Herald of Kansas., 1880-05-14

thev would devote One.fourth of
their precious time to urging the
people to educate themselyes-tO
see to it that their children are kept
In school; that their school facilities
are as good as the whites-that thew
have good teachess-that> they send
their children TO school at the proper
time. cleaRly dressed and heads
eombed 81 say If the ministers will
keep this before their congregations
the people will, after . while, be-
come interested In this matter, and
much good will have been accom-
plished.
Atlhe close Of the school term in
Atchi0on, Kansas, last June, when
the children were being examined
for promotion 10 tho several grades
which examination lasted four days,
noticed the absence of parents on
each day Here their children, who
had been going to school for q year
were being examined to see what
progress had been made. Not one
parent took enough interest in it to
come ont, even to encourage their
own children. 1t occurred to me
then and there that had the school
Board given it out that q jack-leg
preacher wOnld preach q sermon to
the scholars On that day, the school
room would not be large enough to
accommodate the pArents who
would have been in attendance.
Mr.. Chairman, / believe it is with.
in the power OF the ministers in
charge Of our churches to change this
state Of affairs Will they do it2 Is
il TO their interest to do it? cay
1t Is. A correspondent Of the Chi
cago Advocate says, truthfully, that
I'VE have been singing that old song
give me Jesus, and take all this
world, for II years, and that the
white people have given US all the
Jesus we want, aud are gradually
taking the world. They are taking
Us at our word" Mr.. Chairman, the
three things we need most at this
time are confidence, money, and ed
uCatiOn. Without these essential
qualifications we cannot succeed In
holding what we now have. II we
will not advance, then, sir, we must
Fetr0Er0det We cannot stand still
Money and education are the two
great levers that move the world in
this the light and glory Of this the
10th century. To keep in line with
the march lof civilization and pro-
greSs we must pay some attention TO
the education of ourselves and our
children. An ignorant race cannot
succeed In this country. We must
support our colored newspapers
with our subscriptions, for these pa
pers stand as bulworks to protect
our every right; and no family
should be without one or two of the
coIcred wceklies. They speak our
sentiments for us better than we can
do II ourselves Mr., Chairman, am
told that the death rate in all south
ern cities, and in Washington and
Baltimore, among the colored people
il much greater thau with the
whites; that the death rate among
cOlOred children is nearly twice as
large as that among the whites. Ad-
uniting this 10 be fact, (and l have
no good reason to doubt it) then,
sir, | would ask you the cause oft?
The answer sir, is. that illitePate peo-
Pile know nothing of the laws of
health, knowing nothing nothing OF
Ihe causes which leads to disease and
death Take our own people here
In Kansas; go into a house and find
each thing clean and tidy. all filth
and diseae- breeding matter removed,
every thing having the appearance
of culture; you inquire wto lives
here, and the answer in nine eases
out of ten 10 that some intelligent
man or woman lives there. 60 into
another, and find just the reverse OF
what the other contained, and In.
Quire who lives here, and the answer
in all cases will be, an illiterate fam
lily
These arc stubborn facts that can.
not ba disDroved, however much We
may dislike them. Grown-up peo.
pie can he excused for their illitera
cy; they have not the chance to get
an education. There are many ex.
cuses for them. But sir, ask, 10
there any excuse they can offer for
their Children being ignorant where
there arc 90 many free schools al
most St their doorst Mr.. Chairman,
If The Convention will pAss resola-
tions embodyIng some oil the ideas 1
have suggested, and every delegate
g. home TO his constituents aud go
10 work TO carry them out by urg-
ing. pursuading and otherwise. we
will soOa see 4 brigher day loom
ing up in the distant horizon, we
will soon sec . change tsat will be
the dawn OF . new era.