, in great many cases are owned by the colored people
whose morals are called in question. Some of the most fashionable
weddings of the day are celebrated among the Negroes. Births out of
wedlock, the plurality of wives and divorced cases, have decreased
among the Negroes 65 per cent. Womanhood, virtue and honor are
defended at any cost, at the proper time and place.

The Negro got the idea imbedded in him during his servitude that
religion and morality, like the Jews and Samaritans, had no dealings
with each other. To-day this idea has lost its power and influence.
The professors of religion and leaders of the people stand first and
foremost with the people, and are expected to take the lead in all
matters of reform. The church property owned and controlled by the
Negro tells its own story. The Sermon on the Mount is taking a hold of
the Negro as never before. If I should offer an adverse criticism on
the Negro's religion, it would be that, as he understands it, he has a
surplus of religion. But he is surely grasping the idea that God is a
Spirit, and "they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth." There are to be found among the Negroes those whose words are
as good as gold. The true significance of morality is being better
understood and practiced by the Negro. The newspaper gossip and
sophistical reasoning to the effect that some Negroes have been
apprehended for immoral conduct, and therefore all Negroes are
immoral, would astonish all creation if applied to the white race. Let
us be fair and try the Negro by the same logic that the white man is
tried by.

A very sure and hopeful sign is the fact that the Negro is ashamed of
any immoral conduct which he hears has been committed by any member of
his race. The mere desire of better things is indicative of a better
state of affairs. A straw often shows which way the wind is blowing.
It is a historical fact that any race which has been subdued and ruled
over by another race will imbibe, imitate and copy after the dominant
race, and especially is this true if the conquered race live in and
among the conquering race. It follows, then, that if the Negro is
wholly immoral, his white neighbor needs to move a pace in the moral
world.

Other causes might have been assigned accounting for the Negro's
previous immorality, but slavery comprehends them all. But for the
sake of emphasis and showing the contrast, let us note the following:
Granting that the Neg