as one ever asked himself why it is that so much of the poetry
of the Negro fails to reach the ultimate standards of art? It
certainly is not because of lack of imagination, for God has been
generous in the imagery with which he has endowed the race. First of
all, last of all, is it not the matter of technique? Many booklets of
verse that have been issued show that the writers had not mastered
even the ordinary fundamentals of English grammar. For one to think of
rivalling Tennyson with his classical tradition when he can not make a
clearcut English sentence is out of the question. Further, and this is
the most important point, the work of those in question almost never
exhibits imagination expressed in intense, condensed, vivid, and
suggestive phrase--such phrasing, for instance, as one will find in
"The Eve of St. Agnes," which I am not alone in considering the most
lavishly brilliant and successful brief effort in poetry in the
language. To all of this might be added a refining of taste,
something all too frequently lacking and something that can come only
from the most arduous and diligent culture. When we further secure
such things as these the race may indeed possess not only a Horton, a
Harper, or a Whitman, but a Tennyson, a Keats, and even a Shakespeare.

BENJAMIN BRAWLEY

FOOTNOTES:

[477] This paper was read at the biennial meeting of the Association
held in Washington, D. C., on August 29, 1917.

CATHOLICS AND THE NEGRO

In order to understand and to gain an adequate idea of what Catholics
and their ancient Church have done for the American Negro, it is
necessary to take into account the facts and testimony of impartial
history in regard to human slavery among the nations, and the
influence which the Roman Catholic Church brought to bear on that
institution. We must study and remember the conditions and customs in
pre-Christian times in regard to slaves, and we should also note the
gradual transition from the state of things existing in the heathen
world to that prevailing in our modern Christian civilization.

The student of history observes that ideas and principles take their
rise and, growing, permeate society, bringing about a change in the
morals and manners of a nation. These changes, which may be for good
or evil, do not come of a sudden. Even during the Christian ages the
principles of the gospel do not always prevail in their fulness and
beauty. A