Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-27
EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO.
Papers Read Last Evening at the Col
Ored Conference.


EDUCATION NOT NEEDED AMONG THE MINISTRY so
MUCH As PIETY-MR. MONTGOMERY SAYS MORE
MECHANICS AND FEWER LAWYERS ARE NEEDED
THE QUESTION OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.
At the afternoon session of the conference of
education of colored youth yesterday, as stated
in TIE STAR. Rev. DIR. VIM. J. Simmons, DID,,
president of the state university, Louisville,
n.y.. delivered an address on the subject of An
educated ministry" He spoke, however. more
on the good work done by men who were not
SO thoroughly educated. He said that a pious
preacher could accomplish more any day than
~ man who had had his heart and enthusiasm
educated out of him. He said he wanted it dis
tinctly understood that he was not pleading for
an ignorant set of men. but for an earnest,
hard-wOrking and enthusiastic set. who may
lack polish. but who have plety and who belong
TO the people. He said that there was a dam
gerous tendency among educated colored peO-
pie 20 separate themselves from the rest of
their race. for children who had been educated
20 ignore their Uneducated parents. He would
not do away with the educated class. he said,
but he did not wan: them to ignore those who
had not that blessing.
THE PRIDE OF EDUCATION.
.Our doctors and lawyers" said he. "think
they are better than the rest of u.s. but when
We need legal advice or are i'll they expect us
10 employ them and pay them well for il. And
yet after all. We are not deeply educated
class yet. There Is no DENYING the fact that
we are still in the formative state. Scratch the
average cOlOred man with a pin and you will
go - deep as thls polish We howl for an ed
Ucated ministry. but frequently the congre-
CATION that bowls the loudest will go to sleep
under n highly educated man when they get
hin. Give man education sufficient to give
him hold on the masses and if he Is an earnest
worker he Will do all a minister can. No man
will succeed no matter how much Latin and
Greek and church history he may know, unless
he has living coal upon his heart from the
throne Of the Almighty. / am not asking for
an uneducated ministry, but simply want to
show that much has been done and still is to be
done by those outside of the much talhed-o
educated ministry"
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.
Miss Martha Schofield. manager Of the Scho-
field Normal and Industrial school of Aiken, S.
e., read a carefully prepared paper on the sub
ject of industrial training for the colored race
In her address Miss SchOfeld said that indus
trial training meant to train the industrious.
The blessing of labor is the one good thing that
came forth from slavery. She recommended the
training of industrious men and women to
think themselves out of the habits that keep
them under. To train Them said Miss Scho-
field. means TO make of them more self-re-
liant and self-thlnklng men. 1t is to lay a
foundation upon which to build better future
10 do this requires tact, patience and a large
missionary spirit 4 young man of twenty
three may have much to form or work at forge.
but he only counts half his value until his in
dustrlal powers are trained and disciplined by
waking IN HIM the divine blessing OF grasping
responsibility. The brain of the masses as yet
has only grasped two facts. the right to vote
and All indefinite idea of the value of educa-
tOn. Party politics has used one. industrial
training combined with book learning will de-
Nelop and strengthen the other An inestimable
blessing would have been conferred upon the
race If the thousands of dollars spent ~ teach
ing Latin and Greek to a few had been
used to train minds in the best methods of an
industrious life. The north its haste to
know what the cOlored man could reach low
cred the standards of the colleges to his level
and dotted the country with them, instead of
letting him compete with other races in those
colleges already established and open to him.
THE NEED OF THE HOUR.
Training boys and girls to be Industrious
training the industrious in all the uses of their
hands, by which homes may be lifted up. farms
better attended to. all work done we'll how to
spend time and the money earned these are
the vital needs of the hour and the divine work
laid upon this generation. Teach them the
beauties Of home life Slavery DESTROYED the
elements of home. Freedom must renew them
industrial schools are q beginning They are
not enough. Let one earnest woman go into
any small village and while the mother is out
AT WOrk IN the hltCnen or the neIQS teach the
Older children how To take care of the Younger,
train them IN ways OF right living. how to cook
simple food well. TO keep the house and family
clean and the other virtues of home life She
will have higher influence for good on future
generations than any pulpit orator or brilliant
lawyer"
Miss Schofeld also spoke of the good effect
OF education. She said that one of the CRYING
needs of the race was better marriage system
She closed her address with brief account of
nv rha Aain NalI H. -
school.
A discussion on the two papers was then par
tclpated III by DIR. G.. Il. Purvis. MIR. Atkins
secretary Of the conference; Bishop brown
Miss Carrie l. Syphax and DIR. Simmons.
THE EVENING SESSION.
The evening session was held in the Fourth
Baptist church, on Il street. Vim. G.. Sears
AN. professor IN Lincoln university, Jeffer-
son City, Mo-. presented an interesting ESSAY
on The English language" in which he said
that much time was wasted in the study of the
dead languages that could better be employed
III the study of our own. Learning English by
means o; English was his way OF solving the
difficulty.
The RACE QUESTION.
Mr.. II. p. Montgomery. one of the supervis-
ing principals of the public schools of the
District, took as the subject of his paper
How TO solve the problem" He said: 1.-The
future OF the negro in this country is a cues
tlOn OF great concern to every body but himself
who Is ready to do his whole duty according to
the light granted him and trust in God for re-
suits. The sO-called race question is not a
national question, but is limited to a class
whose souls are not broad enough to include
the whole of Gods family. The negro has been
more oppressed, degraded and Disseminated
against than any other race in the history of
the world. yet he has been patient and forbear-
ing TO an extent that Is amazing even to his
oppressors. Though denied the civil and
political rights guaranteed 10 him by a free
government, he has progressed. ever trusting
IN the God OF his prosecutors and submitting
with the fortitude of Christian We have
our schools. churches and courts our wealth
by the millions, and yet compared with the
other race we are poor. ignorant and degraded
the product OF system TO which we were
forced 10 submit Our character was built by
people who are amazed at its utter worth
lessness. and are now trying to export it 20 the
darkness OF benlghted Africa.
That we are multiplying In numbers much
faster than we are increasing in intelligence is
painfully true to those who realize the dangers
that may come from so large a mass of igno-
rant voters. This government is founded ON
intelligence. Ignorance is its foe Our states
men realize this and have exhausted every con-
sttuuonal means to avert the danger and are
now groplng IN the dark and uncertain field of