■ y 'Wa. • THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 8085 L993a Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue U. of I. Library Ml? 7 '38 SEP 1 3 f Qr'r JOD MAS 1 1 13 1 8057-S THE ^Vfro-^merican School Speaker and Gems of Literature Sdfeool Commencements, Literary Circles, Debating Clubs, and Rbetoricals Generally. BT Miles V. Lynk, M. D., Formerly Editor of “The Medical and Surgical Observer;” Compiler of “Famous Negro Rulers;” Member of the “American Medical Association of Colored Physicians and Surgeons,” etc. Copyright, i8q6, by M. V. EYNK. PUBLISHED BY THE M. V. LYNK PUBLISHING HOUSE, • JACKSON, TENN. / V'v- . • - "\ ■ • ♦ & I ^>^33 So S- s u?3^ dedication. To the 1 500. 000 Afro-American School Children In the United States and Canada. And to the Noble sons and daughters of Hand Whose lofty, soul inspiring And in many instances, Cl assic u tterances And contained herein, This little volume s prayerfully Dedicated By their humble servant B it mete to all what’s simply just And thus discharge their sacred trust. Morals, wealth and education. Essentials are in every station, True culture and true Godly fear, Their blessed fruit will surely bear. One day ’s as thousands in His sight, Who ordered forth this latter light, Which first on Calvary’s mount was seen* A light sent down from God to men. That promised day, that perfect day Will come sure as to God we pray, When with the best of human kind We’ll stand, and favor with them find. Receive the treatment due to man. Our color then no more a ban ; When justice, reason, right will rule, And there shall be a different school. r ^ ' 1 ■ ' Iff j** ' , Of ethics and philosophy, And draft be present sophistry. When that day comes you will he proud,, AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 15 To say you helped to rend the shroud That did impall our darkened reason And kept us back so long a season. I know thou wilt, for, at thy best, Thou ’rt not unkind and will not rest Beneath a sense of what’s unjust, Nor grind thy brother in the dust For, thou ’rt my brother, I am thine, Of one blood, formed by hands divine, Same human nature in each breast, Upon whose base most actions rest. TRUE WEALTH. (by o. m. steward.) Did I possess in wealth of love, The classics all combined ; Had I explored the mines of earth, Where treasures lie confined; Did Science bow her lofty head, And bend to me the knee ; Did heads now pressed by crowns of gold, And hands that sceptred be, 1C AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER Fall off and roll at my command, And I stood king alone ; And denizens from other worlds, Did wait around my throne ; I should be far the poorer then, With all my wealth and power, If Christ reigned not within my heart, If God was not my tower; Than I am now with simple faith, By which I ‘‘Abba” cry ; With God and Christ and heaven and life. And fearing not to die. THE INFLUENCE OF THE NEGRO CITIZENSHIP. Extract from an address delivered by Booker T. Washington , before the J\ at’l Educational Ass’ n, at Buffalo , N. V., July . io, 1896. “It is interesting to note the sugges- tions which have been made toward im- proving the condition or getting rid of the Negro in this country. The problem will not be solved by the ‘getting rid' AND GEMS OF LI flfiRATURE 17 method. I notice that if a man has i per cent, of Negro blood, he is a Negro, so you see we are a strong race, and at that rate instead of your absorbing us, we will ab- sorb you. “No ! There is only one way to solve the Negro problem, and that is, treat him like a Christian gentleman. “Besides, we have more right here than you have, for we came here by special invitation, while you people came here in 1492, against the protest of the leading citizens. Now we are here we are going to stay and help lift you up. (Laughter.) What is the actual need of the people in the Black Belt of the South? Most of them are ignorant, poor and in debt. Schools on the plantations are rarely in session over three months. Each child on these plantations has allowed for his education about 90 cents. Ninety cents for the black boy in Alabama and $18 for the white boy i.i Massachusetts ! 18 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER “What is the remedy ? One thing sure ■ slavery gave the Negro one good quality, the habit of work. But the trouble is their labors are confined to the lower forms. At Tuskegee, we are trying to train young men and women to do the higher kind of work. The Negro can raise the cotton, but he cannot follow it up through the mills. The Negro is allowed to get pig iron, but when he tries to follow it to the watchspring the door is shut in his face. The Negro must be trained so that he can do the higher work. u But what is the remedy ? I can show you a people who have had a leader for io years, and who have under his guid- ance, solved the problem for themselves. And I saw a white man, a Southern man who had gained so much faith in the Negro’s ability, he has given $400 this year for their education. “The greatest injury that slavery did my people was to prevent them from ex- ercising their reasoning faculties, which AND OEMS OF LITERATURE, 19 would lead them to look out for them* selves. For 250 years they depended on somebody else for everything and you cannot expect them to learn to do for themselves in 30 years, unless they have a guide who will show them, what to dp first. ‘‘The emotional side of our nature leads ns to spend a large part of our time getting ready to live in the next world. They have a song down in Louisiana which says; 'Give Me Jesus, You Take .All the World/ and the white man takes him at his word! (Storm of laughter and applause). “Now I think they had better have our rreligion, and a little of this world’s good things along with it* “I claim that during the last 30 years we have not had the chance to become half men., but if we can have the same help in the future which we have had in the past, we are not only going to be whole men, but we will be solid, ,sobe r 20 AFaO AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER and helpful American citizens. That the South, staggering under the “burden at the close of the war, has made mistakes in handling the Negro, is not strange. “Think of the difference between the boy of the South and the boy of the North. You must help us to raise the level of our character, or we shall lower yours. “It seems to me that this matter should be taken away from politics and party and society, and made a question of duty* of man toman, of Christian to Christian., “X have come to the point where I can sympathise with a white mam as well as. a black mam. No race can go on shelter- ing hatred for another race without being; degraded., I say no m an is going to drag me down by making me hate him, “I cannot say too, much for industrial education.. Unless a man has something you want, you do not care much about; him. When a black man in the South,, who spends $ to, ooo a. year in freight AND Q^MS OF DITKRATUNK, 2J charges to a railroad, wants to ride* he has no difficulty in getting a seat in the white man’s ear, and if there is not one, a Pullman palace car will be put on for him. That is what it means to know something and be somebody. That is the trend of industrial .education, “In conclusion,, I make no selfish plea. It is to save yourselves. The Negro can afford to have yon wrong him,* but you cannot afford to do it. We are simple people and can wait. If a people wants to push the Negro down* we can help to pull you up. We went into slavery with- out knowledge and came °ni American citizens. We went in without a language and came out with the ballot in our hands. ;Education— it will be the Negro!? guiding ..starA XHJg OUTLOOK. Tak ing all the eircti ms tan ces Into con- sideration, the colored people have no ineasou to despair. We still jive, and 22 AFROAMFRICAN SCHOOL SPFAKFR while there is life there is hope. The fact that we have endured wrongs and hardships which would have destroyed any other race, and have increased in numbers and public consideration ought to strengthen our faith in ourselves and our future. Let us, then, wherever we are, whether at the North or at the South, resolutely struggle on in the belief that there is a better day coming, and that we, by patience, industry, uprightness and economy may hasten that better day. I will not listen myself and I will not have you listen , to the nonsense, that no people can succeed in life among a people by whom they have been despised and op- pressed. The statement is erroneous, and contradicted by the whole history of human progress. A few centuries ago, all Europe was cursed with serfdom, a slavery. Traces of this bondage still re- main, but are not easily visible. The Jews, only a century ago, were despised, hated and oppressed^ hut they have de~ AND GEMS OF LITERATURE- 23 fled, met and vanquished the hard con- ditions imposed upon them, and are now opulent and pqwerful, and compel respect in all countries. Take courage from the example of all religious denominations that have sprung up since Martin Luther. Each in its turn has been oppressed and persecuted. Yet all in turn have conquered the pre- judice and hate of their surroundings. Greatness does not come to any people on flowery beds of ease. We must fight to win the prize. No people to whom liberty is given, can hold it so firmly or wear it so grandly as those who wrench their liberty from the iron hand of the tyrant. The hardships and dangers in- volved in the struggle give strength and toughness to the character, and enable it to stand firm ill storm, as well as in sun- shine. One more thought before I leave this subject, aud it is a. thought I wish you all to lay to heart. Practice it your- selves, and teach it to your children— -it 24 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER is this : Neither we, nor any other people, will ever be respected until we re- spect ourselves, and we will never respect ourselves until we have the means to live respectably. An exceptionally poor and dependent people will be despised by the opulent, and despise themselves. You cannot make an empty sack stand on end. A race which cannot save its earnings, which spends all it makes, and goes in debt when it is sick, can never rise in the scale of civilization, no matter under what laws it may chance to be. Put us in Kansas or Africa, and until we learn to save more than we spend, we are sure to sink and perish. It is not in the nature of things, that we should be equally rich in this world’s goods. Some will be more successful than others, and poverty, in many cases, is the result of misfortune, rather than of crime ; but no race can afford to have all its members the vie is of this misfortune, without being con- sidered a worthless race. Pardon me, AND G$:.I3 OF DITFRATURD. 25 therefore, for urging upon you, my people, the importance of saving your earnings, of denying yourselves in the present that you may have something in the future, of consuming less for yourselves, that your children may have a start in life, when you are gone. With money and property comes the means of knowledge and power. A poverty stricken class will be an ignorant and despised class, and no amount of sentiment can make it other- wise. This part of our destiny is in our hands. Every dollar you lay up repre- sents one day’s independence -one day of rest and security in the future. If the time shall ever come when we shall possess in the colored people of the United States, a class of men noted for enterprise, industry, economy and suc- cess, we shall no longer have any trouble in the matter of civil and political rights! The battle against popular prejudice shall have been fought and won, and in common with all other races and colors \ 26 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER we shall have an equal chance in the race for life. The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal. We shall reap as we sow. There is no escape. The con- ditions of success are universal and un- changeable. The nation or people which shall comply with them, will rise, and those which violate them will fall, and, perhaps, will disappear altogether. No power beneath the sky can make an ignorant, wasteful and idle people pros- perous, or a licentious people happy. One ground of hope for my people is founded upon the returns of the last cen- sus. One of the most disheartening ethnological speculations concerning us has been that we shall die out ; that, like the Indian, we shall perish in the blaze of Caucasian civilization. The census sets that heresy concerning us to rest. We are more than holding our own in all the Southern states. We are no longer 27 AND GIOMS OF LITERATURE. four million® of slaves, but six millions of freemen. [: Delivered by Fred, Douglass, at Flmtm, N> Y. f August j, /gdo.J “WANTED HIGHER IDEALS." {BY FKOff, w. m, Fx tract from an address delivered to the graduating class of Lane College, May 1896. I shall speak tto you on the ^Need of a Higher Ideal Manhood,” The exaltation of mind over matter, of love over hate 4 will magnify man im the sight of man as an the sight of his Maker. Only ideals are immortal, and men are immortal as they stand for ideals, Nations and indi- viduals come down to ns through their -intellectual forces. Sparta, whose only thought was the exaltation of matter over mind, whose only school was that of cunning and blood, left no masters of anind in art, science and literature as did Athens. \ :58 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER Often out of the death of the material springs' up new mental powers, grand soul forces which lift the world to brighter hopes, to higher ambition, to purer thought, to holier deeds to God. This hour demands a higher manhood and the responsibility for making the world better rests upon every individual in the com- munity. Every man is an ideal, high" or low, and pulls the world up or drags it: down, to the extent of his influence. The higher ideal recognizes only that superi- ority which does superior deeds in lifting 'mankind to superior conditions. Michael Angelo saw the image of an angel in a. piece of rough marble. Nero, cold and material, saw nothing but the insensate .stone with which to pile into monuments; to tell of his cruelty and the carnage of: the Ronian sword. Raphael looked on canvas and threw upon it in sublimity and beauty the harmonious ideals of his; soul. Napoleon saw only tented., fields q£ blood, and death. AND GEMS OF EITERATURE, ^ Hold up the ideals of peace and love before the youth of the land. Do not put before them those things which will make them cruel and wicked. We must break away from old customs and habits and stand out boldly for higher and purer thought. It is easy to move gregariously with the masses, but it requires courage to step out for truth and justice to all men regardless of race or color, The human mind can form no loftier ideal than that of obedience to law. Let the law be supreme and let every man be subject thereto. The community or the 'inaii who violates law will be the great sufferer. Take high stand in all the ■walks of life and in all dealings with men. It is better to be wronged than to uvrong. It is better to be. slandered thar 'to slander. No man -can afford to have jow thoughts, to say low things and do 'low deeds. Wealth sought for the sake of wealth, is the lowest of ideals, and only the desire to have power over men. ZO AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Th is low ideal of wealth causes the crash of banks* the wreck of business concerns and the ruin of communities. Wealth is only valuable as it exalts mind over matter. Any other ideal of wealth is low and sinful. BY' Jv e. M ? ‘Al>AMS s l‘SNN. You may talk about the Negro* You may name his faults infinite^ But you cannot turn a wheel That a Negro isn’t in it. You may block his civil rights, You may say yon are u ag’in it But before yon turn around, Some sharp Negro will he in it*. You may build your Chinese walls*, You may plan for every minute 5 But with all your wildly schemes,, Some few Negroes will he in it. > THE NEGRO “IN IT/* AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 31 You may form your “Lilly Whites,” You may kill your bear and skin it ; When the pie is passed around, Some shrewd Negro will be in it. Be it high, or be it low, From the cook pot to the Senate ; There is not a place on earth, That a Negro isn’t in it. % So my friend just stop your folly, Draw this thought out now, and spin it, God intends from first to last, That a Negro must be in it. You may try the plan of Pharoah, Kill the race out, try to thin it ; When the census rolls are called, Negroes always will be in it. If you keep on with your lynching, Take this thought down now and pine it; When you reach the shores of shoel, You will find some Negroes in it. 32 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER You may reach the land Beulah, If perchance you e’er should win it ; Don’t you emigrate my brother, When you see some Negroes in it. FORTUNE ON THE VALOR AND FUTURE OF HIS RACE. Extract from an address by T. T. Fortune , on “Colored People's Day ” at the Cotton Palace , Waco, Texas. Ladies and gentlemen: It is often said of the Afro-American in the south that he has no past, that he has no history ; hut the fact remains and it is recorded in the books where it will remain “until the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds” that in every crucial period in the history of this country he was very much in evi- dence. He was the leader of the party that defied the British in Boston harbor before actual war had been declared against the mother country, and the com- monwealth of Massachusetts has but re- AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 33 cently dedicated a monument to com- memorate the fact, upon whose front is engraved the names of Attucks, the black man, and Maverick and Caldwell, who with him shed the first blood that led to the independence of the American colonies and to the establishment of a republic which is to-day one of the richest and most powerful on the globe. And more than that: there were more than 3,000 Afro-American soldiers enlisted in the revolutionary army commanded by Gen. Geo. Washington, of whom it has been written that he was “ first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. 0 We, too, have part with those who have launched the ship of state upon the ocean of nations. Go read what Gen. Andrew Jackson said to the black freeman of New Orleans in the war of 1812, when the British troops invested that stronghold ; read the splendid prom- ises he made them. Then read the valor they displayed in the great battle in 34 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER which Old Hickory routed the red coats. Then, saddest of all, go read how the promises were broken, as they have al- ways been by the American white men, when made to black men ] And in this same war of 1812, mark the part The black soldier played in the navy, especially in the splendid victory won by Commo- dore Perry on Lake Erie. In all the In- dian wars, especially that against the Seminoles in Florida, and the Creeks and Choctaws of Alabama, we bore a valor- ous part ; and then in the great war be- tween the states, this vast audience knows that 200,000 black troops fought in the union army— fought like tigers— and that 2op,ooo of them remained in the fields of the south, and made the supplies that kept the confederate armies in the field, and protected the wives and children of those in the field. Did not these sable children wear the uniform of the gray in a double sense ? We fought on both sides of the question. We did so knowing AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 35 that the success of one side meant free- dom to us, and that the success of the other meant continued servitude. Ladies and gentlemen, you will seek in vain for a parallel to this state of the case in all history. How shall we account for it? It is worth to seek for cause of result so paradoxical .and unusual in the history of mankind. I think not. I think that philosophy and logic may both be silent in the presence of a phenomenon for which a dozen reasons may be given. We have the result. The 200,000 who fought on the Union side received their reward, the gratitude of a re-united people in which a small annual pension reminds them ; they received the emancipation of 4,500,000 of their brethren from the bonds of chattel slavery ; and they received the right to vote, to take part in all high and holy functions of citizenship, of mankind. And what have they received who fought on the side of the Gray ? This is a ques- tion upon which there is much difference 36 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER of opinion. A short time ago, I read of the death and burial of a black man who acted a part in one of the Mississippi regiments. It does not matter what the part was. The man who digs out the foundation of an empire, who cooks the soldiers’ food or grooms the troopers’ charger, plays his part as much as the general who plans the battle and leads the army to victory. The mudsill of society is as necessary as the dome that rises in the sky ; the Websters, the Cal- houns, the Sumners, the Robt. J. Walker, —well, this man died. When he breathed his last, he was drawing a pension from the treasury of Mississippi. The hearse that bore his remains to their final resting olace, was followed by a long line of veterans of the lost cause, battle-scarred veterans of high and low degree, who re- garded the dead black as one of them. They laid him to rest in the sod of his fellows ; and the words of the past sighed in the trees this requiem : AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 37 “On fame’s eternal camping ground, His silent tent is spread ; And glory marks with silent round, The bivouac of the dead.” When I read this silent tribute in a New York paper, my heart swelled with- in me, and I forgot that the man honored had fought on the lost side of a great cause ; I forgot that those who did him honor had had it in their hearts to en- slave me and mine. I remembered only that the brave comrades of the brave dead, had stood at the grave of a fellow soldier, with uncovered head, and paid him the last honors of war and friendship. I know that it is common to call aloud against the white man of the South for certain acts of his which conform neither to logic, nor law, nor gratitude ; but even when doing this, I cannot forget that m every state and city and hamlet and plan- tation in the South, there has always been, and there is to-day, a helpful sym- pathy and interest which sustains the 38 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER weak, which cares for the sick, and in a measure respects the strong. And I be- lieve the time will come, when every difference, now a bone of contention be- tween the races, will have been composed to the satisfaction of all parties interested. My faith in this respect is strong, because I have seen so many changes for the better in the past thirty years. STONEWALL JACKSON. Defiant in the cannon’s mouth, I see a hero of the south, Serene and tall ; So like a Stonewall in the fray He stands, that wond’ring legions say : “He is a wall.” He heeded not the fierce onsets From bristling fields of bayonets ; He heeded not The thunder tread of warring steeds, But holds his men of daring deeds Right on the spot. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. Ana is it insanity ? Nay, this is but the gravity Of that vast mind, That, on his Southland’s altar wrought And forge d the bats of warrior thought Of thunder kind. An eagle eye, a vulture’s fight, A stroke leonine in might ; The man was formed For that resolving, deep inert Which sprang stupendously alert, And, sometimes, stormed. And so, his mount to the charge, Or led the columns small or large, The victor rode ; Till over danger’s castle moat, And in the canon’s silenced throat, His charger trode. And so, with fierce far speed, or near To right and left and on the rear, His fury fell Upon the foe too much to meet ; For Jackson’s soul abhored retreat, Except from bell. 40 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER But comes the saddest at the last, As sad as life’s ideal past — And, oh ! how sad ! That, in his pride, the Stonewall fell By hands of those he loved so well— The best he had. How sad that dark and cruel night Should fold her mantle on the sight Of those tried, true And valiant men, who followed where Their leader went, despising fear And darkness, too ! But sometimes triumph is sublime, The most when on the brink of time, And his was so ; A shady shore beyond he sees, And asks for rest beneath its trees, And it was so. And do you ask, can he whose sweat Hath clods of weary slave toil wet, The praises sing Of one who fought to forget the chain That manacles the human brain ? Do such a thing? AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 41 I answer, yes ! if he who fought, h o uglit bravely and believed he ought, If that can be ; If manhood in the mighty test Of mankind does its manliest Believingly. Then past songs for him shall ring And he shall live while poets sing; And while he lives, And God forgives, The great peculiar martial star, In old Virginia’s crown of war, Will be her Stonewall, proud and sad, The bravest that she ever had. Rev. A. A. Whitman. jfi AFRO-AMERICAN SCKGGIy SFEAAjvn. THE REASON WHY.* It is the eve of battle ; The soldiers are in line ; The roll of drum and bugle blast, Marshall that army fine. The hour is fraught with mystery — A hush pervades that throng, And each one thinks of home and friends, And says at heart, “How long?” The Colonel rides before his men, His thoughtful brow is bare ; He calls the color-sergeant, And tenders to his care The nation’s pride, the dear old flag — The loved red, white and blue, And says with earnest tone, and grave: I intrust this now to you. * Note. — D uring 1 the civil war, May 27, 1863, the colored troops, under Col. Nelson, were given the al- most impossible task of taking Port Hudson. Color- Sergeant Anselmas Planciancois said to Col. Nelson, before the engagement, “Colonel, I will bring back these colors to you in honor, or report to God the reason why.” During the struggle he lost his life and reported “to God the reason why,” AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. Yes, color-bearer, take in charge Your country’s flag to-day, 'And to the conflict bear it— The thickest of the fray. Bear it with lofty courage, And to it faithful be ; This flag has inspired thousands, And led to victory. Take it and never leave it, ’Tis a solemn charge to thee ; Bring back to me this banner, This ensign of the free! “Colonel,” the color-sergeant said, Holding the flag on high, I’ll bring it back or else report To God the reason why ! Away to the front he bears it, Cheered on by comrades brave, Anxious to liberate his race, Bring freedom to the slave. 44 AFRO- AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER They charge upon Port Hudson, Where, sheltered by a wall, The foenien cut them down like grass, They bravely charge— but fall. Yes, on that field, where thousands Unheeding the tumult lie, He left the flag, reporting To God the reason why. Another bears that flag along, Holding it proud and high, But the sergeant has reported To God the reason why. Oh, Christian soldier, going forth To battle for the Lord, Be filled with manly courage, Aud proudly bear God’s word. It is the standard of your King, Who rules the earth and sky; You must win, through it, the victory, Or tell Christ the reason why. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 45 The war will soon be ended ; In the dust you soon will lie ; Go forth and conquer, or report To God the reason why. Geo. C. Rowe. THE FARM HOUSE BY THE RIVER. I know a little country place Where still my heart doth linger, And o’er its fields is every grace Lined out by memory’s finger. Back from the lane where poplar grew And aspens quake and quiver, There stands all bath’d in summer’s glow A farm house by the river. 1 Its eaves are touched with golden light So sweetly, softly shining, And morning glories full and bright About the doors are twining. And there endowed with every grace That nature’s hand could give her, There lived the angel of the place In the farm house by the river. 46 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER Her eyes were blue, her hair was gold, Her face was bright and sunny ; The songs that from her bosom rolled Were sweet as summer’s honey. And I loved her well, that maid divine, And I prayed the Gracious Giver, That I some day might call her mine In the farm house by the river. ’Twas not to be — but God knows best, His will for, aye he heed ! Perhaps amid the angles blest, My little love was needed. Her spirit from its thralldom torn Went singing o’er the river, And that sweet life my heart shall mourn Forever and forever. She died one morn at early light When all the birds were singing, And heaven itself in pure delight Its bells of joy seemed ringing. They laid her dust where soon and late The solemn grasses quiver, And left alone and desolate The farm house by the river. Paul, Dunbar. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 47 IN MEnORIAn— THE dRAND OLD riAN— ( DOUGLASS). The blow that has fallen ! The grand old man Has run his earthly race ; Ham’s greatest son now lieth low In death’s cold stern embrace. Ah ! what a noble life was his ! How grand the lessons taught. ’Gainst odds that would have crushed most men, Undoubtedly he fought. Nor cease to battle, for the cause For which he strove, was won ; And his loved people felt the rays Of freedom’s glorious son. From lowest depths to grandest heights By his own strength he rose, And proved that force and merit win, Tho’ half the world oppose. 4S AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER Genius for lofty flights had he ; Much learning, too, he gained ; In oratory few could reach The high rank he attained. And yet, so simple were his ways, So affable, so kind, Men wondered which the greater was, His genial heart or mind. But now the tongue is hushed, which The threats of foes deterr’d, Which called for justice till the cry A nation’s concience stirred. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; They lay his body low, And as the clods upon it fall, A people’s tears do flow. Our Douglass walks the earth no more His destined work is done ; He made a valiant, glorious fight ; The victor’s crown is won. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. We mourn his loss, our tears will fall Our hearts will throb with pain ; For we all know, on earth we ne’er Shall see his like again. We grieve for our illustrious dead, For, Oh, we loved him well ! And placed upon his hallowed bier A wreath of immortality. Shall not his life inspire us? Shall not his spirit rest ? Upon our race impelling us To strive to do our best ? To work, to elevate ourselves, To seek, to know, to dare ? To fix our standard high, to live Amid a purer air. Grand North Carolina proved that she Has reached the higher plane By honoring the truly great, Despite the fools’ disdain. 50 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER The noblest of the earth will join In reverencing his name. And ages yet unborn will help Perpetuate his fame. But the most fit memorial We can our hero give, The one he would prefer, is this : That we so truly live That Africa’s sons will gain the heights The proudest race have sought, And show the world they can excel In word, in deed, in thought. That sable skin and fleecy hair, Affect not moral worth, That genius dwells as well with us, As with the fair of earth. As some day if we but do our part, Earth will discern the plan, Confess the fatherhood of God, The brotherhood of man. Miss C. M. Thompson. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 51 A CARELESS WORD. ’Twas but a word, a careless, As thistle down it seemed as light, It paused a moment on the air, Then swiftly onward winged its flight. But busy gossip caught the word, And flying rumor gave it weight, And then that little word became A vehicle of angry hate. f Another lip caught up the word And breathed it with a haughty sneer. It gathered weight as on it sped, That careless word in its career. And then that word was winged with fire, Its mission was a thing of pain, For soon it fell like lava drops, Upon a wildly tortured brain. It wrung with anguish, fierce and wild, A bleeding, fainting, quivering heart, ’Twas like a hungry fire that searched Through every tender vital part. 52 AFKO-A:u GKiCAN ISCROOL, speaker And then another" joy of life With bitter burning tears was blurred, A load of care was heavier made, Its added weight that careless word. Oh, how it pierced a bleeding heart, What agony its fountains stirred; It passed, but bitter anguish marked The pathway of that careless word. Mrs. F. E. W. Harper. WE ARE RISING.* a.,. , . Among the sayings of our race, Suggestive and surprising, That fill a most exalted place, Is, “Tell ’them we are rising. ” *Note. — Some ;years ago, Dr. Jos. Roy, of the American Missionary Association visited one of their Georgia schools. Before taking his leave he asked the School : “WTiat message shall I take from you to the people of the North?” One boy, R. Wright, of Augujsta, exclaimed : “Tell them that we are rising.” He is now a graduate of Atlanta University and is, President of the Georgia State Indiistrial School for colored youths, at Savannah. Verily he has risen 1 AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. The question asked for light and truth, What to the North your greeting ? The answer from a Negro youth — “Tell them that we are rising.” Within Atlanta’s classic halls, This youth, self sacrificing, Wrote high his name upon her walls, His motto: “We are rising.” Out in the world he makes his mark, Danger and fear despising, E’er soaring upward like the lark, My brethren : “We are rising.” He meets the foe with voice and pen, With eloquence surprising! Give us a chance, for we are men ! Most surely we are rising ! Rising to take our place beside The noble, the aspiring; With energy and conscience pride, To the best things, we’re rising ! 94 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER Within the class room is his place, Greek, latin, criticising, To raise the youthful of his race, And show the world we’re rising ! Go forth my friend, upon your way, Each obstacle despising, Prove by your efforts every day, To all that we are rising ! In farming, trade and literature, A people enterprising ! Our churches, schools and home life pure, Tell to the world we’re rising. Rev. Geo. C. Rowe. THE RIVER OF DEATH. There is a river broad and wide, Its waters dark and still, But when we reach that swelling tide We need to fear no ill. For just beyond its distant shore, Shines our immortal home ; Where we’ll be safe forevermore, From sorrow’s simplest form. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 55 To some that river is delight, They long to journey o’er ; While others fear to come in sight, Of its cold, dreary shore. Its sloping bank is dark and steep, Doth seem so rough and cold ; That river is so wide and deep, Its depth hath ne’er been told. And yet we must that river pass, Ere our life’s journey’s done ; For time doth glide away so fast ; And soon all will be gone. No earthly friends with you can go Across the dismal way ; They’ll go no further than the shore There earthly ties must stay. But there is one can go with you, Beyond the gloomy tide ; He is so loving, kind and ; He’ll stay close at thy side. AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Then trust in him if you would have, His presence with you stay ; And when this vain world you must leave, He’ll go with you — away. J. E. Gordon. WHEN WE ARE DEAD. BY JOSIE D. HEARD. O, the good things said of us when we are dead, If only while we lived that they were said ; Many a heart were spared a sigh, Joy would lighten many an eye, Where sorrow’s weight we often bear in- stead. We approach the couch of death with quiet dread, With tender tone and very softest tread, As if we feared the slumberer to disturb, We speak with only kindly eyes and word. AND GEMS OF x^iERATURE. 57 The dead are sightless and the lips are dumb, And dull the hearing, never more shall come The pang by us inspired of weary pain, Into that pulseless bosom e’er again. But could we rouse again to life that clay Which once we loved but now so sense- less lay ; No act or speech or look should e’er offend Our dear depaited relative or friend. And so through life, we heavy-hearted go. Within our heart a chamber filled with woe, Then let us turn from those who’ve passed away, Unto the living whom we meet each day. The dead are dead, they neither feel nor hear ; Let tender words fall on a living ear, Who knows how much of comfort will impart, A kind word falling on a troubled heart. 58 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER DARKNESS. Presumptuous darkness, hie away, Thou shalt not, shalt not spoil the day. The night is thine, and thine alone, Avaunt to blackness all thine own. Bright is my day, and calm and clear, I love the peace it brings so near. Presumptuous darkness, hie away, Nor dare break in upon my day. Dost thou indeed not fear the sun, That like a groom doth daily run In garments shimmering as the light — And thou, oh, darkness as the night? Away, presumptuous darkness, hie, On thine own wings of blackness fly. Bright is my day, and calm and clear. It is a day to me most dear. Benj. Tucker Tanner. 59 -NI) GUMS OF EITERATURE. THE MYRTLE HILL GATE. How I wonder if you’ll meet me, By the gateway as of yore, When your scarf unfurled to greet me, When your smile — a welcome bore. Yes, I’ll wonder, muse and ponder, Till I seem with you to wait ; Till I stand beside you yonder, By the fond old Myrtle Hill Gate. Hark ! the old church bells are ringing Lo ! the graves among the trees, And the people, they are singing : What! O! Murdock, what of thee! Is it that the bells are ringing, O’er the alter of your grave ? No, it is my fancy singing, For the meeting that I crave. Meet, then meet, dear Murdock, meet me, When I’ve reached the gate again, After years have tossed and beat me Over life’s unfriendly main. 60 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Come responding to my erring, Banish — all the years to-day, For my heart to you returning, Ne’er — again, shall turn away. Miss Nannie A. Barber. LIFE’S STRUGGLE. If you wish to be successful In the pathway of your life, Press forward, ever seeking The burden of the strife. If the struggle be a fierce one, Fight it with patience, vim ; The end will come before you think, And in it you will win. If you struggle thus with courage, The barriers will surely fall, And you’ll find a way to conquer, Be that power great or small. Tet the maxims of your conscience, Guide and guard you in the fight, And with duty as your watchword, You will ever go aright. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. Push onward then — and upward, Always strive to lead the van, “For as fire doth prove the metal.” So do struggles prove the man. Mrs. F. E. H. Wassom. WRITE THY NAJTE. Write your name upon the sand, The waves will wash it out again, Trace it on the crystal foam, No sooner it is writ than gone. Carve it in the solid oak, ’Tis shattered by the lightning stroke. Chisel it in marble deep, ’Twill crumble down it cannot keep. Seeker for the sweets of fame, On things so frail, write not thy name. With thee ’twill wither, die, rot; On things so frail, then write it not. 62 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHoOE SPEAKER Would’st thou have thy name endure? Go write it in the book of life, Engrave it on the hearts of men, By humble deeds performed in love. N. H. EnseEy. CITIZENSHIP. Extract from an address delivered by Miles V. Lynk , M. D., before the Literary Society of Lane College , 1896. The title citizen was originally applied to the free residents of a city. Its appli- cation has been gradually enlarged until, according to our American ideas, it in- cludes any native born or naturalized in- habitant of a place or country. Thus, a person may be a citizen of a municipality, a country, a state, a combination of states, and I may add, of the world. To-day the world is filled with hero worshippers, and every class, nation or race of persons is appreciated or depreciated according to the status of its citizenship. That u a AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 63 man is a man for a’ that ” is nearer true than we are sometimes led to believe. This brings to our attention a grand theme. It is nothing less than the rivalry and competition of the different branches of the human family. Citizenship carries with it very grave responsibilities at ill imes m general ; because the influence exerted not only affects contemporary citizens, but generations unborn. It car- ries with it grave responsibilities now in particular, because there are problems confronting you, never before confronting a people of such magnitude, of such numbers, since “Go d s aid < Let there be g - • I repeat, never were over 200- °oo,ooo people called upon to solve weightier problems than confront the Negro races of the world to-day. For this reason the preparation of yourselves tor the coming conflict involves a most important undertaking. It^is said When John C. Calhoun was ege, some of his classmates coi 44 A>jO-AMKKJCAN SCHOOL SPEjAKRR ridiculed him for his intense application to his studies. “Why sir” he replied, “I am compelled to make the most of my time in order to acquit myself creditably when in Congress.” The boys laughec* at the very idea. Mr. Calhoun retorted by saying: “If I thought I would not reach the national capitol, as a represen- tative of my people, within three years after my graduation, I would leave college this very day.” While this expression may have been unbecoming, this ambi- tion, self reliance, and high aim in life, were undoubtedly the marked character- istics which brought Calhoun his splendid success in life. Young man, young lady, are you making the most of yonr time? Well did the poet say : “Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves, of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born t o blush un- seen, And waste its sweetness on th< : desert air.” How many young men and young ladies, with God-given privileges, and AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 65 aatual abilities, are wasting their sweet- ness, their talents on the desert air? The world in general, and the Negro race m particular, are wanting men and women of ability — capable of producing results. A brother of the great orator, Edmond Burke, after listening to one of his char- acteristic and eloquent appeals in parlia- ment, was noticed, being engaged in deep meditation. On being asked what he was thinking about, replied : “I am Wondering how Ned contrived to monopo- lize all the talent in the family, but I re- member, ” said he, “all through child- hood while we were at play, he was at study.” Those who do not thus apply themselves should remember the classic words of John Milton, on reaching his 33d birthday : “How soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth,. Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year. My hasting days fly on with full career, F my late spring no bud or blossom howeth.” 66 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER Mark you, the world doesn’t care a fig for any college certificate. It simply asks : What can you do ? What do you know ? I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not wish to be understood as underrating a college education. Far from it ! The drill and discipline you are getting from mathematics and the languages ; the pol- ish you are acquiring from your studies in rhetoric, literature and history ; the depth of thought and mental acumen you are developing from logic and philosophy, will make you veritable giants- — will make you as rich in intellectual acquirements and ability as Croesus was in gold mines and stocks. What I mean to say, is : The world puts no premium upon a dip- loma or a degree, per se. The belief has obtained, to some extent, among students, that if they could only graduate, could only get their proverbial sheepskins, or pluck their degrees, as it were ; they would, like the goddess Minerva, spring 61 AND GEJMS OF LITERATURE full armed from the very head of Jove and take the front rank among men. You are now laying the foundation for your life’s work, for good or bad citizen- ship. I imagine I can hear the pulsating of some~expectant heart as its possessor outlines his life’s policy. He mounts the steed of imagination, and soars away up- on the wings of time. If the legal pro- fession have an attraction for him, he will distance Blackstone, Kent and Story. If ministerially inclined, Wesley, Spur-, geon, Beecher and Talmage, grow into in- significance. If a disciple of Aescu- lapius, Jenner, Billroth, Koch, Pastuer, McDowell and j. Marion Sims, will have to look to their effete end. If a prac- titioner of pedagogy, the names Froebel, Herbart, Pestalozzi, Mann and Washing- ton, will sink into the bottomless sea of oblivion. If blessed by the muses, Paderewski and Mendelssohn will have to take a back seat, k In this your aspi- rations are laudable and no doubt find 68 AF RO- AMERICAN SCHOOL/ SPEAKER lodging in the breasts of all ambitious students some time in their school career. When the student of to-day becomes the citizen of to-morrow, it falls to his lot to witness the funeral and burial of many of his ideals. But in the beautiful lines of Longfellow : “Some dreams are nothing else but dreams* Unnatural and full of contradiction; Yet some of our most romantic scenes, Are something more than fiction. ” I may be a pessimist or an alarmist* but I believe the future Negro citizen, of whom you are a part and parcel, will have greater things to accomplish and greater odds against which to contend, than any class of persons history has given any account of. This calls to my mind a re- print from the London Spectator that Came to my notice not many days ago. After speaking at length of the Negro’s inability to cope with the other races, this journal, nurtured and reared under the British flag, where it is said, cast pred- AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. IA judice does not obtain, ventured the opinion that in twenty years from to day, the Negro can live nowhere under the sun, except by the consent of the white man.’ I should be glad to see the lion and lamb lie down together, but true to racial in- stinct, and all history, I think this repre- sents the prevailing sentiment, and I may add, wish, of the dominant race to-day. And since I am somewhat inclined to*the Darwinian theory of natural adaptation and selection or the survival of the fittest, I believe the question of individual and racial competence, should engage your most vigilant attention. There is one quality that the Ethiopian and Caucasian races possess in common : It is impossible to banish either from any considerable portion of the earth’s surface. This can not e said of the American Indian and Ma y races. This makes the problem mot serious. Some thoughtless persons co ’d that the Negro family of the i species can not attain to much 70 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER height because of the depths from which they are compelled to emerge. But were not the Angles and Saxons the progeni- tors of the Germanic family and of the proud Anglo-Saxon,, pagons, and even canibals? Were the Saxons not slaves ? Is our history essentially different from that of the rest of humanity, where is their boasted superiority ? Gen. Grant was once heard to remark : “It will be a terrible day when the Chinese learn the modern methods of warfare.” Is not the same underlying principle applicable to Negro citizenship? Young men and young ladies, students of Lane college, it devolves upon you to help raise the status of Negro citizenship, not only in America, but in the entire world. It devolves up- on you to exert a civilizing influence, not like that exerted by the Caucasian in Africa — with the sword and at the behest of maxim guns, but through the medium of true Christianity and literature. If my memory is correct, Lord Bacon is quoted AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. h as saying: “Reading makes a full man, speaking a ready man, and writing an exact man.” This is as true of the black man as it is of the white man. If the influence of literature and civilization- raised the low Germanic tribes from the vilest savages to their present dazzling heights, it will do the same for the Negro. Search history from the first period down to the present time, and, I think, you cannot find a struggle for liberty that will outshine in heroism, generalship and undaunted valor, that of the Haitiens. I suggest that it would be an inspiration to our young people to study the history of these valient people. It will teach you that “great things come out of Nazareth.” ( Napoleon met his Waterloo twice — first at the hands of Toussaint and Dessalines in 1803, and then at the hands of Wellington in 1815. First by a sable son- of Ham, and after- wards by a Caucasian, % Ar*0-AMRRICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER CMRISTflAS. Ye natal day, upon whose gift The world received her greatest boon, We hail thy coming, greet thy trust, Thy cause, the cause of all mankind, Of all events, and noted days, Thou art the one of greatest praise. On Judah’s plain that ’veutful night, When all the wise their vigils kept, When Betlile’m’s star illumed their sight And Herod, too, nor rest, nor slept, Down to Jerusalem they came, To learn of them their Savior’s name— The scribes and priests by homage led Men of the east and men discreet, “Where is the King of Jews?” they said, “We came to worship at his feet.” They poured their gifts and treasures down, For him who’d honor Israel’s crown, V/hen each had paid his pilgrim’s dues, And turned him thence his homeward way, Warned not to tell his king the news, AND GEMS OF EITEKATURE. 73 Of babe and mother, or their lay, An angel unto Joseph spake, And bade him them to Egypt take. Egyptian darkness filled the realm, And all above was still and cold, They must escape the wrath of him Of whom the angel had foretold. On fleetest foot they sped their way, Eager they spun th’ approach of day. 1 On Egypt’s soil they safely stood, Till Herod’s death relieved their will, And now in Gallilee they would The prophet’s augury fulfill ; For it is written, as we’ve seen, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” Thus ends the tale in honor told, Which gives to earth redemption’s cause, Who would this benediction hold, Must first obey th’ eternal laws. For ever do we hear the cry, “Jesus of Naz’reth passeth by.” 74 AFRO-AMERICAN SCIIOOE SPEAKER Sweet epoch of creation’s life, Sweet moment of eternal bliss, Exhaustless be our praise, and rife The blessings which his promise gives. His birth in man new hope allured, His death, to man, that hope assured. Jno. T. C. Newsom, ON THE DEATH OF REV. J. C. PRICE, D. D, A star arose at close of night ; ’Tis dark before the dawn ; A brilliant star, a righteous light, Fair token of the morn — The day when the oppressor’s hand, Should palsied, be, throughout the land, A man of influence and power, Who laid himself with grace, Upon the altar of his God, An offering for his race, E’er prodigal of strength and thought, And from his race withholding naught. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 75 He cried : “If I’d a thousand tongues, And each a thunderboldt, I’d turn them on in mighty power, Like an electric volt ; I’d send them forth with lightning pace — To help to elevate my race!” With purpose firm he lived his creed, And toiled with might and main, Each day more clearly saw the need, Despising wordly gain — He counted not his life too dear To spend in raising mortals here. The manly form now prostrate lies ; The flashing eye is dim ; The hand oft raised for principle, Touched by the monster, grim, Is laid upon the quiet breast, The life word finished — entered rest. The tongue of fire is silent now ; The loving heart is still ; The mind surcharged with burning thought, Yet loyal to God’s will — 76 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER Has ceased to plan for mortals here, Is active in another sphere. A sense of loss our hearts shall feel ; Hushed is the sweet voice now ; While we shall miss liis thrilling words, To God we humbly bow ; And thank him for the sacrifice So freely made by Joseph Price. His task on earth was finished soon ; Life’s battle nobly won. His rests from labor ere the noon. His life race fully run. He watches the conflict here, And perfect love has cast out fear. He is not dead but gone to join The host from care set free l He is not dead ; his spirit lives Where joys immortal be l Where noble souls are victors, crowned Where perfect love at last is found. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 77 Now glorified amid the host, Whose names in honor stand ; Phillips and Garnet, Garrison, And all that noble band— Lincoln and Sumner — heroes brave, Who sought to free and help the slave. Yes, there within the pearly gates, They wait for you and me ; Those men who planned that from the curse, Our people might be free ; Rejoicing in the broadening day When shadows dark should flee away. Our hero was a patriot true, A messenger of truth ; Whose words of faith and hope rang out? Inspiring age and you, tin His life will inspiration give— Through coming time his influence live, Geo, C. Rowe, f AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER THE CRUCIFIXION. With scornful kiss was He betrayed^ Into the hands of men ; Harmless was He, yet they arrayed Themselves unto the end. I saw Him questioned in a hall, His answers heard with scorns ; They robbed Him of His robe and all* And crowned His head with thorns, I saw Him going up a hill, Bearing a heavy load ; He fell, yet calm and patiently, He climbed the painful road. I saw Him hanging on a tree, All washed in hallowed blood ; J Twas all mine eyes could bear to see-^ Oh, precious crimson flood ! He looked with sympathetic eye Upon a sinful race; ^Father, forgive ! they know not why They kill niQ — show them grace P AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. His breath is faint, His pulses few ? His side is red with blood ; He bids His enemies adieu, The “finished” work is good. The earth did shake, the temple rent, And even the dead were moved ; And now His murderers repent The death of one beloved. The debt is paid, the nation’s free, All men may happy be; The lame do walk, the blind can see ; 0 “tinners, turn,” said He. Jesse E. Beard; BEARING HOME. A pleasant sail across the sea, 1 now approach the shore ; A j oyfui welcome awaiteth me From those who sailed before. The dim, dark vista of the hills, The white sails here and there; With solid joy my poor heart thrills, As Lome appears so near. 80 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER And yet a sense of danger steals Upon my beating Heart, As more and more mine eye reveals THe wastes which yet us part. Be watchful captain, on the bridge, And pilot at the wheel, With joy I’ll end my pilgrimage — A joy e’en now I feel. Benj. Tucker Tanner. WOMAN’S CULTURE. Extract from a paper read by Mrs. B. Stevens Lynk » at the Commencement Exercises of Lane College . The opportunities offered woman for the cultivation of her moral and religious nature are indeed favorable. If her in- tellectual opportunities are not so good her moral and religious opportunities are better. The world does not bear with such a burden on her mind. All the virtue in woman’s heart has its influence •n the world. Somebody is touched by AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 81 its sunshine and every prayer she breathes though uttered in the humblest way is answered to some degree in the hearts and lives of those she loves. When we look rightly upon it we are impressed with the idea that v/e cannot overestimate the power of woman’s moral and relig- ious character; for without woman, man wou;d indeed be a prodigal, after having so man}?’ sermons preached in his hear- ing, with the many other good things that surround his pathway he would be as naught without the tender restraint of woman’s virtue consecrated by religion. She makes the first impressions on our young minds, she plants the first seed in our hearts that they may spring up for good. With all of this she does not do enough ; her power has not yet reached its need. Think of the wickedness in the world, the thousands that go down to disgrace, yea, the thousands of men who fill drunkards graves, we say there is much need of more vigor in the virtue of 82 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER women. Who will heed the cry for more religion to drive out immorality, if woman does not. To prepare themselves for this great task, they should lay well their foundation of religion and baptize their souls in the water of truth and right. The first requisite to moral character is purity. “ A pure heart is the fountain of life. The pure in heart shall see God.” Every true young -woman should be in heart what she seems to be in life, by let tirg her every thought and motives be as pure as the dews of heaven. It matters not what may be our mental attainments or social qualities in life, without purity we are nothing, only tinkling cymbals. There can be no virtue, no spiritual life, no glory of soul, nor dignity of character without purity. The next requisite is b enevolen ce, and a woman without benevo lenceisnota woman; she is only a de formed piece of cla}^ One of the most cold, ungodlike things that can exist ii> the human breast is a heart without AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 83 benevolence. One thing we should al- ways regard as benevolence, is, that the poor and needy may have a large place in our hearts ; the sick and suffering should have our sympathy. When we would appear in our loveliest aspect ye have only to appear as a follower of Him who went about doing good. The next re- quisite is duty. Two of the most beauti- ful things in the universe are the starry heavens above our heads and the senti- ment of duty in the human soul. There are few things pleasanter to the high- minded man than a woman who lives, acis and exerts her power from a stand point of duty. The woman with a high sense of duty will always secure confidence with respect and influence she will leave lasting impressions on the minds of those around. The last requisite is piety . This we may regard as the crown of all virtues. Of all influences wrought in the human soul the work of piety is most divine- Piety may also be styled as the 84 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER spiritual crown men put on when they enter the kingdom of heaven. It is the voice of God speaking in the human soul. There can be no character complete un- less elevated by genuine piety, no life is all it should be except every motive is bathed in the water of piety. Without all of these, woman is destitute of the highest beauty and divinest charm neces- sary to make her a complete woman. With these elements combined, purity, benevolence, duty and piety, I wish to impress as conferring mental perfection of character, the greatest perfection we can attain. Then let us think on this all important subject and let, “ what con- science dictates to be done, or teaches not to do, which teaches more than hell to shun, and more than heaven pursue.” i AND GEMS OF LITERATURE}. 85 QEORQE WASHINGTON— AN EULOGY. Celestial choir! enthroned in realms of light, Columbia’s scenes of glorious tales I write, While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms, She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms. See mother Earth her offspring’s fate be- moan, And nations gaze at scenes before un- known ; See the bright beams of heaven’s revolv- ing light Involved in sorrows and in veil of night ; The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair, Olive and laurel bind her golden hair; Wherever shines this native of the skies, Unnumbered charms and recent graces rise. Muse ! Bow propitious while my pen re- lates 96 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER How pour Her armies through a thousand gates ; As when Eolus heaven’s fair face deforms, Enwrapt in tempest and a night of storms ; Astonished ocean feels the wild uproar, The refluent serges beat the resounding shore ; Or thick as leaves in Autumn’s golden reign, Such, and so many moves the warrior’s train. In bright array they seek the work of war, Where high unfurled, the ensign waves in air. Shall I to Washington their praise recite ? Enough, thou knowest them in the fields of fight. The first in place and honor we demand, The grace and glory of thy mortal band, Famed for thy valor, for thy virtue more, Hear every tongue thy guardian aid im- plore ; One century scarce performed its destined round AND QEMS OF LITERATURE 87. When Gallic powers Columbia’s fury found ; And, so may you, whoever dares disgrace The land of freedom’s heaven-defended race. Fixed are the eyes of nations on the scale, For in their hopes Columbia's arm pre- vails. Anon, Britannia droops the pensive head, While round increase the rising hills of dead. Ah J cruel blindness to Columbia’s state. Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late. Proceed, great chief, virtue on thy side ; Thy every action let the goddess guide. A crown, a mansion, and & throne that shine, With gold unfading, Washington, be thine, Phillis WHATLEY, Optqblr 26 y 1775, m AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL# SPEAKER INTEMPERANCE. There is a great and awful foe, That blights the human racfe, It plunges men in deep dispair, In sorrow and disgrace. That evil is intemperance — - The moloch of to-day ; Upon its alters of distress, Millions of victims lay-. Their hopes are gone, their consciences Are dulled by sin and vice ; Satan has promised “more beyond,” And virtue is the price. Cannot intemperance be o’erthrown ? Must it forever stand ? Why does this blasting, withering curse Extend throughout the land ? Let us do all within our power To break the wine cup’s spell, And try to keep our men and boys From going down to hell. Mamie E. Fox, AND GEMS OP LITERATURE. 8 ) DEATH OF REV. GEO. WHITFIELD. Thou, moon hast seen and all the stars of light, How he hast wrestled with his God by night. He prayed that grace in every heart- might dwell ; He longed to see America excel ; He charged its youth that every grace divine Should with full lustre in their conduct shine. That Saviour which his soul at first re- ceived, The greatest gift that even a God can give He freely offered to the numerous throng That on his lips with listening pleasure hung. “Take him, ye wretched, for your only good, Take him, ye starving sinners, for your food ; Ye thirsty come to this life giving stream. 90 AFRO- AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Ye preachers take him for your joyful theme ; Take him, my dear Americans” he said; u Be your complaints on this kind bosom laid ; Take him, ye Africans, he longs for you ; Impartial Saviour is this title due ; Washed in the fountains of redeeming blood, You shall be sons and priests to God.” But though, arrested by the hand of death, Whitfield no more exerts his laboring breath, Yet let ns view him in the eternal skies,' Let every heart to his bright vision rise ; While the tomb safe retains it sacred trust, Till life divine reanimates the dust. Phillis Wheatley. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 91 WHAT IS A RAINBOW# What is a rainbow? ’Tis a blending Of chromatic rays of light, Sent by tiny sparkling raindrops, When the sun is shining bright. . ’Tis the seven tones of music Metamorphosed for the eye, Sound converted into color By the God of earth and sky. .’Tis the emblem of His promise, ’Tis the arch of heaven’s gate, Where the angels stand and beckon, Where our loved ones watch and wait. Mamie E. Fox. A FAIRER HOPE, A BRIGHTER HORN. Written in answer to Mr. Mauriee Thompson'’ S “ Voodoo Prophecy.” From the peaceful of a higher life I heard your maddening cry of strife ; It quivered with anguish, wrath and pain, Like a demon struggling with his chain. 92 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER A chain of*evil, heavy and strong, Rusted with ages of fearful wrong, Kncrusted with blood and burning tears, The chain I had worn and dragged for years. It clasped my limbs, but it bound my heart, And formed of your life a fearful part ; You sowed the wind, but could not control The tempest wild of a guilty soul. You saw me stand with my broken chain b urged in the furnace of fiery pain. You saw my children around me stand, Lovingly clasping my unbound hand. But you remembered my blood and tears 'Mid the weary wasting flight of years, You thought of the rice swamps, lone and dark. When my heart in hopeless anguish sank* You thought of your fields with harvest white, Where I toiled in pain from morn till night. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 93 You. thought of the days you bought and sold The children I loved, for paltry gold. You thought of our shrieks that rent the air, Our moans of anguish and deep despair ; With chattering teeth and paling face, You thought of your nation’s deep dis- grace. You wove from your fears a fearful late To spring from your seeds of scorn and hate, You imagined the saddest, wildest thing, That time, with revenges fierce, could bring. The cry you thought from a Voodoo breast Was the echo of your souks unrest ; When thoughts too sad for fruitless tears Loomed like the ghosts of avenging years. Oh, prophet of evil, could not your voice, In our now hopes and freedom rejoice ? ’Mid the light which streams around our way Was there naught to see but an ey'il day ? 94 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOIy SPEAKER Nothing but vengeance, wrath and hate, And the serpent coils of an evil *ate A fate that shall crush and drag you down, A doom that shall press like an iron crown, A fate that shall crisp and curl your hair And darken your faces, now so fair, And send through your veius like a poisoned flood The hatred stream of the Negro's blood, A fate to madden the heart and brain You've peopled with phantoms of dread and pain, And fancies wild of your daughter's shriek With Congo kisses upon her cheek. Beyond the mist of your gloomy fears, I see the promise of brighter years. Through the dark I see their golden hem And my heart gives out its glad amen. The banner of Christ was your sacred trust, But you trailed that banner in the dust. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 95 And mockingly told us amid our pain The hand of your God had forged our chain. We stumbled and groped through the dreary night, Till our fingers touched God’s robe of light; And we knew He heard, from His lofty throne, Our saddest cries and faintest groan. The cross you have covered with sin and shame, We’ll bear aloft in Christ’s holy name. Oh, never again may its folds be furled, While sorrow and sin enshroud our world ! God, to whose fingers thrill each heart beat, Has not sent us to walk with aimless feet^ To cower and crouch, with bated breath From margins of life to shores of death. % AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Higher and better than hate for hate, Like the scorpion fangs that desolate, Is the hope of a brighter, fairer morn And a peace and a love that shall yet be born ; When the Negro shall hold an honored place, The friend and helper of every race * His mission to build and not destroy, And gladden the world with love and joy. Mrs. F. E. W. Harper. THE BLACK SAMSON. There is a Samson lying, sleeping in the land, He shall soon awake, and with avenging hand, In an unlooked for hour, He will rise in mighty power ; What dastard can his mighty rage with- stand ? AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 97 E’er since the chains were riven at a stroke, E’er since the dawn of freedom’s morn- ing broke, He has groaned but scarcely uttered ; While his patient tongue ne’er muttered, Though in agony he bore the galling yoke. O, what cruelty and torture has he felt ? Could his tears, the heart of his oppres- sors melt ? in his gore they bathed their hands, Organized and lawless bands — And the innocent was left in blood to melt. The mighty God of nations doth not sleep, His piercing eye its faithful watch doth keep, And well nigh His mercy’s spent, To the ungodly lent : “They have sowed the wind, the whirl- wind they shall reap.” 98 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER From his nostrils issues now the angry smoke, And asunder burst the all-oppressive yoke: When the prejudicial heel Shall be lifted, we shall feel, That the hellish spell surrounding us is broke. The mills are grinding slowly, slowly on, And till the very chaff itself is gone; Our cries for justice louder, ’Till oppression’s ground to powder — God speed the day of retribution on ! Fair Columbia’s filthy garments are all stained ; In her courts -is blinded justice rudely chained ; The black Samson is awaking, And the fetters fiercely breaking ; By his mighty arm his rights shall be obtained. Mrs. Josie D. H. Heard. AND GEMS OP EITERATURE. 99 THEY ARE COHINQ. They are coming, coming slowly — They are coming, surely, surely — In each avenue you hear the steady tread. From the depth of foul oppression, Come a swathy-hued procession, And victory perches on their banner’s head. They are coming, coming slowly — They are coming ; yes, the lowly, No longer writhing in their servile bands. From the rice fields and plantation, Comes a factor of the nation, And threatening, like Banquo’s ghost, it stands. They are coming, coming proudly — They are crying, crying loudly : O, for justice from the rulers of the land ! And that justice will be given, For the mighty God of Heaven Holds the balances of power in his hand. 100 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Prayers have risen, risen, risen, From the cotton fields and prison ; Though the overseer stand with lash in hand, Groaned the overburdened heart ; Not a tear-drop dared to start — But the slaves’ petition reached the glory- land. They are coming, they are coming, From away in tangled swamp, Where the slimy reptile hid its poisonous head ; Through the long night and the day They have heard the bloodhound’s bey, While the morass furnished them an humble bed. The are coming, rising, rising, And their progress is surprising, By their brawny muscles earning their daily bread ; Though their wages be a pittance, Still each week a small remittance, Bunds a shelter for the weary, toiling head. A. AND GEMS OP LITERATURE. 101 They are coming, they are coming, Listen ! You will hear the humming Of the thousands that are falling into line : There are doctors, lawyers, preachers ; There are sculptors, poets, teachers — Men and women, who with honor yet shall shine. i They are coming, coming boldly, Though the nation greets them coldly ; They are coming from the hillside and the plain. With their scars they tell the story Of the canebrakes met and gory, Where these brothers’ bones lie bleaching w 7 ith the slain. They are coming, coming, singing, Their thanksgiving hymn is ringing, For the clouds are slowly breaking now away, And there comes a brighter dawning — - It is liberty’s fair morning, They are coming surely, coming, clear the way. M)2 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL/ SPEAKER Yes, they came, their stepping’s steady, And their power is felt already God has heard the lowly cry of the op- pressed ; And beneath his mighty frown, Every wrong shall crumble down, When the right shall triumph and the world be blest. Mrs. Josie D: H. Heard. THE NEGRO’S PLACE IN HISTORY. Extract from the address delivered by Rev J W E Bowen, D. D., J%. D ., on Negro Day , at the Atj.rj,nta Exposition . With regard to the Negro’s place in American life, it was formerly stated that he was fit only for servitude; that the best part of him was his faithful muscle ; that even to-day and forevermore he must remain a serf or a hewer of wood and a drawer of water to the vast revolving machinery of civilization ; he must be the ignorant workman and the unassimi- AND GEMS OF UTERATURE. 103 lated pariah of American society. X It is to his credit that in his early daysme had brawn ; that it drove the ax that rang through the forest of the Old Dominion and the plow that upturned the sod of Louisiana and Mississippi for the cane and cotton, while his voice endowed their leaves with a tongue never before heard. With his powerful right, he scattered the Silver grain in the Carolinas, and the golden grain in Maryland and Georgia and disemboweled the mountains of Ten- nessee of their ancient black treasury* and from his earliest days in this country unto a very recent day, his sweat was al- most the only oil for the machinery of Southern industry and his arm the driving wheel of its trade. ^-And when we shall be removed from the struggles of recent times in the social and political world, to the centuries beyond, in which the preju- dices engendered in the participants of the strife shall be known only through the cold type of history, then under the 104 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER an blurred eye and the cold and unsympa- thetic logic of the patient historian, the period ot the servitude of the Negro will shine forth with a luster unapproachable in American history. When it is asserted that he must be a worker, all sensible Negroes answer yea and amen. A worker in clay, wrenching from nature her hidden stores ; a worker in wood, iron, brass, steel and glass, turn- ing the world into an habitation fit for the gods ; a worker in the subtle elements of nature, in obedience to the original com- mand to subdue and conquer it ; a worker in the realm of mind contributing to the thought products of mankind, thereby vindicating for himself a birthright to the citizenship of the republic of thought ; a statesman in church and in state ; a publicist and a political economist; in short, he must be a man among men, not so much a Black man, but a MAN, though black And for the attainment of all the possibilities of his rich, unexplored Afri- AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 105 can nature of docility and tractability ; of enthusiasm and perserverance with his burning African fervor, there must be measured to him as well as to the white man, three feet to make a yard. Such an equality of opportunity not only estab- lishes an equality, of responsibility, but must be reached before human society shall prosper under the normal laws of true development. The Negro does not shrink, nor ask to be exempted from the working of the latter half of this state- ment, namely, equality of responsibility ; but simply prays to the American senti- ment, who is the King, for equality of opportunity in all matters that effect the welfare of the state. In all matters re- lating to the security of the homes of the people and the institutions of the republic, we say to the King that the story of our past fealty is the best answer we can make touching our future devotion and interest. It is on record for us, written by one of the greatest of democratic presidents/' 106 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER Andrew Jackson, that we may be actuated by lofty purposes as seen in the noble de- fense made by Negro soldiers, of the city of New Orleans in the second British war. It is on record for us that in all the social upheavals between capital and labor, the Negro has never been found with fire brand in hand. We point with pride to our loving and lucid history that we are humane as well as human. Before asking now what is the Negro’s place in American civilization, a larger question comes into notice that affects all men, namely, what is the place of any branch or family of the human race in the sum total of humanity? The man who attempts to answer this question will risk his wit. The Negro’s place will be what he makes for himself, just as the place of every people is what that people makes for itself, and he will be no excep- tion to the rule. The method whereby he shall make that place is under con- sideration. One class contends that he AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. IQ7 must make it by staying in the three “R’s” and they are specially at pains in ridiculing the higher education of the Negro’s, even for leaders in church or state. Yea, he must learn the three “R’s he must master the king’s Eng- lish and then he must plume his pinions of thought for a flight with Copernicus, Keppler and Herschel ; he must sharpen his logic for a walk with Plato, Emanuel Kant and Herbert Spencer ; he must clarify his vision for investigations with Virchow, Huxley and Gray ; he must be able to deal in the abtruse questions of law as do Gladstone, Judge Story and Judge Speer ; he must fortify himself to divide rightly the Word as do Cannon Farrar, Bishop Foster, Bishop Haygood, Dr. John Hall and Dr. H. L. Wavland. In short, the education of the Negro must be on par with the education of the white man. It must begin in the kinder- garten as that of the white child and end in cj-.e university as that of the white /08 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER man. Anything short of this thorough preparation for all of the stages of life for the Negro would be unfair to a large part of humanity. We ask that nothing be done that would spoil his nature or masculate his personality, but let every- thing be done that would fit him to fill every situation in life that man may 'fill from the blacksniith and hod carrier to the statesman and philosopher. And if such preparation require a knowledge of the old blue black spelling book or of Aristotle’s logic ; a knovv ledge of the plow or the trip hammer, or of the spade or of the driving wheel ; or of simple ad- dition or integral calculus ; or the first reader or Kant’s “Critique,” simple jus- tice and common sense require that he be acquainted with whatever shall fit him to fill his station in life. Does this mean that the Negro be turned into a white man ? Is he to be so educated that he will cease to be what God meant that he should be ? Nay ! verily, for any eduea- 109 AND GEMS OF EITERATURE. tion that makes a people dissatisfied with their racial personality is a farce and a reproach. THE NEW NEGRO. Extract from the speech delivered by Rev. J. IV. E. Bowen , D. D., Ph. D., on Negro Day , at the Atlanta Exposition. These simple results that may be seen in the Negro building are from a people just thirty years in freedom. They repre- sent many spheres of labor and enterprise and show what may be accomplished un- der a more perfect system of life and labor. They show, moreover, that the Negro has been an apt and faithful student of his teachers in the mechanism of his skill as well as in the intellectual product of his brain. Thirty years of freedom is scarcely enough to take the first steps in the arts of peace. It required centuries for the Anglo-Saxons to reach his present commanding position. The Negro’s pres- ent days of infancy and of small begin- 110 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER mings are no criterion to measure his future by. The depths from which he has come and the obstacles surrounding him must be remembered when express- ing judgment of him ; and when super- ficial writers on the other side of the water, as well as on this side, declare that the Negro can never assimilate a high civilization nor approach the present at- tainments of the Anglo-Saxons, they dis- cover an immaturity of thought worthy t>f the schoolboy’s effort. This proves that the social problems of any country are to be learned only by long years of contact and of unprejudiced study. A railroad observation in sociology may make fascinating reading, but it lacks the elements of endurance and accuracy and cannot command the respectful notice of more than novelistic readers for one de- cade. To understand the rapid strides that the Negro has taken one must know the pit from which he was digged, and the rock from which he was hewn. The cold AND GrEJMS OF LITERATURE. Ill facts of his present standing press out in bold relief with the distinctness of a mosaic and declare that there is a wealth unmeasured in that hidden mine. The first step has been taken and if the South and the North will measure to him an equality of opportunity there will come as the result splendid achievements for society. He longs to have a full chance ; he longs to do nobly. Finally, oh king ! a new Negro has come upon the stage of action. As you enter the main entrance of the Negro building you will observe the statue of a Negro with broken manacles upon his wrists. This statue was born in the fruitful brain of a Negro, Mr. Hill of Washington. His frame is muscular and powerful ; his eye is fixed upon his broken but hanging chain ; his brow is knit in deep thought. This is the new Negro. What is he doing ? He is thinking 1 And by the power of thought he will think off those chains and have both 112 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER hands free to help you to build this country and make a grand destiny of himself. In generous affection for our native soil, in fealty to our institutions and in a universal love for all men, his spirit is that of his fathers made over. Being to the manor born, he cannot be alienated in sentiment and patriotic de- votion to the institutions of the south and the whole country. It must be re- membered however, that this Negro has born in him the consciousness of a racial personality under the blaze of a new civilization. With this new birth of the soul, he longs for an opportunity to grow into the proportions of a new and diviner manhood that shall take its place in the ranks of one common humanity. This Negro, when educated in all the dis- ciplines of civilization and thoroughly- trained in the arts of civil and moral life, cannot fail to be an invaluable help to our American life. It is his deepest de- sire to rise and work manfully and he m AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 113 willing to bide bis time until tbe Ameri- can white man shall have that element conquered in him which always conquers, namefy, the love of fair play. In the classic words of Edmund Burke before his constituents, in Bristol, England, we pray : “ Applaud us when we run ; con- sole us when we fall ; cheer us when we recover; but let us pass on, for God’s sake, let us pass on.” THE RIGHT WILL TRIUflPH. BY MAMIE EEOISE FOX. The right will triumph bye and bye, It cannot be suppressed ; Though years may roll, yet right itself Will be made manifest. V So unrelenting, harsh, severe, And cruelly strong, And ever conquering the right Seems to our minds the wrong. 114 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Seems ! then apparent only are The conquests wrong achieves : Invincible to wrong is he Who in the right believes. Then ever stand up for the right, ’Twill triumph bye and bye ; For foes will yield, and wrong must fall; But right can never die. ADVICE TO BOTH RACES, Extract from ait address delivered by Prof. B. T. Washington , at the opening of the Atlanta Exposition , September 18, 1895. A ship lost at sea for many days* suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal : u Water, water ; we die of thirst!” The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back : “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A second time the signal, “Water, water ; send us water !” ran up from the distressed vessel* and was answered i “Cast down your AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 115 bucket where you are.” And a third and fourth signal for water was answered : “Cast down your bucket where you are.” The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon river. To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly rela- tions with the Southern white man, who is their next door neighbor, I would say; “Cast down your bucket where you are” — cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service and in the professions. And in this connection, it is well to bear in mind, that whatever other sins the South may be called to bear, that when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is in the South that 116 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER the Negro is given a man’s chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in empha- sizing this chance. Our greatest danger is, that in the great leap from slavery to freedom, we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the pro- ductions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life ; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substan- tial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportuni- ties. To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth AND GUMS OF LITERATURE 1:7 and strange tongue and habits, for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race — “cast down your bucket where you are.” Cast it down among the 8,000,000 Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of your firesides. Cast down your bucket among these people who have, without strikes and labor wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth and helped make possible this magnificent representation of the progress of the South. Casting down your bucket among my people, helping and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds, and to education of head, hand and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields and run your factories. While doing 118 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER this, you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faith- ful, law-abiding and unresentful people that the world has seen. As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sick bed of your mothers and fathers and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future in our humble way we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can ap- proach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defense of yours, interlacing your industrial, commercial, civil and re- ligious life with yours in a way that shall make the interests of both races one. In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all* If anywhere AND GEMS OF DITERATURF. 119 there are efforts tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro, let these efforts be turned into stimulating, en- couraging and making him the most use- ful and intelligent citizen. Effort or means so invested, will pay a thousand per cent, interest. These efforts will be twice blessed — “blessing him that gives and him that takes.” There is no escape through law of man or God, from the inevitable: “The laws of changeless justice bind, Oppressor with oppressed ; And close as sin and suffering joined, We march to fate abreast / 7 HAITI. Extract from the oration of Frederick Douglass , delivered on the occasion of the dedication of the Haitian Pavilion , at the Chicago World's Fair, January , /8gj r Considering what were the environ- ments of Haiti ninety years ago ; con- sidering the antecedents of her people/ 120 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPRA^i:^ both at home and in Africa; considering their ignorance, their weakness, and their want of military training ; considering their destitution of the munitions of war, and measuring the tremendous moral and material forces that confronted and op- posed them, the achievement of their in- dependence is one of the most remarkable and one of the most wonderful events in the history of this eventful century ; and, I may also say, in the history of man- kind. The accomplishing of our Ameri- can independence was a task of tremen- dous proportions. In the contemplation of it, the boldest held his breath, and many brave men shrank from it — appalled. But as Herculean as was that task, and dreadful as were the hardships and suffer- ings it imposed, its terribleness was as nothing when compared with the appall- ing nature of the war which Haiti dared to wage for her freedom and her independ- ence. Her success was a surprise and a standing astonishment to the world. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 121 Our war of the revolution had a thousand years of civilization behind it. The men who led it were descendents of statesmen and heroes. Their ancestry were the men who had defied the powers of royalty, and had wrested from an armed and reluctant king, the grandest declaration of human rights ever given by man to the world. They possessed the knowledge and character naturally inherited from long years of personal and political free- dom. They belonged to the ruling race of the world, and the sympathy of the world was with them. But far different was it with the men of Haiti. The world was all against them. They were slaves, accustomed to stand and tremble in the presence of haughty masters. Obedience to the will of others was their education, and their religion was patience and resig- nation to the rule of pride and cruelty. As a race, they stood before the world as the most abject, helpless and degraded of mankind. Yet, from these men of the 122 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER Negro race came brave men ; men who loved liberty more than life; wise men, statesmen, warriors and heroes ; men whose deeds stamp them as worthy to rank with the greatest and noblest of mankind ; men who gained their freedom and inde- pendence against odds as formidable as ever confronted a righteous cause or its advocates. Aye, and they not only gained their liberty and independence, but they have never surrendered what they gained to any power on earth. This precious in- leritance they hold to-day, and I venture to assert here, in the ear of all the world, that they never will surrender that in- heritance. TODAY. BY JOSEPHINE SIEOME YATESv To-day, the princely child of yesterday, Emerges from the parent’s regal brow 9 For action fully armed, in rich array, Like Pallas from the head of Zeus great. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 123 Apollo bows before bis royal face, And floods of light dispersed o’er bill and vale. Tbe land is batbed in majesty and grace By bim wbo sits enthroned by right divine. How beautiful, in light and joyous mood, Art thou, O day I but when thy god- like breast Is stirred by passion’s dire and angry brood, Then terrible art thou with wrath divine. And yet to make a year and sphere repay, The seer says all sorts of days it takes. Let us, therefore, rejoice in light to-day, Or, light denied, rejoice in life itself. For while we idly weep, or wish, or wait, The day declines ; across the massive brow A pallid shadow steals ; we are too late ! Behold the dying day is father of to- morrow. 124 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER NEGRO PROBLEM DISSECTED. BY HON. JOHN M. LANGSTON. “We are everywhere. The negro is the only man who proves an exception to the rule, ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss. 7 He rolls and gathers moss at the same time. We are getting better looking, too. Our faces are getting whiter, or are more beautiful for their shiney velvety com- plexion. “You can’t look any way in Georgia that you can’t see the old Georgia Negro. He is there. What’s he doing ? Every- thing. He is lawyer, doctor, legislator and farmer. Down in Augusta, Ga., the whites are holding a convention, dis- cussing the question of immigration. A United States senator the other day, speaking before that body, held up a very bright picture of the colored man’s future in the South. Italian, Hungarian or Russian immigrants were not needed in this land, he asserted,. This man is a great AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 125 Southerner, too, and yet there are some colored people who think it an impossi- bility for a Southern white man to say anything good of the Negro. But this man — a giant among men, too— made some of those ‘impossible’ remarks, and the Negroes were going to stand by the Southeners for it. (Applause,) Our destiny is linked strongly together, our interests are inseparable and bid defiance to petty prejudices to render them asun- der. The day will come, and it is nearly here, when the whites and blacks of the South would be equal. (Applause;) I mean by this a legal equality. (Applause.) There is no color distinction in our laws, no color line drawn in our constitution. The path of the Negro is onward and up- ward, and he will never submit to go back. (Applause.) The great staples of the country are grown by the Negro, coffee, tobacco, sugar and cotton. He has gradually glided into all the avoca- tions of life, and be will be the last to 126 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER give them up. The Negro never expects to rise above the white man. He will be contented with equal conditions and will have them, in so far as relates to his American rights under the laws. This is the guarantee of every good white man, “In conclusion, I ask you to consider these things. Tell your sons and daugh- ters to think about these things and they will come to know themselves, know their people, and what they are doing. We are here and we are going to stay here, because we are needed and essential and we shall enjoy all those privileges which providence intended when the scales were knocked from our eyes and the shackles from our limbs. n FREDERICK DOUGLASS. BY A. M. HODGES, BROOKLYN, N. Y., FEB. 21, ’95 s Frederick Douglass, great and grand^ The foremost advocate of right ; The noblest Negro in the land, A pioneer in freedom’s fight. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 127 One of the few who dared to face The bondage fiend, in days of yore ; Who helped blot out the land’s disgrace, Is touched by death, and is no more. He lived his fondest dream to see, Before his useful life was done, He lived to see his people free, And bask himself in freedom’s sun. Great are the men who great things do ; For deeds he did for race and state, Will place his name among the few, We must revere as truly great. As long as there remains a trace Of Afric blood that can be seen, So long will members of his race In memory keep him fresh and green. The Negro father will lake pride To sit beside his family fire. And call his children to his side, To tell them of this noble sire. 128 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER His deeds will bright and brighter grow, A household word will be his name ; And future generations know, The story of Fred. Douglass’ fame. Tears of copious grief we shed Standing by our hero’s bier ; Peace to the ashes of the dead, If lost to sight, remembrance’s dear. Douglass ! with the noble brave Of abolitionistic time — “Rest thee, there is no prouder grave, Even in thy own proud clime.” SIGNS OF THE TiriES. — A Thanksgiving Piece for a little boy. BY PAIJI. DUNBAR. Air a-gittin’ cool an’ coolah, Frost a-comin’ in de night. Hicka’ nuts an’ wa’nuts failin’, Possum keepin’ out of sight. Tu’key struttin’ in de ba’nyad — Nary step so proud ez his. Keep on struttin’, Mistah Tu’key, Yo’ do’nt know whut time it is.* AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 129 Cidah press commence a-squeakin’, Eatin’ apples sto’ed away, Chillin’ swa’min’ roun’ lak ho’nets Huntin’ aigs among de hay. Mistah Tu’key kep’ on gobblin’ At de geese a-flyin’ souf, Umph, dat bird do’ know whuts cornin’, Ef he did he’d shet his mouf. Pumpkin gittin’ good an’ yallah, Make me open up my eyes ; Seems lak its a-lookiu’ at me Jes’ a-layin’ dere sayin’ “pies.” Turkey gobbler gwine roun’ Mowin’, Gwine roun’ gibbin’ his sass an’ slack ! Keep on talkin’, Mistah Tu’key, You ain’t seed no almanac. Fa’mer walkin’ throo de ba’nya’d, Seein’ how things is cornin’ on, Sees if de fowls is fatt’nin’ — Good times cornin’ sho’s you bo’n, Heah’s dat tu’key gobbler braggin’ Den his face break in a smile — Nebbah min’, you sassy rascal, HeVgwine to nab you after while. 130 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Choppin’ suet in de kitchen, Stonin’ raisins in de hall, Beef a cookin’ fo’ de mince meat, Spices graun’ — I smell ’em all. Look heah, tu’key, stop dat gobblin’, You ain’t learned de sense ob Dah ; You ol’ fool, yo’ naik’s in dangah, Do you know Thanksgibbiii’s heah ? THE ALARM OF A PENITENT. BY EUGENIS HARRIS. Loathsome with my sin am I, Unfit to live, afraid to die. Justice hurls athwart my path The thunder-bolts of righteous wrath. Whither can 1, may I flee From the wrath that threatens me? Where in the universe of space, May I find a hiding-place ? To some star I’d take my flight, — - But the stars against me fight. If upon the earth I stay, The rocks and hills will flee away. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 131 If from earth to sky I pass, The heavens will become as brass. If from sky to hell, — ’tis said That even there He makes His bed. If I seek Egyptian night, The darkness will become as light. Y/hither can I, may I flee From the wrath that threatens me ? The whole creation groans in pain, And does not willingly sustain A guilty sinner, such as I, Unfit to live, afraid to die. The sun-light, teeming full of life, Is for me with poison rife. The bridge, the righteous safely pass, Is ’neath my feet as brittle glass. The cord to which they safely cling Is to me a rotten thing. The iron chains to which they trust Turn in my hands to links of dust. The rock on which they firmly stand Sinks ’neath my feet like treacherous sand. Where’er I turn no matter where, To land or sea or sky or air, •132 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOR SPEAKER All things detest me as the curse, The outlaw of the universe. Whither can I, may I flee From the wrath that threatens me? TIME AND THINGS HAVE CHANGED. BY MRS. JQSIE HEARD. The times are very different now From what they used to be, When I was but a little child Upon my mother’s knee. Abandoned are the good old hymns At church we used to sing, And operatic airs are now Considered quite the thing. You hear no more of Afton sweet, Nor Siloam’s shady rill ; ’Tis dementi or Chopin now, The sacred arches fill. We’ve lost the substance of our song s And to the shadow cling, The god of gold we worship When we make our offering. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 133 We used to go to church to get Our stock of faith renewed, And hungry hearts were feasted there, On spiritual food, But many of the preachers now, Are filled so full of self, There is no room for Jesus, Nor for anybody else. Our pulpits used to be adorned By men of unction full, But now they’re filled by men Who with the Bishop’s got a pull. And preachers are the leaders now Of local politics ; They wear no more the saintly brow, But play all sorts of tricks. Of modern times our language too, Has greatly been abused ; I pray I may be pardoned For some terms I’m forced to use, For fads and slang are popular, And to be “up to date,” The language has been modernized To suit our rapid gate. J34 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER When I was young, another thing, I’m sure they never did, In speaking of a little child Call it “a little kid.” When men committed theft they got The natural name of rogue, But now, “they’ve made a slight mistake, Insanity is vogue. When once a year we got a frock, We made it plain always ; Our waists would not give you a shock ; We were no slaves to stays. A man wore shirt and coat and hat, And homespun pantaloons, But women now wear all of these And sleeves made like balloons. A rogue was not a gentleman, If he were high' or low. And robbed a bank or hencoop, He to prision sure would go. But now a man who pilfers bread, Is almost sure to swing, Or serve ? lifetime pennance, For he aras not in “the ring.” AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 135 The Bible even has been changed, To suit this rapid age. Once we believed whatever we read On every blessed page. If one committed suicide, ’Twas said he went below. But now the preacher shakes his head And says he doesn’t know. It once wa$ thought a camel Through a needle’s eye could go, • As easy as a man to heaven, Who hoarded wealth below. But now the richest man can get A seat in Paradise, The nearest next the throne if he But chose to pay the price. And great men once were reckoned By upright and moral lives, But he is greatest now who boasts, His own, and neighbor’s wives. Young ladies were the modest girls, Both gentle and demure, When crowned with queenly virtue, And no other Jewel wore. 136 AFRO-AMERI AX SCHOOL SPRAKRR Our national and other laws Are made oil rubber lines ; They stretch or contract easily To suit them to the times. The city government is changed, ’Tis managed now by bauds That squander recklessly the means Entrusted to their hands. A tax is placed on everything, No matter great or small, The question next I guess they’ll spring, If we shall live at all (?). One almost wearies of one’s life, Such wickedness to see. So much of bitterness and strife, There never used to be. A hundred other little things, Of which I might take note, I must omit, but must remark That women now can vote. So in depair, I sadly bow, But you’ll agree with me, That things decidedly have changed From what they used to be. AND GE}MS OF IJTERATUR]^. the pastor. Dedicated to Rev . G. M. TUI, nan. BY KATHERINE D. TRUMAN. . In a lonely little parish For a year, a man of God, Taught in love the common people Of the pathway Christ; has trod. Told to them the old, old story Of the wondrous one who gave His own life on Calvary’s summit, Tost and ruined souls to save. Sometimes it was told in gladness, Oftener when filled with pain That they followed not the Savior, Though besought o’er and again. . Oft he deemed his labor wasted, Many times discouraged grew, But withal he had resolved that* He would to the cross be true. But no life that’s truly given To the service of the Lord, E’er is lost but in the seeming, So declares His precious word. US AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Time removed tlie patient preacher To another little place, t i ' - And again he taught the people Of the pleasant waps of- grace. Words that months ago he’d spoken One day quickened into life, And a soul com tkhned with Jesus That before had known but strife. Many more were led to Jesus, Through the zealous loving one And when life’s conquests are over, And the victory is won. Humble worker hear thy sentence Rejoice e’er, thou weary one, Hear thy sovereign’s gracious welcome, “Good and faithful soul,' well done.” THE NIGHT OF DEATH. • r ;v 1 BY FRANCIS E. W. HARPER. #, Twas a night of dreadful horror, '' Death was sweeping through the land, Mud the wings of dark destruction Were outstretched from strand to strand. 139 AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. Strong men’s hearts grew faint with terror, As the tempest and the waves, Washed their homes and swept them downward, Suddenly to pawning graves. ’Mid the wreck of ruined households, And the tempest’s wild alarms, Sto 'd a terror-stricken mother With a child within her arms. Other children huddled ’round her, E ich one nestling in her heart, Swift in thought and swift in action, She at least from one must part. Then she said unto her daughter, “Strive to save one child from death.” “Which one?” said the anxious daughter, As she stood with bated breath. Oh the anguish of that mother ; What despair was in her eye, A-l her little ones were precious, Which one should she leave to die ? HO AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Then outspake the brother Bennie : <4 I will take the little one.” ‘‘No,” exclaimed the anxious mother ; “No, my child, it can’t be done.” “See ! my boy, the waves are rising, Save yourself and leave the child !’ ! “I will trust in Christ,” he answered, Grasped the little one and smiled. Through the roar of wind and waters Ever and anon she cried, But throughout the night of terror, Never Bennie’s voice replied. But above the waves’ wild surging He had found a safe retreat, As if God had sent an angel, Just to guide his wandering feet. When the storm had spent its fury, And the sea gave up its dead, She was mourning for her loved ones, Lost amid that night of dread. . AND GEMS OF EITERATURE. 141 While her head was bowed in anguish, On her ear there fell a voice, Bringing surcease to her sorrow; Bidding all her heart rejoice* “Didn’t I tell you true,” said Bennie, And his eyes were full of light, When I told you God would help me Through the dark and dreadful night ?” And he placed the little darling Safe within his mother’s arm, Peeling Christ had been his guardian, ’Mid the dangers and alarms. Oh ! for faith so firm and precious. In the darkest, saddest night, Till life’s gloom-encircled shadows Fade in everlasting light. And upon the mount of vision, We our loved and lost shall greet, With earth’s wildest storms behind us, And its cares beneath our feet. 142 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER JESUS SAVIOR PILOT ME. The new-made soul just free from sin, While his soul is so light and free ; Should have the Saviour with him then, To pilot him o’er life’s rough sea. The first few days all may be well, When starting. on life’s Christian sea; Yet while upon this earth you dwell, You need Jesus to pilot thee. Yes, when the storms begin to rage, The winds are not in harmony ; When my boat sinks beneath the gauge ; Then Jesus Savior, pilot me. Temptation too, I know I’ll have, My friends and foes will watch to see , I’ll whisper softly, Jesus save, And also Jesus pilot me. There is a dark and raging stream, Beyond it is eternity ; Let heavenly angels ’round me team, And there let Jesus pilot me. Rev. A. N. Stevens. AND GEMS OF FITFRATURF. A NEGRQ»5 MUSING. 143 BY J* C. M ADAMS, SHEDBYVIDDE, TBNN. O muse of heaven ! help me shape my lay, With, words sufficient keen to pierce the heart Of Anglo-Saxon men, until they say, “This land of freedom, culture, science, art, This land where, aliens come to get a start In life, must henceforth to itself be true ; And every son who of the land is part! The Negro, Chinese, Indian or Jew, Who wills, shall peace and happiness pursue.” For years, the land’s been full of shame and wrong ; Its conscience seems quite dead and cold ; but God Sleeps not ; He sees, endures and waitetli long Before he brings His children ’neath the rod ; 144 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Sometimes He sends a dear one ’neatli the sod. In devious ways reminds man of his power, On land, on sea, at home, and e’en abroad. No one escapes the inevitable hour. “Vengence is mine,” says He, “I will devour.” Though men do know that God in heaven doth dwell, They sometimes tempt Him, and they hope to gain Some great advantage. Say they, “All is well.” Satan confirms them. “All is well and plain,” Says he, “Such chances may not come again.” Hath not the wisest of your poets said, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, will fortune wed ?” Put them in practice that which you have read. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE lrb The Negro is your servant ; so oppress Him to the full. He’s patient, strong of limb, Too cowardly to e’er think of redress. His intellectual sky is wholly dim. An Indian would resent, but never him. Thus Satan gulls some poor desiging fools. Oh, fellow Negroes ! rise with all your vim, Assisted by your God and by your schools, And show such madmen you are not their tools. ’Tis said we’er of inferior stock ; a race Of slaves; made so by God and so decreed. Our ancestors e’en back to Ham men trace, And there find facts to help our way impede. Oh father! with what logic men succeed In making scriptures quickly bear them out ; At least whene’er it helps Satanic greed. 146 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER Their arguments, they think, would angels route ; Do so beyond a shadow of a doubt. Know not all men that Canaan was the one On whom the curse did fall? Then Ham is free ; Since ’twas not he by whom the act was done. The scriptures doth this show the facts to be, Since this is so, from whence came the decree That we must hew the wood, and the water draw,, Throughout all times, as men of low degree ; Be underlings ; forever stand in awe Of just such things as we ourselves ? Fie ! pshaw ! Inferior stock! slaves! patient like the horse ; Resenting not, but toiling to the last. AND GEMS OF L,ITEF A.TURE. 147 How strange that Christian men would dare endorse Such heartless cant! Still clinging to the past ; Although the Negro has made pro- gress vast ; Has taken prizes at Harvard and Yale ; Has ever nailed excelsior to his mast ; Has bid farewell to ignorance’s gloomy vale ; Resolved to weather every stormy gale. If of “inferior stock” why so concerned ? A horse keeps not his master wake a’ nights. Methinks, perhaps, they have somehow discerned That horses sometimes kick, and this fact plights, Destroys, and many a pleasant prospect blights. Oft so. The best laid schemes o’ mice and men Gang aft aglay,” and leave us no de- lights. 148 AFRO AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER ’Tis well some things are quite beyond man’s ken ; For then he seeks his God; then, and only then. How strange that men will kick against the pricks ! Hold down, or strive to hold the rising sun ! Will dare attempt a people’s standard fix ; Such laws are fixed by an omniscient one. So plain is this that all may read and run. Though clouds and darkness do awhile prevail, It is not long before the sun has won ; Illuminating every hill and dale ; Because with Him there’s no such word as fail. “In God we trust.” He is our help and shield, Believing in ourselves we’ll enter in ; As Negroes not; but men, against the field; AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 149 Not asking favors ; but amid the din, As others, do our best the race to win. If of 4 ‘inferior stock” of course we’ll lose The race, and reap the fruit of Canaan’s sin ; Accept our lot ; the Father’s plan we’ll choose, And say the devil has received his dues. As citizens of this brave land ; we ask For justice, simple and exact, No more, No less. Our efforts oft are made a task ; Because where others find an open door, Denied are we, though honest to the core ; Be cultured, wealthy, still because we’re black, Black, yes black ; only this and nothing more ; Think ! too much pigment is our only lack ; Tis this which makes the blockade on our track. *50 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER We ask, shall being black be deemed a. sin? If so, then say who is the blame to bear ? Cun leopards change their spots or we our skin? Perhaps they would have made our- selves more fair, And straightened out, perhaps, our curly hair ; In short, they would have made a better man. They would have exercised the utmost care ; Would have improved upon the Father’s plan, Had they been present when the world began. Oh sons of Pilgrims ! sons of cavaliers ! Bethink you of your patriotic sires ; That which your fathers gained by war and tears. By striking for their altars and their fires, And giving vent to long pent up desires, AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 151 Will you deny a race that has been true To you — a race that lawfully aspires To play its part, and to itself be true ? If so, unworthy sons, thrice shame on you. Oh America ! Oh land of the free ! How long shall Satan rule the thoughts of men Instead of God ? Oh when shall liberty Unfurl her flag to all, from end to end, Throughout this land ? Echo answers, when ? Shall prejudice forever rule the land? Then boast not of “superior” race again ; For you cannot on such foundation stand, If you show fear of an inferior hand. This prophecy I make. My words mark well. In coming years, will evils dread and dire, Mafias, race wars, the historians tell. God in heaven will empty out his ire ; And show to man there is a power 152 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER They must obey. The sword of justice then Aloft will be upraised, and never tire, Until her outraged laws stand forth again In purity, to guide the acts of men. TOUSSAINT L’OVERTURE. BY EDW. H. KING. Weird and sad, Toussaint, is thy story, But sweet are the laurels entwining thy name ; And they who interpret the wreaths of thy glory Shall covet the praises that garland thy fame. The quill that the record historic is writing, The pages that annals the doings of Time, Will proclaim to the future the foe ye were fighting; In rymthical prose, in eulogic rhyme. and CEJM3 OF DITFRATURF. 153 The children of years that the present is seeking, Bathing in freedom thy martyrdom shed Shall never forget thee ; of thee ever be speaking, Before whom oppression and tyranny fled. Great is thy name ! Who can dispute it, Or point to a blurr thy career that stains ? It is grand ! It is bold ! dwells none to re- fute it. From the width of the shores to the breadth of the main. The vales of Domingo ; The mountains of Hayti, Thy sons and thy daughters forever are free ; The royal bequest which thou gave with a sigh They guard and protect; and they emulate Thee. 154 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER The dungeons of thraldom ; The prisons of Slav’ry, Those vipers — the serpents who men would enthrall — ; The deeds of thy valor, thy courage, thy brav'ry Hath conquered their power — compell’d them to fall. Like an evergreen vine, like a tree ever vernal Grandeur immortal blooms over thy bier; A brow for her crown — Freedom eternal Sought for a king and elected thee heir. When the tale of thy life zephrys are lisp’ring Tuned to the strains of sweet music lays, The voice of the winds are thy eulogies whispering ; All nature the sonnets melodious sways. AND GEMS OF EITERATURE. 155 Sacred the spot where eternal is sleeping The dust of the hero who once was a slave ; The dews of the dawn o’er thy casket is weeping, While the voices of song chants a dirge to the brave. Oh, language is faulty; The tongue is bewildered, Thro’ the forest of words it seeketh to ^ sing ; Strives the pen to inscribe thy praise, but is hindered — Like a bird, flees the import of words upon wing. Stronger the links thine aims were achieving, Than the links of the chain by which ye were bound ; When wondered the world, what thy valor was’t weaving, The flag of a black republic was found. 156 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOE SPEAKER The sword of courage ; and the gavel of Freedom Coulds’t never be wrenched from the grasp of thy hand, And the volumes of Time wrote of a new kingdom Where Liberty’s waters could flow ’pon the strand. Shackles and fetters are shivered to atoms, Bondage no more curse the home of thy birth ; And the winters, the summers, the springs and the autumns Visit thy kindred unhampered, sit in peace at thy hearth. Good deeds must be done ; and those that are coming Shall equal in merit the deeds of the past ; When the judge of them all shall their value be summing, Thy deeds with them all shall be equally cast. AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 157 When the Goddess of Freedom lay robed in a shroud, When the battle for right cease her sons to endure, When all Earth is submerged in a des- potic cloud Let memory forget “Toussaint L’Ouver- ture.” PROLOGUE. V BY MARY CHURCH TERREEE. To one and all we bow, And solemnly do vow To do our level best, But you must do the rest. Though critics laugh and rail, We’ll neither quake nor quail. No poet Keats are we, As you can plainly see. And if we entertain, In sad or mirthful strain, Sufficient is the meed, To know that we succeed. 158 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER “HE KISSED A NEGRO .] CHILD.” * By J. C. McAdams . As John Brown left the prison, With aspect meek and mild, Along the way, in open day, He kissed a Negro child. The act brought consternation; The soldiers all reviled; They thought ;t awful, if ’twas lawful To kiss a Negro child. The town was in commotion; The populace was wild; They e\en ran, to see the man, Who’d kiss a Negro child. And now he’s at the gallows; To fate he’s reconciled; Thought he, to-day, I clear the v ay For every Negro child. * As John Brown was being led from the prison to the scaffold , he stopped on the way and kissed a Negro child, held in its mother's arms. RULES FOR ORGANIZING AND CONDUCTING LITERARY SOCIETIES, LYCEUflS, DE= BATING CLUBS, ETC. Pursuant to the organization of any kind of society, a Constitution and By- Laws should be formulated and adopted. The Constitution should contain the fundamental rules and regulations. The By-Laws are intended to embody the minor laws. The Constitution should be amended or altered, only at a special meeting, and by a vote of, at least, three- fourths of all the members belonging to the society. The By Laws may be amended at any regular meeting and by a majority vote of those present. 159 FORM OF CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I. This organization shall be known by the name and title of “The Frederick Douglass Literary Association. ” Its object shall be the free discussion of any subject coming before the meeting for the purpose of diffusing knowledge and in- telligence among its members. ARTICLE ii. The officers of the Association shall be a president or speaker ; a first and second vice-president ; a secretary, an assistant secretar}/ ; treasurer ; and a librarian. They shall hold office for three months or until their successors are elected and qualified. They shall be elected by bal- lot, the first Friday night in January, April, July and October of each year. 160 161 AND GE or irTZRATVXr.. ARTICLE III. It shall he the duty of the speaker to preside at all public meetings of the Association. The first and second vice- speakers respectively, shall preside in the absence of the speaker. The duty of the secretary shall be to keep an accurate record of the meetings of the Association, and to read the same at each succeeding meeting. The assist- ant secretary shall assist and act in the absence of the secretary. The treasurer shall keep the funds o^ the Association, making a quarterly re- port of all monies received, paid out, and the amount on hand. It shall be the duty of the librarian to carefully keep all books and manuscripts of the Association not kept by the secre- tary and treasurer. ARTICLE IV. At the first meeting, after each quarter- ly election, the sneaker shall appoint the (62 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER following standing committees, to consist of three members each, namely ; On program, lectures, library, finance and entertainments, whose duties shall be designated by the speaker. These com- mittees shall report at each regular meet- ing ; said reports subject to the approval or non-approval of a majority vote of those present. ARTtCMS v. Any lady or gentleman may become a member of this Association by the consent of the majority of members present, at. any regular meeting; the payment of One Dollar as membership fee, and the signing of the constitution. It shall be the privilege of this Association to elect any one an honorary member, whose presence and influence maybe advantage- ous. No honorary member shall be re- ■q wired to pay membership fee and dues. AW #EMS LITER ATORE, 16k ART ICin Vh This Association shall meet Friday flight of meh 1 week, "A called petting may be had at the request of a majority vote of the, members belonging to tie Association only, ARTICLE mi* 1?he parliamentary rules and general form of conducting public meetings, as shown in the Afro- American Speaker and Gems of Literature, shall be the standard authority in governing the deliberations of this Association, article vm, Bach member shall pay into the treas- ury ten cents on the first Friday night of each month, article jx. Any member failing to pay his dues, or who is guilty of improper conduct,- calcu. Jated to bring this Association Into dis* repute shall be expelled by a two-thirds vote of the members present, provided, 164 AFRO-AMERICAN* SCHOOL SPEAKER nowever, that no member shall be thus dealt with, without having been given one week’s notice in writing and who is not given an opportunity to defend him- self before the Association. ARTICLE x. All trials for non-payment of dues or improper conduct shall be before a jury of not less than three members in good standing, to be appointed by the speaker. But if the accused object, the committee must be elected by a majority vote of those present. BY-LAWS. Rule i. No question shall be stated unless moved by two members, nor be open for consideration until stated by the chair. When a question is before the Society, no motion shall be received, ex- cept to lay on the table, the previous question, to postpone, to refer, or t© AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 165 amend ; and they shall have precedence in the order they are named. Rule 2. When a member desires to speak on a question, he shall rise and address the chair, as Mr. President, or Mr. Speaker, confine himself to the ques- tion and avoid personality. Should more than one member rise to speak at the same time, the President shall determine who is entitled to the floor. Rule 3. Every member shall have the privilege of speaking three times on any question under consideration, but not oftener, and no member shall speak more than once, until every member wishing to, shall have s\ oken. Rule 4. The President shall state every question coming before the society ; and before putting it to vote shall a^k : Are you ready for the question ? Should no member rise to speak, he shall rise to put the question ; and after he has risen, 110 member shall speak upon it, unless by permission of the society. t6 6 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Rule 5. The affirmative and negative of the question having been both put and answered, the President declares the num- ber of legal votes cast, and whether the affirmative or negative have it. Rule 6 . All questions, unless other- wise fixed by law, shall be decided by a majority of votes. Rule 7. After any question, except one of indefinate postponement, has been de- cided, any member may move a recon- sideration thereof, if done in a week after the decision. A motion for reconsidera- tion of the same question a second time shall not be in order. Rule 8. Any two members may call for a division of a question, when the same will admit of it. Rule 9. The President, or any mem- ber, may call a member to order while speaking, when the debate must be sus- pended, and the member take his seat un- til the question of order is decided. AND GEM$ O.F LTTERAXUKt:,. . jlu7 Rule io. The President shall preserve order and decorum ; may: speak to points of order in preference to other, members ; -and shall, decide all questions of order. Rule ii. No motion or ^proposition on a subject d ‘if .rent front that tinder con- sideration shall be admitted under color of an amendment. Rule 12. No addition, alteration or amendment to the Constitution, By-laws, etc , shall be acted upon, except in accor- dance with the Constitution. Rule 13. No. nomination shall be con- sidered as made until seconded. Rule, 14. The president shall sign all proceedings, of the meeting. Rule 15. No member shall vote by proxy. Rule 16. No motion shall be with- drawn by the mover unless the second withdraw his second. Rule. 17. No extract from any book shall be read consuming more than five minutes. 168 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKS ~ Rule 18. No motion for adjournment shall be in order until after nine o’clock. Rule 19. Every motion shall be re- duced to writing, should the officers of the society desire it. Rule 20. An amendment to an amend- ment is in order, but not to amend an amendment to an amendment of a main question. Rule 21. The previous question shall be put in this form, if seconded by a majority of the members present : “shall the main question be put ?” If decided in the affirmative, the main question is put with all other debate suspended. Rule 22. Members not voting shall be considered as voting in the affirmative, unless excused by the society. Rule 23. Any member offering a pro- test against any of the proceedings of this societ3L may have the same, if, in re- spectful language, entered upon the minutes. AXI> CEMS OE LITERATURE, 169 Rule 24. No subject laid on the table shall be taken up again on the same evening. Rule 25. No motion shall be debatable until seconded. R r JI,E 26. Points of order are debatable to the society* Rule 27. Appeals and motions to re- consider or adjourn are not debatable. Rule 28. When a very important motion or amendment is made and seconded, the mover shall reduce the same to writing, and hand it in at the table, from which it shall be read to the society for debate. Rule 29. The mover of a motion shall be at liberty to accept any amendment, but if any amendment be offered and not accepted, the society shall pass upon it before voting upon the original motion. Rule 30. Every officer, on leaving his office, shall give to his successor all papers, documents, books or money be- l°nging to the society. 170 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER Rule $i. No smoking and no refresh- ments, except water, shall be allowed in the society’s hall, RuLE 32. When a motion to adjourn is carried, no member shall leave his seat until the President has left his chair. parliamentary RULES AND USAGES. The following are the rules, in a plain and compact form, for conducting a public meeting : Quorum y A quorum is a sufficient number of the members of an association to legally transact business. Unless a quorum is present no business is in ordt r, except to adjourn. A majority of the members constitutes a quorum, but the By-Laws of the Association may prescribe a smaller number. 171 ANl>«!EMS T OF WTEEATBBE}; The t Chairman , ~vf! It is the duty of the Chairman to open the meeting /at the designated time',' by fair in o* f h U' on air rail in op llii r” . ■ ■ v ; . r H f; ir .y : n n. , □ * . n ne chair, calling the house , wfli - j; , 'Tv< ; \ order ,'’ announcing the' bu^fiiess ‘Before the house in the order which it is to tie acted -upon ; to receirrkh'dmbinit all motions ; top puts wte >'aM-qtiestioti.S' : .which Pare ^eguiarlyomwed, or rise, and 4o annotHice the result*; to- restrain every one when engaged tint debate^ within the rules of order p to-appoint com mittees, $ r to au then- t i cate by h is • sig ua L ure, f w hen n ecess a ry > all the acts, of ■ the= house, and- to. declare its* with He 'may-, speak', to. -points -.of order in ipreference to -others,; -decide all questions of order,* and if the house is evenly divided- he may give the casting vote, he may, if he pleases, give his reasons. - . : T The Clerk . Id is the duty of the Clerk or Secretary to keep connect minutes of the proceed- ings of the house ; to stand and read all 172 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER papers when ordered ; to call the roll, and state the answer when a vote is taken by yeas and nays ; to have all papers and documents, and to authenticate the acts and proceedings of the house by his signature. Committees. Standing committees sit permanently ; special committees perform only some particular duty. The person first named is usually regarded as chairman, but this is only a matter of courtesy ; every com- mittee has a right to select its own chair- man. Custom has taken away this right and it is considered bad form to elect any other person than the first named as chairman. In the appointment of the committee no person directly opposed to the measure committed should be named, and when such person hears himself named should ask to be excused. The chair appoints all committees. Com- mittees do not adjourn, but, when they have concluded their deliberations should AND GEMS OP UTERATURE. 173 rise and report. When the report is received the committee is discharged and cannot act further without new power. The committee of the whole is an ex- pedient to simplify the business of legis- lative bodies. No record is made of its proceedings. The presiding officer puts the question, if same is carried, appoints some one as chairman and then vacate the chair. Motions. Propositions made to a deliberative assembly are called motions ; when the proposition is put to vote, it is called a question. A motion can not be enter- tained or the question put, until the same has been seconded. After this, it becomes the property of the house, and cannot be withdrawn except by leave. It must be m writing whenever the house requires it, and must be read when any person de- mands it for information. No motion can be made while a speaker has the floor, 174 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOQL# SPEAKER nor while another motion is pending, ex- cept a question of privilege. Amendments . A motion may be amended by inserting words, or by striking out words, or by striking out and inserting words. A motion may be made to amend, after which a motion will be to amend the amendment, but this is the full limit of the rule by which one motion may be put upon another. A motion to amend the second amendment is not in order. Ques- tions of privilege can not be amended, ex- cept that a motion to postpone can be amended as to time. i. =,d J 1 ! : The amstm? ' r ' 1 The qvu-stieti is first to be put on the affirmative; and then- bn the negative S'i'ddp 1 the ivote ■ in most eases* being by oraloTespcmseol If there are doubts as to the voice* of the rriaj drity, kny one **may call form divfeionu- -TmcaSe the hotiseris equally (divided; the-questiott* i is losfcj* uni- and gems of literature I?s less the presiding officer affirms it by a casting vote. When a division is had those in the affirmative on the question,’ should first rise and be counted, then those on the negative, two tellers may count, report to the chairman, and he de- clare the res ul t to the hou se. A question snould always be stated by the chair be- fore it is put, after which, it is open for debate. Questions may be stated by the chair while sitting, but he should always rise to put a question, and use this form : As many as are of the opinion that (as the question may be) will say aye;” after the affirmative voice is expressed, “as many as are of a contrary opinion will say no. He declares the vote. After a ques- tion has been put, it is not debatable, but after the affirmative is put, any person who has not spoken tb the question, may arise and speak before the negative is put. Division of Question , . Any person may call for the division of a question if it comprehend propositions, 176 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER in substance so distinct, that, one being taken away, a substantive proposition shall remain for decision. Privileged Questions. When a question is under debate, no motion shall be received, except to ad- journ ; to lay on the table ; the previous question ; to postpone to a certain day ; to commit; to amend; to postpone in- definitely. These motions have precedence in the order in which they stand arranged, andfe are called privileged questions. When a matter has been laid on the table it may be taken up any time after- ward and considered, but not at the same meeting at which it was tabled. There are several questions which, being inci- dental to every one,, will take the place of every one, privileged or not ; as, a ques- tion of order arising out of any other question must be decided before that question. Previous Questions . When any question is before the house any member may move that the question (called the main question) be now put, or may move the previous question. If it pass, the main question is to be put im- mediately and no further debate is allowed. Questions of Order . It is the duty of the chairman to de- cide all questions of order whenever raised. . Upon such questions no discus- sion is in order, but if the decision is not satisfactory, any one may object to it and appeal to the house. On appeal being taken, the question should be : “ Shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the house?” Whereupon the question may be debated and dis- cussed the same as any other question. Commitment . Any measure may be referred to a com- mittee on motion. A motion to commit may be amended by the substitution of 178 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL, SPEAKER one kind of committee for another, by enlarging or diminishing the number of the members of the committee, or by in- structions to the committee. After a measure has been committed and reported, it should not be recommitted, but is some- times recommitted, and usually to the same committee. Reconsideration . When a motion or question shall have been determined, either in the affirmative or negative it is always in order for any one who voted with the majority to move for a reconsideration thereof. Such motion must be made at the same meeting which the former vote was taken. A motion to reconsider being put and lost cannot be renewed. Undebatable Motions. A motion to adjourn; to lay on the table, and a call for the previous question, must be decided without debate. All in- cidental questions of order, arising after AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 179 a motion is made must be decided, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate. Order in Debate. When a person means to speak, he is to stand up in his place, and address him- self to the chair, who calls him by name, that all may take notice who it is that speaks. A person who is indisposed mar be indulged to speak sitting. When i person rises to speak, no question is to be put, he is to be heard undisturbed, unless overruled. If two or more rise to speak nearly together, the chair determines who was first up and calls him by name, where- upon he proceeds, unless he voluntarily sits down and yields the floor to the other. No one may speak more than twice to the same question, without the consent of the house, except merely to explain him- self in some material part of his speech, or to the manner of words in question’ keeping himself to that only and not go- ing into the merits of it. * 180 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL* SPEAKER- If the chairman rises to speak, the person standing must sit down, that the chair may be heard first. No one is to speak impertinently, or beside the ques- tion, or to use indecent language against the proceedings of the house. Nor should a person in speaking mention another than present, by his name, but should describe him by his seat, or, “as the gentleman who spoke last” or, “on the other side of the question,” etc. Any one when called to order by another or by the chair should sit'down, and not proceed until the ques- tion of order shall have been decided by the chair. While the presiding officer is addressing the house or putting a question no one should cross the floor or leave the room ; nor while another is speaking, walk between him and chair. Adjournment. A motion to adjourn is not susceptible to an amendment. If it is desirable to adjourn to any particular place or time, this may be accomplished by a previous resolution to that effect. I I SUPPLEMENT 182 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER PROSPERITY. By J. C. McAdams. When w e catl read our A‘ e eat "’ To mansions, stocks and larn^ ^ Then many a man who no ■ W ill shake a friendly hand. Eh on Id earth against us then It cSnot make its bluff: We would not mind its fretfu rage, For we would have the stuff. If cares like a wild deiugeeome, And stocks should rise and tall Wen sit back m our cozy h< m And sing “After the Ball. We then could bathe our v\ eai y frame, In seas of earthly ies , cicknes** And when the time of sickness- comes We’d have a feathery nesu Let’s love the Lord with all our ‘might, /.nd love the dole . s too; 183 and gems of LITERATURE 1 he lord will help us in the fight, The dollars take us through My friends suppose we henceforth try, As through this world we go; To lay a little something by. And hare some heaven below. iN« GEMS OF I.I I KKATl? KK 18 # : SIMPLE CONTENT. • 1w ’ DFU " . . li: ■ '! . :,.i ' The hermit on the mountain , wrapped in silence and . in chv*4, The busy man of nionej im> ] :•<: i blindly through the crowd, • The poet courting frenzy where the :f tempest trumpets loud, / : All,— all would smile :upon me j fo^ n the weakness of my heart, ■) M And pity me in pride that 1 slundd A play so small a 'party.; : Who have no great ambition and who claim no noble art. And each would scorn the other \ and each tell it o’er and o’er, Merchant, dwelfer oil the mountain/ a and the singer by the shore, How life to him was sweeter than \ his fellows’ and meant more. ^ But neither scorn nor pity him who v. chooses his own way, Let him make of life a labor or the world a place to play; For I know my brother’s darkness may to me seem brightest day. 186 afro-amkrican school speaker One may see no joy save grasping shinging gold within his hand. One may find his only pleasure on the mountain lone and grand; While I prize my humble valley as the dearest in the land. But I will not flount his judgement nor . deride his settled bent, For monarch in his palace and with Arab in his tent, So I love my valley and I love my. hum- ble cot and I find so many — And I find so many pleasures in my homely simple lot That I have no time to worry over bless ings I have not And I envy not the poet who sits sing- ing by the sea. For the song this lazy river croons is sweet enough for me. And in bliss, I sit and listen, dreaming dreams of Arcady ! Paul Lawrence Dunbar , AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 18? JE8 BLURT HIT OUT By Leland M Fisher Hit alius did look like to me J3r kind o’ misfit charet, Ter wait untel er feller’s dead Afore his benediction’s said 1 never could, ter save my skin See what good hit done ’im then But they’s lots an’ scores o’ folks That plays them very kind o’ jokes They talk erbout ye to yer back An’ keep yer good name on the rack An’ outer houses made o’ glass Throw rocks ernuff to dam the pass, 0 ’ Mississippi er the Nile, Then way erlong after while When all mean things yer ever done Has been talked over, one by one, An’ multiplied and made ter look Like mount ’ns in er picture book An’ lies ernuff been told on you Ter start ernother hell or two An’ livin gets ter be torment An’ ye don’t give a blasted cent Erbout it, an’ jes cease ter try An’ in despair lay down and die. Then they commence to sing ye praise. 188 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER praise An’ talk erbout the by-gone days, Untel, ef ye could git erway, An’ come back here an’ spen’er dayj Like er — what" you' oklf j em p^etk Ye would ’n know yer blamed bf self I say I never, in all my days f Could see th’ good postmortem praise Done er man, nohow So ef ye see - Anything good er tall in me, “ I wush ye ’d kind o ’ blurt hit out , While I am up an’ going erbout, Don’t save hit back to make er fuss ; With when hit wont be vvuth a cuss t Hit hi do me good ef now hits said But I wont need hit When I’m dead, A . vjr.iO •; e.-CV: * / 189 AND GEMS OF LITERATURE IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN By Mrs Susan T Penn, Think of the past that forever hath flown, ( )f the dream that in childhood dream- ed Sometime 1 think I should never have known That the world was not what it seemed ; I turn me about and I wonder in vain Why the earth was so bright and not dreary then I gather up links that form me a chain And then I remember that it might have been. Might have won laurels. I never have won T might have healed wounds that never healed, Ah! So many things that I might -have done perchance to the world will remain. 190 AFKO-AMKKICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER unsealed Yea the world may not know what our worth should be, Even to us it is hidden behind a screen But any one can see, can planely see When reflecting that it might have been . , t , 1 am here in a cottage that is humble and poor; And it's strange to see how others suc- ceed, , A Perhaps our chances were better ana more , . Yet our way was not their way, our creed not their creed; This is why the world looks backward and sighs, And thinks of the past only alter the) Themany l sad days that beclouded then skies * Then well remember that it might have been. When our temples are frosted autumns near spent, Then w e ponder and look and our at the AND GEMS OF UTBRATOSB 191 wealth of our friends ; It mystifies us then to think we’re content That we spend cents while he thousands spends; We groan for awhile then take- courage again. And trudge along life’s pathway rs best we can : Well satisfied and willing awhde to remain But oh! we remember that it might have been. ♦♦♦♦ ©F ISLAS©.^ A DRAMA IN SIX ACTS. OF ABSORBING INTEREST. Illustrating a Phase ol the Race Questi or. Often as real >* *9 Pathetic. Story WritU - By Mrs. Susan T Penn. Dramatized By Dr M. V. Lynk. JK ** ***■«> * + A COPTIUGHT1 900. V -iile about five minutes, and should be taken up with appropiate mus^ AMD Giii: >F LITBRATUBB. 1»7 ACT. i. Scene I. KUTURAH: — {standing before the mirror of her parlor.) “OH! I admire the way in which you have arranged my hair, it surpasses my greatest expectation. I did not think it would be so becoming, fixed in the latest coiffure. Now, Gurtrude, you may show Captain Seymour into the blue parlor” [ Quietly she sat and meditating over her mother's obstinacy to her marriage to Captain Seymours she audibly whispered] “I know that my mother is proud, haughty: .*nd ''imperious, and my .father whs more s.. Where could I have got- ten such a mind to ever think of marry- ing a sea captain — a plain sea captain wi'hout a title Preposterous, of course! bui 1 love him with ail my soul. I must decide and give my own answer to day for my mother, I know, will not relent, I need not wait longer,# I am her only child and perchance after we are married and happy mother will forgive.” SELAH:- — \ Enters and kneels] “May it please Her Roval Highness, the Prin- rKSKOK ttau ISLAND, Captain Seymour awaits in 4 he parlor ” r Keturah arises and gracefully passes oid of the — Curtain falls. 1 Five minutes interval. 198 AFRO-AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER Scene II [ Curtain rises , Captain Sey- mour seated in the blue pai lor , springs o his feet as Keturah enters , meets the Prin- cess and escorts her to a seat on the divan beside himself. He gently catches her by the shoulder and holds her away so as to vet a better view of her.] d CAPT. SEYMOUR:— “Keturah, I am anxious, almost crazy, to hear my doom. If y ‘U refuse to give tne a satisfactory answer I will be forced to fill the gra ve Oj a suicide I can no longer bear the pressure, Keturah, it will kill me C ; . i £ call you my own dear wife; Keturali answer me.” [He lets her loose and slips one arm arouud her plump hare shoulders. Keturah lays her head upon his breast.] CAPT. S. — Anticipating the answer. “Oh Keturah, mv own darling Keturah’ \ Embracing and kissing her , he continues J “Darling sweet wife \ ( u shall be. yott have made this world a parade : u at otherwise would have beeri a _ u.n ' v 1 derness.”- [5 peaking with tare to tne audience.] “Though 1 am a -mug man, vet when L grow olo, after 5 ' ’' e crone through much of tuis w >r.d s Wouoles— even then, when • - Lhe odor of honeysuckles and heliotropes, I shall live over again these sweet mo- ments of earthly bliss.” [Curiam funs . . A.NJL* G.EMS v,!' 1J 1 *TUJfc?-I5. 199 ACT II. Scene: [A white woman sitting in a parlor, furniture different from the pro- ceeding one, looking out of the winuozc. Her daughter, a beautiful blonde, nernus- ly walking the floor. Curtain rising t ^ S-fevL/lC _ >> MO r HEK : — demonstrative “You, mv only daughter, whom I have verily worshipped ; mu t deceive her rar- est in such a manner as this. You have received letters from Caot. Seymour. Why keep it from me? I much reler you marry him.” SEUCIA: — “Mother I have not re- ceived a letter from Capt. Seymo r n mo-re than six m mths.” [sobbin o-\ O ! Mother, if you could on ly read my h ar ; if you only knew how intensely I love aim, you could then understand' what I have to bear. I have waited long and patienfly for a:; filer. I have almost breathlessly watched for a letter, tut failed to receive it. And mother, 1 am now past twenty-four years of age, am [ to await his pleasure, who, percharce ; loving some fair Senorita of Mexio . r worshipping at the shrine of some dasn- tng western beauty? I I vc him, nu ther, but he can not humiliate me. Mr Sin- clair is a gentleman, though not a nu m- ber of aristocratic circles. He has made money honorably and plenty.” AFkU-AMKUlCAK SCHOOL 'SI’KAK LK SKLICIA’S wOVUER: “Well Seli- cia, I say and re-iterate, your marriage with Sinclair will not -be happy, such marriages are „ev,r- . m m jearuest mu I sav he is beueu h you. yea tar vour nferior, in my estimation, granting that he has ten times the money that he has.” X Curtail 'alls.] ACT III. Scene [ Curtain rises. A ba }! r .^ rt /C at Marble Castle, Capital op IT AH AS • LAND , given by the Princess Keturah. ; Those present, are Keturah; _ Capt Sey \ viour; Her Majesty Queen of ltah l v nclair; Count Luckana; Lana Santa a .ic piana, and a gay party engaged in a cine; and merrymaking.] tPT. SEYMOUR :— | audibly whis- pering — as h e ent, -s the parlor ] We 11, i .an not say that 1 would be ashamed of •nv bride, or her people, should they • thrown amongst mine, on the eontihent, 1 find as refined a people as ' asUeen j lot to meet at home or abroad, [Cap ■ Seymour looking ova the room be holds Keturah, who is lavishly dressed and de o- rated with diamonds unstmtmgly y he say >, J *‘M' 1 -.fling." Kt me seat you, t> r ' 1 if . reman standh - vou u 1 r _.y \ Turns his face to audience \ » 1 n't k • w ether I an. wors. p- — ' — * Ay a some a> creature or not AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 20 * darling* may be from a fairy land; and I may loose my bride. Keturah, come let me see your eyes, let me Is ear your voice.” [He led • her away into an adjoining room — after the first dance they returned — when all eyse were upon them.] KETUK.i Jri . —[advancing toward Count Luckana , and hanging on the Captain's arm says bashjully; — 1 “Gome let me in- troduce you to my cousin.” “Count Luckana, Captain Seymour.” COUNT LU CK ANA:— [Bows politely but stiffly ] Keturah then introduces the Captain to Miss Lana Santa, at the piano. [Ketui ah leaves the room alone .] [Captains Seymour and Sinclair talking ] SINCLAIR — “Captain S. these are stfrely not same as the American Negro?” CAPT. S — “Probaly not Yet 1 am laboring under the impression that you have not met the best of these people on the continent ” SINCLAIR — ‘ I suppose not, for the people here differ widely in every respect. They are ret nth, intelligent— and By- George, the ladies are pretty and accom- plished. I have never seen a more swell assembly in our own metropolis. But what would our wives and daughters say if they knew that we were being so roy- ally entertained? Upon my word, Sey- mo’- * it is strange to be thus courted at the pital of ITAH ISLAND, by a half breed African.” 202 WKO-AMEK*. c a:; SCHOOL SPEAKER is i) i. • ■ . ; • • • )i 0APT. S. — “I suppose that key would be perfectly disgusted, and almost throw us overboard.” - SINCLAIR -“Well, they need not give themselves any uneasiness about m^ ) For if all the wealth of this Isiana were. piled at my feet, and the cros^n to ; > ffn in, I couldn’t marry a dark woman. Y- Twill pardon me if I say I hate them. PT. S — {With head turned to audience] “He doesn’t know aiat. i am a .perately in love with one of these tairv queens. The crown, .well perish the thought! the women are the prettiest creatures human eyes ever beheld.” ' Exit Seymour. Sinclair remains* sit- ting on the sofa— in the meantime eyeing ' MAJESTY,*THE queen of IT AH ISL AND.— [In an adjoining ronm y barely in sight , and audible , with iunh, Stepas Luckana, Seymour a lit - U& dista it ] “You I believe will kill ni ;.I can not bear the idea of iny daugh- ter; marrying a sea aptain I can no 1 longer live; th. ery thoughts will drive 1 me mad I have no son to bear my roya \ name I expected to find in Stepas Luckana, a desirable >n to keep the name Oh! Xeturah, wht would your father think if he but knew!” STEPAS LUCKANA:— “^3 dear aunt, I fear that cousin Keturah has misled vou I believe her to be engaged AiNDr^EMS CFXITERATORE 203 to Uie American sea % caotain R„f u fore I Cal4>. for an answer, I wish to rp~ the love the’ averse A^eri' N ' ?r0 ° f '” S ofvncou". ‘ •\ n<1 too > notwithstanding the ; Negrro-has made them what ^ ate l h fy h * v e ‘elled the forests, tilled the Wh; t U do th Amt riCa bl ° SSOmslike - rose- what do thej receive for their over centuries of t.il?— Hardship two tural^if ANA.:_1> Keturah] “But Ke- T” Ir- ! *~w a *V I 1 ^ ould seek doath Give me my sword thatTm^* CapWn! 1 sh *l' drown now the darV onnce. C?*™' ] “° h! ^hat more?” [Her M^Ty £J S tseZ\ w , • ?ro*americah school Sphakkr ^aJ'a^brother Cousin Stepas you c- nev. ^RS i^Vhe fir'd ii’io mother room in si ^ ht 'if h ^‘ ™ Z Jives are administered until she re vives. Curtain falls ] ACT IV [Scene : the early down Stefas Luckana n ®URAHs-“Whj cousin bteps. y ^TEPAS?-‘‘ ' ", “esctne We *» STkrA^>. _ bcoK/’ 1 on enng 4 little reluctantly-] and gems of eiterat&re. 205 rSTEPAS— “Oh! Keturah, you ha-e broken my b.an, J0U have ’ k {„ ed ^ -.or Heavens sake, for the sake of the hl\Tsa,d he Y UCk " DaV , ,JtraCt tou ave said You see the distress v'< nr motner ism, do yo mean to kill t both iei, me ep.hati.allj ana at once o you mean to fulfill you. engagement^ can , , h consequent:, vour mother U w l‘t fe n' r ,r P Utl , der llie c ' rcums tances; K pifn , [ ? lt!i5 than murder ” d , “I mean to ' hln 8 wrong Of curse mother i«« “Ti r in i\ g spe,is and is ■<* f- V Why cousin Stepas, there is J aaa Santa, that just worships vou, and very one admires he Captain beyinou, says, that next to myself si , is the half 6 H ndSOmiest 'hdj that attended the ball Her playing is just splendid- to S m PEPAS LUl KA: '' • t — “Don’t speak L -oymour. I will have ^ lled \ he becomes excitedX I want mv °feV° te ” me °*>« for all ” 7 ever -, , d!!;\ H: ' ‘‘ Cousin -‘epa .. ! have everab dedby what you have >. d and have listened to you in «., T , that are past, and will e-er sc.k your a d^- sVvdVc^t \ sto Pl> e ' 1 SUll denly.] Yo tl: * L -" ' h > es - I understand marries * ; our determination tc marry Seymour? 206 AFRC AMERICAN SCHOOL SPEAKER KETU RAH:-- [with tears in her eyes.] “I can but say with due respect to you, and all concerned, that i presist in mar- vini r the sea captaiv STEP AS [Bmotionu ly, ] “But you have killed me, killed your mother, and disgraced the royal b use of the Luck- ana’s Prepare to put on an outward appearance of mourning. Society will demand it. That will be all. Iffj? Luckana again calls his groom and. tells him that it is time por them to depart. They leave together. Stepasgoes to the sea and drowns himself Here arrange a tub 3x6 feet filled with water By a little skill you can have some hidden one drop a brick or something into the water , which will make » splash , as Stef as falls over be- hind the tub. Curtain falls.] ACT V. rScENE : Her Majesty lying on a bed in an apparently dying condition , Keturah ana servant in the room.] HER MAJESTY:— ‘We me s ; me poison and let me go, I Have nothing more to live for. My ambition is dead, mv daughter has disgraced the house ot the Luck ana’s.” [With this she lay back exhausted in a swoon.] KETURAH: — ‘.‘Mot-ier, oh! mother, has my disobedience killed you, please sneak to ine, speak to your child one AND GEMS OF LITERATURE. 207 more time.” [Keturah faints . The ser- vant had called m a physician , who, after trying to revive her Majesty, who was dy- ing, revives Keturah. ] HER MAJESTY:— “Keturah, [Ketu- rah rushes to her bedside J my child, I am dying-, I ill rave no more. Be not alarmed, I will soon go hence out of my misery. 1 must bless you before I die, and I have something to tell you— a se- cret I have long kept that I must now disclose. • My darling you have a broth- er, who of course you have never heard of, and perhaps may never see, I do not know. But if you should chance to meet him, treat him as a brother. Give me the toddy Imust tel! it now, ves now. Keturah, I will tell you why 1 de- test the race that your lover belongs to. Remember that I have always bei< rged to the royal family * but have not lived here. 1 have lived in a larger and more beautiful Isle than this. My father being the king of Pahtah Island as you know, was rich and I being the only child, was a matter of course petted and spoiled. 1 was sent to England to at- tend school, there I met , and loved an Englishman. He too was of the be -t of that race. He won mv heart andmar, ned me. To my utter astonishment r found that m Paris he had a living wife - fcave an undying hatred for that r: ce. 208 . AND GEMS OF LITERATURE . It has wrong-eel me. He pretended that he had obtained a divorce, I did not be- lieve him. I had seen the woman that claimed to be his wife. He was far from being rich and I had just recently fallen heir to a large fortune by the death of an aunt. He spent my money lavishly ; I went to London, and oh! what a predic- ament, it makes me shudder now, that awful day, I shall never for get. I was .. taken to a well furnished house where I was introduced as ladies maid and nurse > My treatment of course was kind, but the humiliation, I asked for my money I could not get it, I was penniless. I tried to leave the house but was haunttd down by him and brought- back. Oh! H heavens help me to tell it, ere I die. Give me a little more stimulant. Well the time must come when the worst must be known I had been / made to suffer t through his indiscretion, and now his wife must share the humiliation with me • for she had found the deception, / 1 j was pleased I thought that she would then know something of what I felt - when I entered ! the house without a knowledge of her. Things have come to a crisis. Most assure I must do some- thing. i now had a little son, and she (I mean his wife) also had a son ; Mv child’s curls were darker than that of her son’s My child resei^bled , myself - AND GEMS OF LITERATURE 209 J?l : " " ' J'.'I ;# except his complexion, and that was fair. You will not know his blood by his skin. Her son was fair and beautifnl. " I left the home that I had acted as a slave in, and returned to mv home, a penniless wom- an. I left rnv son with his father, a child of twelve months. I left him in a mansion in the city of London. [raising her hand\ Oh! heavenly father, give me strength to tell it. my son was riutured there, and grew up with his brother, not knowing; that they were twins. But the treachery that ever belongs to that race must make itself known in the mother. So she! contrived to part them. She had my son sent to Y^ur tern berg to College. It was here that I heard that he died but I have never believed it. I believed that this wo- had the news of his death published in the leading papers, he having seen it, supposed that for some cause, the family desired his death; therefore he never put in his appear- ance. I> want you to search for him, your brother; do not? give it up, you will find him. And vod promised husband I believe, to be- lieve, to be my son’s half brother; my faith- less husb inds child. Perhaps he can tell you if it is he. An Keturah, you know the «ause(or one reason why) Iso bitterly op- posed the match. And too I have— [ she could not get the woids out ; she out ; again into unconsciousness. They 9 210 afko-american school speaker crave her restoratives, and after some time sfie opened her eyes, and as ij by some iev- claJion, she began where she left off.] I have reasons to believe that Captain Sey- mour is my husband’s son. For my de- ceptive husband and family I learned left London for America, and for some reason charged their names. Oh! shall I hold out, ' | Captain Seymour enters the room.] Yes, changed their names. Their names were Desant, in England; but I have heard that it was Seymour in America. | Captain Seymour shudders.] I have strange visions in my dying hours, 1 a see my son and your brother, a tall wen built man, he is alive, find him. His name is either Desant, or Sinclair. He was christened Charles Sinclair Desant. While they call him dead he may call himself Sinclair, your father n#r hispeo- r e knew of this son. After my return to n V native Isle I married the King of ltah bland, and thus became queen, which j, ves you the rank of Princess. I have i, id you all, do as you like. You have my blessing.” [She h, caks down and could not say anything more. She never rallies, but sinks into that slumber, that knows no wokn » . Keturah is borne away from the si < , , . / death. Curtain falls.] > AKD GEMS OF LITERATURE. 211 ACT VI. [Scene: The art galery at Rome. Ke - lurch 'iid Cift. Seymour marriea , ana Selicia and Sinclair married , meet here unexpectedly . C A P 1' . JSE YMO U R : — [looking towards Sinclair and Selicia , as if he were trying to recognize them.} “Ketnrab, I believe I se* tny old friend, Capt. Sinclair. Yes it is he, but as I live he has a lady on his arm, and Lis Ideal, a blonde. [ they approach nearer each other.} KKTURAH:— [gently} “My dear, do you not regret having' so dark a woman for a bride, after secing-such a lilly white beauty as she?” [nodding to the lady hanging upon Capt. Sinclair's arm.} SELICIA: — [ looking surprised} “Who is that?” ■ * SINCLAIR: — Why my friend, Capt. Seymour.” [felicia recogniz'd Capt Seymour as her old liver, out vusj fur- pris d to see the dark beauty fr> his side.} CAPT. SEYMOUR : — [as they met 1 “Such a strang-e co-incidence.” CAPT. SINCLAIR: — “A 1 1 o vr me Capt. Seymour, to present you to mv wife. Mrs. Selicia Latelle Sinclair.” CAPT. SEYMOUR: — Tver so pleased to meet you, Madam Sinclair, I suppose, Capt. Sinclair, you are acquainted with Miss Keturab Lnckana; the Princess of Itah Island, now my wife.” 21 1 afro-amef ic an school a ker SINCLAIR:— “ I must admit I am a liule suprised But nevertheless I must ex- tend you a happy greeting ” H*. SEYMOUR: — “Sinclair, looking at Sin- clair strangely ] I w ish to reveal a secret SINCLAIR'- — [ jumps to his feet, moves his hands and looks excited ] “A Secret, what SEYMOUR:— “I hope y°« win not tike umbrage, in fact brothers sbou d not fal out. SINCLAIR: — “Seymonr, talk more plainly. What do you mean by brothers? . SEYMOUR — “ The dark Princess, now Vr* Seymour, whom you used to desp.se, is .... less a person than your half sister, and 1 am vour half brother.” . . SINCLAIR: — POh! Mercy, what injus- tice I have done my mother, [throws if hi* hands] Heavm help me to bear it Had i known all I could have made amends. I see through it all now. The dark princess whom t despised, and who isnow your wife, is my half sister, my equal, yea my superior It was all prejudice. Honor and shame f om mmditiona rise. [ They embrace. Curtail » falls . THE LNl> INDEX A PAGE A Careless Word 51 Advice to Both Races ... ...... 114 A Fairer Hope, a Brighter Morn 91 An Appeal to mv White Brother 11 A Negro Musing 143 B By — Laws ...... 164 C ,L J. | ' -r ) , / Christmas A,, ...... 72 Citizenship 62 D Darkness . 5.8 Death of Rev. Heo Whitfield ,,,, 89 F Fortune on His Race ...... jc; 1 32 Foitn of Constitution 4 .... 160 Frederick Douglas . 12-6 ; C* Oeorge Washing-ton— an Eulogy . 85 « Haiti . 119 He Kissed a Negro Child 185 . INDEX — Continued. I PAGE ;n Memoriam — T he Grand Old Man 47 Intemperate' • - • * * * * [introduction • It Might Have Been . • • • ^ « I • Je» Blurt Kit Out . • • Jesus Saviour, Pilot Me . . • Li. Life’s Struggles • • • • • N. Nearing Home * * Negro Problem Dissected On the Death of Rev. J. C. Price SB 7 ISO 187 142 60 7 *) 124 74 Parliamentary Rules . * * 3 Preface • • * * 757 Prologue • • • * * yS 2 Prosperity • • H. Rules for Organizing Literary Societies, 1 ; ing Clubs, etc. vc* < ‘inducting LeuiiiS, DeJiat- . . • • 159 s. Signs of the Times a . . • Simple Content Stonewall Jackson . . • • Supplement . • • * • 128 188 38 1-1 INDEX — Continued. T PAGE The Alarm of a Penitent . • . 130 ^ uy .ire Coming , 99 'i ne Black Sampson .... 96 The Crucifixion .... 78 T »-day . ... 122 T 1 2 Farm House by the River . . 45 The Influence of Negro Citizenship 16 The Myrtle Hill Cate .... 59 The Negro’s Place in History . . 102 Tke Negro “In it” .... 30 The New Negro .... 109 The Night of Death . . . 138 The Outlook . . . 21 The Princess f Itah Island . . . 193 The Reason Why . . 42 The Right Will Triumph . . . 113 file River of Deatn ... 54 Time and Things Have Changed .... 132 The Pa-Tor 137 Tous^alnt L Ouverture 152 True Wealth 13 W M Wanted — Higher Ideals 27 We are Rising ... .... -2 What is a R i inbow? . . .... 91 When V' ean* Dead 56 Woman's Culture 80 Write Thy Name 61 I / . *