reality. In establishing this our women must lead. It
must be understood that their virtue is as sacred and as inviolate as
the laws of the eternal verities. They must not compromise even with
an apparent virtuous sentiment; it must be real. Nothing great is
accomplished without the shedding of blood. To convince the world of
the virtue of the Negro race, Negro blood must be shed freely. Our
young women must be taught that gorgeous dress and fine paraphernalia
don't make a woman. They should dress modestly, becomingly and
economically.

She is a true woman whose honor must not be insulted; who, though
poorly paid, pursues her honest labor for bread and would scorn the
obtaining of a livelihood any other way, regardless of the magnitude
of the inducement. The foundation for this high sentiment finds its
initiative in the home. Home life is the citadel and bulwark of every
race's moral life. The ruler of home is mother. A faithful, virtuous
and intelligent motherhood will elevate any people. The impress of
mother follows her children to the grave; when her form is changed and
her physical existence extinct the footprints of her noble and pious
life live long after her. Womanhood and manhood begin in the cradle
and around the fireside; mother's knee is truly the family altar. True
patriotism, obedience and respect for law, both divine and civil, the
love and yearning for the pure, the sublime and the good, all emanate
from mother's personality. If mother be good all the vices and
shortcomings of father will fail to lead the children astray; but if
mother is not what she should be all of the holy influences of angels
cannot save the children. I would urge then, as the first prerequisite
for our work, a pure, pious and devoted motherhood.

Secondly, a firm stand for right and truth in all things. Woman's
power is her love. This pure flame lights up all around her. Her
wishes and desires men love to satisfy. There are many things in
society, politics and religion that ambitious men would seek to obtain
by all hazards, but when woman takes her stand against these things
she invariably wins. Our first stand must be for intelligence. No
woman of to-day, who is thirty years of age, has the right to be
queen of a home, unless she is intelligent. In this advanced day, to
rear up a family by an illiterate woman might well be considered a
crime. As a race, if we would possess the intelligence desired, our
children must be kept in