of any special merit in yourself. It is given as an inspiration to the grandest and most unselfish service for God and man of which you are capable. This ministry for God and humanity to which you are invited is in itself the highest "higher education" for every man and woman, strong and sweet and brave, enduring enough to receive it. If you can not live up to it, it will appear, as in many an enthusiastic follower of the Master, who, in the hour of danger, "forsook him and fled." If you are made of the right stuff, the call, with all its overwhelming splendor of opportunity and weight of obligation, will only introduce you to your better self, and as you go on, bring forth qualities in you never suspected by you or by your nearest and dearest friends.

Like the twelve apostles, you are sent, not to deal with the people, friendly or otherwise, among whom your lot is cast. They have their opportunity and their obligation in their connection with you, and a responsibility in no respect less important to them than yours to yourself. But you are sent to "the lost sheep" of your own "house of Israel." First, to the lower strata of your own race, in your own commonwealth, 60 per cent of whom are still in the bonds of an illiteracy that means everything that should be hateful and abhorrent to every friend of mankind. Your order is: "As ye go, preach, saying the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Now is the time for this people, "sitting in darkness," to be "wakened out of sleep" as by the shining forth of a great light. The kingdom of Heaven to them and all like them is a new birth into the Christian manhood and womanhood that this great Republic, no less than the Master, now demands from every man and woman on whom it has bestowed the eminent degree of American citizenship. The sick, the poor, especially the dead-alive, will all be brought to you. And if you can cast out the legion of devils and the "unclean spirits" that now torment the lower order of these, your unhappy brothers and sisters, great will be your reward long before you go to any other heaven than the one you are called to build up right here in this commonwealth, in this beautiful and bountiful Southland.

Do not waste time prospecting for a favorable situation, or give too much thought to your supply of gold and silver, or to your own rank in the army of the Lord. Shoulder your Bible and go in wherever there is an open door. In any city "those who are worthy" of your ministry will find you out, and "your peace will come upon them." Otherwise "let your peace return to you." Always "keep the peace," for somebody will finally accept it. At the worst "shake the dust from your feet" where there is no place for you, and go your way, leaving God, through his alldirecting providence, to deal with the situation. flee ye into another," for you will not have gone bama before the kingdom of God will have come. body who will welcome your coming and "hear the Word with gladness." And the kingdom of God always comes in this world when one soul throws open all doors and windows and bids the every lasting truth, love and beauty come in and there abide.

"If they persecute you in one city, through even all the cities of AlaSomewhere will be found some

Do not imagine that your ministry, even if it is confined to living up to the "mark of the high calling" in the most common station in life, is to be a promenade, a reception, a festival, or even a Sunday-school picnic. Read over again the awful words of the Master, prophetic of every sincere endeavor made since He went to the Cross to preach and live a new departure in righteousness, intelligence, social or political uplifting anywhere. Perhaps the most obstinate of all who resist you will be your own people, offended with your call to repentance and newness of life; for "a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” There is no hatred, contempt, or malignity like that of a people "half savage and half child" when shown the true picture of themselves. But if you can be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves," falling back on God in the hour of emergency to know "what ye shall speak" and

do, and especially if you can "endure unto the end," you will be saved and your success will be the earthly and spiritual salvation of many of those to whom you

come.

Even if you are broken down with only the burden of living up to the best you know, be not disheartened, for what you meditate in darkness will be spoken into the light, and what you hear with the ear and fitly speak and worthily do will be repeated and done over and over again, till it is shouted from every housetop and proclaimed from all the mountain summits around the world. If "the Master of the house was called Beelzebub," who are you "of his household," even if you are "hated of all men for his name's sake?" Your bodily life is only lent you from God to be spent in the service of God for the uplifting of man. Even if taken from you, you will not die. Your "soul will be marching on." Abraham Lincoln in the White House was a man on a mountain top, bracing himself against the tempests and thunders of a nation in the throes of a mighty revolution. Abraham Lincoln, the martyr President, is now the father of the new Republic, honored and everywhere beloved throughout the world.

And finally, never forget that God is the supreme economist in the affairs of this world. "Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father," and the very hairs of the head grown gray or bald in the Master's service are all "numbered." Not a word, or act; or thought, or look, if worthy of your high calling, will be lost. And "whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in nowise lose his reward." God grant that, whether the "time of departure" of any of us is far off or "now at hand," each one may be able to say with the apostle, "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith."

II.

HOW TO IMPROVE THE CONDITION OF THE Negro.1

We must admit the stern fact that at present the negro, through no choice of his own, is living among another race which is far ahead of him in education, property, experience, and favorable condition; further, that the negro's present condition makes him dependent upon the white people for most of the things necessary to sustain life, as well as for his common-school education. In all history those who have possessed the property and intelligence have exercised the greatest control in government, regardless of color, race, or geographical location. This being the case, how can the black man in the South improve his present condition? And does the Southern white man want him to improve it?

The negro of the South has it within his power, if he properly utilizes the forces at hand, to make of himself such a valuable factor in the life of the South that he will not have to seek privileges; they will be freely conferred upon him. To bring this about, the negro must begin at the bottom and lay a foundation, and not be lured by any temptation into trying to rise on a false foundation. While the negro is laying this foundation he will need help, sympathy, and simple justice. Progress by any other method will be but temporary and superficial, and the latter end of it will be worse than the beginning. American slavery was a great curse to both races, and I would be the last to apologize for it; but, in the presence of God, I believe that slavery laid the foundation for the solution of the problem that is now before us in the South. During slavery the negro was taught every trade, every industry, that constitutes the foundation for making a living. Now, if on this foundation

1 From "The future of the American negro," by Booker T. Washington.

laid in a rather crude way, it is true, but a foundation, nevertheless-we can gradually build and improve, the future for us is bright. Let me be more specific. Agriculture is, or has been, the basic industry of nearly every race or nation that has succeeded. The negro got a knowledge of this during slavery. Hence, in a large measure, he is in possession of this industry in the South to-day. The negro can buy land in the South, as a rule, wherever the white man can buy it, and at very low prices. Now, since the bulk of our people already have a foundation in agriculture, they are at their best when living in the country, engaged in agricultural pursuits. Plainly, then, the best thing, the logical thing, is to turn the larger part of our strength in a direction that will make the negro among the most skilled agricultural people in the world. The man who has learned to do something better than anyone else, has learned to do a common thing in an uncommon manner, is the man who has a power and influence that no adverse circumstances can take from him. The negro who can make himself so conspicuous as a successful farmer, a large taxpayer, a wise helper of his fellow-men, as to be placed in a position of trust and honor, whether the position be political or otherwise, by natural selection, is a hundredfold more secure in that position than one placed there by mere outside force or pressure. *

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What I have said of the opening that awaits the negro in the direction of agriculture is almost equally true of mechanics, manufacturing, and all the domestic arts. The field is before him and right about him. Will he occupy it? Will he "cast down his bucket where he is?" Will his friends North and South encourage him and prepare him to occupy it? Every city in the South, for example, would give support to a first-class architect or housebuilder or contractor of our race. The architect and contractor would not only receive support, but, through his example, numbers of young colored men would learn such trades as carpentry, brickmasonry, plastering, painting, etc., and the race would be put into a position to hold on to many of the industries which it is now in danger of losing, because in too many cases brains, skill, and dignity are not imparted to the common occupations of life that are about his very door. Any individual or race that does not fit itself to occupy in the best manner the field or service that is right about it will sooner or later be asked to move on, and let some one else occupy it.

But, it is asked, would you confine the negro to agriculture, mechanics, and domestic arts, etc.? Not at all; but along the lines that I have mentioned is where the stress should be laid just now and for many years to come. We will need and must have many teachers and ministers, some doctors and lawyers and statesmen; but these professional men will have a constituency or a foundation from which to draw support just in proportion as the race prospers along the economic lines that I have mentioned. During the first fifty or one hundred years of the life of any people are not the economic occupations always given the greater attention? This is not only the historic, but, I think, the common-sense view. If this generation will lay the material foundation, it will be the quickest and surest way for the succeeding generation to succeed in the cultivation of the fine arts, and to surround itself even with some of the luxuries of life, if desired. What the race now most needs, in my opinion, is a whole army of men and women well trained to lead and at the same time infuse themselves into agriculture, mechanics, domestic employment, and business. As to the mental training that these educated leaders should be equipped with, I should say, give them all the mental training and culture that the circumstances of individuals will allow-the more, the better. No race can permanently succeed until its mind is awakened and strengthened by the ripest thought. But I would constantly have it kept in the thoughts of those who are educated in books that a large proportion of those who are educated should be so trained in hand that they can bring this mental strength and knowledge to bear upon the physical conditions in the South which I have tried to emphasize.

Frederick Douglass, of sainted memory, once, in addressing his race, used these words: "We are to prove that we can better our own condition. One way to do this is to accumulate property. This may sound to you like a new gospel. You have been accustomed to hear that money is the root of all evil, etc. On the other hand, property-money, if you please will purchase for us the only condition by which any people can rise to the dignity of genuine manhood; for without property there can be no leisure, without leisure there can be no thought, without thought there can be no invention, without invention there can be no progress."

The negro should be taught that material development is not an end, but simply a means to an end. As Prof. W. E. B. Du Bois puts it, "The idea should not be simply to make men carpenters, but to make carpenters men." The negro has a highly religious temperament; but what he needs more and more is to be convinced of the importance of weaving his religion and morality into the practical affairs of daily life. Equally as much does he need to be taught to put so much intelligence into his labor that he will see dignity and beauty in the occupation, and love it for its own sake. The negro needs to be taught that more of the religion that manifests itself in his happiness in the prayer-meeting should be made practical in the performance of his daily task. The man who owns a home and is in the possession of the elements by which he is sure of making a daily living has a great aid to a mora] and religious life.