The Negro, having all this promise and potency in him, is to be our neighbor in these coming years. Whether we like it or not, he is to be our fellow citizen, sharing with us the responsibilities and the blessings of the republic. Before he was ripe for it he had the power of a sovereign thrust upon him, and no man but by crime can take from him the right and duty of joint rulership with us. It must be admitted that, in the present condition of the average Southern Negro, he is not a satisfactory neighbor nor a safe ruler. But that is not his fault; it is his misfortune. His illiteracy is [a] a National peril; his moral weakness is a danger to himself and to the society in which he lives. But these are the results of the cruel and corrupting system in which we held him fast; the disabilities we have imposed upon him. And they suggest to us certain helpful duties we owe to him; certain helpful ministries we are under obligation to render him in order to enable him to attain that large and splendid future toward which Providence seems to be pointing.
The South.
Dedication Of Chandler Normal Institute.
By District Secretary C.W. Hiatt.
The tenth of February was a great day in Lexington, Kentucky. It marked two special events, the dedication of Chandler Normal Institute, and the opening of a great "Hoss sale." Anybody who knows the "Blue-grass region" will understand what the latter means. The world flocks to Lexington on such occasions in quest of thoroughbreds, and the country rids itself in consequence, at fabulous prices, of droves of genuine Kentucky plugs. Buyers go home wiser, sellers richer. But not everybody on this day was discussing "Abdallah" and "Hambletonian." Long before the appointed hour, a stream of people began moving to a part of the city where two pikes intersect, the point of attraction being a fine three-story red brick structure known as the "Chandler Normal Institute." This building occupies a commanding position on a hill which overlooks the city. It was erected and furnished by the liberality of one esteemed lady, Mrs. Phoebe Chandler, of Andover, Massachusetts, at an outlay of some fifteen thousand dollars, and is given to the cause of Christian education under the care of the American Missionary Association. On this particular day, the building was formally consecrated to its work with appropriate and impressive services. At two o'clock in the afternoon the spacious chapel was filled to its utmost by crowds of colored people, some of whom had come for miles in carriages, to witness the event. The presence also of numerous whites, representing the foremost professional and social circles of Lexington, was a significant fact. These friends, by their close attention and frequent signs of approval, as well as by their own eloquent contributions to the programme, gave unmistakable evidence of earnest sympathy with the good cause.
The exercises were opened with prayer and Scriptural reading, after which the Principal, Mr. Frederick W. Foster, made an address of welcome, marked for its practical force and fine discretion. The visiting Secretary then, in an address of half an hour, gave his understanding of the [a] importance of Christian education as the solution of National problems, both North and South, closing with a formal God-speed to this institution as it started forth on its noble career. To this address, Rev. Mr. Tate, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, made a scholarly, eloquent and touching response. He reviewed the work of the Association for his people, eulogized the friend who had made this special benefaction, and urged upon his hearers to make the most, under God, of the high privileges thus brought to them from afar.
Informal addresses from both white and colored visitors followed. The eloquent periods of Dr. L.P. Todd, dwelling fully upon the brotherhood of man, the witty and practical remarks of Prof. John Schackleford, of Kentucky State College, and the wise and cogent exhortations of Rev. W. S. Fulton, D.D., cannot be reported; suffice it to say, that they gave a spiritual uplift and fine dignity to the occasion. These noble men are staunch supporters of our work, and freely give to our corps of teachers the benefits of fatherly and fraternal fellowship.