s also served in the pastorate at
Greenville, S. C., Darien, Ga., and Palatka, Fla. He has
done considerable newspaper work, and has devoted much time
to religious writing, many pamphlets and books along race
and denominational lines having been written by him. He is
now Editorial Secretary of the National Baptist Publishing
Board, of Nashville, Tenn., under the auspices of the
National Baptist Convention. Dr. Brawley's qualifications
and experience well fit him for his present position, for he
has made a specialty of Sunday-school and denominational
literature.

A generation has come since the passing away of the period to which
the old Negro belonged, and this generation has lived in the period of
the new Negro. Is this new Negro an improvement morally on his father?
Zealous friends of the race stoutly maintain that he is; while enemies
assert that he is not as good. It is the purpose of this article to
present some facts which will prove that the young Negro, in spite of
his dreadful inheritance, has, by the aid of generous friends and the
grace of God, lifted himself to a higher moral plane than that upon
which his unfortunate father stood.

It is well, however, to note carefully at the very beginning, that we
are not dealing with exceptions in this discussion, but with the race
as a whole. At a river bank the water sometimes appears to run up
stream, while if one will but look in the middle, he will see the
river in full force gliding smoothly on to the ocean. So in all
matters belonging to the realm of morals we must discard the narrow
vision, and, taking the broad view of the Christian philosopher, sweep
the entire horizon.

Let us first, as an antecedent matter, consider some reasons why the
young Negro should be expected to be better than his father.

1. His father had no moral training. His very person was the victim of
a prodigious theft, and his labor was daily stolen. Could such a man
be effectively taught honesty? To have taught the slave the elements
of morals meant the quickening not only of his moral, but also of his
intellectual nature; and such a thing would ultimately have developed
resistance on the part of the slave. No true instruction in morals was
possible in a condition of slavery. Look over the entire moral code as
set forth in the Ten Commandments, and the impossibility of teaching
effectively those great truths to slaves--American slaves