s. There has been a
constant warfare and many reverses, together with long seasons of
gloomy doubt: but the dominant fact in the whole record is that
throughout the long contest, on the forum, in the sacred pulpit, in
the hall of legislation, and on countless fields of bloody carnage,
the struggle has been substantially the same: a struggle for larger
liberty for the oppressed multitude, a better chance for the average
man. And this further, that in every century--aye, in almost every
generation--of this mighty conflict something has been gained for the
right. This gain, once made, has never been lost. These things being
so, it is foolish to say that these victories and this strifeful gain
are matters of merely racial application. It is not so. (Bishop
Embry.)

* * * * *

[Illustration: REV. M. VANN, D.D., CHATTANOOGA, TENN.]

I predict that the time will come and that it is not far off when we
will have a negro poet from the South. He will set the magnificent
splendor of the "Sunny South" to music. His muse will touch the lyre,
and you will hear the sweet murmur of the stream, the rippling waters,
and we shall see the beauty of that country as it was never seen
before. It will come; and after him other still greater men. But it
takes labor to become a great man just as it takes centuries to make a
great nation. Great men are not fashioned in heaven and thrown from
the hand of the Almighty to become potentates here on earth, nor are
they born rich. I admit that there is, in some parts of this country,
a prejudice against you on account of your color and former condition.
In my opinion, the best way to overcome this is to show your
capability of doing everything that a white man does, and do it just
as well or better than he does. If a white man scorns you, show him
that you are too high-bred, too noble-hearted, to take notice of it;
and the first opportunity you have do him a favor, and I warrant you
that he will feel ashamed of himself, and never again will he make an
exhibition of his prejudice. The future is yours, and you have it in
which to rise to the heights or descend to the depths. (Senator John
A. Logan.)

* * * * *

At one time a ship was lost at sea for many days, when it hove in
sight of a friendly vessel. The signal of the distressed vessel was at
once hoisted, which read: "We want water; we die of thirst." The
answering signal read, "C