The colored American., 1903-06-27

every arm of nature; yet is there
enough to be done to tax generation
| of workers and an age of philosophers
The inexorable and irrevocable law
of civilization is, DO, SERVE, or DIE.
Do something; do your best; help the
world to solve great problems which
now confront our destiny; people lit
erature with the creations OF your fan
| cy; enrich philosophy or science with
the fruits of your investigation. Make
| art richer by your skill. Make
| flowers bloom where a thistle grew, or
| a garden smile where weeds were
rank. Build a mansion where hut
stood. Make forests habitable, barren
lands inviting and small things great.
Train the young; lead them to high
conceptions and direct them to paths
| of usefulness and honor; inspire them
| by your own examples of usefulness.
Assuage the fever of the sick; help
the weak to bear their burdens; help
the fiedgling to fly; bandage the bro
ken wings and help it again to the
skies. Cultivate, if it be so, and water
the flowers which bloom in your own
| nursery at your own secluded hiding
place, by your own hearthstone, close
| brooding to your mothers heart.
Send them trained, fashioned,
pruned, healthful, with their fresh of
| fering of love- beauty and fragrance
to civilization and man. Delve into
the secrets of Nature; call men, like
Him who came crying in the wilder
ness, unto repentance and to the fear
of God. But do something; do it
well and civilization will accept your
| Offering with piOus reverence your
| alma mater will thrill with a graft
| tude strong as that which filed the
heart of Roman Matron, who was
prouder to be called the mother of
Ithe Gracchi than the daughter of
Scipio. But fail, dare to fail, and civ
| ilizatiOn will pass over you in its on
ward sweep. Fail, and civilization
will place her burdens upon you and
make you bear them or fall under
them. The times know no excuse for
failure. The alphabet is yours the
| printing press is within your reach
the Bible is open. Liberty, fair flower,
budding from the blood of martyrs
| surrounds you with it's fragrance
| Men, women and children are waiting
upon you anxious for your guiding
hand, your fostering care. There they
are; look at them; hungry, athirst,
pleading for all the good which God
has given you power to make and do.
Wheat means, what implements, what
materials are spread before you for
the work of your thoughts, your in
Vent1on, your pen, your Imagination,
lyour reverence, your love.
/ Above you the sun shines, around
you the winds blow, beneath your
feet THE WORLD, on which rivers
flow, valleys smile, hills and noun
talns rise, and the seas foam and
dash; on which flower, tree and vine
make their yearly offering of flower.
frult and wine: rock brilliant enough
10 decorate a coronet or hard enough
to construct a temple. Soil. rich
enough to fill the graineries of the
world, to feed the cattle, which might
Craze upon a thousand hills, and wide
enough for the untamed venisons of
the woods to persue their prey and
multiply their kind. Water, cool
enough to quench the thirst of eyery
moving or creeping thing, and copious
enough TO water all the valleys and
nll all the rivers and lakes On this
round world of ours, you have broth
ers, sisters, friends, neighbors, socie-
", state and nation Of all these
thlngs are poems written and philoso-
phles made; from these things does
science gather its dicta; for these
things and the use of these are laws
ordained; of these are cities reared
and empires founded and sustained.
In TINS rank field waiting for the