The colored American., 1902-04-26

functionarieS are to reap a harvest tha
might more justly have been distributed
over wide area There is talk of or.
ganizing an opposition to Director Mer
RAMS re-appointment. In any event, il
is likely that the Presidents attention
will be called to the discrimination thai
has pried loose over 90 per cent. of the
Negro timber in the bureau.
Time was when stiff letter of rec
ommendation from Senator would
land an applicant at once into a nice
plump job; but that doesn't go now q
little bit. Letters have become so com
mon that unless they bear a special
mark which is understood by the ad-
dressee that it means business, they are
not worth the paper they are written
upon and are destined to reach the
waste basket at automobile speed. The
big man gives the letter because he
doesn't wish to offend by apparent indif-
ference, and after he has complied, he
is rid of the individual forever. He
knows, too, that the recommendation
will avail the aspirant nothing of sub
Stantial nature The influential poll
tician who really wants to do something
for his protege eschews letters. and goes
in person early and often, until he pulls
down what he is after.
Miss Grace Storum is winning lau-
rels as a dramatic reader of force and
brilliance. Always gifted with unusual
elocutionary ability, she has by consci-
entiouS study, made marvellous improve
ment IN the past two years, and is prov
ing dangerous rival to those who tread
the professional boards. She is endowed
by nature with a fine presence Her
voice is strong, clear, resonant and SYM
pathetic, and is under the perfect con-
troll of mind that grasps the spirit of
the selection she presents. She has the
true dramatic instinct and impartS to
her hearers the fire and enthusiasm that
burns IN her own personality. In impas-
stoned speeches she thrills and in the
lighter vein she amuses and entertainS
One of her very best renditions is
'Hagar's Denunciation of Abraham" ="
The histrionic world will yet hear from
Miss Storum. Her splendid interpreta-
tion last evening of the French General
Rlgaud in the production of "Dessa-
lines evoked much favorable com
ment. She is the daughter of Prof.
James Storum, and holds diplomas from
our High and Normal schools
| do not know whether Miss Maggie
Lee has been able to secure a husband
yet or not, but she is certainly entitled
TO as good man as the mundane sphere
contains. She knows what she wants
and has the courage to advertise for it.
She announces that she is twenty years
of age and weighs ISo pounds. She re-
quires that the husband she wishes must
not be very dark in color nor afraid to
work. A letter will reach Miss Lee at
corner of Halket and Endy streets.
Plttsburg, Pa. | see no reason why a
woman shouldn't be as free and untram-
meled as a man in selecting the partner
OF her joys and sorrows.
Emancipation Day passed off quietly.
There was no parade, for which let ev-
cry Self-respecting Negro be thank
tul. The parades of other days were
something awful, and the gang of bad
looking colored people that followed
them was several times worse The best
evidence that the Negro is growing in
wisdom is his abandonment of gaudv
paradeS, his taste for band music that is
really melodious and the ability to listen
to 1t without following it pell melf from
Georgetown to Lincoln Park. Emanci-
patton Day is all right when celebrated
IN decency and in order
Supersensitive people make it hard for
a newspaper man to write things in a