The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-04
E.L.BLAcKsatAR TO TEACHERS
NEGROES MUST TAKE INTEREST N
TRAINING OF THEIR CHILDREN.
This should Begin AZ Home ana
"rcwsng Generation Taught BY
Example ~ Wen NJ Precept.

Caldwell. Texas. December a.-Professor
E. l. Blackshear. principal Of the Prsi-
RE View normal school. delivered an
address before the teachers institute in
the court house last night. large
crowd Of colored people were present. As
well as several OF the white citizens Of
the town. His address was. in substance.
as follows:
Mr. Chairman and teachers OF the Bur-
ieson county colored teachers institute
anu fellow citizens, both white and col-
ored; am proud Of this privilege of be-
ing before you and having permission 10
say to you some words respecting tho ed.
ucational problems involved In the so.
called negro problem.
AS teachers serious responsibility
rests upon us. which we can not shake
on. and for the way we meet this respou-
sipiiity We are answerable to our own
rarc and to the State Of Texas. Education
Is matter Of serious concern among all
advanced and advancing peoples, and as
oiack men we must continue to take the
ueepest interest in the training of our
cniioren. The humber of colored women
IN all our towns leading lives of idleness
ana vice and the number OF colorzd bows
ana men whose presence In the jals and
penitehtiafies produces statistics that
nave startled us Indicates that part
Oh our people are seriously neglecting
the training of the young II we are
TO do Our duty as teachers We must illus
trate and exemplify in our own lives and
conouet what we seek TO have realized
IN our pupils. III We wish our BOYS and
girls to be not only intelligent, but hon
est. truthful. upright, and Industrious
and possessed OF means we must our
selves achieve and represent to our chill
dren these qualities In our own personal
and home life as teachers.
AS parents we must begin education In
| the homes and teach our children that
/ honest Industry is the basis of social
order and the fountain OF social progress
| Our boys must learn that persistent, In
telligent, self-denying labor is the price
| of success.
| 1t will not do for us TO be continually
complaining of our disadvantages and
magnifying the difficulties in our path
way. We shall not be carried 10 the
! heights OF civilized progress on howery
beds OF ease. The time has come wnen
/ the negro must face the situation as IL
! is and with sober seriousness do the
! duty of the hour like men. We must
act in view of the opportunities before
/ US and by the use OF these extend our
I Held and thus grow as people In tho
useful elements of civilized life. This
| is what other races have had to do, II
. is idle 10 waste time in complaints thai
| We hsAse 10 chance, and that more ought
I 10 be done for Us. VINO gnr-utin- .ss-es
! their chances and advantages? Have they
not discovered have they not crea ed
] 4.
( est spots on earth? Was 1t not due TO the
/ intense thrift and economy OF the Hol-
/ landers? Did anybcdy give them their
wealth?
The best way TO get wider opportunity.
! the only way. is TO make the utmost of
present opportunity. The best way to get
better Job is to do as well as possible
the Job in hand. The best way to get
+ higher wages is to deserve more By doins
mere valuable service. The man who
! affects TO be above his job or his oppor-
I tunity will soon have none.
! If We black people are 10 enjoy A
/ wider sphere OF opportunity the prepara-
/ ton for il must be the making the most
| of present opportunities for acquiring in
telligence, means and character. There
I is no gain in rushing into new spheres
| in state of unprenaredness
This is a great practical lesson the race
/ must learn
Another is that there IS no necessary
| antagonlsm between our real interests
and the interests of the best white people
who are around us. II we increase in
/ intelligence In thrift, in wealth, in self
respect and in respect for the rights
7 and feelings of our neighbors all classes
I white az we'll as black, are the gamers
/ thereby. All values would, the moral
| the intellectual and the material. Nhy Il
| property in colored settlement of less
| value? Is 1t not due in part at least
| to the fact that there is less care taken
of the property and that it represents usu-
I ally lower standard of culture. | know
/ that whenever black man advocates
peace and harmony between the races, the
/ prejudiced extremist denounces him as
white folks niggah." But my friends
/ let us not be deferred by this sort Of col
/ ored man who thinks it the duty OF every
I coored speaker to depict the white man
/ as the sworn and etsrnal enemy o. tn-
1 black and of everything That makes ioT
| his progress. The colored man or the
white who stirs up race passions and
prejudice is an enemy 10 humanity and a
foe 10 social order and progress My
| friends, it is these fre-eaters and inter-
meddlers of both races, North and South
that have retarded the peaceful solution
Of serious and vexatious problem.
Ii will NOT do for the negro to go
around with emp on MS bipulueT eleI
nalIy antagonizing everything his white
4 neighbor fayors. IL won't do for the race
/ 10 adopt the rule of Uncle Henry, a pions
/ conscientious colored man of limited
| views, who always consulted his exmaster
/ before election TO get his views but some
| how was always found during the election
| In the thickest of the fight on the aide
/ onposite his old master. After GER
| tain election, his former master met him
| and asked why IL was that ne always
consulted him before election but worked
| and voted on the opposite side. "kase
| nnahster | knows dat whatsumever you
| fayors bound 10 be agiD de niggah. 50
/ knows opsit side mus be de side fun
me" -, A..
| b,aek man. il is doubtful IL 1t is TO re-
main the best rule Of action, for times
are changed. North and South are bury
Inc sectional animosities. A republican
who was himself a general In the Yankee
army has, by invitation, addressed an
| assembly of democrats and Confederate
soldierg and In his address urged that
! Columbia care for the graves OF all her
| sors those who wore the gray as well
as those who fell in blue. After this great
sneech in which white-haired patriarchs
~ lost cause wept from excess of remi-
| riscant emotions, this same republican
,,resident pinned on the badge OF Con-
fsdersfe veteran. Lee and Wheeler, Con-
,sderafe generals. are wearing the Fed
eral blue and are In the service OF the