Light Ahead for the Negro

He believes that at the bottom of southern society there is a vein of sympathy and helpfulness for the Negro and that this feeling should be cultivated and nourished that it may grow stronger and finally supplant harsher sentiments.

There are two factions striving for the mastery of the south to-day, one seeking political power on the idea that Negro manhood is to be crushed and serfdom established, and the other willing that the Negro should have a freeman’s chance and work out his destiny as best he can with the powers God has given him. This faction is ready to give its sympathy and help, and it is the efforts of this class that the author desires to endorse and encourage.

The story weaved into the work is subordinate to the discussion of facts, and not paramount; it is intended to be mild, thus putting it in keeping with the character of the heroine whose deeds it portrays; and should the day ever come when America can arise to the height of adopting and following her sentiments, it will then indeed be the “Sweet land of liberty,” for the black as well as the white man.

E. A. Johnson.

CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	[THE LOST AIRSHIP—UNCONSCIOUSNESS,]	1
II.	[TO EARTH AGAIN—ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER,]	6
III.	[AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY WITH IRENE,]	13
IV.	[NOW AND THEN,]	21
V.	[A VISIT TO PUBLIC BUILDINGS,]	99
VI.	[A RIDE WITH IRENE,]	107
VII.	[DR. NEWELL AND WORK OF THE YOUNG LADIES’ GUILD,]	111
VIII.	[WITH IRENE AGAIN,]	116
IX.	[THE PRIZE ESSAY,]	120
X.	[SAD NEWS FOR IRENE,]	131

CHAPTER I

THE LOST AIRSHIP—UNCONSCIOUSNESS

From my youth up I had been impressed with the idea of working among the Negroes of the Southern states. My father was an abolitionist before the war and afterward an ardent supporter of missionary efforts in the South, and his children naturally imbibed his spirit of readiness and willingness at all times to assist the cause of the freedmen.

CONTENTS