seeking to supply their spiritual and moral wants. The A.M.A. has but
to persist in the establishment of its school and church work among
the colored people, with good strong men as ministers, and it is sure
to be the leaven of the church of the future for the Negro people.

Last summer an old father, who had educated four children at Fisk
University and had himself been there on one Commencement occasion,
said to me:--"That Fisk school is the _buildin'-up-est_ place to our
people in the world. I never expect to have such a good time and
treatment again until I get to heaven." Thus are our hopes quickened
and our aspirations for nobler things awakened.

But to one who understands the situation, the question of our
education is of serious moment. All our institutions of higher
learning are living from hand to mouth, with no endowment, and the
North's purse-strings are growing tighter as the years go by. On the
other hand, prejudice strikes savagely at our State appropriations.
This year, in the advanced State of Tennessee, the white State-student
gets one hundred dollars while the colored gets only twenty-two
dollars and a half. In his poverty what can the Negro student do with
this sum in the way of educating himself?

I could take you in the homes of those whom you have educated, then
could you appreciate the wisdom of your investments. It is around the
fireside, and in the conduct of the children, that your noble work is
manifesting itself so clearly. The intellectual, moral and spiritual
life found there are the true and only guarantees that old things are
passing away.

The abject condition of the great body of Negroes appeals to Christian