Every little colored girl, like every little white girl, wants to be beautiful. What is beauty? Beauty is a combination of personal appearance and charm, and it can not be purchased.
Each year the merchant takes stock and separates all the best articles, the medium articles, and the poor articles.
And so when one determines upon self improvement, she should take stock. She sums up her good points and her bad points. The good points she will accentuate and the bad points she will eradicate, unless Thought, the inward Sculptor has been at work too long. It is for this reason that little colored children should be taught early in life to think rightly.
"As the sprig is bent, so will the tree be."
Every thought, every emotion has an outward manifestation. Because people think, feel, and act, they leave marks of these in bodily lines and habits. Not only is the face a bulletin board, but as Schopenhauer says, "One's life may be his autobiography." One's life may even be read from his skeleton.
Sometimes certain thoughts and habits repeated and repeated leave spots. Spots always depreciate whether on wool, meat, wood, animals or people. Has the Negro any "Spots"? Other people think so. If these so-called "spots" will interfere with his future success in life then let him eradicate them with the inward Sculptor—Thought.
Is the dark skin a spot? Oh no, it is his history, his strength, as was Samson's hair. Because of his color he has powers and forces which could get him anything he desires in life if he would only begin while a child, to learn restraint, how to govern and control himself until he could accumulate sufficient will power to direct these forces for his own advancement.
Because of his color he has rare psychic powers which are not yet understood by himself or by the world.
What is the largest Spot? If one wishes to get a true estimate of himself he finds out what others ridicule concerning him.
What feature about the Negro is ridiculed the most? Why, the mouth. What is the matter with it? A large mouth is supposed to be the sign of generosity. No, but if it has thick lips and is a leaking mouth? If it hangs open too much? Only two classes of persons are excused from having open mouths, and these are children with adenoids and imbeciles. Every one else is supposed to keep his mouth shut most of the time.