as to the standard by
which he is to be measured, and what has been his real opportunities.
Civilization is a plant of slow growth, as evidenced by the history of
all Nations that have accomplished great things in the past. There is
a difference, as wide as the heavens, between the refined and cultured
Englishman of to-day, and the rough, uncouth Norseman of the ninth
century; but more than a thousand years were required to bring about
that transformation. A difference, as wide as the poles, exists
between the ancient Gauls, who were conquered by the Franks in the
tenth century, and the Chesterfieldian Frenchman of to-day; yet the
same time elapsed between these two periods. There is just as marked a
difference, in many respects, between those twenty uncouth savages,
brought to the shores of Virginia in 1620, and the best specimens of
the American Negro of to-day, and yet only 287 years lie between the
former and the latter.

The next question that naturally rises is, "What have been the real
opportunities of the American Negro?" Brought here a savage from his
native wilds, and thrown into abject, and, in many cases, cruel
slavery, he yet received from this iniquitous institution something of
God. As Dr. Booker T. Washington so well says: "He went into slavery,
practically, without a language, and came out speaking the beautiful
English, the finest language to convey thought, ever devised by the
mind of man. He went in without a God, and came out with the Christian
religion." These are powerful agencies for civilization, and yet, the
debasing influence of slavery has done much to hinder, while it has
done something to help him. Only a comparatively few Negroes came into
direct contact with the best side of American civilization, during
slavery. The housemaids, coachmen, body-servants and, in many cases,
the cooks came in direct contact with the civilization of the "Great
House," and their superiority, and, in many cases, that of their
ancestry, is still apparent. The "corn field Negro" (and they
outnumbered the others 200 to 1) received none of the influences of
this civilization, and none of the opportunities accorded the more
favored servants around the "Great House."

When we take into consideration all of these circumstances, coupled
with the fact that when "cut loose" from slavery in 1865, it was a
matter of "root hog or die" with him for many years; and that only
thirty-six years have passed away since this hap