TO OUR BOYS
I speak to you, my Colored boys,
I bid you to be men,
Don’t put yourselves upon the rack
Like pigeons in a pen.
Come out and face life’s problem, boys,
With faith and courage too,
And justify that wondrous faith,
Abe Lincoln had in you.
Don’t treat life as a little toy,
A dance or a game of ball;
Those things are all right in their place,
But they are not life’s all.
Life is a problem serious,
Give it the best you have,
Succeed in all you undertake
And help your brother live.
If farming seems to be your call,
Then take hold of the plough,
And stick it down into the soil
Till sweat runs down your brow.
Then make this resolution firm:
“I’m going to do my best,
And stick this good old plough of mine
Down deeper than the rest.”
If you’re to be a carpenter
Then train your hand and eye
To work out angles, clean and clear
As any metal die.
Then read up on materials,
On beauty and on style,
And prove to all, the house you build
Is sure to be worth while.
Why sure, a banker, you can be,
A lawyer or a priest;
Or you can be a merchant prince,
Their work is not the least.
It makes no difference what you try
If you would get the best,
You’ll have to stick that plough of yours
Down deeper than the rest.
Don’t fawn up to another man
And beg him for a job;
Remember that your brain and his
Were made by the same God.
So use it boys, with all your might,
With faith and courage too,
And justify that wondrous faith
Abe Lincoln had in you.
II. ad astra
I. James C. Hughes
There are tragic stories of Negro aspirants for poetic fame that read like the old stories of English poets in London in the days when the children of genius starved and died young. As typical of not a few there is the story of James C. Hughes, of Louisville, Kentucky. The Louisville Times, March 10, 1905, contained his picture and an article by Joseph S. Cotter in appreciation of his compositions. “This young man,” writes Cotter, speaking of a collection of verses and prose sketches which Hughes then had ready for publication, “this young man has the essentials of the poet, and to me his work is interesting. It is serious, and preaches while it sings.”