The reformer., 1900-01-27
The Old Folks Home.

home, by home we do not mean
mere shelter that we might he kept /
from exposure to the external env1-
ronment, but we do mean shelter
in which can be found all joys, COM
forts and happiness where the in
mates seem TO move i'll harmony
where can be found love and zeal,
where deception one of the promi-
nent characteristics no longer ex-
lists, and above all where the love
of God is shed abroad in each and |
every heart, then alone we have a
clear conception of what is meant
by home.
William w. Browne, the greatest
colored fnancier of the 10TH cen
tury, also the founder of the G. F.
U. o. 7. R. after having completed
seven different departments of the
brotherhood, thought wisely of the
old folks friends, those of you who
do not know, have at least read or
rather have been told of the great
hardships and sufferings of our par
ents and grand parents during the
dreadful days of slavery, aud how
zealously they prayed for the day |
to come when they might enjoy the
blessings of liberty and that their |
children might be educated and
know of blessings that never were
theirs.
Now friends does it not appear
to you, that since their earnest
PRAYERS have been answered that
we have abused our opportunities,
when you remember that the Ne
gro did not come to America vol
UNFAIRLY with the view of betterlng
his own condition, he was forced
by despotic power to leave his ma
tive country and come to America,
with no other object than to labor
for others.
But as Joseph of old, sold by his
brothers, found a home IL Egypt,
so 1 believe, the Almighty had a
noble purpose in view in the trans
portation of the Negro.
The beginning of the African
slave trade was in 1919. when the
: Man of War hailing from the coast
S Of Africa landed twenty Negroes
= and sold them to the planters on
the lanes River, when the Eman
cipation Proclamation was issued
! in 1865, the race numbered nearly
l 4 600 900. l need not tell you OF
the thousands of souls at the close
, of the rebellion, shut up i'll prison
, houses, morally, physically and IN
j tellectually degraded, two centuries
and a halt of servitude, has sunk
Q the Negro deeper into the scales CT
| DEGRADATION, than if he had remain
: ed in his own country and envelop
ed in heathenism.
From 1865 until the present time
I the Negro has risen to great proml-
t pence and has proven himself man
i of great possibilities, and the young
: er generation, and the G. F. U. ..
e T. R. will solve the Negro prob
lem. The time has now come when
: orr aqed parents, can no longer Ia
S bor for our elevation, but we must
Il do il ourselves, we must no longer
wait for opportunities, but we must
maize them. as did William Wash
ington Browne. =.
S Our parents have become too old
: and infrned and now It remains
q with us to show our appreciation
y for their laborious efforts and strug-
II giles to gain freedom for themselves
: and for us. The first step has been
7 taken and we should fall in rank.
Il William w. Browne, in seeing the
le necessity of an o. F. H. proposed
e the same to the Grand Fountain
p which was very readily accepted
y and in 1893 collections were taken
+ for the erection of an O. +. b. In
le 1907, a farm of 634A acres was Sc
cured in the county of Henrico,
S State of Virginia, at the cost OF SI4-,
IS 400 of this large amount. $4,000
Y had been collected August 1898 and
. collections are SlllI DGAhS h4Ho "
IT now there remains only small por-
d ton of the cost of the lot unpaid.
IS Yet this is not all, you Will GER
( ( tainly have to erect buildings upon
II lot. and to do this we need money
5. and the way each and every one
S; can show his appreciation for the
le aged of our race is to donate towaTc
+ his noble enterprise. The white:
q have erected several homes for theil
j. aged and why should we not do the
same? And do not allow our ole
~ folks to go from door to door. beg
n N ging for crust of bread that they
~ might be prevented from starva
n, ton, and is it not heartrendering
oo when we see them turned away a.
all though they were little less than
rs dog.
If they are sent to the distric
&C homes they are certainly not treateC
'or as we'll as the whites. Yet do yor
IS. wonder that there is a distinction
m Nell o.when the whites know tina
~, ana have rllared men fully capabl
les for the protectio
ktaAf~ -