The Project Gutenberg eBook of Progress and Achievements of the Colored People, by Kelly Miller

“The progressive era” aims to set forth the marvelous achievements of the Negro race in the United States since its emancipation fifty years ago. Its plan is to cover the period of achievements by a series of chapters devoted to the several lines of endeavor. I want especially to commend the chapter on the Education of the Negro. Education furnishes the standard in terms of which the past progress of the race may be measured and its future progress gauged. Of the many elements which must enter into the final solution of the race problem none will be so important as that of education, whose purpose is to fit the Negro for a useful and honorable place in the complex schemes of American life.

This chapter brings together for easy reference information concerning the working of Negro institutions in better form and in fuller detail than has before been attempted in a private publication. Figures are taken from the reports of the Bureau of Education, and their accuracy is vouched for by the authority of the government. Each institution listed was visited by a special agent of the Bureau of Education and its work thoroughly examined and analyzed by educational experts. Over three hundred institutions are described, with the account of the equipment, facilities and course of instruction. There are over sixty photographs containing the fullest pictorial illustrations of Negro schools that has ever been made available in book form. This chapter involves, at once, the feature of a treatise and an encyclopedia, while gaining the general view of the education of the Negro as well. The reader may at the same time gain definite information about any particular school in any part of the country.

No one who wishes to keep abreast of the trend of educational movement of the Negro race, as well as to have at his elbow a compendium of Negro institutions, can afford to be without this work.

We have had brilliant and faithful leaders in the past, men who labored under adverse circumstances, but who succeeded in reducing opposition, and brought the race up to a higher standard. They were the pioneers in a great national movement. Their names are honored and will be honored as long as the race exists.

Their preliminary great work done, they passed away leaving its continuation in the hands of other noble men and women, who are still among us.

Remember, we are now in the second generation of uplift, and the mantle of the leaders of the first generation of freedom, passed to those of the second generation, has been spread over a vastly wider field, and shows room for still wider extension.

The history of man shows that in all great human movements for betterment, there have been pioneers who commenced the work, and carried it to a higher point. Then came a succeeding line of leaders who took up the work and carried it higher still.

Neither the pioneers of the Colored people of the United States, nor their successors, the present leaders, could do all or can do all that is to be done in the way of elevation or betterment, because it has grown to enormous proportions.

For this reason we must look about us and see who are to be the future leaders of the Colored Americans.

	Page
The Coming Men of the Race	17
The Turning Point	29
Earning Respect for His Race	31
Increase of Opportunities	37
In the Employ of the U. S. Government	44
The Colored American in the Service of God	49
Leaders of America Whose Ears Are Close to the Ground	53
The Colored American’s Nationality	59
The Four Divisions of Mankind	64
The World’s Congress of Races	67
Progress of the Different Races of Mankind	74
Ethiopia, the Great Black Empire	83
The Genius of Colored Americans	91
Development of the Race in the U. S.	98
The Overground Railroad	108
Physical Training	115
The Four “Learned Professions”	123
The Road to Success	126
Optimism, Pessimism and Indifference	129
Pleasures of the Flesh	132
The Survival of the Fittest	136
The Victory of the Man Who Dares	140
The Wise Man’s Philosophy	149
The Key to Success	152
Opportunity for Business Life	166
Superstition and Luck	180
Progress in Education	215
Introduction by the Editor	215
History of Negro Education	217
Education as a Soldier	224
Public Provision for Negro Education	230
Schools Maintained by Private Agencies	241
Independent Schools	247
Schools Maintained by Independent Boards of Trustees	253
Colored Schools Maintained by White Church Boards	254
Colored Church Boards Maintaining Schools	300
Agencies Interested in Negro Education	313
Hospitals and Nurse Training Schools	325
The Three Important Types of Education	326
The Training of Children	335
Developing Boys and Girls	340
Developing Moral Character	344
Reverence and Respect	354
Duties of Children to Their Parents	359
The Future of the Child, the Future of the Race	364
The Way to Perfect Health	366
General Health Conditions	381
Common Sense in the Sick Room	396
Rules for Accidents and Emergencies	407

We now have able leaders, men of great character and ability, men whose loss would be keenly felt, but they know, and we know, that in the course of nature all must pass away, and we have it from their earnest utterances that their great hope is to have successors in the 18leadership. Many of them are ready to train others to walk in their footsteps. There are thousands of men, children in our schools, youth beginning college life, and young men who have completed their course and are ready to take up a position as commanders in the battle of life.

Here are a few of our present leaders, between whom no invidious comparisons can be made, and to whose number may be added a thousand or more working in more or less conspicuous positions to fit their people to become leaders. They are shining examples of success and merely mentioned to show your own opportunities.

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS

Rev. S. G. Atkins, President of the State Normal and Industrial College of North Carolina.

Dr. D. W. Culp, A. M., M. D., author of “Twentieth Century Negro Literature.”

Dr. Lawrence Aldridge Lewis is a rising physician of Indiana, who made the highest record in a competitive examination for the city hospital of Indianapolis against 107 applicants.

The foregoing are a few leaders in the professions. There are numerous others whose names and deeds have already made history and fame.

The present field of leaders in the professions is large, but there are other fields of leadership in the business world. These men are successful and point the way to others to follow, and they must lay down their leadership with the others:

E. C. Berry, hotel man, Athens, Ohio. Said to keep one of the best hotels in the United States.

Rev. R. H. Boyd, President National Doll Company; also of the National Baptist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn.

John Merrick, founder of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, the strongest Negro insurance company in the world; North Carolina.

W. E. Pettiford, founder of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, Birmingham, Alabama.

The following condition of the Colored American opportunities will be of assistance in suggesting fields of leadership:

20The number of colored men now engaged in business and professions are as follows:

This is close to 25 percent of the entire colored population of the United States.

But this enormous field of opportunity, is not the limit. You have aspirations toward music and the fine arts—singers, painters, sculptors, actors and poets. Here are a few leaders to be followed by you or your children, relatives or friends:

MUSIC COMPOSERS AND PIANISTS

Robert Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson, New York, musical setting to Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” “Idyll for Orchestra,” “Dream Lovers,” (operetta).

William H. Tyers, composer of “Trocha,” a Cuban dance and other noted compositions.

De Koven Thompson, Chicago, composer of “Dear Lord, Remember Me,” “If I Forget,” etc.

Among pianists is Miss Hazel Harrison, of La Porte, Indiana, who is making her mark as a student of the piano under the celebrated greatest living pianist, Ferrucco Buconi, of Berlin.

21These and other leaders in their art succeeded many illustrious composers. And you are called upon to prepare to follow the present leaders.

VOCAL ARTISTS AND PRIMA DONNAS

Remember the Black Swan, that wonderful prima donna whose voice had a range of three octaves and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind at the height of her fame.

Madam Marie Selika, of Chicago, achieved enormous success in Europe, a marvelous singer whose voice “trilled like a feathered songster,” and whose “Echo Song” has not yet been surpassed.

You have heard the “Black Patti” (Madame Sisseretta Jones) who was a success in Europe, and has her own company of which she is the head, “The Black Patti Troubadours.”

There is Mrs. E. Azalia Hackley, of Detroit. This lady has been a prominent singer for years. She studied in Europe, and is the author of “Guide to Voice Culture.”

PAINTERS

William Edward Scott, of Chicago, should be noted for his extraordinary works in America and Europe. Born in Indianapolis in 1884, he graduated from the high school in 1903. From 1904, when he entered the Chicago Art Institute, until the present time, he has been prolific in paintings, three of which were accepted at the Salon des Beaux Arts at Toquet, and others elsewhere. His work may be seen in three mural paintings which decorate the Felsenthal School in Chicago.

E. M. Bannister, the first Negro in America to achieve distinction as a painter. One of his pictures was awarded a medal at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 (Philadelphia).

Henry O. Tanner, the son of Benjamin T. Tanner, Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, is one of the most distinguished artists of the present day. He resides in Paris but is a native born American. During the 22past three years his paintings have been on exhibition in the leading art galleries of the United States.

A rising young artist is to be found in Richard Lonsdale Brown, a native of Indiana, but who spent many years of his life among the hills of West Virginia. Not yet twenty years of age, he is on the road to fame and has received the encomiums of artists as a young artist of rare qualities with the precious gift of vision which indicates artistic instinct.

SCULPTORS

Edmonia Lewis, of New York, now a resident of Rome, where she turns out noted sculptures sought for in the great art galleries of the world.

Meta Vaux Warrick (Mrs. Fuller, wife of Dr. Solomon C. Fuller of South Framingham, Mass.). She first attracted attention by her exquisite modeling in clay in the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art. Rodin, the great French sculptor, took her under his charge, and her work is the admiration of the art galleries of the world.

ACTORS AND POETS

Ira Frederick Aldridge, of Baltimore, was a pupil of the great artist Edmund Kean. Aldridge appeared as Othello and other characters, and received a decoration from the Emperor of Russia.

Phillis Wheatley, the first woman white or black to attain literary distinction in this country. While a child she began to write verses, and received the endorsement of the most distinguished men of her time, including General Washington.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, a noted poet born in Dayton, Ohio. He showed poetic ability while at school, and soon became known as a writer of ability.

All the foregoing actors and poets have passed away, but there 23are many treading and to tread in their footsteps. Success and fame must come to them by utilizing their gifts to the best advantage.

We give you merely the edge of the field to be filled by you or some one you know and hope to see attain it. It is a thickly sown field, and if you cultivate it, you will be rewarded with an astonishing harvest.

INVENTORS

The evidence is accumulating every day that the Colored citizen, under favorable environments, has performed his whole duty in the work of benefiting mankind, whether in arduous labor or advancing the world by his thought.

The records of the United States Patent office show more than four hundred inventors and inventions among the Colored people. Many of these inventions are of the highest value and utility. These inventions are for devices of every conceivable use, from a rapid fire gun, invented by Eugene Burkins, a young colored man of Chicago, down to a pencil sharpener in common use today. In the line of humanity, life saving guards for locomotives and street cars have been invented. All of this goes to show the trend of the Colored man’s mind, and what he can do by thinking and the proper use of his brain.

As an inventor Mr. James Marshall, of Macon, Georgia, has attracted national notice through his novel flying machine which he has had patented. Mr. Marshall has introduced what is called a “Circumplanoscope,” which renders the flying machine non-capsizable, and which will enable it to stand still in the air.

R. W. Overton, a sixteen-year-old student of the Stuyvesant High School, within the past year won the long distance record for model aeroplanes against more than twenty competitors from all the high schools of Greater New York and vicinity.

It was said that the pioneer leaders of our Colored Americans struggled up and carried their people up with them. The questions presented them, the problems they were called upon to solve were new and the lights given them to solve them was somewhat dim. They worked 24for betterment by this dim light, but the light grew stronger as they advanced, and when they came to lay down the lamp of leadership, it was taken up by their successors burning brightly, and with added wisdom to carry on the great work.

Who can tell then, the names of the leaders to succeed them? They were in process of training, however, just as there are other leaders being trained or growing up to follow in the footsteps of the present leaders. They appeared and have expended and are expending their labors in elevating their fellow citizens, but they will eventually be obliged to lay down their mantle of leadership for others to take up. This means that in the present Colored Americans there are those destined, or who will make themselves fit to become great leaders in every department of uplift.

Conditions have improved during the past generation, and the new generation looks upon an enlarged field, with more varied prospects, greater development, and opportunities that did not exist before, and which have naturally sprung from the gradual progress of the race.

GREAT DEMAND FOR WISE LEADERS

There is a greater demand for a skilled and wise leader now than ever before, and in preparing for that leadership, let each man of the race look to himself as a possible aspirant and successor to the present leaders. The very thought of such a possibility, based upon the necessity for such leadership, is an inspiration, an incentive to action, and a motive to take advantage of the opportunities. The path has been cleared and you can not lose your course.

Let us revert to the question: “Who are the coming men?” Who will take the places of the men now leading the race, when they have done their work, fulfilled their mission loaded with honors and fame? They can not go on forever, for they are human and must yield to the inevitable.

Perhaps you are one of the possible leaders to reach honor and fame. Why not? Many a man living in apparent obscurity has suddenly 25come forth out of his retirement at the call of demand following opportunity. This is life and the natural progress of the world. You are living under auspicious circumstances, surrounded by events that must cause you to think, and know just what is required to advance along the lines of human betterment.

Every man thinks he knows just what he would do under certain circumstances if he had the opportunity, and that he has the power to do it. Very well, here are the opportunities, and if you develop your natural ability and capacity and take hold with a firm hand, you will attain the power. It is characteristic among all men, an attribute of modern affairs, that to obtain anything an effort must be made to get it. Everybody knows this by experience. It has been the experience of all men, and of all nations. A man must reach out and take what is before him within his reach. A wise man never attempts to try to take what is beyond his reach. Children do that, but a modern man is no child. There is an old maxim which says: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Wherefore, take the bird in hand and hold on to it, and you will get the two in the bush by and by.

FUTURE LEADERS NOW UNKNOWN YOUTH

Even now in some humble home, there is a youth, a mere child with possibilities unknown to him or to you, who may develop into a leader. Many great men have sprung from such sources, and made the world ring with their exploits. What has been done can be and will be done again. It is not fate, nor is it perhaps destiny as some may think, it is opportunity.

Do you suppose that the poor child who looks on at the amazing things of life, the things going on around him, does not think about them and feel ambitious to be or do something that will make as good a showing?

It may be that he plods back and forth after his morning chores, to some little elementary school with his few books under his arm, and which he has pored over the night before or in the early morning. He knows that he is learning, and his small ambition leads him to learn 26more. His interest is aroused and he represents the seed, the foundation of a leader or of some of our leaders who will make their mark, an advanced man to take the place of some who will soon pass away.

He may have left the plow and the little elementary school to go to college; there are opportunities for this, and when he gets to this college, his mind expands, and he becomes fertile in resources to embrace opportunities before him. The more he learns, the more rapidly does his mind quicken, and the more his mind quickens the more he advances along the goal.

PERHAPS YOUR BOY WILL LEAD THE RACE

He is your boy, perhaps, your son for whom you have the highest ambitions, and your bosom swells with pride at the thought that he is your boy, and that you have opened the door to opportunity for him.

Some young man just out of college, just out of the refining process, is on the high road to position and honor, and is already making a name for himself, may become the leader or some leader along the many fields open to him.

Can you say that it will not be yourself? Who knows that it may not be you, your brother, nephew, cousin, or some valued friend? Give yourself the benefit of the doubt if there be any doubt, and there need not be, and take hold of the intellectual plow, and till the field of opportunity. It is waiting for you and for yours.

Do not throw straws in your own and in the way of those you know and to whom you may be related by the ties of blood or friendship. Why not put them and yourself in the way of opportunities? Give yourself and them a chance to prepare for opportunity, every one possesses the chance, and he must prepare for it, it is in the future, perhaps it is waiting now, are you ready for it? Do you think you will be ready when it calls? If not get ready by keeping your ear close to the ground and watch for the signal. Keep in touch with the people, their needs, necessities and demands; observe the signs of the times and study the shaping of events.

27These are progressive times, and age of hustle, and the man who stands out in front will win the race, for he has the advantage of place and position, also readiness to start at the first sound of the signal.

THE CHURCH OFFERS HIGH INDUCEMENTS

The Church offers the highest inducements to a life of usefulness and honor. It is guided by men of distinguished ability and humanity. The Bishops and clergy of the various denominations have taken advantage of the new lights of the twentieth century, and are striving to bring their fellow men of the same race, up to the highest standard of right living.

The heights they have attained must be maintained like a protective rampart in a great battle. Their successors are the ones to continue the work of defence, and advance the lines still farther into the country of the enemy of humanity and morality.

The army and navy have had their share of brave Colored men, and has opened its ranks to more of them who are distinguishing themselves and ennobling their race. In the school of army and navy discipline, the Colored man has proven himself to be a man in every sense of the word. Faithful and true to his duty, he honors and loves the country under whose flag he is ready to draw his sword, and lay down his life.

YOUR CHILDREN MAY BECOME DISTINGUISHED

You or your children may be the fortunate ones to be offered an opportunity to become distinguished for bravery and generalship, for the way has been prepared and those now striving to uphold peace will have successors. Remember this point, that the longer the test and the greater the perseverance, the more and the higher facilities will be given you to reach the leadership.

It must be plain from the mere birdseye view that has been given that many leaders will be needed in the near future. Indeed, some of 28our present leaders as they grow older will lay down their armor, and others must be ready to take it up and wear it.

The filling of the ranks is almost imperceptible because it is so gradual, but it goes on continually, and the time to prepare for stepping into a vacancy is now. There is always a leader, and the coming men, it is plain, are those who make themselves ready, and prepare for immediate and future emergencies.

Have no fear that there will be no place for the lowly boy in the humble home; the lad with his school books plodding his way to the elementary school; the youth at college, or the newly made graduate. The wheels of life are not going to stop, they are ever turning, and there is a vast upward tendency which comes with every succeeding generation, the last an improvement upon its predecessor, and the next one a still greater improvement. So will go the world until the last whisper of time shall beat against the gates of eternity.

There are three points upon which every colored citizen may base his chances for success in the business world:

First—From their inability to engage in any business whatever a generation and a half ago, the Colored race now numbers about five hundred thousand members engaged in trade, transportation, manufacturing and mechanical pursuits.

Second—The Colored race having increased from about four millions of people a generation and a half ago, to nearly ten millions of people in 1913, the commercial field has vastly widened for exploitation.

Third—Under the now accepted doctrine announced by Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst of New York City, the field is still farther enlarged and bids fair to become unlimited.

The exact bearing of this increase in the population upon business chances lies in the increased consumption, greater demand and advanced civilization—that is a greater variety of objects are necessary to comfort or pleasure. This makes more customers, and all things being equal, perhaps they should be a trifle better, it is quite on the cards to believe that the Colored American will get his increased share of the trade of his fellow Colored Americans. If he does not, then he is probably in fault through inferior goods, poor service and lack of prompt delivery. The business is in his hands at any rate and the opportunity is at his call.

The first proposition is to the effect that business chances are now at high tide, where a few years ago there were no chances of any sort. We are speaking of the subject of business chances exclusively, but may venture to add such employments as miners, masons, dress makers, 30pavers, iron and steel workers, stationary engineers, engine stokers, etc. In these latter occupations there are more than one hundred thousand Colored Americans employed, a gain of over 85 per cent in ten years, or rather since 1890. The other trades have fallen off somewhat owing to the introduction of machinery.

To limit this question to commercial pursuits, it may be well to state that economic progress has reached a high water mark among Colored Americans. There are one hundred twenty-five and more Colored business men’s local Leagues in about every State in the Union, with eleven State Colored men’s business leagues in the Southern States.

These leagues are composed of bankers, merchants, and dealers generally in goods, wares and merchandise—dry goods and groceries, hardware, etc., and are all at the top notch.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

It is evident from the signs of the times, the business situation, our interstate commerce laws, and the domination of the trusts and combines by the Federal government, that there will soon come a great change in our business methods, and practices.

We are expecting that competition will be restored to the place it occupied before men were forced out of business by overpowering interests and vast aggregations of capital. It will certainly happen in the near future that any man will be able to open a modest store, or engage in a quiet and reasonable business without being driven into bankruptcy and poverty.

Our Colored Americans are not men of large capital, nor can they control large amounts of capital, consequently they have been unable to make any headway against great combinations, but here is an opportunity and if you wish to grasp it make ready. Prepare for this turning point, for it will be the turning point in the fortunes of many of our people who never had such a chance before, and will not again if they permit others with more sand and hustle to jump in and take up every valuable claim and chance.

In a country like the United States where there are so many different peoples gathered together, it is difficult for all of them to live in perfect harmony.

In view of what is said in other parts of this book, it must come that all men will be united as one nation, with one set of rules and laws applicable to all alike and without discrimination against any branch of the human family, and without regard to his color.

There are not so many prejudices against races as was formerly the custom, or rather habit, and the signs of the times are that prejudice and opposition are diminishing every day.

Colored citizens have had to fight against all kinds of prejudice and even submit to humiliations that ought to rouse their manhood and compel them to inquire when or whether it will ever end. Every Colored American who reads this book may feel assured that the end is in sight, and that his children will witness a great diminution in the slights put upon his race and color. It will be effected by personal influence based upon education and high standards of living.

Not so very long ago, the Jew was about as humiliated a race of men as exist in the world. Driven out of public places because they were Jews; unable to do business with others on account of their race, they were made a byword and a laughing stock in every occupation of life, and held up to the world on the theater stage as objects of derision and caricature.

32The Jew was a “Sheeney,” a “Shylock,” an “Ol’ clo’ man,” a “Christ killer,” and given other choice epithets to bring him into disrespect and excite prejudice, even abhorrence.

All these epithets and others equally as cruel and vulgar, were applied to the whole race of Jews, and it did not make any difference whether he was an honest Jew, or one of education, and of high repute, he was still a “sheeney.”

But a change has taken place and the Jew is no longer a “Sheeney,” unless he merits the epithet, but stands as a man among the other men and is entitled to and gains their respect. Jews, as a race, are no longer “Sheeneys,” or “Shylocks,” only those individuals of the race that are in bad repute among their own people are such. Hence we perceive that prejudice against the Jew as a race is diminishing.

THE FLANNEL MOUTHED IRISHMAN

Not very long ago, an Irishman was considered a “Paddy,” and to call a man “Irish” was to provoke a fight in which blood was spilled. To call an Irishman a “Flannel mouth” meant a broken head to the speaker. It was a term of reproach. The Irishman also was caricatured on the theatrical stage and held up to derision. “O, he is only an Irishman,” was an explanation for every outburst of disorder.

We find that these opprobrious epithets are now limited to certain Irishmen, and not to the entire nation or race of Irish. To call an Irishman a “Mick” does not hurt his feelings as it once did, because he knows it does not apply to him as a member of the Irish race.

The Italian “Dago,” and the Chinese “Chink,” were epithets applied to the entire nation or race of Italians or Chinese. But a change has come over the situation. There are Italians who are not “Dagos,” Chinese who are not “Chinks.”

Epithets cruel and vulgar have been and still are applied to Colored men, and we often hear our Colored Americans styled “Niggers.” 33Of course this is slang for Negro, and although the word “Negro,” means a high type of Ethiopian, nevertheless it hurts the Colored American. Why should it hurt his feelings?

BECAUSE HE ALWAYS APPLIES THE VULGAR EPITHET TO HIS RACE

That is what the Jew used to do when he was called a “Sheeney,” and it hurt the whole Irish race of people to call one of their number a “Flannel mouth.” The Italian did not like to be called a “Dago,” and he always felt for his dagger intending to kill for this insult to his whole people. So too, the Chinaman does not mind being called a “Chink,” because he now understands that the opprobrious word does not mean the whole race of Chinamen.

When one white man calls another a “liar,” a “scoundrel,” a “thief,” a “briber,” or other vulgar epithet, the whole white race of Americans do not rush to arms to wipe out the insult to the nation, because such epithets have nothing but a personal application, and the white man, who is none of the things covered by the vulgar word, merely laughs.

If a wayward boy or man casts a rock through a church window, he is charged with sacrilege and an enemy of religion. If a man even on provocation slaps the face of a clergyman, he is also a desecrator of religion, and an enemy of God. This is ridiculous, and we begin to see how ridiculous it is to attach to an entire system a mere petty detail of local or personal insult. Religion can not be harmed by breaking a church window, nor is the majesty of God insulted by an assault upon a clergyman. If that does happen, then it is mighty poor religion that can not stand so small a thing.

You do not offend a Jew now, by speaking of “Sheenies,” because 34he knows that there are Jews who are Sheenies, that is, disreputable Jews, and he is as anxious to get rid of them as you are.

When you mention “Dagoes” to an Italian, he shrugs his shoulders as much as to say: “O, yes, there are Dagoes just the same as there are grafting Yankees.” The Yankee to whom this is said does not get angry because he knows that the Italian does not mean the Yankee nation.

It is the same with the Irishman and the Chinese. They laugh at the application of vulgar terms to members of their race that deserve the appellation—they do not take it to mean the whole race.

There is a reason for this diminution of racial prejudice against the other races. That reason lies in the fact that education has put the races upon the same plane of intelligence and good citizenship. When it comes to caricaturing their race in order to create prejudice or excite animosities against the whole, they protest and their protests are heard because they are founded upon reason and common sense, as well as business sagacity.

The movement among the Jews and Irish to stop the caricaturing of their race upon the theatrical stage is bearing fruit and is doing much toward eliminating race prejudice.

All the Jewish organizations have combined to prevent caricatures of the Jewish traits of character which are notoriously bad, in theaters of all grades and to punish their representation. It is a business proposition mainly, but it is effective. “You make fun of the bad traits of my people,” intimates the Jew, “and I will not trade with you.”

Likewise the Irish organizations are unanimous in their movement to prevent and punish caricatures of the bad traits of the Irish people. Says the Irishman, “You keep the Flannel mouth off the stage, or off goes your head at the next election.” This is the loss of political influence mainly.

So with the other nationalities: “You let us alone in your caricatures, or we will not trade with you, work for you, or vote for you.”

The consequence is, that high-minded people, or those who have an eye to profits and success in their business ventures, find that there 35is less to be gained from encouraging the immature, or half educated, the bigoted, and the ignorant whose race prejudices are based on mere personal dislike or neighborhood animosity, gossip, or lies repeated until they are regarded as gospel truth, than in the business of the educated and cultured classes, or those who believe in equality of opportunity.

The people who cater to the public are discovering that honey catches more flies than vinegar and gall.

Comic and even sharply satiric portrayals of Jewish, Irish, or even Negro foibles are appreciated by these races themselves, just as Americans of other race strains are amused by caricatures of themselves. But there are limits beyond which race enmities and prejudices are fostered, and those limits are to be respected, and will be respected when the race affected establishes a high standard.

This can only be done by education and self-respect. The body of men or the race that does not respect themselves, can not expect to command the respect of others.

There are drones in every hive, and they live on the work of the busy members of the hive. If you know anything about bees, you must know that these drones are killed off and thrown out as useless members of the bee colony.

Among men, if a man refuses to work when able, and nothing but laziness is his trouble, he is quickly thrown out and becomes a “tramp,” and when a man becomes a tramp, why then, an ignominious life and an ignominious death are his portions.

The Colored Americans have it within their power to rise above any race prejudice just as the Jews and other races are doing. They made a bitter fight, and finding that the Constitution, while giving them political rights, could not give them the respect of other fellow citizens, they, turned to education, business, employment and embraced every opportunity to get on top in progressive influences and they succeeded. They made themselves kings of finance and are deeply concerned in scientific investigations, appropriating large sums of money to the cause of education.

36The Irish stand in the front as builders and workers, and none can point his finger at any particular successful Irishman and call him a “Flannel mouth” in derision. “Paddy” can refuse to eat meat on Friday, or eat it as he wishes without calling forth any vulgar remarks—he is respected as a race worth respecting.

So with the Italian, he is a worker and a fruit and produce caterer. He is no longer a mere member of the “Dago” race, he is a respectable member of the community. He does something.

The once despised “Chink” has arisen out of ages of superstition into an enlightened member of a great republic. He is no longer a “washee-washee,” but a man. He has cut off his pigtail and put on civilized clothing. At a banquet or gathering, the chairman is proud to introduce to the audience “My friend Wun Lung, who started out as a laundryman in the Fifth Ward, and has risen up to the presidency of the great Ginseng Company.” The Chinese are doing things and none of them is sitting around waiting for something to turn up. They go after opportunities and seize the one nearest and hold on to it until another and better one comes along and then they grasp that.

We are all living in the present laying up treasures or preparing for the future, and the Colored American stands in the same category as every other race. The petty details incident to human nature of every kind, go away with the present into the past. Every footstep made in the mud yesterday is sunk out of sight on the morrow. What you are called today, is nothing tomorrow, if you hold your position in the world’s respect. Keep on doing something, and if the epithets of the vulgar offer obstacles in the way of your progress, then give battle as have the Jews, the Irish, the Italians, and the Chinese. You belong to a race entitled to respect if you yourself respect it.

Nearly every occupation known to the world of endeavor, that is to say: the trades; arts and sciences; commerce; business; manufactures; skilled labor, and others, are now filled by Colored Americans with success and profit.

There are at least one hundred and fifty different occupations and professions utilized by Colored Americans, and not a single occupation can be mentioned or thought of that is not open to them.

One colored citizen in any business, occupation, or profession, means another one, and the field grows more extensive every year, with the advantages offered by institutions of learning, trade and mechanical schools and colleges, and every industry represented by an institution of learning.

The Colored American is to be found in the Army and Navy of the country, and the walks of life which are not menial are so various that one is almost tempted to disbelieve the evidence of the record.

There are 17 State Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges in the United States, and in all of them, the Colored American stands on a par with the other races, often at the head of his class.

Distributed through the various States, are one hundred and eighty-four special Normal and Industrial schools of the highest class, specially maintained for the benefit of the Colored Americans.

38To these add 14 schools of law, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy, and it will be seen that the colored citizen has opportunities within easy reach.

If he does not want to fit himself for a high position, then the training in the public schools gives him an insight into business which makes him the equal of any other race in the struggle for existence.

We must put the Colored American upon the same basis, or foundation, as the other races, and in doing so, and giving him the same advantages, it is most astonishing to find that he is improving along the same line, and in the same ratio as the other races. That is, the Colored citizen is the intellectual equal of the other races, when given equal opportunities and advantages.

It must be admitted, to be strictly just, that without advantages of education or uplifting environment, the races are also equal in ignorance and prejudice. A perusal of any of our great daily newspapers easily demonstrates this as a truth.

TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR WOMEN

There are 36 institutions for the education of Colored women, and in addition, there are 63 Training schools for nurses conducted by Colored Americans.

It has been proved numberless times by actual experience, under the most trying circumstances, that our Colored women make the very tenderest of nurses. In these training schools, are to be found the most important factors in the improvement of the health of our Colored Americans. Indeed, their services are so valuable that they are not limited to their own race.

At the close of the Civil war only five per cent of our Colored Americans could read and write. In the year 1900, the number had increased to 55.5 per cent, and in 1910, the number reached 69.5 per cent. This is an astonishing increase in education, and it proves the reason why our Colored Americans are forging to the front in the arts and 39sciences, trade, commerce, and the professions. It is stupendous progress when we consider that scarcely two generations were required to bring about this uplift of an entire race. It takes the banner of racial improvement.

It appears that the manufacturing and mechanical pursuits are very attractive to our Colored Americans, the increase during the last ten years being about 40 per cent. If we may make the comparison, it is on record that 62 and ²⁄₁₀ per cent of all our Colored Americans are engaged in profitable occupations, whereas, there are forty-eight and six-tenths of the White Americans so engaged.

TRADE AND MANUFACTURING PURSUITS

The employment of Colored Americans in domestic and personal service is becoming less and less every year, under the influence of education, and is being changed into trade and transportation, mechanical and manufacturing pursuits. This means as plainly as anything, that our Colored Americans have found opportunities, and that they are taking advantage of them. And where there have been opportunities to permit such a transformation, there must be others equally as advantageous and numerous—that is a law of trade and of progress. One business or occupation successfully carried on always begets another.

THE JEW, THE IRISHMAN AND THE ITALIAN

In considering the various occupations, trades, etc., in which our Colored Americans are engaged, the locality must be taken into account. The colored man, like the Jew, the Irishman, and the Italian, meets with more prejudice in one than in another locality, and he must govern his occupation in a great measure by that prejudice, until he is strong enough to overcome it, and intelligent enough to find a way to overcome it.

There are many who hold that the Colored American in the South finds less opposition and prejudice against him in the trades and occupations 40than in the North. There is less also in the East than in the West, except that in the Middle West, or the northern portion of Mississippi Valley, where there is less prejudice against the employment of Colored Americans outside the large cities where the trades unions prevail and control. Owing to this diminution of prejudice in the Middle West, the number of Colored Americans in that part of the country is increasing, likewise improving.

In the South, it is said, the differences between the two races is not so much prejudice against employment, as a political idea that the Colored Americans are on the way to obliterate the color line.

Notwithstanding this opposition, the Colored American readily finds room for his labor where he would be impeded in the North and West from the opposition of the great labor unions, the great aim of which is material progress and not intellectual.

It is for the Colored American, therefore, to govern his choice of a business, trade, or profession by the locality in which he lives or purposes remaining during his natural life. In that selection, he is afforded advantages to rise to any limit of perfection and thus obtain profit from his talents and capacity.

THE SKILLED WORKMAN

The man who limits himself to become a skilled workman, or a successful tradesman anywhere, must drop his personal grievances, and not attempt to father the evils and troubles of the race upon himself.

Who cares about the downtrodden condition of Ireland? The Irishman who is constantly calling attention to the heel of the oppressor upon his neck, makes a poor workman and remains stationary in the lower level.

The Jew who talks about the sufferings of his race receives but little sympathy because he is referring to ancient history. So it is with the others and so it is with everybody who attempts to take upon his own shoulders the ills and burdens of the whole. In the first place, it is not his business, and in the second place, people around him are 41fighting their way up, while he is always looking down to see how far he must fall, and he gets dizzy and does fall.

It is an old but true saying applicable to Colored Americans as it is applied to everybody else: “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.”

There is one subject of the greatest importance to Colored Americans, because the opportunities are enormous, but they will be lost in the course of time, and can never be regained.

It is almost like sounding a tocsin to repeat what everybody is saying, every economist urging, and every civic reformer giving as the remedy for overcrowded cities, and a cure for vice and crime: “Back to the farm.”

In the “Wise man’s philosophy,” every Colored American is advised to become a land owner. Get an acre, two acres, ten acres, twenty acres, forty acres, and so on. Why? There are two good reasons why:

1. Every man must have a home of some kind unless he prefers to be a tramp or a beggar with his hand held out for pennies.

2. There is no possible uplift without being a producer of something, and land offers the easiest solution of the production problem.

FORTUNES TO BE MADE

The enormous markets of the country in our great cities, make such a heavy demand upon production, that the commonest vegetables and fruit are brought from great distances at a high cost of transportation. Within reach of every populous center, there is to be found vacant land that could be made productive with very little labor, and the result would be profitable, for the supply must keep up with the demand. But out in the vast territories of the Mississippi Valley, there are fortunes to be made in producing cereals, cotton, tobacco, live stock, butter, poultry, and fruit. There is an unlimited field, and every one who has ventured into it finds a large reward in a good bank account. A man cannot begin and then, when he gets tired, lie down in the furrow 42and expect nature to pull him out. It never has and it never will as many know to their cost.

It is estimated, that in the Mississippi Valley and its adjoining territory, outside of mountain tops and rivers and lakes, there are in the markets, four hundred million acres of land as fertile as the valley of the river Nile. It is beyond the reach of present railroad transportation and therefore it has been left untilled.

It matters little whether this enormous quantity of land exists or whether it is exaggerated by one-half, it is a fact that millions upon millions of acres of land are left untilled and can be had for small sums of money. There are lands in Texas as an illustration, which can be purchased for from one to four dollars an acre, with forty years to pay for it in. This is not only the case in Texas, but cheap land can be had even in the State of Illinois, or New York. In the great corn belt, the farmers raise corn only, and even buy and bring their butter, eggs and fresh vegetables from Chicago or St. Louis. Whoever heard of such a thriftless condition? It is true, corn pays, but there is such a thing as getting too much of one thing and not enough of another.

Investigation and inquiry shows that if a man should start a small vegetable garden anywhere, on rented land, and supply the corn barons with vegetables, eggs and butter, he would make a good profit and get a large trade.

The idea sought to be conveyed is, that by taking advantage of a demand where there is no supply, there is an opportunity to be seized without arguing about it. It is there.

The advent of the motor track, which runs into localities fifty or a hundred miles distant, carrying from five to ten tons of a load, and trailing as much more, offers an opportunity for several workers to club together and carry their products to market at small expense.

Our agricultural and mechanical colleges are turning their attention in that direction, and preparing to fill the field. But it is a large field and can not be fully occupied in a hundred years to come.

It is worth thinking about when a Colored American is in doubt what opportunity to seize.

43The main object in every man’s life, if he has any manhood and intelligence, is to produce something. He may use his hands or he may use his brain, but the result is that something is produced, and whatever is produced possesses some value.

THE FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY

Ten per cent of our population is made up of Colored Americans. This number creates a demand that it would be profitable to supply, but when it is considered that the other ninety per cent, or ninety millions of people are constantly demanding something, and take everything that comes along, there is an everlasting field of opportunity into which every Colored American can fit in some capacity if he makes the slightest effort.

The Federal government is a large and generous employer of men of every nationality where brains and capacity are shown to exist. In fact, there is no country in the world where so many opportunities are offered to its people of every class.

Not only subordinate positions may be sought with perfect confidence of a raise in rank or grade, but the very highest positions are within reach. This pertains to our Colored Americans without distinction.

IN THE ARMY AND NAVY

In the Army and Navy, beginning with the revolutionary war, Colored Americans have taken an active part side by side with their other fellow citizens in removing the foreign shackles from the limbs of the nation.

The War of 1812 also brought out Colored Americans to drive the foreigner from our shores, and in both great wars the fighting ability and courage of Colored Americans have been amply tested, weighed in the balance, so to speak, and not found wanting.

45The heroism displayed by thousands of Colored Americans in the great Civil War, not only convinced the world of the sincerity and patriotism of Colored Americans, but impressed the nation as well. The result of this devotion to country and its interests, opened the eyes of the government to an element of strength which it had recognized but had not fostered to any great extent.

It is different now, for the government takes from the ranks of Colored Americans its best and ablest men, satisfied from experience that whatever duties are imposed upon them will be ably and intelligently performed.

FORCE OF CHARACTER

Along this line, the struggle of Colored Americans to acquire by force of character and education, a high station and to fit themselves for any position of honor in the government, has met with success.

Not only in the army and navy, but in the halls of Congress, the Colored American has demonstrated his wisdom, sagacity, and statesmanship.

It is historical that the first martyr in the Boston massacre, a resistance to British tyranny, was the Negro, Crispus Attucks. In the War of Independence so many of the Colored Americans made themselves conspicuous in their fight for national independence, that they were recognized by Congress and the States as national defenders.

At the siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779, it was the Black Legion under Count D’Estaing that covered the retreat and repulsed the charge of the British, saving from annihilation the defeated American and French army.

In the War of 1812, the Colored American was conspicuous for his bravery. One-tenth of the crews of the fighting ships on the Great Lakes were Colored Americans. In the great picture of Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, may be seen a Colored American sailor.

Two battalions of five hundred Colored Americans distinguished 46themselves under General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. In 1814, 2,000 Colored Americans enlisted for the war and were sent to the army at Sackett’s Harbor, where they performed deeds of valor.

RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT

During the great Civil War, 178,975 Colored Americans took up arms and fought side by side with the men of the North to maintain the nation. The records of the War Department at Washington show that the Negro troops were engaged in many of the bloodiest battles of the war, distinguished themselves more especially at Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Milligan’s Bend, and Petersburg.

In the late war with Spain, in 1898, Colored American soldiers took a more conspicuous part than in any other war waged by the United States. In the famous battle of San Juan Hill, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and Twenty-fourth Infantry rendered heroic service. Col. Roosevelt delights to tell of the part the Colored Americans took with his Rough Riders. It is even said, that without the aid of the Colored troops, the gallant Colonel would not have gone up the hill.

All this is evidence of physical prowess, patriotism and courage. History has been made, and now the country is ready for the results of a glorious history and as honorable a record as that exhibited by any race on earth. Out of it has come a regular demand of the government to make Colored Americans a part and parcel of its army and navy, and the ranks of many regiments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery are filled with heroes who have won their baptism of fire in the Philippines, and others who are ready and fired with zeal to earn their spurs in some well contested field of battle. They have but to ask, to be received.

Out of this also, has grown a confidence that has made the Colored American a man of energy, fired him with an interest in improvement, and a seeker after education. Out of his noble history has grown a spirit of emulation, that impels him to aspire to high position not only as deserved but because he is fitted to fill it.

47With the twenty-five United States Senators and Congressmen who have done good service for the nation at large, and have been faithful to the traditions of their race, the record is augmented.

In the executive branch of the government, Colored Americans are conspicuous for their ability in highly responsible positions.

IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE

In the Treasury Department, the Attorney General’s Department, the Auditor of the Navy, Customs Department, Internal Revenue, Land Office, and others, there is no dearth of efficient Colored Americans performing onerous duties and engaged in unraveling intricate governmental details with as much ease and intelligence as if to the manner born.

In the diplomatic and consular service, the Colored American is fast making his way upward, many important posts being now filled by them with honor to the country, and dignity to their positions.

With all these advantages in the way of opportunities, it can not be said that Colored Americans are being crowded to the wall. Where prejudice does hold him back, it is in small localities where there is prejudice against everything, not the making of the prejudiced people themselves. There is a prejudice against the Creator Himself, and to expect all persons to drop prejudice is to expect more than the Almighty can cure.

It is a fact that a blind man must be able to perceive, that the bitter prejudice is becoming less aggravating. The rough edges of personal opposition are being worn down smooth, and in the course of less than another generation, the prejudices against Colored Americans will be almost a horrid dream of the past.

THE DIGNITY OF THE RACE

It is for the Colored American to help smother the remaining shadows of former prejudices by maintaining the dignity of his race, and by education, fitting himself to stand beside any race on the earth. He 48has done it, is doing it, and the incentives are offered for still doing it.

Remember what Colored Americans are doing; the positions they are filling by their education and energy; none of them are asleep in the furrow but are busy harvesting—doing something. If they do nothing else, they are demonstrating that Colored Americans can do the same things, fill the same positions as the other races, and that they possess an equally balanced intelligence, and have the same brain power as others. They never spend their time quarreling with fate, but overcome fate, and manufacture opportunity and ride upon destiny as upon a fiery steed, curbing it with the whip and the lash of education and intelligence, mingled with energy and persistent determination.

The church offers an opportunity to embrace a high and honorable calling, a career that is the noblest in the world.

The spirit of religion is an instinct of the race, and the past decade or two has demonstrated that the spirit has quickened into a most beneficial activity, and is exerting an influence for good that has made itself felt.

Before the race lifted itself up on the wings of freedom, there was good soil to cultivate, and many apostles and evangelists of the Christ prepared the way for the present splendid hierarchy. The latter are preparing the way for their successors in the same manner as their predecessors, but the field is enlarged to enormous dimensions. The laborers in the vineyard are becoming too few to gather the harvest, so it is necessary to prepare leaders of advanced thought to keep pace with the work, and to increase it.

The Colored Americans are the fruitful vineyard, that is constantly increasing and there must be more laborers. The foundation is laid, the way is open, and the young Colored American with a vocation has not far to seek to find an open door.

There is loving memory for Rev. Lemuel Haynes, the revolutionary soldier, who drew the sword for his country and never laid it down until the last foreign enemy had left the country. Then, he turned his 50sword into the Word of God, and fought the powers of evil as the first Congregational minister in the United States.

In loving memory is held Bishop Daniel A. Payne, the most remarkable preacher among his race that has ever been produced. He was responsible more than anyone else for the Wilberforce Community and University.

For sixty years the celebrated John Jasper, a preacher of highest virtue, piety and sincerity, labored to bring souls to God, becoming a national character.

There were Alexander Crummell, the eminent Colored Episcopal minister and author; Henry Highland Garnett, missionary, army chaplain, and diplomat; Joseph S. Attwell, missionary and rector, till his death, of St. Philip’s church, New York City.

THE FORCE FOR GOOD

All these and many more have gone before and left their influence as a continuing operative force for good.

Let us mention one Colored American woman who is still among us, Amanda Smith, distinguished as an evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This eminent lady taught herself to read and write by cutting out large letters from newspapers, laying them on the window sill and getting her mother to make them into words.

Her evangelical labors extended to Africa, India, England and Scotland. The remainder of her useful days she is spending in charge of the Amanda Smith Orphans’ Home for Colored children, at Harvey, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Through the influence of the Christian labors of the past and gone apostles, and the apostleship of their enlightened and pious followers and successors, religion has developed amazingly among our Colored Americans.

Of Colored American members of white denominational churches, numbering 5,377, there are 477,792 communicants.

Of Colored American members of Independent Negro denominations numbering 31,393 churches, there are 3,207,305 communicants.

As showing their faith demonstrated by good works, the Colored Americans are supporting 34,689 schools, and contributing 1,750,000 children to the cause of religion and education. They have donated in money more than sixty million dollars to church property.

The shepherds guiding this enormous flock, consist of Bishops of the highest attainments as scholars, teachers, and pious divines.

The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church has seven Bishops with an able executive corps of ten members.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church is under the guidance of fourteen wise shepherd Bishops, with an executive staff of eleven eminently qualified divines.

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, has nine Bishops, devoted men all of them, aided by a staff of workers numbering sixteen divines, lawyers, editors, missionaries and financiers.

The Afro-American Presbyterian council consists of three presidents and a secretary. The National Baptist Convention is guided by Rev. E. C. Morris, D. D., President, of Helena, Ark., aided by Rev. W. G. Parks, Vice-President at Large, of Philadelphia, Pa., and eleven secretaries.

The Methodist Episcopal Church has one Colored Bishop, Isaiah B. Scott, D. D., LL.D., Missionary Bishop to Liberia and West Africa, Monrovia, Liberia.

The general offices and officers, however, are in the United States, and consist of eleven clergymen and other distinguished men who attend to missionary work and executive duties generally.

There are numerous Roman Catholic priests among our Colored Americans, some of whom occupy high positions as educators. Rev. Charles Randolph Uncles is a professor in the Epiphany Apostolic College, Walbrook, Baltimore, Maryland. Rev. John H. Dorsey is a teacher and Assistant Principal in the St. Joseph College for Negro Catechists, Montgomery, Alabama. Rev. Joseph Burgess is a professor in the Apostolic College, at Cornwells, Pennsylvania.

The Young Men’s Christian Association among Colored Americans presents an illustration of the growth of the religious spirit in addition to that exhibited by the churches, but of course, affiliated with them to a greater or less degree. From the first student association at the Howard University, organized in 1869, there are now six International Secretaries, 96 associations organized in Colored American educational institutions, with an enrollment of 15,000 male students, and forty-five city associations scattered over 23 States. The Colored women of the United States began organizing Y. W. C. A. work in 1896, and there are now 37 associations affiliated with the national organization, with 12 city associations for Colored women.

In connection with church or religious matters, the work of the Colored Women’s Christian Temperance Union should not be forgotten. This great national association makes for morals, sobriety, good citizenship and education.

With all these remarkably large and numerous opportunities, the young Colored American should be able to find an opening for his desired ambition to be an apostle among his fellow men.

The spirit is working and inspires the race with noble ambitions, and all the human virtues possible to inculcate in this world.

It may be said, in passing, that to lead the souls of men to eternal bliss in the world beyond is the noblest and highest attainable profession or calling. In preparing men for a future home beyond the skies, he is converted into an advanced man of morals and good qualities on this earth to fit him for the next world.

Men and nations have sometimes forgotten God, but their end has always been untimely.

We have at the present time in the United States certain persons regarded as eminent in progress and advanced thought, who must be reckoned with when it comes to human improvement, and the removal of obstacles to man’s intellectual life and physical welfare.

There have been numberless proofs in the years gone by, in fact, we have only to survey the pages of all history, to learn that it is a law of human nature, that there is no distinction between color and race, and that brains, intellect, soul, are and always will be the test, the criterion, the standard of human excellence.

To review the past would be to open the door to endless pages of history, and require pages of illustrious names that have shone like stars in the human firmament.

Those who are engaged in the development of the human family, and apparently unconsciously working out the designs of God in their persistent advocacy of human betterment, the destruction of inefficient environments, and the promotion of peace and good will, as well as the preservation of health, are numerous. Strikingly prominent are many of our Americans who seem to be blessed with an almost prophetic insight, and the ability to bring about changes in unpleasant conditions.

We have in Theodore Roosevelt, a man of many parts, none of which is unimportant but all of them vital. When he speaks upon any subject he not only speaks with determination but with an absolute knowledge of the subjects he treats.

“Col.” Roosevelt, as he delights to be called, began in the New York legislature, then became President of the New York City Police Commission, where he did some powerful work in suppressing vice and the saloon evil. Becoming too powerful a factor in American affairs after his brilliant career as Governor of New York, he was nominated as Vice-President of the United States, the politicians thinking thus to close his career.

But he became President of the United States, succeeding to that high office through the deplorable assassination of President McKinley, and received the suffrages of the people for a second term because of his energetic Americanism, and as an exponent of “Fair Play.”

He is now a private citizen, but as distinguished and as influential as if he were filling the Presidential office. He is all energy, persistence and force of character. He will fight, talk, or argue his points, as long as he can stand on his feet, and then he will write them to the world. No such man ever before lived in the United States.

On the other hand, among our Colored Americans, there stand at the top two great leaders, Dr. Washington and Prof. Du Bois. Both of these men represent different schools of thought and each of them has an equally large following. This is encouraging, because working along different lines, as is the case with diverse national parties, one serves as a check upon the other, and without going to extremes they may follow a happy medium.

PROF. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Professor Booker T. Washington, whose aims, exertions and success tends to advance his race along the same lines as other races, is meeting with tremendous results, bringing about a more decided respect for the intelligence of Colored Americans.

55Mr. Washington, born in 1857, has, by grit and determination, reached the leadership of his race, and become one of the great men of the nation.

After a life spent in struggles to acquire an education, he was recognized as a great teacher, and called upon to take charge of a normal school at Tuskegee, Alabama, established by the legislature. He organized the school on July 4th, the anniversary of American Independence, an idea that denotes the character of the man.

Since that period, the widely known Tuskegee Institute has made such progress that, today, the site of the institution is a city of itself.

Mr. Washington worked his way to pay for his education at the Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia. What he did and how he did it is best described by himself in giving his experiences at Hampton:

SELF HELP FOR YOUTH

“While at Hampton I resolved, if God permitted me to finish the course of study, I would enter the far South, the black belt of the Gulf States, and give my life in providing as best I could the same kind of chance or self-help for the youth of my race that I found ready for me when I went to Hampton, and, so, in 1881, I left Hampton and went to Tuskegee and started the Normal and Industrial Institute.”

Mr. Washington literally worked his way through college. He helped unload a vessel to get money to reach Hampton, and while there did odd jobs of manual work, and acted as janitor.

Referring to another American of another race, President Woodrow Wilson stands first, in reality he is the first gentleman in the land.

PRESIDENT WILSON

President Wilson is an uplifter rather than a reformer. When he sees things to be done to better the people, or to better anybody, for that matter, he does them and lets the reform take care of itself.

He has always been a student, and a worker at fashioning brains 56as a teacher, professor, college president and at the head of a great university—Princeton, New Jersey.

Having a trained, enlightened mind, and not buried beneath books, he expressed his views about public matters and public men who did not perform their duty to the people, so vigorously and so truthfully, that he was believed, and the people made him governor of New Jersey.

In this office he did so much in altering distasteful political conditions, that he was considered a proper candidate for the presidency of the United States where the same untoward conditions existed as in New Jersey. He was elected, and is doing things all the time to better conditions, and although he has many enemies who fancy only a settled condition of things where they will not be disturbed in the management of them, the President is driving them to cover and will undoubtedly be successful in his endeavors.

Woodrow Wilson is a man of action and has a large background of learning to fortify himself. Fortified in every direction and from every point of attack, he is not an easy man to tackle or to find fault with. The opposition to him was that he was a university man, and therefore he did not know enough about politics to carry the country safely through a four years’ term. But the people are finding out that it does not require as much politics to run the country as it does education and intelligence combined with energy and persistence. He is beating down petty statesmanship and establishing the government along the lines of benefit to the people. He may be considered as an instrument in the improvement of a nation, and as giving it a long start back to first principles which mean progress.

DR. W. E. BURGHARDT DUBOIS

A noted man who is doing a great work along the line of betterment of the Colored Americans and directing their thoughts into high altitudes, is W. E. Burghardt Du Bois, known as the editor of “The Crisis,” A Record of the Darker Races.

57Dr. Du Bois stands on the principle that intellectual emancipation should proceed hand in hand with economic independence, and he is making himself felt by the earnest advocacy of a truth that must impress the people for whose interests he is laboring.

It may not be known to everybody that Dr. Du Bois is one of the Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The movement of nations toward the accomplishment of the designs of the Almighty to make all nations one, and in the supremacy of the intellectual over physical force, is well understood by Dr. Du Bois, and he is working along that line with other ardent humanitarians. He aims to accomplish a world peace and a realization of human brotherhood.

To turn our attention to another race, William Jennings Bryan looms up conspicuously with the others in his struggle to bridge the chasm of prejudice and place all men upon the road toward human betterment and universal peace.

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN

For nearly twenty years William Jennings Bryan has fought the battle of human rights, and his name has become a household word in many ways. His versatility has no limit, and to say that he is an extraordinary man and friend of the human race, is saying one-half the truth.

Rising from the humble position of an attorney in Lincoln, Nebraska, Mr. Bryan in an hour became the leader of the great masses of the American people, and he has held his ground ever since. He had aspirations and ambitions, but they were denied him through adverse circumstances, but he never wavered in his love for the people and his desire to benefit them in their onward movement toward betterment. As Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Wilson, he stands for 58everything that is admirable in a man of honor, virtue and probity, and is in line with the great movement toward universal peace.

Miss Jane Addams is a lady that causes one to believe in the human race along humanitarian lines. Miss Addams in her settlement work at the celebrated “Hull House” on Halsted Street, has incited others to copy and others have taken up the great work of bringing the homeless workers into social contact for mutual benefit. The lady is not only a worker among the people, but an author and a lecturer, whose example may be followed to advantage.

The Colored Americans’ field is the entire United States. They are an integral part of the nation the same as other citizens, and their rapid progress entitles them to an occupation of that field on a par with all others.

We are fast getting rid of the vulgar epithets heaped upon citizens of the United States who are Jews, Germans, Irish, etc., and the vulgar epithets hurled at Colored citizens of the United States on account of their color.

The time is soon coming, therefore, to ask: Why should we say, “Colored Americans?” Let us advance to the next Government census and forestall an episode to see how it would work:

The scene is supposed to be in the year 1920 and represents the United States census taker of that period going his rounds and making inquiries. He calls upon a well known Jewish citizen, and the following conversation takes place:

“Mr. Solomon Isaacs, what is your nationality?” Mr. Isaacs replies: “I am an American citizen, I was born in Chicago in the 19th Ward.” The examining man asks: “Are you not a Jew?” Mr. Isaacs replies: “No, sir, I am an American.” “But your nose,—” “My nose has nothing to do with my nationality.” This being true, the Jew is allowed to go.

“Patrick McGillicuddy, what is your nationality?” Mr. McGillicuddy makes the same answers as the Jew. “But,” says the examiner, “Your long square chin and protruding lower jaw proclaim you an—”

“My chin, sir, has nothing to do with my nationality.” So the Irishman is passed.

60Next in succession come visits to the Italian, the Spaniard, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Russian, the Hindoo, and so on. All these men deny that they are anything but Americans. The examiner points out their nationality in their features, but is told that features, face, complexion, noses, chins, or hair, have nothing to do with nationality. They were all born in this country and there is nothing more to be said.

“I AM AN AMERICAN, SIR”

Finally, the examiner brightens up. He has found something that can not be disputed. He calls upon George Washington Adams. “Ahem, Mr. Adams, what is your nationality?” Mr. Adams responds: “I am an American, sir.” The examiner is puzzled, but revives. “Are you not a Negro?” Mr. Adams, having learned something from the Jew, the Irishman and the others, replies: “No, sir, I am not a Negro, I am an American born in the United States.”

“But, your color indicates that you are a Neg—.” “My color, sir, has nothing whatever to do with my nationality, no more, in fact, than the Jew’s nose, the Irishman’s jaw, or the Spaniard’s olive face, the Russian’s matted hair, the Swede’s blonde whiskers, the Chinaman’s pigtail, the Italian’s earrings, or the Indian’s scalplock. According to the United States Constitution and all the laws thereunder, my color has been erased and I am an American to all intents and purposes, the same as you.”

After recovering from his swoon, the census taker goes out to the nearest saloon, takes some refreshments and begins a movement to have the legislature enact a law, prohibiting Colored Americans from breathing the same atmosphere as other Americans. But the scheme fails because when it comes to the question of color, the Jews, Spaniards, Italians, Frenchmen, Mexicans, and so on, would be affected.

Of course this appears ridiculous. It is not intended to be ridiculous, however, but suggested in sober earnest. It is what has been going on in this country for several decades, and it is time to stop such folly.

61The main point is, that the whole of the United States is the fair field for the exploitation by Colored Americans. And there will not be the slightest obstacle in the way of such exploitation, if Colored Americans drop the past and look to the future. It is not supposable that ten millions of people, who, in another generation will number twenty millions, can be extirpated or crowded out of the enjoyment of human rights because of the prejudices of a few persons who judge from their own standpoint.

To show how fast this field is being exploited by Colored Americans would require a large volume of statistics, but the essentials may be given so that it may be inferred that the field is in a fair way of being occupied.

In 1911 a commission was sent by the English Board of Trade to the United States to investigate the cost of living in American towns, but the report included important information concerning the occupations of Colored Americans in cities of the United States.

It appears from the report that the Colored Americans in New York City, in spite of the industrial barriers that exist there, contain within themselves most of the elements, professional, trading, and industrial, that go to make up the life of other and more normally situated communities.

BRICKLAYERS AND CARPENTERS

In Atlanta, Georgia, about three-fourths of the bricklayers are Colored Americans, but the majority of the carpenters are white. Nominally, the rate of wages is the same for both races. One large employer held, that Colored American’s as bricklayers had a value exceeded by no one, and that in his own case the highest paid workmen were Colored Americans.

In Baltimore, it was found that Colored Americans occupy a very important position in the working class element of the population. An overwhelming majority in the building trades are Colored Americans.

62In Birmingham, Alabama, there is a larger number of Colored American workmen than in any other district in the United States. The building and mining industries are the two in which the two races come into the most direct competition with one another, yet in neither of these industries does a situation exist which occasions any serious friction.

In Cleveland, Colored Americans were found in the steel and wire works, as plasterers, hod carriers, teamsters and janitors.

In Memphis, in the transport trades and also in certain industries, such as the making of bricks and cottonseed oil, the labor is almost entirely Colored American. They are making their way into the skilled trades, and in some wood working establishments both whites and blacks work side by side at skilled occupations.

In New Orleans, the industries are of a kind which employ mainly unskilled or semi-skilled labor, with the result that white men and Colored Americans are found doing the same kind of work and earning the same rate of wages.

In the Pittsburg district, more than a hundred Colored Americans are employed in business as printers, grocers, hairdressers, keepers of restaurants, caterers, etc. Many are employed by the municipality as policemen, firemen, messengers, postmen, and clerks. A large number of work people in the building and iron and steel trades are Colored Americans, some being in highly skilled occupations.

Here is the truth from a foreign source that must be considered fair and unprejudiced. But the home records show a more diversified distribution maintaining a proportionate employment everywhere.

There does not appear anywhere to be a fear that the labor of Colored Americans will crowd out the white labor, but there is a lingering suspicion that it may do so, although practically it does not.

In consequence of this timidity, what are known as “segregation” laws and ordinances have been passed in various places, Baltimore having made the most extensive effort to keep the laborers of the two races apart.

63In other cities, as Atlanta, Kansas City, Norfolk, Richmond, and St. Louis, efforts were made to effect legal segregation.

The result of all these attempts to keep the Colored Americans out of their legitimate field of competition with other Americans, failed utterly, or caused such great financial losses to White Americans without affecting Colored Americans in any way, or stopping their accumulations of property, that segregation may be considered a dead issue.

In Spokane, Washington, it has been decided judicially, that Colored Americans can not be excluded from buying property in any particular place in the State. The same is the judicial sentiment in New York and elsewhere.

THE FIELD OF ORGANIZED LABOR

In the field of organized labor, Colored Americans are also making great strides, the prejudice heretofore existing having almost disappeared. At New Orleans, Mr. T. V. O’Connor, President of the International Longshoremen’s Union, sounded the keynote when he declared, upon the admission of Colored Longshoremen to the Union: “We are going to bring about industrial equality. If Colored Americans stand ready to assist themselves, they will get the same wages and working conditions that the white man enjoys.”

Of the four great primary divisions of the human race, the Aryan, Mongolian, Semitic, and Hamitic, there are three that preserve their racial type and have been little changed by intermixtures. These are the Semitic, or Jews; the Hamitic, or Africans, and the Mongolians, or Chinese.

The Aryan division spreading out from the Caucasus Mountains by way of India, and thence westward, became split up into a hundred different races, with varying peculiarities and racial differences, becoming as they are today English, German, French, Irish, Scotch, Swedes, Finns, Russians, Hindus, and a hundred other varying races that have intermingled until the Aryan designation as a division of the human race is entirely lost.

All these split Aryan races have become centralized in the United States, where they are continuing their intermingling, and getting farther away from the Aryan type.

On the contrary, the three other divisions, the Jews, the Africans, and the Chinese, have maintained during all the ages since their creation, their original characteristics, with only slight intermixtures, so slight, indeed, that they are barely noticeable.

Historically, the races that make up the Aryan splits, are a mere breath on the surface of the ages of time, when compared with the other three divisions of the human race. Long before the ancestors of many of them composed the barbarian hordes that thundered at the gates of the Roman capitol, and finally effaced it from the face of the 65earth, the Jew, the African, and the Chinaman, were in possession of the evidences of high civilization, wise government, and splendid monuments, and cultivated the arts of peace. The Aryan posterity, on the other hand, were warlike, and became conquerors of the others, appropriating their arts, and are still digging among the ancient ruins of splendid empires, wondering what manner of people could have perfected such noble works.

All the races had many forward and backward movements, with the dominance always with the warlike Aryan blood.

But today, in the United States, the Hamitic, the African, if you please, has found and utilized the civilizing arts of the Aryan, and is moving upward toward the pinnacle of the same civilization which is essentially modern and original, and which retains the ancient civilization of the other three great divisions of the human family, in its museums as objects of curiosity and admiration. At the same time he is maintaining his racial unity.

MAKING THE BURDEN OF LIFE MORE ENJOYABLE

There is no going back, now, there can be nothing but advance toward progress and higher civilization, that is, in the more adequate and efficient means of making the burden of life more enjoyable and easier.

In one thing only is there doubt as to our progress, and that is in human development, and racial perfection. The scientists and thinkers of the age are impressed with the fact that there is degeneracy, or at least, “recession,” as it is termed, which means a going back to some unknown evil type that will operate disastrously upon civilization, morals, and general well-being of individuals.

By a remarkable unanimity of opinion, these marks of recession and degeneracy, sometimes called “delinquency,” are limited to the posterity of the Aryan type. Superhuman efforts are making to avert catastrophe by what is known as “selection,” that is, by limiting intermarriages to those who shall have been declared physically and mentally 66capable of assuming the marriage state. But in the opinion of many, this will still be a further remove from the pure Aryan type, and thus be always descending the human scale. At any rate, there can be no reversion to an ancestral type, because the ancestor himself is mixed, and there is no pure strain to culture up to.

But with the Jews and Africans, there is no such question, because the type remains as it was in the beginning, and it is very easy to make a selection.

THE JEWS HAVE AGES OF LEARNING

The Jews understand this matter and they maintain their own racial standards which are the highest and best. Now, it is up to the African, the ten millions of them in the United States, to adopt the standards of excellence proper to their dignity, and to their purity as one of the original or primary divisions of mankind.

The Jews have ages of learning and wisdom to fall back upon, and the African, although interrupted in his advance, by ages of repression, nevertheless has the ages of high civilization, the reigns of the Queens Candace, the learning of the Egyptians from Ethiopian magi, and the startling wonders and marvels of buried cities and high culture recently unearthed in Africa as a foundation. These ought to be an incentive to him to regain the lost prestige. He has the opportunity now, and there is no one to stay his march upward, on the contrary, there are helping hands everywhere, and incentives such as no other race in the world ever had or will ever have.

He may look back to his ancestral days with as much pride as any other race, and he may point to the magnificent ruins of the departed glories of his race to prove that his origin is to be found in as high a type of civilization as compared to any other race.

In considering the opportunities offered the Colored people of the United States, two things must be constantly borne in mind:

1. That the advance of the world and of the nations toward harmonious action and unity of motives, is purely of the mind and soul and not of the material things of life.

2. As to the world’s progress the Colored Americans of the United States occupy a prominent position in the vanguard with the other divisions of the human race, all of whom are moving in the same direction toward carrying out the Divine plan of bringing all nations into one fold.

On July 26, 1912, there opened in the City of London, England, a great congress of the races of the world including all the dark races or their representatives. In fact, fifty different races were represented by their leading men, consisting of over thirty presidents of parliaments, the members of the permanent court of arbitration and of the delegates to the Second Hague Conference, twelve British governors and eight British premiers, over forty colonial Bishops, a hundred and thirty professors of international law, the leading students of mankind, and other scientific men of the world.

When Lord Weardale, at the head of the World’s Peace movement, opened the first session of this congress, he looked into the faces of a thousand people representing fifty different races of men.

68Lord Weardale said among other things: “To those who regard the furtherance of international good will and peace as the highest of all human interests, this First Universal Races Congress opens a vista of almost boundless promise.

“Nearer and nearer we see approaching the day when the caste population of the East will assert their claim to meet on terms of equality the nations of the West; when the free institutions and the organized forces of the one hemisphere will have their counterbalance in the other; when their mental outlook and their social aims will be in principle identical; when in short the color prejudice will have vanished and the so-called “white races” and the so-called “colored races” shall no longer meet in missionary exposition, but, in very fact, regard one another as in truth men and brothers.”

Dr. Felix von Luschan, of Germany, declared, “There is an increasing mutual sympathy between the races as they come to know each other.”

“The common standard provided by university diplomas shows almost all races, even the majority of those which are regarded as inferior, represented successfully in the universities of Europe and America, and that they are equal in intellectual capacity with the others. Hence the difference between them are mere physical characteristics.”

Professor Robertson, of England, among other things established this comforting assurance:

“It is only after a long and painful apprenticeship that European nations have attained autonomy. Why not admit that it may be the same with the so-called backward peoples?”

THE POSSIBILITY OF PROGRESS

The possibility of progress with regard to the Colored Americans is emphasized by Professor Charles S. Myers of England, who gives the results of his personal observations in other nations.

69Even viewing our Colored Americans as a primitive people with only two generations of removals from the primitive state, Professor Myers says:

“The possibility of the progressive development of all primitive peoples must be conceded, if only the environment can be appropriately changed.”

It is in evidence every day, that the “changed environments” of the Colored race in the United States, has forwarded their progressive development to an enormous degree.

BLACK MEN ORIGINATE EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

In line with the opinion of Herodotus and the German ethnologists, that the Black Men of Africa were the first race, and the originators of the Egyptian and Cretan civilization, Professor Lionel W. Lyde, of England, announces:

“We are in a position to say that primitive man was dark skinned, and that he, as he made his way northward, began to bleach, thus creating a semi-primitive yellow type. This yellow man exposed to conditions of cold and moisture, might become entirely white. The human skin develops pigments to protect itself against a strong sun, and the quantity of pigment in the skin varies with the intensity of the sun.

“It is therefore the men who live in the hottest and least shaded parts of the world—that is to say, in the African, that we find the blackest skin. The white peoples, on the contrary, are confined to a region where the humidity of the atmosphere forms a screen against the rays of the sun. Finally, between the Negro and the White, is the Yellow man, who is a product of desiccating grasslands with seasonal extremes of temperature.”

PIGMENT OF COLOR TO GUARD THE SKIN

The racial color, it will be understood, is merely a matter of skin coloring. Nature provides pigments of color to guard the skin against the inclemencies of sun and weather. Every modern man knows and 70has experienced the result of strong sun and wind in his own skin. “Tan” it is called, and sometimes, within a few weeks the color of a white man’s skin is transformed into a yellow or a dark brown. If the exposure continues, the color remains.

In the opinion of noted scientists, it is certain that the difference between the races as to color is merely skin deep. Their psychological conditions are equal, as we shall see when we reach that point.

Professor Felix Adler, the eminent scientist, speaking with authority, upholds the idea that the relations between the races can be only psychological and not physical. He said at the great Congress of Races:

“It is urgently necessary for us to have a clearer conception of the ideal to be realized in international relations. What principle shall we put in the place of war, brute force, etc?

“The appeal to sentiment and the progress of democracy, are not in themselves a safeguard against war. It is not peace itself that we must keep in view, but the object to be secured by peace. The ideal principle of international relations consists in the progressive organization of these relations between peoples and races. This organization involves two postulates:

“First. To attain the most extreme differentiation of types of culture, the maximum of variety and richness in the expression of human faculties. The peace and progress of the world will depend on the formation of a cultivated class of all civilized peoples.

“Second. This exchange between different types of culture will serve to bring to light the weak points in each, and lead to their improvement and healing.”

Sir Charles Bruce, the noted administrator of government attempts, in various localities where the different races confront one another, to give as his deliberate opinion, based upon experience and close study, this succinct truism:

“The blacks have long been the instruments of the cupidity, cruelty and luxury of the whites; but their intelligence, deliberately neglected for ages, needs only to be awakened.”

Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, learned editor of the Crisis, appeared before the Congress as a Colored American scientist, versed in ethnology, and the needs and qualifications of the Colored race. After giving the number of Colored Americans as about ten millions, and mentioning the fact that “They live at the present time under a system of theoretical liberty, which is restricted in practice by certain legal dispositions, and by custom,” he adds: “Intellectual emancipation should proceed hand in hand with economic independence.”

ALL NATIONS AND TRIBES ONE GREAT FAMILY

This is indeed the keynote to the elevation of the Colored Americans to the high plane sought to be reached by all the nations of the earth, and toward which they are surely drifting, in an unconscious fulfillment of the designs of God to gather all nations and tribes together into one great family.

Professor N. R. d’Alfonso, of Italy, laid before the Congress the most profound thought that forms the basis of all progress and gives the key to beneficial government:

“Speculative psychology teaches that the man, to whatever race he may belong, has always the same psychological possibilities.

“Subject from childhood to certain conditions of climate, environment and education, he can reach the highest and most complex grades of civilization.

“It is the action and reaction of the external world on the internal world of the mind that issues in the creation of man.

“If there are psychological differences between races they are the outcome of the particular history of various peoples—a history that has entailed a different education.

72“The psychological basis is the same in all men from whatever part of the world they may come, and they may evolve in the same way and attain the same psychic results.

“In the same way racial hostilities and prejudices are not due to organic heredity, but to tradition and education.”

So far as science has gone, it must be apparent that the learned men of the age have returned to the Biblical account: Genesis, 1:26.

“26. And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’

“27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

“7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; And man became a living soul.”

Everywhere in Holy Writ, human beings are always referred to as “Man” whenever he is considered as a being vested with a soul, a particular psychological condition that makes him different from all other creations.

In every movement toward human betterment, education, civilization, development, and especially in the onward movement toward unification, the human species is referred to as “Man” without any racial distinctions whatever.

WARS BETWEEN JEWS AND ETHIOPIANS

It is only when men are opposed to one another; when they depart from the Divine intention to unify all men, that man is designated according to his racial or national designation. For instance: The wars between the Jews and the Ethiopians three thousand years before Christ; the wars of the Romans, Persians, Assyrians, English, French, and all other divergent upheavals which depart from the Divine Design. 73In such cases the psychological man, the man with a soul, the man into whom God breathed the breath of life, is considered a different being and he is unified as “Man.”

Not only is this distinctive unity of soul, of mind, of intelligence, the predominating feature of the creation, known as “man,” but his physical characteristics outside the mere skin deep differences, are exactly the same.

Modern scientists, known as “biologists,” that is, men who investigate the origin of physical life in men, have advanced so far that they know and can easily demonstrate that there are no physical differences.

The infinitely small cells called “protoplasms,” which make up the tissues of the human body, and which are present everywhere, plainly visible to the eye under a microscope, are exactly the same in every human being whatever his race or color, condition, education, environment, etc.

All the machinery upon which these small cells of life operate and give action, energy, and duration—the heart, the nerves, the blood, and all the organs essential or co-operative, are identically the same.

Men have tried to find a difference in the physical make-up of the various races but they have signally failed. They have even endeavored to compare the blood and cells of inferior animals such as apes, going so low as the common monkey, to show that some of the races originated in what is known as the “Anthropoid Ape,” so as to bolster up the doctrine of evolution and maintain the existence of an exclusively, special God created race of men, of which they are the sole and exclusive exponents, but they, also, have signally failed, and all men today, proven by science demonstrating the truths of Holy Writ, stand upon the same psychological, or soul plane, whether his skin be black, yellow, brown, red, white or any other color or shade of color. They are all part and parcel of the Divine movement which is impelling man toward a universal psychological unity. Any man or nation that attempts to bar the way, is submerged or cast aside like a straw before an avalanche. This is written upon the pages of history so clearly, that it is beyond controversy.

A reader of history who does not go deeper than the mere words in books, sees nothing but confusion in the steady, onward march of all mankind from the dawn of creation to the present time.

We hope to bring something easily understood out of this chaos, that will be of benefit to the Colored Americans, and put them in line with the great movement of the human family toward universal peace and prosperity. We expect to show that he is an essential factor in the human race, and that he has performed his part when his ancestors, the powerful kings of Ethiopia, brought civilization and the art of working metals into Egypt, as far as Asia, and into Europe.

The most learned ethnologists hold that there was a time in the history of the human race when all mankind were unified, and that through different causes operating upon passion for power, religious differences and climatic necessities, they became separated and split into divisions each of which claimed supremacy, and made war upon the others who denied it.

Wherever we begin the national history of any nation or tribe, we 75find them separate from every other nation and tribe, individual entities with their own laws and government.

If we take any fanciful theory of the creation of man, or accept the biblical account of the Dispersion at the plain of Shinar, at the building of the Tower of Babel, 2218 years before Christ, we find them scattered over the face of the earth, whereas before that Dispersion “The whole earth was one language and of one speech.” (Genesis 2:1). After that event “The Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

The races of mankind began in unity, but separated and scattered becoming a multitude of nations with different languages and religions. But, at the same time, visible as a fine thread through the movements of mankind, was a trend toward another unification.

THE RISE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Nations rose and fell, leaving the earth to a few powerful ones who attacked one another until, finally, the vast and powerful Roman Empire rose upon the ruins of the others. The central point of unification was nearer, and it appeared when Christ was born, the Saviour of all the world.

From that time began a movement toward another unification, but not a national movement, a human movement, an uplift into higher aims and more complete brotherhood.

The conquest of Rome by barbarians did not stay this movement, because the barbarians fell in with it and moved along with it. Every great act on the chessboard of nations, whether war, or the present peace movement toward universal peace, demonstrates that the purpose of the entire human family, as a unit, will be fulfilled sometime. It is rapidly reaching that point.

The great nations that stood in the way of this onward movement toward unification, have been abolished politically, but not individually, the individuals becoming merged, unified into the great moving mass, and progressing onward with it to the end in view.

76Of these unified nations or rather peoples of nations who have no more political power or significance, we find the following:

We shall add to these, by way of illustration to demonstrate the power of civilization, the following:

The two latter races are foreign to our unification in the United States, many of their people, however, have inserted the thin edge of a wedge into our civilization and time alone will tell what the upshot will be.

We have in the United States a most remarkable unification, or merger into one political status, of the descendants of three great divisions of the Human Family, who are living together substantially in peace and amity. Whatever differences and difficulties arise are purely personal.

Of the Colored Americans in the United States, this book refers almost exclusively; in fact, it is dedicated to them and their interests, and intended for their benefit. Hence, we may omit them in this chapter, there being a full account of them elsewhere.

A short sketch of the Jews may be considered as pertinent to the subject and as having a bearing upon the status of the Colored men.

THE JEWS

The Jews considered from the biblical accounts exclusively, are the descendants and representatives of the oldest branch of the human family, but they existed as a nation contemporaneously with the Ethiopians, in whose descendants we find the Colored men of the United States.

It may be said that the unification of the Semitic or Jewish race began with Moses, although Noah was in fact the father of the race. 77Their history is one of the wildest, most varied and romantic of that of any other race or nation.

After centuries of miserable bondage under the Babylonian kings, and in Egypt, they emerged under the leadership of Moses who married an Ethiopian, and began anew the struggle for national autonomy.

Prior to Moses the government was essentially patriarchal, but after Moses and in the course of time it became monarchical, with various petty kings and offshoots, always quarreling with one another, and meeting with defeats and slavery from other nations, until the Romans had acquired power to conquer the world, and included in their conquered territory the various sovereignties established by the Jews.

Although the political power was taken from them, the Jews were allowed to retain their religious authority, but in process of time, and at the coming of Christ, their chief priests and spiritual rulers generally, were sunk in corruption. In the 70th year of the Christian era, Jerusalem and the great temple of Solomon were utterly destroyed, and from that time until quite recent times, the Jews have been wanderers, obtaining a foothold here and there against fearful opposition and amazing suffering.

ADVANCEMENT OF THE JEWS

Bereft of political power and national autonomy, the Jews advanced along the line of racial unification, and became leaders in the arts and sciences, and have made themselves the financial and commercial masters of the world. A power they never could have reached had they maintained their national distinction under a monarchy or other form of government.

Their position in the United States is exactly that of the Colored Americans. They have all the political rights of freemen, and can rise to positions of high trust and honor. Like their Colored brothers, they are not a race within a race.

They are all intensely interested in education, and their children possess an insatiable thirst for knowledge. As a consequence they are always ready to seize upon opportunity when it comes their way, and they always profit by experience, and gather information from every source.

Many of the most distinguished scientists and statesmen in the world have been Jews, and although able to dictate financially to governments, and possessing political power, they have never yet attempted to seize upon the reins of any government, or take it out of the hands of those selected to govern.

If a Jew were to become President of the United States, and all the offices filled by Jews, the government would run along the lines upon which it was formed, without a change or jar, and at the expiration of their term of office, or a change in political power, they would lay down their trust and return to their individual avocations without a single regret.

This is a unification such as the world has never before dreamed of. And it is the same unification with regard to the Colored Americans. The situation is the same, the conditions identical with the single exception that the Jews are farther advanced than the Colored man, his experience extending over a larger period of time, but the Colored men are improving and soon they should be where the same sort of unification can be said of them.

THE AMERICAN INDIAN

The American Indian has no ancestry of civilization to look back to. His forebears so far as is known to history were savages, and the Indians found in America by the first white settlers were also savages.

Their origin as a race is shrouded in obscurity, some asserting that they are descendants of the Semitic race of Asia, others that they are Turanian and Malaysian mixed. It is certain, however, that nothing 79remains of any very ancient civilization, what does exist consists of “mounds” containing crude articles of pottery, flint arrows, etc., and in the case of the descendants of the cliff dwellers in New Mexico and Arizona, their habitations remain, showing that their surroundings were crude and their civilization at a low ebb.

The descendants of the Aztecs, Toltecs and other tribes whose ancestors were ruthlessly slaughtered by Cortez and his Spanish soldiers, and oppressed by his successors, had small title to what is known as civilization. Of these little can be said except that the present descendants present the vestiges of degeneracy, and have no marks of being a pure race of any sort. They are just the same as they were when first discovered, barring vices which they have acquired from the civilized races without receiving any benefit from their virtues.

These people present no example worth being followed, but as to the descendants of the real savage American Indian, the Sioux, Algonquins, and other large and savage warrior tribes encountered by the American pioneer and frontiersmen, they show the power of civilization and their adaptability to changed environment.

Among them were many noble men, men of high aspirations and aims, who as soon as they understood civilization, broke away from the trammels of savagery and became civilized. That is, they adopted the manners and customs of the civilized races, and became unified with them.

RESULTS OF EDUCATION

Among them, education has produced a large number of men of high grade, and influence. Most of them have turned to agriculture, but being a race that is still in embryo, so to speak, that is one of the present era, the time has not yet arrived when it can be predicted of them that they are equal to coming up to the highest rank in civilized life.

They are an open, living illustration of the power of education and modern civilization. The lesson to be learned from them is, that what a race so sunk in savagery and barbarism can do, is much more within 80the reach of the Colored Americans who have a great and noble ancestry back to which they may look with admiration and feel an incentive to continue to advance—it is in them.

THE JAPANESE AS AN ILLUSTRATION

We come to the Japanese as an illustration of unification of the races, because they have put themselves before the world as entitled to consideration as much as any other race. Inasmuch as they are rapidly becoming a world power, and have the warships and guns to back up their pretensions, the nations of the earth feel justified in considering their claims.

Whence they come nobody knows, not even their own learned men. They originated somewhere in the past, but not ancient past, or they would have been heard of, but may be a cross among the Turanian tribes. They are small men and dark, which lends truth to this theory.

With their origin we have nothing to do, because their rise and progress is something men now living have witnessed and stand amazed at its suddenness and at the height to which these small men have attained.

They are a brilliant example of what education and civilization backed by intense persistence and energy will accomplish in taking advantage of opportunity.

They were given an opportunity to enter the ranks of civilization, but they refused the offer. Then, trade and commerce urged and then forced it upon them, and seeing that they had to progress, they took hold of opportunities, and now, never let the smallest opportunity pass by them. When an opportunity does not present itself they go to meet it or make one to suit themselves. They are giving the world a bad scare by their persistence and clamors for equality with every other nation and peoples, due, perhaps, to their newness as a nation and the probability that they may relapse into barbarism should they get the upperhand with restraint removed.

81Every man who has not had a very good or saintly past, is regarded with suspicion when he joins the ranks of the good and pious. It is not credited that such a man can become good all at once, and the belief spreads that his reform is a mere makeshift, a delusion, and an opportunity for gain.

The Japanese have not been tested by any of the conditions that have made the civilized races what they are as to reliability after centuries of experience, and the only thing to be observed is, that they were found first as a barbaric tribe, or semibarbaric, with the most hideous manners and customs, and a religion that was mere idol worship.

If the first American admiral who forced western civilization upon them through trade and commerce could see them now at the bargain counter of opportunities, he would be amazed.

Their arts and sciences are marvels of beauty; their home life when they are not fighting is amid a bower of roses, and they can imitate anything as to mechanical workmanship from a toy dog to a complicated man-of-war. They make everything the civilized men make, and sell them for a pittance. They know what they want and they get it or declare war.

Never did such a race of men exist since history began, and it has sprung up into prominence within about half a century, without being deep or profound, and having a character that is so dubious that one never knows whether he is your friend or enemy.

While studying this race of small men, one is almost tempted to urge every man behind in this world’s favors, to do as the Japanese. It is indeed an incentive to wake up and go ahead.

THE CHINESE

The Chinese are as near the pure Turanian stock as it is possible for a race with their environments to be.

The samples that come to the United States for employment are coolies, mongrels of the race, just as we have natural born mongrels from intermixtures with degeneracy.

But the real Chinaman, the Manchurian, and his similars among the 82pure Turanian strain, are magnificent men physically, without the slant eye, and highly educated in the Chinese fashion.

Like the other grand divisions of the human race, they lived along for ages in peace and comfort, until the outside barbarian in the form of the little Japanese came along and shattered his dreams of content. As Alaric and his Huns battered down the gates of Rome; as the Romans put an end to the Jewish nation; as the combined attacks of the gold hungered kings of Europe and Asia subdued and obliterated the vast Ethiopian empire, so little Japan routed the big Chinese empire.

But this accomplished something that emphasizes the idea of a universal unification of the nations of the world. Japan forced open China and its people saw the opportunity, and took it. After studying the methods of civilization, particularly those in vogue in this great republic, its students returned to their native land, and aroused the half a billion people from the slumbers and behold! A vast republic. The Chinese are in line with modern education, with the arts of civilization. Like the Japanese, they have begun to wear American clothing. Withal, they have abandoned their old pagan practices, killed their dragon, and are rapidly coming in under the remorseless movement toward the unification of the world.

We read about Napoleon, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine of Russia, Marie Antoinette of France, and other kings and queens, many of whom led mysteriously cloudy lives and came to a bad ending, but few have ever heard of Queen Candace, Queen of Ethiopia.

You are referred to the Bible (Acts 8:27) as a beginning of the information to follow.

Few among the learned in this present age, and less of the unlearned, know anything about the origin of the colored race in the United States. They are completely in the dark as to their ancestry, as a powerful and highly civilized race of people.

The fact is, that while the Anglo-Saxons, Celts, Scandinavians, Germans, and so on, wore skin coats, devoured their food raw, lived in caverns, and were busily engaged in cutting one another’s throats over dry bones, the ancestors of our Colored people in these United States were enjoying the highest arts of civilization, lived in palaces, and erected magnificent specimens of the most wonderful architecture in the world, and behaved generally like civilized people.

Recent and authentic discoveries in Africa have brought to light, through monuments and other evidences, that the Hamitic race played a very important part in the first stages of the world’s history. There are modern records, which, together with the great number of monuments 84of great antiquity, demonstrate without the shadow of a doubt that the African civilization of the Hamitic race, was older than the most ancient history recorded of the Egyptians, going back centuries before the birth of Moses.

THE BLACK NATIONS A POWERFUL CIVILIZATION

It appears now that Egypt took its civilization from Ethiopia, the black empire south of it.

The old theories have been smashed into atoms, and it now appears that the black nations of certain regions of the continent of Africa were not races in their infancy, but the descendants of a powerful civilization gradually broken by misfortunes and disastrous wars against it.

The Egyptians have always contended that their forefathers learned their arts and largely received their laws from the black empire farther south. Throughout the pages of Homer, the Ethiopians are spoken of with great respect, as the friends of the gods, the “blameless Ethiopians” being a common phrase.

The great Greek historian, Herodotus, who has been charged with drawing upon his imagination in his accounts of Africa, is now demonstrated to have been truthful. His extraordinary stories about the ancient empire of Ethiopians, south of Egypt, are being verified from the recently unearthed monuments, as having been erected by the very people of whom the historian wrote, to celebrate their victories and honor their gods.

Although the most ancient inscriptions on the monuments along the upper Nile have not yet been deciphered, the story of the Land of the Blacks is well known as far back as eight hundred years before Christ.

THE BLACK KINGS

As showing a common civilization, in fact, perhaps a common origin, the doings of the Black Kings were chronicled after the same fashion as those of the Egyptian kings.

85The writing of the people of the Great Black Empire, is like that of the Egyptians, and the gods they worshiped were closely related to the gods of Egypt.

Inscriptions on these monuments that have been deciphered, tell us that Piankhi, the black king, conquered Egypt 750 B. C., and that he worshiped without question in Egyptian temples, and the carvings in the excavated ruins, which show men and women unmistakably Negro, give evidence of the similarity of religion.

We have always supposed, as told by the scientists, that civilization went up the Nile, whereas, it is now proven that it came down the Nile, that is, from Ethiopia to Egypt, instead of the other way.

When Cambyses, king of Persia, conquered Egypt six hundred years before the Christian era, he ventured to arrange an expedition against the black empire to the south, stories of the greatness of which he had been told. He sent to the Black King gifts of gold, palm wine and incense, and asked to be informed whether or not it was true that on a certain spot called the “Table of the Sun,” the magistrates, every night, put provisions of cooked meats so that every one who was hungry might come in the morning and help himself.

The history proceeds to tell us, that the black king, Nastasenen, received the envoys of Cambyses peacefully but without enthusiasm. He showed them the “Table of the Sun” mentioned by Cambyses, and took them to the prisons where the prisoners wore fetters of gold, so that the Persians might be properly impressed.

Cambyses was very much impressed by the fact that gold was so common that it was used in making the shackles of prisoners, and he made war upon the black empire to get that gold, but miserably failed.

THE BEAUTIFUL BLACK QUEEN

We now come to the Queen Candace mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. The account there given is as follows (Chapter 8):

“26th verse. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

86“27th verse. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship.”

This is all that relates to Queen Candace, but it transpires from subsequent verses of the same chapter, that the treasurer of Queen Candace was baptized and went on his way rejoicing.

One queen Candace of Ethiopia, was a famous black queen, tales of whose prowess spread as far as Greece. It appears from the monuments, that the kingdom was ruled by successive queens each bearing the name of Candace, which may account for the different descriptions of her, some showing her as very beautiful, and some allowing her but one eye with the disposition of a termagant.

These kings and queens, whose records have been deciphered, are of comparatively recent years—not more than 2,500 or 3,000 years old. It is expected that the results of the excavations of the older ruins will be more interesting.

ETHIOPIANS FIRST LIVING MEN

To revert to Herodotus. This ancient historian was a great traveler, the first, perhaps, to visit the region of the blacks and their empire.

He says, somewhere in his history: “The Ethiopians were the first men who ever lived.”

There is more astounding evidence of the civilization of the black men to be found in recent excavations.

Lying north of Egypt and a little southeast of Greece, in the Mediterranean Sea, is the famous Island of Crete, or Candia, embracing 3,326 square miles, and at the present time it has a population of about 300,000 people all told.

This island was anciently regarded as the spot where Jove himself was cradled, and it became the center or reservoir of the highest forms of ancient civilization. All the ancient Greek and Roman gods had their origin or birthplace on this island, and under the famed King Minos, 87nothing disgraceful or monstrous was permitted to find a resting place. It has always been a mysteriously unknown island, and the great aim of delvers into antiquities.

Within the last ten years, there has been dug out in this island of Crete, the remains of a civilization two thousand years more ancient than any hitherto known in Europe.

THEATRES, PALACES AND TEMPLES

There are actual buildings, theatres, palaces, and temples that existed in 3,000 B. C., and were mere guess work in Homer’s time. What has been unearthed shows that there was communication between Crete and Egypt 2,000 years before Christ. One of the frescoes found shows some religious ceremonial in the Egyptian style. Some of the priestesses are black, others white, and the connection between African and Cretan civilization as to dates will soon be settled.

Enough appears to show that there were two great civilizations at a very early time, that in the Nile country begun and maintained by black men, and the other in Crete. The Cretans seem to have been a dark race, rather small, with regular, almost Greek profiles and full lips.

Nothing has been found in this newly discovered cradle of the human race to indicate that civilization came to them or to Africa from Asia, whence it has always been thought all knowledge originated.

Everything so far unearthed in Crete and in the Soudan, favors the theory that all around the Mediterranean there arose in the stone age a common race of men, who in the course of centuries developed differing physical characteristics, and they peopled Europe and Africa where the first civilizations arose in Crete and the Soudan.

There is tremendous food for thought in these discoveries. It may transpire after all is discovered the Colored American descended from the African, the Hamitic, or the Negro—call him anything, it will not harm his ancestry—is in fact descended from a superior race of people.

88While the colored race do not care for any admixture of their blood with the Aryan, the latter need have no fear that it will ever be forced upon him.

MOSES MARRIED A COLORED WOMAN

What would Moses, the great lawgiver, say to you? Listen to the good book in Numbers 12:1. “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.”

For this reviling, the Lord made Miriam leprous, and punished her, and Aaron acknowledged that he had sinned.

While on this subject, it may be interesting to specify some of the doings of the Ethiopians in ancient history. First, Moses married an Ethiopian woman in B. C. 1490, quite a number of years before any legislature had an opportunity to prevent it.

The Ethiopians must have flourished after the last mentioned date, because we read in II Kings 9, that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to fight the Assyrians—quite a distance from Ethiopia—and the frightened Assyrian king besought the aid of Hezekiah, king of Judah. This happened in B. C. 710.

Again, in B. C. 957, we learn from II Chronicles 14:9, that Zerah, the Ethiopian, came out against Asa, king of Judah, with a million men and three hundred chariots. The scripture reads, “an host of a thousand thousand.”

GREAT ANCESTRY OF COLORED RACE

Let the Colored American live up to the records of the past history of his race and prove himself worthy of his great ancestry.

It was said in another place in this article that there appear to have been two great civilizations at a very early period of time. One flourished in the Nile country, maintained by black men, and the other in Crete.

89It is an astonishing fact, for it is fast developing into a historical fact, that a common race of men arose, and that in the course of centuries, they developed differing physical characteristics, due to climatic necessities, either black, brown or swarthy, and that they peopled Europe and Africa, the first civilizations arising in Crete and the Soudan, which is the very heart of the continent of Africa, extending from the Equator to 25 degrees north latitude, and from 20 degrees west longitude to 50 degrees east longitude. A territory comprising 1,650 by 4,650 miles extent, and including the “Phut” territory, it is nearly as large again.

All this vast territory constituted the Empire of Ethiopia. An empire that was able more than 600 years before the Christian era to send a million of fully equipped soldiers against a Jewish king.

A very slight circumstance has been the beginning of explorations that will undoubtedly alter all of our text-books upon the subject of the origin of the human race.

A German explorer recently unearthed, in a remote region in the Soudan, a bronze head of fine and exquisite workmanship. This has been taken as another evidence of an ancient African civilization—indeed, a black men’s civilization, and has operated as an incentive for other explorations.

THE BIBLE AS A PROOF

We read in the Bible (I Kings 10), a whole chapter concerning the visit of the Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, coming to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold and precious stones. And that when she departed she presented Solomon with a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones. “There came no more such abundance.”

The same account of this great queen is given in 2nd Chronicles, and in Matthew 12:42 she is styled “The Queen of the South.”

A queen from the South who could present Solomon with about a 90million dollars of our money in gold and precious stones, was certainly a rich and powerful queen.

The Queen of Sheba had many successors, however, and they were all warlike, leading their armies either to victory or successfully defending the Ethiopian empire against attack. Ahasuerus, the most powerful Persian monarch, who ruled over 146 provinces, attempted to extend his dominion over into Ethiopia but could not succeed.

Some years ago, ruins of ancient dwellings were discovered in Upper Rhodesia, which were declared by Dr. MacIver of Oxford to be those of an ancient African civilization.

BLACK MEN DISCOVER ART OF WORKING METALS

Within the past ten years, excavations in the Upper Soudan, verify the claim that the black man was the first to discover the art of working metals, and that they gave this knowledge to Europe and Asia. Dr. Schweinfurth, the famous German ethnologist, and the University of Berlin, have adopted this theory.

Lady Lugard, the authoress, gathered from old Arab books, many details of this high civilization among the black men of the Upper Nile, their customs and government until quite recent times.

We know as a historical fact, that the Nubians conquered Egypt, and set the pace for a good government among the Egyptians, suppressing many of their cruel practices.

The end of these discoveries is far from having been reached. Indeed, they are just beginning to attract attention. Enough has been unearthed, however, to establish the ancestry of the Colored race of America, greater and higher than that of any of the mixed races.

Men of learning, wisdom, and honest, without prejudice, take the standard of a race of men from his primitive type.

That type is sought for in the most excellent productions of the race, their achievements and their position among civilized nations that were the founders of our present civilization.

He who grovels in the worst human elements of any race, knows nothing about that race, and opens the door to the degeneracy of all the nations and races on earth, by advocating them as the evidences of degeneracy.

Since the world began there have been good and bad elements among the peoples that inhabited it, but the good elements alone have survived, the bad or the evil has gone down into ruin. Nations that sought to waylay and throttle progress for their own selfish ends, and immoral purposes have been forced out into the world’s Gehenna, and in the garbage heap there are still rummaging many of the split races of the earth, and many individuals bury themselves in its reek refusing to emerge into the clear sunlight.

It is, as it always has been, the great, the high hope and aim of men of intellect, and higher aspirations than the luxuries of life which kill the soul, to lift the evil in mankind out of the category of civilization, 92and develop mind and intellect as the only adjunct toward universal unity and peace.

To cure all the evil which afflict men of every race and people, is an impossibility so long as the earth exists for the use and benefit of mankind. Force has been tried, but even the death penalty does not stay crime and disorder. The Crucified One gave up his life and took upon himself all the sins of men, and pointed out the way for them to follow if they would be saved. But even this Majestic, this Divine Sacrifice has not stayed the evils afflicting man when left to his own devices, to his own ill-regulated freedom. We know the way, indeed, and whoso refuses to follow it, must be classed with the evils we suffer. Every man must lift himself out of the slough.

There is food for thought in the past, which hinges much upon the present and the future, and if it is taken in the proper spirit, it can not fail to develop the mind, the soul, and put men on the high road toward the accomplishment of the designs of God.

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA AND SOLOMON

It was related in another article, that the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, but we shall give a further account of this great queen because it will lead to the reason why Ethiopia reached a high state of development.

“6. And she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and thy wisdom.

“7. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half has not been told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.

“8. Happy are the men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

“9. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore made he the king, to do judgment and justice.”

93Here was an Ethiopian Queen who was clearly desirous of benefiting her great empire and uplifting her people, traveling in pursuit of the best way to do it, just as our modern men are now doing.

This, it should be remembered, occurred more than a thousand years before the birth of Christ, or to bring the years down to date, it was two thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight years ago—nearly thirty centuries.

THE ETHIOPIANS CONQUERED EGYPT

To diverge a few lines: Napoleon Bonaparte was a deep student, and when attempting the conquest of Egypt, he pointed his soldiers to the great Pyramids saying: “Soldiers of France, forty centuries are looking down upon you,” he uttered a truth of history, and established an Ethiopian empire a thousand years before Solomon. The reason is this: The Ethiopians conquered Egypt, or erected it into a province, and built the great Pyramids that still exist.

She found a knowledge of God in her visit and carried it back to her people, because we find His worship beginning to make its appearance upon the monuments and inscriptions.

Now a singular circumstance is presented by the claim of Ethiopian kings and princes after the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.

It was claimed by the princes of Axoum, in Ethiopia, which was evangelized by the Empress Helena, consort of the Roman Emperor Constantine, in the year 324 of the Christian era, that the Queen of Sheba bore a son to King Solomon, and that he was the founder of a dynasty, the annals of the kingdom giving a long list of the kings descended from him, and relating that they governed for centuries without interruption. Pieces of their money still in existence and the inscriptions on recently unearthed monuments furnishing evidence of this fact.

In a history of Alexander the Great, translated from the Ethiopian, it is related of another Queen of Sheba, who, in the year 332 before the 94Christian era, resisted that mighty conqueror with so much vigor, that he capitulated to her charms, as she was a most beautiful woman, and left her kingdom in peace. She laughingly reproached him for his weakness, so the story goes: “You, the mighty conqueror who have never been defeated by man, have been captured and defeated by a woman.”

BLACK QUEENS WHEN CHRIST WAS BORN

The reign of the Sheban dynasty was followed by that of the queens of Candace, who were ruling Ethiopia at the date of the birth of Christ, indeed, one of them is mentioned in the New Testament, Matthew 12:42, and her story is related in another chapter of this book.

Among the many evidences of high civilization in Ethiopia, are its literary productions. There are several hundred books in the various public libraries of Europe which show a remarkable condition of development.

In the way of history, there are the annals of ancient chronology by Georges Ibn-al Amid, which follows the genealogy of David from Adam, and a list of the kings of Israel and Judea, together with the principal events of their reigns. To this is added a chronology of the reigns of the Roman Emperors, and the Consuls.

In the chronological book, there is an entire chapter giving the history of the kings of Ethiopia, from Ibn-al Hakim, son of Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, down to recent times.

There are also volumes of poems of great beauty and perfect meter, stories of wars, genealogical lists, biographies, commentaries, moral maxims, philosophy, anecdotes, astrologies, homilies, hymns, etc. All of these are contemporaneous.

In proof of this remarkable condition, reference is made to the “Catalogue des manuscripts Ethiopiens (Gheez et Amharique) de la Bibliotheque nationale de France, a Paris,” a copy of which may be found in any of our great public libraries.

In refinement, the Ethiopians held women in a superior position in the social scale, which says Dr. Reich, the historian, “Shows a higher point of delicacy and refinement than either their Eastern or Western successors. Colossal in art, profound in philosophy and religion, and in possession of the knowledge of the arts and sciences, the Ethiopian race exhibits the astounding phenomenon of an elevated civilization at a period when the other nations of the world were almost unknown.”

Referring to this question of psychology in civilization exhibited by the Ethiopians, the same Dr. Reich, in his “History of Civilization,” says:

“People, as a rule cherish the idea that nations are like individuals, and that accordingly nations have their childhood, their youth, and their old age, and their death just as we are used to see in individuals. This entire idea is utterly false. There is no such parallel development. A nation is a mental thing only.”

Dr. Scholes, in his “Glimpses of the Ages,” citing Heeren’s “Manual of Ancient History,” relative to the Ethiopians, says:

“It may be gathered from the monuments and records that Upper Egypt (Ethiopia) was the first seat of civilization, which originating in the South, spread by the settlement of colonies toward the North (Egypt).

“These migrations are proved by the representations, both in sculpture and painting found in the yet remaining monuments throughout Egypt.” “Glimpses of Ages,” p. 191. Heeren, p. 57.

There were tribes among the Ethiopians which were of a low grade of civilization, just as in the most civilized countries of the present times, there are peoples of a very low grade, not only in civilization but in intelligence. But, there existed a highly cultured and civilized Ethiopian people, who dwelt in cities, erected temples and other edifices, and who had good government and humane laws. Moreover, their fame and progress in knowledge and their social arts spread in the earliest ages over a considerable part of the earth.

96Upon the authority of Heeren, already referred to, and upon their own investigations, Dr. Glidden and Dr. Morton, who are quoted in Scholes’ “Glimpses of the Ages,” made an examination of the Egyptian skulls, and gave it as their opinion that the Egyptians and the Ethiopians never came from Asia, but were indigenous or aboriginal inhabitants of the African Nile country, and were all of the “Negroid type.”

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS WERE NEGROES

Featherstone in his “Social History of the Races of Mankind,” goes still further, and confidently asserts that the ancient Egyptians were of the Negro race.

“This,” he adds, substantially, “is borne out on all the Egyptian paintings, sculptures, and mummies; the hair found, as well as that possessed by their descendants, the Copts, is the curly, or woolly variety, and the lips and nose the same.

“The fact that the ancient Egyptians were Negroes three thousand six hundred years before the Christian era is substantiated, and that their population in Egypt at that period amounted to seven millions.”

Admitting all these things to be true, it may be asked: “Well, what of it? What good will that do the Colored Americans?”

It has to do with Colored Americans as much as an ancient highly civilized ancestry has to do with the modern Jews. They know that their race is not extinct; that they are an integral part of the great movement of all mankind toward a unification of mind and intelligence. This fact burned into their minds must operate as an incentive of the greatest propelling force to urge them onward toward the high destiny that awaits all mankind.

That they are working out the plans of the Almighty by so doing, puts them in the vanguard of civilization, with opportunities at hand to avail themselves of all the advantages attached to such a high purpose. There is something to work for—something worth working for, and when the Colored American takes this high view of his destiny, it will be too small a thing to notice, even should he be denied the privilege of sitting beside a white man.

A curious racial transformation is going on in the United States outside the two divisions of man, the Jew and the Colored man, which means much more to the ethnologist and lover of mankind than is apparent on the surface. The various nations, such as the English, French, German, Irish, Scotch, Spaniard, etc., are rapidly losing their identity of race or descent, and becoming American with new facial traits, as well as mental attributes. All these nations or tribes, will lose their identity and be merged into another and different stock distinctly American, perhaps revert to the parent Aryan stock. Thus we shall witness, the four primitive divisions of mankind, the Aryan, rehabilitated; the Jew or Semitic, with renewed wisdom; the Ethiopian, or Hamitic, still a distinct race, and the Turanian, or Chinese, working together to accomplish a unity of nations, one in thought and high purpose. Everything is apparently working in that direction, and there is no single nation, or union of nations of diverse civilization that will be able to stay the movement.

The Colored Americans, as one of the great divisions of the human family, with as proud an ancestry and as high a civilization as the Jews, and co-eval with them in the point of cultured antiquity, are proving themselves as progressive and, with the additions of modern culture, civilization and progress, are building their race up to a high point of excellence.

They have bridged the ages, so to speak, and are showing themselves penetrated with the spirit of a civilizing evangelization, which began in the Far East, nearly four thousand years ago.

They are carrying down to date, without losing by an intermission, the great aims and purposes of the Ethiopian Candace and Sheba dynasties, under which were introduced the arts and sciences, sculpture and painting into Egypt and Europe, refinement, literature, and wise government.

They are demonstrating every day, that they are moving with the great divisions of the human race, toward that high goal of unity that is the evident purpose of God in creating man.

Under an enlightened political system, the few aggravations in the local laws of which will soon disappear beneath the mighty onward tread of the peoples of the earth, our Colored Americans are beginning to realize their destiny, and are seizing the opportunities that present themselves for their benefit, as for the benefit of a common destiny of all men.

They are beginning to understand, and they are acting upon the 99understanding that education is the chief factor in the solution and proper attainment of their destiny.

This “education” has always been the essential element in the rise and progress of every nation on the earth, the educated have forced their way upward toward the light, and become factors in the world’s progress toward enlightenment. Those who have ignored education have fallen and lie buried beneath the sands of the deserts of Europe and Asia, without descendants or successors, and known only to the excavator of ruins. Their very races have disappeared without a trace.

THE CASE OF THE JAPANESE

The marvelous rise of the Japanese is due to the seizure of the opportunity of education, and appropriating every detail that goes to make power and physical influence.

Not much more than three generations ago, the Japanese empire was a mere name, an isolated country of semi-barbarians, a mere tribe without power, influence or standing as a national unit. It is now clamoring at the door of every civilized nation for recognition as a world power, and threatens to enforce its demands with an army and navy that is too formidable to be ignored or slighted.

It has reached the acme of the physical and lays claim to that alone as its right to recognition. It has not yet learned that in the great movement of the peoples of the earth toward unification, the physical must go down before the psychological, and therefore, if the Japanese persist in their physical prowess, they will disappear as have other greater nations claiming the same force as the summit of earthly influence. They are mere fragments of a tribe detached from the Turanian division of the human family.

History repeats itself always in the cases of the great divisions of the human family, where some branch attempted to usurp the power, functions and authority of the whole.

The Assyrians, the Persians, the mighty mistress of the world, the 100Roman Empire, vanished like a breath when they presumed to stand in the way of the designs of the Almighty.

All were pawns upon the chessboard of time, so to speak, the very foundation of which is soul, that attempted to wrest the fiat from its meaning by the adoption of brute or national force.

They served the purpose of carrying man toward a certain goal on the way to his final pinnacle, then claimed the results of the uplift, and went down through vanity and presumption.

Japan with its physical impress persisted in, will go down like the rest. It must go down because it does not represent any factor in the Divine designs. But it is an illustration of what education will accomplish, and its fate will illustrate what human nature, obsessed by its own reliance upon force, will reach in the end.

Our Colored Americans have no such incentive as force or physical designs. The conquerors of the earth were compelled to yield to the educational programme to uplift the soul of man, not his material prospects, except so far as they advanced the psychological, and they may be said to be now in that psychological phase of the movement of the nations of the earth, which leads to the highest point of intensive civilization.

A GREAT DIVISION OF THE HUMAN FAMILY

It should be constantly borne in mind, that the Ethiopians and their descendants, the Colored Americans in the United States, represent a great division of the human family, which, with the others, are alone to be considered in the great design of unification.

The Roman Empire represented no such portion of the human family. Assyria, Persia, Egypt, and the dominating historical peoples were all mixed, and when their uses had culminated, that is, when there was no more use for them, or when they ventured to assume superiority over the rest of the earth, they were submerged.

Of the mighty races that constituted the primitive divisions of man, there are now remaining, with each bearing a sharp line of distinction 101between them, the Aryan, Semitic, Turanian, and Ethiopian. Into these four divisions all the nations and peoples of the earth may be resolved.

It may be said that the Aryan consists of the white race; the Ethiopian, or Hamitic of the dark race; the Semitic, the Jews, and the Turanian, the yellow race, of which the Japanese are a mere branch of a subdivision.

Each of these great divisions of the human family has its own part to play in the great drama of the world’s progress, and the elimination of brute force or the physical as a negative element in progress, has brought these grand divisions face to face with the problem of psychology, mind or soul. It is immaterial what it is called, it cannot be disregarded.

The conditions or environments that have hedged in these great divisions have appeared to be similar in the world’s history. The Jews had their mighty empire. The Aryan developed into enormous power, but broke into fragments. The Ethiopian possessed the initial civilization of the world, and the Turanian, evidenced by the Chinese, have still a high position in the world.

Let us give a few details and then proceed to the progress of our Colored Americans toward the fulfillment of the great design:

The Jews lost their physical empire to become a psychological force. The Aryan became split into numerous branches which are now existing and moving steadily forward toward the psychological. The Turanians that controlled the Orient for ages by their physical prowess, have become a great republic based upon the power of mind. The great Ethiopian empire after leaving its impress upon the civilization of the world, was transformed into the psychological progress of the other members of the human family.

It will be perceived that all of them are drifting toward the same point, and that each of them is employing all the advantages and devices of modern life to continue on the march toward that point, at which all men shall be of one mind, one soul.

The Colored Americans in the United States, with their advantages are accepting the inevitable in the form of opportunities presented them, and are as irresistibly impelled toward the ultimate goal of unified mankind as the others.

Let us consider our Colored Americans at close range and see what they are doing in the way of seizing opportunities, and building themselves up to the accepted modern standards.

ECONOMIC PROGRESS

The one essential of modern life which the Colored American has not attained to perfection, is the proposition of economy. Not saving, but business qualifications. But he is an apt pupil and is rapidly acquiring experience.

The reports of 1912 give the value of property owned by the Colored people in the United States as six hundred millions of dollars. And upon this they pay taxes.

A year ago, The National Negro Business League held its eleventh annual session at Little Rock, Arkansas, with every State represented by delegates.

The wide range of Negro business activities discussed at that annual meeting, shows a vast stride toward improved commercial conditions, and an adaptability to the opportunities presented. Some of these activities were: Raising and shipping fruits and poultry; pickles and preserve manufactories; horticulture: grain, hay, and fuel; cotton raising; dealers in fresh and salt fish; farming and stock raising; town building; real estate; railroad building; coal and iron business; general and special merchandising; banking, and a multitude of other businesses. Sixty-two banks are operated by Colored Americans, and there is a National Negro Bankers’ Association, with W. R. Pettiford its President, the latter gentleman being President of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, the second oldest Negro bank in the country. The Bankers’ 103Association has in process of formation, a large central Negro bank to act for Negro banks in the same capacity as the great banks of the East act as clearing houses for the other banks of the country.

It transpired in this connection, that the various Negro secret societies had on hand a large amount of money for the purposes of members’ funds and for widows. The Knights of Pythias alone, holding in all, cash and property $1,500,000.

INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS

When it comes to mental success and adaptability, the advance of Colored Americans is phenomenal, and shows as high an order of intelligence as any nationality in the world. Remember they are just regaining a lost heritage of renown.

The schools, colleges and universities number among their brightest and most brilliant pupils numerous Colored American youths, who are an honor to the cause of education and to their race. They have won scholarship prizes at Cornell University, at Amherst College, Simmons College, Columbia University, Wellesley College, Radcliffe College, Howard University, and in numerous public schools prizes have been awarded them against numbers of competitors.

Our Colored Americans are taking hold of the educational problem with a vim and courage, and they are succeeding along every department of study.

As an illustration of the thirst for knowledge, the case of Mrs. Martha Harmon, of New York, will be agreeable: This lady is seventy years of age, and attended night school for four years, taking an elementary course. She never missed an evening and was late only once. The New York Board of Education presented her with two gold medals, one for attendance, and the other for proficiency in her studies.

The intellectual progress of the Colored Americans may be emphasized by reference to that highly modern and civilized agent of education known as “The Press.”

104There are now more than one hundred and fifty-three organs of the Colored Americans, edited and managed exclusively by them, and devoted to their interests as well as to the cause of general intelligence, improvement and higher education. These organs of the “Press” are classified into: magazines, 3; daily papers, 3; school papers, 11; weekly papers, 136.

Ten of these newspapers own the buildings they occupy, and fifty-four own their own printing plants.

There is a large field here for exploitation and splendid opportunities for the development of a high order of intellect. Only one of these newspapers was established before the Civil War, the Christian Recorder, of Philadelphia, which began in 1839. All the others were established after the Civil War, one in 1865, the others after 1870—a fact which demonstrates the ability of Colored Americans to advance in intellectual ability when the opportunities are presented for its free exercise.

The sphere of influence of the newspapers can not be disputed, we know how it is regarded and the enormous deference paid to that influence among the White Americans, and the same results must obtain among the Colored Americans.

There is room in this department of intellectual development, for many strong and vigorous writers, who will be able to crystallize the energies of the Colored Americans into a determined effort to maintain their position in the onward movement of the human race toward unification.

AUTHORS, WRITERS, POETS AND THE FINE ARTS

An investment in brains has always been regarded as the most productive in profitable returns. It is becoming the fixed opinion, based upon ages of experience, that the uplift of the world, the advancement of people and their progress can be accomplished by brains only.

War and its desolations, its ravages, rapine, and cruelties, have for a time swayed and dominated various parts of the earth, but, it must be 105considered that violence is the mere handmaid to an uplift by intellectual effort. War prepares the way for intellect and secures it an opportunity to be made manifest without molestation.

If we refer to the “Catalogue des manuscripts Ethiopiens,” already mentioned, we shall find a most amazing condition of intellectual development among the ancient Ethiopians. It was this intellectual condition that made its impress upon Egypt, and the other nations of Europe and Asia, because the Ethiopians were not a conquering race by force of arms, except so far as it was necessary to protect themselves against attack.

If we turn to their descendants—our Colored Americans—we find the same intellectual efforts resumed and progress going on in a marked degree under favorable circumstances and highly civilized and free conditions and environments. The same talent and genius that sculptured the exquisite Ethiopian bronze statuary recently discovered in The Soudan, carved the beautiful designs on Egyptian monuments, traced the architecture of noble palaces and immortal buildings, still traceable in ruins more than three thousand years old, and other evidences of art, is manifesting itself at the present day among our Colored Americans and other descendants in foreign countries.

Consider Lethierre, once president of the School of Fine Arts at Rome, within our present generation, and view his paintings that now adorn the walls of the Louvre in Paris.

We should not omit Edmonia Lewis, the sculptress, whose admirable works required a residence in Rome, nor Henry Owassa Tanner, the eminent artist, whose gems of art are represented in the fine art museums of the world. There are numerous others but these are given to emphasize the point of present Ethiopian intellectual ability.

Among writers were Alexander Poushkin, the celebrated Russian poet. He was a Negro with curly hair and a black complexion, but a man of extraordinary talent and versatility, in prose fiction, and history as well as poetry.

Jose Maria Heredia, the greatest of Spanish-American poets, was a Colored man, likewise the poet Placidio.

106We can not forget Paul de Cassagnac, of France, editor, author and poet, who was also a Colored man.

Dumas, the noted dramatic author and novelist, was a colored man, and a most prolific popular author, poet, dramatist, novelist and essayist. That great production “Camille” is familiar to all theater-goers in the world, and when a man rises and says: “The world is mine,” he uses the language of Dumas’ Monte Christo, a world-wide novel that has been translated in all languages and performed on every stage.

We might go on for pages and refer to the Ethiopian intellect as something almost dominant in the world of letters in foreign countries, but must refer to our own Colored Americans as this work concerns them particularly.

We can claim as our own Williams, the historian, the first Colored American ever elected to the Ohio legislature, and at one time judge advocate of the G. A. R. of Ohio.

Phillis Wheatley, the girl who translated the Latin “Metamorphoses of Ovid” in Boston, which were republished in England as standard. Under the most distressing and adverse circumstances Phillis Wheatley became a scholar and a poetess of distinction and the associate of culture and refinement in Boston.

Paul Laurence Dunbar may be held up to all as an example worth following as a man, a poet, a novelist, and a journalist. At the age of twenty-one years he published his first book, “Oak and Ivy,” and followed it with others that commanded the attention and received the encomiums of the literary world in the United States. His poetry appeals to the heart and the hearth, and the intensity of thought displayed in his numerous writings is relieved by humor and quaint philosophy. Dunbar is a triumphant and unerring demonstration of Ethiopian intellect.

James B. Corrothers, the poet and prose writer, is another illustration of the power of applied intellect. Corrothers will be always known for the high order as well as humor of his writings, in the United States and in England where his “Jim Crow” idea of Negro fun is still supreme. Of his “The Black Cat Club,” a prominent literary and 107critical magazine, says: “The Black Cat Club should be commemorated by cultivated people of color as a second Emancipation Day.”

Charles W. Chesnutt, lawyer, writer, editor, historian and novelist, easily stands as a standard to be looked up to by the members of his race.

Miss Inez C. Parker, whose flights of fancy evolved from the higher realms of thought, betray the poetic gift of her race to a singular degree of beauty. As a poetess and writer, her destiny in aiding the uplift of humanity and helping it toward the universal goal, is manifest in every outpouring of her genius.

These are only a few of many, the most prominent now before the world. There are many others coming on and they will soon appear to the astonished eyes and ears of the people who have no thought of the great future and destiny of the Colored Americans.

The old folks revel in stories about the “Underground Railroad.” They traveled over it, and we may admit that it took them to liberty. We may even go farther than that, and say that it lifted from the shoulders of a great race, a weight that was crushing them down, and brought them into the land of “Opportunity.”

But all that is ancient history. What happened even yesterday is old, and we are too busy today working to take advantage of the things offered us today, and that will happen tomorrow, to dream about the past.

We are all working to make things turn out to our advantage, and the less we dwell about the past the closer we get to the golden fruit.

We are living in a practical age, and the man who does things prospers, while the dreamer starves or gropes about at the bottom of the ladder.

All men need things; want something done for them. It is good business policy to supply the wants and to do the things everybody wants done.

We mentioned the “Underground Railroad” as something that benefited the race; but we have its successor in the way of transportation that is reaping profit from that benefit.

That successor is the “Overground Railroad.” It is a system of transportation such as the world has never seen or used.

You ask: “What is an ‘Overground Railroad?’” Everybody can answer, or thinks he can, so he says: “Why, it is a railroad that runs over the land and transports passengers and freight.” But the answer 109does not hit the mark, for this particular Overground exercises a mightier power; possesses a wider influence than the mere haulage of passengers and freight.

It carries opportunity, activity, benefit, incentive, intelligence, knowledge, and progress to every corner of this great land and into every town, village, city, hamlet, even the cross-roads are reached.

It reaches every one of ten millions of a great race that less than two decades ago were forbidden opportunity, and compelled to travel over the “Underground Railroad.” Now, everything belonging to the great mass of mankind, or to which they are entitled or may aspire, is parceled out with lavish hand to all who wish to take. The effort is yours, the prize awarded you.

In round numbers there are about two hundred thousand miles of railroads in the United States, spreading out in every direction from ocean to ocean, and from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. Many of them reach over into Mexico and Canada.

On the trains operated by these railroads, there are thousands of Pullman cars, drawing-room and chair-cars. All of these cars are in the charge of Colored Americans, the sum total of their number running up into tens of thousands. These men are the posterity, the descendants of the passengers of the old “Underground Railroad.”

It is true philosophy that makes for education and wisdom, gives polish, affords incentives to ambition and a leaning toward high ideals, as well as offering opportunities—always bear in mind “Opportunity” for that is what counts. Now imagine the bright men and women that travel on these two hundred thousand miles of railroad. Imagine also, our ten thousand men circulating among them; mixing with them; in daily and hourly contact with them! Something must come of this association, and something does come, which something is of incalculable benefit.

The passengers on the Overground Railroad are men and women from every part of the world. They are the successful people; the experienced people, and the leaders of thought. They have taken opportunity by the forelock and ridden it to the finish. Otherwise they would not be able to travel.

110They are soldiers, statesmen, politicians, lawyers, clergymen, physicians, scientists, and everything that is the highest and noblest in the world.

Their number according to statistics, runs up into the hundreds of millions of passengers annually. Our ten thousand in the performance of their duties, listen to their interchange of opinions; note everything that is worth knowing; glean opportunities, and absorb information and wisdom.

If you have noticed any of these ten thousand off duty and on his way home, you can not have failed to see gentlemen.

These men are really the operators of our “Overground Railroad” in the highest sense of management. They are not mechanical, they are observing and possess the power of mental acquisitiveness, due to their surroundings and their contact with the passengers. They are the opposites of the patrons and passengers, and managers of the old “Underground Railroad,” which is switched off into the sidetrack of forgetfulness.

The Pullman man from New York City meets his brother Pullman employee from San Francisco, let us say, at St. Louis. Their regular stunt is about two thousand miles each, with the care of numbers of the passengers coming from tens of thousands of miles apart, from all over the globe, in fact.

That is all the outsider sees or learns. But when these men get away and apart, they exchange notes of everything that they have learned on the trip or has transpired on their routes. They are message bearers of everything they have learned new from their passengers.

Multiply this one instance with thousands of similar instances. 111We have every city in the world linked with every other city; every nationality brought in contact with every other nationality; every class and character of individual tied up with every other class of individuals, and these men are the great deposit reservoirs of everything.

They become laden with unlimited cosmopolitan and universal knowledge and information, charged with it as a bee is charged with honey in its flights from bush to bush and from flower to flower.

This is not an exaggeration, on the contrary, it is of such common knowledge that we think nothing about it. It is every-day fact that any one can see for himself by going to any railroad depot in the country.

We said these men are the great deposit reservoirs of everything, but unlike the most of our deposit reservoirs, they are also the sources of distribution through innumerable channels. Their business is like the training at a State Normal School with actual experience added in unlimited quantities. They go out from these training schools, or rather from this educational system belonging to every Overground Railroad and scatter knowledge, information, and opportunity. A word, even a hint, of what “a man told me on the run from New Orleans to Chicago,” and one or perhaps many, find themselves boosted into opportunities they never would have found without the operators on the Overground Railroad.

These Pullman employees are evangelists, news gatherers, and experienced men acquainted with the ways and doings of the world. They have homes, abiding places, wives, sweethearts, brothers, sisters, friends. They have their clubs and meeting places, and they unload their information and knowledge, mixed with opportunity, to ears greedy for advancement, and opportunities for betterment.

They scatter broadcast high aspirations and incentives to progress among the ten millions of the posterity of the patrons of the old Underground Railroad.

Through this means the most astounding results have been accomplished—results that have never happened any other race since the world began.

112The Israelites dwelt in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, and waited for a Moses to come and lead them out of their unpleasant environments. There were about six hundred thousand of them, and most of their posterity are still dreaming of the past.

The four millions that started the Underground Railroad, have increased to ten millions in a generation and a half, and they led themselves out to the promised land.

Imagine ten millions of any other race in the United States with perfect freedom of action! We might well shudder at what would happen us—happen the country. We do not feel that way about the posterity of the operators and passengers of the old Underground Railroad. They are peaceable, earnest students of the ways of civilization, and they are working upward—they are ambitious to learn and constantly devise methods of improving their condition in the same way all true American citizens are following. They have their homes, their children, and their attachments in our midst, in fact, they belong to our soil, and have no desire to depart elsewhere to spend their money. They are always ready to shed their blood for the Stars and Stripes, and are always willing to leap to the nation’s rescue, or to aid in promoting its welfare.

Where does the Colored race learn all these things? Not in the schools for they are limited, and live too much in the musty past, but the cap-sheaf of the education of the race, its maintenance as a factor in the civilization of the earth, is in their contact with the world, their absorption of the wisdom and experience of the world’s people, due in a great measure to the operators of the Overground Railroad.

Through this source the great race is learning that there is no vocation to which it may not aspire in time to come and the opportunities for intellectual development and its benefits are multiplying rapidly.

Already there is a great sprinkling of dark skins in every avenue of life, commerce, trade, science, and in everything that the white skin aspires to. Look down for a moment, and compare your state with that of the scavenger, the sewer digger, the section hand, and the grades of labor so attractive to foreign elements that come here to scrape up enough to return to their wallow in their various native lands. You are far above these and you belong here and you are rising with the best.

113You are put upon the initiative, and find out new ways of doing old things which is what makes civilization progress, and you have the door of opportunity invitingly open to you always. You have only to open your eyes to see opportunity within your grasp. You are associated with the management of the Overground Railroad.

SUCCESS THROUGH SELF HELP

The opportunities afforded by the Overground Railroad, in the way of obtaining information, can not be overestimated. It is, practically, a school of instruction that may be attended by any one, and who may follow the bent of his desires afterward.

There are two classes of people who may avail themselves of the educational process undertaken by the dissemination of information through the medium of the Overground Railroad: The man who is aided in his life work, and the man who must help himself. It is of the man who must help himself, of the “self-help” man, that there is more to be said of than the other. He represents the bone, sinew and brains of the nation.

When a man or woman succeeds in reaching a high position through his or her own efforts, or in attaining a point from which the work of a lifetime begins, and in the direction of success, the pride of attainment is justifiable.

There are many who have the strength of purpose and the will power to utilize the forces of mind and body within them, and develop themselves with the aid of that power.

The man or woman who sits with folded hands waiting for someone to help him, or for something to turn up or come his way, so that he can seize upon it without trouble or labor, is too far gone in uselessness in the present age to be worth trying to lift up.

114We are all interdependent in this world of business, but must not imagine that because we must live with and do business with others, that we can depend solely upon those others. Every man must stand upon his own ability and exertions.

The men who do this succeed through self-help, self-reliance, self-knowledge, and self-sufficiency. The greatest men in history are those who worked themselves up from humble surroundings and against tremendous odds. It is always the brain that conceives the thought, and the strong arm that executes the mandates of the thought. Where the physical arm is not strong enough, the brain quickly conceives a method of supplying the difficulty.

It was the boast of the philosopher Archimedes that he could move the world if he could find a fulcrum for his lever. The modern man is so far advanced that he finds a fulcrum for his lever, and if he does not move the earth, he moves a large part of it.

If we take the pains to look about us, we shall find every avenue of human endeavor occupied by self-made men. These men originated in the most humble surroundings, but lifted themselves up through the sheer force of their own energy of character and vital force backed by persistence.

The history of the world has pages about the men who sprang up from humble sources and amid the greatest difficulties. They overcame them somehow, some say by the aid of Providence, but we know that it was through innate courage, brains, energy and persistence.

Every man may raise himself up by his own efforts, indeed, the man who uses another as his ladder will soon find himself leaning on a broken reed, and amount to very little in this world of struggle and competition.

Who knows better what a man can do than the man himself? There are always hidden sources of strength in every man, and he alone is able to bring them into use. Remember one point in this age of competition: Learn how to do things, and then set about doing them of your own accord. The man who waits to be pushed ahead seldom finds any pushers. This is the wisdom of experience, and will not bear argument, so true it is.

In all ages of the world physical development has been regarded as a preparation for health and the successful beginning of a life work.

The ancients had a maxim to the effect that there should be a healthy mind in a healthy body, and that there could not be a healthy mind in an unhealthy body.

In these days when good health and a companion physical development are so much in demand, you must train yourself for your life work in such a way as to merit a selection for the best positions.

Here is the reason why a man is often turned aside from a position where he might be mentally qualified. One look at him explains the reason for his failure to be given the opportunity. He is not physically developed.

The times and the business undertaken by every man is strenuous. He must be prepared for hardships, and will never attain any good position if he carries that in his body or face which indicates inability to stand the strain or liability to succumb under it.

Nobody wants a man who will work along for a shorter or longer 116time and then break down and be obliged to quit altogether or for time enough to recuperate.

This physical training is now called “Athletics,” and it must be practiced advisedly and not at random. It is for the promotion of health and manly vigor, just as much as bathing is for the promotion of cleanliness and health.

ETHIOPIANS NEARLY PERFECT

Among the Colored race, there are many splendid types of athletes. In the old days, the Ethiopian was considered a masterpiece of physical architecture. He entered any list where muscular power was to be exhibited and carried off the victory. In great trials of strength and wrestling he had no superior.

As the Ethiopian was in the past, his descendants in our Colored Americans are today. In football, baseball, rowing and in wrestling, the Colored American has no superior in skill or prowess.

Particularly is this the case in the college-trained athlete. His prowess has brought him fame, his skill and courage have gained for him the respect and admiration of thousands. Not only that, but it is easily established from ocular evidence that nearly every college athlete of prominence has worn his honors with modesty.

There is a native muscular development in the Colored American of healthy and good habits, which, if directed in the right channels of athletic activities would lower many a record.

Physical training including athletics is becoming a well outlined course in every school for colored youth. When in the hands of experienced teachers, and developed under the direction of a department of physical education, it will lift our Colored Americans up a few notches higher in the scale of manhood.

There can be no question about its value as a developer of manhood and a health producer. But never as a prize-fighting school. This of itself is debasing in the extreme. We are growing away from the mercenary brutality of former years, and all classes are vying with one another to engage in a contest of development that will make for manhood.

117Our schools and colleges are aware of the difference between athletics for health and manhood and the debasing school of the prizefighter. They are introducing it in many instances, and the course offers an opportunity not to be ignored or lost. Young man, your physical nature is part and parcel of your intellectual condition.

Physical exercise is as essential to the growth of the human body as drink and food is for nourishment.

The human body is developed by muscular exertion, and its good health and perfect growth depend upon the regular practice of some form of motion that will bring into use all the various parts of the system.

When we say “regular practice” we mean that if it is desired to maintain the body in a good condition for the uses and occupations of life, exercises must be practiced every day—not once in a while, or at random.

The man or woman whose muscles are trained in line with the occupation pursued for a livelihood, is better fitted to become perfect in that occupation than one who does not take exercise, or not enough to keep his usable muscles well trained. Nobody can play the piano perfectly unless the muscles of the fingers, hand, and wrist have undergone a severe training. It is the same with driving a nail, digging a garden, singing a song, or anything requiring muscular exertion, the muscles put into use must be trained, or there is no perfection in the work.

The first and most important muscle training, in fact the very essence of physical development, is in breathing. The lungs must have oxygen to supply the blood, and the oxygen being in the air we breathe, the more we can put into the lungs, the better for development.

In breathing, the muscles of the chest are expanded in proportion to the length of the breath taken. The lungs should be filled to their full capacity, and this can only be done by taking long, deep breaths, slowly and evenly, swelling out the chest to its widest extent.

The inspiration of the breath should be commenced slowly and 118continued evenly until no more air can be inhaled. Then the respiration, or breathing out should be slow and continuous until you feel the necessity of taking another breath.

To breathe properly, there must not be anything to restrict the swelling of the muscles of the chest. Any posture that will give these muscles free action is proper. Standing, lying, arms extended, held over the head, head thrown back or forward, are all suitable positions for deep breathing.

One point to be always borne in mind, is to breathe deep and full whatever work you are engaged in. In running, the breath is apt to come in short, snappy volumes, or panting. In hard muscular work with the arms it is customary to measure the breaths by the exertion employed in the work. All this is not conducive to deep breathing, and it may be overcome by a little practice. Try running and at the same time breathe slowly and deeply and you will run faster and tire out less quickly.

Always breathe through the nostrils and never through the mouth. If you have to open your mouth to breathe, it is either habit or because the nostrils are clogged. In the latter case they should be cleared out to permit drawing in a deep inhalation of air through the channel nature intended.

The exercises for breathing should be preliminary to any other exercise of the muscles. The reason for this: Every exercise or movement of the body either when at work or at play, consumes or burns up a certain amount of the tissues of the body and these used up tissues must be replaced, or nature will very soon call a halt and refuse to permit you to do any work or play—the body becomes used up. The waste of the body is replaced by the oxygen taken into the lungs through breathing, and a person may eat all sorts of nourishing foods, and take all kinds of remedies to restore his weariness and bring him up to his work, but none of them will be of any avail without the air drawn into the lungs by the breath. There is where the stomach, the blood, the liver, the heart, etc., obtain the essential element of oxygen to stimulate them into activity.

119With our breathing regulated, the next step is to begin developing the other muscles of the body. There is at this point a good rule to follow which is: Train every muscle of the body uniformly to acquire a general development along every organ and muscle. This general muscular training should be begun with the child at an early age, and be conditioned upon his strength for their quantity of exercise. So a weak person can not stand as much or as strong exercise as a stronger person. Every one must be his own judge in this matter. Many noted men have brought on a fatal illness from over exertion or over exercise at a late age when their system was not prepared to withstand violent methods. It is said that James G. Blaine began a course of gymnastic exercises in the belief that he would gain strength, but it killed him. The younger a beginning is made at gymnastics, the better it will be in after life.

One point to be remembered is: Never overstrain or attempt to harden the body. Every shock is dangerous, and the delicate mechanism of the human body must be handled gently until it can bear greater strains. To plunge into violent exercises without previous training is as bad as using a delicate and costly watch as a base ball and expect it to keep good time.

To train all the muscles of the body uniformly as a beginning of muscular or physical development, prepares a foundation for any special muscle training that may be desired, and guarantees success where failure would most undoubtedly result from the special training first. All the muscles of the body are interdependent. One of them cannot be trained alone without affecting another one, or drawing upon it for material to supply the waste already spoken of. But when all are trained, then it is easy to pass to the training of any special muscle.

To begin a general training or muscular development of the body, it should be borne in mind that it is the muscles that hold the body up and not the bones. Both are essential to the human construction, but the muscles play a more important part in the bodily movements than the bones. Few people consider that to stand or sit properly 120the muscles of the body must be trained. The poise of the head, the erect position of the shoulders, the proper holding of the arms and hands, depend upon the training and development of the arms and shoulders. Most persons are negligent in this respect and allow the upper part of their bodies to hang by their bones. This is noticeable in those who are “stoop shouldered,” a habit which becomes fixed. The first thing a soldier is trained to do is to stand erect and hold himself up by his muscles. No person who can not control his upper muscles will acquire any grace or beauty of movement. The use of Indian clubs, even an ordinary chair, would be something to grasp and swing about to train the upper muscles, all the time breathing slowly and as deep as possible. Grasp something tight with the hands and swing it about the head or up in the air, or round and round and keep it up a certain length of time every day. Throwing a ball is good for the muscles of the arm, shoulders and back particularly. Let the muscles have free play is the rule to follow in every variety of exercise.

The muscles of the lower limbs come next in the order of development systematically, although they should be exercised at the same time as the muscles of the upper portion of the body. The object of this is to prevent over-development of any series of muscles by training all simultaneously.

The muscles of the lower limbs include those of the hips down to the extremity of the toes. Persons in sedentary occupations MUST exercise these muscles under penalty of having them become feeble, flabby and unreliable. With such persons, as age creeps on, the steps become uncertain and “wobbly,” presenting the appearance of extreme age even before middle age has been reached.

Those who walk much should take systematic exercise for the benefit of the lower muscles, because the occupation requiring the use of the lower muscles fixes them in a groove or habit not conducive to control. That is, the muscles become set in a certain direction, whereas, it is essential to enable them to move freely and easily in any direction.

121The best exercises for standing, sitting, and walking are those directed by the will power or energy acting directly upon all the muscles and maintaining an equilibrium so that gradual development of the entire body will be reached.

This is accomplished by what is known as “flexible action,” in the lines of changing curves which distinguishes the beauty and grace of motion from mere strength.

There are three phases in this natural development: Angular, circular and spiral. The human form poised squarely on both feet is the spiral, the head a convexed curve, the body a concave curve, and the legs a convexed curve, like a wave line. To preserve this spiral line of changing curves, the weight is always thrown against the strong side so as to develop the weak side and maintain an equilibrium. Standing should be principally upon the balls of the feet, and the exercise should be to incline the body to and from the opposite curves. There should be no slouching at the hips. In walking, stand erect, feet together, abdomen in, chest up, and shoulders firm. Then advance the thigh and let the leg hang free from the knee down. Straighten the leg and plant the ball of the foot in advance with the toes straight in front, and so on alternately with each foot, carrying the head erect with the chin drawn well in.

To sit down let the muscles come into play and not the bones, as it is through the muscles only that gracefulness can be acquired. To rise from a sitting to a standing position, all the muscles should work in unison and the body arise at once to a standing position. To kneel the same play of the general muscles should be applied. A cow or a camel is not very graceful when performing the act of kneeling preparatory to lying down, but that is because they are animals and not human. The mere act of touching the hat in salutation is graceful or awkward as the muscles are trained. A graceful sweeping curve of the arm, a gentle bend of the muscles of the neck, inclining to a curved bow, and the salutation is graceful. Otherwise the motion is raw and provocative of an idea of ill breeding.

122While exercising the muscles of the body simultaneously, we are not only acquiring grace and suppleness, but we are strengthening the various muscles and enabling them to develop along the lines of their natural curves. By a systematic training, the surface of the body becomes filled or rounded out, all angularity disappears, and the various muscles work or slide smoothly over one another and each one fits into the proper place without a jar or wrinkle. Even the face may be trained to the avoidance of wrinkles and seams by a trifle of exercise applied to the muscles. The main point being to prevent any muscular habit which means a wrinkle or a seam. Massage alone may do some good in this respect, but the muscles of the face should be worked through the will power.

In line with exterior physical development, the interior muscles should not be forgotten. The proper play of the interior muscles, those belonging to the heart, the lungs, the intestines, stomach, etc., are all more or less affected by exterior exercises tending toward physical development. Flabbiness of exterior begets flabbiness of the interior muscles, and this means an imperfect action which ends in inability to resist disease, or the encroachments of age and hardening of the walls of the arteries.

Movement is the law of nature and whatever does not or can not move is considered dead to the scientists, or on the way to death. Every atom of the human body is in motion toward the maintenance of life in the muscles of every kind. The blood circulates rapidly, so rapidly that any perfumed substance injected into the blood at a finger point, is immediately tasted by the mouth. So with the lymph channels which convey nourishment to the blood for distribution to all the muscles to keep them up to their work. The billions of atoms that constitute the flesh of the muscles and of the nerves, are in constant motion, without which, the body would lose all energy and become inert. By exercising the muscles constantly and uniformly, we are giving the atoms of the human system free and full play, and enabling them to perform their functions. We may indeed say, that exercise and physical development mean LIFE.

There are four professions, callings or vocations, which are justly styled “learned professions,” because they carry with them the highest degree of intelligence, tact, and wisdom.

They are so common, however, in these modern times, that many of their followers do not command the respect to which their calling is entitled, and hence, the professions themselves have greatly fallen into disrepute; particularly so when it comes to select one of them for a life work.

Viewing the teacher, the doctor, the lawyer, and the clergyman from the common standpoint, there is no money in the professions.

Here is where the trouble lies. To be a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, or a clergyman for the sake of what can be made out of either, is to insult the noblest professions in the world. They are what have kept the world together since the beginning, and we should take our hats off to them out of respect.

The lawyer’s duty is to protect his client’s civil rights and keep society within the law.

The doctor preserves the health of his patients while they are about their business, and the clergyman points out the way to a hereafter that may mean our eternal weal or woe.

In the chapter on “Opportunities,” we show that these professions are within the reach of any one who possesses an aptitude and has the brains to acquire proficiency.

As to brains, let it be understood that everybody possesses sufficient brains for any avocation in life, but they must be properly fed or 124trained to be of use. Most men’s brains are of the same weight and measurement. But some very learned men have possessed very small brains, while men of the most magnificent proportions, but as ignorant as men can be and feed themselves, have been known to possess brains of double the weight of the learned.

We give the manner of training brain in another place, but assume here that the young man who desires to enter either one of the three professions we are treating of, must have the aptitude and the brains.

The aptitude is the trend of the mind in the direction of the profession chosen. It must be a “first and only love,” so to speak, for the brain is an exacting master or mistress and easily changes if not cuddled and humored.

Back of and aiding aptitude, is the humanity demanded of every man of either of these professions. When life hangs in the balance the doctor is called upon to display the tenderest humanity. If a man is to be sent to poverty through loss of his liberty or property the lawyer must exhibit all the refinements of skill and humanity without regard to his fees. The human soul striving to reach the eternal goal of rest, peace, and happiness, appeals to the highest heart throbs of the clergyman. If you can not enter into this spirit, then do not choose either of these learned professions for you will prove a failure.

The learning required to master either of these professions can be acquired only after the most painstaking and arduous study. To learn the essence of things, the meaning of life and death, the movements that produce life and death, and the symptoms that proclaim disease, come within the purview of the doctor. How can he tell what will be the effect of his medicine unless he knows what the disease is and what effect upon the human body will be his medicines? He must know intimately the thousand and one essential parts of the human body, how they operate and their effects. If in aiming at one part he affect another, death may ensue.

Have you a steady hand, controllable nerves, and a cool brain? 125You need them all to perfection to be a surgeon and apply the knife in order to cure suffering humanity. The surgeon must stand in the presence of a mortal enemy with his finger pressed to the trigger of his weapon and watch for the exact instant when he shall press it to save life.

The lawyer must possess not only an intimate acquaintance with the laws of the land, but must have delved deep into the underlying principles that form the foundation of all law and government. Logic, tact, patience, and verbal skill with ready wit on all occasions, are to him what the electric spark is to a motor. It was said by a learned judge that many cases were lost where justice should have prevailed to win, because of a failure to properly present the matter to the court.

It is not a loud voice, a browbeating disposition, or a pompous bearing that bring success, it is the careful close reasoner, the quiet mole that undermines the solid earth foundation of his opponent, and topples it down.

The clergyman is a man of sacrifices. His own opinions go for naught because he is not the maker of justice and right, but their exponent. He sees beyond the faint traces of what we humans call “love,” a powerful love that rules the world—the love of God—and he puts the two together so that the lesser will be absorbed in the greater.

The great trouble may seem to be the variety of different sects and the difficulty to select the right one. Man, they are all aiming in the right direction. They point toward the sky, and bring a man’s manhood in line with the soul, his spiritual part, and the imperishable part. There is no room for bigotry, no room for anything but charity, and loving kindness.

The way to success in anything is always an upward climb, the down grade is always a flat failure.

In considering this matter, it will be well to remember and bear constantly in mind, that it is easier to slide down hill than it is to climb up.

The road to and up the slope of the hill of life is roomy enough and to spare for everybody, and there need not be any crowding. But the way is strewn with wrecks, many submerged before beginning their journey, others lodged in some cranny half way up, and others start up so bravely and so rashly that they can not stop at the summit where the prize is situated, but their momentum carries them over and down to the bottom on the other side.

The steady, earnest worker plods along, sees that his footing is firmly fixed before he takes a next step. He grabs at some retaining point and never lets go of it until he has hold of another support.

When he reaches the top, he can stop and breathe, likewise flatter himself that he has succeeded by hard work and steady perseverance.

The fact is, that unless a man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, that is, well provided by his ancestors with a goodly supply of this world’s goods, there is no royal road to anything. No man can roll about like a smooth pebble and hope to land into a mossy hollow.

When a man starts off on a voyage he generally has some definite destination in view, some object to be attained when he reaches it. Nobody can spend his life traveling about for the mere purpose of keeping 127in motion. There is no advantage in this except to the transportation companies.

Here is the keynote to success—character. We do not know what character is, we know only that it accomplishes results.

Why do some men succeed and others fail, assuming that they all start out on the same plane equally well equipped? The reason why can not be told, it lies in the man himself, it is his character.

We are living in an age when new things are utilized; new ways of doing business are demanded. We run to specialties more than we did in the past. Even ten years make a difference in business methods.

Not so very long ago, one man made everything about a machine. If he had a watch to make, he made the case, the wheels, the springs and all the parts, and also put them together into a perfect instrument. Now, a dozen or more men make, not the watch, but each of the several parts. The cases are machine made by one man; another rolls the springs, another turns the screws, another the wheels, and so on. Every thing is done piecemeal, so to speak, and none of the workers is able to make a perfect watch. So it is with clothing, with furniture, tin and iron ware.

The doctor is a specialist. Something ails your eyes—you must go to an eye specialist, the throat specialist knows nothing about the eyes. Have you a fever? You go to a bacteriologist to find out what germ is infecting you. Formerly you took a dose of salts and senna, or other nauseating drug.

You have a case of collection, but your regular lawyer makes a specialty of criminal cases and can not help you. Perhaps you have been injured in an automobile accident and want damages from the owner, but your regular lawyer does not know anything about damage cases, he is a corporation lawyer, or a divorce lawyer, or a patent attorney, or takes admiralty cases only.

A bookkeeper applies for employment. Do you know anything about cards? This is the question. You know about playing cards, but the employer keeps his accounts on loose cards, not in heavy books.

128There is division of labor in every pursuit, and no man can become learned in all of one thing. He may acquire a smattering, but there are no more universal geniuses, the world of industry has become complicated, unlimited, and special.

We see then, the futility of trying all of one thing or aspiring to reach all of one thing. You can not succeed because you have a mere smattering of many details, and not a perfect knowledge of any single detail.

This however, makes the road to success much easier than in the old days. You can become perfect in some one thing, and life is not too short to learn it; it can be mastered.

It goes without saying, that in our intercourse with men we must put them on an equality with us and place ourselves on an equality with them. Are you an inferior man? Then go elsewhere for employment. “I want skilled workmen,” says the employer. “I want a physician that will cure me, not one to experiment upon me,” says the sick man. It is always man to man now-a-days. No cringing, remember, and on the other hand, no bluffing.

The people of the earth are made up generally of three classes: optimists, pessimists, indifferents.

The radical optimist floats in a balmy spring air on a rosy cloud, stringing his banjo and singing lullabies to the gorgeously feathered songsters that surround him.

The pessimist is like a fly with its wings stuck on fly paper, and bemoans his fate as that of every other fly.

The indifferent is a devil-may-care sort of a person who does not care whether the sun shines, or whether it rains.

The extreme optimist is too happy to be of any use on earth; the pessimist sends us all to perdition and is afraid to walk under a ladder lest it fall on him, while the indifferent is of no use because he does not take any interest in the things around him. He is usually a tramp, or a free lunch fiend. He will offer to shovel the snow from your walks in July, and gladly offer his services as a harvest hand in January.

Apart from indifference, which is the offspring of the other two, optimism and pessimism, though extremes, meet among men, but possess different working machinery. One is really the aid of the other.

The earth was created in an optimistic spirit. Of that there can be no doubt in the mind of any man who believes in creation at all. But by the extraordinary conduct of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, this creation by the supreme Optimist, was changed into the most radical of pessimistic ventures—judged from the human standpoint, of course. We hear it from the most pious divines and it is probably correct.

130A large gulf was dug in the original optimism and filled with the darkness of pessimism, where, floundering in it, man looks back to the joys lost to him forever by another’s folly, and then forward to the forbidding cliffs that bar his entrance to the joys to come, unless he engage in a mighty struggle and a hand-to-hand conflict with his animal nature. He may and must scale the cliffs.

It is quite certain that the evils said to be afflicting the people of the earth can never be cured by optimistic fancies, no more than can the racking pains and galling sores of the bedridden be healed by their concealment, or by covering them with a blanket of joy.

Financially, the man pressed by dire want, fancies the earth is ready to come to an end, whereas, the man with substantial wealth treads in a garden of flowers. The pangs of hunger find a lodging place in the stomach of a pessimist, while a royal good dinner is the joy of an optimist. The man in jail looks through a darkened glass, but his jailer sees all things bright and clear.

Optimism is a comparative virtue; pessimism a relative vice. Love is the destroyer of pessimism, while bankruptcy withers optimism at a touch. The contest between the two is like a perpetual game of tenpins, in which the pins are constantly overthrown to be as constantly re-set, and the score of the game is always a tie.

Our modern extreme optimists bewilder us with vain ideals. They flatter themselves with high sounding words and vague and dreamy utterances that entangle many, but which mitigate no evils, redress no wrongs, soothe no pain, cure no wounds.

“I am so sorry,” said a gentle optimist over a man who had just been run over by an automobile and both legs broken, and she wrung her hands in pity.

“I am sorry five dollars worth,” said a rough old heathen pessimist in the crowd as he passed his hat for money to relieve the poor man’s family.

Whenever a human wrong has been righted, an enslaved nation freed, a sinner brought to salvation, there has always been a pessimist 131at the beginning of the work, while the optimist came in later and realized the profits from the work.

There is a philosophy practiced by the optimist to be found in the lines of a great poet:

A philosophy that plunges men down into a gulf of despair, without hope of relief, without power to defend himself and his against oppression and injustice. It is a philosophy which, carried to its ultimate optimistic length, leads to the depths in which are sunk all those who bear upon their banner the legend:

There is less hope for those who climb to dizzy heights of optimistic congratulation, than for those plunged in the dark gulf of pessimistic woe, for to the latter there shall come a new heaven and a new earth, and former things shall pass away. But the former have forestalled their future abiding place by a creation out of their own presumption.

Here we have it—“presumption.” This is a worse condition than the despair of the pessimist, for the latter is constantly striving to get out of the slough of Despond, whereas the former is so puffed up with pride at his own achievements, that he is hidebound in the thralls of his own goodness and perfection.

The great fear of the extremes of optimism and pessimism is the danger of falling into indifference. When a man refuses to take advantage of the opportunities presented him, and says: “What’s the use?” his life is ended so far as any activity is concerned, and he is a useless member of society.

Be neither extreme, and remember that while there is life there is hope. The quality of optimism must be strained through the sieve of common sense.

When a hungry man is seated before an appetizing meal, his mouth waters in anticipation and he experiences the joys of anticipated satisfaction.

Every mouthful lingers on his palate with a delicious sensation and when his hunger is satisfied, a feeling of intense comfort steals over him. He is at peace with the world, and forgives his enemies. Any favor you ask, if within his power to grant, will not be refused.

It is the same with a thirsty man. A delicious invigorating drink—and there is none preferable to water—gurgles down his parched throat and he smacks his lips with enjoyment.

All these matters together with other pleasurable sensations are purely physical and passing. They must be renewed to be experienced, and when the physical nature is out of order or does not respond, we are in a very bad condition if we have nothing else to fall back upon.

Physical enjoyments are all sensual. The nerves thrill with excitement and the world looks good to us and mighty pleasant. A few flies to pester us are mere details and not to be considered.

But we have another being separate and apart from the physical body; something much finer and more elevated. A being that is of a higher order of appreciation and more enduring.

Every man knows without being told, that is, he knows from his own feelings and sensations, that he has a spiritual nature, a mental body, a mind.

Now, this mental body, this mind, is far above the physical, and its pleasures and sensations, and its delights are as far above the physical sensations as the spirit or mind is above the flesh.

We said that a hungry man enjoys eating. This is true, but all hungry men do not eat alike. Some men bolt their food to appease hunger, and swill their drink to quench thirst. But others enjoy their food and while satisfying hunger and thirst, gratify their taste and enjoy certain foods more than others. These others have what is called “educated” appetites, which is a mental acquisition above the purely animal sensation of satisfying hunger or thirst. It is an art to be cultivated.

If the pleasures of the flesh are so enjoyable, then the pleasures of the mind are still more enjoyable, because the mind is more appreciative besides more enduring.

The food of the mind, the drink of the mind, means all the other pleasures of the flesh resolved into the spiritual body through education and learning, and the more education, the more learning, the higher the enjoyment.

A great lawyer once said: “The pleasure of learning may be likened to a bucket in a deep well of clear, cool water. It is easy to move the bucket about if it is kept beneath the water, but when we attempt to raise it above the surface, then comes a tug and a hard pull.” Whence he derived the conclusion that the deeper we plunge into the clear, cool depths of education and learning the more pleasure there is and the easier it is to remain there.

In these modern days every man must have some sort of an education, preferably that for the occupation or profession which he selects for his life work.

If he goes in for a commercial business, then he must learn all about the rules and laws governing his business or the branch of it he aspires to learn. He must know all about the nature of the goods he purposes to sell; the markets; the prices; the demand; the production; the consumption, and other matters connected with the business.

134If he does not learn these things he will fail in business, and if he does not learn some of them he can not get a job in any business house.

The rule is the same in every trade and profession. The modern man is exacting. He demands the best service, because his customers or clients demand better goods, better qualities, and better treatment.

The time has gone by when a tradesman, for instance, could offer goods to his customer with a “take it or leave it” air. Competition is too keen to permit that, and prices are too liable to be cut to enable him to say, “That’s my price,” for there are others who will say, “I will knock off ten per cent.”

An education that does not fit in with a man’s occupation is a relaxation, and aids him to rise in his business and profession, so that nothing is lost by keeping up with the times, but there is everything to be gained. This is refinement and a valuable asset. Everything that can be learned is worth something sometime.

How to tell a fresh egg from a stale one is a matter of education, but to give the reason why a stale egg is not so good as a fresh one is a matter of learning.

You can distinguish one man from another by his facial differences. That is education, but when you can tell a good man from a bad one by a study of his characteristics, that is learning.

To learn how to do things is education, but to learn the nature of the things you make or the reasons why involves learning.

The housewife in making bread sets the loaves of dough in a warm place so that they will rise. This is education, and her education tells her that if she puts the dough in a cold place the bread will not rise. If she knew that the yeast plant requires heat to grow, and is easily killed by cold, she is learned.

If you eat a cucumber or any green fruit in the hot summer time you are liable to get the colic. You are educated up to that by experience, perhaps. But if you know that nature always gives you a pain when you eat something indigestible, as a warning to get rid of it, or not to do so any more, you will be learned indeed, if you take a cathartic instead of a pain killer to stop the pain or warning nature gives you.

135We can not live among our fellow men without an education of some kind, adaptable

Second—suitable and proper to the people with whom we associate or are placed in contact in our daily round of business and pleasure.

We can live and get along through life without any learning, but learning adds to education and enables us to apply what we learn. Besides that, it puts us in a position to rise higher, the more learned we become.

It is not intended, by these remarks, to advise any one to learn everything there is to be learned, for the very good reason there are too many things in these modern times for one man’s brain to hold. But it may be taken as a truth, that a man should be learned along the line of his trade, business, or profession, with a few enjoyments for good measure.

It is easy to learn, in fact one thing brings another. Like some food we eat—one mouthful makes us hungry for another. Our modern system is so linked and connected together, that every thing that may or can be learned is a link in the great entire chain. You begin pulling at the educational chain and find that you can not stop. You feel impelled to keep on taking up link after link, until before you are aware of it, you have mastered some definite branch of learning through the force of education.

One thing to be noted is, what one man knows another man can find out. The only way, therefore, is to keep ahead of him and learn things he can not find out, or will not find out until too long afterward to be of any disadvantage to you.

The theory of the survival of the fittest is agitating the world more than ever before. But it has changed its significant title to what is known now as “Eugenics,” which means substantially “well born,” or good birth.

Briefly speaking, it is claimed that it is a law of nature that the weakest shall go to the wall, and that the strongest shall survive. In carrying out this doctrine, the ancient nations, Sparta, for example, put to death all the weak and decrepit children, permitting only the strong and well-shaped physically to live.

In our day, the scientists, or rather those who claim to be scientific, advocate the same practice in a different but equally as effective a manner.

The doctrine of “selection,” as it is termed, has been invented to cover up the Spartan tragedy of murdering the helpless, and by it, it is hoped our admitted degeneracy will be stopped.

I do not apply the term “degeneracy” to the Colored people, because degeneracy works back to a type and not away from it in the human family. The average Colored American is too near the pure type of his race to be in a very deep degeneracy, but the word must be applied to the mixed races of the Aryan, Caucasian, of whom it would be vain to find a pure type except among the Georgians of Asia.

In explaining the doctrine of the survival of the fittest, or eugenics, to give it its modern name, it is said that those who fail in life, fail because they are not fitted to succeed, that is they are not “fit.” This is called a law of nature. It is purposed to overcome this law of nature, 137by selecting the parents by a medical examination or other process, and confine parentage to them exclusively.

In other words, to prevent humanity from becoming any worse than it is, the people who are to marry and bear children shall be of the very best and highest type, and then their children will be finely developed and make perfect citizens and become parents to other children.

But where shall we begin and what is the type aimed to reach as the standard? It is important to the Colored man to know the meaning of this movement to better the race, and also to discover what race is to be the standard of excellence.

Who are the strongest that shall be permitted to survive, and who are the weakest whose death knell is sounded?

It must be borne in mind in the outset, that all this controversy is among the Caucasian, or as it is called in other places of this book, the “Aryan” race, or division of the human family. It has not yet reached the Colored race, nor has it been applied to them particularly. Hence, let the Colored man stand outside and look on with interest, and also watch that the theory does not spread to his race.

A man who lives in the slums is unfit to live anywhere else, so it is said. A man who has made a million by a turn in the stock market, lives in a palace, but can only write his name to a check, and can not tell a spade from a rake. J. Pierpont Morgan possessed boundless wealth and tremendous power in the financial world. Walt Whitman, the humane poet, had a small competence and no power at all except to touch the hearts of mankind. Burns was a plowman; Bunyan a tinker; a writer of slang and jokesmith, makes a million; Brigham Young was a prophet and a ruler, wealthy and honored; Stevenson was in the last stages of tuberculosis; Byron was a cripple; Johnson was a glutton, and the composer of a silly ragtime waltz owns an automobile and keeps a valet and a chauffeur.

Which of these shall we select as the type, and how are we going to tell whether the offspring of our selections will come up to the type?

Modern medical scientists declare in the most positive terms, that 138every child is born free from infectious diseases, and at the moment of its birth is a perfect type. That the first breath it draws fills it with the germs of future diseases that tend to make it a weak and diseased abortion of humanity. All its troubles come from its surroundings or environments, which are the conditions it must meet and with which it must struggle to live at all.

It may avoid future disease from the infecting germs it breathes at the moment of birth, by making its environments better, purer and altering the bad conditions under which it lives.

We know, because we can see it every day, that of two plants or animals, that one will survive which is the fittest to endure the conditions in which both exist. He, the man, or it, the plant, can be afforded opportunities in the way of good food, care, and proper training, to resist the encroachments of disease and degenerate conditions.

Hence, we may say, that the question of which man shall survive, depends upon the conditions under which he shall struggle for survival.

There is no law of nature here, it is the law of common sense and good government. We are surrounded by conditions best suited for strength and survival, and the conditions which promote weakness, disease and degeneracy are removed or beyond our reach.

In a nation of marauders or robbers, those who live by spoliation and the sword, would be the fittest to survive, and they would be a different type of men from those who get first place in a nation of traders, where fierceness and strength are less called for than tenacity of purpose and clearness of head.

When a man says he is poor, somebody says, that man is poor because he is not fitted to gain wealth. But we say, he is not fitted to gain wealth under the conditions of his life. Take him out of those conditions, put opportunities in his way and he becomes “fit” because he gains wealth. It is done every day.

One condition of society enables one kind of a man to succeed, another condition of society enables another kind of man to succeed. And so on all along the long line of different conditions.

The great mistake made by many so-called scientific purifiers of the 139human race, is in not being able to separate man with reason from animals or beasts without reasoning powers. There is such a thing as intellectual progress and the betterment of the reasoning faculties, but so long as we limit survivorship to the physical and not to the mental powers, we are betraying man into degeneracy instead of helping him out of it.

There is one great teacher whose lessons are to be learned and deeply pondered. They lead to an uplift that no money, and no medical examination, or selection, can possibly attain. He was poor and forsaken; rejected by his own, but he was and is the type to be attained. In establishing the highest type possible to man with reasoning powers, he ran counter to the doctrine of the survival of the fittest as men saw it in his day, so they crucified Him but too late to efface the type which we must follow or fall into degeneracy.

His opportunity has blossomed out of conditions unparalleled in the history of nations.

Too many have been plodding along in a furrow afraid to come out of the rut. They have lived, it is true, but they have not touched success. All animals live, but man has higher motives than mere existence.

Enterprise, business, commerce, capital, government demand a man who dares. Many leaders have fallen beneath the spell of malignant influence, and have dragged down into the pit with them, respect, honor, confidence, and honesty.

An army of men who dare is needed to drag up out of the pit and into our every day lives, the respect, honor, confidence, and honesty, groveling in the mud at the bottom, and the nationality, color, or race makes no difference, they are needed among all classes.

The eyes of the world are turned toward the inscription, “I will,” on the banner of the man who dares, as he hurdles across all obstacles and brings back to its pedestal, virtue, that has been dragged away into disreputable haunts.

The man who dares to venture out into new and undeveloped fields fills the pages of history; his name is blazoned in heavy head-lines on the front page of every newspaper and magazine. He does not have to seek after fame, he is sought.

The man who dares is no rash, reckless fool who rushes in where angels fear to tread.

141He lets “I dare” follow upon “I will,” and plunges into the tide of the affairs of men, and at its flood, is led on to victory.

He is brave and courageous with regard to men, but is a coward with regard to God, wherefore he fears to worship the Golden Calf; to swear, to steal, or cheat, or swindle; to degrade his neighbor’s wife; to covet his neighbor’s property.

Why do you fail to reach success? Why do you lag behind in a world so stuffed with opportunities and possibilities?

He has no hand held out behind for bribes, nor before for alms. He reaches out and takes, and those from whom he takes are loud in their praise of him, because he represents a force they would fain exercise but dare not.

The power that impels him is dynamic. It grows out of an inertia charged with the vibration of living eternal forces—a training that fits him to propel himself into chaos and evolve order and profit—out of an education that shows him how—out of a system that changes to suit altered conditions—out of the same mighty impulses that have fashioned the conquerors of armies, or nations, leaders of men, the world’s financiers, the masters of commerce, the uplifters, governors and kings of men.

LIFE AND ALL IT IMPLIES, ALL ITS INCIDENTS, HAPPINESS, RENOWN, COMPENSATIONS, ARE IN THE TRAIN OF THE MAN WHO DARES. HE MAY EVEN SCALE THE WALLS OF PARADISE TO GAIN A CROWN OF ETERNAL GLORY.

Life and all it implies are in the train of the man who dares. Stirred by his energy, every one of the billions of living principles of life that form his body, is an individual acting in unison to maintain his physical balance, and to free his brain from the clouds and vapors of an infected atmosphere. He is made immune to the attacks of pestilences, and follows the universal law of ceaseless activity that keeps the earth, the sun and the millions of suns and planets in the firmament in their proper places. Death, disease, infection, poverty, disgrace are 142nothing to the man who dares, he rises above and beyond their reach. He builds his castle with hope and cements its walls with imperishable faith in his own powers, and anchors it with good works. He says: “I will not die until I have won,” and he dares to cast his hopes into one throw of the dice—and wins, and in the winning lives. What is life to a clod? To a blind mole? To a man who never lifts his eyes to the gleaming stars, or raises them beyond the brittle straws that clog his feet? To the man who dares, life is a tumult of happiness, of radiant love, of a joyous household, a fortress of friends. His hair turns gray, his limbs grow weak, and his eyes are dim, but around his bedside hover the deeds he has done, his nostrils snuff in the incense of his successes, and he dies content that he will still live in the posterity that he has dared raise up to follow in his footsteps.

In the great center of life, with its circumference everywhere and nowhere, the incidents of life are few and mere matters of routine. But they must be gained, and can not be gained except by the man who dares. Beginning with nothing but his muscles, courage, and high hopes, the boy who dares forces his way through rain and storm, sunshine and shadow; quaffs to the dregs the cup of disappointment and refills it with determination. From the lowest rung of the social or business ladder, he mounts upward rung by rung, gaining here and there a fresh supply of energy, until bursting forth from a chrysalis of helplessness into an initiative, he assumes first place and dares still more to reach after the mastery. He dares the professions and becomes a statesman or a scientist influenced by a desire to benefit his fellowmen. In the mercantile, manufacturing, and commercial world, his name is a synonym of honesty and probity, fair dealing, justice and impartiality. The hands and mouths of his less daring fellowmen never depart empty. The train of evils that follow humanity, he knows are mere incidents in life and he does what he can and may to alleviate them, and in their alleviation he finds comfort and joy. “Do unto others as ye would that others do unto you,” is the absorbing incident of life, the concentration, amalgamation of all other incidents. “This do and thou shalt live.”

143Happiness is in the train of the man who dares. “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” The man who dares fill this quiver with arrows needs no other happiness. All other kinds, varieties, and species of happiness follow in its train. Most of our happiness is “so-called,” that is we think it is happiness, but it becomes bitter after a while and then sours. True happiness never ferments, never corrupts. The man who dares would not dare take a course in the school of dissipation, he is too much of a man and has the courage of his convictions. There are certain things every man must do to be happy, and the man who dares does them. He must dare to do right, to keep away from bad company, to avoid the ungodly, and the devil and all his works are rendered innocuous by his daring to discountenance them.

Renown is in the train of the man who dares. To be in every man’s mouth, as Caesar, Napoleon, Washington, is what many claim to be renown. But the word means far more. It means honor, glory, and peace, and these go “to every man that worketh good.” Every act of the man who dares is an achievement of greater or less degree, and although he may not have an exalted reputation to the great outer world, he is enshrined in the hearts of his friends and acquaintances. The man who dares shines bright in the firmament of teachers who have made good by exalting others. He leads where others may follow and succeed, and as a guide, teacher and example, his renown is not limited to an immediate circle of people astonished at his daring, but accumulates force as time passes, and soon becomes a rule of conduct, a precedent to be followed as rigidly as a mathematical proposition in Euclid. Most men are content with what they have and never go beyond their own possessions and desires. They have grown rich, and then it is “Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” This is the fool’s theory, but it is not that of the man who dares, because he wanders off into new fields of operation, attempts new cultures, adds something to the phases of life, and as such, becomes renowned, whether he has a high sounding 144epitaph on his tombstone or not. People do not go to cemeteries to seek for souvenirs of the man who dares, his life and deeds are impressed upon the plastic material of every brain within reach of his influence. There he is enshrined; there he possesses the renown he dared seek, and, as in his other deeds of daring, he succeeds.

Compensations are in the train of the man who dares. Compensation is a higher, nobler word than wealth, riches, money, or jewels. Money is a good thing to possess, and wealth is not to be despised, but the love of money is the root of all evil. Have you never noticed that the harder a man strives to get money the farther he gets away from it? This is in pursuance of a law of nature, that in striving too hard to acquire anything, we omit some essential that if remembered would bring it to us. There are certain things that if we dare do them, other things will unexpectedly come to us in the way of compensation.

Money, wealth, riches, etc., are a recompense, a remuneration, of course, but of themselves they are mere wages for labor performed. But when we speak of “compensation,” we allude to something of greater value than mere dollars and cents which procure bread and meat, clothes, a roof for our heads, and certain pleasures. But a hog has all of these in his own way and to his own satisfaction; but the man who dares does not belong to that branch of the animal kingdom. He is a man and claims a man’s compensation, or so acts that the desired compensation will be forthcoming. Think of the words of Othello and ponder a little over their meaning:

145In the great game of grab after money, which is enthralling the earth at the present time, the man who dares takes no part except to see that his compensation is adequate to his efficiency. His abnegation of the canker worm of gold is a strong recommendation in his favor, and brings him much more than it does to one who bites every dollar to test its genuineness. He becomes renowned for this disposition, and nobody turns him down on any proposition for everybody knows that his disposition is to dare, to venture, to try, to win, to succeed. It is the best sort of renown to possess; it is a policy, really a dare.

He knows that everything comes to him who knows how to wait, and he plays the waiting game in a diplomatic manner, so diplomatic, indeed, that he wins.

The man who dares may scale the walls of Paradise to gain a crown of eternal glory. Nobody can slide through St. Peter’s gate unobserved. It requires a constant fight to reach it even, and blessed is he who gets that far, for he is sure to enter. We have it from the Saviour Himself: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”

There is authority, therefore, for saying that the man who dares may scale the walls of Paradise. The fact is, that a mollycoddle cannot be connected with the idea of taking the kingdom of heaven by force. It requires a man who dares to accomplish that feat, and it is the man who dares that gets there.

Let us suppose that you are a timid man and have little initiative—that is you are a follower of somebody and can not lead in anything. You must raise some steam and get a move on or you will never succeed. That is a settled fact, and if you to whom this is addressed, can not raise enough steam to start out on a dare, why then, fall out and let somebody else take your place in the waiting line.

Suppose you wanted to make a stagger at a dare, how would you go about it! That’s about the idea you are after. Well, in the first place, you must make ready. You can not ride without a horse, and even if you have a horse, he is no good to you unless you know how to ride. To learn to ride, you must get on the horse, of course, and take your chances of being thrown or of falling off through sheer fright.

That is nothing. A few bruises are honorable scars in the onward struggle. Let us start you our way:

146Fix your mind on what you aim at and never lose sight of it. It is your target.

Fix a straight road toward it. This will enable you to get there sooner, and if there are competitors, you will out-distance them.

Make a start. You may not be entirely ready and may have to stop on the way for repairs, but all the same—start. Some people are always making ready and never starting, so they never get anywhere because they never start. It is better to start, even if you have to return and begin over again. It shows your intention to win out, and that will encourage your backers, or find backers if you have none.

Don’t wander. Keep on the straight road, and don’t let counter attractions tempt you away. Keep thinking about what you are going to do when you arrive, and build up a strong castle.

Let tomorrow’s troubles take care of themselves. The saying is: “Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” Fight the troubles that you have in hand now, and you will gain skill to fight those of tomorrow.

Attend to your own business and let other people’s alone. You can’t take care of your own business and that of another at the same time. To do that a man must sit on two stools at once. A difficult thing to do and not fall between. Try this as an experiment.

Keep your nerve, and your eyes in front. There are always times when a man meets some obstacle that spells failure if he lets it. Don’t let failure appear in any shape. Cut the word out of your dictionary.

Make haste slowly. This is an old saying of the Romans who knew a few things about success. Hurry, but hurry slowly. That is, be careful in getting everything ready and then make a break for the target. A man can act quickly and methodically, which is making haste slowly.

Take plenty of physical exercise. You do not have to go to a gymnasium to get enough exercise. Take a walk for the sake of walking. You can not make exercise work and derive any benefit from it. You must take pleasure in it or it is work and not exercise.

Do not work ahead. Keep your mind up with your work. Do not think about the hours it will take to complete it. If you do that, you 147will tire out your mind and make it do extra work. Mind and body should keep together.

Dare to aspire to a higher position. Study to get it. Talk with others who have risen and find out how they got there. Don’t copy them, but try to initiate some better way. If you are sawing boards, study how to run the engine, and incidentally learn how to manage the whole business. It can not harm a man doing a small work to know how to do a greater one. He will be ready to slip into the better work when the opportunity comes and it is sure to come.

Do not run behind in your work. This is a fatal deficiency. It means a backward movement and you must keep on pressing forward. If you feel yourself going back, study the reason. Perhaps you are bilious, eating too much, or not enough nourishing food. Keep your body working regularly, for your health is the most important item toward success.

Save your money. But do not become a miser. You must live among others and you can not afford to be considered small or mean. But you do not have to squander money for any reason. If you are considered mean because you refuse to squander money, let it go at that, and some day you will be better understood. Such things are small details not worth noticing.

Keep in touch with the outside world. Read newspapers and magazines and learn to discuss or talk over the various topics of the day, whether you understand them or not. Somebody will give you the keynote and then you will add to your stock of knowledge. You can not learn too much, you may fail by not knowing enough. Please remember this, no man is turned down because he knows too much.

Learn to master yourself. Don’t let anything ruffle your temper, and think seriously before starting a fight. You may win the fight but lose your own self-respect and gain enmity. A man can not afford to throw away a friend. He needs all he can get.

Don’t be afraid to work. Take work as it comes to you. Do not select the easiest jobs, or you will get tired of the hard ones before you 148reach them. Accustom yourself to work easily, and with your whole heart and skill.

Give your imagination full swing as to the uses of the work you are doing, and imagine how you could better it. This is efficiency and leads to invention.

Don’t brag about what you can do. Do it and there will not be any need to brag. Everybody will see what sort of a man you are and give you credit for common sense and for knowing more than you really do.

Surround yourself with good influences, a club, a church, or some society where you will be in touch with other men. Nobody who dares can afford to be a hermit, and the man who gets disheartened at the obstacles in his way, is a fool and ought not to and will not succeed.

Keep away from small vices and the large ones will not trouble you. This will make your sailing on a smooth sea, where there are no rocks or concealed reefs to wreck you.

There are many other things that pertain to human life in its aspects as a road to success. But when you have done your best, do not be anxious because you have not done more. No man can accomplish everything in one short life, and the best we can do is all that is required of us. Look upon every man as a fellow worker, not in a vale of tears, but as cultivating a pleasant valley blooming with flowers. If your friend falls down help him up, and he will help you in return. If he offends you, do not notice it, for no man deliberately offends a friend. If disagreement is likely to lead to trouble, turn around to your opponent’s way of thinking. Everybody has burdens to bear; and never forget that yours are not the only ones hard to carry. Be a man who dares, and when life’s fitful fever is over, and you have accomplished all you could according to your lights and your ability, let a feeling of peace steal over you, and trust in God for the rest.

The man who desires to become a man of courage, and a man who dares, may gain force from the words of wisdom in the wise man’s philosophy expressed in the following essentials.

The Secret of Successful Work

Knowing how to work is a secret all men do not possess.

When a man is born his life work is born with him, but the work he does remains after he is gone. Hence the necessity of doing good work for the evil work we do remains along with the good and hangs upon it like fetters upon a felon’s wrists.

Whether a man works with his hands or his brain he exhausts, uses up a certain quantity of his physical body. His brain, muscles, and every part of his body are drawn upon to help do the work in hand.

Now, a man may lessen the hardship of his work, or he may increase it by his manner of doing it.

When any work is begun, a certain amount of vital energy is started up and continues working until it is stopped. That energy is like the movement of a clock pendulum—it keeps on moving back and forth as long as it is kept wound up. When the clock runs down, the pendulum stops because there is no stored up force to keep it in motion.

This is exactly what takes place in the body when we work. We set the pendulum in motion and it keeps on going until the clock runs down, that is until we drop with exhaustion.

This vital energy is an intellectual quality, and when we work our mind keeps it active. It is the same when we make hard work of any job. The vital energy works hard also.

Some men, sawing a stick of wood, for instance, will begin sweating over the job before they have half sawed it through. That is, they have already finished the job so far as their vital energy is concerned but more vital energy must be exhausted to complete it.

Do not let your mind run ahead of your work, but keep it up even with that work. Then you will not tire out, and after a good sleep you will be fresh to begin another day. Work easily and steadily.

The Key to Success

Character; Education; Industry; Wealth.

These are the successive stages on the road to success, and they follow in their regular order.

Character belongs to every man individually, and can not be copied from another. It lies in the man; that is all anybody can tell about it. Natural probity combined with insight into what you are doing, your trade, business, occupation, etc., are the factors that make up character. It is different from reputation, for a man may have a bad reputation and still possess a good character. But he can not have a bad character and possess a good reputation. The power to succeed in business is character.

Education goes with character, and means more than learning or mere knowing. It means capacity and ability to utilize what you know. This is education.

You must not only know things but also know how to apply your knowledge, otherwise you are as well off as if you knew nothing.

Industry means diligence in developing character and utilizing education for all they are worth.

“The hand of the diligent maketh rich,” says Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived. He also says, “The diligent gaineth favor.”

Wealth comes by the observance of the foregoing and certain things which should be added. For instance:

To become industrious you must give yourself and your fellow man a fair exchange for what you receive.

You must watch your intellectual, spiritual and worldly welfare.

Progressive Colored Americans must seek opportunity which does not come of itself, and which has been denied them in the past.

You must make yourself, and follow high standards.

Start Right in Life
By Avoiding Foolish and Unnecessary Extravagances

Economy tells us we must learn to do without many things we would like, and forego all unnecessary luxuries, recreations and pleasures which call for money.

We can be happy without these things and enjoy the forgotten pleasures of home.

Cut down on rent, table, clothes, etc.

The burden of economy falls upon the women who do the marketing, cooking and housework.

Let the men save on personal expenses. A woman can throw out more at the back door than a man can bring in through the front, but his billiards or pool, cigars and drinks soon devour the pennies and dimes saved by the wife.

Do not buy what you do not need or that you can get along without.

Do not make fun of pennies and dimes as unimportant. Instead of saying, “It is only a penny,” say “It is a whole penny.”

Strive to learn economical buying. No one has enough money to say that cost is of no account. Get the very best for your money. Don’t buy blindly without inquiring the price, and always remember that a penny or a dime in your pocket is just as much at home as in that of the merchant.

Do not ride when you can walk. You need exercise and walking is the best and cheapest method, much cheaper and better than the bowling alley.

Don’t buy two pounds of meat when one pound will do; nor a bushel when a peck is sufficient.

The first fruits and vegetables of the season are expensive; wait a few days and they will be cheaper and more mature.

Quick Sales and Small Profits

Our modern system of transacting business has so materially changed from what it was a decade or so ago, that a special training is required to make a success.

Theoretically, the difference between the cost price and the selling price represents profit. But it often represents loss.

If goods could be delivered at your place of business at the invoice or purchase price, the selling price might cover some profit. But complications begin as soon as you have made a purchase.

There is transportation, insurance, demurrage, haulage, rent, light, heat, clerk hire, taxes, and perhaps license fees, to be added to the burden of the cost price.

With such, and so many additional charges, how can there be any profit, if the goods are sold customers at a fair price that will attract them?

There is only one way to cover possible loss and that is in getting rid of the goods at a small profit. If you do not, depreciation enters the field to compete with the other troubles, and with handling, dust, mussing, etc., you will have to put up a sign “Selling below cost,” or “Bargain Sale.”

A quick turn is the best turn in business, and to hold on to a price until you get a fixed profit you have determined on, is like refusing a good job because the wages or salary is lower than you have calculated upon getting. The opportunity slips away.

A landlord demands a certain rent for his premises and he will not come down a dollar a month. So his property is untenanted for a long time, and he loses in pocket although eventually he gets his price.

Make quick turns at small profits and repeat often. Nickel car fares are making the car companies multi-millionaires.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

This is a saying that contains a large load of philosophy.

There is always a worm around for an early bird to pick up for breakfast. Of course it is very foolish for the worm to come out, but that is the way things are in this world.

What you have to do is to play the part of the bird by getting there first. To carry out the idea, remember that you are not the only bird after the foolish worm.

This means hustle on your part, and that is what every business must show—hustle.

In any event do not be the worm.

You watch the markets and take advantage of every fall in prices. Perhaps there is a small telegram in an out of the way place in your morning newspaper, which intimates that there is going to be a large shipment to market of potatoes, peaches, cabbages and so on. Down you go and put in an order at a small price and you get the product. Or, you have a lot on hand and a glut will lower prices. Up you get and down you go to sell out your lot at less than the market rates to those who have not yet seen the approach of a glut.

You do not have to wait for breakfast or for anything—just travel and hustle.

The weather report mentions a probable frost. Down you go and mark up the product likely to be affected. Everybody—every early bird is doing it, and it is the custom of business men to do this.

The worm picked up by the early bird is the man who says “Pooh! I don’t believe there is going to be any glut or any frost.”

This is a mighty big country and things are coming and going all the time. There is a big production and it is crowded to the point where there is liable to be a frost—that is a deficiency in the market, and then you have a glut. Keep your eyes and ears open and watch the market reports.

OPEN A SAVINGS BANK ACCOUNT

If you ever hope to be considered a thrifty citizen, a man to be looked up to, you must exhibit some financial standing.

You can do this by opening a savings bank account. A man who has a bank account is never ignored, whether his account is large or small. It means something substantial, and you feel more like holding up your head and looking at the sun without a smoked glass.

Many people save their money, or think they do, by hiding it away in the bottom of a trunk, burying it, or carrying it around in their pocket. These people generally lose their money because it is as easily accessible to others as well as to themselves.

Banks are safe institutions at the present day, but not a bank run by private parties for their own benefit. You must not be deceived by glowing promises of returns on your money, for they always come from those who are scheming to get it away from you without returning it.

There are all sorts of tricky people roaming about looking for those who have a little money saved up and who are afraid to put it into a savings bank. Do not listen to them for you will be deceived. You can not take up a newspaper without reading about some man or woman who has been defrauded of the little money hoarded in a tea pot, or burned up in an old stove, dug up from some secret hiding place under a tree, or picked from his pocket by an enterprising thief.

Trust your money to first-class savings banks and it will be there when you want it, and it can not be lost or stolen. The bank is responsible.

“Some banks burst.” True, but not a good bank, the shady ones always fail when they get a good sized roll.

If you do not know enough to put your money in a safe place, you do not deserve to have any, and you generally do not.

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU

There is one open opportunity that everybody can take if he wishes to do so, and with very little exertion on his part.

The man who makes his money earn money for him relieves his own back of many heavy burdens.

To do this is the object and aim of every go ahead person, and there are many men who walk our streets who have money making money for them, even while they sleep.

All you have to do is to save your dollars instead of giving them away for somebody else to work with—work them yourself.

It is worth knowing that when you squander, or spend unnecessarily, one dollar, you are at the same time parting with a servant that will bring you in profitable returns—you are killing the goose that lays golden eggs.

Stop and think that whenever you part with one dollar you are sacrificing two or more dollars, some say, five or ten, for the reason that in the course of a few years, your dollar will earn you several other dollars by being put out at interest, or in bonds that pay good rates of interest.

It is a comforting thought to know that when you can not work, your money is working for you every moment.

The following tables will show you just what it does:

TIME IN WHICH MONEY DOUBLES.

Per Cent	Simple Int.	Comp. Int.
2	50 years	35 years
2½	40 years	28 yrs. 26 da.
3	33 yrs. 4 mos.	23 yrs. 164 da.
3½	28 yrs. 208 da.	20 yrs. 54 da.
4	25 years	17 yrs. 246 da.
4½	22 yrs. 81 da.	15 yrs. 273 da.
5	20 years	14 yrs. 75 da.
6	16 yrs. 8 mos.	11 yrs. 327 da.
7	14 yrs. 104 da.	10 yrs. 89 da.
8	12½ years	9 yrs. 2 da.
9	11 yrs. 40 da.	8 yrs. 16 da.
10	10 years	7 yrs. 100 da.

A Dollar Saved Is a Dollar Earned

A small sum saved daily for fifty years will grow at the following rate:

Daily Savings	Result
One cent	$ 950
Ten cents	9,504
Twenty cents	19,006
Thirty cents	28,512
Forty cents	38,015
Fifty cents	47,520
Sixty cents	57,024
Seventy cents	66,528
Eighty cents	76,032
Ninety cents	85,537
One Dollar	95,041

BECOME A LAND OWNER

From the material point of view, there is nothing on this earth that leads to so much success, security, and social standing as the ownership of land.

By owning land you become a landlord, and you gain that opportunity by thrift and economy.

Land is the soundest investment in the world, and it has always been one of the great objects and hopes of the people of the earth to own a small slice of its surface.

If you own land, you acquire a sense of responsibility to the community where it is located. You are invested with a dignity which you can not obtain in any other way. You possess a sense of security and independence that nothing else will give you.

All over the world it is land which is considered first security. In this country, the courts refuse money or jewels for bail, insisting upon land as the requirement of the bond.

The reason is because land is a fixture; means security that can not be carried away or be lost, it is always there when it is wanted.

Buy land, therefore, if only a small portion. If you can not get forty acres, get twenty, or ten, or one, but get some land, and you will be surprised to find how fast your acre will become two, etc.

There are always opportunities to buy land on time, so that you do not have to wait until you have a large sum of money, but you can pay in small amounts on long time.

It is a good business that of real estate. You buy land, then subdivide it, sell a part to pay for the whole, and own the rest. It is a common, every day transaction, and is successful, but you must keep your eyes open.

OWN YOUR OWN HOME

A man without a home may as well be a man without a country. A home is bail for success in life. Not a mere place to live and sleep, or eat and get your washing done, but a home of your own, what an Englishman calls his “castle.” Yours where you are safe from intruders, and feel like a king in his own domain.

It is easy to acquire a home, but you must begin at the beginning and do as all others have done and will always do. Buy the beginning of a home with what you can easily save out of your earnings or wages.

The way to do is to buy a small lot for a home, a small piece of ground upon which you can build a little cage for yourself, your dear ones, and for your posterity, or in anticipation of such an event. It pays. The man who does not dream of a posterity is not a good citizen, a good friend, nor a safe man to deal with.

You do not have to pay out a large sum of money; a small sum to begin with will secure you a start toward a home. Paying gradually, you will soon have the ownership of a portion of this green earth, and a spot all your own. Then you can build when the ground is paid for. That is the key to a home—get a lot paid for and you can always secure a building fund.

In this way you become a real member of society, a citizen who has an interest in the way his affairs are carried on. In addition to that, you are deemed a solid citizen, a fixture, and when the time comes you are the one selected to fill an opportunity of any sort within your capacity.

DON’T BORROW MONEY FOR NEEDLESS EXPENSES

It is a common business transaction to borrow money when there are sufficient assets to justify it. But in such cases there is a regular rate of interest fixed by law as payment for the use of the money borrowed. You can not risk any other than the legal rate of interest, if you do you are taking unwarranted risks, and subjecting yourself to the yoke of a loan shark, out of whose clutches you can never emerge without tremendous sacrifices, often ruin.

Money borrowed to speculate with is a heavy and dangerous burden on the borrower. When he loses, he not only has nothing to show for his folly, but is goaded into borrowing more in the hope of making good his loss. Once in the toils, he will not stop until ruined financially—perhaps morally. If he wins he will still pursue the phantom fortune on borrowed money and lose finally. Speculation is a gamble with the odds against you.

In speculations, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

If you have to borrow money to complete or perfect some transaction or business deal, or to carry you through, or tide yourself over some delay, you can always get it at the regular rate of interest, provided you have reputation, and security. But do not mortgage your clothes, furniture, etc., for anything but an absolutely necessary loan.

Remember always, that money borrowed and spent is a hardship to return unless you have the wherewith in the way of business to make good.

If you worked half as hard to get money for your own pocket as you do to repay a loan, you never would need to borrow.

ESTABLISH A REPUTATION FOR YOURSELF

To get along successfully in business, or in any other occupation, for that matter, every man must establish a reputation for himself.

Indeed, reputation is the basis of credit; it is his first and best capital with which to make a start in life.

Of course, the reputation meant is a good reputation, and not one that is open to question.

A man may have a reputation as a fighter, a shrewd man, a tricky man, a dishonest man, and so on, but these keep him back in the life struggle, and even if he should succeed, as the wicked are often said to do, his success will be only temporary.

It is the lasting reputation for honesty and fair dealing that brings a man up to the standard of success.

Be true to your word, stand by your contracts even if you should lose an advantage, for you will regain more than you lose by your reputation.

A good reputation in small things means the acquirement of a reputation in large things. You are always gaining.

It must be borne in mind constantly, however, that a reputation is easily lost by a false step: “At every word a reputation dies.” Hence, having once gained a reputation for fairness, honesty, and squareness, do not let any small advantage or chance of gain persuade you to throw it away, for a reputation once lost will cost you years of sorrow to regain. When you have lost the good opinion of your fellow man, you may as well withdraw from their society for you will be an object of suspicion ever after.

IMPROVE PRESENT OPPORTUNITIES

If you knew that by pulling up a rope hanging down a well, you would get a rich prize, a bag of gold, or a box of diamonds, you would keep on pulling.

Now, life is nothing but pulling at something at the end of which we hope and expect to find something worth while.

What we pull at consists of a long string of opportunities, and if we let go, then we lose.

The fact is, we must improve our present opportunities, for they lead to other and better ones. Small opportunities are not to be despised for several of them make one large one which is what you are aiming at. “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land.”

Some people want to get rich immediately, and venture into all kinds of speculations to get there. These are not opportunities, they spell ruin in the end. They are the destroyers of opportunities.

An opportunity always makes good if you stick to it, but flies away from you if you neglect it.

Opportunity says to you: “Oh, well, if you do not care for my company, there are others who do,” and away it goes to the others, and then you have regrets, too late perhaps, some other man has appropriated it.

It is a common saying: “Everything comes to him who waits,” but Napoleon said: “Everything comes to him WHO KNOWS HOW to wait.” There is a vast difference.

Do you know HOW to wait, friend? If you do then you are ready to grasp opportunity when it comes your way.

Christ said: “Seek and ye shall find.” To this may be added the saying of St. Paul the great Apostle who was certainly a wise man: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Do it now, for time flies. “The Bird of Time has but a little way to fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.”

HOW TO MAKE USE OF VALUABLE SPARE TIME

What do men do when their work for the day is over?

We are arranging things so that a man will have eight hours’ work, eight hours’ play and eight hours’ sleep. The sleep you must have or you can neither work nor play. This division of time consumes the whole day.

When we speak of eight hours’ work, we mean “work,” not dawdling.

By attending to the business you have on hand you work, and the clergymen say: “A man who labors prays.”

But what to do during the eight hours set apart for play; that is the rub. Of course everybody should understand that by “Play” is not meant dissipation, far from it. It means “recreation” of some sort that will help do the work and induce sleep.

A change of occupation is often play to some, because it gives the mind and the unused muscles a variety which is equal to rest.

A few hours of the play time devoted to improvement either of the mind or in the business we are in, will be of great benefit and result in a “raise.”

Few people want to die young, but the sure way to reach the end is to work when we should play. Labor constantly undergone, for sixteen hours every day, shortens life by about one-half. The human machine is built for so much service, and if that service is crowded into a short space of time, why then the machine gives out. Like any other machine it gives out and goes to the scrap pile.

If we play all the time, why then, the machine rusts, and gives out just the same. So if we sleep all the time, we rust and the brain gives out by inaction.

It is wise to divide the day equally as is suggested, and do something during sixteen hours, and sleep the other eight hours. This is scientific, and leads to good health, long life, and, if you do not speculate, leads to wealth, at least to a good living.

FIT YOURSELF FOR SOME TRADE OR CALLING

What do you intend to do for a living?

Plenty of time to decide that, you say for yourself or for your boy.

You deceive yourself, for there is not plenty of time. You must decide early, and educate yourself for the trade or calling you have decided to follow.

You must have some definite aim in life. Nobody can fix one for you. You know best what you can do, what you would like to do, and what sort of an education you need to do it.

Things move swiftly in these modern times, and you must decide quickly, or fall behind in the race to the life goal.

Others are treading on your heels and you must go ahead or fail out altogether, and the procession is so large, and so closely packed that you can not wedge your way in again without a hard struggle.

Do you want to be a farmer? Study farming, and everything that pertains to farm work.

Perhaps you would prefer to be a doctor. Well, then you must study for a doctor’s profession and let farming alone. If you are built for a doctor you can be one, but you should study yourself carefully and take advice on the subject.

You would rather be a lawyer? The same effort to be a doctor must be made. You can not be a lawyer just because you are bright and say funny things sometimes.

Whatever you decide to do, whether farmer, doctor, lawyer, blacksmith, carpenter, or merchant, be one or the other and do not try to straddle all of them.

A Jack of All Trades is master of none, and he is not wanted in this age of specialties. Be some one thing and be that thing for all there is in it.

WORK FOR SUCCESS WHILE YOUNG

Youth is the time to work for success.

Old age is the winter time of life and if no provision has been made to acquire a competence before that period, it will be an unhappy time, perhaps a miserable existence as the result.

Success has no tomorrow, it is always today, and if the sun of today sets upon failure, it can not be hoped that it will rise tomorrow upon success, there being nothing to cause it to do so.

There is no greater duty to be performed by man than to lay by provision for the future. Even the animals prepare for a rainy day, the worst specimens are those who neglect this instinct.

It is an instinct, the instinct of self-preservation.

Experience demonstrates, in fact, it has become an axiom of science, that after a certain age, a man is incompetent to perform his duties in as profitable a manner as before.

Some fix the age at forty years, while others say that a man has reached the fullness of his capacity at the age of fifty years.

It depends, of course, upon your employment, as to that. When a man’s occupation consists of hard physical labor, he should have acquired enough to carry him over during the rest of his life, by the time he has reached the age of fifty years.

It is certain in business and trade circles, that a man need not look for employment as a skilled laborer after the age of forty-five years.

The body wears out after years of toil, or years of idleness—which is the same thing—and the mental vigor lessens materially.

For this reason, you will become worn out before attaining success, unless you spend your time of youth in attaining it.

Opportunity for Business Life

Become a merchant, if that is your inclination, but begin in a small way and build up. You have children, then the business will be for them when they grow up and are able to help you.

The way is easy if you look around for the best opening. Pick out your neighborhood and study the wants of the people. There is always a law of demand and supply, for people want things of every description every day and every hour.

Now what does a particular neighborhood need? That is the first thing to learn. Next, what do they want? That is the second. Thirdly, how many people are there needing and wanting things? There you are with the elementary knowledge ready at hand.

Talk with a few of them and find out how they feel about a business among them within reach and with accommodations of supply and delivery.

Then begin quietly without a splurge or plunging. Go slowly, except when there is a sudden demand, then work quickly to supply that demand. Generally, however, you should work up, and put yourself in a position to be liked. You treat everybody as if you wanted to accommodate them, and they soon realize that.

You never can tell what a small beginning will lead to. If you keep your eyes open the future will unfold itself. In every locality in our cities and settled country districts, the population is increasing, in many cases by leaps and bounds. You are there and with the proper kindliness and affability you will grow with the place, and the more the population increases the greater will grow your business.

There you are, a business man, grown to be such by the force of circumstances and tact with good judgment. The business will grow still more with the help of your children.

Build Up Your Credit

By making your word as good as your bond, you are seizing an opportunity to build up your credit, and without credit you can not hope to win in the battle of life.

Pay your debts and meet all your obligations as promptly as you can, and if you can not on the specified day, come out squarely and give the reasons why.

Be frank and open with the man you owe, and while he expects you to meet your engagements according to the express letter of your contract, he recognizes the fact that in every business transaction there are accidents that prevent it.

There are always modifications of contracts, because human nature makes mistakes. The best of men do this, but they come out in a manly fashion and admit it.

It is said that business is hard, and knows no yielding; that when a man promises to do a thing, he MUST do it whether he can or not. This is nonsense, business is like every other department of life, it hinges upon humane principles.

If, however, you have not established your credit, you must do so, and you must keep it up. You can not begin your credit by begging for delay the very first engagement you make to pay. That is always a bad beginning, in fact, it is no beginning at all.

Business men watch your progress, and if you have shown yourself capable, honorable, and prompt for a reasonable time, they are always ready to help you out in the time of adversity or bad luck.

It is policy to do this, and you may as well adopt the following idea also: “A man may be down today and up tomorrow. If he is down today and has credit of good repute, he will get up tomorrow through help extended to him. Otherwise he will be left where he falls.”

Stiffen Your Backbone and Keep on Climbing

The owner of a stiff backbone is not easily put down by adverse circumstances.

No man’s troubles overwhelm him unless he gives in to them weakly.

This is the experience of men since the world began: You must fight your way up and never look back to slipping places, for then you will surely stumble.

Worry is one of the symptoms of a weak backbone. Everybody should know that small stumbles are not killing matters to mourn over or worry about. You may have had in your own experience, many cases where your worries and anxieties proved nothing but phantoms. You think you will not survive until tomorrow, but you always see the sun shining the next day whatever befalls you today.

Things always come out as a rule much better than you expect, or dared hope.

If you have health and good friends to encourage you, why should you worry or fret over the things of life which are always small and insignificant?

Keep your eyes open and watch for another opportunity to wedge yourself back in, if you should happen to be crowded out of anything.

You must not think that every avenue to opportunity is sealed up against you because you do not find a wide open way to get in. Try a small way first, and keep on pushing and the road will widen. That is you must not weaken, if you do you will slide back and so be always climbing up and sliding down the hill.

Keep in the Race, Don’t Give Up

The Holy Bible tells you, and man’s experience has always demonstrated it, that “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.”

You are fearful that you will not win. Why? Is it not because you are looking backward instead of forward?

You have had much to contend with, let us say; very well, are you going to lie down now that you can see daylight ahead?

We are living in the present, acquiring strength for the future, the past is dead and should be buried. The man who looks back is useless for present needs.

Get away from the downtrodden notion, the servant idea, and be a man with an intelligent brain aspiring to higher things.

Every man is what he thinks himself to be, and if you have no aspirations beyond your present occupation, then you will remain in that occupation and nobody can pull you out of it.

On the contrary, a man who thinks he is fitted for some better occupation than the one he is engaged in, will soon find that other occupation; he will soon be his own master.

No man is kept out of a thing unless he wants to stay out. It is true there are sometimes many difficulties, and in the case of our Colored Americans, they have been appalling and discouraging. But the light is breaking, the black clouds are disappearing, and soon, if you keep in the race, you will find the land of sunshine and happiness.

Don’t give up the ship as long as there is a timber to float on.

Keep an Eye on the Future

It is quite true that we are living in the present but we do not stop with today or stand still. You know that the sun will rise tomorrow and that you will see it rise. That is, in all probability.

The sun of tomorrow and your rising are future events.

In the present you prepare for tomorrow and continue what you began on the yesterday. Otherwise you are standing still. No man can proceed if he must begin over again every tomorrow that comes to him in his life, he must have done something that can not be completed except in the future.

That gives him work to do, something at which he can make progress. You will be of more value tomorrow than you are today because you have advanced by experience—you have learned something, and so you will learn something every day and every tomorrow will find an improvement in you. Your time will be of more value, and your services command a higher price. You must work things around so that this will happen to you.

To every young man the future holds everything dear to him, his hopes are all centered on the future. In it he sees a home, a family, honor, fame perhaps, wealth possibly, comforts and a peaceful old age.

He may bring all these to pass but he must carry them always in his mind as things to be attained.

We may not know what the future has in store for us, but we can shape events, our lives and our doings so that we will know something of the future. When we say we do not know what the future will bring forth, we do not mean things of our own creation because we do know that much, but accidentals, and against those dangers we can provide by taking counsel and making provision to defeat them.

Produce Something and Increase Your Own Value to the World

The man who is a consumer only is of little use in this world. He is out of balance with energies and activities in the business or professional world.

The earth, the soil, is valuable only because it PRODUCES something that did not exist before. It creates in its way. The more it creates or produces, the more its value. When it produces nothing it is called a desert and is avoided for all useful purposes.

It is the same way with men; they must produce, make something, and the more things they make or produce, the higher their value, the greater their wage earning capacity, or income producing power.

Let the Colored American get into a business of his own; begin in a small way, but make something for others to buy or use.

To become a producer he must enter the manufacturing and commercial fields. He must grow up with his business of producing.

In this way he will establish an enterprise for his sons and daughters, and he will be able to sit in comfort beneath his own vine and fig tree.

Present “Opportunity” lies in taking advantage of present conditions, always remembering that as we progress we open up other and better opportunities that may be temporarily closed to us.

To get the means to do this, we must educate and work. The race has made wonderful progress in the field, the workshop, and in the professions, but it must reach out into commercial life, for the wherewith to carry out higher ideals.

We must cultivate the commercial instinct if we would master our own destinies.

We are all what we make of ourselves, and can not accuse another of spoiling the work.

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN!

At every cross road in the country there is a warning signal: “Look out for the Locomotive.” At every railroad crossing in every large city, there are bells rung, whistles blown, and even guards let down when a locomotive passes.

Policemen stand at corners to warn people to look out, etc.

Why all these precautions? Simply to prevent people from endangering their lives. Yet, there are lives lost every day from failure to heed the warning signals, and many persons are maimed and crippled for life from the same cause.

The impression seems to be that people do not know enough to take care of themselves, and that they are disposed to rush into danger heedlessly and imperil their lives.

The impression is based upon truth. People do not know how to take care of themselves, and therefore the law exercises a sort of guardianship over them. It is all very nice to feel that there is somebody caring for us and shielding us from our own stupidity. That is what it is—stupidity.

If men would only stop, look and listen, that is, keep their wits about them, there would be fewer accidents, fewer failures in business, and fewer failures to succeed at anything.

It is not the foolish, the ignorant, and the small child who incur risks that are fatal, but grown men, men of intelligence and even wisdom and sagacity who venture too far and are caught up by hidden or exposed dangers, and lose their lives.

It is almost suicide for any man to lose his life through his own carelessness and inattention to danger signals.

These warnings exist everywhere in every department of business, and in every occupation. A suit for heavy damages is no consolation to the man who throws his life away through carelessness.

BE EVERY MAN’S FRIEND

Every man with a grain of common sense prefers a friend to an enemy.

Not that a man need to have enemies, for if you make yourself a friend to every man, every man will be your friend and you will have no enemies.

There is much comfort and peace of mind, besides greater opportunities for succeeding in any occupation, if you possess that charming trait known as “friendship.”

Friendship is a valuable asset in character. There are always times during life when you need a friend, and you can always have one ready at hand if you are a friend to others.

We all know that a friend in need is a friend indeed, but do not bank upon what you are to gain by being a friend and persuading others to be your friend. That is mercenary, and not provocative of good feeling or self-satisfaction.

It is very proper to be friendly with every one from the standpoint of business, for then you gain friendship in a variety of pleasant ways.

There is always social intercourse to be considered. You want friends for that; indeed, if you have none, you are in a bad way, and apt to wander off into by-paths that are shady and disreputable. With a friend by your side you have a guide and adviser.

Help Your Fellow Man

You are not put here on earth for your own sole benefit. There are others with the same rights and privileges to enjoy the things of life as well as yourself. This is important to remember.

Now, if you help your fellow man to maintain his rights, do you not see that you are laying the foundation for help to maintain your own?

If you trample on any person you must expect to be trampled upon in your turn, and then away go your rights, and trouble ensues.

If you help your friends and neighbors in their need, you are opening the way to be a success in whatever you may undertake. Under such circumstances, men will swear by you, and if you cannot be helped by them—there being some things that are too deep to be aided, sorrow for instance—you will at least have their sympathy, good will and countenance in your undertakings.

Let all your dealings and intercourse with your fellow men be based upon mutuality. There is a proverb which may not be inappropriate, which says, “Molasses catches more flies than vinegar.” Of course, helping your neighbor out of his difficulties or even sympathizing with him in his sorrows or grief, is a sweetness to him and to you.

Every kind, every good act, has a reciprocal effect. It may not be done out of whole heartedness, and there may be a grain of selfishness in it, but the principle is there, and often repeated, it becomes a second nature to act like the Good Samaritan without hope of reward.

Nevertheless there is always a reward more or less substantial.

Take Counsel of Your Best Friends

It is as old as the hills that “Two heads are better than one.”

It is true that every man has two feet, two hands, two eyes, two ears, and so on, but only one head. Things do not seem to balance with only one thing, so to complete the balance it is the height of policy to have two heads. Why not?

But one of the two heads is that of your best friend who can advise you when your one head is apt to go astray in some important step or undertaking.

You may not follow the advice of your friend, but he may give you an idea that will save you from making mistakes leading to failure.

Solomon says: “Without counsel purposes are disappointed.”

But you must take counsel of your friends; not of the ungodly, or those who may take advantage of you to counsel you wrong for their own purpose.

It is to be hoped that you have friends, if not make some immediately, because you will always need them. Now, when you have a friend go to him and counsel with him, and stick to him closer than to a brother. You should not give all your ideas away or consult with everybody about your affairs. You should keep close mouthed about them, but when you are in doubt consult a friend. We repeat: consult a FRIEND, not one who calls himself your friend, and wants to borrow money, or use you for a purpose, but a real friend upon whom you can rely.

Such a counselor will not betray you, but will be your other head and study your needs and help you in your troubles.

The word “friend” is a high and noble word and possesses a meaning not common to other relations between man and man. Thus, Abraham was the “Friend of God.”

SELECT YOUR OWN COMPANY

“A man is known by the company he keeps.”

This is a proverbial saying and it is a true one.

You have only one life to live, and you must be as careful of that life as a man is of his gold.

Good companions help you on the upward path; evil companions drag you down. Men possess free will, but a misuse of it brings speedy punishment.

Opportunity meets you and asks: “Who are your companions?”

Not being able to deceive Opportunity, you tell the truth and answer: “Oh, I go around with the boys. We stand around the street corners; smoke cigarettes; hang around the billiard and pool rooms; play craps occasionally, and—”

But Opportunity does not wait to hear any more, it vanishes and keeps away from you, leaving you free to follow your own head.

It has come to be a test of quality made by every employer, to judge an applicant by the company he keeps.

“Tell me who your companions are and I will tell you who you are.”

There is no mind reading about this, it is common sense.

In these days when there is so much vice and crime; when men have become suspicious of their next door neighbor, a wise man is careful whom he trusts. If you associate with an element that is suspicious you can not complain if you are yourself suspected.

It is not necessary to go about with your hands folded in an attitude of prayer, or pretend to be overly virtuous and honest, all you need is to be a man, open and above board, and decent in your associations with others.

KEEP YOUR NERVE

Most of our troubles are imaginary, nine-tenths of them never coming to us as we expected. They are mostly matters of nerve weakness.

We start something during the day, and lay awake at night worrying for fear it may not turn out successfully. We brood over phantoms and scarecrows, for that is what most of our worries are.

If you have started anything right, and your conscience is at rest, why do you worry? There is no reason for it.

Or if you have used your best judgment and made your best effort to make your venture a success, go to rest, put your trust in God and you will sleep.

The man who loses his nerve in the middle of a railroad or any place where there is danger, comes to grief. The life on earth is a road full of pitfalls and unpleasant things, many of them as dangerous as a railroad train bearing down upon us.

If you keep your nerve, you simply get out of the way of the locomotive, or of the runaway horse, or the automobile, and keep on living.

So it is in your every-day transactions. Keep out of the way of things than may undo you. Step aside and let them pass by. Everything works for good in this world, what you do not accomplish some other man does, and it helps you because everything is along parallel lines.

Where a thing is unavoidable, or inevitable, why then it is foolish to worry, and shows poor control of your nerves.

Put your trust in God, follow the straight path, and stiffen up your nerves.

STUDY YOUR HEALTH

The ancients said that there can not be a healthy mind in an unhealthy body. And they established this rule for all to follow: “Keep your body healthy and your mind will be healthy.”

By a healthy mind is meant a calm, cool, clear, active brain that can act up to its full capacity without faltering, or falling down at trifles.

To have that sort of brain, you must preserve your bodily health.

One patent way to lose your bodily health is to acquire bad habits of any kind that you know are bad for you.

You have a headache in the morning, and no appetite. It does not require a Solomon to tell what ails you. You have been drinking, carousing, staying up late instead of going to bed and getting your necessary sleep.

You have eaten things that do not agree with you, and so you must see a doctor. Besides that, you are too sick to go to work.

All you have to go upon in this world are your health and your mind. It does not matter what you do for a living, you must keep your wits about you all the time, and you can not do this unless you keep your health.

The mind is so closely connected with the body that what affects one affects the other, favorably or unfavorably.

Eat proper food, something that you know by experience will agree with you. Take your accustomed sleep, and exercise your muscles to keep your nerves—those nerves that spread up into the brain—in full play and ready for emergencies.

A healthy man does not worry; he is an optimist and looks at the bright side of life. An unhealthy man is a pessimist and sees things through a dark cloud. He ends by running down at the heels, and ceases to possess any economical functions.

MAKING ONE HAND WASH THE OTHER

It is a good commercial and business maxim: “Make one hand wash the other.”

There are little delicate attentions shown men to induce them to do you a favor. It is not exactly doing to others as you would have others do to you, but you do something for a person in the expectation that he will do something for you. This is the origin of the saying.

Politeness, forbearance and social amenities are the rule in these days, and it is the best policy to assume that distinction even if you do not feel that way.

The propensity for making one hand wash the other is more apparent in commercial and trade transactions than in any other. It is in these occupations that the eye beholds dollars or doughnuts at the end of a string, and a gentle pulling in the way of attention and brotherly reciprocation will bring the dollars or doughnuts within reach.

Bears and dogs growl and get nasty whenever they feel like it regardless of consequences, for they live in the present entirely and nothing is of any importance to them on the morrow. They do not even know enough to lay in a supply of provisions for a rainy day. A squirrel will do that, but squirrels are not quarrelsome, they are friendly and gentle, they make one paw wash the other. Watch one of them grab for a nut, get it, and beg prettily for another.

We must provide for a rainy day, and if we are in business we must have friends and customers to fall back upon for shelter. Waiting until the rain sets in and then beginning, fails—it is then too late, at least for that day, but by beginning you will perhaps be ready for the next rainy day.

SUPERSTITION AND LUCK

More people are superstitious than are willing to admit the fact. From bygone ages to modern times, both high and low, rich and poor, educated and ignorant, have yielded to some curious vein of fancy that leads them to expect “luck” or success more readily if certain whimsical conditions are complied with. Who has not, at some time, felt the power of one or another of the odd ideas that seem to have such a firm hold on the mind of man? Laugh it off as we will, declare it nonsense as we know it to be, still there is the tendency to put an unreasoning half-belief in it.

Do we not all know those who are nervous with fear if salt is spilled; who would go without a meal rather than be one of thirteen at table; who never begin any important work on a Friday; who are careful to take their first sight of the new moon over their right shoulder instead of the left; who rejoice in the finding of a four-leaved clover?

“Luck” is a plant that grows from the seed. And the seed sown is the kind of thoughts we entertain; ideas about ourselves, about God, about our work, and about the rest of the world.

Thoughts can be chosen. If we think ourselves weak and inferior, we invite failure; because then the work that we do will not be our best, and will be surpassed in value by that of others.

If we think instead, “I can do this work better than it has ever been done before—and I will,” the seed will grow and bear fruit in results to ourselves and others.

GOOD AND BAD LUCK

Your success in life never depends upon the turn of a card or the dice. You can neither dream yourself into good luck, nor dream yourself out of bad luck.

Good luck keeps company only with industrious, thrifty and honorable people who have faith in themselves, faith in their fellow men, and faith in God.

Even then, luck will disappear like smoke in a wind unless you can also demonstrate that you possess wisdom, patience and courage.

What you think is good luck, may keep company with you for a short time, but will speedily desert you if you do not make good.

The dictionary says “Luck” means “that which happens a person; chance; accident; good fortune; success.”

In your luck you should keep away from the element of “chance” or “accident.” Let your luck depend upon your own efforts, and take things by the forelock and make them come your way. Things will happen you just as you intend they shall.

There is really no such thing as bad luck, for if a thing does not happen because of your mistakes, it is not bad luck but mistake.

Try as you may to reach a certain result, and failing, you say you had bad luck. You merely did not know how to succeed or went too far, or reached out for more than you could handle. That is not bad luck, it is mismanagement. You might have succeeded if you had managed properly.

Chance must be kept out of the way or you will flounder about in a swamp whose quicksands will engulf you sooner or later.

BE SLOW TO ANGER

The Scripture says: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.”

We are also advised not to let the sun go down on our wrath.

If we desire to succeed in any enterprise we must “possess our souls in patience.” In Luke XVI, 19, it is explained: “In your patience possess your souls.”

We are nowhere advised not to be angry, but to possess our souls in our anger. That is: Never let anger get the better of our control.

In Ephesians IV, 26, it is said: “Be ye angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”

This is the key to what is known as “temper.” It is the part of a wise man to control his temper. Not to have any temper at all is to be one whom Col. Roosevelt calls “a mollycoddle,” and such a person is truly weak and without any backbone.

But the anger or the temper which leads to violence is to be controlled absolutely. Those sudden gusts of passion lead to crime as sure as the sun rises and sets every day. And it is always personal violence, even to the extent of murder that is the result of giving way to such an emotion. No one ever becomes violently angry because he is not a good man.

If a man stands up in his manhood, and despises small things, he will be in a position to control his angry feelings no matter how much he may feel hurt by the acts of another.

If we could get angry with ourselves because we do not improve, that would be an anger worth cultivating. But so far as others are concerned, let your anger be mild and never reach the point of resentment, for that always leads to revenge which is a fatal emotion.

If others are the cause of anger to us, keep away from them, and if we must associate with them, keep cool and bide your opportunity.

PRACTICE LOGIC, COMMON SENSE AND TACT

When a man can give a good reason for what he does he practices logic. Not excuses for doing what he should not do, but REASONS why.

When he gives good reasons, and follows the universal practice of other men under the same circumstances, he practices common sense.

When he does things in a quiet, unobtrusive, and agreeable manner, so that other men are satisfied with his way, he practices tact.

These three qualities are badges of success among every nation and in every occupation, trade, or profession.

The business and professional resourcefulness of every man is not measured upon the quantity of his learning, or his high proficiency, but according to his ability to apply what he knows to the matter in hand.

A man may be able to measure the stars, and yet not be able to saw a board straight. Such a man may know much but he makes a poor carpenter.

A man should reason with himself as to the best way of doing anything, and then do it, giving good reasons for it.

Common sense is good judgment applied to the every day things of life, and tact is doing those things without disturbing others or by considering their feelings with as much care as you do your own.

To use a common expression: “You have got to worm things out of the world, but you must do it as gently as inserting a corkscrew in a stubborn cork.”

ENCOURAGE OTHERS

When you encourage others to go ahead with what they are doing, with a cheery word or a pleasant smile, you are laying up treasure for yourself. For the man you encourage will encourage you, and heaven knows we all need encouragement.

Many men stand on the verge of a precipice of indecision, not being able to decide whether they should draw back or fall over.

It is not help these men want so much as it is encouragement. They are able to help themselves but they haven’t the nerve, and you give them a word of cheer or encouragement, and they get right with themselves and their work.

If a man starts into business and you can trade with him, do so, and that will encourage him to go ahead and strive to be successful.

He may be a beginner at manufacturing something for the use of others. Tell him how his work or productions are well received, or take one yourself and use it even if you do not want it. You encourage him to go on, and by and by you may be in a position where you will need a little encouragement, then he will remember you.

It is customary for the unthinking to imagine that they must do something big or great in order to expect returns, but this is a mistake. We show our greatness in little things, because we know that many little things make up a great thing. The more small things we do the greater will be the accumulation in the end.

Do not patronize any man or he will repulse your approach; you must encourage, which is far different from patronizing. By assuming a patronizing air you assume a superiority which is disliked.

This is an age of small things that go to make up big things, and we must fall in with the conditions of the age in which we live and expect to do business.

HOW TO LEARN SELF-CONTROL

To master the feelings the head and the heart should work together.

All of our emotions may be said to come from the heart, and the latter is set in motion by the will power which is the head.

There are times when a man feels like “boiling over” as it is called, but policy and good judgment warn him to keep within bounds.

It is always our sentiments or feelings and emotions that need a curbing hand, our opinions can take care of themselves.

Where our feelings and our mind go together there is no trouble, for then duty and inclination go together. But where our feelings are not regulated and controlled, they become unstable and shifting. Like the winds that blow where they list and whither no man can tell, our lack of self-control may drive us to the most violent acts. We become the sport of chance desires and vagrant impulses.

Control is essential because from our ill-regulated acts much injustice and harm may be done, not only to ourselves but to others.

A man who stands above whim and caprice is a superior in strength to a man who permits his caprices to direct him.

What we call character has its emotions and passions, its affections and intense sympathies, but mastered and controlled into a whole of outward justice and fairness.

The true freeman fights himself free from blind feeling and impulse; he is a happy warrior and fights on a battlefield where his convictions and emotions are a unit.

The Martyrs possessed such self control that burning at the stake, or limbs torn by savage beast did not wring a note of pain from them. “But,” you say, “that was Divine strength.” Of course, and any one who desires the same Divine strength to aid him control his emotions, may have it for the asking.

DON’T BE A DREAMER

Waste no Time Dreaming of the Past

You are living in the present preparing for the future. The past is dead and you should let the past bury the past.

The man who dreams of the past and forgets his future, is like a man who rises in the morning not of today but of yesterday. He is going backward when his face is put in front pointing always forward.

Life is too short to be wasted in vain regrets for what has transpired in the past. Even yesterday is ancient history and best forgotten.

We have work to do in the present to perfect or accomplish something in the future; it is our time of grace, given us to grasp at opportunities as they come before us.

While you are lamenting an opportunity that escaped you yesterday, a better one comes along today and passes us unnoticed.

There is too much of this sort of sorrow experienced by the people of the earth, but when it comes to a man with an occupation, a business man or a young man getting ready for business, it is positively foolish and detrimental.

We know that it has been the practice of people in all times to fret and worry about the things of the past, for there are numerous sayings cautioning them against it. One of them is very appropriate: “Never cry over spilled milk.” It is gone and can not be restored.

Many persons may have what is called a “skeleton” in his closet, but it does not do him nor his friends any good service to keep rattling its bones continually.

If you have been very wrong in the past, repent and begin over again.

DON’T BE BASHFUL

There are many persons who stand in their own way to success by their timidity, or bashfulness.

Such people are too self-conscious, and betray their lack of self-confidence which is regarded as an evidence of ignorance, or at least, inability to perform the duties they aspire to impose upon themselves.

Every man is better acquainted with himself than anybody else, but when he relies upon the knowledge of others as superior to his own knowledge, he loses the respect of his fellows, and finally loses his own respect and becomes bashful in their presence.

You should cultivate courage and exhibit symptoms of self-confidence, for by that means you show others that you are willing to “dare” and venture a trial of your capacity.

If you are too timid and have no confidence in yourself, you must not expect others to take you except at your own valuation.

There is, however, such a thing as being over-confident and brazen, which is the extreme of timidity, and becomes boastfulness.

Men have a way of studying each other and judging from their own standpoint, and if they perceive any timidity or bashfulness, they judge against you as incompetent. On the other hand, they quickly see beneath the surface of boasting, and reach the same opinion.

Be self-confident, and gentlemanly about it, for so you will pull through any opportunity, besides making hosts of friends in a business and social way.

Look a man straight in the eye, but do not try to look him down.

DON’T BE UNDECIDED

A man who can not make up his mind to do or not to do a thing without a great deal of wobbling first one way and then another, is as bad as an unsafe wall in a building—everybody keeps off lest it fall and do some damage.

When a man has first carefully considered a project, or a certain line of action, and also taken the advice of his friends if the matter is important, he should decide one way or the other at once.

A wobbly man is weak-kneed, and not to be depended upon for any purpose.

If you have ever had dealings with that kind of a man you will understand how painful it is to wait for him to decide.

A man at a cross-roads hesitates and says: “Shall I go this way or that?” He hesitates, starts, returns, starts the other way, and finally goes the wrong way and falls into a hole.

It has passed into a proverb that, “He who hesitates is lost.”

Of course, there is reason and judgment to be observed in everything, for things should not be done at random, but when there are common sense, education, and good counsel to guide you, to hesitate then is to go wrong.

It should not take a man long to decide when there is a speculation presented him, and his decision should be obstinately against the speculation. There are too many good opportunities to succeed in ventures that are legitimate to touch speculation. It is in the legitimate field of operations that indecision is so often fatal.

There is another saying applicable to this subject: “Be sure you’re right, then go ahead.”

DON’T BE TOO BIG FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Most children must creep before they can walk. The reason is because they are not sure of their small limbs and try them before venturing to depend upon them.

When the child can walk he goes right ahead and walks all his life without fear or hesitation.

It is the same in every line of business. The business man must know just where he stands all the time, and he must begin small in order to learn how to rely upon himself.

You are looking for something big, large, something you think commensurate with your abilities. Well, then, let me tell you that you will never find anything to suit you. You are inflated with your ability, your importance, and fail to see the small things at your feet and within your reach that if put together will aggregate the very big thing you want.

You aim at the moon and feel bad because you do not hit it. While your aim may be perfectly good and correct, the object may be too far off for you to hit, or else you must work yourself within reach of it and then you will hit it.

Small beginnings have made every great man on earth. Out of the huts and squalid cabins of the world have issued men who have conquered the world of arms and commerce.

You have the advantage of them from an educational point of view, and think you must be saddled upon a fiery horse before you know whether you can ride a steady going one.

The millionaire was not a millionaire when he started, he was an obscure clerk in a dry goods store working for wages that you scorn. Reduce your size to something near the right one and you will see things differently and take what you can get cheerfully, biding your time to reach higher. Let your hat fit your head.

DON’T GET DISCOURAGED

One of the greatest causes for failure in life is discouragement. It seems to be an element in the life of every man to be up one day and down the next.

When a man gets up it is possible for him to stay up by hard work and persistence, but if he permits himself to go down below his balance he may consider himself altogether down-and-out.

Failure does not mean that you will not succeed, because struggle as we may we must meet failure and look it squarely in the face.

But be not afraid of it, take hold of it by the throat and compel it to work to your advantage.

The lessons learned during the struggle toward success, and the ups and downs of the road are valuable and stand for experience. When a driver has gone over a hard road once, he knows the rocky portions and can avoid them when going over it again.

It is human to make mistakes. In fact, it is a maxim: “It is human to err.”

Knowing this to be inevitable, why repine, or be discouraged?

Follow the example of the small child who falls and picks himself up over and over again. By and by, he can walk without falling down.

Remember this: Every dark cloud has a silver lining. You see the dark side, but if you make your way around to the other side you will see the sun shining.

Much of the discouragement is caused by undertaking more than we can accomplish. If that is the case, then by leaving off a little here and there we shall soon reduce our enterprise to a success that we can handle.

DON’T BE PREJUDICED

We sometimes dislike a man, or hate him, which is the same thing, because he possesses certain peculiarities of person or conduct which are different from ours, or has ideas that are different from those we favor.

The man may be a perfect stranger to us, and we may know nothing about his environments or conditions under which he lives, or the reasons why he differs from us—we hate him all the same and take the other side of the street rather than meet him face to face.

If we were to look into ourselves we might believe that this man we dislike, has many reasons for not liking us.

We show prejudice when we judge any man. “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” says Christ. You are not the judge of any man’s conduct, and to judge him entails slander, backbiting, and conspiracies to his undoing.

You throw mud at another man. Why? Is it not because you have some spots yourself and want to draw attention away from them?

You are afraid that if you boost the other man up you will lower yourself. Hence you unload upon him some of your objectionable qualities to lighten your load.

Every man who does this admits that the other man is better than he, and hopes by adding his faults to that other man, to reduce the level to somewhere near a balance. But experience demonstrates the contrary.

Even if a man should be as bad as you say he is, it is not your business to correct him. You can not extract the fangs of a rattlesnake by abusing him.

Look out for your own destinies and leave the judgment of your fellow man to the judgment seat of God, where it belongs.

DON’T BE SMALL MINDED

A broad, liberal-minded man is beloved by all, but a narrow, small minded man is an object of dislike.

You do not have to squander money to be considered broad minded, or be extravagant in your life and home. A man of that sort is drawing upon his future to use up in the present, and there is no greater folly than this.

In all your dealings with your fellow men, you must exhibit that trait of open mindedness that will draw men to you.

If you stick at trifles and refuse to concede a point to another he will avoid you in future dealings.

“Grab” is a good game, you say. Very well, “you shall not grab anything belonging to me,” and everybody says the same thing. So it will come to pass by and by that there will be nothing for you to grab.

Generosity within a man’s means is always a noble trait, and meets with the approbation of every man. But you must be wise in your generosity and not run into vain glory, or phariseeism—which is fancying that you are better than other men because you squander money. Others don’t think so, they call you “fool” behind your back.

A close-fisted, penurious man, a driver of hard bargains, is always a small man, and everybody is on the look out for a chance to beat him at his own game, and they generally do.

There are small men who will sell you large eggs by the pound, and small ones by the dozen. People find that out and go somewhere else to do their marketing.

In every hill of potatoes, there are some small ones—they did not grow with the others, and they are also cheaper than the others. In the human hill, the small men do not grow like the large ones, hence they are cheaper.

Do not be a small potato, be a large one and sell for more.

DON’T WASTE TIME

Time is not a thing to be wasted, for it is given you for the purpose of working out your destiny.

Time does not belong to you, it is a loan and sometime, perhaps before you are ready, the loan will be called in.

It is said that “Time is Money.” This is not to be understood as meaning dollars and cents, but as something valuable to you. A drink of water is not cash money, but it is valuable to a thirsty man.

The proverb “Waste not, want not,” is as applicable to time as it is to bread and meat, clothing or money.

Yet we are wasting time when we stick at trifles, embark in trivial things, or are connected with something not worth the trouble of exploiting.

A man who wastes his time soon acquires a reputation for being good for little else than small things, a trifling character, and his wages or salary is gauged upon his dawdling peculiarities.

Every man is considered as large as the things he does and no larger, and the time he steals—yes, steals from himself, he will try to steal from others.

It is not necessary to keep in constant motion, or always at work to save time, but idle things, trifling matters, idle words and silly things are a mere waste of time.

You must prepare for the time of need, the time of trouble, and generally look ahead of you, and you can do this only by not wasting your present time of action.

There will come a period when time shall be no more; when you will look back and sigh over wasted moments.

Take time to be cheerful, for amusement, for pleasure, of course. Such things are good for the soul and body, and the time is not wasted when they are reasonable and decent.

DON’T DECEIVE YOURSELF

The man who shuts his eyes deliberately and walks toward a deep hole into which he falls, is a fool and does not deserve sympathy or help.

But the man who deliberately deceives himself and uses false arguments to bolster up some bad habit, or shady dealing with his fellow men, is working dead against his conscience, and drifting down deep in the human scale. He is an object of contempt.

You get the better of a man by some trick and say to yourself: “Oh, he would have done the same thing to me.”

So you measure yourself by others? This is not an assertion of manhood, it is a slavish subjection to others mentally.

When a man goes wrong, or commits a wrong act, and deceives himself into the belief that he was right, he commits moral suicide, just the same as if he killed himself.

There is another point of view to this question: If you could deceive yourself and let it go at that, there might be no harm done except to your own self-respect, but in deceiving yourself you deceive others into the belief that you are honest and square. Whereas, you are a hypocrite.

Others will find you out very soon, and then you may as well shut up shop, for all the business and trust you will get.

A man who is square with himself will be true to everybody else. This makes for character, and character is all a man has on this earth; once lost it can never be regained. You see, there are too many people on earth to deal with. You are not the only one, and so your disappearance will not make even a small ripple.

Be a man among other men, and be true to yourself, for so you will gain the respect and good will of all.

DON’T HIDE YOUR FAULTS

Confession is good for the soul.

This does not mean that you are to go about and tell everybody what a bad man you are. If you do that, they will soon begin to believe you and keep away from you.

Where there is smoke there is always some kind of a fire.

When you are wrong, say so without hesitation. Nobody is perfect, and all men have their faults.

In the business world every man wants to know every other man, then it will be safe to do business with him. But you can not know another without knowing his faults.

Concealment of one’s frailties is dangerous, and leads to harm if you are found out, and you are always found out. You are a suspicious character, and sometimes suspicions are “as strong as proofs of Holy Writ.”

You chew cloves to hide the fact that you have taken a drink. Why do you not say that you take a drink occasionally if that is the fact, and not try to hide the odor of the drink behind cloves? Nobody is deceived, and you get the reputation of being a steady drinker, which may be far from the truth.

You apply for a job, and you are asked: “Do you drink?” Why not answer bravely: “No, sir, not as a rule. I do take a drink once in a while, but will not do so anymore.” Your probable employer says to himself: “I can trust this man because he does not hide his faults, but confesses them and intends to avoid them.”

It is so with other faults that will weigh against you if concealed and found out.

DON’T BE A PESSIMIST, BE AN OPTIMIST

A pessimist is a man who has a constant grievance against somebody or something.

He is forever standing in his own light, and thinks the whole world has picked him out to be the scapegoat for everything that is bad.

He says: “Everybody and everything is against me and I can not succeed. It’s no use trying.”

Before you give up to despair, friend, bear this in mind:

You say you have not the same opportunities every other man has.

You will not believe that if you stop to think a moment.

The average Colored American has ten times the opportunities his father had, and a hundred times the opportunities his grandfather possessed.

You are one of the average Colored Americans, perhaps. Well then, your grandfather had no opportunities at all. If he had one, he was not permitted to grasp it. Your father had more opportunities than his father, but opportunities were just beginning to show themselves.

You live in a far advanced age when the very air is full of opportunities, and yet you think you have none.

The reason why you are a pessimist is because you want to be. You think it is too much trouble to reach out and take the opportunities offered you, sometimes even forced upon you.

Instead of being a pessimist you ought to laugh and thank God that the bright side of life is always turned toward you, and you can see it by merely turning your eyes in its direction.

Keep your eyes open; laugh and the world will laugh with you; weep, and you weep alone.

DON’T BE A COWARD

It is cowardly to “dare” do a wrong thing when the right course would take real moral courage. It is cowardly to “dare” do a foolish thing to avoid being laughed at by “the other fellows.”

It is cowardly, and vulgar as well, for a girl to let herself be drawn into a silly flirtation, a course that cheapens her own womanly nature and makes her the toy of the moment, just because “the other girls do it.”

It is cowardly for a grocer to give short weight, put sand in his sugar or sell cheap substitutes for pure food, just because his competitors do.

It is cowardly for a lawyer, merchant or other business man to indulge in sharp practices because others in the same line of business have set the example.

It is cowardly for a woman to try to dress more extravagantly than her purse will permit, to keep pace with her neighbors. And here I am going to say something which will cause some eyes to open wide in astonishment—it is cowardly to deny one’s self or one’s family the reasonable comforts of life when they can be afforded. Some do go to this extreme just from the love of being considered “prudent.”

Don’t mind what the “other fellow” says, or thinks, in these matters that concern only yourself and those nearest and dearest. Live so as to make the very most and highest of the life God has given you,—and let the tongues wag as they will.

Why bless you, if folks couldn’t talk they would die—some of them. Let them talk and let yourself be free from care concerning what they say,—if you know you are acting from principle. Tastes differ. Yours is as apt to be right as your neighbor’s. Live your own life—only so it be a brave, true, sensible one—and let the other fellow live his.

DO NOT SPEAK EVIL OF ANY ONE

When you speak evil of another you assume the position of his judge and sentence him to punishment without a hearing.

“Judge not lest ye be judged.” That is the inhibition, which is a command inasmuch as it contains a threat of punishment.

When you speak evil of a man, you injure him if what you speak of him is not true and you make yourself a spreader of falsehood.

You also injure his reputation which is not in your keeping but is his property. You steal something from him that is his own and to which he has a right.

You blast a reputation heedlessly and without its being of any value to you. You shut it out for life from all that it holds dear and valuable. For what? Perhaps to gratify your lust for gossip.

You will not get off so easily as you think by ruining or attempting to ruin another’s reputation. You weaken yourself. The man you malign has friends that will stand by him, and they will become your enemies, not only in business but socially, and you will soon find yourself ostracized from respectable people and sent down to associate with other liars like yourself.

Even if what you say should prove to be true, who constituted you the judge? As already said, you must not judge.

One way of hurting a man is to misinterpret his acts. How do you know what a man’s motives are in any case? Every man looks into a mirror and sees himself, whence he interprets according to his own motives under the same circumstances. As it is commonly put: “A man generally judges another from himself.”

It is an unwise habit to fall into, and should be avoided lest others see us as we see others.

DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR PARENTS OR YOUR FAMILY

Every man is judged by his home life.

What kind of a son are you? In answering this question which will be asked to determine your character, the only answer possible to insure favorable consideration is “a good son.”

The home life of the nation and of the race is vital. If you are a home preserver or a home builder, your station in life is assured.

To sum up the requirements you should stand upon the platform open to the eyes of all men as a good son, faithful brother, kind father, helpful friend, and a good citizen. It is not difficult. Such virtues come to be a habit if practiced faithfully.

It is easier to be all these than to be vicious, and wrong with your parents, family, and relatives.

“Honor thy father and thy mother that the days may be long in the land which I will give thee.”

Something of a promise, is it not? It is a promise that has been strictly kept since the world began.

Your mother suffered for you; your father struggled for you, and you can not repay them with ingratitude. You may be higher than they, better educated, more of a social ornament, but you are theirs, and only the vain, foolish and wicked would neglect them.

It does not pay to treat them with contumely and scorn because they do not make the same fine appearance you do. There is no man or woman on this earth of higher social value to you than your parents.

If you are a man of family, remember that you are building up a posterity. You have fulfilled a noble mission, the greatest on earth. They owe you something, but the indebtedness is mutual, you owe them much.

Do Not Drink Alcohol Or Form Other Bad Habits

Drink is the curse of the age, and it has been truly said of it “A man is a fool who will put that in his mouth which will steal his brains.”

The habit of drinking intoxicating liquors is not a mere personal vice, it is public and affects every person belonging to or connected with you.

Looked at from a business standpoint, it is a destroyer of opportunity, and undermines the most brilliant prospects in life. It leads to moral and physical death.

If you hope to win you must not drink intoxicating liquors, it matters not whether you can stand them or not. They will get you finally, besides that, nobody wants a man who drinks.

Drink brings on other habits that are destructive of character and opportunity. A man who gambles will drink. Why? Because he knows he is doing something he should not do, and the drink hardens his conscience. The hardening process continues and he forms all sorts of bad habits. The more he forms the more reckless he becomes, then it is a case of “Good night” to everything decent and noble, or worth having.

There are few cures to bad habits. They become diseases in the course of time, and fatal diseases, besides encouraging other diseases by reducing the resisting power of the body.

There is a preventive to all bad habits, however, and only one—never take your first drink of intoxicating liquor; never gamble for a first stake; never taste the first dose of cocaine to know how it will affect you. In other words: never begin a bad habit and it can not become your master and crowd you out of the companionship of men.

Do Not Be a Spendthrift

The man who squanders his hard earned money is an enemy to himself.

By squandering money is meant expending it for something you do not need and which is of no value, use, or merit.

“A penny saved is a penny earned” is a well known saying, also “Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.”

Don’t imagine it looks big when a young man is with his companions and throws his money right and left. Does he gain their respect? Never. They look upon him as a fool and while they are willing to take advantage of his “liberality,” it will always be noticed that they never reciprocate. They are wiser than he.

It is not necessary to be a miser either, for that is the other extreme and equally as reprehensible.

No man should live on crusts and hoard away his money for some public administrator to find and spend in fees when he is dead.

Neither can a man waste his money and expect to have any left for the rainy day that always comes to every mortal. Such a man says when he is too old to earn money, and is kicked about from pillar to post without friends or companions: “If I had only saved my money when I was young, I might be a rich man now.” That is quite true, but you wasted your money and you have reached the end of your chapter in life.

What do you want money for anyway? You can live on bread and water. There is a great question in this idea. We have needs; we have rights to be observed, to marry, to be decent, to live in healthy places, raise a family and educate them. All these things make a man, an American citizen, and if you throw away the money to make you these things, then you can not become any of them. In that case you are—nothing. Do you aspire to be a nonentity?

DON’T BE A KICKER OR A KNOCKER

If a man keeps on complaining about things in general and particular, he will soon be thrown out of decent society.

Grievances and troubles come to every man in this world, and every man knows it without constantly repeating it. He has his own troubles, and does not care to be saddled with yours.

This is a good old earth if you would take off your blue spectacles and look at it with your own eyes.

Some men are so dissatisfied with things that there is no pleasing them, but if you attempt to take from them the things that do not satisfy or please, they set up a roar.

When there is a wrong to be righted, some right to be protected, it is well enough to complain, but there are numerous persons who go about complaining all the time. When it is not one thing it is another.

These persons are given the name of “kickers,” and when they keep it up they are deemed “chronic kickers.”

It is sometimes impossible to pass these people by, lest a really suffering brother human be denied help. But they become known, and should be avoided for the sake of one’s peace of mind.

The strong man will bear his troubles in silence, but the weak one whines about them and fancies they are the worst.

If you stop to consider how this earth would get along without you, and that it did without you a long time, perhaps you would quit kicking and give others a rest from your complaints.

A little kicking may be useful, but too much of it lands a man outside the reach of opportunity.

A GOOD WOMAN THE GLORY OF MAN

Man’s Best Friend and Counselor

When God created Adam, it was found that he had no helpmeet, so woman was created to be his companion.

St. Paul says: “The woman is the glory of man,” and still farther elaborating the idea of the helpmeet says: “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.”

That is as much as saying that the man and the woman must stand side by side in this world as companions and helpmeets toward the glory of the Lord.

The Holy Scripture is full of allusions to good women. Thus: “A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband,” 2 Prov. 12, 4. “Her price is above rubies,” Prov. 31, 10. “Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.”

As the mother of the Christ, woman, in the person of the Virgin Mary, has been put upon a high pedestal for a pattern and a model to all good women.

Her part in the world may be well explained by the words of the orator: “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

The greatest deference and respect is the due of every woman, since she is the mother of the race, and its guardian and protector when in the helpless period of infancy.

The most beautiful and unanswerable tribute to women is paid by King Lemuel in the words of the prophecy that his mother taught him. It is to be found in Proverbs 31, and includes the entire chapter of 31 verses.

EDUCATE YOUR CHILDREN

It can not be doubted that education is the father and mother of opportunity and success in life.

You may know this from your own deficiencies, therefore, give those belonging to you a chance at opportunity and success by educating them.

You bring helpless beings into the world; you see them growing up amid modern surroundings that demand education, and it can not be possible that you will permit them to become weeds in the human garden—useless incumbrances to be thrown out upon the garbage heap.

It is the right of your children to be educated to fit some sphere in life. They are yours, and look to you to aid them. Besides, whatever you do to educate your children must redound to your own advantage.

Some people are jealous because their children know more than their parents. If your mind runs that way you come within the condemnation:

“He that provideth not for those of his own household hath denied the faith; he is the companion of the destroyer.”

Think this over and let it sink into your mind.

Your children want things you did not have when you were a child, and therefore, if the things that were good enough for you are not good enough for your children, they must go without. You reason like a cheese that is full of blind mites.

We are progressing far beyond the dreams of your youth, and your children are tied to the car of progress. You must not only let them go along with it, but you must help them to keep up with the procession. They are confronted by opportunities, and you dare not blind their eyes to them. Education is the only thing that will keep their eyes wide open to the chances of life.

THE GOLDEN RULE, OR THE PRINCIPLE OF LIVE AND LET LIVE

Life is a natural right in all men, and it is inalienable.

“The Lord is not willing that any should perish.”

Under our constitutions and laws, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the inalienable rights of all men.

No man has a right, under any sort of provocation to deprive another of his life, no more has another man any right to deprive us of life.

There is an eternal balance in this right to live, and an eternal duty on our part to let our fellow man live. But there are indirect ways of accomplishing another man’s death, and we are equally as guilty as if we were to deprive him of life directly.

A mark was set upon the murderer Cain lest any one finding him should kill him. The right to live may be extended over all men, the sinner as well as the saint, even the murderer is marked so that his right to live shall not be interfered with.

When a man is in the full tide of vigorous life, his impression is that he has more right to live than the weak, decrepit and useless, but there is no such difference—the right is conferred upon all.

We must look to it lest we so act as to deprive another of this right to live, for though we may not actually kill, we may interfere with his life in many ways. We wrong him in many ways; destroy his character; interfere with his existence in business, by slander, and often “drive another to the wall,” as it is said. But when we do that we are interfering with that man’s right to live, for the right is attached to everything that a man may do. I have a right to work, but you say, “Not unless you do as I say.” This is an invasion of his right to live.

Every man orders his life to suit himself, it is his life and no one may order it for him. The Golden Rule is here exemplified: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” It is a good and safe rule to follow always.

DON’T GO INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH “THE DEVIL”

It may be true, as many contend, that every man has a personal devil within him that goads him on to do the wrong things at the right time. Any person who has that sort of a devil can easily get rid of him by the use of a strong will and determination.

But outside of him, this “Devil” is quite an institution whose great aim seems to be to monopolize you and everybody else. The feature he displays is a willingness to go into partnership with you in your undertakings.

He will make suggestions to you that sound plausible and good, and his promises are lurid. But beware of him, he is working for himself and not you. He is extremely selfish and will grab all the profits, leaving you thrown out like an old shoe that is no longer fit to wear.

A suggestion of wrong, of crooked work, of something that will injure your fellow man, that will best him, and cause him to lose money, character, friends, or honesty, comes from this outside Devil who wants you for a partner.

In a partnership the partners are supposed to work together for the common interest, but with the Devil as a partner you do all the work and he takes the pot of gold.

If you are a sterling, upright man, and insist upon being so, you may and probably will be tempted to go into partnership with the Devil, but knowing him, you will flaunt his honied words and stick to your uprightness. By and by he will leave you and you will win your way and enjoy all the profits.

In baptism you renounce the world, the flesh and the Devil. The world ruins you, the flesh overcomes you, and the Devil gets you. This is the usual routine, so stand by your baptismal vows, they are wise.

HONESTY THE BEST POLICY

Honesty is a question of morals. The law demands that all men shall be honest, but the maxim says it is the “best policy” to be honest.

To succeed in business or in any affairs where others are concerned, it behooves a man to be open and above board with every one.

The truth is, that a dishonest man is not wanted in anything where there is responsibility, or where a loss may result through dishonesty.

If a man is honest with himself, it is probable that he will be honest with others. In this respect, honesty is like charity: “It begins at home, but does not end there.”

To be honest does not mean merely that a man is not to steal another man’s money, but does mean that every man should be given his due, whether in financial matters or in duty. The man who half does his work, watches for the clock to hasten toward closing time, or dawdles when haste is required, is not honest, however square he may be in money matters.

The trouble is, we limit all our morality to money, and imagine that if we handle money carefully and without loss to the owner, we are honest.

Even taking that broad view of the virtue, we are robbing a man when we shirk work, do it badly, or pretend we can do a thing we can not do in a proper manner and take his money for the doing of it.

To be honest truly, a man must be fair in everything that pertains to his fellows. A man who will deliberately lie will cheat.

To give every man a square deal is to be honest.

Do As You Would Be Done By

It is not an easy matter to do to others what you would they should do unto you, when they are not following this rule themselves.

When Christ enunciated the Golden Rule in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7, 12, he announced what is the law and the prophets.

“All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

It is good morals and also contains a masterful business proposition. The reason is, because it is a moral precept, and men are inextricably mixed with morals in all their transactions.

We can not be guided in our actions by what other men do, except in a general way, but every one must be dependent upon his own energies, and be responsible for his own acts.

If we were to do as other men do to us, sometimes, we should be apt to cause a breach of the peace or commit a murder. That is conceded. But the persistent observation of this rule will bring all men around in your favor.

There is reason and common sense to be observed, however, in the observance of every moral precept. Thus: “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

This is good advice coming from the Great Master, but it is not interpreted as meaning that your cheeks shall be turned toward the smiter as long as he chooses to strike. There comes a time when the precept has been complied with, and then let the smiter beware, for a defense will be made.

We know what the Savior means in all His sayings. He inculcates peace if we have to fight for it. So it is well to be guarded in our too rigid observance of precepts, lest we fall into the contrary condition which would deprive us of our manhood.

“Be strong and quit yourselves like men.”

Keep in Touch With God

The wisest man that ever lived says: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.”

The basis of a moral life is the remembrance of thy Creator. With this in your memory you will be able to establish a moral character; without it you can not have a moral life.

Below the nature of every man, the foundation of his nature, the everlasting rock upon which it is built, is God. He can not be ignored in any act, in any transaction. You may attempt to blot Him out, or cover Him up out of the sight of your own intelligence, but He is there always. He is your Creator, and the more you are in touch with Him, the more responsive you are to His promptings, the higher your moral character.

The old Pagans had no morality because they hid God from their own hearts and understandings, and substituted gods of wood and stone.

They really worshipped themselves, for when a man casts out God there is nothing but himself to worship.

The fact is, when men desire to lead immoral lives, or commit violations of law of any kind, they begin by closing their eyes to God and forgetting their Creator, and they say: “There is no Hell.”

In these days it is impossible for a man to live without a knowledge of his Creator. His name is everywhere and stamped upon everything. This very knowledge makes it incumbent upon every man to keep in touch with his Creator, for it is the common sentiment of all mankind, and can not be ignored.

The observance of every moral precept is prompted by the Creator, who “wills not that men shall perish, but that they shall live.”

To turn away from Him is to lose moral character, to keep in touch with Him is to preserve it. We keep in touch with God by remembering Him.

Do Not Try to Succeed Without the Help of God

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs, 3, 5.

The Lord is a mighty power of strength to you, as He is to all mankind, and He invites you to make use of that strength. Human life is a poor and small thing without something to make it of great importance. That something is the Lord, and He is part of our lives, of every moment, and we can not drive Him out of it. Why? Because He created us, and will not permit one of His creations to be without help.

“Not a sparrow falleth” that He does not know it, and how much more are you of interest than the sparrow? “Every hair of your head is numbered.”

Some men imagine they can get along without the help of God, but they deceive themselves. When they are prosperous they forget Him, but when adversity comes, they turn to Him for succor. Are they ever refused help? Not if asked in the proper spirit. He helps you if you help yourself, and you can not voluntarily lie in a ditch and ask God to help you out. That would be presumption.

By making God a part of your daily lives, taking counsel from Him and leaning upon Him for good qualities, you will be surprised at your success. You do not have to be a bigot, or a ranter; show by your example what you are and upon whom you lean for support.

Do not be shamed to give the Lord as the cause of your success, the greatest men of the earth have always recognized His hand.

Believe in Him faithfully and fully.

To an Atheist who did not believe in God, Napoleon Bonaparte in the height of his power said: “You do not believe in God? Who made the stars?”

The More a Man Gains Wisdom the Nearer He Gets to God

St. Paul says: “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

There is a glory of man and a glory of God. The former is transient, but the latter is eternal, and is what all men should aim to see.

“All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.”

It is plain to every right thinking and reasoning man that we should seek that which is the best. We so act in all our business affairs, and why should we not do the same so far as our immortal souls are concerned?

The kingdom of God is His glory, and seeking that first, all other things will come to you.

In striving to attain to a sight of the glory of God, we are moving upward from every point of view. Compared with that glory, the man who seeks only the glory of man, is satisfied with tinsel instead of pure gold.

Do not imagine that because we are far away from the kingdom and glory of God, that it is not worth consideration. His glory is visible everywhere. In the rising sun; the flowers and plants; the winds and the rain; in the smallest animal, and particularly in man.

It can be cultivated, and imitated by using the intellect. The more a man learns the nearer he gets to the glory of God, and the better he will be prepared to finally reach it.

All men are moved and have their being in pursuance to a law of God who created all things for His own glory. You are intended to share in that glory, it is your heritage as a man.

Do Not Violate the Laws of Nature

To violate any law is reprehensible, and in most cases is punishable.

A man steals, and he is put in jail as a punishment for not letting another man’s property alone. It is his and you have no right to it, wherefore you are punished.

But when you violate a law of nature, you are inflicting an injury upon yourself such as no wise man will do.

All men were created for a special purpose, and every man who has reached the age of reason knows what that purpose is. It is a law of that man’s nature which he must obey or take the consequences.

It is a law established by God, the Creator, and can not be violated with the same impunity as the laws of man.

For instance: The legislature enacts a law forbidding you to steal. You steal, nevertheless, and you are punished as has been said, being sent to prison. But if you violate a law of God—or a law of nature, which is the same thing, you do not see any prison in sight and you imagine you are going to get off free from punishment. But wait a moment.

A man commits suicide or does other flagrant acts upon himself.

The suicide commits a murder, but if he murdered another he might have an opportunity to repent—to make his peace with God. But by putting an end to himself he cuts off his chance of repentance and appears before his Creator with the blood stains indelibly fixed upon his hands. He is a marked Cain, and he fixes his own punishment to begin immediately.

Any flagrant violation of the laws of nature are an insult to the majesty of the Creator who made all things perfect, and fixes sure punishment upon him who defaces His handiwork.

The Devil’s Work in the Home, in Society, in Business, in Politics, and in Every Walk of Life

THE THIEF

Misrepresentation, Lying, Stealing—Reputation Gone—The Soul Destroyed.

THE MURDERER

Temptation, Drunkenness, Murder—The Trial in Court, the Sentence of the Prisoner, a Life Term in the Penitentiary, or WORSE. After that ETERNAL DARKNESS.

THE SUICIDE

Dissipation, Gambling, Speculation With Other People’s Money—ALL IS LOST. Suicide.

THE PUBLIC PLUNDERER

Intimidation, Bulldozing, Brute Force, Vote Stealing, Ballot Box Stuffing, Bribery, Malfeasance in Office, Embezzlement of Public Funds—Impeachment, Political Death, Moral Debauchery, Disgrace—RUIN.

THE DESTROYER OF HOMES

Intemperance, Ignorance, Deception, Betrayal, Seduction, Adultery, Abortion, Race Suicide, Desertion, Divorce—DEATH.

INTRODUCTION.

Education is the highest test of a people’s capacity and the best measure of their progress. The ability of the Negro to become educated according to the highest standards of the times is one of the great marvels of the last half century. Never in the history of the world has any people met with such overwhelming opposition against acquiring such training as will fit them for the full duties of citizen, as have the Freedmen in the United States; never before has a people struggled as nobly and succeeded so well in mastering every branch of learning, as this people, practically all of whom were illiterate at the close of the Civil War; but of whom only thirty per cent were illiterate in 1910.

The influences through which the colored people have passed in their quest for learning constitutes one of the most interesting pages of American history. No historian can chronicle the heart throbs, the ambitions and the untiring energy that they have spent, and are still expending, in their education.

The various education processes to which the Negroes of America have been subjected is interwoven with the history of the United States from the year 1619, when the first slaves were landed, to the present moment. The story of the development of the African slave, to the present condition of the American Negro is full of interest and instruction and worthy of much more extended scientific treatment than this chapter can possibly comprehend.

With all the mistakes that have been made by a loose-jointed American democracy in its treatment of the Negroes, both as slaves and as free men, the general movement of the Negro people has been decidedly forward. 216Even under slavery these people benefited by a contact with civilization that no corresponding groups have had in any other part of the world. They were quick to perceive that the mastery of the white man over them lay in his education. Though crushed to the lowest level, they never lost hope or opportunity to learn the meaning of books and figures. Sometimes through sympathy of a master’s child, sometimes by a kindly stranger from the North, a slave learned the alphabet and a little arithmetic. When the Emancipation Proclamation was sounded the eagerness and determination of the Negro to obtain an education opened into full blossom, and the colored people consecrated themselves to the one great task of educating their children, so that these coming men and women might be able to live happier and better lives. It was here that systematic efforts were undertaken to build schools for the colored and by the colored people. How wonderful has been the result of their effort is revealed by facts which have just been published by the United States Bureau of Education. These figures show:

1. That $5,860,876 is spent annually by the public authorities of Southern States in the wages of teachers in public schools for Negroes.

2. That the Federal State and land-grant schools have an annual income of $963,611, and a total property valuation of $5,727,609.

3. That the private schools have an annual income of $3,026,460, and a property valuation of $28,496,946.

4. That eight educational funds are devoting part or all of their income for the improvement of Negro schools.

5. That the Negroes themselves are contributing an increasing share to the support of their schools.

7. That Negro farm laborers and Negro farmers cultivate at least a hundred million acres of land, of which forty-two and a half millions are in farms owned or rented by Negroes.

8. That Negroes own twenty million acres of land, an area equal to that of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

These facts are indisputable evidences of progress in the past and afford great promise for the future.

Into the struggling life of the pioneers of America came the first Negroes landed in this country; brought out of African savagery and sold in Virginia as slaves; set down side by side with indentured bondmen from England, whose lot was little better, to be taught civilization. How soon they learned to talk the English language; to copy the kindlier manners of their new neighbors; to fulfill the duties laid on them; to put their mind upon their tasks; and to lose their native traits in the happier faith of Christianity. It was all as unlike the valley of the Congo from which they came as one could well imagine. People were clothed instead of going naked; they could not live on uncultivated fruits; but had to dig that they might enjoy the harvest; there were better enterprises to undertake than to hunt for men and to fight with other tribes on the chance of catching slaves from them or being caught themselves; it was a condition of order and of law, of homes and housekeeping, or community life and neighborly usages, with prizes of a hundred kinds for good behavior and the habit of fidelity. Of course, there was a great deal that was rough and hard; sometimes there were cuffs and blows, curses and the driver’s lash for any lagging in the work required; often injustice and cruelty; but in contrast with Africa, it was a land of golden opportunity.

In the two hundred years and more that preceded the great emancipation, the number of people of African descent grew to be about 4,000,000. The processes of these 200 years are profoundly significant as a preparation for the responsibilities of freedom that came so suddenly at the close of the war. The training of the Negro during this period, and the attitude of the thoughtful people of the country toward his training, are deserving of treatment separate from that given to the development of the school system as it is known today. The difference in attitude brought on by the fear of so-called slave uprising and by the pre-Civil War debates, divides this period rather clearly into two parts.

The first extends from the landing of the slaves in 1619, to about 1830; the second, the pre-Civil War period, extending from about 1830 to 1860.

There is striking proof of the high estimate which the more enlightened people of the country put upon the Negro’s character and capabilities in the enterprises for African colonization which were made so much of in the first half of the last century. An interesting feature of this movement was the union of benevolent people in the South with those of like mind in the North, and the harmony of spirit which long prevailed. With the teachings of the Declaration of Independence dominant everywhere, thinking people felt that slavery could not be countenanced forever in a free country; and the practical way to deal with the Negroes seemed to be to set them off in colonies by themselves. Jefferson suggested that there might be such a colony in some part of the region northwest of the Ohio or that a retreat be found for them in the West Indies; and, later, in 1811, after the colony of Sierra Leone had been planted by the British Government, he wrote that nothing was more to be wished than that the United States should undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa. In 1816, the Legislature of Virginia took action to the same end, and a year later, the American Colonization Society was organized at the Capital of the Nation, with Justice Bushrod Washington as president and distinguished men from all parts of the land in the list of vice presidents. During the following 15 years, until 1832, vigorous efforts were made for the support of this society in all the different States. State societies, county societies, church societies and local bands, auxiliary to the national organization, were started; in 1832, a list was printed of 231 such auxiliaries, of which 127 were in the slave States and 104 elsewhere. In the lists of their presidents, secretaries, and treasurers are found the names of John Marshall and James Madison, of Virginia; Charles Carroll, of Maryland; Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina; Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; Edward Everett, of Massachusetts; Gerrit Smith and Arthur Tappan, of New York; Jeremiah Day and Leonard Bacon, of Connecticut, with others of similar standing in the North and South alike, governors, judges, ministers of the gospel, and prominent business men. The purpose on which the 219country was thus united was the building up of Liberia, the establishment in Africa of a Republic upon the pattern of the United States, to be made up of freed slaves from America. That shows what was thought of the Negroes at that time; how the ablest men believed in them as equal to grave civil responsibilities. However wild the project looks today, the very launching of it was a significant tribute to these people.

Prior to 1830 the thoughtful people of the South were not opposed to the education of their slaves. There was a special recognition of the need of teaching reading as a means of becoming familiar with the Bible and the doctrines of Christianity. It was necessary for practical reasons that some of the slaves on a large estate should know how to read. Some of the house servants who were depended on for the care of the masters children, aided them in their lessons, and for this reason needed to have some knowledge of reading, writing, and simple arithmetic. The history of the South in early times tells of men and women, here and there, who interested themselves particularly in the welfare of the slaves and in teaching them to read as a prerequisite for religious training and membership in the church. In 1695 the minister of Goose Creek Parish, near Charleston, gathered a class of Negroes and gave them a course of systematic instruction in Christian truth. Before 1700 the Friends of North Carolina were especially active in similar efforts. In 1744 two young colored men, who had received a special education for the purpose, were set over a school in Charleston which opened with some sixty pupils and was continued for a number of years. Later the free colored people of Charleston, who were prosperous and had ample means, maintained their own schools; and in the early part of the nineteenth century, when the law forbade Negroes to teach, white teachers were employed in their schools. Particularly interesting is the story of the Mood brothers, the eldest of whom began to teach Negro children in 1638, and was followed by his three brothers and a brother-in-law, one after another, till they had together given instruction to some 1,200 pupils.

Carter Goodwin Woodson’s book, The Education of the Negro, gives an impressive array of historical illustrations. Dr. Woodson relates 220briefly how more than fifty Negroes of some distinction severally received in slavery days the beginnings of their education, usually by the favor of some one who was personally interested in their improvement. He estimates that in 1863 some ten per cent. of the adult Negroes in the United States had the rudiments of education, to which he adds the opinion that the number was much less than it had been about 1825.

It seems open to question whether there were more educated Negroes in 1825 than in 1863. Undoubtedly there were more in some cities where the harsh measures used against them led to a flight to more favorable abodes. But the removal, for example, of Frederick Douglass, from Baltimore to New York, or of Daniel A. Payne from Charleston to Gettysburg, or of the Quakers in North Carolina to a freer air in Ohio, did not by any means eliminate them from the Negro ranks; but rather set them in positions where their own education could go on by leaps and bounds, and their inspiring personality become a ten-fold greater force in promoting the educational ambition of their comrades. In 1825 education for the Negro was undoubtedly more in honor among the white people than afterwards. The advertisements of the time show that it was sometimes regarded as adding to the market value of a slave, so as to be put forward to help the sale. By the middle of the century all this was changed; the schools of free Negroes were frowned upon and teaching slaves was under the ban; an intelligent Negro became an object of suspicion, and it was not politic for one to be known as able to read and write. On this account the estimate of their number was likely to be much below what is actually was.

PRE-CIVIL-WAR PERIOD.

Although some of the early State legislatures passed laws providing for the supervision of meetings of slaves by white men, the more stringent laws prohibiting the assembling and teaching of Negroes were not passed until the period between 1830 and 1935. The immediate cause of the passage of these laws was a series of uprisings of slaves. The laws were enacted to prevent the slaves from reading the literature of the French and Haitian Revolutions and the writings of the abolitionists.

221While these laws were a natural expression of the highly wrought emotional excitement that prevailed after the disturbance headed by Denmark Vesey and the more serious affair of Nat Turner, it is probable that such laws were not rigidly enforced. It is more likely that the effect of the law was to make the slaves value the ability to read all the more, and to incline them in quiet ways to impart the precious gift to their friends.

It seems likely, too, that the more liberal-minded masters and mistresses, out in the open country over the vast regions of the South, thought nothing whatever of such a law and paid no attention to it, in any instructions they wished to impart to favorite servants in their houses. As bearing on this point, some weight may be given to words uttered about 1840, by the Hon. J. B. O’Neil, a distinguished jurist of South Carolina, at one time Speaker of the House of Representatives, and in his later years the chief justice of the State:

“It is in vain to say there is danger in it. The best slaves of the State are those who can and do read the Scriptures. Again, who is it that teaches your slaves to read? It is generally done by the children of the owners. Who would tolerate an indictment against his son or daughter for teaching a slave to read? Such laws look to me rather cowardly.”

Perhaps it is not a bold conclusion that this kindly and reasonable usage in a great many homes was one of the things that bound the slaves so closely to their master’s families as to hold them fast in all the vicissitudes of the war.

It may safely be concluded, therefore, that a great many more Negroes were able to read and write in the period just preceding the Civil War than was generally thought to be the case, either in the South or the North. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the intellectual enlightenment which was beginning to have so many expressions in the earlier years of the century grew on and steadily became wider in its quiet pervasiveness, notwithstanding the many adverse conditions with which it had to contend.

If the estimate is correct that some ten per cent. of the adult Negroes 222at the time of the war had the rudiments of education, or if even only five per cent. of the Freedmen had this knowledge, the task of the hour for the teachers was quite different from what has usually been supposed. To bring the chance for an education to a people of whom five out of every hundred have the habit of learning is another thing from dealing with those who have none of them taken even the first steps. It is all the difference between taking them at the lowest stage and meeting them after they have mastered the earlier lessons. It must have meant very much to the teachers if there were a few of their pupils who were above the primary grade. This goes far to explain the demand that came so soon for secondary schools and those of a more advanced grade. There were some of the pupils whose education had begun long before these teachers saw them; had begun in their old slave environment and with their own parents or some fellow slave, or perhaps their master’s children, for teachers, and so they were the more ready for new privileges.

It may well be supposed that these men and women of greater intelligence, as soon as opportunities began to open, were especially ambitious for the superior education of their children and that the pupils of most promise in all the schools were largely drawn from their ranks. This is the ready explanation of the swift development of these schools and of the necessity for classes above the primary grade. Here, too, is the explanation of certain unlooked for manifestations of a scholarly spirit and intellectual aptitude that early surprised the teachers. Actually their pupils, many of them, had a good deal more back of them than they ever imagined. They were of parentage that was by no means to be despised. They had been tenderly watched over from infancy and received a careful training in manners and behavior. As servants in their master’s house they had been daily observers of the life going on there; breathing its atmosphere of elevation; seeing the able men and cultivated women that were entertained at its table; listening often to superior conversation, and catching many a strong impression to stay with them.

The colored men who escaped into the Union lines were of a different type. They were hungry, ragged, ignorant, confused by their wretched 223plight and begging for protection. The first necessity was food, shelter, clothing; in some cases immediate medical attendance; and the pitiable creatures were to be counted by hundreds and thousands. The appeal that went up to the people of the North, was not altogether unlike that which has come from the stricken and homeless sufferers in the European war. And the response at that time was similar to the generous relief provided for the people of Belgium, Serbia and Poland.

But in one respect the need of the these Negroes was peculiar. They were escaped slaves, and it was decided that they were not to be returned to slavery; so it was a question, not merely of present relief; but of how they could be provided for permanently. Something had to be done that they might be prepared to take care of themselves eventually and make an honest living. In the new life of independence they were entering they had everything to learn; therefore they had to be taught. In a word, those who were dealing with them had about the same problem to handle that the old Virginia settlers had when the first cargo of Negroes was landed there from Africa. These sorry creatures must be taught to behave; to mind what they were about; to work and do their work well; to use good English and to play the part of men. It was the teacher’s job and a hard job for any who were bold enough to try it.

But the teachers were forthcoming; hundreds of them; cultivated, and high-minded. They could see no way to make these fugitive slaves into decent, law-abiding, industrious people, but to give them a new character, a changed life. They must be led into an intelligent religion that should govern the whole round of their conduct. And for this they must be brought to the Bible. Therefore they must learn how to read it at the very start. And so they went to teaching grown up men and women their letters. Perhaps it looks odd to us; but there was good sense in it. This was the way of opening the Bible to these groping men; the way of leading them to an intelligent acquaintance with Jesus Christ, the hope of lost men always and everywhere.

It was a noble service. There were aspects of sublimity about it; and any who are disposed to belittle it or to speak lightly of the results 224that flowed from it show that they do not understand the tremendous interests at stake in that critical hour of the Nation’s life; that hour of destiny, too, for these many thousand Negroes “scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd” and faint-hearted for a friendly voice and some word of encouragement.

While such efforts were made to teach the Negroes to read, those engaged in this work did not by any means stop here; they set about every sort of teaching that might be of practical use. They did their best to improve the habits of the people; influencing them to be cleanly and orderly; calling them to promptness and regularity in their attendance on appointed exercises; giving the men work to do of various kinds and looking out to see that it was done properly; showing the women how to cook their food so as not to spoil it, how to mend and make garments and to be good housekeepers. The Boston Educational Commission in 1862 laid it down as a foremost object to bring about the “industrial improvement” of the Negroes, and it was in the very make-up of these thrifty New England men and women, and those from other parts of the North, to be a vital force in behalf of general efficiency wherever they took up a work like this.

The training which the Negroes received during the Civil War as soldiers should not be overlooked. It represents his first opportunity for real manhood training in an effective way. The training of the military camp is no less important than the training of the school-room in the development of good habits and manners.

With the beginning of 1863, immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation, a call was made for Negroes to enlist in the United States Army, to which there came a ready response. Before the end of that year there were 100,000 former slaves in the military service, about half of whom bore arms in the ranks; and by the close of the war the number of Negro troops had risen to 186,000.

It has been usual to speak of this enlistment in its bearings on the 225progress of the war. General Grant set a high estimate upon his Negro troops, as some of his dispatches show, and President Lincoln said:

“By arming them we have added a powerful ally. They will make good soldiers, and taking them from the enemy weakens him in the same proportion as they strengthen us.”

But there is another point of view, the influence of this military life on the men who enlisted. Taken as they were at that time, especially those who were in the camps or floating about the country, without settled abodes or regular occupation, what could have happened more to their advantage than to be summoned to the orderly habits and rigid discipline of a soldier’s life. It put the Freedmen into a far more effective school than it was possible to provide for them in the former way.

In some of the regiments there were commanding officers of so fine a mold that is was an inspiration to noble manhood to be under their orders. When Governor Andrews of Massachusetts was choosing officers for the two colored regiments that went from that State, he set it before him to find men “of acknowledged military ability and experience, of the highest social position if possible, and who believed in the capacity of colored men to make good soldiers.” Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, of the first colored regiment mustered into service, was a man of this order, as his illustrious life has amply shown. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, of the Massachusetts Fifty-fourth, not only proved his own greatness, but his aptitude in making heroes of the men who charged with him to their death in the storming of Fort Wagner. Another of these commanders of Negro soldiers was General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, who went from his honorable military service to the still larger civil service of building up the famous industrial school at Hampton. And yet another was Major Horace Bumstead, who was afterward president of Atlanta University. The colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants of the colored troops as a whole were men of no ordinary character. They were of the sort who do not flinch from taking their stand on the side of an unpopular cause, so it be right, and they put their best endeavor into the training of the troops over whom they were in command. It was 226an educational opportunity of no trifling significance. Two years or more of daily drill in such a school had in it the making of manhood.

Soon after the Civil War began, several societies were formed to aid in the care and education of the Freedmen. With the progress of the war the operations of the societies were constantly changing to meet new demands. They began at Fortress Monroe and Hilton Head in 1861, and took up work in other places, as one by one they were opened, and necessity appeared for the service they might render. As the field widened, supplies in larger quantity were required; more money had to be raised and a greater number of agents and teachers sent down to the several centers of activity. The teachers at the beginning were mostly men, as was befitting the rough duties undertaken; but it was not long before conditions were such as to invite the ministries of women and the force was largely made up of them. The work of looking after the refugees yielded in time to efforts of many kinds in behalf of the communities. Attention was turned to the young people and children, and schools were opened and maintained particularly for their benefit. Preaching and Sunday school work were also made very prominent. Thus a certain stability and promise of continuance began to be seen.

While the war lasted, these movements were carried on and maintained by voluntary organizations in the North, though uniformly with the approval and cooperation of the military forces. But on March 3, 1865, about a month before the surrender of General Lee, the United States Congress passed an act establishing the Freedmen’s Bureau in the War Department: “A bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, to which should be committed the supervision and management of all abandoned lands and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen.” This brought the Government into formal participation in these endeavors, with the certainty of adequate financial resources. The bureau was organized with a general superintendent, a general inspector, and a superintendent of schools in each district. “In entering on the work a few schools were found in charge of tax commissioners, a few maintained by the Negroes themselves; but by far the greater number 227were under the care of the Northern societies. General supervision was at once instituted over all schools; reports were made at stated intervals; unused Government buildings were thrown open for schools houses, and transportation and subsistence for a time were furnished to the teachers.” This cooperation was definitely approved by Congress in the following year, July 16, 1866, and provision for maintenance extended to two years from that date. Half a million dollars was set aside for school expenses. Then grading and systematizing followed, and the societies were stimulated to greater endeavor. The efficiency of the bureau continued to 1870, when the last congressional appropriations for this object were expended and its influence became little more than nominal.

At first, and for some years after the close of the war, the teaching in colored schools was mostly elementary. It was so from the nature of the situation. There was no call for any other than the simplest lessons; and after the Negroes had all been made free it was most essential that a chance should be given them everywhere to acquire some education as a qualification for citizenship. So the task of the Freedmen’s Bureau, joining with the other agencies already in the field, was to set up these elementary schools in all places where there were Freedmen to attend them. These schools were made public in the largest sense and free to all who cared to attend them. And out of them grew the present public school system for Negroes in the South. It was at this point that denominationalism entered into the education of the Negro. In discussing this phase of Negro Education, it is noteworthy that one of the first denominational schools established, was by the colored people themselves in the founding of Wilberforce University.

CHURCH SCHOOLS AFTER THE WAR.

White church boards.—With these developments under the leadership of the bureau, the people who had maintained the previous operations began to turn their minds to schools of a higher grade; and at this point appear indications of denominational purpose. During the war, considerations of patriotism and humanity were dominant, and churches of every name united in the efforts undertaken; but, with the return of 228peace, missionary enterprise took into view the churches that were to grow up among the Freedmen, and shaped itself more or less in their behalf. This was most natural in those churches whose affiliations in the South had been strongest before the war—the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches. For the sake of these churches that were to be, they took measures to build up schools of higher learning at carefully chosen centers, which they hoped might become favorite resorts for scholars, rallying points for religious organization and institutions of Christian culture and enlightenment for all the region around.

The Baptists instituted Shaw University at Raleigh, in 1865, Roger Williams at Nashville and Morehouse at Atlanta, in 1867, Leland at New Orleans, in 1869, and Benedict at Columbia, in 1871; and the Free Baptists established Storer at Harper’s Ferry in 1867. The Methodist Episcopal Church instituted Walden at Nashville, in 1865, Rust at Holly Springs, in 1866, Morgan at Baltimore, in 1867, Haven Academy at Waynesboro, in 1868, Claflin at Orangeburg, in 1869, and Clark at Atlanta, in 1870. The Presbyterians already had their important school in Pennsylvania, called Ashmun Institute, now Lincoln University, founded in 1854; to which was added Biddle University, in 1867. The Episcopal Church instituted St. Augustine’s at Raleigh, in 1867. The Congregational Church, through the American Missionary was one of the earliest denominations to enter the field of Negro education systematically. In 1865, it had Avery Institute at Charleston, Ballard Normal at Macon, and Washburn at Beaufort, N. C.; in 1866, Trinity at Athens, Ala., Gregory at Wilmington, N. C., and Fisk University at Nashville; in 1867, Talladega College in Alabama, Emerson at Mobile, Storrs at Atlanta, and Beach at Savannah; in 1868, Hampton Institute in Virginia, Knox at Athens, Ga., Burwell at Selma, Ala., since removed to Florence, and the Ely Normal, now a public school in Louisville; in 1869, Straight University at New Orleans, Tougaloo in Mississippi, Le Moyne at Memphis, and Lincoln at Marion, Ala.; in 1870, Dorchester Academy at McIntosh, and the Albany Normal in Georgia.

The United States Government in 1867 chartered Howard University 229“for the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences,” with special provision for the higher education of negroes, but designed for all who might wish to study there, with no race discriminations.

Several notable schools were started in this early period by representatives of the Society of Friends; in 1862 Miss Towne and Miss Murray opened the Penn School on Helena Island, in the neighborhood of Hilton Head; in 1865 Cornelia Hancock, of Philadelphia, opened the Laing School at Mount Pleasant, in the vicinity of Charleston, and carried it on until 1869, when it passed into the charge of Abby D. Munro, of Bristol, R. I., who continued it for upwards of forty years; in 1868 Martha Schofield, of Pennsylvania, founded the industrial school at Aiken, which bears her name and was under her management till very recently, when she resigned on account of the infirmities of age. In 1864, Calvin and Alida Clark, with the support of the Society of Friends in Indiana, started a work for colored orphans in Helena; and then, in 1869, the education want having become paramount, removed some ten miles to a farm in the country and established there the Southland College.

The growth of educational forces throughout the field is shown by the continual establishment of new schools as well as by the increasing effectiveness of the older ones. Several churches that have not been referred to have had an important share in the movement. The Reformed Presbyterians had their workers among the Negro refugees at Beaufort, Fernandina, Washington, and Natchez during the war, and between 1864 and 1866 they maintained a school at Natchez with an enrollment of some 300 pupils; but in 1874 they undertook a more permanent work in Selma, Ala., with the planting of Knox Academy, which has kept to high educational standards and exerted a most important influence. The United Presbyterians, likewise, had a school in Nashville in 1863, which was carried on in a quiet way till 1875, when Knoxville College was started to do normal work, and forthwith took its position as a central station from which a whole group of schools was directed, several in east Tennessee, others in North Carolina and Virginia, and a number of rural schools in Wilcox County, Ala. In 1878 a school was opened at Franklinton, 230N. C., which was maintained by the “American Christian Convention” and in 1890 was chartered as the Franklinton Christian College. The Southern Presbyterians, in 1876, established Stillman Institute at Tuscaloosa for the education of Negroes for the Christian ministry. The Southern Methodist Episcopal Church in 1884 founded Paine College at Augusta, Ga. Thus the several bodies of Christian people each had its own organized activities in behalf of the colored people.

Negro church boards.—Meanwhile, as these people became better educated, their churches grew in numbers and strength, and the conviction began to find expression that they ought to have schools under their own management. The African Methodist Church had already had Wilberforce in Ohio, founded in 1817, and Western in Kansas, founded in 1864; but they felt that the time had come for other institutions, which should be planted at important centers of power in the South. So, in 1880, this church secured ground in Columbia, S. C., began to build as soon as they were able, and in 1881 opened Allen University; then steps were taken to establish another school in Atlanta, and in 1885 Morris Brown was opened to students; now they have schools at Waco, Tex.; Jackson, Miss.; Selma, Ala., and elsewhere. At about the same time the Zion Methodist Church moved for the establishment of Livingstone College, which was incorporated in 1879, and began work on its present site at Salisbury in 1882; this church now has other smaller schools also. The Colored Methodist Church which is closely affiliated with the Southern Methodist Church, projected Lane College, at Jackson, Tennessee, in 1878 and in 1882, a building was erected and the school opened; this body now has other schools at Birmingham, Ala.; Holly Springs, Miss.; and Tyler, Tex. The Colored Baptists have shown similar enterprise, often in cooperation with the Home Mission Society of the Northern Baptists, but particularly through their own conventions.

Public Elementary Schools:—The existence of the large number of private schools for colored people is largely explained by the inadequacy of the public schools. The inequality in the public schools for white and 231colored children is apparent to every one who visits the South. The Report on Negro Education recently published by the Bureau of Education, presents these inequalities in terms of salaries spent. The report shows that in fifteen Southern States and the District of Columbia, $42,510,703 is spent annually in teachers’ salaries. Of this sum $36,649,827 was for teaching 3,552,431 white children and only $5,860,876 for teaching 1,852,181 colored children. In other words the number of white children is less than twice the number of colored children, but the amount of money spent for their education is over six times that spent for the colored children. The average or per capita annual expenditure for the education of the white child is $10.32, while that for the colored child is only $2.89.

In addition to the sums appropriated for the maintenance of the common schools the South in 1912–13 appropriated $6,429,991 for higher schools for white people and only $336,970 for similar schools for colored people.

The amount expended in teachers’ salaries in the Southern States and the average for each child of school age are shown in the following table:

These figures explain the efforts of the colored people to enlist the sympathy and support of the North and their willingness to contribute out of their poverty to the establishment of schools.

STATE	AMOUNT OF TEACHERS’ SALARIES	AVERAGE PER CHILD
WHITE	COLORED	WHITE	COLORED
Alabama	$2,523,550	$372,177	$9.41	$1.78
Arkansas	2,587,462	455,938	12.95	4.59
Delaware	357,071	47,415	12.61	7.68
Florida	1,022,745	167,381	11.50	2.64
Georgia	2,884,580	483,622	9.58	1.76
Kentucky	3,389,354	401,208	8.13	8.53
Louisiana	2,807,103	211,376	13.73	1.31
Maryland	2,567,021	282,519	13.79	6.88
Mississippi	1,284,910	340,459	10.60	2.26
North Carolina	1,715,994	340,856	5.27	2.02
Oklahoma	3,232,706	283,385	14.21	9.96
South Carolina	1,454,098	305,080	10.00	1.44
Tennessee	1,938,487	298,772	8.27	4.83
Texas	4,892,836	904,335	10.08	5.74
Virginia	2,767,365	421,381	9.64	2.74

232Public High Schools.—There are only 65 public high schools for negroes in the Southern States. Of these, 47 maintain four-year courses and 18 have three-year courses. In addition, there are about 200 public schools which enroll a few pupils above the elementary grades. Practically all the four-year high schools are in the large cities of the border States. Over half are in Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia; 16 are in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. South Carolina and Florida have only 2 each; North Carolina and Louisiana have no public high schools for negroes. North Carolina, however, provides three well-managed State normal schools offering secondary work. The city high schools of Washington, D. C., and St. Louis, Mo., are unusual in extent of plant, ranging in value from $200,000 to $450,000.

The following table presents the more important facts for the Public High Schools:

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS AND NORMAL SCHOOLS.

State and Name of School.	Location. City or Town	Years in Course.	Attendance.	High School Teachers.	Value of Plant.
United States, total			8,707	484	$3,172,250
Alabama, total			541	19	21,500
	Birmingham Colored High School	Birmingham	4	387	9	2,000
	Huntsville Colored High School	Huntsville	4	36	2	4,500
	Owen Academy	Mobile	3	86	5	10,000
	Tuscambia Colored High School	Tuscambia	3	32	3	5,000
Arkansas, total			253	22	105,000
	Langston High School	Hot Springs	4	39	4	20,000
	Merrill High School	Pine Bluff	4	25	3	18,000
	Helena Colored High School	Helena	3	29	3	7,000
	Gibbs High School	Little Rock	4	100	8	40,000
	Lincoln Colored High School	Fort Smith	3	60	4	20,000
Delaware, total			60	11	33,800
	Howard High School	Wilmington	4	60	11	33,800
District of Columbia, total			1,375	96	985,000
	Armstrong Manual Training School	Washington	4	259	33	240,000
	Dunbar High School	„	4	731	48	500,000
	Myrtilla Minor Normal School	„	^[1]2	115	15	245,000
Florida, total			78	6	190,000
	Stanton High School	Jacksonville	4	44	3	175,000
	Lincoln High and Graded School	Tallahassee	3	34	3	15,000
Georgia, total			40	5	15,000
	Athens High and Industrial School	Athens	3	40	5	15,000
Kentucky, total			779	44	209,000
	Louisville Colored Normal School	Louisville	^[1]2	27	2	10,000
	State Street High School	Bowling Green	4	42	4	10,000
	Lincoln High School	Paducah	4	39	4	22,000
	Central High School	Louisville	4	402	16	41,000
	Earlington Colored High School	Earlington	3	10	1	15,000
	Douglass High School	Henderson	4	25	3	40,000
	Clinton Street High School	Frankfort	4	24	3	15,000
233	Russell High School	Lexington	4	93	4	18,000
	Western High School	Owensboro	4	77	4	23,000
	„ „ „	Paris	4	40	3	15,000
Maryland, total			781	42	80,000
	Baltimore Colored Normal School	Baltimore	^[1]2	112	8	15,000
	Baltimore High School	„	4	669	34	65,000
Mississippi, total			49	3	14,000
	Colored High School	Yazoo	3	49	3	14,000
Missouri, total			910	49	430,500
	Sumner High School	St. Louis	4	595	34	330,500
	Lincoln High School	Kansas City	4	315	15	100,000
Oklahoma, total			368	27	166,750
	Dunbar High School	Tulsa	4	40	5	6,000
	Douglass High School	Oklahoma City	4	80	7	63,750
	Boley City High School	Boley	4	25	2	15,000
	Manual Training School	Muskogee	4	138	8	70,000
	Faver High School	Guthrie	4	85	5	12,000
South Carolina, total			138	6	15,000
	Howard High School	Columbia	3	138	6	15,300
Texas, total			1,212	63	370,300
	Anderson High School	Austin	4	82	5	28,000
	Colored High School	Fort Worth	4	133	6	68,000
	A. J. Moore High School	Waco	4	69	5	14,800
	Gibbons High School	Paris	4	100	3	27,500
	Charlton High School	Beaumont	3	108	3	10,000
	Central High School	Marshall	4	142	6	10,000
	Anderson High School	Dennison	3	28	2	14,000
	Lincoln High School	Palestine	4	69	2	8,000
	Dallas Colored High School	Dallas	4	243	12	60,000
	Douglass High School	San Antonio	4	85	9	49,500
	Central High School	Galveston	4	89	6	54,000
	Temple Colored High School	Temple	4	38	2	15,000
	Frederick Douglass High School	Sherman	3	26	2	11,500
Tennessee, total			650	25	117,000
	Austin High School	Knoxville	3	116	7	12,000
	Kortrecht High School	Memphis	3	232	5	35,000
	Howard High School	Chattanooga	4	80	5	30,000
	Rural High School	Hyde Park	3	26	2	20,000
	Pearl High School	Nashville	3	196	6	20,000
Virginia, total			1,070	38	163,500
	Armstrong High School	Richmond	4	439	17	40,000
	Jackson High School	Lynchburg	3	110	4	14,000
	Peabody High School	Petersburg	3	147	4	30,000
	Colored Public High School	Norfolk	4	257	8	41,500
	Mount Herman High School	Portsmouth	4	57	2	13,000
	Danville Colored High School	Danville	2	60	3	25,000
West Virginia, total			150	16	265,600
	Water Street High School	Clarksburg	4	20	2	26,750
	Douglass High School	Huntingdon	4	35	4	62,700
	Sumner High School	Parkersburg	4	28	4	88,000
	Lincoln High School	Wheeling	4	21	2	45,850
	Garnett High School	Charleston	4	46	4	42,300
Northern States (separate schools), total			253	12	70,000
	Sumner High School (Missouri)	Kansas City	4	253	12	70,000

County Training Schools.—The organization of the “county training school,” is a comparatively new but promising movement. There are 27 schools of this type in the various Southern States. These schools 234have in most cases done work through the ninth grade, and in some cases through the tenth grade, including in the last two years some elementary teacher training. In addition much industrial work has been included in the curriculum, the aim being to make these schools articulate as nearly as possible with the life of the people in the rural communities and the type of work their graduates will be called upon to do.

They are supported partly by private funds and partly by public funds. The State Fund provides about $15,000 a year for these schools, while about $35,000 is provided by the Counties. The following table presents the more important facts for these schools:

COUNTY TRAINING SCHOOLS.

Counties Maintaining Training Schools.	City or Town.	Attendance.	Teachers.	Income.	Value of Plant.
United States, total		5,906	139	$51,501	$145,570
Alabama		694	19	6,650	20,900
	Coosa	Cottage Grove	189	4	1,650	11,000
	Lowndes	Charity	150	5	1,250	4,700
	Mobile	Plateau	241	6	2,500	1,500
	Pickens	Carrollton	114	4	1,250	3,700
Arkansas		1,242	25	10,957	27,500
	Chicot	Dermott	245	4	1,804	5,000
	Hempstead	Hope	300	8	2,662	9,000
	Lee	Marianna	350	6	3,740	10,000
	Ouachita	Camden	347	7	2,751	3,500
Georgia		365	9	3,725	10,500
	Ben Hill	Queensland	185	4	1,725	3,000
	Washington	Sandersville	180	5	2,000	7,500
Kentucky		70	3	2,000	3,500
	Bourbon	Little Rock	70	3	2,000	3,500
Louisiana		254	7	3,030	8,600
	Calcasieu	West Lake	118	4	1,680	4,600
	Morehouse	Bastrop	136	3	1,350	4,000
North Carolina		995	26	8,690	36,650
	Johnson	Smithfield	308	7	1,690	6,500
	Martin	Parmelee	150	4	1,500	6,500
	Pamlico	Stonewall	135	5	1,580	5,000
	Sampson	Clinton	242	5	1,870	4,500
	Wake	Method	160	5	2,050	14,150
South Carolina		291	6	1,998	5,500
	Clarendon	Manning	291	6	1,998	5,500
Tennessee		1,173	20	6,025	14,040
	Fayette	Somerville	275	5	1,340	4,540
	Haywood	Brownsville	423	8	2,405	2,500
	Shelby	Lucy, R. F. D.	475	7	2,280	7,000
Texas		208	6	2,511	4,080
	Travis	Manor	208	6	2,511	4,080
Virginia		614	18	5,915	14,300
	Albemarle	Charlottsville	75	4	1,100	3,500
	Caroline	Bowling Green	212	4	2,080	4,300
	Nottaway	Blackstone	166	6	1,455	3,500
	York	Lackey	161	4	1,280	3,000

236Land-Grant Schools:—The third type of schools supported by public funds is the Land-Grant Schools. The purpose for which the land-grant institutions receive Federal appropriations are clearly outlined in the following extracts from the various congressional acts granting public lands and making appropriations for their support:

Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862.—An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.—The leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the State may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.

Morrill Act of 1890.—An act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. To be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, with special reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction. Provided, That in any State in which there has been one college established in pursuance of the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and also in which an educational institution of like character has been established, or may be hereafter established, and is now aided by such State from its own revenue, for the education of colored students in agriculture and the mechanic arts, however named or styled, or whether or not it has received money heretofore under the act to which this act is an amendment, the legislature of such State may propose and report to the Secretary of the Interior a just and adequate division of the fund to be received under this act between one college for white students and one institution for colored students established as aforesaid which shall be divided into two parts and paid accordingly, and thereupon such institution for colored students shall be entitled to the benefits of this act and subject to its provisions, as much as it would have been if it had been included under the act of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the fulfillment of the foregoing provisions shall be taken as a compliance with the provision in reference to separate colleges for white and colored students.

238Nelson Amendment of 1907.—An act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture.—That said colleges may use a portion of this money for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

Rulings and instructions relative to the acts of Congress of August 30, 1890, and March 4, 1907, in aid of colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts.—“To be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, with special reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction” and “for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts.” It is held that this language authorizes the purchase from this money of apparatus, machinery, text-books, reference books, stock, and material used in instruction, or for the purposes of illustration in connection with any of the branches enumerated, and the payment of salaries of instructors in said branches only; but in case of machinery (such as boilers, engines, pumps, etc.) and farm stock, which are made to serve for both instructional and other purposes, the Federal funds may be charged with only an equitable portion of the cost of said machinery and stock.

The acts prohibit the expenditure of any portion of these funds for the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings under any pretense whatever, and the salaries of purely administrative officers, such as treasurers, presidents, secretaries.

In accordance with these acts, 17 institutions for Negroes in the Southern States are receiving Federal funds. The principal facts for sixteen of these institutions are shown in the table herewith. Hampton Institute is classified with the independent institutions because its financial support is very largely from private sources. The total annual income for the current expenses of the sixteen institutions is $544,520. Of this amount $263,074 is received from State appropriations and $2,598.51 from the Federal acts. Including the Federal grant to Hampton Institute, the total of Federal appropriations is $286,817. The value of property in the sixteen institutions is $2,576,142.

STATE	ATTENDANCE	TEACHERS	INCOME	VALUE OF PROPERTY
Total	4,875	400	$544,520	$2,576,142
Alabama	264	27	29,209	182,500
Arkansas	170	12	24,003	141,456
Delaware	71	8	13,159	42,150
Florida	345	34	34,168	131,421
Georgia	390	21	25,369	68,449
Kentucky	234	19	22,327	156,700
Louisiana	160	23	31,384	95,250
Maryland	123	12	15,528	44,950
Mississippi	484	24	47,774	258,500
Missouri	264	33	42,162	226,375
North Carolina	150	26	32,518	129,700
Oklahoma	408	28	46,400	153,827
South Carolina	726	33	44,216	397,300
Tennessee	300	25	39,819	193,915
Texas	552	46	49,985	237,200
West Virginia	234	29	46,499	216,449

241State Schools:—In addition to the land-grant schools there are eleven State schools. Four of these institutions are in Northern States. The following table gives the important facts concerning this group.

STATE	ATTENDANCE	TEACHERS	INCOME	VALUE OF PROPERTY
Total	2,638	188	$246,834	$1,394,547
Alabama	714	31	21,500	70,000
Kansas	82	14	15,830	131,395
„	106	26	38,148	195,300
Maryland	50	8	8,053	33,500
New Jersey	93	18	27,755	99,159
North Carolina	249	8	6,074	45,000
„	227	7	5,544	38,700
„	165	10	5,258	51,700
Ohio	231	29	77,000	436,893
Virginia	573	25	27,898	233,900
West Virginia	148	12	13,774	59,000

Federal Schools:—The one institution classed as Federal is Howard University at Washington, D. C. It is the only institution supported by direct annual appropriations from Congress. It is generally considered the best institution for colored people in college and professional training. It has an attendance of 1,401 pupils, 106 teachers, an annual income of $172,257 and property valued at $1,756,920.

It is said that the deficiencies in the public expenditure for the education of colored people largely explain the active campaign for private and higher schools since the Civil War. These schools not only represent the effort of the colored people and their friends to provide higher training for their children, but also to make up for the inadequacy of the elementary public schools.

According to the recent report of the Bureau of Education, there are 625 private schools for colored people in the United States. These schools have property valued at $28,500,000, an annual income of $3,027,000, 4,600 teachers and an attendance of approximately 100,000.

243The three great factors which have entered into the development of the educational possibilities of the colored people are the North, the South and the Negro himself.

Though the Northern States are not so immediately concerned in the education of the Negro race as the South and the Negroes themselves, the northern point of view and northern philanthropy have been just as important and are just as essential to continued development as the other two elements. In many respects the remoteness of the northern friends to Negro education gave them freedom from the traditional prejudices and the frequent irritations to which those nearby were subjected. Problems are rarely settled without the aid of those who are not party to the differences. Evidence is now gradually accumulating that the southern people are realizing that the northern teachers have rendered a valuable service not only to the Negroes but also to the South. The following testimony was given as early as 1885, by Bishop Haywood of the Southern Methodist Church in speaking of President Ware, the founder of Atlanta University:

“Very small encouragement do workers in this field get from us of the white race in the Southern States, although, next to the Negro race, we are of all men on earth most concerned in the success of your work, and most concerned because we have most at stake.”

The total annual contribution of the North for the current expenses of the private schools aggregate $2,500,000. Of this fully a million and a half is given by the white churches for their denominational schools, and another $1,000,000 is contributed by individual donors and churches for the maintenance of the independent institutions. Property valuations in the private institutions founded by northern gifts now amount to $24,000,000.

245Without the institutions thus erected and maintained, the industrial and agricultural education of the colored people would be almost entirely confined to the very limited facilities of the public schools, and the inadequate work of the land-grant institutions. Teacher training would be almost negligible, secondary courses would be conspicuously inadequate and no college work would be offered. Upon the North therefore, and the Negroes must rest the responsibility of providing higher training. While constant effort should be made to induce public authorities to provide for every phase of education, any plan to diminish private support should be adopted only after careful consideration of the local situation. The per capita public school expenditures for white children of the Southern States is four and five times that for the Negroes. All the available facts indicate that the financial aid of the North would be needed for some decades to come.

Essential as northern philanthropy has been to the education of the Negro, the greatest contribution of the North has been the teachers, sons and daughters of the best families, who have been willing to work in colored schools, and to show their colored pupils by precept and example that education is not only head knowledge, but the formation of habits that guarantee such fundamental virtues as cleanliness, thoroughness, perseverance, honesty, and the essential elements of family life.

The work of the Northern teachers is no less important than that of the northern soldier. While the one emancipated the Negro from slavery, the other laid the foundation for the greater emancipation from ignorance. In the conduct and management of colored schools, it is to be expected that the South should stress contact with the white neighborhood and conformity to the community standards. The concern of the Negro is naturally the preservation of his self-respect and the increase of opportunities for employment and influence. The concern of the North is the maintenance of such school activities as will produce manhood and womanhood of good physique, discerning minds and sound morals. In accordance with this purpose, northern people have erected schools of all types for the Negroes, including industrial, agricultural and collegiate institutions. No greater loss could befall the Negro schools than the elimination of northern philanthropy and northern teachers.

The two types of institutions which are largely supported by northern philanthropy are designated as independent schools, and schools under white denominational boards. Many of these schools also receive large sums from their colored patrons. The following table gives the important facts concerning the independent schools in the several States. The names of the larger institutions of this group are given in the table at the end of this Chapter.

By independent schools is meant such as are not connected with any public or denominational agency; but are under the direction and control of a general board of trustees. These trustee boards are usually composed of colored men, northern men and southern men. As a rule they are self-perpetuating—that is—the trustees themselves elect new members of the board to fill vacancies such as may occur through death or resignation.

In number and income the independent schools form the most important group of schools. They are non-sectarian in character, and draw support and pupils from all sources and classes of the people. The leading facts concerning this group of schools, according to the recent report of the Bureau of Education are as follows:

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	118	14,851	1,144	249	895	$1,099,724	$12,369,441
Alabama	23	4,887	331	23	308	369,544	4,279,566
Arkansas	2	70	2		2	1,100	3,700
Delaware	2	22	4		4	5,250	18,600
Florida	3	234	24		24	19,158	85,875
Georgia	21	2,654	97	29	68	2,888	493,673
Kentucky	3	177	19	8	11	20,351	529,698
Louisiana	7	671	34		34	10,831	118,037
Maryland	3	38	3		3	1,385	2,750
Mississippi	4	858	58		58	33,618	314,220
Missouri	1	19	6		6	2,837	38,500
North Carolina	9	597	55		55	18,389	120,000
South Carolina	11	1,012	84	3	82	51,235	416,205
Tennessee	3	1,061	78	33	45	103,305	733,058
Texas	4	363	23		23	10,364	42,000
Virginia	11	1,685	256	147	109	321,660	4,414,459
Northern States	11	472	70	6	64	57,309	759,100

249The number of pupils in attendance was 14,851, of whom 12,273 were elementary, 1,841 secondary, and 737 were collegiate and professional. The secondary courses are offered in twenty of the larger institutions. The collegiate and professional students are in Meharry Medical College, Fisk University and Atlanta University. Of the total attendance reported above, the 72 smaller schools have 4,404 pupils, of whom only 66 are secondary.

The number of teachers and workers in all independent schools was 1,144, of whom 249 were white and 895 were colored; 521 male, 623 female; 558 academic, 222 industrial, 49 agricultural, 315 other workers. The ratio of teachers and workers to pupils indicates that these institutions are fairly well managed. About a fourth of the teachers in the larger schools are white. The smaller schools are practically all taught by colored workers. On the basis of sex, the workers in the larger institutions are about equally divided.

The schools of this group which have received most liberal support are Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, and Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. The large support and remarkable growth of these two schools is due largely to the growing popularity of individual education and also to the personalities of General Armstrong, who founded Hampton, and Dr. Booker T. Washington, who founded Tuskegee. The independent institutions of college grade that have attained a national reputation are Fisk University, Nashville. Tennessee, and Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia. The one independent professional institution of nation-wide reputation is Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee. A number of smaller schools, mostly of the industrial type, have attained noteworthy success. Among these might be mentioned the Daytona School for Girls, Daytona, Florida; Calhoun Colored School, Calhoun, Alabama; Penn School, St. Helena, Island, South Carolina; Snow Hill Institute, Snow Hill, Alabama; Utica Institute, Utica Mississippi, and Okolona Industrial Institute, Okolona, Mississippi. There are numerous other institutions that are doing most successful work. The existence of such institutions becomes doubly significant when the personality of their founders and the opposition they met with are considered. The influence of General Armstrong and his attitude toward education are being more and more felt in the whole educational system of the country. The story of Dr. Washington, who found at Tuskegee a log cabin and left there an industrial town is well described in his illuminating book, “Up from Slavery.” The names of Bumstead and Ware at Atlanta University, and of Gravath at Fisk, are well known. One of the leading lawyers of New York City is the son of the late President Gravath of Fisk. The growth of such institutions as Utica Institute, Snow Hill, Okolona Institute and Daytona School proves the capacity of young colored men and women to acquire training in school and also to acquire the more important qualities of leadership and determination to overcome difficulties. It is said that when William H. Holtzclaw reached Utica, Mississippi, the banks of the town refused to accept 252his money for deposit, because he was colored. In the thirteen years he has lived there he has succeeded in winning the friendship of the people, the credit of all the banks, and he has built an institution which has an income of nearly $20,000 a year, and property valued at over $160,000. The stories of Miss Bethune, at Daytona, Wallace A. Battle, at Okolona, and W. J. Edwards, at Snow Hill, are no less interesting and inspiring.

253The names of the more important schools and the States in which they are located are given below:

Alabama: Beloit Industrial Missionary Association School, Selma; Calhoun Colored School, Calhoun; Corona Normal Industrial Institute, Corona; Centerville Industrial School, Centerville; Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute, Kowaliga; Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, Montgomery; Mount Meigs Colored Institute, Montgomery; Peoples’ Village School, Montgomery; Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute, Snow Hill; Street Manual Training School, Richmond; Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee.

Florida: Daytona Industrial Educational School, Daytona; Robert Hungerford School, Eatonville.

Georgia: Albany Bible and Manual Training Institute, Albany; Atlanta University, Atlanta; Forsyth Normal and Industrial Institute, Forsyth; Helena B. Cobb Home and School, Barnesville; Model and Training School, Athens; Sparta Agricultural and Industrial Institute, Sparta.

Louisiana: Gaudet Industrial Home and School, Orleans; Sabine Normal and Industrial School, Sabine.

Mississippi: Okolona Industrial School, Okolona; Piney Woods Country Life School, Braxton; Prentiss Industrial School, Prentiss; Utica Normal and Industrial Institute, Utica.

North Carolina: Laurinburg Normal and Industrial Institute, Laurinburg; National Training School, Durham; Palmer Memorial Institute, Sedalia.

South Carolina: Maysville Institute, Maysville; Penn School, St. Helena Island; Port Royal Agricultural School, Beaufort; Voorhees Industrial Institute, Denmark.

Texas: Farmers’ Improvement Agricultural College, Ladonia; Houston Industrial and Training School, Huntsville.

Virginia: Franklin Normal and Industrial Institute, Franklin; Fredericksburg Normal and Industrial School, Fredericksburg; Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton; Manassas Industrial School, Manassas, Prince William.

Northern States: Berean Manual Training School, Philadelphia; Cincinnati Industrial School, Cincinnati; Downingtown Industrial and Agricultural School, Downingtown, Pa.; Avery Collegiate Training School, Pittsburgh, Pa.

The extent and character of the educational work done by the white churches are emphatic evidence that these churches have recognized the 255great opportunity for service in behalf of a struggling people. They have given their money to build and maintain the schools, they have sent their sons and daughters to teach in them, and they have rendered a service to humanity that is destined to receive recognition.

The following table presents the more important facts concerning the schools under white denominational boards:

The total number of schools under the direction of white church boards is 354. The annual income for current expenses of these schools is one and a half million ($1,546,303). The value of property is almost fourteen millions ($13,822,421.)

WHITE CHURCH BOARDS MAINTAINING SCHOOLS FOR COLORED PEOPLE.

Denominational Boards	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	354	51,529	2,562	1,069	1,493	$1,546,303	$13,822,451
Baptist:
	American Home Missions Society	24	5,536	419	139	280	304,861	3,870,744
	Women’s American Baptist Home Mission Society	1	125	14	11	3	7,746	16,500
Catholic Board of Missions	112	13,507	404	384	20	146,821	491,000
Christian Woman’s Board of Missions	5	440	37	15	22	29,910	184,602
Congregational American Missionary Association	29	6,922	383	212	171	235,764	1,733,589
Friends Society and other Friends Agencies	8	1,642	96	12	84	63,868	915,900
Lutheran Board for Colored Missions	9	1,147	26	13	13	18,319	72,000
Methodist:
	Freedman’s Aid Society	18	5,059	266	65	201	230,160	2,605,687
	Women’s Home Missionary Society	12	808	71	41	30	42,975	309,500
Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen	85	8,915	423	84	339	200,124	628,743
Protestant Episcopal Boards, American Church Institute, and the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society	24	2,988	176	12	164	118,526	2,151,321
United Presbyterian Church Boards of Freedman’s Missions	15	2,870	166	44	122	88,512	455,600
Nine small church boards	12	1,570	81	37	44	58,717	387,265

257The attendance on these institutions was 51,529, of whom 43,605 were elementary, 7,188 were secondary, and 736 were collegiate. The number of teachers and workers was 2,562, of whom 1,069 were white and 1,493, or 58 per cent. were colored. On the basis of sex, 714 are men and 1,848, or 70 per cent. are women. Classification according to character of work shows that 1,916, or 74 per cent. of the teachers are academic, 339 industrial, 31 agricultural, and 276 administrative. Comparison with other groups of schools indicates that those under white boards still retain a considerable fraction of white teachers, that the number of women teachers is rather larger than in other groups, and finally that the proportion of academic instructors is higher than in any group except those under the colored boards.

There are ten denominational groups which own and maintain a number of institutions for the education of colored people. Nine other denominations are supporting one or two schools each. Very few of the churches represented by either the larger or smaller of these boards have any considerable proportion of Negroes in their membership. There are other denominations, notably the Unitarians, who have contributed liberally to colored schools without any thought either of increasing their church membership or their control over these schools. The primary purpose of practically all of these organizations has been the education of the Negroes in America, and their preparation for life in a democracy.

In this connection, it is interesting to note the religious preference of the Negroes in the United States as compiled by the United States census of 1904. According to this census there were 3,685,097 Negroes in the various denominations. Of these 2,354,789 were enrolled by Baptists, 1,182,131 belonging to various branches of Methodism, and the remaining 148,177, hardly 4 per cent of the total, were distributed among the Catholic, Presbyterian, Christian, and Congregational denominations.

The larger denominations maintain central offices and one or more traveling secretaries whose duties include both the supervision of the schools and the appeal for funds to the supporting churches. This personal supervision, together with regular reports of both financial and educational activities, has developed economy and honesty in the use of funds and thoroughness in the school work.

259The American Baptist Home Mission Society.—The American Baptist Home Mission Society owns or supervises 24 educational institutions. All of these are large and important schools. These schools are effectively managed, and their general average of educational efficiency is very high. The following table shows the distribution of these schools by States:

The annual income for current expense of the 24 schools is $304,861, of which $150,637 is received from the board. On the basis of income five of the schools have incomes between $1,500 and $5,000; ten between $5,000 and $15,000; six between $15,000 and $30,000; and twenty have incomes of over $30,000. The total property is valued at $3,870,744, of which about three and a third millions are in plant and almost half a million is in endowment. According to property, only one school has a valuation under $10,000; three schools have valuations between $10,000 and $25,000; four between $25,000 and $50,000; seven between $50,000 and $150,000; three between $150,000 and $250,000, and six over $250,000.

The attendance of these schools was 5,504, of whom 3,186 were elementary, 2,068 secondary, and 250 collegiate. All the schools maintain elementary classes, and all but two have secondary pupils. Seven of the institutions are offering instruction in college subjects. Two of the seven, however, had neither the equipment nor teachers to maintain college work. The number of teachers is 419, of whom 139 are white and 280, or 66 per cent. are colored; 148 are men and 271, or 65 per cent., are women; and 295, or 70 per cent., are academic teachers.

These percentages for the color, sex, and work of the teachers indicate that the Baptist Society is following an average course in the selection of its workers, and the arrangement of the school program. The high grade of colored officers and teachers now in charge of some of the Baptist Society schools indicates that the transfer from white to colored management has usually been made with considerable care. Of the 419 teachers and workers, only 42 are offering industrial courses and seven are teaching agriculture or gardening. For a people eighty per cent. rural, this proportion of agricultural teachers is evidently not adequate.

AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	24	5,536	419	139	280	$304,861	$3,870,744
Alabama	1	268	21	1	20	9,479	83,000
Arkansas	1	313	18		18	15,109	90,000
Florida	1	404	18		18	8,070	80,158
Georgia	5	1,287	106	50	56	81,573	621,624
Kentucky	1	130	15	1	14	11,308	60,000
Louisiana	2	572	26	10	16	16,356	462,000
Mississippi	1	310	16		16	1,591	100,000
Missouri	1	66	11		11	4,486	20,000
North Carolina	3	419	46	14	32	41,051	433,251
South Carolina	1	507	30	18	12	21,384	635,744
Tennessee	2	242	31		31	9,942	117,500
Texas	1	371	22	12	10	19,247	314,935
Virginia	3	537	36	21	15	37,684	630,354
West Virginia	1	110	23	12	11	17,581	222,178

263The history of the work of the American Baptist Home Mission Society in the south begins with the following resolution passed by its executive committee in 1862:

Resolved, That we recommend the society to take immediate steps to supply with Christian instruction by means of missionaries and teachers, the emancipated slaves—whether in the District of Columbia or in other places held by our forces—and also to inaugurate a system of operations for carrying the Gospel alike to free and bond throughout the whole southern section of our country, so fast and so far as the progress of our arms and the restoration of law and order shall open the way.

From that day to the present time the society has worked unceasingly for the education and religious development of the colored people. Some measure of the remarkable success achieved in these fifty years of service is given in the educational institutions described in this report. The efforts of the society have doubtless been strengthened by the consciousness of a certain responsibility for the colored Baptists, who constitute such a large proportion of the membership of all colored churches.

Most of the schools are well known. They number among their graduates some of the ablest leaders of the colored race. The most widely known schools are: Morehouse College and Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia; Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina; Virginia Union University, and Hartshorn Memorial College, Richmond, Virginia; Jackson College, Jackson, Mississippi; Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock, Arkansas; Roger Williams University, Nashville, Tennessee; Storer College, Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia; and Selma University, Selma, Alabama.

The names of the men and women who gave many years of faithful service would constitute a list too long to be entered here. Two of those whose wisdom has directed the policies in recent years should be mentioned. Dr. H. L. Morehouse belongs to the past as well as to the present. He began as secretary of the society in 1879, and has continued until the present time. Dr. George Sale was superintendent of education for several years until his death in 1912. His influence on the educational methods of the institutions under his direction was a valuable contribution to the education of the colored people.

265The Woman’s Baptist Home Mission Society.—The Woman’s Baptist Home Mission Society owns and maintains Mather Academy, contributes liberally to the support of Spelman Seminary and Hartshorn College, and provides some aid for other schools. So far as the facts could be ascertained, the officers of the society supervise its contributions with considerable thoroughness, and it is to be desired that their activities in Negro education could be increased, especially in the education of colored girls.

267Roman Catholic Board.—In recent years the work of the Roman Catholic Church in developing schools and churches for colored people has been very marked. The various orders of the church now own 112 schools of which seven are rated by the Bureau of Education as large institutions. While most of the colored schools are small they are rendering a needed aid to the meagre public schools in the places in which they are located. The following table is a summary of these schools:

So far as they could be determined, the annual income for current expenses is about $150,000. The value of the property of the seven larger schools is about $500,000, of which $335,000 is in the two schools at Belmeed, Va. The total attendance is 13,507, of whom 13,443 are elementary and only 64 secondary. The number of teachers is 404, of whom the majority are white sisters of various Catholic orders. The proportion of teachers of simple industry is small and the number teaching gardening and agriculture is negligible.

CATHOLIC BOARD OF MISSIONS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	112	13,507	404	$146,821	$491,000
Alabama	9	885	25	13,064	25,000
Arkansas	3	253	13	4,230
Delaware	1	80	18	23,000	75,000
Florida	7	663	17	3,330
Georgia	7	1,170	23	4,840
Kentucky	6	506	10	2,510
Louisiana	25	3,142	83	18,304
Maryland	4	888	20	5,650
Mississippi	13	1,440	42	8,952	56,000
North Carolina	6	407	12	2,700
Oklahoma	2	65	4	750
South Carolina	3	366	10	2,500
Tennessee	2	281	9	4,350
Texas	6	617	17	3,640
Virginia	7	847	52	31,075	335,000
Northern States	9	1,387	38	15,094
District of Columbia	2	510	11	2,882

The two largest Catholic schools are located at Rock Castle, Virginia. Both of these schools receive the greater part of their support from Mother Catherine Drexel, of Philadelphia and her family. These schools are the St. Emma Industrial and Agricultural College and the St. Francis de Sales Institute. The literary works of these schools is low; but the industrial work is of high order. Other large Catholic schools are: St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Montgomery, Alabama; St. Joseph’s Industrial School, Newcastle, Delaware; Holy Ghost Catholic School, Jackson, 268Mississippi; St. Joseph’s Parish School, Meridian, Mississippi, and St. Mary’s Commercial College, Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The Christian Church.—The Christian Church began work among the colored people as soon as the Civil War was ended. The official body of the denomination is called The Christian Woman’s Board of Missions. The church had no organized plan until 1872, when a group of philanthropists formed a stock company to start a school in Mississippi. About 1890 the American Christian Missionary Society took over the property and work of the stock company. In 1900 all the property was finally transferred to the Woman’s Board. Through the efforts of this board the annual contributions have increased from $3,000 to $10,000, and four schools have been added to the one in Mississippi. A summary of the schools of this church is given herewith:

The Christian Woman’s Board maintains five schools, of which two are rated as “larger or more important.” The total income for current expenses is $29,910, of which $21,000 is for the Southern Christian Institute in Mississippi. The value of property is $184,602, of which $160,492 is also in the plant of the Southern Institute. The total income for current expenses is $29,910, of which $21,000 is for the Southern Christian Institute in Mississippi. The value of property is $184,602, of which $160,492 is also in the plant of the Southern Institute. The total attendance is 440, of whom 409 are elementary and 31 secondary. The number of teachers is 37, of whom 15 are white and 22 colored; 14 are men and 23 are women.

The general management of these schools is economical and the educational work is effective. This simplicity of organization and the genuine interest of the teachers are noteworthy. The other important school of this denomination is The Alabama Christian Institute, Lowndes County, Alabama.

269
CHRISTIAN WOMAN’S BOARD OF MISSIONS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	5	440	37	$29,910	$184,602
Alabama	1	93	6	2,512	8,875
Mississippi	1	196	18	21,006	160,491
Tennessee	1	61	4	1,730	3,750
Texas	1	14	3	1,712	3,000
Virginia	1	76	6	2,950	8,485

Congregational Board.—No church denomination has made a greater contribution of the Negro than the Congregational church through the American Missionary Association.

The American Missionary Association owns and supervises 29 schools for Negroes in the Southern States. The Association also owns property in other schools and makes contributions to their work. As the management of these affiliated institutions has been transferred to independent boards of trustees, they are classified under other groups. Credit must 270here be given to this association, however, not only for such splendid affiliated institutions as Fisk University and Atlanta University; but also for a number of others now maintained independently.

No denominational schools surpass those of this group in educational standards or administrative efficiency. It is probable that no church board has equaled this association in the thoroughness of its self-examination. The following quotation from the 1914 report outlines several policies to which every church board should give serious consideration:

In the realm of educational policy we record a most important change of tendency, which it is better to state positively, as a movement toward concentration in order to greater efficiency. This has involved the discontinuance or radical limitation of five of our smaller schools, including some of long history and rich service. * * * The time had come when the socialized Christian conscience demanded such improved methods in missionary service as it requires—often by law—of educators, landlords, employers of labor and congregations of men anywhere. It has cost $1,000 for instance, literally to stop rat holes in mission buildings, and thus to save New Orleans and Porto Rico from danger from bubonic plague. We had to do better what we did at all, and our resources were insufficient. We simply had to close institutions. * * *

While these peremptory conditions have closed some of the schools nearest to the masses of the people, we are glad to record as the chief technical gain of the year, that the colleges have been made more available and useful to the masses. Their curricula have been broadened, and the conditions of entrance made more democratic and in harmony with those of the great middle western State universities. This is immediately manifest in the increased number of high-school pupils, and will affect the colleges tomorrow.

As to educational plant, last year’s survey touched upon the demand of the socialized conscience for better housing conditions in missionary institutions. Our response is in the fact that no year has ever spent so much for sanitation, that more fire escapes have been erected, and more bathtubs installed than any previous year. * * * As a class, they are 271more nearly fire-proof, they have more steel in their structure, more scientifically determined allowance of light and air, and more beauty than any previous group. * * * If the Lord’s work is attempted at all it shall be done under somewhat decent conditions. Nor do we feel that it is a substitution of the physical for the spiritual. To live up to plumbing is itself a training of character, health is a prerequisite of thought, and beauty an inalienable right of the spirit.

AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	29	6,992	383	212	171	$235,764	$1,733,589
Alabama	6	1,714	89	57	32	63,553	546,769
Florida	1	225	12		12	3,343	49,300
Georgia	6	1,459	68	32	36	33,583	133,900
Kentucky	1	170	10	7	3	5,559	39,000
Louisiana	1	578	30	17	13	20,885	150,000
Mississippi	4	843	47	38	9	32,489	172,400
North Carolina	5	826	52	16	36	30,000	394,920
South Carolina	2	484	21	17	4	13,626	53,900
Tennessee	1	285	21	14	7	12,537	54,000
Texas	1	223	20	14	6	12,792	103,500
Virginia	1	115	13		13	788	35,900

The total income for the current expenses of these institutions is $235,461, of which $129,429 is from the association. This includes the income from the Daniel Hand Fund, which is administered by the association. On the basis of income 5 of the schools are under $2,500, 7 have incomes between $2,500 and $5,000, 13 between $5,000 and $15,000, 3 between $15,000 and $30,000, and one has an income of over $30,000. The total property is valued at $1,733,589, of which about one and a third million is in plant and a third of a million in endowment. With the Daniel Hand Fund of almost two million dollars, the property of the American Missionary Association for work among Negroes aggregates over three and a half millions. According to property, four schools have a valuation under $10,000, ten schools have valuations between $10,000 and $25,000, 272nine schools between $25,000 and $50,000, five schools between $50,000 and $250,000, and two have a valuation over $250,000.

The attendance on these schools was 6,922, of whom 5,448 were elementary, 1,380 secondary, and 94 collegiate. All the schools have elementary classes, all but three have secondary, and four offer instruction in college subjects. The number of teachers is 383, of whom 212 are white and 171, or 45 per cent. colored; 92 are men and 291, or 76 per cent. are women; and 270, or 70 per cent., are academic teachers.

Though the colored membership of the Congregational Church is almost negligible as compared with that of the Baptist and Methodist Churches, the American Missionary Association was probably the first to undertake educational work in behalf of the Negroes. In 1861 Rev. L. I. Lockwood, commissioned by the Association, wrote from Fortress Monroe:

273“I ask especial interest in your prayers that I may be endowed with wisdom for these peculiar and momentous responsibilities. Parents and children are delighted with the idea of learning to read.”

The history of the American Missionary Association is a story of the patient and persevering efforts of hundreds of faithful men and women who have given themselves and their means for a people struggling upward from slavery.

The administration of the affairs of the association has always been in the care of strong men of broad education. Some of them were statesmen in power and vision. Dr. Beard, the honorary secretary, and secretaries Ryder and Douglass, are worthy successors of these able men.

The most far reaching work of the association was, perhaps, the founding of Fisk University, Atlanta University and Talladega College. The names of these institutions are inseparably connected with the higher education of the Negro. Fisk and Atlanta are now independent institutions; but the spirit of their founders still lives in them and the policies of the American Missionary Association are still maintained.

The names of the American Missionary Association schools and the States in which they are located are given below:

Alabama: Burrel Normal School; Cotton Valley School; Emerson Institute; Lincoln Normal School; Talladega College; Trinity College.

Georgia: Albany Normal School; Allen Normal School; Ballard Normal School; Beach Institute; Dorchester Academy; Knox Institute.

Mississippi: Girls’ Industrial School of Mississippi; Mount Bayou Institute; Mount Hermon Seminary; Tougaloo University.

North Carolina: Gregory Normal School; J. K. Brick Agricultural, Industrial and Normal School; Lincoln Academy; Peabody Academy; Washburn Academy.

Friends Educational Boards.—The various societies of Friends maintain six schools rated as “larger and more important” and two smaller schools. All of these schools are owned and managed by independent boards composed largely of Friends. The names and locations of the six more important schools are as follows: Schofield Normal and Industrial School and Laing School, in South Carolina; Cheyney Institute, in Pennsylvania; Christiansburg Industrial Institute, in Virginia; High Point Normal School, in North Carolina; and Southland College, in Arkansas. The educational work and administrative management of these institutions compare favorably with those of other church schools. In proportion to their numbers no religious group has surpassed the Friends either in financial contributions or personal endeavor for the education of the Negroes. While none of these schools are of college grade, all of them are doing excellent work. Cheyney Institute, Christiansburg Institute and High Point Normal are presided over by colored men who rank high in educational circles.

FRIENDS SOCIETIES AND OTHER FRIENDS’ AGENCIES.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	8	1,642	96	12	84	$63,868	$915,900
Arkansas	1	352	16	6	10	4,115	79,400
North Carolina	1	408	14		14	12,366	39,000
South Carolina	2	408	31	4	27	8,551	180,000
Virginia	1	225	13		13	8,798	157,500
Northern States	3	249	22	2	20	30,038	460,000

The total income for current expenses is $63,868, and the value of property is $915,000, of which $378,900 is in plants and $537,000 in endowment. The attendance is 1,642, of whom 1,444 are elementary and 198 secondary. The teachers are 96 in number; 9 are white and 84 are 275colored; 19 are men and 67 women; and 57 are academic teachers. Only two of the schools are managed by white officers. The proportion of industrial teachers is fairly adequate. Instruction in gardening and agriculture is, however, not sufficiently emphasized to meet the needs of a rural people.

Lutheran Board of Education.—The Lutheran Board of Colored Missions owns and maintains two large schools and seven smaller schools. Luther College is located at Greensboro, N. C. While the name would indicate college grade, full college courses have not yet been provided. Luther College at New Orleans is also to be developed as a training school for colored leaders of the Lutheran faith. All of the smaller schools are located in Louisiana.

277The total income for current expenses of these schools is $72,000. The attendance is 1,147, practically all of elementary grade. The total number of teachers is 26, of whom 13 are white and 13 colored; 21 are men and 5 are women. Some effort is made to teach secondary and theological subjects at the Greensboro school. The teachers devote practically all their time to academic instruction. There seems to be little effort to give instruction in gardening or simple industry.

The Lutheran work for Negroes was begun as early as 1879, and the board has expended considerable money and effort in the development of the schools.

Methodist Episcopal Church.—The Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church owns and supervises 18 educational institutions for Negroes in the United States. All of these schools are rendering valuable educational service to their communities and all deserve the support and interest of the church. In addition to these institutions, credit must be given to this society for the organization of Meharry Medical College, now managed by an independent board of trustees and classified with that group.

A tabular view of the work of the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church is given herewith:

FREEDMEN’S AID SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	18	5,059	266	65	201	$230,160	$2,605,687
Alabama	1	190	11		11	5,657	42,500
Arkansas	1	439	15		15	9,226	72,300
Florida	1	408	14	3	11	9,387	101,578
Georgia	2	382	23	9	14	43,714	859,200
Louisiana	2	645	28	9	19	16,133	219,000
Maryland	1	81	11	7	4	16,419	96,874
Mississippi	2	504	23	5	18	21,850	146,200
Missouri	1	73	12	2	10	8,520	59,000
North Carolina	1	312	12		12	6,000	49,000
South Carolina	1	814	27	6	21	39,547	362,035
Tennessee	2	365	42	24	18	25,084	274,000
Texas	2	761	43		43	25,223	293,000
Virginia	1	85	5		5	3,400	35,500

278The annual income for current expenses of the 18 schools is $230,160, of which $105,835 is from the society. All of the schools have an annual income of $2,500 or over; two have incomes between $2,500 and $5,000; 12 between $5,000 and $15,000; three between $15,000 and $30,000; and one has an income of over $30,000. The total property valuation is $2,605,687, of which $1,824,778 is in the school plant and $742,874 in endowment. All of the schools have a property valuation in excess of $25,000, four have valuations between $25,000 and $50,000; five between $50,000 and $100,000; three between $100,000 and $150,000; three between $150,000 and $250,000; and three have valuations over $250,000.

The attendance on these schools is 5,059, of whom 3,263 are elementary, 1,600 secondary, and 196 collegiate. All but 2 of the schools have elementary pupils, all are maintaining secondary classes, and 8 are offering 279instruction in college subjects. The number of teachers is 266, of whom 65 are white and 201, or 75 per cent. are colored; 109 are men and 157, or 59 per cent., are women; and 191, or 72 per cent., are academic teachers.

The schools of the Freedmen’s Aid Society rank high in educational efficiency. Some of them are well known colleges for colored people. Claflin University, Orangeburg, South Carolina; Wiley University, Marshall, Texas; Rust College, Holly Springs, Mississippi; Walden University, Nashville, Tennessee; Morgan College, Baltimore, Maryland; Morristown Normal and Industrial College, Morristown, Tennessee; Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas; Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina; Samuel Houston College, Austin, Texas, and New Orleans University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Of these Wiley University, Walden University, Philander Smith College, Samuel Houston College 280and Bennett College are ably managed by colored presidents. Other institutions under this board are: Central Alabama Institute, Mason City, Alabama; Cookman Institute, Jacksonville, Florida; Gilbert Industrial Institute, Baldwin, Louisiana; Haven Institute, Meridian, Mississippi; George R. Smith College, Sedalia, Missouri, and Virginia Collegiate and Industrial Institute, Lynchburg, Virginia. In addition to these credit must be given to this society for the organization of Meharry Medical College, now managed by an independent board of trustees; for the maintenance and support of Gammon Theological Seminary, the best training school for colored ministers, and of the Sarah Goodridge Nurse Training School and Hospital at New Orleans, Louisiana. Princess Anne Academy which receives a portion of land-grant funds through the Federal Government is also supervised by the society.

The proportion of academic teachers is about the same as that in most of the denominational schools. The emphasis on the literary courses is marked. It is evidently unfortunate that this large denomination with 18 educational institutions should provide only three gardening teachers for the education of a people so largely rural. The percentage of men in the teaching force is above the average of church schools. This is probably explained by the fact that the proportion of colored teachers in these institutions is also above the average. The substitution of colored for white teachers in these institutions in the Freedmen’s Aid schools has evidently proceeded with considerable rapidity. The indications are that the change has been too rapid for the good of the schools. While democracy in education requires the recognition of the colored teachers, it is equally true that these schools need not only the financial aid of white people; but also their personal influence.

The Freedmen’s Aid Society was organized in 1866 “for the purpose of aiding the recently emancipated slaves and their children in securing the benefits of a good common school education, and such other educational preparation as was necessary to provide Christian ministers, physicians, school teachers, and industrial leaders for the race.” The colored members of the various branches of Methodism are next to the colored Baptists in number. The number of colored members in the Northern Methodist Church represented by the Freedmen’s Aid Society and the Woman’s Missionary Society is about 350,000. These members contribute about a fourth of the total sums collected by the Freedmen’s Aid Society for the education of colored people.

Of the many notable persons who have rendered valuable service to this society, only two or three of those who are now in the service can be mentioned here. Reference is made in the school sketches to the long years given by the presidents of Meharry Medical College, Claflin University, and Morristown Normal and Industrial College. To these should be added the name of Bishop W. P. Thirkield, whose wisdom and energy in the various important positions entrusted to him have contributed 283greatly not only to the work of this society, but also to the general welfare of the colored people.

The executive officers of the society at present, are two corresponding secretaries and a school inspector. These three officers supervise the schools and appeal to the white and colored churches for funds to support the institutions.

The purpose of the Freedmen’s Aid Society to continue its splendid work of education is revealed in the report of the commission recently appointed by the Society to study the schools, which among other things, said:

285“We are persuaded that in spite of the better rural schools now being provided for the Negroes, in spite of some growth in normal school and high school accommodations, the work of the Freedmen’s Aid Society is still an urgent need of the South. So far from sounding any retreat, we of the church should make a great advance, provide a large endowment, give more adequate facilities, pay better salaries, and, in general, strengthen the institutions we have established. They are needed to train a Christian leadership for the colored race, and while they can touch but a few out of the negro millions, they can do, as they have already done, great things through these selected leaders.”

Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.—The Woman’s Home Missionary Society owns and maintains 12 home schools for girls. Eight of them are connected with the various educational institutions of the Freedmen’s Aid Society. These homes usually provide home training for the girls at the larger schools of the Freedmen’s Aid Society. All of these homes are well managed. They are in charge of the best type of northern women and colored women, who have manifested unusual devotion and efficiency in their work. The important facts for these schools by States, are given below:

WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	12	1,572	71	41	30	$42,975	$309,500
Arkansas	1	119	3	1	2	2,257	14,300
Florida	1	224	13	4	9	6,281	73,000
Georgia	2	259	11	7	4	7,220	15,000
Louisiana	1	175	6	4	2	3,171	45,000
Mississippi	1	55	4	3	1	4,895	32,000
North Carolina	2	380	13	10	3	7,488	33,000
South Carolina	1	279	12	7	5	5,373	75,500
Tennessee	1	31	2	2		2,595	8,700
Texas	2	50	7	3	4	3,695	13,000

287The total income for the current expenses of all the homes is $54,975, of which $38,502 is received from the Missionary Society. The value of all the property is $287,000. The total attendance is 1,572 girls, of whom 808 are in the homes not connected with the Freedmen’s Aid Society. The teachers and workers are 71 women, of whom 41 are white and 30 colored; 18 are academic and 42 are industrial teachers.

The names and locations of these homes are as follows: Adeline Smith Home, Little Rock, Alabama; Boylan Home, Jacksonville, Florida; Thayer Home, Atlanta, Georgia; Haven and Speedwell Home, Savannah, Georgia; Peck Home, New Orleans, Louisiana; Rust Home, Holly Springs, Mississippi; Kent Home, Greensboro, North Carolina; Allen Industrial Home and School, Asheville, North Carolina; Browning Industrial Home, Camden, South Carolina; New Jersey Home, Morristown, Tennessee; Eliza Dee Home, Austin, Texas, and King Industrial Home, Marshall, Texas.

The society began its work in 1881, when Thayer Home was built at Clark University, Atlanta, Georgia. The society is divided into 288“bureaus” consisting of a secretary and assistants who are white volunteer workers. “Each bureau has the responsibility in its own field of executing the plans and applying the funds as ordered by the general board of managers.” The central office is at Cincinnati, Ohio.

Presbyterian Board.—The Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church owns and supervises 85 schools for colored people. Of these 32 are large important institutions. Through wise administration and fairly adequate equipment, they are meeting the needs of their communities or working successfully in that direction. Five of them are seminaries for colored girls. The educational work and general administration of these seminaries are excellent. They are among the best schools for colored people in the South. Two are boarding schools for young colored men, the others are boarding and day schools for boys and girls.

The total income for current expenses of the schools under the Freedmen’s Board, including Lincoln University, was $200,124. Of this $176,946 was spent in the 32 larger schools and $23,178 in the 53 smaller schools. According to income, 17 schools were under $2,500; 4 between $2,500 and $5,000; 9 between $5,000 and $15,000, and one between $15,000 and $30,000. Lincoln University has an income of $48,000.

BOARD OF MISSIONS FOR FREEDMEN OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	85	8,915	423	84	339	$200,124	$2,151,321
Alabama	3	391	25	13	12	10,116	55,000
Arkansas	8	774	28		28	5,911	40,350
Florida	3	247	9		9	1,150	4,000
Georgia	11	1,787	67		67	20,192	91,444
Kentucky	2	98	9		9	3,000	11,050
Mississippi	1	199	14	14		6,517	71,000
North Carolina	15	1,879	93	15	78	47,346	478,665
Oklahoma	1	93	6		6	1,976	8,000
South Carolina	19	1,808	75	7	68	22,907	158,050
Tennessee	8	607	34		34	10,052	87,950
Texas	1	115	13	13		10,979	60,000
Virginia	12	701	36	10	26	11,915	44,400
Northern States	1	216	14	12	2	48,063	1,041,412

290The total value of property of the 31 schools directly under the board was $1,109,909, of which $1,038,729 was in the property of the larger schools and $71,180 in the property of the smaller schools. The inclusion of Lincoln University, would bring the property of the larger Presbyterian schools up to $2,151,321. On the basis of property valuation 14 schools were below $2,500; 5 between $10,000 and $25,000; 3 between $25,000 and $50,000; 8 between $50,000 and $100,000 and one over $30,000.

The attendance of all the schools under this board, including Lincoln University, was 8,915, of whom 7,833 were elementary pupils, 930 secondary, and 152 in college studies. Lincoln University had 130 students reported as of collegiate grade and Biddle University 22 in college subjects. The teachers and workers in these institutions are 423 in number of whom 84 are white and 339, or 80 per cent. are colored; 115 are men and 308, or 70 per cent., are women; and 373, or 88 per cent., are academic.

These percentages indicate that the schools under the Freedmen’s board have an usual proportion of colored teachers. As the secretary recently reported, “an overwhelming number of their workers belong to the colored race. There are only six white men in our employ.” White workers are now limited to the five girls’ seminaries and one other school. These comments do not refer to Lincoln University, whose teachers are with two exceptions white men.

The Presbyterian Church began work among Negroes as early as 1864. Two committees, with headquarters at Indianapolis and Philadelphia, were combined by the general assembly at Pittsburgh in 1865. In 1870 a committee doing similar work in New York was consolidated with the Pittsburgh committee. In 1882 this committee was incorporated under the present name of the board. The woman’s department of the board was organized in 1884. Through this department the women of the church rendered valuable aid to the schools.

Barber Memorial Seminary, Anniston, Alabama; Miller Memorial School, Birmingham, Alabama; Arkadelphia Academy, Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Cotton Plant Academy, Cotton Plant, Arkansas; Boggs Academy, Keyesville, Georgia; Gillespie Normal Academy, Cordele, Georgia; Haines Institute, Augusta, Georgia; Hodge Academy, Washington, Georgia; McClelland Academy, Newman, Georgia; Seldon Normal and Industrial School, Brunswick, Georgia; Union Point Normal and Industrial School, Union Point, Georgia; Bowling Green Academy, Bowling Green, Kentucky; Free Memorial Institute, Camp Nelson, Kentucky; Mary Holmes Seminary, West Point, Mississippi; Albion Academy, Franklinton, North Carolina; Biddle University, Charlotte, North Carolina; Mary Potter Memorial School, Oxford, North Carolina; Scotia Seminary, Concord, North Carolina; Alice Lee Elliott Memorial School, Valliant, Oklahoma; Andrew Robertson Institute, Aiken, South Carolina; Brainerd Institute, Chester, South Carolina; Coulter Memorial School, Cheram, 292South Carolina; Goodwill Parochial School, Mayeville, South Carolina; Harbison College, Irmo, South Carolina; Kendall Institute, Sumter, South Carolina; Mayers Industrial School, Knoxville, Tennessee; Newton Normal School, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Swift Memorial School; Mary Allen Seminary, Crockett, Texas; Danville High and Industrial School, Danville, Virginia; Ingleside Seminary, Burkville, Virginia; Lincoln University, Lincoln, Pennsylvania.

Protestant Episcopal Boards.—The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church has general supervision of all of the Episcopal schools. The American Church Institute for Negroes, a subordinate organization to the society, was incorporated in 1906, for the purpose of assisting in the religious education of Negroes. Its first secretary was the Rev. Samuel H. Bishop, whose faithful service was ended by death in 1914. The Rev. Robert W. Patton, the secretary of the Fourth Provincial Synod, now gives partial time to the raising of funds and the supervision of the eight schools receiving aid from the institute. These schools are as follows:

The church, through the Missionary Society, appropriates about $50,000 annually for the education of Negroes in the United States. These gifts are made on the suggestion and advice of the bishops of the various dioceses. Appropriations for the larger institutions are sent directly to their treasurers. The small parochial schools are aided through the bishops of their diocese. These are frequently only little groups of children taught in the church. A state summary of the Episcopal schools follows:

The Episcopal Board of Missions and the American Church Institute give aid to 24 schools, of which 10 are large institutions. On the basis of income one of the large schools has an income under $2,500, five have incomes between $2,500 and $5,000, two between $5,000 and $15,000, and two over $15,000. These four are St. Augustine’s School in North Carolina; Fort Valley School, in Georgia; St. Paul’s School, and Bishop Payne Divinity School in Virginia.

The total income of these schools is $118,536, of which $109,181 is for the ten “larger” institutions and $9,345 is for the fourteen “less important” schools. The total value of property is $628,734, of which $604,543 is the property of the larger institutions, and $24,200 is the property of the smaller schools. The larger institutions have an endowment of $106,835.

The total attendance comprises 2,988 pupils, of which 2,720 are elementary and 268 secondary. The fifteen students at Bishop Payne Divinity School are preparing for the Episcopal ministry. About a thousand of the pupils reported were in attendance at the “smaller” schools. The total number of teachers and workers is 176, of whom 12 are white and 164 are colored; 58 are men and 118, or 67 per cent., are women; and 118, or 68 per cent., are teachers of academic subjects.

293
AMERICAN CHURCH INSTITUTE AND THE EPISCOPAL BOARD OF MISSIONS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	24	2,988	176	$118,526	$628,743
Alabama	1	192	7	4,485	22,000
Florida	3	193	8	1,835	3,500
Georgia	5	685	38	18,204	66,500
Mississippi	1	121	5	2,514	5,000
North Carolina	5	640	39	30,069	211,500
South Carolina	4	607	15	3,976	12,000
Tennessee	1	32	4	1,182	4,000
Texas	1	73	4	2,500	25,000
Virginia	2	445	56	53,761	279,243

295The proportion of colored workers is very large. Only St. Augustine’s and Bishop Payne Divinity School have any white officers or teachers. In addition to the scholars under the American Church Institute, the St. Michael’s School at Charlotte, North Carolina and the St. Phillip’s School, San Antonio, Texas, are among the important schools.

United Presbyterian Church.—The Board of Freedmen’s Missions of the United Presbyterian Church owns and maintains 15 schools for Negroes in the United States, of these eleven are rated as “more important,” and four as “less important.” While eleven schools are regarded as “important,” or essential parts of the educational activities of their community, the average income per school is only about six or seven thousand dollars a year. Knoxville College, with an income of $25,470, is the central institution of the system. The colored teachers of all these schools are largely prepared at Knoxville. The good work of this institution is seen in the high type of graduates who are employed in the smaller schools.

The total annual income for current expenses is $88,512, and the value of property is $455,600. The attendance is 2,870, of whom 2,470 are elementary, 370 secondary, and 30 collegiate. All the schools have elementary pupils, and seven schools maintain secondary classes. Only Knoxville College offers instruction of college grade. The total number of teachers is 166, of whom 44 are white and 122, or 73 per cent., are colored; 46 are men, and 120, or 72 per cent., women; and 108, or 65 per cent., are teachers of academic subjects.

BOARD OF MISSIONS OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	15	2,870	166	44	122	$88,512	$455,600
Alabama	6	1,022	58		58	20,648	753,650
North Carolina	1	375	18		18	8,500	50,400
Tennessee	5	635	50	24	26	33,820	196,950
Virginia	3	838	40	20	20	25,544	134,600

296The proportion of colored teachers is large; but, in view of the location and type of these schools, it is probable that the present division is necessary. Any increase in the proportion of colored teachers should be seriously questioned. It is suggested that the experience of other church boards should be consulted on this problem. The percentage of women teachers is above the average. The emphasis on industrial courses is somewhat more marked than in other church schools. The provision for instruction in gardening and agriculture is by no means sufficient, however, for the rural masses of the communities in which those schools are located.

Much of the success of the colored schools of the United Presbyterian Church is due to the ability and faithfulness of Dr. Witherspoon, whose 297long service forms a notable contribution to religious and educational work. In 1915 the Board of Freedmen’s Missions published the Fifty-fifth Annual Report of its activities. The time and consideration which this board of conscientious business men and ministers devote to the management of the affairs of the school under their care are....

In educational work and administration the United Presbyterian institutions compare favorably with the best church schools. While the majority of them are not large, they are managed with economy and their activities are conducted with considerable regard for thoroughness. With the exception of two or three in eastern Tennessee, they are all well located. The six schools in Alabama are all in Wilcox County, forming a county system of private schools. The influence of these schools has transformed the conditions in the county. The unusual development of these schools in this one county is probably due to the interest and ability of a Scotchman, member of the United Presbyterian Church, who settled in the county soon after the Civil War.

Miscellaneous Denominational Schools under White Boards.—There are a number of miscellaneous denominational schools maintained by white boards. These boards are not discussed separately, because there are so few schools under each board as is indicated in the table below.

Many of the schools of this group represent churches with considerable wealth. Of special interest are the two institutions maintained by white church boards of the South. Paine College of Augusta, is maintained by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. This institution is the largest of the group. The other school owned by the South is Stillman Institute, maintained by the Presbyterian Church South. Both of these schools are taught by Southern white people who are genuinely interested in the colored. It is especially significant in this connection to mention the fact that it is the announced purpose of the Methodist Church to make Paine College an institution of higher education in every sense of that term. Stillman Institute, at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is also of importance as it touches of point of most vital concern to the development of the race, the development of trained ministers. While the institution has not reached its highest point of development, there is every hope that it too will eventually be a higher institution for the training of ministers.

299The figures for schools under these miscellaneous boards are herewith presented:

The total number of schools under these boards is twelve. Of these, six are rated by the United States Bureau of Education as large or important institutions. The total income of the 12 schools is $58,717, of which the largest sum provided by any one denomination is $23,050, the income of Paine College, Augusta, Georgia, supported by the Methodist Episcopal Church South; the total number of teachers is 81, of whom 37 are white, and 44 are colored; the value of property is $387,265, of which $125,000 is for Paine College.

MISCELLANEOUS DENOMINATIONAL SCHOOLS—WHITE BOARDS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	White	Negr.
Total	12	1,570	81	37	44	$58,717	$387,265
Christian Advent Church	1	60	3		3	1,500	2,500
Christian Alliance	1	71	9	9		1,476	33,900
Christian Convention (miscellaneous)	3	194	12		12	4,187	75,000
Methodist Episcopal Church South	1	202	19	6	13	23,050	125,000
Presbyterian Church South	1	51	5	5		7,300	51,000
Reformed Episcopal Church	1	95	2		2	300	2,000
Reformed Presbyterian Church	1	705	17	7	10	7,300	52,500
7th Day Adventist Church	2	136	11	10	1	12,404	42,765
Universalist Church	1	56	3		3	1,200	3,500

Of the six large schools under these boards Paine College and Stillman Institute have been mentioned, Stillman being maintained by the Presbyterian Church South. The other four are: Boydton Institute, Boydton, Virginia, maintained by the Christian Alliance; Franklinton Christian College, Franklinton, North Carolina, maintained by the Christian Church; Knox Institute, Selma, Alabama, maintained by the Reformed 300Presbyterian Church, and Oakwood Manual Training School, Huntsville, Alabama, maintained by the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

302In the foregoing pages facts and figures have been given for all of the schools under white hoards, together with the names of the more important schools. It is apparent from these facts that the interest of the more fortunate members of the white race in the education of the Negro has by no means passed. The works of the colored boards, however, while they have not the money and the training such as have been brought to the schools under white boards, is the best proof of race progress. Indeed the establishment of the large number of schools by the colored people is one of the most noteworthy achievements of the race. As is to be expected, practically all of these schools are supported through the various religious denominations. The works of these boards is convincing evidence of the determination of the colored people to help themselves. The liberality with which they contribute to the maintenance of these schools is both wonderful and inspiring. This is especially significant when it is remembered the colored are taxed for educational purposes just as any other people. While authentic statistics are not available to show what proportion of the taxes paid by them are returned in the form of public school facilities, it is quite generally believed that they receive an unequal share. In the face of this condition, their willingness to establish schools for themselves, that they, optimism, resolution and courage. These are among the best signs of race power, and prove the capacity of the colored people to progress, even in the face of opposition. The following table shows the number of schools, teachers, students, amount of income and value of property of the schools under the different colored denominations:

From this table it will be seen that there are 153 institutions supported entirely by colored people; that they have over 17,000 students, 828 teachers, an annual income of $380,933, and property valued nearly $2,500,000. These figures represent conservative compilations by the United States Bureau of Education. Significant as these facts are, however, they do not represent the sum total of the conditions which the Negroes make for the maintenance of schools. They contribute large sums annually to schools under white denominations, and to independent schools.

NEGRO CHURCH BOARDS MAINTAINING SCHOOLS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	153	17,299	828	$380,933	$2,305,054
Baptist Local Conventions	110	11,250	474	181,914	821,295
African Methodist Episcopal	17	3,212	187	129,778	800,609
African Methodist Episcopal Zion	11	1,207	77	37,600	316,950
Colored Methodist Episcopal	9	1,313	72	25,991	328,200
Five Small Church Boards	6	317	18	5,650	38,000

Colored Baptist Schools.—It is to be expected that the Baptist denomination with its large membership should lead in the support of schools.

304Though there are several national organizations of Negro Baptists, none of them seem to own or maintain any educational institution. The schools are owned and directed by State or local organizations or by independent boards of trustees selected from the membership of Baptist churches. The origin of the national and State associations was suggested in the discussion of the white Baptist Boards. The local Baptist associations are composed of churches located in one or more counties.

The various associations of Negro Baptists own and maintain 110 schools, of which 31 are rated as “larger or more important” by the Bureau of Education. Some of the 31 schools are classified as “more important” on the basis of quality of work rather than on size of plant.

The total annual income for current expenses is $181,914, of which $99,040, is for the 31 larger schools, and $82,874 for the 79 smaller schools. The value of property is $821,295, of which $539,545 is in the smaller schools. According to these figures, the average income of the larger schools is only about $3,200, and the average income of the smaller schools is about $1,000, and the average value of plant about $3,600.

BAPTIST LOCAL CONVENTIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	110	11,250	474	$181,914	$821,295
Alabama	14	1,613	51	14,087	53,300
Arkansas	7	606	27	10,926	40,350
District of Columbia	1	71	11	8,981	42,500
Florida	3	382	12	5,096	35,000
Georgia	12	951	47	14,224	52,400
Kentucky	2	18	2	1,500	8,200
Louisiana	16	2,228	62	21,551	75,300
Maryland	2	76	5
Mississippi	12	1,837	58	19,751	81,590
North Carolina	15	809	39	15,640	60,300
South Carolina	9	1,202	52	15,192	96,000
Tennessee	1	77	5	1,000	5,000
Texas	7	788	56	28,140	167,725
Virginia	9	642	47	25,826	103,630

306The total attendance is 11,250 pupils, of whom 10,324 are elementary and 926 secondary. The number of teachers is 474, of whom 159 are male and 315 female. There are only 20 teachers of industrial courses and two teachers of agriculture. The 79 smaller schools have only four industrial teachers.

308Livingstone Colored Normal and Industrial Institute, Livingstone, Alabama; Union Springs Normal School, Union Springs, Alabama; Consolidated White River Academy, Brinkley, Arkansas; Immanuel Industrial Institute, Almyra, Arkansas; South East Baptist Industrial Academy, Dermott, Arkansas; National Training School for Women and Girls, Washington, D. C.; Florida Institute, Live Oak, Florida; Cabin Creek High School, Griffin, Georgia; Central City College, Macon, Georgia; Rome High and Industrial School, Rome Georgia; Howe Institute, New Iberia, Louisiana; Israel Academy, Belle Alliance, Louisiana; Mansfield Academy, Mansfield, Louisiana; Baptist Industrial High School; Natchez College, Natchez, Mississippi; Sardis Industrial College, Sardis, Mississippi; Rich Square Academy, Rich Square, North Carolina; Bettis Academy, Trenton, South Carolina; Friendship Normal and Industrial College, Roche Hill, South Carolina; Morris College, Sumter, South Carolina; Seneca Institute, Seneca, South Carolina; Nelson-Mary Academy, Jefferson City, Tennessee; Central Texas College, Waco, Texas; East Texas Academy, Tyler, Texas; Fort Worth Industrial and Mechanical College, Fort Worth, Texas; Guadaloupe College, Seginn, Texas; Houston College, Houston, Texas; Corey Memorial Institute, Portsmouth, Virginia; Pittsylvania Normal, Industrial and College Institute, Gretna, Virginia; Rappahannock Industrial Academy, Ozeana, Virginia; Virginia Theological Seminary and College, Lynchburg, Virginia.

African Methodist Episcopal Church.—Next to the Baptist denomination the African Methodist Episcopal Church has been most active among 309colored denominations in the establishment of schools for its members.

The various conferences of the African Methodist Episcopal Church own and maintain 17 schools, of which 13 are rated in this report as “larger or more important,” by the Bureau of Education. The total income for current expenses is $128,778, and the total value of property is $800,609. On the basis of income four of the larger schools have incomes under $5,000, six between $5,000 and $15,000, and three between $15,000 and $30,000. According to property, three schools have a valuation under $25,000, five between $25,000 and $50,000, three between $50,000 and $100,000, and two between $150,000 and $250,000.

The total attendance is 3,212 pupils, of whom 2,096 are elementary, 1,028 secondary, and 88 collegiate. Three institutions offer college courses. The number of teachers is 187, or whom 98 are men and 89 women.

As an indication of the progress of the colored people, the extent of these educational facilities and the character of the organization are exceedingly satisfactory.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	17	3,212	187	$129,778	$800,609
Alabama	1	265	13	6,500	35,600
Arkansas	1	219	14	8,416	29,622
Florida	2	343	17	18,901	44,500
Georgia	3	710	41	17,448	180,300
Kentucky	1	33	3	1,500	7,000
Louisiana	1	142	6	1,500	10,150
Mississippi	2	282	15	8,450	47,000
North Carolina	1	176	12	9,046	61,500
South Carolina	2	462	21	16,902	82,500
Tennessee	1	101	11	4,737	48,400
Texas	1	286	15	8,064	97,000
Northern States	1	193	19	28,314	157,037

The 13 larger schools of the A. M. E. Church are: Payne University, Selma, Alabama; Shorter College, Argenta, Arkansas; Edward Waters College, Tallahassee, Florida; Morris Brown University, Atlanta, Georgia; 310Payne Institute, Cuthbert, Georgia; Central Park Normal and Industrial Institute, Savannah, Georgia; Lampton Literary and Industrial College, Alexandria, Louisiana; Campbell College, Jackson, Mississippi; Kittrell College, Kittrell, North Carolina; Allen University, Columbia South Carolina; Turner Normal School, Shelbyville, Tennessee; Paul Quinn College, Waco Texas; Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.—The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church has been very active and effective in the establishment and management of schools. Much credit is due Dr. S. G. Atkins, the former educational secretary, through whose tact and ability a number of these schools greatly increased in the value of their work. The leading facts are given below:

The conferences of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church own and maintain 11 schools, of which nine are rated as “larger or more important.” The total income for current expenses is $37,600, and the value of property is $316,950. Livingstone College in North Carolina represents over half of the total of income and property.

The total attendance is 1,207, of whom 923 are elementary, 267 secondary and 17 college subjects. The teachers are 77 in number, of whom 36 are men and 41 women.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	11	1,207	77	$37,600	$316,950
Alabama	1	137	8	4,074	25,450
Arkansas	1	77	6	1,047	6,200
Kentucky	1	44	6	2,282	12,600
North Carolina	4	464	32	22,518	219,450
South Carolina	2	422	17	3,640	29,000
Tennessee	1	18	2	500	5,500
Virginia	1	45	7	3,000	18,750

311The general standards of educational work have been good. This is especially true of the smaller schools.

Lomax Hannon High School, Greenville, Alabama; Walter Institute, Warren, Arkansas; Atkinson College, Madisonville, Kentucky; Edenton’s Normal and Industrial College, Edenton, North Carolina; Eastern North Carolina Industrial Academy, Newbern, North Carolina; Livingstone College, Salisbury, North Carolina; Lancaster Normal and Industrial College, Lancaster, South Carolina; Clinton College, Rock Hill, South Carolina; Dinwiddie Agricultural and Industrial School, Dinwiddie, Virginia.

Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.—The general board of education of the African Methodist Episcopal Church has only recently been organized. Its functions with regard to the schools are advisory. The secretary is, however, doing much to improve the methods of administration and the standards of educational work. His point of view is well stated in the following quotation from his annual report:

The strongest plea for help is first-class work. Our schools must run on business principles and not on sentiment. We must arrange the classification and standards of our schools so that they will be each what its name indicates—not professing to do what we do not do. A good grammar school is greater than a poor high school; a good academy more desirable than a sorry college; a well-conducted college is preferable to a sham university. We must meet present-day needs and demands if we expect to get money.

A very important fact with regard to this denomination and its schools is the relation to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was founded through the missionary interest of the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church in the former slave States. Through this interest, the Methodist Episcopal Church maintains Payne College, at Augusta, Ga., and contributes annual sums to several of the African Methodist Episcopal schools. In the cooperation now being developed, the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church 312has been ably represented by Dr. John M. Moore, the secretary of the mission department, and Dr. Anderson, the secretary of education.

The conferences of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church own and maintain nine schools, of which six are rated as “larger or more important” and three as “smaller or less important.” The total income for current expenses is $25,991, and the value of property is $328,200. Lane College in Tennessee is the only institution with an income of over $5,000. Three schools have property valuations of over $50,000.

The total attendance is 1,313 pupils, of whom 1,030 are elementary, 267 secondary, and 10 collegiate. The number of teachers is 72, of whom 32 are men and 40 are women.

The nine larger C. M. E. schools are: Miles Memorial College, Birmingham, Alabama; Holsey Academy, Cordele, Georgia; Homer College, Homer, Louisiana; Mississippi Industrial College, Holly Springs, Mississippi; Lane College, Jackson, Tennessee; Texas College, Tyler, Texas.

COLORED METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	9	1,313	72	$25,991	$328,200
Alabama	2	300	17	3,954	60,400
Georgia	2	148	7	2,300	8,500
Louisiana	1	164	7	2,400	12,000
Mississippi	1	242	12	3,672	87,000
Oklahoma	1	131	4	1,300	1,300
Tennessee	1	218	15	8,600	89,000
Texas	1	110	10	3,765	70,000

Miscellaneous denominations.—In addition to the educational institutions of the colored churches mentioned, five other denominations are attempting some educational work. Only one of these maintained more than one school, The Free Will Baptist Church, which maintains Kinston College, Kinston, North Carolina, is the only denomination in the group that supports a school classed as large or important by the Bureau of Education. The following table presents the facts for these schools:

In addition to the public, independent and denominational agencies maintaining colored schools, there are certain funds and associations that are deserving of consideration. There are educational funds, religious organizations and educational associations.

The funds and associations interested in the education of Negroes in the United States differ widely in purpose and resources. Some are rendering a remarkable educational service not only to the Negroes; but also to the South and the whole Nation. A number of the agencies are devoting only a part of their resources to Negro education. A few are of comparatively little importance. The work of the more important agencies is discussed herewith.

MISCELLANEOUS DENOMINATIONS SCHOOLS—NEGRO BOARDS.

States	Number of Schools	Counted Attendance	Teachers	Income for Current Expenses	Value of Property
Total	6	317	18	$5,650	$38,000
Free Will Baptist Church	1	60	4	1,700	15,000
Methodist Episcopal local conventions	2	22	4	450	6,000
Afro-American Presbyterian Church	1	25	2	1,500	7,000
Church of Christ Sanctified	1	130	6	1,500	10,000
Colored Local Seventh Day Adventist Church	1	80	2	500

General Education Board.—Because of the large sums controlled by this board and its wide influence upon the education of the country as a whole, it is important to outline its attitude toward Negro education. The report just issued by the Bureau of Education describes the attitude and works of the General Education Board in establishing some of the more recent movements in the improvement of the colored schools and communities. Among the more important of these are State supervisors of Negro rural schools, cooperation with other agencies, home-makers clubs for girls and farm demonstration works. Most of these movements have been carried on either directly or indirectly with the schools. In describing these more recent movements in Negro education, the report says:

314“The guiding principal of the General Education Board in all its efforts in behalf of Negro education is cooperation, first of all with public authorities and second, with agencies that are thoroughly constructive in purpose. The secretaries are men of ability and foresight. The work and influence of Dr. Wallace Buttrick have been especially notable. The policies of the board are based upon a study both of educational facilities and community needs.”

Its activities have included the improvement of country life through farm demonstration agents and boys’ and girls’ clubs in such projects as the cultivation and canning of vegetables; encouraging secondary schools to adapt their program to the needs of democratic society; and aiding colleges and universities to increase their efficiency and broaden their curriculum so as to provide adequate emphasis on modern problems. These undertakings have been conducted with statesmanship and a real regard for the welfare of democracy. While the sum spent on educational efforts in behalf of Negroes forms but a comparatively small part of the total appropriations made by the board, the activities encouraged or maintained have been effective in the development of cooperation with the public school authorities, and in the improvement of both private and public schools for Negroes.

Perhaps the most important form of cooperation on the part of the General Education Board in behalf of Negro education, is with the State departments of public instruction in the appointment and support of State supervisors of Negro schools. Ten Southern States have made such appointments. These supervisors are capable of Southern white men who are devoting their energy with much success to the advancement of Negro schools. Their efforts have already resulted in small but significant increases in public appropriations, a better attitude toward Negro education, and greater cooperation between public and private institutions.

Another important contribution of the General Education Board has been correlation of effort with private funds, church boards, and individual institutions. The Jeanes fund has received financial aid and encouragement in the excellent work of placing industrial supervisors 315and teachers in many counties throughout the Southern States. The Slater fund has been similarly assisted in the development of the county training schools. In the study of Negro education, the agents of the Phelps-Stokes fund not only had access to the board’s valuable records, but were enabled to call upon the board’s representatives for information and counsel. Church boards of education and individual schools have received substantial appropriations from the board and valuable suggestions on educational method from its educational experts.

Homemakers’ clubs have been formed in a number of Southern States. These clubs are composed of colored girls who are taught the essentials of rural homemaking, including the cultivation of a garden and the canning of fruits and vegetables. The movement has been very successful in the inculcation of sound ideas of sanitation, thrift and morality. Hundreds of clubs have been formed under the general direction of the State supervisors, and the more immediate care of the Jeanes fund county teachers. Under the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act some Federal funds are also being spent for this purpose.

The farm demonstration movement is undoubtedly the most important educational effort which the General Education Board has encouraged for the improvement of white and colored people. While the influence of the movement has been primarily among white farmers, its future possibilities for the colored people are so significant that a description of the plan must be included herein. The purpose of the movement is the increase of the productivity of the soil. The plan was originated by Dr. Seaman A. Knapp about 1903, in order to enable the farmers of Texas to combat the ravages of the bollweevil. The fundamental element in the plan is Dr. Knapp’s principle that the most effective way of teaching good farming is to prevail upon one farmer in every neighborhood to cultivate an acre of his land according to scientific methods of agriculture. The effect of such a plan has been that the farmer with the demonstration acre extends the plan to the remainder of his farm and the neighboring farms soon follow his example. It has been shown that such an experimental plan is much more effective than the distribution of printed matter or even explanations by traveling lecturers.

316When the remarkable possibilities of this simple method had been demonstrated, the General Education Board entered into cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture to extend the movement throughout the Southern States and especially in the section suffering from the bollweevil. As a result of this cooperation, begun in 1906, the board made increasing appropriations each year until the sum for 1913–1914 had become $252,000. In that year the Federal Government also appropriated $375,000, and the States and counties gave approximately $400,000. In 1915, further cooperation was prohibited by Congress, but in recognition of the value of the work, the Federal appropriation was considerably increased.

The economic and educational significance of the farm demonstration movement is now gradually being understood. Committees have lifted themselves out of poverty. Schools and churches and roads have been built. The general average of community welfare has been elevated in many rural districts. Schoolmen have been impressed with the value of actual demonstration in instruction and school methods are requiring that pupils shall “learn to do by doing.”

Carnegie Foundation.—The interest of Mr. Carnegie in Negro education is well known. His gifts have been large and significant. The activities of the Carnegie Foundation, however, have been such that little systematic study could be devoted to Negro education. Many educational leaders have expressed the hope that the perplexing problems of educating the 10,000,000 Negroes may receive the counsel and aid of the Carnegie Foundation. Many schools, however, have received large gifts from the Foundation, and from Mr. Carnegie. Several schools have splendid libraries as the result of these gifts.

John F. Slater Fund.—One of the most widely known funds devoted exclusively to Negro education, is the John F. Slater Fund. The work made possible through this gift, is one of the notable achievements in the education of Negroes in the United States. The fund, amounting to $1,000,000, was given in 1882, by John F. Slater of Connecticut, for the purpose of “uplifting the lately emancipated population of the Southern States and their prosperity.” In recognition of the public spirit of the 317donor, the United States Congress gave him a vote of thanks and a medal. At the time of the final distribution of the Peabody Fund in 1914, the Peabody trustees voted to transfer a sum amounting to about $350,000 to the John F. Slater Fund, “the income to be used for improving the rural schools for the Negro race.” The total amount of the Slater Fund is now about $1,750,000.

In 1915–16 the Slater Fund appropriated $67,250 for Negro schools located in 13 Southern States. Of this amount $25,425 was given to supplement the work of institutions owned by State or county authorities. The total number of schools receiving aid in 1915 was 68, of which 17 are county training schools, and 19 others are owned by city, county, or State. Approximately $3,000 has been given to aid summer schools for teachers.

The general purpose of the appropriations made by the trustees of the Slater Fund, has been the encouragement of industrial courses. The number of schools receiving aid has varied from year to year. The following statement indicates the number of schools and the amounts appropriated in different periods:


Time.	Number of Schools.	Amount.
1882–83	12	$16,250
1883–84	18	17,106
1884–85	29	36,764
1889–90	37	42,910
1894–95	16	42,400
1900–1901	11	43,330
1904–5	27	53,550
1909–10	40	69,750
1914–15	68	69,250

The variation in the number of schools reflects the different policies of the fund as well as the changes in the amount of money to be distributed. The present policy is that of increasing cooperation with public school authorities in all efforts to improve and increase the supply of public school teachers. Dr. Dillard, the director of the Slater Fund and the executive officer of the Jeanes fund, has been very successful in arousing the interest of public authorities in Negro schools. Realizing that the majority of elementary school teachers receive their education in 318their own or neighboring county, he is directing as much as possible of the Slater Fund to the improvement of public schools centrally located in the counties, so that courses of training for teachers may be established. The usual conditions observed in the organization of these schools are: first, that the property shall belong to the State or county; second, that an appropriation of at least $7.50 shall be made annually by the county for the maintenance; third, that at least eight grades of instruction shall be provided, including some industrial work and simple instruction in teaching methods. In 1912, there were three schools of this character. In 1915, the number had increased to 17. With the aid of the General Education Board and other agencies, it is probable that before the close of 1917, there will be over 40 county training schools for Negroes in the Southern States.

Anna T. Jeanes Fund.—The origin of the Jeanes Fund is so significant of the spirit and purpose of its present policy, that space must here be taken to relate some of the incidents connected with that event. In 1906, Dr. Frissell appealed to Miss Anna T. Jeanes for a contribution to the work of Hampton. Miss Jeanes was an elderly Quaker lady of Philadelphia. As Dr. Frissell described the hardships of the teachers in rural schools, she said: “Thee interests me,” and proceeded to write a check to aid the work of small rural schools. Dr. Frissell, expecting to receive not more than a hundred dollars looked at the check and saw, to his great surprise, that it was for $10,000. He said: “Well, you certainly are interested. Would you like to have Booker Washington call on you to explain the need of small schools in Alabama.” Miss Jeanes replied that she would and soon afterwards she gave another ten thousand to Dr. Washington. At the suggestion of Mr. George Foster Peabody, then the Treasurer of the General Education Board, she gave $200,000 more to be used according to plans to be determined upon by Dr. Frissell and Dr. Washington.

When she was convinced of the successful use of this gift, she said to Dr. Frissell: “I am going to show thee my will.” Reading it, he saw that she had bequeathed practically all her estate for the improvement of little county schools for Negro children. The will also provided that the 319funds were to be administered by a trustee board to be appointed by Dr. Frissell and Dr. Washington. Dr. Frissell assured her that it could be done, and asked whom would she like to have on the board. She replied: “Andrew Carnegie.” Plans for forming the board were immediately decided upon. Mr. Carnegie, Dr. Washington and Dr. Frissell organized a board of trustees, which consisted of five southern white men, five northern white men and five Negroes. Mr. Taft, then President of the United States, became a member of the board, and Dr. Dillard of Virginia was elected as the executive officer.

When the arrangements were complete, Miss Jeanes consented to see a few of the members of the board. This meeting was dramatic in its simplicity. There were present Mr. George Foster Peabody, President Taft, Dr. Dillard, Dr. Frissell, and Dr. Washington. Miss Jeanes was very feeble, her arm, swollen with pain, was supported by pillows. When she had signed away her estate of $1,000,000 she said to Dr. Frissell and to Dr. Washington in turn: “Dost thee remember when thee came and I gave thee $10,000 for the little country schools? And then I gave thee $200,000 more. And now I am giving all for these little schools. This is a great privilege. I am just a poor woman, and I gave it not to save my soul from hell; but because I wanted to.”

The trustee board in charge of this fund is composed of five southern men, five northern men, and five men of the colored race. In 1915, the trustees expended $34,475 for the improvement of Negro rural schools in Southern States. Practically all of this money is used to pay the expenses of county supervisors and industrial teachers These are usually young colored women who visit the public schools of the counties for the purpose of aiding and encouraging the schools in all phases of their work. The more important service of these traveling teachers, working under the direction of the county superintendent, is to introduce into the small country schools simple home industries; to give talks and lessons on sanitation, personal cleanliness, etc.; to encourage the improvement of schoolhouses and school grounds; and to conduct gardening clubs and other kinds of clubs for the betterment of the school and the neighborhood.

The teachers are appointed by the county superintendent and their 320work is supervised by that officer. Effort is made by the representatives of the Jeanes Fund to have the country authorities and the colored people undertake as much as possible of the salary and expenses of these teachers. In 1913, the counties contributed from public funds for this purpose, $3,400; in 1914, $6,255; in 1915, $12,183, and in 1916, $17,913. In 1915–16 Jeanes-Fund teachers were maintained in 164 counties distributed through 16 Southern States. It is to be hoped that all of these States will follow the example of Maryland in its provision of State aid, so that every county with a considerable number of Negroes may have county industrial teachers.

Phelps-Stokes Fund.—The endowment of the Phelps-Stokes Fund is approximately $1,000,000. Over half of the income has been spent to maintain several projects pertaining to Negro education. The more important of these are:

1. Cooperation with the United States Bureau of Education in preparing a comprehensive report on Negro education.

2. The establishment of fellowships at the University of Virginia and the University of Georgia. Twelve thousand five hundred dollars is given each of these universities for the permanent endowment of a research fellowship on the following conditions:

The university shall appoint annually a fellow in sociology for the study of the Negro. He shall pursue advanced studies under the direction of the department of sociology, economics, education, or history, as may be determined in each case by the president. The fellowship shall yield $500, and shall, after four years, be restricted to graduate students.

Each fellow shall prepare a paper or thesis embodying the result of his investigations, which shall be published by the university with assistance from the income of the fund.

3. The establishment of a fund at the Peabody College for teachers, Nashville, Tenn., in accordance with the following vote:

Voted, that $10,000 be given to the Peabody College for Teachers to establish a fund for the visitation of Negro schools and colleges, the income to be used to enable the teachers, administrative officers, and students 321of the Peabody College to come into direct and helpful contact with the actual work of representative institutions of Negro education.

4. Assistance to the Southern University Race Commission by an annual appropriation for traveling expenses.

5. Appropriations for constructive movements, such as the teaching of home and school gardening, the educational use of school dormitory and dining room, the installation of adequate financial and school records, and the dissemination of advice on the construction and care of buildings and grounds.

Rosenwald Fund.—In 1914, Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, announced through Tuskegee Institute that he would give money to assist in the erection of rural school buildings for Negroes in the South. According to the terms of the announcement, Mr. Rosenwald agreed to give any rural community a sum not exceeding $300 for the erection of a school building for Negroes, provided the people of the community should raise from public funds or from their own resources a sum equal to that given by him. It was further specified that total sums in each case must be sufficient to erect and furnish one school building.

Up to June 30, 1916, Mr. Rosenwald has given $44,718 toward promoting rural schoolhouse building. To meet Mr. Rosenwald’s contributions the Negroes in the communities where these schoolhouses were erected have contributed $61,951; from the public funds of the States, $21,525 has been appropriated; and white citizens have given $8,820. Through Mr. Rosenwald’s benefactions 142 rural schoolhouses for Negroes have been erected, as follows: In Alabama, 107; North Carolina, 11; Georgia, 8; Arkansas, 6; South Carolina, 1; Tennessee, 5; Mississippi, 2, and Virginia, 2.

Daniel Hand Fund.—This Fund is administered by the American Missionary Association 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Daniel Hand was born in Madison, Conn., July 16, 1801. When 16 years of age he went to Augusta, Ga., under the direction of his second brother residing there, whom he succeeded in business. Mr. Hand remained in some part of the Southern Confederacy during the entire war. His partner, Mr. Geo. W. Williams, who was conducting a branch of the business at 322Charleston, S. C., protected the capital of Mr. Hand, from the confiscation seriously threatened, in view of his being a northern man of undisguised anti-slavery sentiments. After the war, when Mr. Hand came north, Mr. Williams adjusted the business, made up the account, and paid over to Mr. Hand his portion of the long-invested capital and its accumulations. Bereaved of wife and children for many years, his benevolent impulses led Mr. Hand to form plans to use his large wealth for the benefit of his fellowmen.

The total amount of the endowment of the Daniel Hand Fund is approximately $1,500,000, and the income in 1915 was $69,000. This income is spent under the direction of the officers of the American Missionary Association for the maintenance of educational work in the schools of that association.

In 1888 Daniel Hand, of Guilford, Conn., gave $1,000,000 as a permanent fund, “the income of which shall be used for the purpose of educating needy and indigent people of African decent, residing, or who may hereafter reside, in the recent slave States of the United States, sometimes called the Southern States.” When Mr. Hand died, in 1891, he left the residue of his fortune, amounting to $500,000, to be added to his original gift.

Stewart Missionary Foundation for Africa.—The total endowment of the Stewart Missionary Foundation is $110,000. The income is used to provide classroom instruction on missions at Gammon Theological Seminary; to issue a monthly journal, “The Foundation,” devoted to the awakening of an interest in missions; and to maintain a lecturer who travels among Negro schools lecturing on missions.

This Fund was given in 1894 by the Rev. W. F. Stewart and his wife, to establish missionary training in Gammon Theological Seminary. Mr. Stewart had been a missionary in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was eager to arouse a strong interest in missions among Negro youth.

Miner Fund.—The Miner Fund has property valued at $40,000, and the annual income is about $2,100. This income is used for the aid of the Manassas Industrial Institute for Colored Youth of Virginia, and for the Colored Social Settlement of Washington, D. C.

323The fund is named after Miss Myrtilla Miner, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who in 1851 established a normal school for colored girls of Washington. In 1862, she incorporated the school as “Institution for the Education of Colored Youth.” The first property purchased by the institution was in the square now occupied by the British embassy. Later this lot was sold and another purchased, on which a new normal school was erected. In 1879 the District of Columbia leased this property from the trustees of the fund, and maintained the institution as a part of the public school system. About 1900 the trustees purchased another building in which they maintained a day nursery and a kindergarten. This work was later taken over by the public authorities. The combined annual income from both properties amounted at one time to $4,000.

In 1915, the city school board purchased a site and erected a magnificent new building to house the normal school. This building was named “The Myrtilla Miner Normal School.” After the removal of the public school from the building owned by the Miner Fund, it was necessary to sell the building and invest the money in other forms of real estate at a reduced income.

Cushing Fund.—The total amount of the Cushing Fund is $33,500 and the income varies from $1,200 to $1,500 annually. This income is distributed by the executive officer among 28 schools for colored people.

The fund was bequeathed for the education of colored people in accordance with the will of Miss Emeline Cushing, of Boston, who died in 1895. The will designated Mr. Archibald Grimke and two others as trustees and executors. Mr. Grimke is now the sole survivor and administers the fund.

The Association for Negro Youth.—This Association was organized at Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1913. The plan has been to admit only institutions maintaining work of college grade. So far 10 institutions have been admitted to membership. The following quotation indicates the embarrassment of the association in its effort to be just to the colleges within and without the organization:

One of the most important topics of the several sessions was that of admission of additional colleges into the association. The consensus 324of opinion prevailed that the association needed more careful detailed information about the colleges, both within and without the organization, and the executive committee was authorized to make a careful study of all colleges both within and without the association that some standards for grading of membership might be established.

The general purpose of the association is indicated by the following list of topics discussed at the four annual meetings, 1913 to 1916:

4. How far should we allow students to specialize in professional work during their college course?

7. What should be done with deficiencies of college students in English, spelling, composition and penmanship?

9. What should be done on the matter of our students who go North to work during the summers, and who thereby do not return to their home communities for several years, thus getting out of touch with the life of their home communities, in which places many of them are needed after they finish school?

10. How far are we preparing teachers for the public schools and the high schools? What is our part in the forward rural school movement?

11. How far are our efforts for religious education giving our students training for religious leadership?

It is evident that the association is rapidly broadening the scope of its interest from the formal topics of the earlier meetings to the vital problems outlined in the questions discussed at the last meeting.

The National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools.—This association was organized in 1904. Annual meetings have been held each year. State associations have been formed in almost all the Southern States. Teachers representing 21 States were present at the last annual meeting of the national association. These meetings are having a wholesome effect in the development of higher ideals, better methods, and cooperation among teachers in all efforts to adapt education to community needs.

The twelfth annual session of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools was held in Cincinnati, July 29, to August 1, 1915. Among the subjects discussed were “The need of a graduate school for Negroes,” “College athletics,” “Standardizing of Negro schools,” “Harmonizing conflicting views of Negro education,” and “National education.” The 1916 meeting of the association will be held in Nashville. In connection with the meeting of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools the Annual Conference of the Presidents of Land-Grant Colleges took up “Its mission,” “Its responsibility,” “Its opportunity,” and “Its relation to the public school system.” Other subjects were “The problem of dormitory life,” and “Preparation of teachers of agriculture.” Another organization which met with the national association was the Council of College Presidents.

The changed conditions of modern life have occasioned a wholly new order of things for the care of the sick and disabled; and well equipped hospitals with training schools for nurses are now numerous, where they were almost unknown fifty years ago. This has led to the institution of hospitals for the colored people. These have been very necessary for the colored people, and also for the colored physicians and surgeons. There are now several thousand of these physicians and surgeons who have received diplomas in the regular medical schools and are practicing their profession among their own people. These, however, are not usually admitted to practice in the general hospitals of the Southern States, which is a serious hindrance to their progress in knowledge and skill, as well as a great embarrassment in the care of their patients. There has been a growing demand also for colored nurses with the training that can be acquired only in hospitals. Thus for more reasons than one, hospitals designed particularly for the colored people have become necessary.

The first of these was founded at Hampton, Va., in 1891, by Miss Alice M. Bacon, who was at that time connected with Hampton Institute, though her hospital was independent and bore the name of “Dixie.” In the same year the “MacVicar Hospital,” was established as a feature of Spelman Seminary in Atlanta, and the “Provident Hospital” was instituted in Chicago. Three years later, in 1894, the “Freedmen’s Hospital” was started in Washington and the “Lamar Hospital” in Augusta, Ga. Then, in 1895, came the “Frederick Douglass” in Philadelphia; in 1896, the “Sarah Goodrich” in New Orleans; and in 1897, the “Hospital and Training School for Nurses” in Charleston. Others have followed, one by one, in other important centres; Charlotte, Richmond, Columbia, Savannah, Jacksonville, Nashville, Knoxville, Louisville, Raleigh, Tuskegee, Durham, Atlanta and elsewhere. In all of these hospitals the training school for nurses is a conspicuous feature, and the nurses who receive this training show very great efficiency, finding employment largely among the white people, who frequently prefer them to white nurses with similar training. Some of these institutions have been built up by the sheer enterprise of individual colored physicians. A notable example of this is “St. Luke’s Hospital” at Columbia, founded and maintained in the face of many discouragements by Dr. Matilda A. Evans, who received her education at Schofield Institute, Oberlin College, and the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Hospitals of this type are held in high esteem by the communities in which they are located, and are centers of beneficence for the country around.

In the development of Negro education the various types or kinds of education have received much discussion and the conflicting claims of certain type of education have been ably presented by their advocates. Space does not admit of a full discussion of the conflict which has raged between the so-called “higher education” and the so called “industrial education.” The most notable colored men who have taken sides on this question during the past 25 years have been Dean Kelly Miller and Dr. W. E. Dubois as advocate of the higher education and Dr. Booker T. Washington, and Dr. R. R. Moton, as advocate of industrial education. 327The result of the various discussions has been that the whole nation has been convinced that there is, and can be no real conflict between higher education for the Negro and industrial education. The conviction is now very general that the Negro needs and should have every type of instruction. The type of education most needed for the full development are college education, professional education and industrial education.

College Education.—No type of education has meant more to the colored people than college education. There are however very few institutions of college grade among colored schools. Many institutions are called colleges, but they have not been able to do real college work. According to the recent report of the Bureau of Education, only 33 of the private and State schools for colored people are doing work of college grade. These institutions are classified into three groups. The following table presents the facts for these institutions:

Characterization and Name of College.	Support.	College Pupils.	Professional.	Other Pupils.
All Colleges		1,952	1,093	10,089
“Colleges”		722	972	717
Fisk University	Independent	188		317
Howard University	Federal	534	467	400
Meharry Medical School	Independent		505
“Secondary and College”		675	22	4,789
Atlanta University	Independent	44		542
Benedict College	Baptist	45		462
Bishop College	„	42		329
Claflin College	Methodist	26		788
Knoxville College	United Presbyterian	30		207
Lincoln University	Presbyterian	130		86
Morehouse College	Baptist	49		246
Morgan College	Methodist	26		55
Shaw University	Baptist	24	22	175
Talladega College	Congregational	45		516
Tougaloo University	„	20		424
Wilberforce University	A. M. E.	65		128
Wilberforce C. N. & I. Department	State	40		191
Wiley College	Methodist	38		346
Virginia Union University	Baptist	51		204
“College Subjects”		246		4,583
Arkansas Baptist College	Baptist	13		300
Biddle University	Presbyterian	22		185
Clark University	Methodist	32		272
Florida A. & M. College	Land-grant	12		333
Lane College	C. M. E.	10		208
Livingston College	A. M. E. Z.	17		174
Morris Brown University	A. M. E.	10		498
New Orleans College	Methodist	9		423
Paine College	M. E. South	14		188
Paul Quinn College	A. M. E.	13		273
Philander Smith College	Methodist	39		400
Rust College	„	16		320
Sam Houston College	„	18		359
Straight University	Congregational	11		567
Tillotson College	„	18		215

328Of the 12762 pupils in total attendance on these institutions, only 1,643 are studying college subjects, and 995 are in professional classes. The remaining 10,125 pupils are in elementary and secondary grades.

In reply to a questionnaire sent to all the Northern colleges, 66 reported a total of 430 Negro students of college grade. Of these 309 were in college proper, 86 were in medical courses, including dental and pharmaceutical; 10 were in theological schools; 18 in law; and 7 in veterinary medicine. It is probable that the total number of students in northern institutions is at least 500.

Only three institutions, Howard University, Fisk University, and Meharry Medical College, have a student body, a teaching force and equipment and an income sufficient to warrant the characterization of “college.” Nearly half of the college students and practically all of the professional students are in these institutions.

Professional Education.—The standards of professional training are so involved with the development of colleges that for some time to come the professional training of colored people must be carried on largely in connection with college and secondary work. The scarcity of good teachers, the great need for increased library and laboratory facilities, and the small enrollments in all institutions of higher learning for colored people, render the chances of the development of strong professional schools better where they are affiliated with schools of collegiate or university grade.

At present, less than ten institutions for colored people offer professional courses with teaching force and equipment separate from their academic departments. The majority of these are affiliated with colleges. Howard University has a medical, a law, and a theological department, with considerable equipment and a full quota of students in each department. Meharry Medical College has a large student body and a valuable plant. The theological department of Lincoln University, Lincoln, Pa., is fairly well equipped; but the number of pupils is small. Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga., is a well endowed institution owned by the Methodist Episcopal denomination. The teaching force and equipment are adequate, but the number of students is not large. Bishop 329Payne Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal denomination, Petersburg, Va., has a scholarly faculty, but a small number of students. Tuskegee Institute maintains a department for the instruction of rural ministers. The instruction is effective and practical. Talladega College provides a separate building for the Theological Seminary, and its teaching force is separate; but the number of students is small. Payne Theological Seminary, of Wilberforce University, is incorporated independently and its work is done by its own teachers and its own building.

Virginia Union University, Richmond, Va., and Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga., do not have a separate plant for their theological departments; but the instruction is effective and the number of students is fair. Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., maintains a preparatory medical course, and offers instruction to ministerial students. Other institutions maintaining theological departments are Livingstone College, Salisbury, N. C.; Biddle University, Charlotte, N. C.; Paine College, Augusta, Ga.; and Stillman Institute, Tuscaloosa, Ala. The following table gives the names, together with the number of teachers and pupils in the theological schools:

Theological Schools.	Teachers.	Students.
Gammon Theological Seminary	6	78
Tuskegee Institute	3	77
Howard University	4	73
Lincoln University	6	54
Wilberforce University	4	30
Virginia Union University	6	24
Stillman Institute	2	21
Morehouse College	2	18
Bishop Payne Divinity School	4	15
Livingstone College	3	14
Talladega College	2	10
Shaw University	2	10
Paine College	2	9
Biddle University	2	8
Total	40	441

The one law school of note is at Howard University. It has a separate building, a three-story structure, located near the District Courthouse. Applicants for admission must be graduates of a recognized high 330school or college. The regular course for the degree of LL. B. covers a period of three years.

The attendance was 106, of whom 104 were male, and 2 female. There were 8 teachers, 5 white and 3 colored; all are men.

The medical profession offers the largest opportunity for the ambitious young colored man. The number of colored physicians, according to the United States Census of 1910, was 3,077; colored dentists were 478 in number. Each group is increasing rapidly. The following table gives the number of medical students in the different colleges.

	Total.	Medical.	Dental.	Pharmaceutical.
All Schools	878	431	287	160
Howard University	288	100	116	72
Meharry Medical College	482	291	137	54
Shaw University	22	9		13
Northern Colleges	86	31	34	21

Industrial Education.—The phrase “industrial education” as applied to colored schools is very misleading. While the effective industrial schools are making a genuine effort to develop industrial skill, this fundamental purpose is much broader than vocational efficiency or the resulting comfort and culture. The underlying principle of these schools is the adaptation of educational activities, whether industrial or literary, to the needs of the pupil and the community. Leaders in these schools believe that education should include not only the head but the hand and the heart. These broad purposes were strikingly expressed by Gen. Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, in his school reports as early as 1870. The following quotations from these reports illustrate the principles which guided him in the organization of his work:

The past of our colored population has been such that an institution devoted especially to them must provide a training more than usually comprehensive, must include both sexes and a variety of occupation, must produce moral as well as mental strength, and while making its students 331first-rate mechanical laborers, must also make them first-rate men and women.

Through Dr. H. B. Frissell, his successor as principal of Hampton Institute, and through the late Dr. Booker T. Washington, his pupil, Gen. Armstrong’s idea of education for life has been worthily advocated and extended, until now his thoughts are the common property of all progressive leaders of education.

In discussing industrial education, Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones of the Bureau of Education, has eloquently said:

“Industrial education in the comprehensive sense is the very essence of democracy in education. Civilized society has long been democratic in the advocacy of education for all the people, regardless of race, color, and previous condition. In curriculum and method, however, the schools of the land have continued to be both aristocratic and arbitrary. Subjects introduced in the middle ages to meet the needs of the aristocracy of that time have been retained for their cultural value. Democracy in the content of education demands that the curriculum shall impart culture through knowledge and practice related to the farm, the shop, the office, and, above all, the home.”

According to figures recently published by the Bureau of Education there are 61 public and private institutions which offer some industrial training to their pupils, and 174 with manual training and household arts courses. Of the former group, 29 are maintained by State and Federal funds. The 16 agricultural and mechanical schools largely supported by appropriations from the National Government are fairly well equipped to teach the more important trades and to train girls in household arts. Only a few of them, however, teach the trades effectively, and practically all subordinate the industrial training to the literary instruction. The 13 State institutions are schools of elementary and secondary grade, with some teacher-training courses and some facilities for manual training. Six of them are located in Northern States. In addition to these State institutions, well-managed manual training schools are maintained by the cities of Washington, D. C.; Charleston, S. C., and Columbus, Ga.

332The private institutions are divided into two groups: Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute, with their large plants, constitute the first group. They occupy a unique position, not only for their influence among the schools for colored people, but also for the part they play in determining the educational policies of the country.

A number of effective movements for the extension of industrial education have been organized within the past ten years. These movements are the result of the cooperation of the Jeanes Fund, the Slater Fund, and the General Education Board with the State and county departments of education. Through this cooperation, State supervisors of colored schools have been appointed in ten Southern States and county industrial teachers are maintained in 131 counties of these and other States. These agencies have organized home-makers’ clubs, encouraged the introduction of industrial courses into the schools, and assisted in arousing public opinion favorable to industrial education.

No discussion of industrial education is complete without reference to the late Dr. Booker T. Washington, who in this field attained world-wide fame and brought more to the cause of all education, than any other individual of this generation. His life history and the wonderful story of Tuskegee, which he founded, are too well known to be given in detail. But his influence was not limited to Tuskegee. He did more than any other individual in teaching the world “that democracy’s plan for the solution of the race problem in the Southland is not primarily in the philanthropies and wisdom of Northern people; nor is it in the desires and struggles of the colored people; nor yet in the first hand knowledge and daily contacts of the Southern white people. Democracy’s plan is in the combination of the best thought and the deepest sympathy and the most abiding faith of these three groups working with mutual faith in one another.”

No more appropriate ending can be found to this section on industrial education or the entire chapter on Negro education, than the beautiful poem of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, written as a tribute to Dr. Washington:

Imitation is the basis of all education; it is instruction through action. Especially so is this in the case of young children. The tiny infant lying so snugly within his mother’s arms, knows nothing of the “why and wherefore” of this world. It is content, and as long as its physical wants are looked after, it matters not. Toward the ending of the first year it begins to take notice, and we see the fond mother teaching her darling to shake bye-bye, play pat-a-cake, and to throw a kiss from his tiny fingers. All these gestures are mere imitations of what he sees. He hasn’t the slightest idea of the meaning of it all. Later the infant will imitate the noise of the “bow-wow,” the “moo-cow” and he will do his best to “mew” like a cat. These, too, are imitations of what he hears and are of importance in its development.

An interesting story is told of a young mother who took great pains to teach her first little one to lisp “Da-Da” at the approach of its father. The mother succeeded admirably and the fond father never got tired of hearing his little one utter this new name of his. What was their utter dismay when one day a despicable looking tramp came to the door and the little one insisted in holding out its arms to him and fondly calling him “Da-Da.” We can easily see that the early knowledge of a child is an imitation of what he sees and hears and you, watchful mother, must always keep the watchwords, “what he sees” and “what he hears” ever before you, and let it be the keynote of all early training.

It is always interesting to watch children at play; more so when they are playing “house” or some other amusement relative to home life. Have you not noticed how the little girl will assume the manner 336and actions of her own mother? Supposedly, the “dolly” has been taken suddenly ill and the doctor has been sent for. It is a most critical case and the little boy who is playing doctor will knit and pucker up his brow and will imitate the solemnity and dignity of the professional man most vividly. He even tries to make his voice lower and gruffer in tone, so as to make the “doctor” more real. Yes, children in their play are prime representatives of realities and are often good teachers in some respects, for they are not only good imitators but good observers.

CHILD’S FUTURE MOLDED BY EXAMPLE

Everything to a child is a model of manner, of gesture, of speech, of habit, of character. Let these models be of the highest type. If we would have fine characters we must necessarily present before children fine models. The model the child constantly has in his mind’s eye is the mother. She it is through the example she provides who sets the standard for the child’s future. The child comes into the world with its plastic mind open to all impressions and these it receives and retains by outside forces. It is a very poor plan to take children to a theatre. They cannot help but hear and see things which will cause them often to imitate, and which may result in disaster.

A true story is told of a boy, ten years old, who was taken by his mother to see a show. During the play the audience was treated to an exciting domestic quarrel on the stage. One of the characters, a young boy, was supposed to protect his mother by shooting an intruder. The boy was applauded by the audience, which plainly showed they considered him a hero. Henry, for this was the boy’s name who was witnessing the play, was carried away with all that he saw and decided that he, too, would deal likewise to anyone who would harm his mother. Some weeks later a peddler came to his mother’s house and insisted that she buy some of his wares. She told him she didn’t care for any, but the peddler’s voice was rather loud and he seemed very persistent. Henry, hearing it all, thought the time had come to imitate the actor’s 337bravery. He turned to a drawer, took his father’s pistol and without one moment’s reflection shot the peddler, but, fortunately, did not kill him. This plainly shows what imitation in the young mind can lead to.

Example is far better than precept. In the face of bad example, the best of precepts are of little use. Can you expect a child who constantly sees before him ignorance, coarseness and selfishness, to grow up anything more than the reflection of these faults?

It sometimes happens that a child brought up under these circumstances finds himself, in adult life, placed amidst other scenes. He immediately sees the difference and compares his training to those around him. If he is ambitious and wants to change his mode of life, he has to commence all over again his work of imitation. He has reason with him now to help him, yet he will at first find it uphill work; but when he succeeds, he will be the much better man. Should a child when he reaches adult age care not to pluck these traits from his character, he becomes at once a rude, dangerous member to society and a grievance to those with whom he comes in contact.

Too much care cannot be taken in teaching the children the avoidance of sham. This must especially be insisted on in the matter of dress. Most all of us are fond of “fine raiment,” and we cannot help but feel that appearances play an important part in life. It must be the avoidance of imitating of finery and the adoption of the substantial in dress, that we must teach our children.

GLITTERING IMITATIONS A SERIOUS EVIL

In the matter of dress, girls are more influenced by its grandeur than are boys, and the wise mother will do well to teach her daughter simplicity in everything. Never allow her to wear imitations of precious stones or jewelry. This is not only bad taste, but it is a bad habit to form. Many a poor girl has fallen from grace just through the love of glittering baubles. Teach her never to rouge her cheeks or use cosmetics. If Nature has not given her a perfect complexion, she can never get it by imitation. “You can’t cheat Nature,” but you can 338aid it. Have her imitate God’s creatures by copying cleanliness, simple eating and regular habits. She may not get a faultless complexion—few people have this gift—but she can get that soft texture of skin, that buoyancy of spirit, that brightness of eye with the soul showing through. Let these be her models and the imitation will be of real worth.

GUIDANCE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

While the imitation of dress and the lighter vanities of life are more indulged in by the girl, the boy also is a decided imitator in other weaknesses. A boy will imitate any quality which he thinks manly. Would that the points they imitate deserved this name, but most of the things they copy are those which will sooner or later, make slaves of them. How early we see the tiny tot of three or four years placing a piece of stick or anything which resembles a cigar, between his lips. Watch him puff at it; see him imitate the strut of a man. This sometimes appears comical, and the child is often prevailed upon to show how clever he is. Alas, this is only the first attempt to imitate the manly arts, and if not guided in the right direction his imitations may become a tragedy instead of a comedy.

By imitation of acts the character becomes slowly and imperceptibly, but at length decidedly formed. Do not think, mother, that because your child is young it cannot judge. In this you are greatly mistaken. Children are very clever judges and especially do they see through any inconsistency. They hear you say: “You mustn’t do thus and so.” What do you think is in their childish minds when they discover you doing it? Children do not appreciate the motto which the preacher gave to his congregation: “Do as I say, not as I do.” No, indeed, they follow the example. The precept is forgotten.

The habits, which are our constant companions and followers through life, are based on imitation. If good habits are to be formed, childhood is the time to plant them. You cannot begin too early. The little tot who sees her mother throw down her belongings cannot be 339expected to take care of her playthings, nor, as she grows up, to be neat and tidy. Order is Heaven’s first law and the successful mother will start with having a place for everything and have everything in its place.

GOOD MANNERS AND SOCIAL ETIQUETTE

The demeanor of a child is also a vast reflector of home training. You cannot always teach morals by imitation, but you can the custom of manners and social etiquette. In the primitive appetites of eating and drinking, imitation is a very strong force. How easily a little child will imitate the smacking of lips after some article of diet especially enjoyed. How easily he comes to use his knife in conveying food to his mouth, if he has seen this performance. How anxious he is to rush from the table as soon as he has finished eating. These, and many other breaches of good manners, I am sorry to say, come as a result of seeing others do likewise.

It is our duty to read up on all manners and customs of etiquette. The mother must acquaint herself with all its details; then your child will be a credit as well as a joy to his parents.

One of the best illustrations of the power of imitation is in the way the deaf are taught. The natural way of speaking any language is by hearing; by trying to imitate the sounds which are made. In the case of the deaf, they learn their expression of thought through imitation entirely, the lips and gestures of the hands and fingers being the only source of communication.

We have learned that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So long as this imitation is of sterling value, let us all become flatterers. Let us flatter Love, which lightens labor. Let us flatter Care by crowning and beautifying its rugged and repellant features. Let us all endeavor to flatter the serenity of Life by being constantly on the outlook for the foes without and the foes within—the “little foxes that seek to destroy the vines.”

The child must be encouraged to unfold. Its thoughts, its ideas, its method of carrying out its ideas, its instincts and intuitions, in a word, its genius must be brought forward, never suppressed. If the ideas are wild, the play rough, the instincts perverse and the child is unruly, the mother must seek ways to direct them.

How can you judge the workings of that mind and soul? You must study your little one’s motives, in order to pass a sentence on the act he has committed. If your boy is noisy, rough, pugnacious, you may lay it to a surplus of nervous energy that has no proper outlet.

He is ungovernable perhaps, neither you nor his father nor the teacher at school can manage him. What are you going to do? His father whips him, but the youth is India rubber—he rebounds. The rod has not reached his inner consciousness. The teacher keeps him in after school, and on being freed, he rushes into a fight. You, his mother, are distracted, for although he seems to listen to you, he pays little heed to your commands.

DIRECT YOUR CHILD’S ENERGY

What are you going to do with such a child? Send him to a reform school, and ruin his life? Beat him until all the buoyancy has gone out of his nature? Keep him in after school until he becomes irritable and nervous? No, indeed! The best thing to do with a lively and unrestrained child is to set his energies in a safe and sane channel. Teach him field sports, open up for him the delights of the manual training room. Give him a hammer, a few nails, a bit of lumber, a paste pot, some cardboard. Boys love to work with their hands, so let your boy make things. He will like to build stools and coat racks, boxes, broom-holders, 341anything that is useful. That is one of the great secrets of bringing up a boy, make him useful. He likes the little sense of power, the natural feeling of pride that comes from a knowledge that he is of some consequence, that his work counts. The boy who is taught to do something well, will not long be unmanageable.

KEEPING THE BOY BUSY

Supposing the boy is not to be directed at once into the enchanting field of handcraft; supposing his mother has allowed him to run wild a little too long or has not noticed that he was evincing signs of lawlessness until the neighbors or teachers send home uncomplimentary reports, what’s to be done? Try another tactic. See if you cannot interest him in outdoor sports to a point where he reaches self-respect. Baseball will do, a bat and a ball may help him to rouse the best that is in your lad. Then let him help his father with chores, let him drive the team to town, or sell a load of produce—nothing brings out a boy’s incipient manhood like the thought that he is helping his “dad,” that he can be depended upon, and held responsible for something really worth while.

I know a fine boy of twelve, the son of a store-keeper in a small Georgia town, who is raising hens. He has forty flourishing Wyandottes, a couple of dozen Leghorns and as many Buff Cochins. He has built a substantial hen house, and fenced in a part of the yard. Friends and relatives became interested in his enterprise and gave him suggestions, the benefit of their experience, until now he is a thriving chicken farmer. Last summer, he sold on an average of five dozen eggs a day. We were among his customers, and we paid him thirty cents a dozen, his regular price, which means that the twelve-year-old made $1.50 a day, or $10.50 a week. Besides earning a little money he was having a lot of fun.

He had enough on his mind to keep him out of trouble, and enough on his hands to work off the physical force that otherwise might have gone to waste, making him an undesirable citizen.

If your boy is mischievous, can you not make a merchant or a farmer or a gardener out of him? It need not be his vocation. Let it be his avocation, his hobby. Don’t shut him in, don’t keep him down; encourage him to come out along life’s highway and show the world the sort of stuff he’s made of.

A very noble-minded woman of my acquaintance is suffering from the effects of having been constantly restrained when she was a child. She is in consequence, diffident, lacking in self-confidence, liable to become the victim of a strong-willed person’s whim. She says that, as a girl, all her natural instincts were put to scorn. Full of abounding life, she loved to leap down the stairs, throw herself into her mother’s arms, shout with laughter, sing at the top of her voice as she went about her tasks. This was looked upon with horror by her sedate and cautious parent. “Don’t run down the stairs,” her mother would say. “Don’t laugh so loud!” “Don’t shout like that!” Don’t, don’t, don’t, until the poor girl did not really know what she might do with impunity. She was constantly being humiliated before visitors, and the joy in life that might have been cultivated and utilized, nay, even glorified, was driven quite out of her soul. Yet her mother was an excellent woman, who meant to do just the right thing by that little girl of hers. She had her own idea of what a young girl should be. This gay, hilarious creature was not just what the mother desired. She had hopes of bringing up a dignified, gentle, lady-like, delicate, feminine daughter rather than a hoyden. What might not that mother have done had she but understood the glorious material God had lent her to work with a little while!

If she had only realized that the quality she was stamping out was a radiant, winged, rare, inspired and inspiring touch of nature springing out of a fullness of life, a superabundance of health, she might have made her child a queen among women, a leader, a creature admired and adored.

Instead, she accomplished not the dainty, refined model she set her unwise hands to, but an anomaly, an unwieldy statue with the helmeted head of Athene and the dancing body of Terpsichore. The mother can do much for her child, but she cannot put her soul into the other body. The child’s soul is its own. Inspirations and energies can be directed, that is all. The soul must grow; it must develop, and for this it must have a wide space. Do not bind the growth with a too compelling hand. Let cooperation, not coercion, be the stimulus between you.

The whole world is yours and your child’s, dear mother, therefore do not cramp his mental or spiritual gymnastics. There are a thousand outlets, a hundred thousand modes of expression. Find your child’s height and depth; sound him, measure his capacity for learning, pleasure, pain, work, and let him grow in beauty, wisdom and peace ever unfolding into the Infinite.

The whole field of our obligation both positive and negative; that is, the “I oughts” and the “I ought nots”; what we ought to do and what we ought to avoid; our duty toward ourselves, our duty toward mankind and our duty toward God, come to us through what we term moral or ethical science. A mental construction having as its basis purity and duty. When the moral nature is cultivated and developed it controls every action of man, radiating from the individual to society and from society back again to the individual.

We study moral science in order that we may conduct ourselves properly in all relations of life; that we may be inwardly pure and outwardly moral; that we may be harmonious in our mental construction and in our relations with the world. It is true that we may attain some degree of morality without giving it especial study, just as we may live in the world and perform the ordinary work of life without scholastic learning. There is a natural desire for knowledge—we seek a rational account of things. Moral science endeavors to give us this rational account of moral conduct which we find everywhere in some form, to correct and improve it, to elevate and purify our moral ideals.

HOME THE PLACE FOR STUDY

We know of no more appropriate place for the practical beginning of this most important duty than in the home. The influence of the parents’ character upon the children cannot be estimated. Everything that we come in contact with has a certain influence upon us. A man took a political paper only to laugh at it, but he read the same theories 345over and over until at length they became truths to him. As the constant dropping of water will wear away the stone, so will constant association have an everlasting influence upon the character. It may be changed—either elevated or degraded—but it never can be destroyed.

Every child is born with a natural temperament or disposition, which is the product of two elementary factors. (1) Inheritance—those qualities which are transmitted by nature from one’s ancestors and (2) maternal impression—the impression made upon the plastic brain of the foetus. The first comes from generations of ancestry, whereas the last is entirely dependent upon the mother; the influence of what she sees, what she hears and what she thinks. These qualities combine for good or for bad, to influence the life of the child.

Fortunate indeed is the child who is well born, but doubly fortunate is he who may also be well trained.

IMPRESSIONS MADE BY THE EYE

The home is the true soil for the cultivation of virtue. Mere cultivation of intellect has little influence upon character. Most of the principles of character are implanted in the home and not in the school. Children are more apt to learn through the eye than through the ear. That which is seen makes a much deeper impression on the mind than that which is read or heard, and that which they see they will unconsciously imitate.

Notice the little mannerisms of your children. It may be a way of walking, or a twist of the mouth or an accent. How easily you can detect the origin! Therefore it behooves parents to place before their children examples of character that as nearly as possible approach perfection. Whatever benefit there is derived from the schools, the examples set in the home are of far greater influence in forming the character of our future men and women.

The home is the center of social and national character and from that source issues the habits, principles and maxims that govern public as well as private life. Examples of conduct even in apparently trivial matters are of great importance, inasmuch as they are to become interwoven with the lives of others and contribute to the formation of the character for better or for worse.

We have first certain implanted principles of involuntary action. They are the appetites which are tendencies toward things for bodily life and continuance; the desires which are tendencies toward things necessary for mental life and development, and the affections which are tendencies toward social life and welfare.

The appetites are cravings produced by recurring wants and needs necessary to the body and are seven in number: hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, rest, exercise and air—all of which are necessary for our animal existence. The appetites play a strong part even in our social and moral life, and they may be lifted up to a higher plane of moral action or they may be drawn down to a mere brute impulse. Every gift of the body and soul can be moralized for good.

APPETITE AS A FACTOR IN CHARACTER

The higher moral attainment rests in and arises out of the physical nature. The intellect and the moral structure can be no greater than the foundation will allow. The appetites are attended by an uneasy sensation which incites action. There is no moral quality in the appetites themselves, as can be seen in the brute, but in man with his higher gifts they become important factors of his moral character. They not only impel him to action, but bring him into relationship with the material world and with his fellowmen.

The pleasures accompanying the appetite are legitimate and useful in their proper indulgence, and are necessary to life and existence. 347The child, naturally born, will soon display the uneasiness naturally attendant upon the appetites and it is the duty of the mothers to supply the needs in a careful, intelligent manner. A child may be so bodily impoverished that he will become a moral degenerate, so we would impress the greatest importance upon the bodily care of the child.

STORY OF THE TWO BROTHERS

The case is recalled of a young mother who had two sons, the younger of whom was a healthy, rosy little lad, while the elder was thin and delicate. The healthy boy ate heartily of all that was served him, while the delicate boy only ate choice bits of food and constantly indulged in sweets. The mother praised the healthy boy and showed her disappointment that the elder was not like his brother. Suddenly the family noticed the thin boy was getting stouter and they all told him how pleased they were, and the mother was beginning to feel very happy when to her dismay she discovered that he had padded himself. Her heart was touched with pity when she thought of the pathos in his little mind that prompted him to resort to such measures. The boy was acting a falsehood in order to meet his mother’s approval. This may have all been prevented had the mother sought to ascertain the cause of the poor appetite and supplied the remedy. Had she taken the time to explain to him food values and the necessity of fresh air and exercise, seeing that he availed himself of them, this desire to deceive would probably never have arisen.

The appetite of sex bears the same relation to the continuance of the species as the other appetites bear to the well-being of the body. The family based first on natural love is essential to the existence and development of man. Afterward paternal and maternal love are added and then come all the wider affections toward mankind.

APPETITE MAY BE ACQUIRED

We not only have the natural appetites but the acquired appetites, which are related to desires but in their action they are like original 348appetites. Artificial appetites may be inherited. This is especially true in the case of the children of the drunkard, opium taker and tobacco user. This is probably due to the effect upon the nervous system, and it is, as a rule, for the effect upon the nervous system that these things are taken. Or, they may be acquired by the individual’s deficiency of self-control and a natural inclination on his part to act the braggadocio or abandon, deluding himself that he is acting manly, and endeavoring to create a like impression upon others.

THE PERIOD OF “COLTISHNESS”

This disposition is always more or less present in children, and particularly so in youth. It would appear in the minds of a great many there is the necessity of a period of coltishness through which we all must pass, and during which there would seem no help for us but a free rein and copious mother-tears. As the world is growing wiser and better, and as we all are coming to recognize this improvement of conditions, these fatuous delusions are losing ground and now instead of it appearing “big” to the child or youth to do those “smart” things, he is beginning to realize that his standing in the community and the respect which he wishes to command, must be governed wholly by the qualities of manliness and gentility of which he is possessed.

It is a failing on our part individually to look upon our own as good and all others as bad, where there is a difference, and however comforting this may be to us, we must face the question squarely—that there is just about as much bad in one as there is in the other. The scales may not always balance in such a comparison, but usually they will very nearly do so. The virtues which are possessed by different individuals may not always be the same, but they always make up for the more or less patent deficiencies.

For instance, our attention was once called to a very lovable young man, weak in character and somewhat dissipated, who was so sympathetic that he would show the deepest solicitude for the poor and helpless child, the dumb brute in its sufferings, or the poor wounded bird. 349Had the character of this young man been properly trained in the days of his childhood, no thought would have been given by him to those things resulting in dissipation, but that natural energy of young manhood would otherwise have found vent, and have been a great good and a great blessing.

SUBJUGATION OF THE APPETITE

The appetites are not to be eradicated but to be restrained and kept in subjection to their proper ends. The desires are in many ways analogous to the appetites, hence the common expression we “hunger” and “thirst” for knowledge, or power, or any of the so-called six original desires—knowledge, society, love, power, superiority and possession. All proper desires end in their proper objects and seek nothing more. We may seek knowledge whereby we may control and elevate the natural qualities we possess and make safe our influence upon others: or again we may seek knowledge out of vanity for the means of display.

Social life is the chief sphere of our activities and improvements, without which the moral nature could not be developed. But then we may desire society for purely selfish motives, as the child may seek a playmate merely that he may himself be amused, not that he may give pleasure to the other child. The disposition to be loved and esteemed appears very early in childhood. It is considered a mark of bad character to be careless of the regard of others. A moralist once said: “A young man is not far from ruin when he can say without blushing, ‘I don’t care what others think of me’,” and on the other extreme esteem may be craved to such an extent that it may lead to hypocrisy and deceit.

PROPER APPLICATION OF OUR DESIRES

So on through the whole list of desires both natural and acquired, we have the benefits of their proper application and the sorrows and discomforts of their abuses. “Place even the highest-minded philosopher in the midst of daily discomfort, immorality and vileness, and he 350will insensibly gravitate toward brutality. How much more susceptible is the impressionable and helpless child amid such surroundings! It is not possible to rear a kindly nature, sensitive to evil, pure in mind and heart, amidst coarseness, discomfort and impurity.”

It is said that “the highest of our joys are found in the affections,” but because the appetites and desires seem primarily intended for the existence of our nature it does not follow that they are selfish. We would never know that we needed to take food were it not for the implanted appetite. We would never know that we needed to seek knowledge were it not for implanted desires, nor would we ever be led to deeds of love and sympathy were it not for the implanted affections.

SOWING SEEDS OF KINDLINESS

Good and friendly conduct may meet with an unworthy and ungrateful return, but the absence of gratitude on the part of the receiver cannot destroy the self-approbation which compensates the giver, and we can scatter the seeds of courtesy and kindliness around us at so little expense. Some of them will inevitably fall on good ground and grow up into benevolence in the minds of others, and all of them will bear fruits of happiness in the bosom whence they sprang.

Bentham says that “a man becomes rich in his own stock of pleasures in proportion to the amount he distributes to others. Kind words cost no more than unkind words. Kind words produce kind actions, not only on the part of him to whom they are addressed, but on the part of him by whom they are employed; and this not incidentally only, but habitually, in virtue of the principle of association. It may indeed happen that the effort of beneficence may not benefit those for whom it was intended, but when wisely directed it must benefit the person from whom it emanates.”

A well-known author tells a story of a little girl, a great favorite with every one who knew her. “Why does everybody love you so much?” She answered, “I think it is because I love everybody so much.” This little story is capable of a very wide application; for our happiness as human beings, generally speaking, will be found to be 351very much in proportion to the number of things we love, and the number of things that love us. The greatest worldly success, however honestly achieved, will contribute comparatively little to happiness unless it be accompanied by a lively benevolence toward every human being.

RESENTMENT AGAINST INJUSTICE

Then we have with the kindly affections the defensive affection—resentment, the spontaneous uprising of our natures against harm and injury. It meets impending danger in an instant—not only personal danger, but is present in our relations with others; as the mother repels harm from her child. The resentment against wrong and injustice should be taught as a righteous and noble attainment, but the abuses are equally dangerous.

The mother will do well to explain to the child the different qualities of this attainment. That quality which will protect him from wrong and injury and which is excited by cruelty and injustice on the one side, and on the other side the abuses which are passion and peevishness. Teach him that the giving away to sudden fits of anger stamps him as being ill-bred and peevishness is a sign of weak character; both of which are diseases that if not cured will tend to destroy the moral structure.

There is more virtue in one sunbeam than a whole hemisphere of clouds and gloom. Therefore, look on the bright side of things. Cultivate what is warm and genial—not the cold and repulsive, the dark and morose. Don’t neglect your duty; live down prejudice.

THE JOYS OF CHEERFULNESS

Cheerfulness! How sweet in infancy, how lovely in youth, how saintly in age! There are a few noble natures whose very presence carries sunshine with them wherever they go; a sunshine which means pity for the poor, sympathy for the suffering, help for the unfortunate, and benignity toward all. How such a face enlivens every other face it meets, and carries into every one vivacity, joy and gladness.

352At the same time, life will always be to a large extent what we make it. Each mind makes its own little world. The cheerful mind makes it pleasant, the discontented mind makes it miserable. “My mind to me a kingdom is,” applies alike to the peasant and the monarch. Life is, for the most part, but the mirror of our own individual selves.

PRINCIPLE AND CONSCIENCE

The true character acts rightly, whether in secret or in the sight of others. That boy was well trained who, when asked why he did not pocket some pears, for nobody was there to see, replied: “Yes, there was; I was there to see myself; and I don’t intend ever to see myself do a dishonest thing.” This is a simple but not inappropriate illustration of principle, or conscience, dominating in the character, and exercising a noble protectorate over it; not merely a passive influence, but an active power regulating life.

Such a principle goes on molding the character hourly and daily, growing with a force that operates every moment. Without this dominating influence, character has no protection, but is constantly liable to fall away before temptation; and every such temptation succumbed to, every act of meanness or dishonesty, however slight, causes self-degradation. It matters not whether the act be successful or not, discovered or concealed; the culprit is no longer the same, but another person; and he is pursued by a secret uneasiness, by self-reproach, or the workings of what we call conscience, which is the inevitable doom of the guilty.

WILL DISTINGUISHED FROM CONSCIENCE

We have within us that controlling element or power known as the will which should be distinguished from mere impulse, and which gives us the ability of passing upon and determining suggestions made to our mind and of allowing or disapproving the thought or possible impulse which gives them use. Will is distinguished from conscience in that it marks the determination and lends the force which makes 353conscience potent, drawing us nearer to the perfection which self-denial and self-control create and, let us hope, to the end—

“The great end of training,” says a great writer, “is liberty; and the sooner you can get a child to be a law unto himself, the sooner you will make a man of him. I will respect human liberty in the smallest child even more scrupulously than in a grown man; for the latter can defend it against me, while the child cannot. Never will I insult the child so far as to regard him as material to be cast into a mold, to emerge with the stamp given by my will.”

DUTY BEGINS IN THE HOME

Duty embraces our whole existence. It begins in the home where there is duty which children owe to their parents on the one hand, and duty which parents owe to their children on the other. There are in like manner, the respective duties of husband and wife, of employer and employee; while outside the home there are the duties which men and women owe to each other as friends and neighbors.

May it be borne in mind that the first seven years of training, in a child’s life, is of such importance as to leave its impress on the character throughout all the coming years. Lyman Abbott says: “Training is the production of habit. Actions oft repeated become a habit; habit long continued becomes a second nature.”

If gentleness and kindliness born of love is given to the child, at the same time forgetting not that kind firmness which guides the child’s life aright; demanding and exacting an immediate and implicit obedience to your instructions and directions, using whatever patience and firmness may be necessary to compel such obedience—then has the parent, and only then, accomplished that beginning and foundation of character building which will send their children forth to bless the world, and crown you with glory.

“Life is the wonder of wonders.” We can neither create it nor can we comprehend its mystery. From the sun worshiper of the East to the red man of the West, from the philosopher to the child there is in him that natural inclination to bow with reverence to that all majestic, all powerful source of this which we call life. “The greatest harm one may do in life is to destroy it.”

The child has a natural tendency toward destruction, which we often see illustrated in the youth whose chief pleasure is obtained by pulling up the wild flowers and shrubs. He says, “they do not suffer.” Possibly not, but they have been a means used to decorate and beautify the earth. To destroy them for amusement is an insult to the great Creator, and is also hardening his own heart. He will not long be satisfied to trample upon the rose or crush the lily, but will want to torture living things that will cry out with pain. When he has robbed the bird’s nest, mutilated the toad and tied the tin can to the dog’s tail, he will then turn to his fellowman to satiate his cultivated taste for cruelty. The attack upon the flowers was only the preliminary act to destroy his sympathy, love and pity. He has forgotten the law, “Thou shalt not kill.”

EVIL EFFECTS OF BAD EXAMPLE, ETC.

To spoil another’s life is almost as grave an act as to take it from him. Each one of us in a way holds the health and happiness of others in his keeping, and by bad example, ill-treatment or injustice may make life to some one so undesirable that death would be a pleasure. Many children have been made nervous wrecks by the mockery and cruel tricks of their companions, and many parents and teachers have 355had their health and happiness seriously impaired by disobedience and disregard. Life is forever imperiled by the wickedness, ignorance and thoughtlessness of those who, in their childhood, failed to receive the instructions due them by those who were responsible for their future being.

As a counterpart to this disposition of destruction we have in our nature a gentle, sympathetic tendency which will respect life and development and will guide us to its protection and care from the dropping of the seed to the harvest. Pity must be aroused when we see life endangered, not only at the misfortune of humanity, but even the wounded bird or the flower crushed by the storm should bring a responsive heart-throb.

Teach the child to straighten the broken flower and to replant and gently press the soil around the uprooted shrub. Notice the pleasure he will experience when the flower revives and the shrub takes root. How much greater will be his pleasure to minister to some living thing. Help him dress the broken wing of the bird and warm the chilled kitten; with what eagerness he will work only that they may recover.

LOVE, HONOR AND REVERENCE

He has then learned to join to pity those activities which constitute mercy. It will then be an easy matter for him to care for the sick and infirm, to see for the blind, to hear for the deaf and to walk for the lame. Let them lift the burden from the shoulders of the aged who have “blazed the trail” and made possible our present benefits. To them all love, honor and reverence is due. It is said, “old men for counsel, young men for action.” Necessarily, the old engineer who has been going over the road for many years knows more of the dangerous grades and uncertain curves than the strong young man who is to take the throttle from the trembling hand, and who will be assured of success if he has learned the lesson of wisdom in respecting the counsel of the aged.

It is a mistaken idea to shield children from all knowledge of 356misery and suffering. It is not those who are blinded to suffering who experience the greatest amount of joy in life, but the acme of joy comes to those who have relieved some suffering. It is not always possible to do great acts of charity, but it is an easy matter to give the kind word or smile that may turn the tide which will convince some one that life is worth while. It has been our experience that children may be taught the elementary principles of nursing to a very great advantage. The knowledge of diet and hygiene enables them not only to care for others, but is applicable to their own bodily needs. The quiet step, the gentle voice, the self-control necessary to the care of the sick, and the respect due the physician and patient, are all good lessons in his early moral and mental training.

CHINESE RESPECT FOR PARENTS AND AGED

We must confess that the Chinese hold a higher regard for their parents and the aged than we do. They look upon the Western custom of the son’s coming of age and going out into the world without regard to his parents, or they for him in many cases, as behavior fit for the brute and not fit for human beings. With them, as the parents are held responsible for the conduct of the child, so the child is responsible for the credit of the parents.

All children cannot be clever or highly intellectual, but they may all be well trained and unselfish. A child should be taught in a mannerly fashion and not in accordance with a story told of a mother who was taking her well-beloved child, Tommy, to a Christmas-tree entertainment given in a public hall. At the door of the hall she said: “Tommy, mind your manners; smile and look pleasant, or when I get you out again I will break every bone in your body.” As the mother is rude to her child, in like degree she may expect rudeness from the child. A child has a right to civility as well as the adult. General Garfield said: “I never pass a ragged boy in the street without feeling that one day I might owe him a salute.”

There is no surer way to teach a child to respect himself than to respect him. Trebonius, a great schoolmaster, upon entering the school-room was wont to lift his hat and say: “I uncover to the future senators, counsellors, wise teachers, and other great men that may come forth from this school.” There is no place where the respect of children is more potent than in the school-room. The teacher who so respects them, will in return receive that reverence and love which will make labor pleasure instead of toil.

There is no greater indication of rudeness and ill-training than too great familiarity with any one, more especially to those in higher official positions. A young man was asked why, as he had a preference for the army, he did not seek to become an officer. He replied: “I would not like to have to salute a superior officer.” A young man of this description would not be of value in any profession or to society. It is not the individual that we salute, but the commission of the superior officer. Every rank in life has its distinctive dignity, so we should insist upon that respect due our position, at the same time not forgetting the respect due others in both private and public life.

LOVE AND REVERENCE FOR ONE’S COUNTRY

We cannot impress too early on the child’s mind the love and reverence he owes to his country. The superior merits of her institutions should always be present in such teachings so that the child always would recognize the best under the flag which stands for his welfare and protection. Regardless of the respective merits of different governments, let none be greater than his own so that the child will learn always to defend and maintain the honor and dignity of his country.

The essential condition to be aimed at in home life should be that as the child grows up there be no question of fear, and that if the parents are to do the most for their children and are going to get the greatest amount of pleasure and comfort for themselves from them, 358there must be a spirit of perfect respect and kindly comradeship. Parents and children, to use the common but most expressive phrase, should in the best sense of the term be companions.

The laws of this and every civilized land teach respect for the property of others, the justice, not the penalty which commands due respect. But respect for the opinions and views of others—this is a virtue that needs be inoculated in your children’s minds early. It is closely connected with charity. In teaching this form of respect impress upon them the great difference in people. No two persons see or think exactly alike. The world would be monotonous were all of its people the same in thought and expression. It is always well to remember that, “it takes all kinds of people to make a world.” Respect for parents, for strangers, for the aged, should be instilled in the mind of every child. Explain to them that, “respect for others’ views is the surest way of winning them to your own.” Reverence for things sacred always helps to brighten the way. The reverence with which a little child kneels at his mother’s side is a beautiful sight. Respect for the mother’s teachings and reverence in the worship of God through her implicit faith in a higher power. Reverence and respect go hand in hand. “As ye measure to others, so in like manner shall it be measured to you again.”

CHILDREN SHOULD SHARE IN DUTIES

Let the children share in the duties of the home. Even while very young there are many steps that a child may save the mother. Let them do the little things, such as bringing mother’s work basket or having something ready for father’s comfort when he comes home from the day’s work and care. Gradually, as they grow, let the tasks gently shift over to the young shoulders. It results by so doing in the mother always finding time to be the companion of her husband and children—and that they will appreciate.

The prospective and nursing mother should receive especial consideration. It should be known and recognized that her requirements for wholesome food, and above all wholesome surroundings, are necessary for the normal development of her child and for her own physical safety. How can she,—perhaps already a mother of several children, have the needed rest and time to read or walk in the fresh air, unless the family co-operate with her? It is so easy for the husband to direct the children at these times and at all times, as to the care the mother is deserving. We know a gentleman who, as a judge, has never had his opinion on legal questions reversed, would commonly, after dinner, when there was no help in the house, lead his wife to an easy chair, affectionately express his and the family’s appreciation of the fine dinner that they had all enjoyed and turning to their son, would say: “Come, son, we must wash the dishes; we would not be very appreciative were we to permit mother to work longer today.” Some would say that such work is not in keeping with his august position. Be that as it may, one fact remains: He has taught his children to care for their mother in such a way that there will never arise any questions as to her position or her rights.

In this same manner the children can be taught that mother will remain happier and younger if she is given the assurance of their love and thoughtfulness by the occasional remembrance of a desirable gift, a book, or a pretty bouquet of flowers. They may be wild flowers, gathered by your own hands. So much the better. The little gifts of labor are so much the sweeter. Then there is mother’s birthday to be remembered by little offerings of love from the family. They do not remind her of advancing years, but count each year a pearl; each pearl a prize. On her wedding anniversary the husband brings to his sweetheart wife some gift as a lover’s token. So as time passes, each year the vows of their youth are renewed and the bonds between them sustained.

The most practical appreciation of love and worth that a woman may show her husband—the provider of her family—is the careful consideration of the best interest of the family. Eventually the man who receives such sympathy and help will find his life being purified and strengthened.

MOTHER SHOULD BE CONFIDED IN

There is not much that can be achieved in the world without knowing conditions and requirements. So it is with the home. The family cannot enjoy the sympathy of the mother without giving her their confidence. The husband who confides his financial affairs to the wife will seldom fail. Let her know the amount and source of his income; let her feel that she is his partner and that a portion of his income is hers, and there will be little danger of financial failure or domestic unhappiness.

A mother’s success with her family depends upon how much she lives in their lives and experiences; the interest she takes in each day’s effort. Even though she cannot go with them she can enjoy their feelings and live them all over again with them in the home. The habit of telling mother everything which has happened during the day is not 361only a great safeguard to the children, but the mother may live over her childhood days of dolls and toys, and may enlighten her mind by reading and studying with her bright boy and girl; may even dream the sweet love dreams all over again as with a gentle hand and sympathetic heart she guides her children to a life of safety and happiness.

THE DUTIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE TO EACH OTHER

The mother’s rights are real and comprehensive. They are something not to be disputed. Hers are the greatest in the family. These rights her children may not in early youth be able to fully realize, but these she must teach to them simply and must insist upon. She has rights, very clearly defined, to be accorded by her husband, and if he hesitates she is most unfortunate and he is most unworthy. Her dues from him are the greatest of all. They are the greatest in the world. If she has borne him children she has done for him the utmost that one human being can do for another. She has, literally, given him herself. Well has it been said that a man’s duty to a faithful wife can never end while life lasts. “When she consented to be his helpmate and to virtually transform every organ in her body that his lineage may not die out, that he may have children, healthy, happy and able, she has done more for him than he can ever repay in a lifetime of service. She has taken the chance gladly and risked her life for him.” Under what more tremendous obligation could she place him? She has established a right which covers all things.

These greatest rights—those of the mother from the husband—are so numerous, so all-comprehending, that they cannot be given in detail. They imply simply that he should look upon her as a part of himself and show it instinctively and as a matter of course. She has the right to claim from him that he should always be to her as he was before marriage, save that the relationship is closer and more familiar. What proportion of husbands remember this? How often does there come a time after marriage when the husband forgets that they are one? How often does he show unmistakably that he thinks his family 362is a drag upon him, that he is bearing a burden, that he deserves especial credit for bearing it and that what he pays out for family expenses he is “giving?” There would be short work were he to assume such an attitude toward his partner in a business venture, yet he is, literally, in partnership with his wife in the greatest business this life affords and that she put in by far the greater part of the capital in the beginning!

AS TO FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS

If there be anything a wife has a right to be fiercely sensitive about it is absolutely necessary money, according to the standard of living which may have been adopted. What wonder that she should feel grief and resentment when this money is doled out to her as if it were a “gift,” and not infrequently with grudgingness and reluctance and captious words! It is no “gift.” It is no concession. Except when beyond the ordinary requirements of living, within the limit of his means, no man ever “gave” his wife anything. He is simply meeting a wise obligation he has assumed and the manner in which he meets it may be said to afford a fair estimate of the standard of the man. This applies equally to the man of business affairs, to the farmer or to the workman.

To say just how the wife and mother shall assert this right in the matter of money is difficult to say. She should not have to assert it. It is a delicate matter and must ever be between the two, but is referred to here at some length because it is the cause of so much needless unhappiness—this heedless disregard for one of the mother’s rights.

REGARD, PROTECTION AND CONSIDERATION

This matter of being placed under no personal obligation, even implied, is, however, but a specific illustration of one of the rights of a good wife. Her rights are first in all directions. Her rights include the utmost limit of protection and consideration and regard from all about her, and they are granted readily in the household where affection 363and intelligence prevail. She should not be the one to think of her rights—the good mother rarely is—but those about her—the husband first and all the time—should be the ones to see to it that they are guarded with all jealousy and fairly thrust upon her if she neglects to take them.

It is the mother’s right that what she is doing every day should be appreciated and that she should be assisted in every manner possible. She can never be fully repaid, for hers is the one position requiring constant care and sacrifice, but her burden can be made as easy as possible, and that will more than satisfy her. A wonderful creature is the mother.

MOTHER THE HIGHEST TYPE OF HUMANITY

A broader right of the mother,—and this is one which she may with all propriety assert herself, as she is beginning to do wherever the best and highest thought prevails—is that she is looked upon by the world as being the highest type in example and in fruition of all humanity. She is the extreme of what God has made in human beings of the one who is carrying out, better and better with each age, the wonderful scheme of creation and evolution. She is no longer the mere beaten bearer of her species. She is the keynote; she is the producer and hers is the first guiding hand.

The future of the child is the future of the race. What the future of the child shall be depends altogether upon the men and women of the present. What thus becomes our vast responsibility is plain to see. It rests, not upon parents alone, but upon the whole community.

There is no greater problem before thinking and aspiring humanity and, certainly, no finer one than that of making the growing generation what it should be and there is, as assuredly, none which appeals to us with such overwhelming force, both with regard to our own welfare and the welfare of those who fill our hearts and in whom our hopes are centered. It is one involved alike in the parental instinct and that of patriotism. Our children must be so reared as to develop into good sons and daughters and good citizens as well. The keynote of all progress and advancement in the good of the world is centered here. Each generation should excel the one preceding it, and can be made to do so if the parents of today and the communities of today are not neglectful. Always today must be determined the nature of tomorrow. Parents and governments have a glorious responsibility bestowed upon them. They determine what all coming history shall be, what shall be the future of any nation and the degree of the world’s happiness.

HOME LIFE A JOYFUL OCCUPATION

In developing the intelligence of the children the home may be made a place of delightful occupation while they are becoming wiser. Every home should be equipped with a little working library of reference books, always accessible, including a Bible, a dictionary, an atlas 365and a good encyclopedia, if possible. Then there is something to do with. Nothing delights a child or a group of children more and nothing is more profitable to them, than a search for information on some doubtful or disputed point. Rightly used, these times of search, with the father or mother as a guide and assistant, are of infinite value in developing a spirit of investigation and, not only that, but one of comradeship between parent and child. They are chums together in a common study, looking for “the why and wherefore of things.”

The parent, however, as the head of the class, should endeavor to be competent to lead. In fact, it is only by keeping abreast of what is finest in the world’s advance can one become a companion really good enough for one’s children. What a maker of all that is worth having the home is in a thousand ways!

NEED OF CARE AND WATCHFULNESS

No, the work of rearing children as they should be reared is not so difficult, if there be care and watchfulness enough. Therein lies the need. Wishing lovingly and earnestly to do a thing is one matter; knowing how to do it is quite another. Constant, unfailing study and “thinking out” of things by a parent is a necessity. There are no two children in the world whose needs are just alike.

If the question were generally asked, “What is the most important factor in the happiness of mankind?” spiritual matters not to be considered in the query, it is safe to say that a tremendous majority of all the intelligent people of the world would reply, “Health.”

Indeed, almost all the other conditions of real importance in life depend more or less on health, and with health as a possession almost all misfortunes can be overcome or borne with patience. Wealth, for instance, is of very little consequence in comparison with health. Without the latter there can be little real enjoyment of the former. Without wealth, however, health can assure true happiness, and it is, indeed, one of the most serviceable factors in enabling one to add wealth to his possessions.

With these facts clearly recognized as they are, it is not strange that intelligent men and women more and more give their attention to the welfare of their bodies. In the most highly civilized countries the advance of scientific surgery and discoveries in medicine are hailed with the greatest applause. In such countries the subjects of sanitation and hygiene are given the closest attention, not only by students and scientists, but by every thoughtful individual. It is being recognized that there is no great and impressive mystery about our physical natures by virtue of which we escape responsibility for guarding our own health in every reasonable way. The thing to do is to keep well if we possibly can, and when we fail, give the best attention possible to repairing the damage.

367The one who should neglect the well-known principles of hygiene, because of faith that a good doctor could cure any resulting sickness, would be no less than a fool. The one who gets wet on a stormy day, fails to change his clothes, neglects the cold which follows, contracts pneumonia and dies, is not “removed by an all-wise Providence,” as so many resolutions of sympathy declare, but by his own folly. It is unjust to blame a wise and beneficent Power for such results. The household that suffers from typhoid, when drinking well-water drained from its own cesspool, needs sympathy, indeed, not only for the sickness but for the stupidity that placed the well and the infection side by side.

Thus it is that, in arranging the order of subjects in this book of practical information for everyone, it was readily decided to discuss this subject with considerable detail. Household recipes and suggestions appeal specially to women; stock, farm and orchard come within the province of men; but health, hygiene and the kindred subjects command attention with equal force, from man and woman and child.

Anyone who adopts the policy of “getting all the money he can, and keeping all he can get,” is certain to make himself obnoxious to all about him, and in the end to become very miserable as an embittered, soured and friendless man, a failure in life, however wealthy he may become. But the one who chooses the policy of getting all the health he can and keeping all he gets, will have a very different tale to tell. Regular habits, careful living, sunny disposition, a clear head, a bright eye, a sound mind and a sound body give one a cheerful outlook on the world, enable one to use all his energies to the best advantage, guarantee that he will have real friends, assure happiness, and make of one a genuine success in life, whether with or without the prosperity that is very likely to accompany such qualities.

And what does it involve, this intelligent effort to acquire and retain good health in these bodies of ours?

We have here at our disposal a marvelous and complicated machine, perfect in design, and imperfect only through some inherited 368fault or weakness of our ancestors. Most of its processes are automatic, though some are deliberate, or voluntary. The automatic processes themselves may fail to operate, however, through some carelessness of our own in details that we must attend to of our own will. When the voluntary processes are continued with great regularity, they become so habitual that they may be considered almost automatic themselves, and in this state of affairs the whole machine is operating to the best advantage, and will receive no injury except from some outside cause.

This wonderful machine must breathe—an involuntary or automatic action—but it must have pure and wholesome air, day and night, which is to be made sure only by our own care and voluntary action. It must be well nourished by proper food, obtained, selected and prepared by our own voluntary effort, but the food then is assimilated into our strength and support by the automatic and involuntary processes of digestion. So it is through a long list of details which might be named, that the machine of our body is kept in running order—in health, as we say—by a combination of voluntary and involuntary processes, the latter depending on the former in high degree for their success. All of these details are simple enough in themselves when studied a little.

In normal and wholesome surroundings, such as, fortunately, most people in this country enjoy, it is an easy matter to avert disease by proper care, and to bring the system into such condition that in the event of sickness the ailment can be thrown off readily by proper attention. Carelessness of habits not only makes the individual more liable to the outbreak of disease, but weakens the power to combat the disease after it has once gained a hold.

This chapter is not primarily a medical work in the general use of that term. That is to say, it does not go into the scientific and technical details of physiology, nor yet the description and treatment of every disease, simple or otherwise. Until all persons are educated in disease and medicine, the very best advice that can be given in the event of serious illness is—Call a competent, progressive, educated 369physician as promptly as possible, and yield absolute obedience to his instructions and treatment. But these instructions will include details of nursing and diet, general care of the health, and other things which are of great importance in assisting the work of the doctor. He will welcome the evidence of knowledge of such things which can be gained from this practical book. Furthermore, for an intelligent understanding of the human body, how to keep it in health, and how to treat its simple ailments, and the emergencies of all sorts that demand quick attention, this department of the present work is confidently offered to the reader.

THE HUMAN BODY AND ITS CONSTRUCTION

Let us now look briefly at the construction of the human body and the duties which its various parts are intended to perform, after which we will take note of the methods of preserving health in general, and the diseases and injuries which must be guarded against.

First, some explanations of the terms used in these connections: We divide all nature into three classes of objects, those belonging to the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms, and all things belong in one or another of these. They are also divided into organic and inorganic bodies. The first are those having organs by which they grow, such as animals and plants. Inorganic bodies are those which are without life of their own, such as air, water, stone and the like. All inorganic bodies are included in the mineral kingdom. Those organic bodies which have no power to feel are included in the vegetable kingdom, and those which have the power to feel form the animal kingdom. There are things in nature which are so close to this dividing line that even scientists disagree as to whether they belong to the vegetable or animal kingdom.

The parts of an organized body, such as the mouth or the foot of an animal, the root or the leaf of a plant, are called the organs, and the work which an organ is intended to perform is called its function. The material out of which any organ is composed is called tissue, and in the human body, for instance, at least six different kinds of tissue 370are found, forming the various organs. We will speak of the various solids and fluids of the body by name, only in connection with their ailments and their care hereafter. The tissues themselves are composed of fifteen of the sixty-five chemical elements, or simple substances, known to exist in nature.

The various organs of similar structure and common purpose found in the human body, when taken together, are called a system.

These are the Osseous System, the Muscular System, the Digestive System, the Circulatory System, the Respiratory System and the Nervous System. The Osseous System means the skeleton, which gives shape to the body and supports it, enables us to move and extend our limbs, and protects the delicate organs from injury. The Muscular System is the flesh of the body, forming a pad or covering around the bones, and thus also serving as a protection, in addition to producing at will the motions of our limbs and the controllable organs. The Digestive System is composed of those organs which receive, transmit and dispose of our food, separating the waste matter from the useful, and giving the latter to our nourishment and strength. The mouth, the stomach, the intestines, and various other organs are included in this service.

The Circulatory System includes the heart, the arteries, the veins and the capillaries, those organs which transmit and purify the blood, building up all other organs by this essential fluid which is life. The Respiratory System is that which transmits the air and makes use of it in the body for purifying the blood, thus including the lungs, and the passages and valves which lead thither. The Nervous System is that part of the organism by which the different parts of the body are controlled and caused to work together, and through which mind and body are connected. The brain, the spinal cord, the nerves and the ganglia of the nerves are the organs of the Nervous System. They have been compared most appropriately to an intricate telegraph system, of which the brain is the head office or directing intelligence, the spinal cord is the main line, the nerves are the wires running to every station, and the ganglia are the stations themselves.

371In addition to these general systems which have been named we must take note also of the skin, which covers the whole exterior of the body; the mucous membrane, which covers the open cavities and lines the organs; the urinary organs, which separate and discharge the liquid waste of the body and thus are akin to the digestive system; and the organs of generation and reproduction by which the race is perpetuated.

PROPER FOOD AND ITS IMPORTANCE

To keep all of these various tissues and organs in health, as has been suggested heretofore, we must be properly nourished by the most suitable food. It is of prime importance, therefore, to know the true value of foods in order that we may select wisely. To a higher degree than is commonly realized, our physical welfare depends on this matter. We are not speaking here of food for the sick, but of food for the well, not of special delicacies, but of the every-day food of the average household the practical subject for the practical man, woman or child. Let us see what we may learn from the researches of the wisest students who have considered the subject. It is not necessary here to go into the chemical analysis which has proved the following facts, for facts they are. They may be accepted absolutely as safe guides, with the assurance that only benefit can result.

The popular division of foods into animal and vegetable is neither scientific nor satisfactory. Not that it is a matter of indifference whether man lives on a purely animal or purely vegetable diet or on one derived from both kingdoms, but the differences depend not on the source whence the foods are obtained, but on the proportions in which the various food elements are combined, and on the digestibility and other special properties of the foods selected. The materials supplied in the form of food, and digested and absorbed by the body, are partly employed for building up growing organs and making good the wear and tear—the loss of substances—which they are constantly undergoing, and partly as fuel for the production of heat and of energy.

Speaking roughly, raw meat of ordinary quality consists of water 372seventy-five per cent, albumen and nitrogenous matters twenty per cent, and fat five per cent. Although meat becomes more tender by keeping, it is more wholesome while fresh, and freshness should not be sacrificed for a tenderness really due to the beginning of decomposition. The flesh of mature cattle, that is, four or five years old, is more nutritious than that of younger ones. It is a matter of experience that beef and mutton are more easily digested than veal and pork. Veal broth, however, contains more nutritious matter than mutton broth or beef tea. Poultry and wild birds, if young, yield a tender and digestible meat. Fish vary much in their digestibility, salmon, for instance, being utterly unfit for weak stomachs. Crabs and lobsters are notoriously indigestible.

Milk is the sole nourishment provided by nature for the young of man and beast, and contains all food stuffs in the best proportions for the infant’s needs. But milk alone is not adapted to the adult. Supplemented by other food, however, it is invaluable and not appreciated as it ought to be. Cheese is highly nutritious, but not very digestible. Eggs resemble milk in composition, except that they contain less water. The nearer raw the more digestible they are, and the yolk is more so than the white, which, when hard boiled, is the most indigestible form of albumen known. The addition of eggs to baked puddings is of questionable utility, and next to a raw egg, well beaten, in milk or water or in soup or beef tea, not too hot, a light boiled custard is the best form for invalids.

From the earliest ages the grains or cereals have formed a portion of man’s diet. Wheat has always been the most esteemed, and some varieties of it may be grown in every climate except the very hottest and coldest. Barley, rye and oats may be grown much farther north, but are less digestible. Oatmeal cannot be made into bread, rye bread is rapidly being displaced by wheat, and barley has almost entirely fallen into disuse, except for the purposes of the brewer and distiller. In the tropics rice is the chief cereal. It consists almost entirely of starch, and is thus unfit for bread making. Our own corn, which we 373inherit from the Indians and have immensely improved, is of all the cereals the nearest approach to a perfect food.

Among roots the potato holds the most prominent place. Potatoes are wholesome only when the starch granules, which compose them, are healthy, as shown by their swelling out during boiling, bursting their covering, and converting themselves into a floury mass, easily broken up. They contain from twenty to twenty-five per cent of nutriment, but this is almost entirely starch, and as a food in combination with meat, cheese or other vegetables, they are not equal to rice. Parsnips, beets and carrots are wholesome and nutritious, and should be used much more than they are. Turnips are not so valuable. Cabbages and their kindred have but little food value, although the salts they contain are excellent in the preservation of health. As regards green vegetables in general the importance of having them fresh is not sufficiently realized. When they have been cut some days changes occur just as truly as in animal food, and the freshness should be carefully watched, except with those specially adapted for storing.

Salads are useful in maintaining the health, although many of them are very indigestible, those of radishes, celery and cucumbers among the list. Fruits are prized chiefly for their taste. Grapes alone, among fresh fruits, contain any large proportion of food stuff. As an aid to digestion, however, they all are properly highly prized. Fruits should be fully ripe, but without any trace of decomposition.

Stimulants and condiments of high seasoning have little food value of their own, but they have value as aids to digestion when used moderately, and in making simpler foods more palatable. Alcoholic liquors, whether mild or strong, hardly need to be considered here. It is to be gravely doubted if such beverages are ever necessary or of value in the diet, and in this place we are not considering them from any other point of view.

It is equally difficult to speak positively and generally in reference to tea and coffee. It is safe to say, however, that many people drink these tempting beverages to excess, with harm resulting to themselves from it. Tea and coffee alike act as exciters of the nerve centers, accelerating 374and strengthening the heart’s action and respiration, causing wakefulness, and increasing the secretion of the kidneys and skin. Tea and coffee are far superior to alcohol in enabling man to resist the depressing influence of fatigue and exposure to cold, and are admirably adapted to the needs of soldiers on the march or men on outdoor night duty. Cocoa, chocolate and their preparations contain some active elements similar to those of tea and coffee, but the proportion of nutritive material is so much greater that they are to be looked on rather as food than drink.

The considerable use of ice and iced drinks is to be avoided. Small quantities are of service in relieving thirst and vomiting, and in cooling the body when exposed to great heat. But since ice causes the mucous membrane of the stomach to become temporarily pale and bloodless, it checks or altogether suspends the flow of the gastric juice. Thus iced drinks at meals interfere seriously with digestion. Observe also that there is no truth in the popular notion that frozen water or ice is always pure. Water is not purified by freezing, and may be even more polluted than it was before.

CLOTHING AND ITS RELATION TO HEALTH

Having considered thus briefly the matter of food and its relation to health, the question of clothing and personal hygiene now rises for attention. Besides serving for covering and adornment and guarding the body from injury, the use of clothing is to help in preserving the proper animal heat in spite of external changes. In health the normal temperature of the body, ninety-eight to ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit, is invariable. In order that this temperature shall be maintained with the least strain on the vitality, the clothing should be such that heat is not readily conducted to or from the body.

Cotton and linen keep off the direct rays of the sun and favor the loss of heat from the body, but being bad absorbers of moisture they are apt to interfere with evaporation from the skin, and cause dangerous chills. Linen and cotton are good conductors of heat, especially 375the former, and do not readily absorb moisture. Silk and wool are bad conductors. Wool has also a remarkable power of so completely absorbing moisture that it feels dry when cotton or linen would be wet and cold. Its value as a non-conductor, retaining internal heat and excluding external heat, is shown by the fact that we wrap ice in blankets to keep it from melting, and cover teapots with woolen “cosies” to keep them from getting cold. These qualities together render it the most perfect material for clothing under all conceivable circumstances.

The young and the old, the rheumatic, all persons liable to colds or weak in lungs, or who have suffered from kidney diseases, those who are exposed to great heat or cold or are engaged in laborious exercises, ought to wear woolen next to the skin and, indeed, everyone would be better for doing so. Rheumatic persons and those liable to cold feet will find it a great luxury to sleep in blankets in winter instead of sheets, and young children who are apt to get uncovered at night should wear flannel night-gowns next the skin in the winter and over cotton ones in the summer.

The color of clothing is a matter of little importance in the shade, but in the sun the best reflectors are coolest, such as white and light grays, while blue and black are the worst, absorbing the most heat. Dark colors also absorb odors more than light colors do. Indeed, for every-day use light-colored garments of whatever material, provided it can be washed, are to be recommended, though dark colors are too often preferred because they do not show the dirt. What woman would like to wear a cotton waist and skirt six months without washing? Yet it would not be half so dirty as the more absorbent dark woolen dress that she would wear as long without a scruple.

Beds and bedding are likewise elements of importance in the general health, although not always sufficiently considered. Soft, and especially feather, beds are weakening. The harder a bed, consistent with comfort, the better. Good hair mattresses are the most wholesome. Coverings should be light, porous enough to carry off the evaporations from the body, and yet bad conductors of heat. Most blankets are too heavy, and thick cotton counterpanes are heavy without being 376warm. Flannel night-dresses are much preferred to cotton at all times, both for comfort and for health. Warmer in winter, they obviate the chill of the cold sheets; while in summer they prevent the more dangerous chill when in the early morning hours the external temperature falls, when the production of internal heat in the body is at its lowest ebb and the skin perhaps bathed in perspiration—a chill which otherwise can be avoided only by an unnecessary amount of bed clothes.

THE BATH AND ITS IMPORTANCE

The dirt of the skin and underclothing consists of the sweat and greasy matters exuded from the pores, together with the cast-off surface of the skin itself, which is continually scaling away. The importance of frequent bathing will be better appreciated when we remember what are the functions of the skin, and the amount of solid and fluid matter excreted thereby. The quantity varies greatly according to the temperature and moisture of the air, the work done, and the fluids drunk, but is probably never less than five pounds or half a gallon daily, and with hard labor and a high temperature this amount may be multiplied many times. From one to two per cent of this consists of fatty salts, without taking into account the skin scales.

A good cistern, spring or well of wholesome water is a positive necessity on every farm. A bath-tub and its frequent use are quite as essential to the welfare of the farmer.

In the cities, where soot and dense coal smoke soil linen and mulch the lungs and air passages, there is necessarily a greater regard for cleanliness on the part of the inhabitants than may be observed in the country, where the agencies which oppose cleanliness are of an entirely different composition and productive of different results.

The farmer during the summer season is lightly clad—a straw or hickory hat, a strong shirt, a pair of overalls, socks and heavy shoes constituting his bodily protection. The absence of underwear—sometimes socks—is excused upon the ground that the lighter the harness the less energy is diverted from the performance of work.

377Clothed as he is, the farmer when working in the fields or engaged in any farm work, soon not only gets his clothing soiled, but the pores of his skin fill with particles of dust and this retards their normal and vitally necessary functions. No vocation in life makes frequent bathing unnecessary. Farmers and miners, perhaps more than any other class of laborers, who are continually in contact with the earth, need the elevating influence, physical and spiritual, of a daily bath.

From a moral and hygienic standpoint the matter of cleanliness, which is next to godliness, is of great importance, and it is fine evidence of intellectual progress and spiritual growth when men use more water and soap at the end of the day’s work.

For purposes of cleanliness a bath without soap and friction is perfectly useless, and warm water is more effectual than cold. The shock of a cold plunge or sponge bath, however, has a powerful invigorating influence on the nervous system, and helps it guard against the risks of catching cold. The purpose of health and cleanliness alike will be best served by the daily bath with cold water and once a week with warm.

Speaking of cold baths, we may take note of a popular error as to what this means. The temperature of the body is always a little under one hundred degrees F. If, then, in summer, a bath at sixty degrees F., or forty degrees below that of the body, is considered cold and gives the desired amount of shock, it will do the same in winter, and to insist on plunging into water still colder than that is, to say the least unreasonable. The cold bath, then, is one at forty degrees below the temperature of the blood, and is the same in January as in July. To bathe in water from which the ice is broken, as some do, is a result of misunderstanding or folly, and may be followed by dangerous consequences.

It is dangerous to bathe after a full meal, and also when fasting. An hour or two after breakfast is a good time, but if one wishes to bathe earlier, a bit of food should be taken first. Again it is dangerous to bathe when exhausted by fatigue, but the glow of moderate exercise is a decided advantage. A light refreshment and a short run or brisk walk are the best preparations for a swim, which should not be 378prolonged until fatigue and chill are felt, and should be followed by a rub-down, speedy dressing and a quick walk home.

When the resisting and rallying power and the circulation generally are weak, as shown by shivering, coldness of the extremities, and sense of exhaustion, river or sea bathing should be given up. So, too, persons whose lungs and hearts are weak, and above all those who have any actual diseases of those organs, should not attempt it. There is a general tendency among those who enjoy outdoor bathing to stay in the water too long. Boys in summer remain for hours at lake or river side, most of the time in the water. This is an exceedingly weakening practice. Half an hour is ample for all the benefit that can be derived from such a swim, and a longer time in the water is apt to be distinctly injurious.

HOT WEATHER BATH SUGGESTIONS

A good health preservative, especially in summer and in warm climates, is to sponge the body with water which contains a small amount of ammonia or other alkali. The ammonia combines with the oil or grease thrown out by the perspiration, forming a soap which is easily removed from the skin with warm water, leaving the pores open and thus promoting health and comfort.

SLEEP AND ITS VALUE

No general rule can be laid down as to the number of hours which should be passed in sleep, since the need of sleep varies with age, temperament, and the way in which the waking hours have been employed. The infant slumbers away the greater part of its time. Young children should sleep from six to seven in the evening, until morning, and for the first three or four years of their life should also rest in the middle of the day. Up to their fourteenth or fifteenth year the hour of retiring should not be later than nine o’clock, while adults require from seven to nine hours. Some can do with two or three hours less 379than this, but they are so few that they offer no examples for us to follow.

Insufficient sleep is one of the crying evils of the day. The want of proper rest of the nervous system produces a lamentable condition, a deterioration in both body and mind. This sleepless habit is begun even in childhood, when the boy or girl goes to school at six or seven years of age. Sleep is persistently put off up to manhood and womanhood.

Persons who are not engaged in any severe work, whether bodily or mental, require less sleep than those who are working hard. Muscular fatigue of itself induces sleep, and the man who labors thus awakes refreshed. But brain work too often causes wakefulness, although sleep is even more necessary for the repair of brain than of muscular tissue. In such cases the attention should be forcibly withdrawn from study for some time before retiring to rest, and turned to some light reading, conversation or rest before going to bed. A short brisk walk out of doors just before bed time may aid the student in inducing sleep. Drugs should be avoided.

After a heavy supper, either sleep or digestion must suffer, but the person who goes to bed hungry will not have sound and refreshing sleep. If one works after supper, through a long evening, he should eat a light lunch of some sort an hour or two before bed time.

Ordinarily persons do best to retire at ten or eleven, and the habits of society which require later hours are to be regretted. Brain work, however, after midnight is most exhausting, and though sometimes brilliant, would probably be better still if diverted to earlier hours. Whatever be the explanation, it is an undoubted fact that day and night cannot be properly exchanged. About one or two o’clock in the morning the heart’s action sinks, and nature points to the necessity for rest. Sleep in the day time does not compensate for the loss of that at proper time, and slumbers prolonged to a late hour do not refresh the mind or body as does sleep between the hours of eleven and six or seven, the normal period for rest.

380Old persons require, as a rule, less sleep than those of middle age, just as they require less food, because their nutritive processes are less active than when they were younger, and perhaps because their mental efforts also are less forced and attended by less exertion and more deliberation. Women, generally speaking, require more sleep than men, at least under like circumstances, apparently because in their case the same efforts involve greater fatigue.

VENTILATION OF BEDROOMS

Rooms which are to be slept in after having been occupied during a whole evening must be thoroughly ventilated before the occupant prepares for bed. Doors and windows must be thrown open for several minutes, the gas or lamp put out, and the air completely changed, no matter how cold it may be outside. This is the only way to obtain refreshing sleep. On going to bed the usual ventilating arrangements should then be followed, but the great point is to change the air thoroughly first.

REGULARITY OF HABITS

The importance of regularity and punctuality in every circumstance of daily life is not sufficiently realized. The more often and regularly any act is performed the more automatic it tends to become, and the less effort, whether mental or physical, attends its performance. This is a matter of daily experience and observation, and is true not only of mental work and manual or mechanical exercises, but of the organic functions of the body. Quite apart from the harm done by too frequent eating or too prolonged periods between meals or want of rest, the brain finds itself ready for sleep, the stomach for digestion and the bowels for action at the same hour every day, when these acts are performed with unbroken punctuality, and the strain upon the system to adjust itself to new conditions is therefore reduced to a minimum.

Man cannot preserve his health entirely by his own caution as to his food and personal habits. His surroundings enter into the matter at all times. By this is meant the house in which he lives, its situation and conditions, as well as the community itself. Fortunately, in this country we have not yet become so overcrowded as to forbid ordinary care in the matters of drainage, light, ventilation and other requisites. Americans should congratulate themselves that their ample country and general prosperity enable them to regulate their food, their habits and the conditions around them in high degree. At the same time the fact that these things are so generally within our control places upon us the obligation to do what we can for the community to maintain the general health.

Let us note now, briefly, some points of primary importance in the conditions that assure general health. Air, warmth and light must be provided for the dwelling. In cities we cannot always choose, but in smaller communities and in the country we can in large degree control such things for ourselves. Some things require only to be suggested to be clearly understood. A house should stand where the character of the soil and the contour of the surface will provide the best drainage. Hollows should be avoided. When a house is built on a hillside the ground should not be dug out so that a cliff rises immediately behind. Trees may afford valuable shelter, not only from cold winds, but from fogs. But it is not generally wise to have them close around 382a dwelling, at least in large numbers, since they impede the free circulation of the surrounding air, and retain dampness beneath their shade. In the country a house may be sheltered from cold winds on the side from which they prevail, by trees. Exposure of each side of a house in succession to the rays of the sun helps to keep the outer walls dry, to warm it in winter and to aid ventilation in the summer. The north wall may be made with advantage a dead wall, and ventilating pipes and soil pipes may be carried up through it, but chimneys carried up through a north wall, being warmed with difficulty and apt to smoke, should not project but be built inside the house. Attics with slanting ceilings and dormer windows are cold in winter and hot in summer.

Once occupied, the most important thing in the house is fresh air. The most common impurity in the atmosphere of rooms is carbonic acid gas, which is thrown off by the lungs of the occupants, and must be disposed of by ventilation in order that health shall be assured. The lamps or gas lights used in the room likewise give off carbonic acid, which is formed at the expense of the oxygen of the air, the vital element, which we require to breathe. Crowded rooms, or any rooms improperly ventilated, become tainted in this manner, and the headaches and faintness which we experience under such circumstances are direct and natural results of carbonic acid poisoning. School rooms are particularly trying upon pupils and teachers, unless their ventilation is especially guarded. It is considered that the proper degree of purity in the air of a room can be maintained only by introducing at least 2,500 cubic feet of pure air per hour for each person, this being a virtual minimum. In mines it has been noticed that the men require not less than 6,000 cubic feet per hour, and that when the quantity falls to 4,000 cubic feet there is a serious falling off in the work done. Manifestly the better and tighter the building the more need there is for special means of ventilation.

In the days when open fireplaces were almost the only means of heating houses they were of great value in aiding ventilation. Nowadays our stoves, radiators and furnaces do not help us in this matter, and we must take additional pains to see that ventilation is provided 383in some other way. Of course the simplest and most perfect method is to permit the free passage of the wind through open doors and windows. Every room should have its air thus completely renewed at least once a day. The mere renewal is done in a few minutes, but a longer time is required to dislodge the organic vapors and other impurities that lurk in the corners and behind furniture. In schools and work shops this should be done during the intervals for meals, and in churches between services. But in our climate it is not possible to have windows and doors open during all the time a room is occupied, except in very warm weather. It is seldom, however, that the window of a bedroom cannot be opened for a few inches all night without direct benefit to the occupant of the room. His bed, of course, must not be immediately in the draught. Curved pipes, ventilating shafts and slides under the windows are substitutes easy to use when windows cannot be actually opened.

GUARD YOUR WATER SUPPLY

Water supplies differ greatly in purity and composition, and are of the utmost importance in their effect upon the general health of a household. There is nothing which requires to be guarded more carefully. Absolutely pure water is almost unknown. Rain water collected in open countries is the purest, though even it takes up matters in its passage through the air, and in towns may be strongly acid. All waters which have been in contact with the soil dissolve out of it numerous inorganic and organic substances. Waters are described as hard or soft, hardness being the popular expression for the property of not easily forming a lather with soap. It is due to the presence of salts of lime and magnesia. Hard waters, if their hardness be not excessive, are agreeable and wholesome for drinking, but not well adapted for laundry or bathing purposes. They tend to harden vegetables cooked in them, and do not make as good tea as soft water. Rain water is, of course, the softest, but as a rule lakes yield waters also quite soft. 384When a good and wholesome water cannot be obtained from springs or rivers, as in malarial districts, and when there is reasonable ground for thinking the ordinary sources are contaminated by epidemics, it is well to fall back on the rainfall for drinking purposes, with special care that it is collected in a cleanly manner.

Surface wells are always to be viewed with suspicion when they are in the vicinity of stables and cesspools, farm yards, cemeteries and anywhere in the towns. The filtration of the water through the soil removes the suspended matters, so that it may be clear enough to the eye, but it has no power to remove impurities actually dissolved. The eye cannot be trusted to judge the impurities of drinking water. Water which appears absolutely clear may be unwholesome in the extreme, and water with sediment floating in it may be in no way unwholesome. Nothing but an analysis of the water can settle this with absolute certainty. Deep wells and artesian wells which penetrate the surface strata are likely to be safe. Marsh waters carry malaria and should never be drunk without boiling. Indeed suspicious water of all sorts may be made safe by boiling, although it is not sufficient always merely to bring it to a boil. Thirty minutes above the boiling point is a safe rule to follow. Typhoid, diphtheria, dysentery, cholera, diarrhea and other dangerous diseases are caused by impure water, either by suspended mineral matters acting as irritants, by suspended vegetable and animal matters, or by dissolved animal impurities. Sewer gases dissolved in water, in addition to these diseases, cause sore throats, boils and other ailments.

It must not be forgotten that water closets, stable yards, manure piles, decaying kitchen slops and all sorts of filth are responsible for many of the most serious diseases, either by draining into the well and so contaminating the water supply, or by direct breeding of disease germs carried as dust and inhaled. Health is one of the rewards for household cleanliness of the most careful kind.

In one sense most diseases are preventable, if all the circumstances which tend to spread them could be absolutely controlled by a single wise authority, and if all the physiological laws would be obeyed by all persons at all times. But as this happy condition is not in effect, we have to reckon with various kinds of diseases, as well as the accidents and injuries which come to us in health. The various diseases are classified into general groups.

Endemic diseases are those which are constantly present in a community because of certain unfavorable conditions, such as malaria in swampy regions, rheumatism from bad climatic conditions, and diseases resulting from unhealthy employments. Miasmic diseases are those due to conditions of the soil, and comprise the various forms of intermittent fevers, agues and the like. Infectious diseases, on the other hand, belong to the people, and not to the place. They are communicated from one person to another through the air, or by means of infected articles of clothing, etc., and they attack the strong and healthy, no less than the weak. Among such are smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, etc. Various branches of infectious diseases are recognized in addition, as combining some of the characteristics of the classes already named. For instance, erysipelas and other blood poisons are generated with the body of the individual who, so to speak, infects himself and may then infect others. Typhoid, cholera and yellow fever are miasmic diseases, but they are also capable of being carried by human intercourse, infected clothes, polluted water, etc., within certain limits of space and time. Hydrophobia, glanders and such diseases are communicated only by actual contact of body. Rickets and scurvy are preventable, though not communicable diseases, being direct results of mal-nutrition or imperfect nourishment, and consequently are diseases of diet.

Bacteria are those minute organisms which under various names are the active causes not only of diseases but of all putrefaction, fermentation and like changes in dead organic matter. Like all living 386things they may be killed, and on this is based the whole theory of disinfection. Some are more hardy than others, under conditions which are frequently supposed to be unfavorable to them. Merely to destroy an unpleasant odor or to admit fresh air into a room does not mean to disinfect, and it is necessary to understand this clearly in the effort to purify rooms in the event of infection.

Contagion is communicated sometimes with the utmost ease, if the new victim be in a receptive condition, and in the presence of any disease, even the most simple, it is well to take every precaution. The mucous surfaces are peculiarly ready to absorb infection of many kinds. Measles is easily absorbed from pocket handkerchiefs, as are also scarlet fever, whooping-cough and other diseases. By inhalation through the nostrils or mouth, scarlet fever, measles, whooping-cough, mumps, diphtheria, dysentery, cholera and even pneumonia and meningitis may be communicated. By eating or drinking something which contains the germs of cholera, typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis or consumption, diphtheria and scarlet fever, these diseases are communicated.

HOW TO PREVENT CONTAGION

It is an undoubted fact that not enough attention is paid to isolation in times of sickness. There is too much visiting in the sick room, too many people share the care of the patient, the nurse mingles too freely with other members of the family, and there is not enough care to keep the soiled bedding, garments and refuse of the sick room absolutely separated from that of the rest of the house. Scarlet fever is a noteworthy instance of a disease which constantly spreads by carelessness. Just as long as the scaling or shedding of the outer skin continues contagion may be carried, for it is these scales which bear it. It is nothing less than criminal, therefore, to permit the patient who is recovering to mix with other persons, except those who have been caring for him already. In the early stages of the disease the infection is chiefly in the breath, and in the secretion of the nostrils. During the 387disease pocket handkerchiefs should never be used, soft linen or cotton rags being substituted and immediately burned.

Most of the same things are true as to measles, whooping-cough, mumps and German measles, which are constantly spread by sheer carelessness because people do not realize the obligation resting upon them to guard others from contact with disease. These ailments are highly infectious before they are certainly recognized, and for that reason it is not possible always to isolate cases in time, but at least after the fact is clearly understood there should be no further carelessness.

Another prevalent disease in which carelessness is responsible for much of its spreading is tuberculosis, phthisis, or consumption, as it is more familiarly known. It is not possible yet to isolate every person suffering with this insidious disease, nor is that suggested. But at least it may be urged that every such sufferer shall thoughtfully guard in every way in his power against communicating it to his own neighbors and family. The bacilli, or bacteria, of consumption swarm in the spittle of the patient, and are diffused by the wind as dust as soon as they are dried. To guard against infection from this cause, spittoons should be used, which can be absolutely disinfected, or cloths which can be promptly burned.

Smallpox is perhaps the most infectious of diseases. Yet in vaccination we have a means of protection which we have not in any other. As long as a large unvaccinated population exists, however, we shall have epidemics from time to time. Before the introduction of vaccination nearly everyone had smallpox, just as now almost all persons have measles at some time or other. The heaviest mortality occurred within the first five or ten years of life, the deaths in later periods being very few, since the population had mostly been rendered immune by having had it already.

Measles is a well-defined disease, intensely infectious, occurring but once in a lifetime. It is very rarely fatal, nearly all the deaths credited to it being really due to bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs, the results of neglect and exposure to cold. No age is exempt. 388The only reason why it is looked on as a disease of childhood is that being in the highest degree infectious from the beginning, when its nature is not suspected, few children in the schools can hope to escape it, but if by chance they do, they are just as susceptible to it in afterlife.

Whooping-cough is a highly infectious disease, occurring but once in a lifetime, but at any age, though most frequently in childhood. The frequent belief that children suffering from whooping-cough should be as much as possible in the open air is an entirely mistaken one, as it leads not only to continuing the disease longer, but to danger of bronchitis and pneumonia. As in diphtheria and scarlet fever the mucus is the chief vehicle of contagion, and pocket handkerchiefs should be forbidden, pieces of soft rag being substituted and burned as soon as used.

Typhoid or enteric fever is slow and uncertain in its onset, a full month in duration, and the return of health is usually tedious. It is like diphtheria, directly a result of unsanitary conditions. Danger of direct infection from the patient is slight, but the poison remains in the evacuations from the bowels and is propagated by them. By this means a reservoir or river has been known to infect a whole town. Broken or defective drains, the entrance of sewer gas into houses, wells polluted by cesspool drainage, and milk diluted with infected water, are among the principal means of spreading the disease. It is an absolute rule that all bedding which becomes soiled should be destroyed, and the refuse of the sick room should be instantly disinfected and removed from the dwelling.

CARE OF THE SICK ROOM

Although it is quite possible that few may be able to follow every instruction or precaution advised to guard against the spread of diseases, we may at least outline the conditions to be aimed at and secured as nearly as possible. In spite of the additional labor that it 389makes, the ideal place for a sick room in a private house is as far from the ground as possible. To be of any service at all isolation must be real and complete. A room should be selected in the topmost story, the door kept closed, a fire, large or small, according to the weather, kept burning, and the windows open as much as possible. Even in the winter this can be done without danger under most circumstances by lowering the upper sash and breaking the draught by a blind or a screen. The staircase and hall windows should be kept open day and night. The other inmates of the house should keep their own rooms thoroughly ventilated. The persons nursing the patient should on no account mix with other members of the family, or if that cannot be helped they should take off their dresses in the sick room, and after washing their hands and faces, put on other dresses kept hanging outside the room, or in an adjoining apartment.

All dishes used in the room should be washed separately, and not with others in the kitchen. The room itself, except in case of measles and whooping-cough, the poison of which does not retain its vitality for any length of time, should be as scantily furnished as possible, containing nothing which can retain infection. All woolen carpets, curtains and bed hangings should be removed, and only wooden or cane-bottomed chairs kept. There should be no sofa, and iron bedsteads are better than wood. A straw mattress of little value, which may be destroyed afterwards, is better than a hair one, which can be disinfected, but feather beds and such coverings should be absolutely forbidden.

In scarlet fever, diphtheria, smallpox and typhoid, all soiled clothing and bedding should be immediately put into an earthenware vessel, containing a solution of corrosive sublimate (one drachm to a gallon of water) and left to soak for some hours before being washed. On being taken from this disinfecting solution they must, even at risk of spoiling flannels, be thrown into boiling water and boiled for some minutes before soaping and washing. No infected clothes should, under any circumstances, be sent out of the house, unless all of these precautions are absolutely guarded.

In cases of typhoid and scarlet fever the vessel which receives the 390passages from the bowels should have in it a solution of corrosive sublimate or of carbolic acid. The contents then should be stirred with a poker before being poured into the water closet, and the same disinfectant should be sprinkled liberally into the closet.

After the peeling in scarlet fever or the shedding of scabs in smallpox has set in, the patient should take, at intervals of three or four days, hot baths with soft soap, the hair, previously cut short, being well scrubbed with the same. In scarlet fever and diphtheria the mouth and throat should be frequently sprayed, washed out or gargled with a pretty strong solution of permanganate of potash or a weak one of chlorinated soda.

DISINFECTION, ITS IMPORTANCE AND ITS METHODS

There are few subjects on which greater ignorance exists, not only among the public but among medical men as well, than on that of disinfectants. The word is used vaguely to mean deodorants, which destroy bad odors; antiseptics, which prevent the spread of injury by putrefaction in a wound; and germicides, which actually destroy the bacteria or microbes which produce contagion in a disease. In some cases one of these may serve the function of another, but that is merely incidental. Deodorants may be such simple things as perfumery, tobacco smoke or camphor, and they serve very useful purposes in masking bad smells, but they are entirely useless in preventing disease.

Permanganate of potash, or “Condy’s fluid,” as the druggists call it, is a powerful antiseptic, instantly destroying the matter that is beginning to putrefy by what is really a burning process. It sweetens the foul discharges from wounds and bad throats, but is nearly powerless to destroy the living germs of disease.

The disinfectants of most practical value, which are at the same time germicides, are carbolic acid, chloride of zinc, sulphurous acid, chlorine and corrosive sublimate. Carbolic acid, when strong enough, is fairly satisfactory. Five per cent solutions (one part in twenty) stop the activity of bacteria, but do not actually destroy their vitality. 391Solutions twice as strong do, but water will not dissolve so much, and the odor that remains is an objection to their use for disinfecting linen. Chloride of zinc is far more powerful. If too strong a mixture is used it may injure cloth, so that this wants to be guarded against.

Sulphurous acid (the fumes of burning sulphur) is a most convenient disinfectant. Shut the windows down tight, leave all the clothing in its place and open trunks and drawers. Put a thick layer of ashes in an old iron pot, over which place a shovel of live coals; throw a teacup of pulverized sulphur on the coals and run out, closing the doors in your exit. Stay out several hours. On returning open all doors and windows, and the odor will soon be gone, also the bugs, insects and the germs of any disease that may be lodged in the clothing, etc.

The following instructions, published in the Hospital Gazette, were prepared by a board of eminent physicians and surgeons for public information, and on the general proposition of disinfection they can hardly be surpassed: Three different preparations are recommended for use to make the purifying of a house, where infection has been, complete. The first is ordinary roll sulphur or brimstone, for fumigation; the second is a copperas solution, made by dissolving sulphate of iron (copperas) in water in the proportion of one and one-half pints to one gallon, for soil, sewers, etc.; the third is a zinc solution, made by dissolving sulphate of zinc and common salt together in water in the proportion of four ounces of the sulphate and two ounces of the salt to one gallon, for clothing, bed linen, etc. Carbolic acid is not included in the list, for the reason that it is very difficult to determine the quality of what is found in the stores, and the purchaser can never be certain of securing it of proper strength. It is expensive when of good quality, and it must be used in comparatively large quantities to be of any use. Besides it is liable, by its strong odor, to give a false sense of security. Nothing is commoner than to see saucers of carbolic acid and other disinfectants in a sick room. Considering the vitality of bacteria, and that they require carbolic solutions of more than five per cent or several hours of intense heat or similar heroic measures to kill them, it must be evident that such feeble vapors as can be tolerated 392in the sick room are utterly useless. Here are the instructions in full:

In the Sick Room, the most valuable agents are fresh air and cleanliness. The clothing, towels, bed linens, etc., should, on removal from the patient and before they are taken from the room, be placed in a pail or tub of the zinc solution, boiling hot if possible. All discharges should either be received in vessels containing the copperas solution, or, when this is impracticable, should be immediately covered with the solution. All vessels used about the patient should be cleansed or rinsed with the same. Unnecessary furniture—especially that which is stuffed—carpets and hangings should, when possible, be removed from the room at the outset; otherwise they should remain for subsequent fumigation, as next explained.

Fumigation.—Fumigation with sulphur is the method used for disinfecting the house. For this reason the rooms to be disinfected must be vacated. Heavy clothing, blankets, bedding and other articles which cannot be treated with the zinc solution, should be opened and exposed during fumigation, as next directed. Close the rooms tightly as possible, place the sulphur in iron pans supported upon bricks placed in wash-tubs containing a little water, set it on fire by hot coals or with the aid of a spoonful of alcohol, and allow the room to remain closed twenty-four hours. For a room about ten feet square at least two pounds of sulphur should be used; for larger rooms proportionally increased quantities.

Premises.—Cellars, stables, yards, gutters, privies, cesspools, water closets, drains, sewers, etc., should be frequently and liberally treated with the copperas solution. The copperas solution is easily prepared by hanging a basket containing about sixty pounds of copperas, in a barrel of water. (This would be one and one-half pounds to the gallon, or about that. It should all be dissolved.)

Body and Bed Clothing, Etc.—It is best to burn all articles which have been in contact with persons sick with contagious or infectious diseases. Articles too valuable to be destroyed should be treated as follows: Cotton, linen, flannels, blankets, etc., should be treated with 393the boiling hot zinc solution, introduced piece by piece; secure thorough wetting, and boil for at least half an hour. Heavy woolen clothing, silks, furs, stuffed bed covers, beds, and other articles which cannot be treated with the zinc solution, should be hung in the room during the fumigation, their surfaces thoroughly exposed, and the pockets turned inside out. Afterward they should be hung in the open air, beaten and shaken. Pillows, beds, stuffed mattresses, upholstered furniture, etc., should be cut open, the contents spread out and thoroughly fumigated. Carpets are best fumigated on the floor, but should afterward be removed to the open air and thoroughly beaten.

Corpses.—Corpses of those dying from infectious diseases should be thoroughly washed with a zinc solution of double strength; should then be wrapped in a sheet wet with zinc solution and buried at once. Metallic, metal-lined, or air-tight coffins should be used when possible, certainly when the body is to be transported for any considerable distance. Of course a public funeral is out of the question.

In addition to these disinfectants of long standing, which have been recognized in medicine for many years, another of great value is now coming into high favor. This is formalin, which, in its various forms, is convenient, economical and highly effective. Under the name of formaldehyde, one preparation of this disinfectant is widely but improperly used as a preservative for milk, meat and some other perishable foods. In almost every instance this is illegal, and properly so, for the substance is a poison and even when diluted cannot fail to be injurious. From formalin various disinfecting substances are made, and may be had at the drug stores, some as liquids and others in tablets to evaporate over a lamp for the general disinfection of rooms or houses. The latter may be recommended in the highest degree as a safe, economical and absolutely sanitary process.

Corrosive sublimate is, perhaps, the most powerful germicide known, a solution of one part in a thousand, or a little more than a drachm to a gallon of water, being amply sufficient for all practical purposes. It does not injure or stain wood, varnish, paint, plaster or 394ordinary fabrics, and if the ceiling be whitewashed with a genuine lime wash, and the walls, floors, doors and furniture of the room be washed down with the mixture, no microbes can possibly escape. It attacks metals, but iron bedsteads are protected by the enameling.

Poisonous as corrosive sublimate is, the danger from it is easily guarded against. The smallest dose of it known to have proved fatal, even to a child, would require no less than a quarter of a pint of the solution of one in a thousand parts. A mouthful of this would not cause more than temporary discomfort, while the taste would prevent a second being swallowed. Still, as a further safeguard it might be well to add a little laundry bluing to give color to the mixture, and a little wood alcohol to give it a smell. Then with a proper poison label on it surely no one would be endangered by it.

PERIOD OF ISOLATION OR QUARANTINE

A person who has had any infectious disease and has been thoroughly disinfected, with his clothes, may be allowed to mix freely with his fellows, in school, for instance, after the following periods. Scarlet fever: Not less than eight weeks from the appearance of the rash, provided peeling has completely ceased, and there be no sore throat. Six weeks is not enough, as there are cases of direct infection after seven weeks when all symptoms have entirely disappeared. Measles and German measles: In three weeks, provided all peeling and coughing have ceased. Smallpox and chickenpox: A fortnight after the last scab has fallen off; the hair, in case of smallpox, having been cut short and scrubbed with carbolic soap or soft soap. Mumps: Four weeks from the attack if all swelling has disappeared. Whooping-cough: Six weeks from recognition of the whoop if the cough has entirely lost its spasmodic character, or four weeks if all cough whatever has ceased. Diphtheria: In a month if convalescence be complete, there being no trace of sore throat or discharge from the nose, eyes, etc. Ringworm: When the whole scalp, carefully examined in a good light, shows no stumpy broken hairs or scaly patches.

395It has been very difficult to impress upon communities and individuals the extreme importance of strict obedience to the foregoing rules. There is an unfortunate tendency in too many instances for households to fail in guarding their neighbors from contact with their own members who are convalescing from disease. Even such common and simple diseases as whooping-cough, chickenpox, mumps and others that are considered especially to belong to children, frequently prove fatal to those who are susceptible to them, and it is truly wicked to permit by carelessness such an infection to reach a school or elsewhere where weaker children may suffer as a result.

To every living person air must be furnished every moment if life is to be preserved. The vital element of the air is oxygen gas, the life-giving medium, and this is diluted with nitrogen, because the oxygen itself, breathed alone, would be too stimulating for our lungs. In the delicate cells of the lungs the air we have inhaled gives up its oxygen to the blood, thus purifying it, and receives in turn carbonic acid gas and water, foul with waste matter, which the blood has absorbed during its passage through the body and which we now exhale. The blood is red when it leaves the heart, pure. It returns to the heart purple from the impurities it has picked up, and by the oxygen is once more changed to red.

Manifestly if this process is so important to a person in health, it must be doubly so to one who is sick. The impurities of a sick room consist largely of organic matter, including in many instances enormous numbers of the disease germs themselves. If we uncover a scarlet fever patient in the direct rays of the sun a cloud of fine dust may be seen to rise from the body, the dust which carries the contagion itself. In an unventilated place this is but slowly scattered or destroyed, and for many days it retains its poisonous qualities. “The effect of rebreathing the air cannot be overestimated,” says Martin 397W. Curran of Bellevue Hospital, New York City. “We take back into our bodies that which has been just rejected, and the blood thereupon leaves the lungs bearing, not the invigorating oxygen, but gas and waste matter, which, at the best, is disagreeable to the smell, injurious to the health, and may contain the germs of disease.”

Fortunately rooms may be ventilated by means of windows in several different ways with little risk of draught. For instance, the lower sash of the window may be raised three or four inches, and a plain bar of wood an inch in thickness, extending the whole breadth of the window, may be put below the window sash, entirely filling the space. By this means the air current enters above, between the two sashes in an indirect line, and it is gradually diffused through the room without a draught. Here is a simpler way of doing the same thing. Take a heavy piece of paper or cloth, about twelve inches wide, and long enough to reach across the window. Tack it tightly at both ends and the lower edge to the frame, and raise the lower sash of the window a few inches. The air entering will be diverted by the cloth. If the air is very cold it must not be admitted at the bottom of the room, but from the top of the window, and should be directed toward the ceiling so as to fall and mix gradually with the warmer air of the room.

The influence of the sun’s rays upon the nervous system is very marked. That room is the healthiest to which the sun has freest access. The sick room should be kept looking bright and cheerful, unless the disease be one that requires the eyes to be specially guarded from the light. The eyes are weaker, however, in all sickness, and the bed should be turned so that the patient does not look directly toward the bright light of the open window.

The proper temperature for a sick room is sixty-eight degrees above zero. In the hot days of summer when this temperature is greatly exceeded, or the air is too dry, hang some thin muslin, soaked in ice water, across the opening in the windows, which will moisten the air, cool the room, and keep out many particles of floating dust. If the floor of the sick room is carpeted and the illness is serious, 398cover the carpet with sheets and sprinkle on them a weak solution of carbolic acid at intervals. The sheets can be changed as often as necessary. The cleanest wall is one that is painted, which can be washed and disinfected in any way desired. Nurses consider papered walls the worst ones, and plastered the next, but the latter can be made safe by frequent lime washings and occasional scraping.

Have as little furniture as possible in the sick room, and all of this of wood, metal or marble, kept clean by being wiped with a cloth wrung out of hot water. A small, light table should be placed for the patient’s use, from which he may reach his own glass of water. The bed should not be placed with one of the sides against the wall, as a nurse should be able to attend to a patient from either side.

CARE OF THE PATIENT

In all cases where the patient is too ill or forbidden to sit up in bed, a feeding cup with a curved spout should be used. The nurse’s hand should be passed beneath the pillow, and the head and pillow gently raised together. Where there is extreme prostration a glass tube, bent at a right angle, one end of which is placed in the cup containing the food and the other in the patient’s mouth, will enable him to take liquids with scarcely any effort.

If the patient is in a state of delirium, or unconscious, endeavor to arouse him somewhat before giving him his food. Sometimes merely putting the spoon in his mouth is enough, but at other times you will require to get it well back on the tongue. In such cases, watch carefully to see that the liquid is swallowed before attempting to give a second spoonful.

When it comes to the convalescent patient the food is no less important than during the time of illness. Serve it on a tray, covered with a fresh napkin, have the dishes and spoons clean and shining, and be careful not to slop things into the saucers. Take the tray from the room as soon as the meal is ended, for uneaten food sometimes becomes very obnoxious to the sick person if it remains in 399sight. To provide food for the sick which is both suitable and attractive sometimes requires great care, judgment and patience, but the effort is worth all the trouble it costs. The aim should be to give what will be at the same time easy to digest and of nutritive value after it is digested. In another department of this work will be found many recipes adapted for invalids.

Medicine should be given at regular hours, and careful attention should be paid to the directions as to the time when the doses are to be given, as, for instance, before or after meals. The exact quantity ordered should be given, as even a slight error may defeat the results intended. Never give any medicine without looking at the label, being absolutely certain that you have the right one. Never allow a bottle to stand uncorked, for many mixtures lose their strength when exposed to the air.

TEMPERATURE AND PULSE

We follow Mr. Curran again in his clear statement of the importance of temperature in disease. Every household should have a clinical thermometer to use in taking the temperature of the patient in the event of sickness. The average normal temperature in adults is from 98.4 to 98.6 degrees. There is a daily variation of sometimes 1.5 degrees, the highest point being reached in the evening. Exercise, diet, climate and sleep cause deviation from the standard. Almost every disease, however, carries with it an abnormal variation in temperature. If the rising temperature does not always show what the disease is, it does show what it probably is not. For instance, a rapid rise of three of four degrees above the healthy standard does not mean typhoid fever, but may mean measles or scarlet fever, and in whooping-cough and smallpox, the highest temperature precedes those diseases from two to four days. In diphtheria there is this rise before anyone thinks of looking at the throat. Increase of temperature calls for cooling remedies, external and internal, and degrees of temperature below the standard require warming and sustaining treatment.

400An increase of temperature beginning each day a little earlier is a bad sign; one beginning later promises well. A decrease of fever beginning each day earlier is a good sign, but if later each day, is a bad one. A very high temperature, say 105 degrees, is dangerous in itself, but more so if it has come on gradually as the last of a series. A fall of temperature below normal is far more dangerous than a much greater corresponding rise. One degree below normal is more an indication of a bad condition than two and one-half above normal. In convalescence if there is no rise of temperature after eating there is no nourishment secured from the food; if there is a sudden or high rise of more than one degree the food was too stimulating or bulky. To be beneficial in convalescence food must increase the temperature a quarter to half a degree and this must almost subside when digestion is over, though leaving a gradual improvement in the average daily temperature.

Temperature from 106 degrees upward and from 95 degrees downward is extremely dangerous and virtually a sign of fatal ending. As the temperature increases or decreases from normal toward these extremes, it consequently becomes more threatening. Temperature should be taken by placing the bulb of the clinical thermometer in the rectum or under the tongue.

There is a close connection between the temperature and the pulse, both of which guide the judgment in matters of health. The pulse is most rapid at birth, and becomes constantly slower until old age, ranging from a maximum at the beginning of 130 to 150 pulsations a minute to a minimum at the end of life of 50 to 65 pulsations. The average pulse through the period of adult life is from 70 to 75 beats per minute. It is considered that every rise of temperature of one degree above normal corresponds with an increase of ten beats of the pulse per minute.

We have already spoken of the importance of the bath in health. Baths have their equal importance in sickness, and their direct effect upon many diseases. All the vital organs are affected through the skin, and by keeping it in a healthy condition the circulation of the 401blood, the action of the kidneys and bowels and all the digestive processes are promoted, many diseases warded off, and the assimilation of food aided. In many fevers, for instance, a sponge bath with water a few degrees cooler than the normal temperature of the body will give great comfort and relieve and reduce the temperature materially. A warm bath with water about at the temperature of the body, or a degree or two less, produces no shock to the system but makes the pulse beat a little faster and causes a little more activity of circulation.

Put bran enough in the water to make it milky, and the bath will assist in softening the skin, when it is dried and flaky. Put in a pound of rock salt to every four gallons of water and you will find the bath useful in invigorating feeble constitutions.

Thirst is Nature’s Signal that the system needs an increased supply of water just as truly as appetite shows need for food. It is relieved not only by water but by barley water, toast water and similar drinks, by small pieces of ice held in the mouth, and by drinks made from the juices of fruit. Care must be used, however, in the employment of these apparently harmless things, or injury may follow from taking them to excess.

Bed Sores are the inflamed spots which occur on the body, often as a result of carelessness during a long illness. They are not likely to occur if the bedding is kept smooth and free from wrinkles and the patient kept dry, his position varied as frequently as possible, and the proper bathing not neglected. If such sores threaten there are several remedies which will help to prevent them. Alcohol, brandy or glycerine rubbed over the parts exposed to pressure, after washing in the morning and evening, will serve to harden the place where applied. A solution of nitrate of silver, painted on threatened but unbroken skin as soon as it becomes red, will prevent sores. In the early stages of bed sores apply a mixture of equal parts of rectified spirits and white of egg. Put it on with a feather and renew as it dries till an albuminous coating is formed. For bed sores occurring in typhoid and other fevers an excellent prescription is composed of 402two parts of castor oil and one of balsam of Peru, which are spread on pieces of lint, laid on the sore and covered with a linseed poultice to be changed three or four times a day.

The Characteristics of Fever are a rising of the temperature, and, as a rule, increased rapidly of the circulation as shown by the pulse, and alterations in the secretions of the body, which are usually diminished. Fever diet consists in giving the patient plenty of milk, arrowroot or broth, composing a light, easily-digested fluid diet, every three hours, day and night. If milk alone is used the patient can take from three to five pints in twenty-four hours. The general treatment recommended for fevers consists in sponging off the body of the patient under the bed clothes with cool water three or four times a day, keeping him lightly covered, the room well ventilated, and its temperature from sixty-eighty to seventy degrees. He should be given plenty of cooling drinks in small quantities from fear of overloading his stomach, but frequently repeated even if he has to be coaxed to take them. The secretions of the kidneys and bowels must be kept up by such medicines as are prescribed by the physician in charge.

SIMPLE HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES, HERBS AND OTHERWISE

Those who live in the city, where a doctor can be summoned in a few minutes, if needed, cannot realize how important it is that the farmer’s wife should keep a supply of simple remedies on hand and know how to use them. It is a good plan to have an herb bed in one corner of the garden, where catnip, thoroughwort, camomile, hoarhound, pennyroyal, etc., can be grown. These are nature’s remedies and are often just as effective and always safer than strong drugs. Almost all kinds of herbs should be gathered while in blossom and tied up in bunches until dry. Then put them in bags, keeping each kind separate, and labeling them. The bags keep them clean and the labels enable one to find them quickly. In the springtime when one feels languid and miserable, a cup of boneset or thoroughwort tea, 403taken several mornings in succession, will arouse the sluggish liver and make quite a difference in one’s feelings.

For sprains, bruises and rheumatism steep tansy in vinegar, having it almost boiling hot; wring woolen cloths out of it and apply, changing often. Plantain grows almost everywhere and is very useful as a medicine. A strong tea made of the leaves or a poultice made of them and applied quite hot to the cheek will relieve facial neuralgia, A tea made of the seeds and taken in tablespoonful doses every ten minutes is good for sick stomach.

If it is desirable to preserve plant remedies make a strong decoction by steeping in water kept just below boiling point half an hour. Strain it and to one pint of the liquid add one gill of alcohol. Put it in bottle, cork tightly and it will retain its virtues as long as desired.

Many fruits and vegetables possess valuable medicinal properties. Tomatoes, either canned or fresh, are a pleasant remedy for constipation. Blackberry cordial is an old and well-tried remedy for diarrhea and dysentery. To prepare it get the fresh berries; mash them with a potato masher and let them stand several hours; then strain out the juice. To one quart of juice add one pound of granulated sugar and one heaping teaspoonful each of cloves, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. All the spices except the nutmeg should be tied in a cheesecloth sack before they are put in. Boil until it is a rich syrup; put it in bottles and seal while hot.

Many housewives who have used borax in various ways have never known its value as a medicine. It is almost the only antiseptic and disinfectant known that is entirely safe to use. Clothes washed in borax water are free from infection, and can be worn again without fear of contagion. A solution of ten grains of borax to one ounce of pure soft water is an excellent lotion for sore eyes. Apply it two or three times a day until it strengthens and heals them. Half a teaspoonful of borax and a pinch of salt dissolved in a cupful of water and used frequently as a gargle will cure sore throat.

A heaping tablespoonful of table salt or two of mustard stirred into a glass of warm water will start vomiting as soon as it reaches 404the stomach, which is one of the best remedies known for poisoning. A teacupful of very strong coffee will nullify the effects of opium, morphine or chloroform.

WHAT TO PUT IN A REMEDY CUPBOARD

In every house there should be a remedy cupboard. We do not mean the ordinary medicine chest with innumerable bottles huddled together, but a well-stocked emergency cupboard, easy of access, and containing simple remedies for the many aches and pains of humanity. Such a medicine chest is considered by some as one of the most important pieces of furniture in the house. It should be more like a little cupboard than a chest. It may be made of a rather shallow box, fitted with shelves, and there should be a door which fastens with a lock and key. The key should be kept by the mother, so that no one can go to the chest without permission. It should be fastened rather high up against the wall. In this chest should be kept everything that experience has proven to be essential in the treatment of such emergency cases as most mothers have to deal with.

No household is conducted without an occasional accident or bruise; burns and ugly cuts are all of frequent occurrence where there are children. If there is a place where one can always find some soft medicated cotton, bandages of different widths, absorbent gauze and a bottle of some antiseptic solution, it will prevent the frantic running about when such articles are needed and save to the sufferer many throbs of pain. To be thoroughly satisfactory the emergency cupboard must be kept in perfect order and systematically arranged. For instance, in one compartment keep the every-day remedies for coughs and colds, such as quinine and listerine, croup kettle, atomizer and a compress and flannel bandages.

There should be prepared mustard plasters, rolls of court plaster, salves, liniments, lotions, laudanum, pills, porous plasters, castor oil, sulphur, salts, camphor, and in fact everything that is needed should be found here, and in this way many times the cost of the chest will 405be saved in doctors’ bills. Everything should be carefully labeled and so arranged that things can almost be found in the dark.

HOW TO KEEP THE BABY WELL

Many young mothers are anxious to learn all they can about the physiology and hygiene of babyhood. Hours of anxiety might be spared them if they could only profit by the experience of those who have raised large families.

Babies’ hands and feet frequently become cold in a room where older people are quite comfortable. This is sometimes caused by having the clothing too tight. Keep the temperature of the room as near seventy degrees as possible and have it well ventilated, but do not allow the little one to lie in a draught, or an attack of colic may be the result. Take him out in the fresh air frequently if the weather is good, but when the wind is blowing and the air is damp the best place for the baby is in the nursery. It is never safe to expose him to all kinds of weather in order to get him used to it, for it may cost his life.

Give the baby a bath every day in hot weather, never having the water cool enough to cause him to catch his breath, nor warm enough to make him cry. He will soon learn to enjoy it. “My baby will laugh and clap his hands every time he is put in the water,” says one happy mother, “and after a few minutes’ bath and a good rubbing he is ready for a long, refreshing sleep.”

If the baby’s head becomes covered with a yellow coating rub vaseline well into the scalp, and after it has remained four or five hours take a fine comb and carefully comb it all off; wash thoroughly with soft water and good toilet soap as often as may be necessary to keep the scalp white and healthy. The vaseline loosens the scurf and makes it easy to comb out.

Nothing is so important as the baby’s diet. Of course the mother’s milk is the food nature intended for him, but frequently the supply 406is not sufficient for his needs, and there are many cases where it is impossible for a mother to nurse her baby. Cow’s milk is sometimes used, but the result is seldom satisfactory. It sours so easily in warm weather and is then really poisonous to the little one. Then we can never be sure that the cow is healthy, and we seldom have any means of knowing what kind of food she eats, or if the water she drinks is pure. All these things seriously affect the child’s health. Various prepared foods are good, but what agrees with one baby may not agree with another, so the effects of the one chosen should be carefully watched. It should be freshly prepared for each meal; there will then be none of the bad effects that so often follow the use of stale food. Do not get into the habit of offering the baby the bottle every time he cries, regardless of the cause. He may be thirsty, and a few spoonfuls of cold water will quiet him.

Do not feed the baby with a spoon. It is not nature’s way, and the sucking motion of the lips and mouth is needed to mix the food with the fluids of the mouth and keep it from getting into the stomach too fast. Use a plain nursing-bottle with a rubber nipple, which should be taken off after each feeding so that both bottle and rubber may be washed thoroughly. Let them soak in hot water two or three times every day to destroy any germs that may be left in them. Under no circumstances ever use a bottle with a long tube of rubber. Absolute cleanliness in everything pertaining to his food is necessary to keep the baby healthy.

Do not put anything in his mouth that needs chewing, until he has his teeth. In fact until he is seven months old the prepared food will be all that is necessary for him. After that he will take a little oatmeal gruel that has been strained through a coarse wire sieve to remove the husks, or some of the excellent preparations of wheat now on the market. If he is constipated, the juice of stewed fruit is beneficial in small quantities.

Here are some short and simple rules for quick action in the event of accidents:

For Dust in the Eyes, avoid rubbing, and dash water into them. Remove cinders, etc., with the rounded end of a lead pencil or a small camel’s hair brush dipped in water.

Remove Insects from the Ear by tepid water; never put a hard instrument into the ear.

If an Artery Is Cut compress above the wound; if a vein is cut compress below.

For Light Burns dip the part in cold water; if the skin is destroyed cover with varnish.

Smother a Fire with carpets, etc.; water will often spread burning oil and increase the danger.

Before Passing through Smoke take a full breath and then stoop low; but if carbonic acid gas is suspected then walk erect.

Suck Poisoned Wounds unless your mouth is sore. Enlarge the wound, or better, cut out the part without delay. Hold the wounded part as long as can be borne to a hot coal or end of a cigar.

The treatment of poisons in general consists of the use of substances which, by combining chemically with an injurious dose, will neutralize, as acids with alkalies and vice versa; by solvents, which take up the poison, as olive oil with carbolic acid; and by emetics which produce vomiting and dislodge the poison. The stomach pump is also used, if available, to empty the stomach, and for some poisons electricity is used.

If the exact poison is unknown it is best to follow a general plan of treatment. We want an emetic, an antidote and a cathartic. For the first a draught of warm water and tickling the throat with a finger or a feather will generally succeed. For an antidote that will neutralize the great majority of poisons give a mixture of equal parts of calcined magnesia, pulverized charcoal and sesquioxide of iron, mixed thoroughly. Castor oil is the best cathartic for general use in poisoning.

Here are a few special instructions for the treatment of the more common cases of poisoning:

For ammonia give frequently a tablespoonful of vinegar or lemon juice, and follow this with a cathartic of castor oil.

For alcohol empty the stomach by emetics, warm salt water, repeated at short intervals, being the best. If the head is hot, dash cool water upon it. Keep up motion and rubbing and slapping to increase the circulation.

For arsenic, fly poison or paris green, take milk, gruel water with starch dissolved in it, oil and lime water. Be sure and empty the stomach by vomiting. It may require three or four repetitions of an emetic to dislodge the sticky paste from the walls of the stomach. Oil and barley gruel or mucilage water should be given to protect the stomach.

For chloroform and ether, artificial breathing must be stimulated. Lower the head of the patient and elevate the legs. Place ammonia 409at the nose to be inhaled, and slap the surface of the chest smartly with the fringe of a towel dipped in ice water.

For sulphate of copper or blue vitriol, give an emetic of warm water or mustard and warm water. Do not give vinegar or acids. After vomiting give milk or white of egg and oil.

For mercury poisoning by corrosive sublimate or calomel, give promptly the white of eggs mixed in water or milk. Empty the stomach by vomiting and then give quantities of egg and water or milk or even flour and water.

For opium, morphine, laudanum, paregoric or soothing syrup poisoning cleanse the stomach thoroughly by vomiting, and then give strong coffee. The patient must be kept in constant motion. At the same time he must be frequently aroused by smart blows with the palm of the hand, or switching, and whipping the body with a wet towel. When all else fails artificial respiration should be kept up for a long time.

For phosphorus, heads of matches, etc., use a mixture of hydrated magnesia and cold water in repeated draughts, and produce free vomiting. The emetic is mustard, flour and water. Do not use oil, as it tends to dissolve the phosphorus.

For strychnine, rat poison and the like give an emetic, and after this operates administer draughts of strong coffee. Control the convulsions by inhaling chloroform, a teaspoonful poured upon a napkin and placed near the nostrils. Between paroxysms give chloral dissolved in water. The patient should be allowed to go to sleep if so inclined and under any circumstances kept perfectly quiet, for any shock brings convulsions.

For venomous snake bites tie a bandage tightly above the point of the bite, leave the wound to bleed, and draw from it what poison may remain by sucking, unless you have a sore mouth. Cauterize the wound with caustics, a hot iron or a hot coal. Give alcoholic liquors and strong coffee freely. Dress the wound with equal parts of oil and ammonia.

For poisonous mushrooms give a brisk emetic, then epsom salts 410and then large and stimulating injections to move the bowels, followed by ether and alcoholic stimulants. The poison of mushrooms is very similar to that of venomous snake bites.

RATTLESNAKE BITES CURED BY SWEET OIL

Few people know that sweet oil, the common olive oil of commerce, the salad oil used on our tables, is a specific for rattlesnake bites. Use both internally and externally. Give the patient a teaspoonful of oil every hour while nausea lasts. Dip pieces of cotton two inches square in the oil and lay the saturated cloth over the wound. In twenty minutes or less bubbles and froth will begin to appear on the surface of the cloth. Remove the square, burn it, and replace it with a fresh square until all the swelling has subsided. Where rattlesnakes abound every household should keep a six or eight ounce vial of the best oil ready for emergencies. Avoid rancid or adulterated oil. No whiskey or other stimulant is needed, and in a majority of cases the patient is much better off without any other so-called relief than that afforded by the oil.

Relief is accelerated if some one with mouth and lips free from sores and cracks will suck the poison from the bite before applying the patches of oil-saturated cloth. A few drops of oil taken in the mouth before beginning will insure exemption from any disagreeable results.

RATTLESNAKE BITES—A FAVORITE REMEDY

A favorite remedy for a sufferer from rattlesnake bite, which proves very effective, is as follows: Iodide of potassium four grains, corrosive sublimate two grains, bromide five drachms. Ten drops of this compound taken in one or two tablespoonfuls of brandy or whisky make a dose, to be repeated at intervals if necessary.

POISON IVY, OAK AND SUMAC-REMEDIES

It is unfortunate that some of the most attractive plants that grow in woods, ivy, oak and sumac, for instance, are poisonous in their 411effects. They act differently, however, on different people, for some seem not to be susceptible under any circumstances, while others are poisoned by simple contact with clothing that has touched the noxious plant. The remedies likewise do not in every case affect people with the same degree of success.

Various remedies are used in case of poisoning from ivy. The affected parts may be bathed with water in which hemlock twigs or oak leaves have been steeped. Fresh lime water and wet salt are likewise recommended. Spirits of niter will help to heal the parts when bathed freely with it. Another suggestion is to bathe the poisoned part thoroughly with clear hot water, and when dry paint the place freely three or four times a day with a feather dipped in strong tincture of lobelia. A similar application of fluid extract of gelsemium sempervirens (yellow jessamine) is likewise very effective.

BEE AND WASP STINGS—HOW TO SOOTHE THEM

A beekeeper advises those who are around bees should have a small bottle of tincture of myrrh. As soon as one is stung apply a little of the tincture to the sting, when the pain and swelling cease. It will also serve well for bites of spiders and poisonous reptiles. If an onion be scraped and the juicy part applied to the sting of wasps or bees the pain will be relieved quickly. Ammonia applied to a bite from a poisonous snake, or any poisonous animal, or sting of an insect, will give immediate relief and will go far toward completely curing the injury. It is one of the most convenient caustics to apply to the bite of a mad dog.

BORAX FOR INSECT BITES

Dissolve one ounce of borax in one pint of water and anoint the bites of insects with the solution. This is good for the irritation of mosquito bites and even for prickly heat and like summer irritations. For the stings of bees or wasps the solution should be twice as strong.

412Another Simple Remedy.—For bee or wasp stings bathe the part affected with a teaspoonful of salt and soda each in a little warm water. Apply the remedy at once after being stung. If this be used just after one is stung there will be no swelling. If one is off in the field and is stung take a common hog weed and rub the part vigorously therewith. It will stop the pain and prevent swelling.

HOW TO TREAT A SPRAIN

In treating a sprain wring a folded flannel out of boiling water by laying it in a thick towel and twisting the ends in opposite directions; shake it to cool it a little, lay it on the painful part and cover it with a piece of dry flannel. Change of fomentations until six have been applied, being careful not to have them so hot as to burn the skin. Bandage the part if possible, and in six or eight hours repeat the application. As soon as it can be borne, rub well with extract of witch hazel.

HOW TO TAKE SORENESS FROM A CUT MADE BY GLASS

If one should sustain a wound by stepping on a piece of glass, as children frequently do, soreness and much pain may be avoided by smoking the wound with slow-burning old yarn or woolen rags.

NAIL WOUNDS IN THE FOOT—HOW TO RELIEVE THE PAIN

To relieve from the suffering produced by running a nail in the foot of a horse or a man, take peach leaves, bruise them, apply to the wound, and confine with a bandage. They give relief almost immediately and help to heal the wound. Renew the application twice a day if necessary, but one application goes far to destroy the pain.

A simple remedy recommended for lockjaw is ordinary turpentine. Warm a small quantity of the liquid and pour it on the wound, no matter where the wound is, and relief will follow immediately. Nothing better can be applied to a severe cut or bruise than cold turpentine, which is very prompt in its action.

BRUISES, SPLINTERS, CUTS AND BURNS—SIMPLE REMEDIES

The Best Treatment for a Bruise is to apply soft cloths wet with hot water, and if the contusion is very painful a little laudanum may be added to the water.

To Extract a Splinter from a child’s hand, fill a wide-mouthed bottle half full of very hot water and place its mouth under the injured spot. If a little pressure is used the steam in a few moments will extract the splinter.

Before Bandaging a Cut wash it thoroughly with some antiseptic solution. When it is perfectly clean bring the edges together and hold in place with warm strips of adhesive plastering. Leave a place between them for the escape of blood, and apply a dressing of absorbent gauze. When the wound is entirely healed the plaster may be easily removed by moistening at first with alcohol.

The Stinging Pain of a Superficial Burn may be instantly allayed by painting with flexible collodion, white of egg, or mucilage. If the skin is broken apply a dressing of boracic acid ointment or vaseline.

BURNS AND THEIR TREATMENT

Common cooking soda, as found in every kitchen, is a convenient remedy for burns and scalds. Moisten the injured part and then sprinkle with dry soda so as to cover it entirely and loosely wrap it with a wet linen cloth.

Another convenient remedy for the same kind of injury, if you 414have a mucilage bottle at hand, is to brush or pour a coating of the mucilage over the entire injured part. The chief cause for pain from burns and scalds is their exposure to the air, and the mucilage coating will keep the air from coming in contact with the inflamed tissue.

The following is the recommendation of an eminent physician for treating burns from gunpowder:

“In Burns from Gunpowder, where the powder has been deeply imbedded in the skin, a large poultice made of common molasses and wheat flour, applied over the burnt surface, is the very best thing that can be used, as it seems to draw the powder to the surface, and keeps the parts so soft that the formation of scars does not occur. It should be removed twice a day, and the part washed with a shaving brush and warm water before applying the fresh poultice. The poultice should be made sufficiently soft to admit of its being readily spread on a piece of cotton. In cases in which the skin and muscles have been completely filled with the burnt powder we have seen the parts heal perfectly without leaving the slightest mark to indicate the position or nature of the injury.”

COLD WATER FOR ORDINARY RECENT BURNS

The best treatment for ordinary recent burns at first is cold water, which soothes and deadens the suffering. The burnt part should, therefore, be placed in cold water, or thin cloths dipped in the cool liquid should be applied and frequently renewed. In a short time, however, the cold water fails to relieve and then rags dipped in carron oil (a mixture of equal parts of linseed oil and lime water, well shaken before using) should be substituted for the water. When the treatment with carron oil begins, however, care should be taken to keep the rag moist with it until the burn heals. This is the main point in the treatment, so the authorities say. The cloth must not be removed or changed.

To relieve a scald on the interior of the mouth from taking hot liquids, gargle with a solution of borax, and then hold in the mouth a mucilage of slippery elm, swallowing it slowly if the throat also has been scalded. The slippery elm may be mixed with olive oil.

HOW TO BRING THE APPARENTLY DROWNED TO LIFE

The bringing to life of those who are apparently drowned is something that should be understood by every person, for such emergencies may rise at any time or place when no professional relief is at hand. There are astonishing instances of revival after a considerable time has passed, and it is worth while to persist in the effort most energetically and constantly for a long time before hope is given up. The following rules for saving the life of those who are apparently drowned are made up from various sources, official and otherwise, and may be accepted as thoroughly reliable.

Whatever method is adopted to produce artificial breathing, the patient should be stripped to the waist and the clothing should be loosened below the waist, so that there shall be no restraint on the movement of the chest and body. Lose no time in beginning. Remove the froth and mucus from the mouth and nostrils and the mud, too, if any has been drawn in. Hold the body for a few seconds with the head sloping downward, so that the water may run out of the lungs and windpipe.

The tip of the tongue must hue drawn forward and out of the mouth, as otherwise it will fall back into the throat and impede breathing. This is an important matter, for if it is not done successfully all that would otherwise be gained by artificial breathing may not be accomplished. If you are not alone the matter becomes simpler. Let a bystander grasp the tongue with a dry handkerchief to prevent it slipping from the fingers, or he may cover his fingers with sand for the same purpose. If you are alone with the patient draw the 416tongue well out and tie it against the lower teeth in this manner: Lay the center of a dry strip of cloth on the tongue, which is drawn out over the teeth, and cross it under the chin. Carry the ends around the neck and tie them at the sides of the neck, which will keep the tongue from slipping back. You are now ready to begin the actual restoration of life.

If the ground is sloping turn the patient upon the face, the head down hill; step astride the hips, your face toward the head, lock your fingers together under the abdomen, raise the body as high as you can without lifting the forehead from the ground, give the body a smart jerk to remove the accumulating mucus from the throat and water from the windpipe; hold the body suspended long enough to slowly count five; then repeat the jerks two or three times.

The patient being still upon the ground, face down, and maintaining all the while your position astride the body, grasp the points of the shoulders by the clothing, or, if the body be naked, thrust your fingers into the armpits, clasping your thumbs under the points of the shoulders, and raise the chest as high as you can without lifting the head quite off the ground and hold it long enough to slowly count three.

Replace the patient slowly upon the ground, with the forehead upon the bent arm, the neck straightened out, and the mouth and nose free. Place your elbows against your knees and your hands upon the sides of his chest over the lower ribs, and press downward and inward with increasing force long enough to slowly count two. Then suddenly let go, grasp the shoulders as before, and raise the chest; then press upon the ribs, etc. These alternate movements should be repeated ten to fifteen times a minute for an hour at least, unless breathing is restored sooner. Use the same regularity as in natural breathing.

After breathing has commenced and not before, unless there is a house very close, get the patient where covering may be obtained, to restore the animal heat. Wrap in warm blankets, apply bottles of hot water, hot bricks, etc., to aid in the restoration of heat. Warm 417the head nearly as fast as the body, lest convulsions come on. Rubbing the body with warm cloths or the hand and gently slapping the fleshy parts may assist to restore warmth and the breathing also.

When the patient can swallow give hot coffee, tea or milk. Give spirits sparingly, lest they produce depression. Place the patient in a warm bed, give him plenty of fresh air and keep him quiet.

Another method which is perhaps simpler than the first and equally effective is as follows:

The water and mucus are supposed to have been removed from the mouth, and the tongue secured by the means above described. The patient is to be placed on his back, with a roll made of a coat or a shawl under the shoulders. The nurse should kneel at the head and grasp the elbows of the patient and draw them upward until the hands are carried above the head and kept in this position until one, two, three can be slowly counted. This movement elevates the ribs, expands the chest and creates a vacuum in the lungs into which the air rushes, or, in other words, the movement produces inspiration. The elbows are then slowly carried downward, placed by the sides and pressed inward against the chest, thereby diminishing the size of the latter and producing expiration. These movements should be repeated about fifteen times during each minute for at least two hours, provided the signs of animation present themselves.

WHEN ONE FALLS INTO THE WATER

If a person who cannot swim falls into deep water, it is still possible in many instances for him to save his own life if he can keep his wits about him. Remember that one always rises to the surface at once after falling into deep water, and that the person must not raise his arms or hands above the water unless there is something to take hold of, for the weight thus raised will sink the head below the point of safety. Motions of the hands under water, however, will do no harm, for in quiet water, with the head thrown back a little, the face will float above the surface unless heavy boots and clothing drag 418the person down. The slow motion of the legs as if walking upstairs, keeping as nearly perpendicular as possible, will help to keep one afloat until aid comes.

WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF SUFFOCATION

Suffocation from any cause may be treated in some details the same as apparent drowning.

For suffocation from hanging, remove all the clothing from the upper part of the body and proceed to restore breathing in the way directed under the subject of drowning. Of course if the neck is broken there is no hope in this.

For suffocation from gas and poisonous vapors, get the person into the open air, relieve the lungs of the gas and restore natural breathing in the same way as directed in case of drowning. Throw cold water upon the face and breast and hold strong vinegar to the nostrils of the patient. If oxygen can be obtained promptly, it should be forced into the lungs.

HOW TO REVIVE A FAINTING PERSON

In a case of fainting lay the patient on his back with his head slightly lower than his feet. Be sure that the room is fully ventilated with fresh air, and rub gently the palms of the hands, the wrists, the arms and the forehead. Sprinkle a little cold water upon the face and hold to the nose a napkin upon which spirits of camphor, ether, ammonia or vinegar has been sprinkled.

SUNSTROKE AND HOW TO TREAT IT

In case of sunstroke get the patient into the coolest place you can, loosen the clothes about his neck and waist, lay him down with his head a little raised, and cool him off as promptly as possible. Cloths wrung out in cold water, applied to the head, wrists and soles of the feet, are the simplest applications. In severe cases of extreme prostration 419from sunstroke, the patient should be immersed in cold water, and even in an ice pack to get prompt results. After a little recovery is visible careful nursing is the next important thing. Sunstroke is commonly a summer disease, but the same conditions may come from overwork in extremely hot rooms. It begins with pain in the head, or dizziness, quickly followed by a loss of consciousness and complete prostration. The head is often burning hot, the face dark and swollen, the breathing labored, and the extremities are cold. If the latter detail is observed, mustard or turpentine should be applied to the calves of the legs and the soles of the feet, after which the hands should be chafed with flannels or with the palms of the hands. In case of genuine sunstroke lose no time in calling the doctor.

FREEZING AND HOW TO TREAT A CASE

In cases of severe freezing, when a person is apparently frozen to death, great caution is needed. Keep the body in a cold place, handle it carefully, and rub it with cold water or snow for fifteen or twenty minutes. When the surface is red, wipe it perfectly dry and rub with bare warm hands. The person should be then wrapped in a blanket and breathing restored if possible as already directed. It may be necessary to continue the treatment energetically for several hours. A little lukewarm water, or wine, or ginger tea is recommended for the patient to swallow as soon as possible.

THE EYES AND HOW TO CARE FOR THEM

Here are some simple and sound rules for care of the eyes, as formulated by a recognized authority on the subject. Avoid reading and study by poor lights. Light should come from the side of the reader, and not from the back nor from the front. Do not read or study while suffering great bodily fatigue or during recovery from illness. Do not read while lying down. Do not use the eyes too long at a time for anything that requires close application, but give them occasional periods of rest. Reading and study should be done systematically. During study avoid the stooping position, or whatever 420tends to produce congestion of the blood in the head and face. Read with the book on a level with the eyes, or nearly so, instead of in your lap. Select well printed books. Correct imperfection in sight with proper glasses, not selected carelessly by yourself or bought from an irresponsible wandering peddler, but properly fitted by an educated optician. Avoid bad hygienic conditions and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Take sufficient exercise in the open air. Let physical culture keep pace with mental development, for imperfection in eyesight is most usually observed in those who are lacking in physical development.

STYES AND THEIR TREATMENT

A stye is a small boil which projects from the edge of the eyelid, and is sometimes much inflamed and very painful. A poultice of linseed meal or bread and milk will soothe it and soften it. When the stye forms a head showing matter, pierce it with a clean, sharp needle and then apply some mild, soothing ointment.

TO TAKE THE COLOR FROM A BLACK EYE

A black eye is usually caused by a blow and may be a very disfiguring object. If inflamed and painful wash the eye often with very warm water, in which is dissolved a little carbonate of soda. A repeated application of cloths wrung out of very hot water gives relief. A poultice of slippery elm bark mixed with milk and put on warm is also good. To remove the discoloration of the eye bind on a poultice made of the root of “Solomon’s seal.” It is often found sufficient to apply the scraped root at bedtime to the closed eye and the blackness will disappear by morning.

TO REMOVE BITS OF DIRT FROM THE EYE

To remove dirt or foreign particles from the eye take a hog’s bristle and double it so as to form a loop. Lift the eyelid and gently insert the loop under it. Now close the lid down upon the bristle, which may be withdrawn gently and the dirt should come with it.

421Another Process.—Take hold of the upper eyelid with the forefinger and thumb of each hand, draw it gently forward and down over the lower lid, and hold it in this position for about a minute. When at the end of this time you allow the eyelid to resume its place, a flood of tears will wash out the foreign substance, which will be found near the lower eyelid.

If lime gets into the eyes, a few drops of vinegar and water will dissolve and remove it.

A particle of iron or steel may be extracted from the eye by holding near it a powerful magnet.

When Something Gets into Your Eye.—An easy method of removing bits of foreign bodies from the eye is to place a grain of flaxseed under the lower lid and close the lids. The seed becomes quickly surrounded by a thick adherent mucilage which entraps the foreign body and soon carries it out from the angle of the eye.

QUICK RELIEF FOR EARACHE

To relieve earache take a small piece of cotton batting, depress it in the center with the finger and fill up the cavity with ground black pepper. Gather it into a ball and tie it with thread. Dip the pepper ball into sweet oil and insert it in the ear, then putting cotton over the ear and using a bandage or cap to keep it in place. This application will give immediate relief and can do no injury.

Another Remedy.—Take a common tobacco pipe, put a wad of cotton into the bowl and drop a few drops of chloroform into it. Cover this with another wad of cotton, place the pipe stem to the suffering ear and blow into the bowl. The chloroform vapor will in many cases cause the pain to cease almost immediately.

To destroy insects which fly or crawl into the ear, pour a spoonful of warm olive oil into the ear and keep it there for some hours by means of a wad of cotton batting and a bandage. Afterward it may be washed out with warm water and a small syringe.

TOOTHACHE—A QUICK RELIEF

One of the best mixtures to relieve acute pain and toothache is made as follows: Laudanum, one drachm; gum camphor, four drachms; oil of cloves, one-half drachm; oil of lavender, one drachm; alcohol, one ounce; sulphuric ether, six drachms, and chloroform, five drachms. Apply with lint, or for toothache rub on the gums and upon the face against the tooth.

DISAGREEABLE BREATH—HOW TO CURE

Of course if the trouble comes from the teeth by decay, it is a case for the dentist, and if because the teeth are not properly and frequently cleaned, the remedy is a toothbrush and a good tooth powder.

Bad breath, however, is frequently the result of low vitality or torpidity of the excretory organs, either the skin, bowels, kidneys, liver or lungs. Should one of these, the bowels, for instance, become affected, the others have more work to do. The lungs then have to throw off some of this waste matter, and the result is bad breath. If from one of these causes, or from the stomach, or from catarrh in the nose, a doctor should be called to treat the difficulty intelligently.

For temporary cleansing of the breath, however, the following recommendations are good. A teaspoonful of listerine to half a glass of water makes a wholesome and refreshing gargle and mouth wash. No harm is done if some of it be swallowed. A teaspoonful of powdered charcoal is a good dose to take. A teaspoonful of chlorine water in half a glass of water makes another good mouth wash.

423Of course the teeth should be brushed twice a day at all times, and the listerine is the best of lotions for that use, particularly when used alternately with powdered chalk to whiten the teeth. Do not use a brush that is too stiff, and never brush so hard that you make the gums bleed.

TO STOP NOSEBLEED

A correspondent in the Scientific American declares that the best remedy for nosebleed is in the vigorous motion of the jaws, as if in the act of chewing. A child may be given a wad of paper or a piece of gum and instructed to chew steadily and hard. It is the motion of the jaws that stops the flow of blood.

HICCOUGHS—A SIMPLE CURE

A safe and convenient remedy for hiccoughs is to moisten a teaspoonful of granulated sugar with a few drops of vinegar. The dose is easy to take and the effect is almost immediate.

FELONS OR WHITLOWS AND THEIR TREATMENT

A felon, or whitlow, although not very large, may become not only very painful but dangerous if neglected. The milder ones may be treated with hot water, cloths and poultices, and if matter forms may be relieved by a lancet. There are others, however, which, if neglected, gradually affect the bone of the finger where they form, and these need the attention of a surgeon as soon as they begin to be very troublesome.

As soon as the finger begins to swell wrap the part affected with cloth soaked thoroughly with tincture of lobelia. This rarely fails to cure. Another simple remedy is to stir one-half teaspoonful of water into one ounce of Venice turpentine until the mixture appears like granulated honey. Coat the finger with it and bandage. The pain 424should vanish in a few hours. A poultice of linseed and slippery elm will help to draw the felon to a head, and when a small white spot in the center of the swelling indicates the formation of matter it should be carefully opened with the point of a large needle. A poultice of powdered hops will help to relieve the pain.

SIMPLE CURE FOR WARTS

Oil of cinnamon dropped on warts three or four times a day will cause their disappearance, however hard, large, or dense they may be. The application gives no pain and causes no suppuration.

CORNS AND CORN CURES

Corns are always the result of continued pressure, such as wearing shoes too small or not properly fitted to the foot. At first they are merely thickenings of the outer skin, but in time they come to be connected with the true skin beneath, and even with the muscles. There are almost as many corn cures advertised and recommended as there are corns, and sometimes they all fail, but here are a few of the most approved:

Soak the corn for half an hour in a solution of soda, and after paring it as closely as possible without pain apply a plaster of the following ingredients: Purified ammonia, two ounces; yellow wax, two ounces, and acetate of copper, six drachms. Melt the first two together and after removing them from the fire add the copper acetate just before they grow cold. Spread this ointment on a piece of soft leather or on linen and bind it in place. If this application is kept on the corn faithfully for two weeks there should be a certain cure.

The soft corn occurs between the toes and from the same causes, but in consequence of the moisture which reaches it, it remains permanently soft. It may be healed by first cutting away the thick skin from the surface, then touching it with a drop of Friar’s balsam and keeping a piece of fresh cotton for a cushion between the toes.

425A small piece of lemon bandaged over a corn will help to relieve the pain and enable it to be treated to good advantage.

Corn plasters made of felt, with a hole punched through the center, will cushion the troublesome visitor so that it may be treated with the proper remedies and the pain be relieved at the same time.

BOILS AND CARBUNCLES—HOW TO TREAT THEM

Boils prove that an impurity exists in the blood, and the general health should be improved by means of careful diet and regular habits. The bowels must be kept open and regular, and the food should be simple, easily digested, and not heating.

Poultice the boil from the beginning with bread and linseed meal mixed with a little glycerine or sweet oil. When fully to a head and ripened the boil should be opened and the pus drained out. Then dress the wound with some soothing ointment spread on soft linen.

Carbuncles are apt to be much more serious than ordinary boils, and are very weakening to the system, in which they show a weakness already to exist. They should be carefully poulticed and treated as above, but the best advice is to call a good doctor and draw on his knowledge of treatment at once.

THE PROPER WAY TO MAKE A MUSTARD PLASTER

The making of a mustard plaster may seem a very simple thing, yet there are few households in which it is properly done. Care and attention must be given the work in order to have the results satisfactory.

A plaster should never be applied cold to a patient, the shock being too great. It should either be mixed with warm water or well heated after mixing. Strong ground mustard should be used, a little flour added, and the whole stirred to a smooth, thick paste with warm borax water, which soothes and prevents too great irritation. Some 426nurses add a teaspoonful of molasses or mix the mustard with the white of an egg. When prepared spread a piece of old linen on a warm plate, cover with the mixture, lay a second cloth over and apply at once. If allowed to remain on until the skin is burned or blistered, bathe gently with a little borax water, dry, and rub with vaseline.

DANGER IN DAMP SHEETS

Among the dangers which beset travelers in strange hotels and elsewhere is the really great peril of sleeping in damp sheets. It is hard enough to secure the proper airing of linen and clothes at home. Unless each article is unfolded and its position changed until all the moisture has been driven out of it, it is really not fully dried. As a matter of fact heavy articles, such as sheets, are scarcely ever thoroughly dry, and when delicate persons, perhaps fatigued by a journey, seek rest in a bed made of them, they risk rheumatism and other mischief. In case of doubt it is better to remove the sheets from the bed and sleep in the blankets until assured that the linen is thoroughly dry.

TAR AND TURPENTINE FOR DIPHTHERIA

The vapors of tar and turpentine are of great value in the treatment of diphtheria. The process is simple. Pour equal parts of turpentine and tar into a tin pan or cup and set fire to the mixture. A dense resinous smoke arises which clouds the air of the room. The patient immediately experiences relief. The choking and rattle in the throat stop, the patient falls into a slumber, and seems to inhale the smoke with pleasure. The vapors dissolve the fibrous membrane which chokes up the throat in croup and diphtheria, and it is coughed up readily. A remedy so convenient and so easily given should be in every household for prompt use when necessary.

Turpentine also is a convenient remedy for croup. Saturate a piece of flannel with it and place the flannel on the throat and chest. In a very severe case three or four drops in a lump of sugar may be taken internally.

By careful treatment, pitting in smallpox may be generally prevented. One successful method is to dissolve India rubber in chloroform and then paint the skin, where exposed, with this solution, by means of a soft camel’s-hair brush. When the chloroform has evaporated, which it very soon does, a thin film of India rubber is left over the face. This relieves itching and irritation, and permits the patient to be more comfortable in addition to preventing the pitting. Another suggestion is to keep the whole body, face and all, covered with calamine, or native carbonate of zinc, which must be purified and pulverized for the purpose. It may be shaken onto the body from a common pepper box. To assist in relieving the inflammation sprinkle an ounce of powdered camphor between the under sheet and the pad on which it rests, scattering powder the whole length of the bed, and freely where the back and shoulders are lying. This gives great relief to the sufferer.

MEDICAL USES OF WHITE OF EGG

It may not be generally known that there is nothing more soothing for either a burn or a scald than the white of an egg. It is contact with the air which makes a burn so painful, and the egg acts as a varnish, and excludes the air completely, and also prevents inflammation. An egg beaten up lightly, with or without a little sugar, is a good remedy in cases of dysentery and diarrhea; it tends by its emollient qualities to lessen the inflammation, and by forming a transient coating for the stomach and intestines gives those organs a chance to rest until nature shall have assumed her healthful sway over the diseased body. Two, or at the most three, eggs a day would be all that would be required in ordinary cases, and since the egg is not only medicine but food, the lighter the diet otherwise and the quieter the patient is kept the more rapid will be the recovery.

Lemons have a very wide variety of uses. For all people, either in sickness or in health, lemonade is a safe drink. It corrects biliousness. It is a specific or positive cure for many kinds of worm and skin diseases. Lemon juice is the best remedy known to prevent and cure scurvy. If the gums are rubbed daily with lemon juice it will keep them in health. The hands and the nails are also kept clean, white and soft by the daily use of lemon instead of soap. It also removes freckles and prevents chilblains. Lemon used in intermittent fever is mixed with strong, hot black tea, or coffee without sugar. Neuralgia may be relieved by rubbing the part affected with a lemon. It is valuable also for curing warts, and it will destroy dandruff on the head by rubbing the roots of the hair with it.

PAINTED WALLS BEST FOR SICK ROOMS

The walls of the room used for sickly members of a family should be painted so they can be easily washed. The painted wall is the only clean wall. A papered wall is an abomination where there is sickness, and a plastered wall can be made safe only by frequent whitewashing. But the painted wall may be washed with disinfectants when necessary, and when painted some dainty shade it is never a trial to sick eyes.

VALUE OF PLANTS IN THE SICK ROOM

It was once thought that it was injurious to the sick to have plants growing in the room, and science never did a kinder thing than when it proved the contrary to be true.

TO AVOID CONTAGION IN THE SICKROOM

If it is necessary to enter a sick room, particularly where there is fever, these simple rules should be observed to avoid contagion. Never enter fasting. At least take a few crackers or some such 429simple food before going in. Do not stand between the patient and the door where the current of air would naturally strike you. Avoid sitting on or touching the bed clothes as much as possible, and do not inhale the patient’s breath. The hands should always be washed in clean water before leaving the room, in order not to carry infection by them to other people or things you may need to touch. After visiting a fever patient change the clothes if possible. As soon as a fever is over and the patient is convalescent, the dress which has been used by the nurse should be fumigated in the same manner as the bedding, as already explained.

LIME AND CHARCOAL AS DISINFECTANTS

Housekeepers are gradually being educated up to a more practical knowledge of the laws of sanitation, and are coming to understand that cleanliness consists in something more than scrubbing the floors and washing the windows. Hence the following hint: A barrel each of lime and charcoal in the cellar will tend to keep that part of the house dry and sweet. A bowl of lime in a damp closet will dry and sweeten it. A dish of charcoal in a closet or refrigerator will do much toward making these places sweet. The power of charcoal to absorb odors is much greater directly after it has been burned than when it has been exposed to the air for a length of time. Charcoal may be purified and used again by heating it to a red heat. The lime must be kept in a place where there is no danger of its getting wet, and not exposed to the air.

CHLORIDE OF LIME AS A DISINFECTANT

Chloride of lime is a great purifier and disinfectant. One pound of it mixed with three gallons of water makes a solution which may be used for many purposes. To purify rooms, sprinkle it on the floor and even on the bed linen. Infected clothes should be dipped in it and wrung out just before they are washed. The lime without water may be sprinkled about slaughter houses, sinks, water closets and 430wherever there are offensive odors, and in a few days the smell will pass away. The odor of decaying vegetables or of dead animals is soon dispersed by the lime.

HOW TO PURIFY FOUL WATER

Two ounces of permanganate of potash thrown into a cistern will purify foul water sufficiently to make it drinkable. This is the disinfectant known as “Condy’s solution.” It is used in destroying the odors in the hold of vessels, and for many other disinfectant uses.

A WORD CONCERNING GOOD DIGESTION

In a recent novel one of the characters—a woman, of course—is made to speak the following interesting sentiments about husbands: “The very best of them don’t properly know the difference between their souls and their stomachs, and they fancy they are wrestling with their doubts, when really it is their dinners that are wrestling with them. Now, take Mr. Bateson hisself; a kinder husband or better Methodist never drew breath, yet so sure as he touches a bit of pork he begins to worry hisself about the doctrine of election till there’s no living with him. And then he’ll sit in the front parlor and engage in prayer for hours at a time till I say to him, ‘Bateson,’ says I, ‘I’d be ashamed to go troubling the Lord with such a prayer when a pinch of carbonate o’ soda would set things straight again.’”

A PRACTICAL SPRING REMEDY

It is nourishing and helps to clear out the system, to give sulphur and molasses every night for nine days some time during the spring. Sulphur and cream of tartar may be given instead. This may be made into little pills, using a little molasses to form a paste, and each pill being rolled in sugar.

CASTOR OIL—MAKING IT EASY TO TAKE

Castor oil may be taken with ease if its taste be disguised. One way is to put a tablespoonful of orange juice in a glass, pour the 431castor oil into the center of the juice, where it will stay without mixing, and then squeeze a few drops of lemon juice upon the top of the oil, rubbing some of the same juice on the edge of the glass. The person who drinks the dose without delay will find the nauseous flavor completely covered.

The French administer castor oil to children in a novel way. They pour the oil into a pan over the fire, break an egg into it and “scramble” them together. When it is cooked they add a little salt or sugar or some jelly, and the sick child eats it agreeably without discovering the disguise.

Castor oil may be beaten with the white of an egg until they are thoroughly mixed and not difficult to take.

CREAM OF TARTAR A MILD CATHARTIC

Cream of tartar is a good laxative. Take a teaspoonful mixed with a little sugar in a cup of warm water at night. If it does not have the desired effect, repeat the dose in the morning. It will often work off colds and other maladies in their incipient stage.

BOILED MILK FOR BOWEL DISEASES

Boiled milk, taken while still hot, is one of the best of foods in almost all bowel complaints, and is very successful as a remedy. In India, where the climate produces many such ailments, it is in constant use for such purposes. A physician in practice there says that a pint every four hours will check the most violent diarrhea, stomach ache, incipient cholera or dysentery. It is soothing and healing to the whole digestive tract. No patient will need other food during bowel troubles, so that the same simple preparation serves at once for medicine and nourishment.

WHEN TO EAT FRUIT AND WHY

If people ate more fruit they would take less medicine and have much better health. There is an old saying that fruit is gold in the morning and lead at night. As a matter of fact, it may be gold at 432both times, but it should be eaten on an empty stomach, and not as a dessert, when the appetite is satisfied and the digestion is already sufficiently taxed. Fruit taken in the morning before the fast of the night has been broken is very refreshing, and it serves as a stimulus to the digestive organs. A ripe apple or an orange may be taken at this time with good effect. Fruit to be really valuable as an article of diet should be ripe, sound and in every way of good quality, and if possible it should be eaten raw. Instead of eating a plate of ham and eggs and bacon for breakfast, most people would do far better if they took some grapes, pears or apples—fresh fruit as long as it is to be had, and after that they can fall back on stewed prunes, figs, etc. If only fruit of some sort formed an important item in their breakfast women would generally feel brighter and stronger, and would have far better complexions than is the rule at present.

FOR FEVER OR SORE THROAT PATIENTS

Put some ice in a towel and crush it until it is as fine as snow and of an even fineness. Then squeeze on it the juice of an orange or lemon, and sprinkle over it a little sugar. It is a very pleasant food for persons suffering with sore throat.

WAKEFULNESS CURED BY LEMON JUICE

The wakefulness that comes from drinking too strong tea or coffee can be conquered, says a household informant, by swallowing a dash of fresh lemon juice from a quartered lemon, placed in readiness on the bedside table, and taken at the time you discover that sleep will not come.

FRUIT AS AN ANTIDOTE FOR INTEMPERANCE

A writer in a European temperance journal calls attention to the value of fruit as an antidote to the craving for liquor. He says: “In Germany, a nation greatly in advance of other countries in matters relative to hygiene, alcoholic disease has been successfully coped with by dieting and natural curative agencies. I have said that the use of fresh fruit is an antidote for drink craving, and this is true.

433“The explanation is simple. Fruit may be called nature’s medicine. Every apple, every orange, every plum and every grape is a bottle of medicine. An orange is three parts water—distilled in nature’s laboratory—but this water is rich in peculiar fruit acids medicinally balanced, which are specially cooling to the thirst of the drunkard and soothing to the diseased state of his stomach. An apple or an orange, eaten when the desire for ‘a glass’ arises, would generally take it away, and every victory would make less strong each recurring temptation.

“The function of fresh fruit and succulent vegetables is not so much to provide solid nourishment as to supply the needful acids of the blood. Once get the blood pure and every time its pure nutrient stream bathes the several tissues of the body it will bring away some impurity and leave behind an atom of healthy tissue, until, in time, the drunkard shall stand up purified—in his right mind.”

HOME REMEDY FOR CONSUMPTION

Dr. B. J. Kendall, of Saratoga Springs, New York, urges the use of milk strippings in curing consumption. He says that milk strippings taken in large quantities immediately after milking, before the animal heat has departed, are the most potent remedy known for building up a poor, debilitated person who is suffering with consumption. “This was only a theory of mine years ago,” he says, “but now I know it to be a fact, for I have demonstrated it to be so. I wish to say it emphatically. If you want to get well drink a quart of strippings. I do not mean any milk from any cow, however poor milk she may give, nor do I mean to take it in a haphazard sort of a way, cold or warmed up or just as it may best suit your convenience; but take it regularly, at the proper time, and in the proper manner, and have all your diet and habits regulated by proper hygienic laws.”

STAMMERING CURED AT HOME

It is said that stammering can be cured by this plan: Go into a room alone with a book and read aloud to yourself for two hours, 434keeping your teeth tightly shut together. Do this every two or three days, or once a week if very tiresome, always taking care to read slowly and distinctly, moving the lips, but not the teeth. Then when conversing with others try to speak as slowly as possible, keeping your mind made up not to stammer. Undoubtedly your teeth and jaws will ache while you are doing it, but the result will be good enough to pay for the discomfort.

Sixty-four pages are here added to the folios to include full-page illustrations not before numbered, making a total of 490 pages.

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