thrift, that existed about the cabin, notwithstanding his knowledge of
French and other academic studies.

Again, not long ago I saw a coloured minister preparing his Sunday
sermon just as the New England minister prepares his sermon. But this
coloured minister was in a broken-down, leaky, rented log cabin, with
weeds in the yard, surrounded by evidences of poverty, filth, and
want of thrift. This minister had spent some time in school studying
theology. How much better it would have been to have had this minister
taught the dignity of labour, taught theoretical and practical farming
in connection with his theology, so that he could have added to his
meagre salary, and set an example for his people in the matter of
living in a decent house, and having a knowledge of correct farming!
In a word, this minister should have been taught that his condition,
and that of his people, was not that of a New England community; and
he should have been so trained as to meet the actual needs and
conditions of the coloured people in this community, so that a
foundation might be laid that would, in the future, make a community
like New England communities.

Since the Civil War, no one object has been more misunderstood than
that of the object and value of industrial education for the Negro.
To begin with, it must be borne in mind that the condition that
existed in the South immediately after the war, and that now exists,
is a peculiar one, without a parallel in history. This being true, it
seems to me that the wise and honest thing to do is to make a study of
the actual condition and environment of the Negro, and do that which
is best for him, regardless of whether the same thing has been done
for another race in exactly the same way. There are those among the
white race and those among the black race who assert, with a good deal
of earnestness, that there is no difference between the white man and
the black man in this country. This sounds very pleasant and tickles
the fancy; but, when the test of hard, cold logic is applied to it, it
must be acknowledged that there is a difference,--not an inherent one,
not a racial one, but a difference growing out of unequal
opportunities in the past.

If I may be permitted to criticise the educational work that has been
done in the South, I would say that the weak point has been in the
failure to recognise this difference.

Negro education, immediately after the war in most cases, was begun
too