to the masses.

The emphasis that I have placed upon an industrial education does not
mean that the negro is to be excluded from the higher interests of
life, but it does mean that in proportion as the negro gets the
foundation,--the useful before the ornamental,--in the same proportion
will he accelerate his progress in acquiring those elements which do not
pertain so directly to the utilitarian.

Phillips Brooks once said, "One generation gathers the material, and
the next builds the palaces." Very largely this must be the
material-gathering generation of black people, but in due time the
palaces will come if we are patient.

THE MARCH OF PROGRESS by Charles W. Chesnutt

The colored people of Patesville had at length gained the object they
had for a long time been seeking--the appointment of a committee of
themselves to manage the colored schools of the town. They had argued,
with some show of reason, that they were most interested in the
education of their own children, and in a position to know, better than
any committee of white men could, what was best for their children's
needs. The appointments had been made by the county commissioners during
the latter part of the summer, and a week later a meeting was called for
the purpose of electing a teacher to take charge of the grammar school
at the beginning of the fall term.

The committee consisted of Frank Gillespie, or "Glaspy," a barber, who
took an active part in local politics; Bob Cotten, a blacksmith, who
owned several houses and was looked upon as a substantial citizen; and
Abe Johnson, commonly called "Ole Abe" or "Uncle Abe," who had a large
family, and drove a dray, and did odd jobs of hauling; he was also a
class-leader in the Methodist church. The committee had been chosen
from among a number of candidates--Gillespie on account of his political
standing, Cotten as representing the solid element of the colored
population, and Old Abe, with democratic impartiality, as likely to
satisfy the humbler class of a humble people. While the choice had not
pleased everybody,--for instance, some of the other applicants,--it was
acquiesced in with general satisfaction. The first meeting of the new
committee was of great public interest, partly by reason of its novelty,
but chiefly because there were two candidates for the position of
teacher of the grammar school.

The former teacher, Miss Henrietta Noble, had applied for the school.
She had taught the