great measure, useless institutions. They can never become
serviceable until there is a spirit among colored men to establish,
own, and operate great industrial enterprises, and in that case youths
can be given a practical training in the work, which is better than he
could ever get in a school. Put forward the same amount of energy to
build a factory of some kind that is put in endeavors to get
industrial schools in working order, and more young men can learn
trades and draw mechanics' salaries immediately after serving an
apprenticeship; the owners will be making a profit and the commercial
importance of the city, county, and state will be enhanced. We never
hear of an industrial school for whites, and yet their youths are
becoming artisans all the while. In the slavery days Negroes carried
on all the skilled labor of the South, and no industrial schools
existed; they applied themselves to the work, and were first-class
workmen in every branch. (The Item, Fort Worth, Tex.)

* * * * *

The Bible upon which Maj. McKinley took his oath of office as
President of the United States on March 4, 1897, was donated to him
for this purpose by the A. M. E. Church. It was printed in Cincinnati,
O., by the Methodist Book Concern. It was bound and lined, front and
back, with silk, with a suitable dedicatory inscription upon the
inside. On the outside was a gold plate in the form of a shield, on
which the name of the President, the date, the name of the donor,
etc., were engraved. The Bible was inclosed in a box made of native
Ohio wood and gold mounted. It cost eighty-six dollars. The honor of
presentation was conferred upon Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, of
Wilberforce, O. (Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, Pa.)

* * * * *

[Illustration: MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES.
The Black Patti of the race.]

MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES.

The Black Patti of the Race.

The subject of this sketch was born in Providence, R. I. When quite a
wee child she proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, her fitness for
the stage as a race representative, and has, among other things,
maintained her ground, never weakening and giving down, but nourishing
a faith fit only for the righteous, which has led her gently into the
pleasant and peaceful paths of success.

Some say that greatness is sometimes thrust upon us; others, more
liberal, say it is inborn; others argue that it is acquired. We say