The age-herald., 1897-11-18
Another Wise keqr0,

l Bishop Derrick, at the recent negro Methodist conference in Arkansas. gave the members of his race some good ad- vice. The Little Rock Gazette says: | Bishop Derrick delivered short lec- | ture to the members of the conference,
 urging them to study and to read. He
 spoke of the number of good magazines l throughout the country and asked the preachers to read them. Have for your 1 companion the best authors of today. l Study them, converse with them at your leisure hours. You can gst their best thought, and then there will not be any | danger of gossip; then. tco. these great men will not lie to you; they cannot lie, for most of tham are dead. Do not blunder by trying to associate with a. set above you; when you can remain at your home and keep company with such men as Sappho, Carlyle, John Milton, Shakes peare and Homer. You can dwell with l the soldier of the past; you can go be- heath the sea and bring up the pearls; you can dig into the earth and get gold without having to undergo the unpleas- antness of using a spade yourself. Yes you can go around the world, and come back with a g,reia,.er conception than had you gone there in person
 q would ask that you read newspa- psrs. Keep up with the times. You can get sometimes good subjects from the
 
 your people. spiritually and intellectual ly. Tell them something new, and do not always administer to them castor oil. Give them bread and meat, and flfen pudding. Then,-tee, tie man in this coun- try who expects to hold a pulpit will have to study. It used to be said that all that was necessary was for g. man to | open his mouth and God would fill dt; now he must fill his mouth and God will | open 1t. I remember when all a man | r. l.a. | behind his ear and hollow like a mule and he was considered great preacher. | Today that man is not finding place in l our pulpits. He is forced to go to school or leave the ministry.
 "You must know how to read your text. Do net be like the brother I heard once that got up and said he was going to take his text from the one-eye chap ter, two-eye John and the three-eye verse, and then read, When the great | day of wrath comes whose gwine to be able to stand?' Take with you your bi- | bles: read them. Don't be too proud to read, and if you do not understand a | thing 20 to the school teacher in the ! community and ask him. Do not have a 1 country and a city style for preaching,
 but preach the same to country people as
 to city people; inspire them to be dntel- l hgent."
 With few more negroes of influence, | like Bishop Derrick, Booker T. washing ton, W. H. Council and Bishop Gaines
 talking on this line the colored people
 will make rapid progress onward and upward.
 Negroes who read good books and newspapers in their leisure hours at home will keep out of mischief, and if they will listen to Booker T. Washing ton, and shun no form of honest manual l labor, they cannot fail to become happy
 and self-supporting home owners, with l the friendship of their white neighbors This much can be said, without en- couraging the mistaken idea of higher education for the negroes. Situated as they are in a country where the supe- rior race outnumber them ten to one 1 it is folly for many of them to expect to earn their living in the professions. If they are sensible they will stick to man. l uai labor.