The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-06-20
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD

NEWS vi IhE BUCK MUhAU
Striking Object Lesson In Education
What Education Is, as Seen In the
Workings OF Negro Boys Mnd-The
Kind Of Education that Will Go Far To-
ward Solving the Negro Problern--crlt-
les Answered.
Little but mischief has been done by the
propagation of the belief that the edu-
cation Of the negro has done harm in
stead of good. both to the negro and to
only or chiefly ito enable one to speak
and write the English language correctly
possibly the above belief is sound, tho we
doubt even that, but when education Is
regarded as the development and control
OF the physical mental and moral pow
ers, the education of the negro Is not only
| harmless, but beneficial In direct proper
ton to it's extent Booker t. Washington
emphasizes this point very strongly in his
new book Working with the Hands.
| DR.. Washington speaks from his own
deep experiences, whose lessons learned
long ago he has not forgotten. He att
tended a school taught by a teacher who
had the English language" idea of edu-
cation. 1t did not satisfy the young negro.
/ He afterward went to work for a woman
who knew what thoro work was and who
would be satisfied with nothing less
| There he first learned the joy OF work
honestly and well done, tho it was work
with the hands. Els first task under his
new employer was to NOV. the lawn with
1 a sickle. The task of making a velvety
lawn with a hand sickle is no easy one,
and young Washington failed at first, but
/ he kept at it and succeeded. Here is
) what he says y
/ + A the ofn
under the strict oversight of my mistress, we
could take pleasure in looking upon yard where
the grass was green, and almost perfect in its
smoothness where the fowerbeds We're trinity
kept, the edges Of the walks cleancut and
Where there was nothing to mar the lwell-ordered
appearance.
When saw and realized that all this was a
creation of my own hands, my whole nature
began to change. l felt self-respect, an en-
couragement and satisfaction that had never
/ before enjoyed or thought possible. Above all
else, had acquired q new confidence in my
ability actually to do things and to do them
we'll And more than this, I found myself,
1 which had gradually become a part of me-
that the head meant everything end the hands
little in working endeavor, and that only labor
with the mind was honorable while to toll with
the lands was unworthy and even disgraceful.
-
AS ! began to reap satisfaction from the
/ works of my hands, found myself planning
over night how to gain success in. the next
days efforts.
There is true education-the develop
n1ent Of hand and mind and heart CO. ordi-
nately. The author deserves the highest
praise for having put it thus simply This
Illustration alone shows him amply quail
fed to cope with the problem of negro
leducation. It shows that he knows the
goal and can direct others upon the path
thereto, having traversed it himself with
: mind alert to mark the way. That kind
of education can never hurt the negro or
. the white thru the negro.
But DR.. Washington goes much further
4 in his book than to narrate his. own .eXpe-
/ lTiences in acquiring an education. In
Edeed, these are the smallest portion of the
book. He devotes most Of his space tc
showing what the negroes Of the soutt
are actually doing with their heads anC
! hands. Every chapter has it's Illustrations
which bear witness of the truth of the
ltext. There, are lessons in home making
in outdoor work for women, in farm work
and in other like forms of human endeav:
; or. And at the close, as a clincher fol
those who still doubt the efficacy of the
r Tuskegee system and Of the general effor
! to educate the negro some facts ant
| figures that, it seems to us, do not leave
the opponents or lukewarm supporters O.
negro education a hairsbreadth of GROUND
to stand on. &a@s@- .Ise% r. -
UNDER WHICH KING, BEzONIAN?
Love lifts on white wings to the gates
+ OfsParadise and aeIters; Ia; = E25it y
7 Lust has for wings two leaden weights I:
That sink into the lake of sin
, Lust squats, toad-like, his loathsome cell
= Love seeks the light, on, on. above;
Loveyfs: Of God, as God Is love,
But lust is Lucifer in hell
e Joaquin Miller, in July Smart Set
Booth darlington the author Of 1'The" Tw
vanrevels - having spent some months in italy
has become ambitious in the direction
: las a college man he noted for his abilit
i Las a. draughtsman, and It is said that he is nov
= warming again to his first love, and will himsel
illustrate some of his stories, which are to ap
pear in the near future. =
. The Uneasy Chair.
d A diction composed largely Of .sez,
'wuz," "riz" and general mispla cemer
e Of c's and ks are features Of farme
r. Estories and without this divergence sfro1
II correct English their Originality and in
! fdividuality would disappear like the mis-
= before the sun. n ezekiah's kortshIp de
IL rives the advantages which are to be OF
n tanned from dialect and adds not littl
l. interest Of it's own. The story is sur
lie posed to be written by Hezekia11s wit
"a thus closely following the well-know
Samantha Allen" steries), in order thu
" the mortgage on the farm may be pal,
Z, % The story is more of rambling journ;
,e than anything else, and is. constantly II
v terrupted by the little difficulties whic
7e enter into the everyday life on the farm
ID satires on the newly rich have been a
"a tempted since the art of writing begal
~ ~ Som etimes a Moliere lends talent and sty
nt to the description of yulgarity. But whe
IN the style sinks to the level Of the subjec
lg and not only the characters are expose
40 IL their vulgarity but the modicum
&c dignity which may be reasonably r,
ne CURED in story is. jeopardized, the
criticism is wasted. Duchess of re
. Clothes is a book with an originally goo
= idea, the vulgarity and the barbaric splel
- dor Of the modern American hotel TT
- - descriptions which deal Immediately wi
~ the hotel are good, but there is an uni
=. teresting and endless description of Il
- characters intermixed with common Sian
IL. S. K.
f. .
1 II