The latest Methodist project, is neither a Life Insurance nor a bank - it is a Methodists tour to Palestine. All who wish to take stock may address the Rev. J.S. Ostrander, M.E. Book Concern.
Col. E.C. Bondinot the Cherokee, advocate strongly the project of giving the Indian Territory, civil government as was recommended by the Board of Indian commissioners, and clothing its 90,000 Civilized Indians with all the rights of American Citizenship. If like the negro, they are expected to paddle their own canoe, we vote the Colonel's ticket.
<< John Willis Menard>> writing the Tribune from Jacksonville,
Fla., gives utterance to the following sterling sentiments:
“The color line which divides political parties, is, in the words of Homer,
“the direful spring of woe unnumbered” and it is to be hoped that
the time is not far distant when it will be abolished. The quickest way to solve
the Southern problem is to make the negro no longer an issue in politics. Let
citizenship mean one thing all over the Union and to all men and races. Whatever
it means to the German, Irishman, Hebrew, Italian or Swede, let it mean the
same thing to the negro and Chinaman. Make it mean one thing to all alike, and
then there will be no necessity for any civil rights bill or class legislation
of any kind. In God's name let the negro have rest and peace. Give him “a
fair field” and free water and let him swim or sink.”
When we read the following, we felt like giving it endorsement in the shape
of - “Preach it, Brother:”
“One thing is certain: that the physical degeneracy of women is due more
to this one vice of suspending the dress from the hips, or girted waist, than
to any or perhaps all other causes. Fashion holds a relentless tyranny over
the increasingly feeble bodies and mind of women. If we should see a strong
draft horse harnessed with the pressure on the loins we should pity him; but
delicate woman is ignorantly obliged to carry her heavy clothing thus without
pity for herself.”
The remedy is, let all women wear suspenders, as the sensible among them are
doing now.
January 21, 1884
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
THE A.M.E. CHURCH REVIEW.
Contents for the January Number.
CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL PRIVILEGES. By T. Thos. Fortune, Esq., Editor New York
Freeman.
ON FATALISM IN HOMER AND VIRGIL. By Prof. W.S. Scarborough, L.L.D. Wilberforce
University.
THE NEGRO PROBLEM IN THE SOUTH. By R.H. Cain, D.D., Bishops of the First Episcopal
District A.M.E. Church.
THE CONGO VALLEY; ITS REDEMPTION. By D. Augustus Straker, L.L.D.
PLAIN HUMANITY WITHOUT DISTINCTION. By Rev. Jas. H.A. Johnson, D.D.
MY DREAM (Poetry) by Mrs. M.E. Lambert.
“SCIENCE” BY UNSCIENTIFIC METHOD. Part I. The Scientific Method.
By Prof. Edward A. Clark.
THE BARBARISM IN OUR CIVILIZATION. By Rev. J.C. Embry, Publisher, A.M.E. Church.
THE COMMERCIAL POSITION of THE UNITED STATES ON THE HIGH SEAS. By Jennie Lawson,
L.L.B.
WOODS AND ROCKS – A REVERIE (Poetry). By Albury A. Whitman, Author of
“Not a Man and Yet a Man,” “Rape of Honda,” and other
poems.
THE LIFE of LORD LAWRENCE AND ITS LESSON. Concluded. By Edward W. Blyden L.L.D.,
Monrovia, Liberia, W.C.A.
DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRESS. By Prof. T.S. Snowden, Centenary biblical Institute.
THE HEART'S HARVEST. (Poetry.) By << John Willis Menard>> , Author
of “Lays in Summer Land,” and Editor of Florida News.
ENGLAND'S RULE IN IRELAND. By Rev. A.J. Chambers.
EDITORIALS.
BOOK TABLE.
REVIEWS.
October 4, 1883
THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Philadelphia, PA
THE FLORIDA NEWS, << John Willis Menard>> , the poet editor, comes to us more than double the original size. In this evidence of prosperity we rejoice.