Every colored family should point with pride to the deeds of our great men. The walls of our homes should be adorned with the pictures of those of our own race who have proven that we are not deficient in men of noble and towering deeds. The tables should bear books of history and biography which would make our boys and girls acquainted with what has been wrought for and by the race. If we do not look out for these points, the next generation will not be what it should be. (Christian Clipper.)
The colored people of the United States pay taxes on $330,000,000 real property, $50,000,000 personal property, and have about $60,000,000 on deposit in savings banks. These figures are from carefully prepared statistics, and are a wonderful showing for a people the majority of whom have been out of bondage less than half a century. In Alameda County, of this state, colored people are on the assessment roll for upward of $1,000,000. Who says that the race is retrograding? If only one-tenth of this money could be put into manufacturing and commercial enterprises, what a commotion the colored man would make in the country! Talk about the Jew and the Chinaman; why, they would be at a discount! Let us all undertake to infuse a little of our business enterprise into the veins of the race. What do you say? (Elevator, San Francisco, Cal.)
The world is full of young men who want to succeed, but who are too lazy to put forth an effort in the right direction. He is truly an unlucky mortal to whom an opportunity never comes; and remember, the humblest employment is better than none. The man at work is infinitely more likely to get something better than the idler is to fall into an easy "snap." Do not growl at fate, but bear in mind that every one is the architect of his own fortune. (The Bulletin, Balfour, N. C.)
Mrs. Annie E. Walker, a graduate of the New York Art School, who went to Paris to further perfect herself in the art of painting, has returned to her home in this city after a most successful course in one of the highest art schools in all Europe. After Mrs. Walker had studied in Paris only four months she painted a picture from life which was accepted by the French Salon, where it was put on exhibition. When it is remembered that an art student is considered fortunate and proficient if she can get a pastel into the Salon after she has studied for years, it is most remarkable that an American lady, and that, too, identified with the depraved race, should have gone to France and broken all previous records. The painting which was readily accepted by the Salon is now at the residence of Mrs. Walker, in this city, and fortunate is the lady or gentleman who shall have an opportunity to see it, for it indeed has life in it, and evinces the fact that the artist is a genius of the highest order. (Colored American, Washington, D. C.)
If we are to have a literature peculiar to our necessities, then our men and women are to produce it. If they are to produce it, then our leaders are to encourage it. Kind words may go a long way, a little assistance in the amassing of data will prove invaluable, and helping to make a market for the literature will act as a stimulus. Let us encourage our men and women to write, and in a few years we shall have a literature of which we need not be ashamed. (Christian Index, Jackson, Tenn.)