“And when You see us fail below, help us to say, ‘Here, Lord, I give myself away, ’tis all that I can do. Welcome dis solisted band and bear my soul away.’ And when You have done suiting and serving Thyself of us here, hand us to our graves in peace, where we shall praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a world that never ends, is my prayer for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”
At that time this man was one of the more intelligent of his people.
In contrast, let me introduce a younger man of the same size and color, also endowed with unusual gift of song. Neatly dressed, quietly mannered, he seems no kin to the earlier types of his race.
From under the very shadow of Yazoo he writes these lines: “I have subscribed for the New York Tribune. My school numbers 112 pupils, with a daily attendance of 85 or 90. I have Cutter’s Physiology, from which I give oral lessons daily. I will state the studies of my most advanced pupils: Robinson’s Practical Arithmetic, Harvey’s Grammar, Swinton’s Geography and Educational Readers. School closes next Friday with a concert. I do wish you could be with us Thursday and Friday to attend the examinations.”
Lest any one may infer from the above that “the schoolmaster is abroad” in the land, let me quote one sentence of a prayer uttered a few months ago by the pastor of a large church in a leading Southern city: “O Lord, bless us individually and respectfully.”
GEORGIA.
An Economical Industrial Department.
MRS. T. N. CHASE, ATLANTA, GA.
The demand for industrial departments connected with our schools of learning has developed so rapidly of late, that it appears like one of the fever heats of our American civilization that may soon subside.