d by heaven to suffering
humanity, will prove a complete failure.

TOPIC XXX.

THE SIGNS OF A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THE AMERICAN NEGRO.

BY REV. F. J. GRIMKE, D. D.

[Illustration: Rev. F. J. Grimke, D. D.]

FRANCIS J. GRIMKE, D. D.

Francis J. Grimke, clergyman, was born near Charleston, S.
C., November 4, 1850. Son of Henry and Nancy (Weston)
Grimke; attended school in Charleston; entered Lincoln
University, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1866, and
graduated in 1870 (A. M., D. D.); graduated from Princeton
Theological Seminary in 1878. Ordained pastor of the
Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church the same year. Remained
until 1885. Took charge of Lama Street Presbyterian Church
1885-1889. Returned to Fifteenth Street Church, Washington,
D. C., in 1889, where he is still. Has published articles in
the New York Independent and New York Evangelist. Wrote
monographs on "The Negro: His Rights and Wrongs; The Forces
For and Against Him." In 1898, "The Lynching of Negroes in
the South: Its Causes and Remedy;" "Some Lessons from the
Assassination of President William McKinley," 1901; "The
Roosevelt-Washington Episode; or, Race Prejudice," 1901.
Address, 1526 L Street, Washington, D. C.

Extracts from his sermon on the race problem.

"Some of these days all the skies will be brighter,
Some of these days all the burdens be lighter,
Hearts will be happier, souls will be whiter,
Some of these days.

"Some of these days, in the deserts uprising,
Fountains shall flash while the joybells are ringing,
And the world, with its sweetest of birds, shall go singing,
Some of these days.

"Some of these days: Let us bear with our sorrow,
Faith in the future--its light we may borrow,
There will be joy in the golden to-morrow--
Some of these days."

That is my faith; I am no pessimist on this Negro problem. Terrible as
the facts are, cruel and bitter as is this race prejudice, and
insurmountable, almost, as are the obstacles which it sets up in our
pathway, I see a light ahead, I am hopeful, I look forward to better
times. And I want to tell you this morning what the ground of this
hope is.

(2.) I am hopeful, because of the progress which the Negro is making
in intelligence and in wealth. Think of what our condition was at the
close of the war, and of what it is to-da