This is not as it ought to be. It is not as it will be. Truth is steadily pushing for the light. Right is constantly asserting its claim for recognition. Old prejudices and false customs die hard; but their doom is written, and die they must. Problems will demand solution, in whose clearing up will vanish many a cherished folly. Here is such a problem for our Southern friends to solve. That most excellent Christian scholar and divine, Rev. Atticus G. Haygood, D.D., of Georgia, states it thus: "If, on other grounds, the teacher is entitled to personal and social recognition, the fact of his teaching a negro school should be no bar. Think, for example, of people admiring David Livingstone, and then turning up their noses at a teacher, not because he is bad, or ignorant, or ill-bred, nor yet even because he is a negro, but, forsooth, because he teaches a negro school! There is a very large intimation of 'sham' in this distinction without a difference. It is utterly absurd. May it not also be sinful?" We commend this problem to the good Christian people among whom our missionaries dwell, for solution. They will be sure to come out where Dr. Haygood leads them. And when they see the absurdity of their attitude in regard to our missionaries, we believe they will soon see the farther conclusion, namely, that it is sinful.
Meanwhile, our missionaries will keep on faithfully doing what they believe to be right, accomplishing thus two things at once: Witnessing for the truth and helping the needy. All honor to this noble band of self-denying, principle-maintaining men and women. They are standard-bearers of our advancing Christianity. They are where, as standard-bearers, they ought to be, at the front, the post of sacrifice and danger, but they are leading in a cause that is sure to win.
THE FREEDMAN'S CASE IN EQUITY.
This is the title of a most thorough and refreshingly candid paper from the pen of Geo. W. Cable, published in the January Century. His opening sentence, "The greatest social problem before the American people to-day is, as it has been for a hundred years, the presence among us of the negro," indicates his estimate of the importance of the subject. From beginning to end the paper bears the marks of carefulest thought, profound conviction, and loyalty to truth. Mr. Cable is a native of Louisiana, an ex-Confederate soldier, the son and grandson of slave-holders. He has a right to be heard. He knows the subject. He knows the American people. He evidently believes that nothing is ever settled that is not settled right. He does not believe that the freedman's case has as yet been thus settled. Moral questions will not be suppressed. If ignored in the domain of private morals, they "spring up and expand once more into questions of public equity; neglected as matters of public equity, they blossom into questions of national interest; and despised in that guise, presently yield the red fruits of revolution." On the basis of such a principle, he argues that there will be no quiet to the agitation until the freedman is a free man in all respects. And he is right. We commend our readers to secure this article if possible and read it. They will be amply repaid.
We hope none of our readers will fail to read Prof. Crogman's address, published in this number of the Missionary. Prof. Crogman is a graduate of our Atlanta University, and is now a Professor in the Clark University, a school for colored youth in Atlanta sustained by Methodists. The splendid tribute he pays the teachers who went South to teach the colored people is very handsomely done—and it is just.
And still the votes are coming in. Subscriptions for The American Missionary last month number nearly one-half the total subscriptions of the preceding year. Most heartily do we thank our friends. There are thousands yet to be heard from. We know fifty cents is not a very convenient sum to send, but we beg our readers to remember that a dollar answers for two years. Vote early and often. In politics, this is not a commendable motto. In the peculiar election we are just now trying to carry through, we put special emphasis on the vote early, and yet do not object to the vote often—that is, if the voters feel like it.