The subject of this sketch was born in Providence, R. I. When quite a wee child she proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, her fitness for the stage as a race representative, and has, among other things, maintained her ground, never weakening and giving down, but nourishing a faith fit only for the righteous, which has led her gently into the pleasant and peaceful paths of success.
Some say that greatness is sometimes thrust upon us; others, more liberal, say it is inborn; others argue that it is acquired. We say that this isan instance where classical musical ability reigned uppermost, controlling and directing the possessor as the mainspring of all her infantile life; but on becoming cognizant of this state of affairs, she was advised by good Northern friends to turn her whole attention to the pursuit for which her heart and mind thirsted. Hence, after a few weeks with the classic masters, the whole Negro race was applauded for the advent of one among us, and sufficiently black to claim our identity, that was destined to move the world to tears. Year after year our subject has won new conquests, and now she is termed the "Black Patti." Is this an instance of acquired greatness, thrust greatness, or inborn greatness? We are loath to say inborn or thrust. For every achievement made by our race that seems to attract the attention of the world we are caused to feel grateful to God. When Negroes are smart, as a rule, a characteristic spirit seems to predominate in them when very small. Her career, while brief, is nevertheless full of bright successes. (Dr. M. A. Majors.)
Mme. Sissiretta Jones sang at the residence of Judge Andrews, on Fifth Avenue, New York, before a party of thirty ladies, among whom were Mrs. Lord, Mrs. Fields, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Stephens, and Mrs. Astor. The Chief Justice of India, who was present, presented the singer with a valentine, which, when opened, contained a check for one thousand dollars. She also received a solid silver basket filled with choice flowers.
Hallie Quinn Brown is a native of Pittsburg, Pa. When quite small her parents moved to a farm near Chatham, West Ontario, Canada. At an early age, in the year 1868, she was sent to Wilberforce College, Ohio, to obtain an education the country schools of Canada could not give, and where her parents subsequently moved, and now reside at Homewood Cottage. She completed the classical scientific course in 1873, with the degree of B.S. in a class of six. One of her classmates is the wife of Rev. B. F. Lee, D.D., ex-President of Wilberforce. Realizing that a great field of labor lay in the South, Miss Brown, with true missionary spirit, left her pleasant home and friends to devote herself to the noble work she had chosen.
Her first school was on a plantation in South Carolina, where she endured the rough life as best she could, and taught a large number of children from neighboring plantations. She also taught a class of aged people, and by this means gave to many the blessed privilege of reading the Bible. She next took charge of a school on Sonora Plantation, in Mississippi, where she found the effort to elevate the minds of the people much hindered by the use of tobacco and whisky—twin vices.
But as she is an indefatigable worker she accomplished much, and at this place, as at all otherswhere she is known, her influence for the better is felt. Her plantation school had no windows, but it was well ventilated; too much so, in fact, for daylight could be seen from all sides, with no particular regularity, and the rain beat in fiercely. Not being successful in getting the authorities to fix the building—shed, we should have said—she secured the willing service of two of her larger boys. She mounted one mule and the two boys another, and thus they rode to the ginhouse. They got cotton seed, returned, mixed it with earth, which formed a plastic mortar, and with her own hands she pasted up the chinks, and ever after smiled at the unavailing attacks of wind and weather.
MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN, WILBERFORCE, OHIO.MISS HALLIE Q. BROWN, WILBERFORCE, OHIO.
Her fame as instructor spread, and her services were secured as teacher at Yazoo City. On account of the unsettled state of affairs in 1874-75, she was compelled to return North. Thus the South lost one of its most valuable missionaries. Miss Brown then taught in Dayton, O., for four years. Owing to ill health she gave up teaching. She was persuaded to travel for her alma mater, Wilberforce, and started on a lecturing tour, concluding at Hampton School, Virginia, where she was received with a great welcome. After taking a course in elocution at this place, she traveled again, having much greater success, and received favorable criticism from the press.
For several years she has traveled with the Wilberforce Grand Concert Company, an organization for the benefit of Wilberforce College. Shehas read before hundreds of audiences and tens of thousands of people, and has received nothing but the highest of praise from all. She possesses a voice of wonderful magnetism and great compass, and seems to have perfect control of the muscles of the throat, and can vary her voice as successfully as a mocking bird. As a public reader, Miss Brown delights and enthuses her audiences. In her humorous selections she often causes "wave after wave" of laughter. In her pathetic pieces she often moves her audience to tears. The following are a few of thousands of compliments paid to her by the public press:
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, ranks as one of the finest in the country. (Daily News, Urbana, O.)Her style is pure and correct; her selections excellent. (News, Long Branch, N. J.)Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the elocutionist with the company, was loudly applauded. Many credit Miss Brown with being one of the best elocutionists before the public. (Indianapolis Times.)Miss Brown, the elocutionist, is a phenomenon, and deserves the highest praise. She is a talented lady and deserves all the encomiums that she receives. (Daily Sun, Vincennes, Ind.)The select reading of Miss Hallie Q. Brown was very fine. From grave to gay, from tragic to comic, with a great variation of themes and humors, she seemed to succeed in all, and her renderings were the spice of the night's performance. (Monitor, Marion, Ill.)"The select readings of Miss Brown are done to perfection. She has an excellent voice and good control of it. She makes every piece sound as if it were the author speaking, and in many of them doubtless she excels the one she imitates."
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, ranks as one of the finest in the country. (Daily News, Urbana, O.)
Her style is pure and correct; her selections excellent. (News, Long Branch, N. J.)
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the elocutionist with the company, was loudly applauded. Many credit Miss Brown with being one of the best elocutionists before the public. (Indianapolis Times.)
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, is a phenomenon, and deserves the highest praise. She is a talented lady and deserves all the encomiums that she receives. (Daily Sun, Vincennes, Ind.)
The select reading of Miss Hallie Q. Brown was very fine. From grave to gay, from tragic to comic, with a great variation of themes and humors, she seemed to succeed in all, and her renderings were the spice of the night's performance. (Monitor, Marion, Ill.)
"The select readings of Miss Brown are done to perfection. She has an excellent voice and good control of it. She makes every piece sound as if it were the author speaking, and in many of them doubtless she excels the one she imitates."
Miss Davis is native of Maryland, the state that has produced more noted colored people than all the other states combined. Her reputation is world-wide, and she stands to-day without a peer among her people as an elocutionist. Her charming manner and modest demeanor have endeared her to the hearts of thousands. She is not only interested in the artistic development of her race, but in their industrial advancement as well, and since her debut she has inspired many of the young people to make something of their lives that shall redound to the benefit of humanity.
I have many times been called upon to bear testimony to the remarkable talents of Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, and I always do so with pleasure. In my judgment she is one of the best dramatic readers in the country, and the best colored reader that ever came before the American people. Her personal appearance is strongly in her favor. She instantly commands attention and sympathy, and when her deep, fine voice is heard, her audience at once give themselves up to the pleasure of hearing her. I am quite sure you will make no mistake in having her read for you. (Frederick Douglass.)This is to certify that Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis has been known to me since childhood. She is in all respects a lady of the first grade, spotless in character, polished in manners, educated and finished in her profession. As a dramatic reader she has no superiors, and should be encouraged by all who favor the elevation of our race. I commend her services to all ministers of the gospel, and to the public in general. (Bishop H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.)
I have many times been called upon to bear testimony to the remarkable talents of Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, and I always do so with pleasure. In my judgment she is one of the best dramatic readers in the country, and the best colored reader that ever came before the American people. Her personal appearance is strongly in her favor. She instantly commands attention and sympathy, and when her deep, fine voice is heard, her audience at once give themselves up to the pleasure of hearing her. I am quite sure you will make no mistake in having her read for you. (Frederick Douglass.)
This is to certify that Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis has been known to me since childhood. She is in all respects a lady of the first grade, spotless in character, polished in manners, educated and finished in her profession. As a dramatic reader she has no superiors, and should be encouraged by all who favor the elevation of our race. I commend her services to all ministers of the gospel, and to the public in general. (Bishop H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.)
MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS, WASHINGTON, D. C.MISS HENRIETTA VINTON DAVIS, WASHINGTON, D. C.
Miss Davis is by far the most cultured and finished elocutionist of the race. Her combination of catchy recitations, replete with humor of an excellent quality, continues from beginning to end to bring forth shouts of laughter and rounds of applause. Her character-acting stamps her at once as an artist. She is pretty, unassuming, and full of common sense. (Star of Zion, Salisbury, N. C.)
Miss Davis is by far the most cultured and finished elocutionist of the race. Her combination of catchy recitations, replete with humor of an excellent quality, continues from beginning to end to bring forth shouts of laughter and rounds of applause. Her character-acting stamps her at once as an artist. She is pretty, unassuming, and full of common sense. (Star of Zion, Salisbury, N. C.)
I have heard Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis perform on various occasions, and it is my candid judgment, reached after mature deliberation, and a fair knowledge of the merits of nearly all her set who essay to excel in the histrionic art, that she has no superior in the race as a master of the profession of her choice. (John C. Dancy, Wilmington, N. C.)
I have heard Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis perform on various occasions, and it is my candid judgment, reached after mature deliberation, and a fair knowledge of the merits of nearly all her set who essay to excel in the histrionic art, that she has no superior in the race as a master of the profession of her choice. (John C. Dancy, Wilmington, N. C.)
Miss Davis is a living example of what all may do by improving their time and their talents. (Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett.)
Miss Davis is a living example of what all may do by improving their time and their talents. (Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett.)
Among the elocutionists that I have known Miss H. V. Davis holds the highest place in my estimation. Her personification and rendition of character is complete in whatever rôle she appears. (J. W. Hood, Bishop A.M.E. Zion Church.)
Among the elocutionists that I have known Miss H. V. Davis holds the highest place in my estimation. Her personification and rendition of character is complete in whatever rôle she appears. (J. W. Hood, Bishop A.M.E. Zion Church.)
As you stood in your womanly beauty,In garments of glittering sheen,Our hearts bowed down in gracious homage,And we crowned you as our queen.Although many have been before thee,Thou beautiful dark-eyed queen,None more worthy of allegianceOn the throne was ever seen.For whether in joy or in sorrowThy magic art has been seenWe sat enslaved by thy sweet caprice,Our fair, yes, charming queen.We pledge thee our loyal allegiance,We pledge thee our sympathy keen,We pledge thee the love of a nationAnd crown thee fore'er our queen!(Katherine Davis Tillman, in New York Age.)
As you stood in your womanly beauty,In garments of glittering sheen,Our hearts bowed down in gracious homage,And we crowned you as our queen.
Although many have been before thee,Thou beautiful dark-eyed queen,None more worthy of allegianceOn the throne was ever seen.
For whether in joy or in sorrowThy magic art has been seenWe sat enslaved by thy sweet caprice,Our fair, yes, charming queen.
We pledge thee our loyal allegiance,We pledge thee our sympathy keen,We pledge thee the love of a nationAnd crown thee fore'er our queen!
(Katherine Davis Tillman, in New York Age.)
Colored men should be encouraged by the outlook. Our friends are multiplying. It is only ourselves that we must learn to control. (John Mitchell, Richmond, Va.)
We are in favor of the saloons being closed twenty-four hours each day and seven days in each week. (Rev. R. W. E. Ferguson.)
Let parents do their whole duty in bringing up their children, for upon this depends the future welfare of our race. (Mrs. Virginia Broughton.)
Our lives are measured by what we accomplish, and not by paltry years of existence. (Prof. W. S. Scarborough.)
There is no such thing as black virtue, black intelligence or white intelligence, black goodness or white goodness. Virtue has no color. It is either virtue or no virtue, honesty or no honesty, and it behooves our readers always to remember this when they regulate the conduct of their lives. A bad act in a white man is not the less bad because he is white, and a good act in a colored man is not the less good because he is black. (Bishop W. B. Derrick.)
MRS. V. W. BROUGHTON, MEMPHIS, TENN. Editor of Woman's Messenger and Chairman of Educational Committee Negro Department, Tennessee Centennial.MRS. V. W. BROUGHTON, MEMPHIS, TENN.Editor of Woman's Messenger and Chairman of Educational Committee Negro Department, Tennessee Centennial.
Reading is to the mind what eating is to the body. So to eat without giving nature time to assimilate is to rob her, first of health, then of life; so to read without reflecting is to cram the intellectand paralyze the mind. In all cases, dear friends, reflect more than you read, in order to present what you read to your hearers. (S. A. Wesson, Lincolnville, S. C.)
If you have never thought of race pride, think now. Not only think, but act well your part. Without the ennobling power of our women we can never be a great and noble race. If young men aspire to reach the highest pinnacles of fame, they rise but to fall lower, unless the women are pure and will demand respect. Learn to resent insults, young women. Learn to respect and defend the women of our race, young men. (Mary R. Phelps.)
Let us as Negroes educate, let us survive, let us live up to our opportunities of doing good to ourselves and to others. So shall we work out a glorious destiny upon earth and contribute our share of the good and great immortals out of every nation that shall take their places among "the spirits of just men made perfect who are without fault before the throne." (Rev. William D. Johnson, D.D., Athens, Ga.)
We have learned in the hard school of adversity that we are not the wards of any political body; that the improvement of our condition in life is not the solicitude of any particular section of our country, and that the days of our political bosses are over forever; that we are the architects of our own fortunes and the arbiters of our own destinies; thatwith the various walks of life thrown open to us we are to enter and win victories or defeats upon equal conditions with every other race or condition of people. (Hon. J. T. Settle.)
Young men, creation would be incomplete without you. From the beginning God made you ruler over every living thing. Do you properly appreciate the kingdom over which you reign? We know that these thoughts do not take hold of you in boyhood, but there is a time when they are fully realized and yet neglected. God has called you because you are strong. Then exercise that strength, both spiritually and temporally. (A. C. Davis, Rome, Ga.)
We have no great reason to be discouraged, cast down, or hopeless about our future, because of the many unfavorable happenings; we must not expect to be entirely free from the struggles necessary to be encountered to reach true greatness. It is our duty to use every possible and legitimate effort to avert dangers and troubles. We are earnestly persuaded to believe that the brightness of the future glory of the Negro of America is heightened by the darkness of the present clouds. All our sad experiences exhort us to proceed and inspire us with animating hopes of success, should we seek to "lay the foundation well." (Mrs. Julia A. Hooks, Memphis, Tenn.)
SUGAR PLANTATION OF EDWARD BUTLER. POTASH, LA. One of the largest sugar cane growers in the stateSUGAR PLANTATION OF EDWARD BUTLER, POTASH, LA.One of the largest sugar cane growers in the state.
There is a future before the race—a great and useful future, a future fraught with results which shall touch every phase of the world's life and bring men into sweeter harmony with each other and with God. (Rev. George C. Rowe, Charleston, S. C.)
As soon as slavery ceased to be beneficial to the Negro, as soon as slavery lifted the Negro as high as it could lift him, God came and abolished it. When he was prepared for his deliverance the yoke of bondage passed away. The race then passed into the glorious sunshine of freedom, which has been getting more glorious every day since his emancipation. (W. H. Council, Normal, Ala.)
I am exceedingly anxious that every young colored man and woman should keep a hopeful and cheerful spirit as to the future. Despite all of our disadvantages and hardships, ever since our forefathers set foot upon American soil as slaves our pathway has been marked by progress. Think of it. We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We went into slavery a piece of property; we came out American citizens. We went into slavery without a language; we came out speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon tongue. We went into slavery with slave chains clanking about our wrists; we came out with the American ballot in our hands. (Prof. B. T. Washington.)
We are scarcely willing to admit the fact that our own prejudices and lack of self-assertion are largely responsible for our separation from the women who move the world by their intelligent progressiveness. If we would join these women in good works, we should at least meet them halfway by ridding ourselves of preconceived notions of their hostility and prejudice against us. It would add much to our strength and dignity of character and to our sense of importance among women if we could understand that white women can be strengthened in their generous impulses and made more exalted in their outlook to help weak and struggling women if they knew more of our condition, capabilities, and aspirations. The cause of women in all things needs the co-operation of all women of all races and colors in order to work out the conditions that all need and devoutly wish for. (Fannie Barrier Williams.)
I most confidently affirm that no man can fail of hopefulness as to the future of our race in this land who has broadly studied the problems and the progress of human liberty and civil justice in the world during the last three or four centuries. There has been a constant warfare and many reverses, together with long seasons of gloomy doubt: but the dominant fact in the whole record is that throughout the long contest, on the forum, in the sacred pulpit, in the hall of legislation, and on countless fields of bloody carnage, the struggle has beensubstantially the same: a struggle for larger liberty for the oppressed multitude, a better chance for the average man. And this further, that in every century—aye, in almost every generation—of this mighty conflict something has been gained for the right. This gain, once made, has never been lost. These things being so, it is foolish to say that these victories and this strifeful gain are matters of merely racial application. It is not so. (Bishop Embry.)
REV. M. VANN, D.D., CHATTANOOGA, TENN.REV. M. VANN, D.D., CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
I predict that the time will come and that it is not far off when we will have a negro poet from the South. He will set the magnificent splendor of the "Sunny South" to music. His muse will touch the lyre, and you will hear the sweet murmur of the stream, the rippling waters, and we shall see the beauty of that country as it was never seen before. It will come; and after him other still greater men. But it takes labor to become a great man just as it takes centuries to make a great nation. Great men are not fashioned in heaven and thrown from the hand of the Almighty to become potentates here on earth, nor are they born rich. I admit that there is, in some parts of this country, a prejudice against you on account of your color and former condition. In my opinion, the best way to overcome this is to show your capability of doing everything that a white man does, and do it just as well or better than he does. If a white man scorns you, show him thatyou are too high-bred, too noble-hearted, to take notice of it; and the first opportunity you have do him a favor, and I warrant you that he will feel ashamed of himself, and never again will he make an exhibition of his prejudice. The future is yours, and you have it in which to rise to the heights or descend to the depths. (Senator John A. Logan.)
At one time a ship was lost at sea for many days, when it hove in sight of a friendly vessel. The signal of the distressed vessel was at once hoisted, which read: "We want water; we die of thirst." The answering signal read, "Cast down your bucket where you are;" but a second time the distressed vessel signaled, "We want water, water," and a second time the other vessel answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." A third and fourth time the distressed vessel signaled, "We want water, water; we die of thirst," and as many times was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." At last the command was obeyed, the bucket was cast down where the vessel stood, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the Amazon River. My friends, we are failing to cast down our buckets for the help that is right about us, and spend too much time in signaling for help that is far off. Let us cast down our buckets here in our own Sunny South, cast them down in agriculture, in truck gardening, dairying, poultry raising, hog raising, laundrying, cooking, sewing,mechanical and professional life, and the help that we think is far off will come, and we will soon grow independent and useful. (Booker T. Washington.)
Song is the music of the soul, the harmonious vibrations of the deep chords of the heart, and the melodies of the spirit life. It involves the elevation of the affections and the utterances of the lips, by which some theme, doctrine, or topic is proclaimed aloud and exultingly before and in the presence of others. It is the divinity in man rising to God. It is the better and higher nature of man springing forward and leaping heavenward. It is the soul plodding the deep blue sea upon its fiery pinions in search after God, its Maker, "who giveth songs in the night." (Bishop Holsey.)
If the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, the home is a great field for woman. The Negro race needs homes, not hovels and pens. Christian character is built most largely there. Beautify the home, make it cheerful and cultured. Be economical in expenditures. Cultivate economy in all lines. Be thrifty and industrious housewives. We do not confine woman's work to the home. Her sphere is anywhere that she can do good. As women are doing most of the teaching now, here is a vast field for her activity that should be well cultivated. Next to the home the schoolroom isprobably the greatest factor in character building. As Daniel Webster once said: "If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with principles, with a just fear of God, and love of our fellow-man, we engrave on those tablets something that will brighten to all eternity." Teachers, be faithful. Dress neatly and well, if your income will allow. One can always be neat and clean, however. It is certainly a miserable mistake that makes the majority of our people think that they must dress so as to be conspicuous for blocks away, wearing hats that are veritable flower gardens. Tight lacing should be abandoned by all sensible women. The thinking, solid women of our race ought to take some steps to save the young girls of our race, especially that vast throng in the larger cities who have no gentle home influences; thousands are being dragged down to destruction every year. Raise the fallen, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Lillie E. Lovinggood, in Afro-American Encyclopedia.)
The time has come when physicians must be employed to prevent as well as to cure. If this is done, there will be less sickness, and epidemics will be a thing of the past. Then sanitary science, under strict hygienic observance, will reach perfection. The rude, careless, and gross habits of living will becorrected, and a system of perfect drainage and pure ventilation will be inaugurated. Pure air and a good water supply will be furnished to every public and private house. Then only pure and unadulterated foods will be allowed in our markets and grocery houses. Every hotel and private and public boarding house will furnish properly prepared foods, and universal cleanliness will be the law, and the death rate among our people will reach its minimum. (Dr. R. F. Boyd.)
The one thing that should appeal most strongly to our hearts is the need of a better and purer home life among our people in many parts of the South. I scarcely need tell you that our most embarrassing heritage from slavery was a homelessness and a lack of home ties. All the sanctities of marriage, the precious instincts of motherhood, the spirit of family alliance, and the upbuilding of home as an institution of the human heart were all ruthlessly ignored and fiercely prohibited by the requirements of slavery. Colored people in bondage were only as men, women, and children, and not as fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Family relationships and home sentiments were thus no part of the preparation of colored people for freedom and citizenship. It is not agreeable to refer to these things, but they are mentioned merely to suggest to you how urgent and immensely important it is that we should be actively andhelpfully interested in those poor women of the rural South, who in darkness and without guides are struggling to build homes and rear families. When we properly appreciate the fact that there can be no real advancement of the colored race without homes that are purified by all the influences of Christian virtues, it will seem strange that no large, earnest, direct, and organized effort has been made to teach men and women the blessed meaning of home. Preachers have been too busy with their churches and collections, and teachers too much harassed by lack of facilities, and politicians too much burdened with the affairs of state and the want of offices to think about the feminine consideration of good homes. Money, thought, prayer, and men and women are all freely and nobly given in the upbuilding of schools and churches, but no expenditures to teach the lesson of home making. Colored women can scarcely escape the conclusion that this work has been left for them, and its importance and their responsibilities should arouse and stir them as nothing else can do. Let us not be confused and embarrassed by the thought that what needs to be done is too difficult or far away. There should be no limitations of time and space when man needs the helping sympathy of man. If our hearts are strong for good works, ways and means will readily appear for the exercise of our talents, our love, and our heroism. (Mrs. Fannie B. Williams.)
F. A. STEWART, M.D., NASHVILLE, TENN.F. A. STEWART, M.D., NASHVILLE, TENN.
When the civil war was over and the smoke of battle had cleared away, the field in the South was occupied by the red-eyed voodoo, who styled himself a "doctor." There were at that time possibly two or three exceptions to this rule, but only two or three.
Should you ask one of these voodoo doctors, better known among the illiterate as "root workers," what might be his business, the answer would quickly be given something like this: "My trade? Dat am a doctor."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sar; I is a root doctor from way back; and when I gits done standin' at de forks ob de road at midnight pullin' up roots, twixt de hollowin' ob de owls, and gittin' a little fresh dirt frum de graveyard—honey, dar am su'thin' agwinter drop."
The above is part of a conversation held with me by one of these "herb kings" in South Carolina in 1890. Hence you can see that, like all other evils, these voodoo doctors do not die fast; and even to-day not a few still live.
This being with his weird stories went forth among a people who were rocked, as it were, in the cradle of superstition, and early became monarch of all he surveyed. He or she was known and feared throughout the country. They claimed to be ableto cure anything from consumption to an unruly wife or husband, and furnishing charms to make love matches and to keep the wife or husband at home was one of their specialties.
Every patient they called on they diagnosed the trouble thus: he or she was tricked; if pneumonia, they were tricked; if a fever, they were tricked; or if a case of consumption, they were tricked.
Their stock of medicines, if such we must call them, generally consisted of such things as small bags of graveyard soil, rusty nails, needles, pins, goose grease, rabbits' feet, snake skins, and many other such things.
I say that a little more than a generation ago this was the class of so-called colored doctors that predominated in the South, and which for many years was a great stumbling-block to the educated physicians of our race, because it seemed to be understood that all colored doctors were and must be root doctors. But, thanks to Him who holds the destiny of races in his hands, in the flight of years and in this electric age of progress this voodoo doctor has almost—not entirely, but almost—passed away; while his territory is being occupied by colored physicians whose qualifications in education, character, and honor are equal to similar qualifications in the physicians of any other race.
The colored physicians in the South to-day are men and women fully equipped in education, morals, and integrity for the high calling they have elected, as their noble work will show. In the UnitedStates to-day there are about one thousand colored physicians, men and women, and more than seven hundred of them are located in the Southern States. While they represent the homeopathic and eclectic schools, yet the regulars are largely in the majority.
The majority of the colored physicians now operating in the South took a college course of education before taking up the study of medicine. Hence, as a general rule, they are exceedingly fine scholars. It is a sad fact, yet it is a hard fact, that less than one-third of the white physicians now practicing in the South, together with those preparing to come out, are college graduates. This cannot be said of the colored physicians. We have them from the leading medical institutions in America. They are here from the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Medical College, Yale School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Howard Medical College, Ann Arbor Medical College, Lenard Medical College, and many of the medical schools of Chicago, Cleveland, and New Orleans. The examinations they pass, often before a prejudiced board, and their excellent record as physicians go to show that these schools are sending us no mean material.
These good men and women are, by their skill and God's help, reducing the death rate of the colored people to a wonderful degree. They are teaching the people the common laws of hygiene, and many other things pertaining to the health oftheir people that they were never taught before. They are lecturing in the schools in their cities on important topics relative to the care of school buildings and school children. They are in many places school commissioners and city and county physicians. As skilled physicians the fame of some is known far and wide. The whites frequently call a colored physician now. The question now is not, What is his color? but, Can he do me any good? Right here in Atlanta, Ga., I am frequently called to see white patients. Think of it! a colored physician attending white patients here in a city where not forty years ago members of his race were sold like cattle. If thirty-five years have brought this change, what will thirty-five years more bring? Yes, it has not been three hours since two white patients left my office.
The white profession in the South, especially the better class of them, give the colored members of the profession a hearty welcome to the field. They always have a kind word for them. They will consult with them, lend them books or instruments, and do anything they can to push the colored brother forward. This, I say, is the best element. The poor, half-starved fellow will not do this; but, on the contrary, will do all that he can to pull the colored physician down. Hence we have this class to watch, and for this reason I always consult with the best in my city, and would advise all other colored physicians to do the same.
The colored physicians have fine horses, carriages,and beautiful homes. Some own plantations, and others run large bank accounts.
As professors, the colored physicians of the South are holding some high positions with honor to themselves and their race. At New Orleans University Dr. Mellin is dean of the medical department of that institution. At Meharry Medical College we have Dr. R. F. Boyd, professor of the diseases of women and clinical medicine; Dr. H. T. Noel, demonstrator of anatomy; Dr. W. P. Stewart, professor of pathology, and there are other professors in the pharmaceutical and dental departments. Dr. Scruggs is a professor at Lenard Medical School. Besides these, there are several of the colored physicians delivering courses of lectures on various topics in different schools.
The colored physician in the South, for fear of being refused, has never made an application to become a member of any of the medical associations; but, knowing the great good that comes from contact, in several of the states they have organized themselves into associations, and are doing a noble work in their yearly meetings. Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia have excellent state medical associations, composed entirely of colored physicians. One of the beautiful points about the colored physicians of the South is that the majority of them are Christian men and women. This has much to do with their success.
The South is the field for well-equipped colored physicians. If they want to do good work, letthem come South; if they want to be felt as a leader of the people, let them come South; if they want to make money, let them come South; if they are looking for work, let them come South; and if they wish to do charity work, the South is the field.
Dr. Samuel J. Harris is a young man of eminent ability and skill, and has the mental capabilities to become one of the leading physicians of this country. He is the first colored specialist of the eye, ear, and throat in the United States. He is not only a young man who demonstrated marked ability as a student, but he is a doctor who possesses ample means to supply himself with all of the instruments and literature which are required to advance him in his professional work.
Dr. Harris is the son of Mr. Sam Harris, the well-known merchant of Williamsburg, Va., who does probably the largest business of its kind of any colored man in the United States.
Should a young lady accept the attentions of one young man to the exclusion of all others before betrothal takes place? It is not wise to do so. A girl may be interested in a man and think that she cares for him enough to marry him, and yet there may be others whom she would love more dearly could she know them. She should not deprive herself of the opportunity to make comparisons. A young man is very foolish when he insists upon a girl receiving attentions from no one but himself, even after betrothal. A girl is equally foolish when she objects to her lover paying attentions to other girls. If either can become more interested in another, it certainly ought to be known before marriage. There would be fewer unhappy marriages and fewer divorces if young people of both sexes could be impressed with the idea that they must decide what characteristics their happiness requires in a life partner and that they must not marry until they have found some one possessing such characteristics. This can only be learned by companionship, and is seldom considered by those whose first thought is that no one else can be studied but the object of their present fancy.
Again, it places a young girl at a great disadvantage to be looked upon as the "exclusive property" of any young man. An honorable man hesitates tooffer attentions to a young lady under such conditions, even though he may be sure that the man is not in earnest or that such a union could not be happy or that the young lady possesses exactly thequalities which he himself would find harmonious. Under present social conditions a girl may not make known her preferences unless the man first declares himself, and if she happens to make a mistake and is known as the sweetheart of the wrong young man, there is little chance that she may find the right one. Not only before, but after betrothal, both parties should feel free to associate with whomsoever they please, and no objection should be raised by the other simply on the ground that "we belong to each other now." That such freedom may be assured, I believe that the betrothal should be kept an absolute secret between the parties concerned.
CHARLIE JOHNSON. The Missionary Baptist "Boy Preacher," of Louisiana, who is creating such a sensation in the South. Age, 13 years.CHARLIE JOHNSON.The Missionary Baptist "Boy Preacher," of Louisiana, who is creating such a sensation in the South. Age, 13 years.
The time has come when woman no longer accepts the hearthstone as the circumscribed arena of her activities. Amid the busy whirl of this nineteenth century we behold her stepping with well-shod feet boldly across the threshold where hitherto her ambitions have been smothered or held in check by social customs and prejudice, taking her place in the various avocations which bring to mankind peace and happiness, through an honest dollar for its equivalent in honest toil.
If we will notice the index finger in the plane of human advancement and limit its progress to the strides made in civilization within the last forty years, it will be readily acknowledged that the woman movement during these years has made no insignificant ripple in the tide of human achievements. There is scarcely a profession which has not felt the impress of her presence; scarcely a moral reform, from the antislavery cause of the past to the great temperance movement of to-day, which has not received her sanction and hearty support.
Wherever she has gone forth she has acquitted herself creditably, and successfully lived down all attempts to ridicule and cast opprobrium upon her adventure. This forward march, which has been likened to a great tidal wave, has carried in its course higher education for woman, including her entrance to the medical, legal, and clerical professions, the position as trustee on school boards in various sections, the restoration to married women of a right to their own property, and various other reforms tending to broaden her sphere, increase her activities, and heighten her self-respect.
Side by side with this uniform impulse on the part of woman to know and to be known in life's arena have come to its twin sister the progress and unprecedented achievements of the Negro in America. The school may instruct and the Church may teach, but the home is an institution older than the Church and antedates the school, the place where the children should be trained for usefulcitizenship on earth and hope of holy communion in heaven.
Our hands have ever been firm upon the rudder, guiding and governing the education of our youth for years of future usefulness.
I take it that we, as colored women, must regard ourselves as a peculiar people in these advanced movements. We cannot afford to be swept along in the current of daily happenings without thoughtfully comparing our status and conditions with all that surround us, questioning for a moment whether the experiment will prove an expensive luxury or wholesome and digestible food. Economy of time, economy of means, economy of action, must be our constant watchwords. The Negro woman, being the most potent factor in the intellectual development of the race, must be aroused to a consideration of the fact that to improve the intellect and neglect the moral and physical growth of our youth will be to impose upon society dangerous citizens.
Why do our educated ministers "mourn" when preaching? There are honorable exceptions, but the rule is as stated. We have heard ministers whose educational qualifications were all that could be desired, whose exegeses were faultless, who in their perorations would depart from all standards. They exhume the dead, they picture the beatific splendors of the New Jerusalem, they paint the horrors of hell, they describe deathbed scenes, etc. They do this whether or not it has any connection with the subject in hand. Then it is that the "spirit" comes. I do not think that I have overdrawn. I have heard some of our best ministers, and the general statement is true. Our educated ministers are making a serious mistake. This pulpit mannerism is a relic of the days of slavery, and the minister who indulges in it is simply perpetuating a barbarism and is retarding the religious progress of the race. It is true, perhaps, that in most of our congregations large numbers of people love to hear the "tone," but when and how are the people ever to become acquainted with higher religious ideas? How can a minister elevate his congregation when he persistently clings to the practices of thirty years ago?
These ministers seem not to know that nine-tenths of the young, educated, and progressive classes are disgusted with them. This explains thelethargy manifested by the above-minded classes toward the Church. The Church, like all other institutions, must be progressive. The fact that these men are keeping the Church back in the dingy past puts them out of sympathy with it. I recentlyheard a well-known minister, after howling and ranting and mourning to his heart's content, speak of himself as the "wild presiding elder." He certainly made that impression on several of his audience.
REV. J. M. CONNER, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.REV. J. M. CONNER, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.
One of the great mistakes of our religious life is our mistaking noise for religion. With many of our unthinking classes it is the "mourn" which they enjoy in the sermons. Instead of carrying home some practical thought and trying to weave it into their lives, they become infatuated with certain tones and give vent to their "feelings" by making the welkin ring. If this is religion, I have been mistaken. If this kind of preaching is an inspiration, it is peculiar to us as a people. If noise and demonstrations are necessary parts of religious worship, then other races are largely wanting in this essential.
The mourning preachers will admit in private that there is no virtue in the mourn, and that they do it simply to "touch up" the old folks. They ought to be ashamed. Such conduct is sinful. They should hate the sins that make them mourn, and drive them from their breast. The religious status of a people is a pretty good index of their civilization. If there are idiosyncrasies in our religious life—in short, if we are not up to the standard—we will be judged accordingly. Though my voice be as one crying in the wilderness, I wish to suggest this religious slogan: "Down with the mourning preacher!"
I doubt if there has ever been an enterprise started by Afro-Americans, no matter how lofty the aim or however honest the intentions, that there were not a few envious souls that stood ready to cry it down. This is to-day the greatest barrier to Afro-American success and the chief reason why we are no further advanced in commercial spheres than we are. In this advanced age of civilization and enlightenment such a state of affairs is sadly to be deplored, for we find that not only among the illiterate class does this exist, but in a greater and more marked degree by those who claim superior intelligence and are looked upon as leaders and shining lights of the race. If one attempts to gain a certain goal, there always stands another ready to pull him back. "You must and shall not get above me" seems to be their fixed motto. Ah! brothers and sisters, you have much yet to learn. If you cannot help another up the hill, you certainly will gain nothing by trying to pull him back. Enviousness is a demon and a monster, and until you learn to live in union and love thy neighbor as thyself, you may never hope to win the respect and esteem of other races.
In a speech recently delivered before the graduating class of Meharry Medical College, at Nashville, Gov. Taylor said: "There is no Negro problem of the South. That has been settled long ago. I belong to a generation that has grown up since the war, a generation of young white men who thank God that the shackles of slavery have been stricken from the limbs of the black man." I have observed that in any community where our people respect themselves and encourage the enterprise of each other the white people not only patronize and encourage us, but they treat our women respectfully, and the lives of our men are as safe as if we were white; but where we act the brute and traitor to each other the race, both good and bad, fare hard, and nothing more is to be expected by any sensible person. It is human nature for the strong to prey upon the weak. Hence the Negro must be his own first strength by his moral life and faithfulness to each other. Unless this, we are as a race doomed either in Africa or America. (Caesar A. A. Taylor, Ocala, Fla.)
The race problem is a moral one. It is a question entirely of ideas. Its solution will come especially from the domain of principles. Like all the other great battles of humanity, it is to be fought out with the weapons of truth; it cannot be settledby extinction of race; no amalgamation process can eliminate it. The social idea is to be entirely excluded from consideration. It is absolutely a personal matter, regulated by taste, condition, racial or family affinities, and there it must remain undisturbed forever. (W. H. Council)
J. P. NEWTON, MEMPHIS, TENN. One of the finest photographers in the South.J. P. NEWTON, MEMPHIS, TENN.One of the finest photographers in the South.
The colored race of this country should aim at the highest success and make themselves the best citizens and the most useful members of society. We should be guided by right principles and prove ourselves worthy of the liberty granted us by the emancipation. There should be no better schools than ours, no grander statesmen, no more shining lights in professional life, no happier homes, no more cultured women, no people more moral and upright. It is safe to say that we can do it, because many noble and worthy men and women of our race have already achieved great success. They have climbed high in their endeavors, have grasped the prize held out before them, and by their brilliant achievements have conferred honor upon their people and have written their names indelibly upon the hearts of their countrymen. Where are our rising young men and women? We call them to come forward. We bid them lift their eyes to the highest of knowledge and power. We point them to those whose names have become household words, and bid them press on to the front rank in the struggle for life. Here lies our hope for the future; and the Negro problem, which is one of the greatest problems of the present age, will have solved itself. (Harvey Johnson.)
All that we want is the unmolested enjoyment of the rights and privileges guaranteed us in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the national constitution. If we are allowed the exercising ofthese in every state in the Union, we will be satisfied, and will in an almost incredibly short period of time solve for our white brethren that ever perplexing race problem which, like Banquo's ghost, will not down. Our Southern white brethren need entertain no fears of "Negro domination" or "black supremacy" in the government of the Southern States, for the Southern Negro is rapidly leaving the low and uncertain plane of political honor or gain for a higher one of morals, education, and the amassing of wealth. During the past, with the rights guaranteed us by the constitution nullified in the states containing the larger portion of the colored population—the black belt of the South—we have made marvelous progress along the lines of securing classical and industrial education and the accumulation of wealth. With these restrictions or nullifications of our constitutional rights removed, is it either fair or reasonable to believe that a race with so grand and wonderful a record of progress along this line of prosperity as ours is at this late day going to drop into the quagmire of retrogradation? No. We have but begun, and though the wheels of Negro prosperity may continue to be checked by the brakes of race prejudice, we will nevertheless continue to climb upward to the very top of the hill of wealth, honor, and fame. (National Reflector, Wichita, Kans.)
PROF. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, TUSKEGEE, ALA.PROF. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, TUSKEGEE, ALA.
The key to the solution of the race problem in the South is in the commercial and industrialdevelopment of the Negro, a development along this line that shall rest upon the broadest and highest culture. Under God, as bad as slavery was, it prepared the way for the solving of the problem by this method. Friction will disappear and the two races in the South will be as one in all their civil and commercial relations just in proportion as the Negro, by reason of skill and educated brains, produces something that the white man wants or respects; and when you pursue that question to its last analysis one white man cares little for another white man, except as the other has something that he wants. In all history we cannot find a race that possessed property, industry, intelligence, and character in a high degree that has long been denied its rights. If the possession of these elements does not bring to the Negro every right enjoyed by any other class of citizens, then the Bible and the teachings of the Great Jehovah are wrong. I propose that the Negro take his position on the high and undisputed ground of generosity, usefulness, forgiveness, and honesty in all things, and that he invite the white man to step up and occupy this ground with him. If the white man in every part of our country cannot accept this invitation, we will thus prove that the problem is a white man's problem rather than a Negro problem. (Booker T. Washington.)
The Negro problem, if there is any in the country, from an industrial standpoint may be resolvedinto two phases. In the South the race is allowed unfettered opportunity in almost all trades and occupations. Whatever other crimes she may be guilty of, she allows the colored people to work. There we find colored men who take large contracts for the erection of public buildings. Most of the finest hotels, private residences, and business blocks represent the work of colored labor from foundation to roof. In a recent visit to the black belt of Alabama I was told that in a certain town colored mechanics had constructed the courthouse and every other important building within the corporate limits. A Southern white man, pointing out this fact, remarked that such a thing would be impossible in the North. So strong is the prejudice against the employment of Negro labor that the presence of the Negro workmen on a brick wall would cause every white man to throw down his trowel and quit work. This thing is true in all the remunerative avenues of life in the North. In respect to the South, it is there that the Negro will work out his industrial destiny. He has been and will be the laborer. Such schools as Tuskegee and Hampton will prepare him to compete with other people in all trades. We speak so often of the "New South." It is time that we had a "New North." The Northern people, as generous as they have been in founding schools for the freedmen, seem to love them best at a distance. The North will educate us, but will not allow us to work. We need education, but we also need opportunity for industrialprogress. We want a fair chance in the race of life. How can we ever make any headway if we are all shut up to one or two lines of service? A citizen of the town some time ago said to me that years ago the Negro and the Irishman came to Princeton with nothing. The Irishman has accumulated real estate, but the Negro still has nothing. One of the reasons is simply this: the Irishman has ten chances to the colored man's one. What is true of this community is practically true of the whole North. (Rev. J. Q. Johnson, in the Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Negro question is but another name for the labor problem in the South; and it is not so serious as the labor problem of the North. The Negro is the Southern laborer. His color preserves his class distinction. As a workman, he is fitted for the warm climate and agricultural pursuits of that region. He is shiftless and improvident because so long trained to live dependent upon a master. He is doing better work as an employee than he did as a slave. He is happy, peaceable, and content. There are no socialistic or anarchistic traits in his blood. His wants are few, and he is able to cover a life of hardship and penury with the flowers of melody and the foam of unceasing mirth. The troubles of the South do not arise in the Negro, but in the white men. There is a class of "white trash" who have all the fierce and unruly instincts of thatrobber race, the Saxons, at whose door the lynchings and political uproars may be faithfully laid. The better element of Southern people have no part in these. Thus it is the same class that raises disturbance in Alabama that does the same in Chicago. The Negro and the better whites have no part in either case. What the final outcome of the race question will be is impossible, of course, to surmise. The probabilities are that the African will remain a hewer of wood and a drawer of water until his face shall pale—and it is paling rapidly—and he shall cease to be a social factor. No two races ever lived antagonistic, yet in contact, without the stronger either annihilating or absorbing the other. (Chicago Conservator.)
The United States and not the Negro is responsible for the Negro's identity with this country and also for his past and present condition in America; and, having of her own accord made us citizens and participants of this government (because we have merited both as slaves in the forest and as armed soldiers and patriots on the field of battle, protecting a flag which up to that time had never offered us protection—by these means we have merited a citizenship) God and the civilized world will hold the United States and the several states responsible as our guardians to the heights of true civilization. As for adaptation to and responsibility of civilization, the Negro is receiving the highestmental and social culture. I call your attention to the thousands of colored professional men and women who are rare models of social culture and intellectual worth—men of learning and distinguished for intelligence, men known and honored by the civilized world for their mental merits. Blind Tom is the greatest musical prodigy the world has ever seen. Regardless of his race and identity, I believe that Rev. J. C. Price, D.D., was as fine an orator as America ever produced, and Douglass the peer of any statesman. There has been something very peculiar about the history of American issues for the last one hundred years. Though the Negro himself has kept silent, yet there has scarcely been in that length of time a decisive issue before the American Congress that would have affected the entire nation that was not either the outcome of our presence in this country or a corollary thereto in some phase. The nation, not the Negro, is responsible for the so-called Negro problem. Therefore it is the nation's problem, and the nation must solve it. America bought the whistle, and she must pay for it. The Negro has been and will ever be the Pharaoh's plague to America, until the nation recognizes the declaration of the fathers and the design of God in bequeathing to all men justice in equity and the fullest recognition of citizenship to all who are made a part of this government by constituency and responsibility. This done, we will have but one problem, and that will be how to better advancethe glory of one common union. To-day we stand beneath the American eagle, which bears in his talons the stars and stripes, for which more than two hundred thousand of our fathers and brothers have fallen on yonder battlefields. We stand here begging for peace, protection, and a just recognition of manhood. We stand here under the flag for which our fathers fought in common with the white man, and plead for civil rights. Yea, in the name of God and the blood of our dead we ask a shelter beneath thy wing. Shall the stars of the American flag, our only hope as guides to higher manhood, the reflective rays of American civilization and liberty, hide their shameful faces behind the clouds of American prejudice and bring to us night at noon? Shall your red stripes, O flag! a worthy token of our fathers' blood, which has mingled with the white in all American conflicts, now be used as a signal of welcome and protection to non-Americans, anarchists, and socialists, while the sons of American slaves, soldiers, and citizens are left standing without protection and rightful recognition, reaching forth the brawny hands for labor in vain? O may the goddess of liberty hear us to-day, and may the true American pulse be found forcing life, liberty, and protection through every artery of American sentiment! (Bishop Petty, A. M. E. Zion Church.)
The most important topic that should engage the attention of every Negro throughout the landis, What method can we employ to bring the race problem more practically before the country, and how should we go at it? There must evidently, in all instances, be some way or means of placing all questions before the public in such a manner that all parties may plainly see both sides. As to the race problem, it has never been brought before the public so as to command any serious thought. We shall, of course, have to lay our foundation before we can proceed, as everything must have something to support it. We will say right here that the press is the foundation or starting place in all such cases. A general view of the Negro press will convince one that the race problem has not been handled as it should have been, but it is not too late to make the much needed amends, and now is the time to brace up and come to the front. The newspaper at this time and age of modern predisposition is looked upon as a mighty weapon, but the weak point in Negro journalism is the predominance of petty matters over the more momentous questions that obtain at this time. The race problem has never been appealed to the proper source, and we have never employed the proper methods to touch the pulse of the right class of people. The pulpit has never declared itself on this question, or else the Negro would have been much farther advanced than he is. My idea, or rather the thought that comes to me now, is that the Christian Church should be sounded on the subject of race equality, and there should be some movement institutedamong the Negroes of the most populous cities and towns asking the ministers of the white Churches to set aside a special Sabbath to give their views thereon. We are of the opinion that the best step to take would be to organize a club in eachcity, which shall be invested with the power to appoint a committee to wait on the various ministers. We shall find out then from their pulpits whether the white man considers the colored brother as good as he is. To get the views of the ministers throughout the country on the same day would have a tendency to bring the question squarely and fairly before the nation. These questions may seem a canard to many, but this is the proper step to take and the proper appeal. If we cannot reach the people in this way, why, there are other courses to pursue. We should not despair. If we fail in accomplishing our ends in one manner, we must try other plans, and finally we may be able to touch the right chord. (Dennis S. Thompson, Kansas City, Mo.)
PROF. DENNIS S. THOMPSON, KANSAS CITY, MO. General newspaper correspondent for many of the leading race journals.PROF. DENNIS S. THOMPSON, KANSAS CITY, MO.General newspaper correspondent for many of the leading race journals.
The Negro problem, like Banquo's ghost, will not down. Like the poor, it is always with us. True, some there are who declare that there is no problem at all, only such as exists in the imagination; but he who will take the trouble to investigate will find that there is plenty of the problem lying around loose, and it will not require a Diogenes to find it. The most live phases of the problem are those which relate to the Negro's moral standard, educational progress, and his physical condition. Some of the views in this connection are grossly exaggerated, but in the main they represent observations which cannot be dismissed too lightly. It isnow a matter too plain for conjecture that the Negro must look to his physical interests, that he must make certain alterations along moral and intellectual lines if he would preserve himself. Scientists have gone so far as to hazard the prediction that ultimate extinction is the forecast for the race. The race itself is apt to receive this declaration with derision, but it must not count its position too sure. We have yet to see an intelligent refutation of the statements which the scientists are making in this regard. The Negro press promptly sat down upon Prof. Hoffman when he touched upon its moral standard, but it was rather by ridicule than argument. Only the properly qualified should speak on a question of this character. By that we mean those reasonably informed and who have given the proper time to an impartial investigation of the subject. Howls of protest and indignation cannot take the place of scientific reasoning, and before the press of the country takes Mr. Hoffman and his kind to task it should be prepared to know whereof it speaks. But, aside from this, popular interest is very much aroused as to the present educational needs of the Negro. Prof. Washington, the great apostle of industrial education, thinks it the Negro's greatest want just now. President Mitchell, of Leland University, thinks the higher education of the race the proper thing. The "Advance" is inclined to the former view. The Negro may not be top-heavy; his higher education has hardly gone far enough for that in a general sense,but he has given altogether too much time to the intellectual side of his development. He should become skilled in manual arts; he should learn something that he has left unlearned: how to labor correctly and profitably. His intellectual offspring each succeeding year realize more and more difficulty in finding places, so that the so-called higher avenues are becoming crowded to an uncomfortable extent. The colored man will find it not a whit to his disgrace to be a tiller of the soil; when he is an educated tiller he will find that he can produce better crops, make more money, and rear his children usefully. If he keeps up his present lick, he will find that he has all teachers and no scholars, all preachers and no congregations, all doctors and no patients, all lawyers and no clients. Several vital questions should now receive the race's closest attention—viz., (1) the investigation of its moral condition; (2) a system of education adapted to its needs; (3) the improvement of its physical status. (Alamo City Advance, San Antonio, Tex.)