The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-09-04

ter.
 Imitation is but the pale shadow of | realization; to initiate civilization is not | to be civilized. We might copy the ap- pearance of civilization instead of as-
 simiIating it's content. This is the sad | temptation of the. young negro of the 1 north, who finds many avenues to both
 the good. and the bad. He quickly
 grasps the superficial and more evil dent part of the surrounding civiliza-
 tion and loses all desire to penetrate to
 the heart of the thing. He learns to I smoke and drink and dress and ape the l social dandy and drops out of school
 before finishing the grammar grades.
 He mistakes this shell fof the whole thing" He has not learned the value
 of struggle, the blessing of pain. So
 many have been his privileges and
 higher things have been so plainly with
 in his reach that he has brushed them
 all aside with the contempt of familiar l ity. . --,e., ,s5 l At the same time black boy comes
 up from Texas, enters a northern school.
 breaks down barriers. .overturns obsta- cles, moves mountains and acquires a
 college education. The struggle has in- I creased every energy of his being; has made him man. r.E l Such boy has too much self-conf- dence to be a coward, too much power 4 to fail, too much self-respect to be crim- inal No one ever heard of such a man
 demonizing a community by savage I crime; it is among the unambitious tl youth of large cities that criminality is
 rife. Negro educator cannot be called
 a failure, for, save with individuals, it has never yet been tried, ~s .,.s.s-,-- I Every negro criminal degrades first of [. ali himself, next his race, and in a still ..l less degree but just as truly he degrades .I the white mans civilization. Yet he harms this civilization In far less de- ll gree than mob of five hundred. A
 popular uprising degrades law and de- moralizes the the young. The savage vengeance of mob forms such a hid 'l eous background for the crime of the man that part of the horror of his : deed is lost in the unconscious effect l of the barbarity of his death, The re- j sultant impression seems to make him a l!martyr instead of devil, and this has ,lisuch bad moral effect on the weaker } members of his race as to lead to an in
 crease of the very crime for which he ,l died. The criminal multiplies and the , mob grows and unless we have more ll Durbins than in Indiana and more | Joneses than in Alabama, we will soon i, join the Sansculottic to the Jaco bini- ,1 cal. a
 -l Every true American believes that : trial according to due process Of law l is the inalienable right of the most de- generate wretch. Every true American . condemns lawlessness in both the mob and the man, believes that the impar- {, tiality of law should descend like Gods $ rain lon the just and the unjust" The l lawless must be ruled by the law-abid- s ing; for lawlessness, like sin, sets for I itself no other limit but death. Nature t and God enforce their laws by penalty g immediate or remote, but always cer-
 tain. Fire burns immediately; dissipa- i ton in youth means rottenness in the t bones of age an act of sin means in- Sl jured character, scared conscience s dwarfed soul. This is the very strength I of law; its impartiality, its inexora- ' bleness. .>4&. 5,s 4l s}g% Iet x ]. | Orr race cannot support the practice tl of eye for eye" and wound fol : lwound;' that is Mosaic, not Christian r We must show the Kindness that we de- | sire, practice the justice that we preach l To have the right regard for the weakei
 sex of another race we must have bet.
 ter regard for the weaker sex of oul \ own. Chastity and charity both begir . at home. The man who will not respect i. his own house cannot respect the house [ hold of another.
 z ''To thine own self be true;
 < And it must follow, as the night thu X day. -% ~-&
 Thou canst not then be false to an! ; man." H fI OUR RELIGION. & " {. Our religion includes everything iron r the orgies of plantation revival to thu e dignified service of a cultured city con d gregation.. It is all religion, but it i: if not all worth while. -.
 fl Two years ago I visited a district O r Alabama far beyond the sound of, tn, e nearest locomotive whistle: where tn
 negro is theschief inhabitant, cotton . chickens and children the chief pro r uuCtSy ,IHe plS lic Clllel Iledt, tHS pttI < son the chief man, and religion tn chief--avocation Everybody had re ' ligion, foolish and wise, lazy and indus
 trious, thievish and honest, adulterou
 and chaste. Religion had no meaninl II or mission for earth, it's sole object wa \ heaven. =%% f. On Sundays the crowd streamed int n plank church. There were old mel , with their canes, and young men witt .e blacked brogans, ebony faces and blood d red ties. There were old danes wit
 T their bandannas and damsels with nul !. ti-coIor frocks-red, yellow and blue ar IT ranged promiscuously about their per if sons. -. E~
 After a sweet plantation melody ther VI, followed vociferous prayer as if Go ,a were asleep or at the other end of ,, Hong distance" telephone. Then tn <, preacher read his text with emphasis O if every word, and began preaching 7f very muscular sermon. Low and scat S tered means were heard which gradual
 ly thickened until some of the sister
 set their arms akimbo and began t
 rock and jerk spasmodically The pas III tor was painting hell, heaven and tn .e judgment in the most 1ivid colors an . pictorial language. One by one tn eL "sperrit moved 'em'' to their feet an ~.