ord Seminary,
graduating in 1887.

During these years of study Mr. Whittaker partly supported
himself by teaching in the summer and working out of school
hours, which was an immense drain upon his strength, and
once he broke down under it. Through the kindness of friends
he was enabled to spend two summers in the North farming.
This change, he feels, was the saving of his life. June 1,
1887, at Springfield, Mass., where he held his first charge,
he was ordained. In 1888 he was married to Miss Anna J.
Connover, of Hartford, Conn.

Mr. Whittaker educated himself to labor for his people in
the South. He was not content to remain in the North. After
a very successful year at Springfield, he resigned to accept
a call to the Knowles Street Congregational Church of
Nashville, Tenn. For three years he was chaplain of the
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. For seven years
and four months he was pastor of the First Congregational
Church of New Orleans, La., and three years he had charge of
the First Congregational Church of Savannah, Ga. Recently he
has been recalled to Tuskegee to be the Financial Secretary
of the Tuskegee Institute.

Mr. Whittaker is a preacher of force and power. In every
place he pastored he was remarkably successful. He has often
been honored by his church with positions of trust and
responsibility. He was one of the Louisiana Commissioners of
the Negro Department for the Atlanta and Cotton States
Exposition.

It would seem from the immense following of these churches that this
question would require a negative answer, but it is only in appearance
and can be accounted for.

In the days of slavery the Methodist and Baptist churches predominated
in the South. The great mass of the slaves attended these churches
with their masters and there they were converted and became members.
They were thoroughly indoctrinated in the teachings of these churches.
At the same time, there were other denominations existing among the
slaves: Catholic, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian. In some portions of
the United States, where these denominations were in the lead, they
have a very large Negro following, whose attachment to these religious
sects is so strong that they could be satisfied in no other. They
belong to these denominations by birth and training. All that is
sacred and de