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REVEREND W. C. SALE
(Florida)
For 16 years the Reverend W. C. Sale
has been a well know figure in the religious life of Jacksonville. He was
pastor of the Margaret Street Baptist Church for 14 years, and now
conducts the Jacksonville Citadel Mission at 26 East Bay Street, where he
serves refreshments twice daily to anyone attending after services, and
coffee throughout the day. He also conducts WPA adult education classes in
the Mission.
He is six feet tall, weighs 150 pounds, and is a slender muscular type.
His high forehead is topped with thick dark brown hair sprinkled with
gray. He wears glasses, and his heavy eyebrows shade clear blue eyes,
which look directly at you with a benign expression. Neatly attired, his
tie, handkerchief and suit appeared to have been selected with a sense of
color harmony.
Upon entering the Mission, I find his smile arresting and his hand-clasp
firm. Before seating himself at his desk, which is in front of the room,
he motions me to a worn wicker settee. The Mission consists of one room on
the second floor of the Trout building, and old commercial structure one
block from the waterfront. The walls of the room are badly in need of
paint, and although the furniture is well arranged, its general appearance
could be improved by cleaning. A large, blue, gallon coffee pot shows
unmistakable signs of constant use. A piano, the most impressive
furnishing, shows a little sign of wear. Our conversation is postponed by
the creaking stairs in the old building.
"At present I am using one large room not only as a classroom and
employment agency but as a place where hungry may come and dine; where
tired may sit and rest; and where troubled may tell their needs.
"This is no church, no hotel lobby, nor is it a flop-house; it is a spot
where men can feel free to come and find immediate aid. I am proud of the
fact that help is instantly given with no prolonged investigation. This
present location, which I recently acquired, is ideal because it is
convenient to the greatest number who might seek aid. Being near the
harbor and only a few blocks from the heart of the city, I am able to help
men in all walks of life. I plan to redecorate the Mission and expect to
be able to acquire a smaller adjoining room for use as a kitchen." I
explained the purpose of my interview, and he readily responded: "I will
be glad to share whatever material of value I can furnish.
"I will tell you the story of my life in one sentence. I was born in
Alabama, reared in Tennessee, an Oregon exile, a Virginian by adoption, a
Kentuckian by permission, an overseas chaplain, and a Floridian by
migration. But I have stayed, and not gone north in the summer; I have
stuck or maybe I am stuck, perhaps both.
"My father and mother married shortly after the War Between the States,
and reared seven girls and three boys on a farm. All learned self-support,
self-respect, and self-control. We owned our own home, and helped father
pay for it. I made the last payment on it one year after his death in
1904. You know it is easier for thrifty parents to rear a large family
than it is to rear a small one--that is it used to be, and I believe it is
yet. It should be the ambition of every young married couple to have 18
children.
"The Sales for several generations have pointed with pride to lawyers,
doctors and preachers in their ranks. The pastor of the first Methodist
church in this city back in 1893 was my father's first cousin of whom he
often spoke with pride, and I understand that Rev. J. C. Sale was a good
preacher. Many of his family still live in Florida today. Judge Sale,
lives in Bronson, Florida. My people come from the British Isles by way of
Virginia, thence to the south and west. There are so few of us that we are
willing to claim kin when we meet.
"I went through grammar school in Tennessee and later took five years in
the Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, with special courses in oratory
and theology, graduating in June, 1904." At this point Mr. Sale shows me
the gold star he wears on his watch chain, the gift of the faculty for
being an honor student.
"A few years later while pastor in Richmond, Va., I took two years of
special work in Union Theological Seminary, an excellent Presbyterian
school. That is unusual for a Baptist to attend a Seminary of another
denomination, but I found it to be a good thing. It makes one broader,
more considerate, and a better thinker. I seriously doubt that our present
school system is turning out educated boys and girls. They all go through
the mill and graduate. I do not see how they do it. But I presume
education has been so popularized that it has become a game and they play
the thing through. Then they make a larger appeal to the eye by means of
maps, charts, pictures, and demonstrations than they once did. I think I
have heard that about [?] percent of what we learn comes through the eye.
"One must be ambitious, with high ideals, in order to make the grade in
life. Much of this depends upon vision. 'Where there is no vision the
people perish.' I made my response to the first awakening of conscience. I
answered the call of God! To be a Christian! To be a minister! To live for
others! I have had many experiences in what is known as the spirit-filled
life.
"My ambition has never been to accumulate wealth. I like the good things
of life, but have always expected them to come as a result of sacrificial
services for others. I have understood that if one lives for others he
need not fear; he will be cared for. But I have learned that one must be a
good financier if he succeeds in life. One must keep the home fires
burning if he is to entertain strangers. Certainly one must live within
his income and not try to keep up with the crowd. One must either own a
home or pay rent if he never owns a car. I have owned two cars that I
bought and paid for and wore out. I am convinced that two-thirds of the
people driving cars do not need them, and would be better off without
them. This is evidently true of people living in the city where
transportation is easily accessible.
When you speak of income you make me laugh. It is better to laugh, though,
than to cry. Our first income in [190?] was [?] per month, and we lived in
a furnished house. That was out in Heppner, Oregon, this side of the
Cascade Range of Mountains [?,000] feet above sea level in the arid
section of the west, where one feels most excellent, but where your dreams
are a long time coming true. But if you go from the South to the Pacific
Coast you must learn as quickly as possible to fit in.
"At one time my income was $4,000 per year, but like all the rest I had my
reverses. The hardest pull financially of my life has been during my
sojourn in Jacksonville. But I guess I am to blame. If I had hustled for a
larger church it would have been different. But I am stronger because of
my struggles. I would say that not less than $100 a month will provide
adequately for a husband and wife today in Jacksonville. I know many live
on less than that, but it is a hard pull.
"The supreme right of man is the right to live and the right to work, and
the right to show the marks of a man. Nothing is more honorable than work.
We should never be satisfied with our system in the social order, until it
provides every eligible man with work. Capital and labor must cooperate,
with this slogan, "work for every man and every man at work." I was taught
to work, and have worked ever since. I do not work for the amount of money
I receive but for the joy there is in it, for the good I may be able to
do, for what I may be able to accomplish through the work.
"My mission work is soul-satisfying and gives me a complete feeling of
effort well spent. When I lie down in my bed at night, perhaps a little
weary from the physical strain of the day, I am able to find full
compensation when I review the events of the day and know that tonight
there are former discouraged, depressed and hungry men because of my work
"The earnest desire of my life has been to relieve suffering humanity and
to meet the needs of my brother-man. In this field I am able to reach the
man furtherest down -- the man that won't come to church is the hungry
man, and the man made bitter because of some possible experience with a
church-goer, and the man that can't make a decent appearance because of
unemployment.
"Christ went after the man that was furtherest down and that is my aim,
but the churches are not after that class today, they want a well-dressed
crowd on parade. I am not sure that you will find very much Christianity,
of the primitive type, among the churches today. Christ was moved with
compassion for the multitudes. I am wondering what Christ thinks of the
churches of this age.
"Getting back to my mission, for more
than a hundred years Jacksonville has been merely a commercial city. But
many things have converged to make it so. She has an ideal location on the
historic St. Johns, with the best harbor, with the advantage of sea and
land for transportation, undisturbed by storm and fog. Ours is the
subtropical climate luring people from the North, to the commerce of the
South. We take off our hats to the past as we salute the men that planned
and built our city, in spite of famine and fires, wars and fatal diseases.
All praise to municipal ownerships of the waterworks, the electric light
plant, certain docks, the stadium, radio, and many other projects that
make for the financial success of our great city.
"Yes, we are happy to praise the police and fire departments, the park and
sanitary departments, recreation department, great school system and our
magnificent churches for their great cultural and spiritual program, but
there is no provision for helping the man that is down on his luck. We
have welfare agencies that are doing a great work but they must adhere to
specified rule and follow-up investigations. That is why I prefer to
continue this mission, for I am able to immediately aid the man that is
detached -- the man that really needs a friend.
"A mission is the only institution I know that reaches the man that is
down in the most effectual way without embarrassing him.
"This is the only agency in the city that gives direct relief immediately;
including medical aid and everything that one man may be able to do for
another without charge. Everything is absolutely free, with no strings
tied to it, except the promise to be a real man and try for self-support
and self-control.
"A mission enables one to work with his hands untied, and untrammeled,
using his own best judgment, without interference on the part of
outsiders. It is a simple problem--not complex.
"The great needs for such a mission are:
"First: it relieves suffering men out of work, that is no fault of their
own in most cases. They are stranded and absolutely alone. They need a
helping hand to find health, to find work, to find God, and to find their
proper place in the social order.
"Second: so many people come to Florida, both tourist and transients, one
with money and the other without. They both have the same purpose in that
they are seeking 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' The tourist
looks out for himself. The transient must have some one help him on his
way.
"Third: 'the poor are always with us' and there will always be room for
this kind of work.
"Fourth: sudden relief is greatly needed for seamen in Jacksonville.
Seamen are our second navy, our ambassadors of good will.
"All food is a contribution which I have promoted by contacting business
heads and organizations. We generally have sufficient food for all.
"I feel that in this mission work I am able to stop crime at its source to
a great extent. A hungry man will commit a crime quicker than a man that
has three regular meals each day. We are told that hunger is the greatest
human urge.
"I am convinced that the mission work has relieved the burden and gloom
from many a lonely, helpless, struggling soul. This is evidently true with
some men past 60. They say that cold harsh treatment makes men worse. And
that is divinely true. Hear David saying, 'Thy gentleness hath made me
great.' And Paul saying, 'The love of Christ constraineth me.' And the
song writer saying, 'Love lifted me.'
"I am fully convinced that the ministry of this mission is surpassing the
work of the prison farms and all that is connected with them. The new
approach to the cure of crime is not punishment, but mercy, kindness and
instruction. We are called upon to be real builders in the kingdom of God.
"The best advertisement that could come to this city is that even drifting
men that come this way go their way saying 'Jacksonville has a heart of
love.' That is exactly what 13,000,000 Negroes of America are saying about
our city, who were represented here in their National Baptist Convention
two years ago. That is what 8,000 white men are saying who have been cared
for in our Jacksonville city mission during the past twelve months.
"We have not only met their physical and spiritual need, but during the
past year we have taught the following topics: 'History of Florida,'
'History of the United States,' 'American [?] Myths;' 'The Power of the
President;' 'Red Cross First Aid;' 'World Patriots;' 'The New Frontiers of
Democracy;' 'Hygiene or How to Live;' 'Communism, Fascism, Dictatorship
versus Democracy;' 'The Rights of Man;' which are the right to live, and
the right to work and the right to show the marks of a man. We carried on
an independent course of study without a book, on self-respect, and
self-control. We are now studying the history of Jacksonville, featuring
the thought of building a greater city.
"We have found, too, the study of human relationships is an inexhaustible
course of which each and every man can take a part. We, also, very
frequently have round table discussions of current events. Reflecting a
moment I recall that 'How to Prevent War' was a most interesting topic.
The forum plan of discourse and teaching is the best that I have tried.
This plan calls for the selection of a topic by the class, and the teacher
giving the first short introductory address, giving all the class a chance
to ask further questions and discuss the question in hand.
"I am interested in making every man's living conditions as good as we
enjoy at home. The government is doing a remarkable thing for both white
and colored on housing projects of Jacksonville.
"My wife is from one of the oldest families in Memphis, Tennessee,
[TWO MISSING PAGES]
make a few miscellaneous observations, as I look at myself in the glass
and see the house I live in 'by the side of the road while I try to be a
friend to man.'
"One gets nowhere without a plan, a blue print that he makes for himself,
if he is capable; if not capable, follow some one else's blue print. A
free [?] has started nowhere and certainly will get nowhere. I plan my day
before I get up in the morning. In fact, thinking on plans and programs is
the thing that brings me from a dead level to a living perpendicular.
"I am in the great movement. First: I am in the kingdom of God movement,
with all the lovers of the Lord, I am in adult education work under the
Works Progress Administration, which is definitely here to stay. If the
WPA should cease to be, adult education would go right on in one form or
another, by one agency or the other. It is a fellowship forum with at
least a hundred thousand of them in America. It is a field all its own,
that must be worked daily. And if properly pursued it will defeat every
ism that may pervade our shores, such as Communism, and Fascism. Here we
teach men to plow and plant, cultivate and harvest. We practice and teach
that one must spend some time each day in the results of the beautiful,
and in the field of frolic and fun. Yes, we must have places of amusement,
wholesome visiting, cautious courting, if we would have happy, lasting
marriages.
"Unless right-thinking people look out for the well-being of our young
folks they will be left alone to bring themselves to shame.
Thoughtful men will spend their leisure hours in learning at a school of
adult education where real hospitality is shown.
"For myself, I am well most all the time as I am constantly using
preventive measures that keeps one well. Such as plenty of fresh air, with
its eleven health-giving qualities, good food properly masticated, due
attention to poisons within and without the body, and the right exercise.
With proper knowledge of hygiene one becomes his own best doctor. Work is
all absorbing and is conducive to right thinking, which makes far the best
of health, other things being equal.
"As the hour approaches for classes, I find myself anticipating the
prospect of sitting through part of the session. One by one the men
arrive, then by twos and threes, and finally groups arrive together. Each
finds individual welcome as he is told to 'come in and get something to
eat, and help yourself to the coffee; there is more sugar back of the
piano and open up another can of [?], there's plenty. Grapes and
tangerines over there, too, help yourself boys.'
"Some of these men are large and strong, others small tired and worn. The
young and old share the same hunger and the same disappointments, but they
may come here twice daily and find welcome, week in and week out, for that
is the purpose of this little mission."
January 3, 1939
Rev. W. C. Sale (White)
26 East Bay Street
Jacksonville, Florida
Preacher and Missionary
Mrs. Lillian Steadman, writer
Veronica E. Huss and
Robert Edwards, revisers.
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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