Huntsville gazette., 1891-01-24
Mr.. DAVIS ADDRESS.

the Huntsville Norman School" IL
would afford me great pleasure to talk TO
YOU, if had time It is something to
talk about-this great question that is be-
fore Us here to-day; and l am glad to see
such satisfactory exposition here of the
progress of civilization in this, "Our Ala
bama" (Applause.3 America is trying
to solve that grandest problem to the stu
dent; the security and perpetuity OF free
institutions; and if it is not solved here
and hereafter in this Southland the hope
Of mankind Is gone. Now, we meet right
in this problem a great problem for the
ccnsi si1eration of this Republic to-day-
the negro problem. It is problem that
would challenge the most earnest and Sc
riovs investigation of the greatest states
men the world has ever produced; and SO
far as | am competent to Judge, | see but
one way to solve it, and that is my busi-
| ness here to-day. We know it is fact
that all civilization is the development OF
| education, and of christian education. We
know that patriotism is christian virtue;
and that story we have just heard is the
key-not to this whole subject-patrio
tism, love OF country instilled into the
heart of every human being; let them love
their own land and their own people, and
not listen to the stanger or to the foreign
er. Now, if the colored people of this
country can be taught the foundation of
civilization-the Lord'sPrayer and Chris
tian's creed (and am glad to see that
YOU are teaching it here and are trying to
learn the creed), we need you here in this
land; we need you here to cultivate our
rice fields, our corn fields, our cotton
fields and our wheat fields. | believe
too, that as an outgrowth of this civiliza-
ton we have established in this (God's)
Southland, we can establish a civilized
colony in the land of Africa, and there
establish free republic like this on the
Congo. What we want the colored peo-
pie this country to know is, that we are
your best friends and Alabama is your
best friend; the Southern people have
been the, best friends you have ever had
Northern slave dealers brought you to
this country; and when you were not
$ profitable to them they sold you to these
people and here you found comfortable
t homes. The happiest people | ever knew
, were on the old plantations in the glo-
rious southland of ours; and | am salts
fed that if you should go back to your
own country, you would cherish fond re-
? collections Of those who have done sc
much for you.
Be true to yourselves by being true to
your friends and your own comfort. A
man that has home and does not love
: that home is no more than a beast CAP
, plause). Take the Scotchman, | care not
how humble he may be, and wherever he
may be, he will weep when they sing the
song of Lang Syne, and will rejoice in
mis- native land Take the Irishman on
: the Western plain and if he sees the little
sorrel that reminds him of his own sbam-
rock, and he says "Mavourneen, mavour-
neen, the land of my love, Erin go bra"
Take the Swiss, and let him hear the
soungs of his native land, and hear Of
: William Tell, and he is happy and proud
Of his home. And so with the English
! man, the common sailor; he love to greet
, that flag that tells him that Britain rules
the wave and bids God-speed to the land
of Shakespeare and of Milton. And can
there be an American who, if he sees our
dag, will not rejoice to think that he be-
longs to the grandest Republic the world
has ever seen. 'Breathes there man
with soul SO dead, who never to himself
has said, This is my own-my native
land?" Can there be colored person in
this glorious Alabama, who can go forth
from Alabama and not rejoice that he had
some part in glorifying, identifying and
eivilizing this, our Alabama? | say you
can be of great service to US and we can
be of great service to you; but the only
way to do that is for you to be true to
yourselves and to your Alabama. Let no
foreign man, like the snake in the Gar
den of Eden, come creeping in to poison
| your minds And look you to-day III the
Senate of the United States, where those
men are seeking to bring you under their
power. They are seeking to put the bay
onet behind every ballot; | say let US in
Alabama put the book behind every bal
lot. If they were half as anxious to edu-
cate you and train you for the great du
ties Of life, that devolve upon you, then
indeed they would he doing a great good.
Think what Alabama has done for you;
think what this city this beautiful city
of Huntsville has done for you; think that
you are here in the land of the Hunts,
and the Clays and Davis, the Lanes
and the Walkers, and so many other his
toric names. With such friends to help
you see what you are doing. | say shame
upon those men who would throw any
fire-brand into such schOola as this. They