rong pressure was brought to bear upon the foreman to
displace the two Negro laborers and fill their places with white men.
The request was promptly denied. This is conclusive proof that had the
character of the Negroes' work not been eminently satisfactory the
reverse would have been the result.

The Negro is found in all the occupations that are characteristic of a
progressive people, namely, barbers, blacksmiths, brick and stone
masons, carpenters, coachmen, domestic servants, firemen, farm
laborers, mail carriers, merchants (grocers), millers, shoemakers and
repairers, waiters, nurses, seamstresses, housewives, washerwomen and
milliners.

_Trades and Industries._--As stone and brick masons the wages range
from $2 to $3 per day. Huntsville, Ala., has a brickyard that is owned
and controlled by Negroes. This firm secures the contract for a large
number of houses in Huntsville and the adjoining towns.

There is a town in the northern part of Virginia in which the entire
brickmaking business is in the hands of a colored man, a freedman, who
bought his own and his family's freedom, purchased his master's
estate, and eventually hired his master to work for him. He owns a
thousand acres or more of land and considerable town property. In his
brickyard he hires about fifteen hands, mostly boys from sixteen to
twenty years of age, and runs five or six months a year, making from
200,000 to 300,000 brick. Probably over one-half the brick houses of
the place are built of brick made in his establishment, and he has
repeatedly driven white competitors out of business.

As firemen the Negro has shown himself courageous and faithful to his
trust. During a great fire in Nashville, Tenn., a few years ago, it
was conceded by all that the progress of a disastrous fire was checked
and much valuable property saved by the heroic efforts of the colored
fire company. Unfortunately, however, the captain of the company and
two of his comrades were sacrificed. In all the large cities colored
fire companies are to be found, and in every case they are making a
good record.

In some sections of Texas and Mississippi Negro plantation owners are
often found.

Just after the close of the war the highest ambition of the Negro was
the ministry. But there has been a remarkable change in that direction
and Negroes are now found in all the professions. The Negro physician
has made an enviable record. One of the leading surgeons in the West
is a co