The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-06-01

"a body recognized and sponsored by
the state and through it by the world.
All this in fifty years. a progress un-
precedented and unparalleled in the
history of the world, and explainable
only by the fact that when the colored
woman started from slavery she had
in her heart the fire and the spirit, the
faith unutterable and unquenchable,
and in her soul the power and the
glory that held her above the stolid
sluggishness and spiritual inertia of
the hopeless, and often gave wings to
her weary feet as they stumbled along
the road. Truly the colored woman
may sing in the word of the old famil-
lar hymn:
"Thro many dangers, tolls and snares
I have already come,
Twas grace that brought me safe this
far,
And grace will lead me home"
The American colored woman is
really the new woman, or at least the
newest woman of the world. She has
no history and really had no existence
any further back than the days of
slavery, yet for all her newness she is
robed in the majesty that belongs
eternally to all true womanhood and
wrapped about her is pathos as we'll
as strength of character which gives
her dignity unique and all her own.
She has reached the place she occu-
pies today because she has power. The
power of grace, upon which she has al
ways relied. The power of vision, OF
ambition, of will and of industry;
whether she came from the mansion
T. or the cotton fields Of slavery It was
never any task to arouse the freed
woman to sense of better things.
Why? Because in her vision she had
already seen them, and when the bars
of slavery were removed she stepped
right outward, onward and upward
and to her everlasting honor, she has
been stepping ever since. She never
was akin to any "brother to the OK, y
mute, numb, stolid. All she wanted
was a chance, and getting that, has
ever since done all she could toward
making her people worthy of the faith
our martyred President Lincoln had
in their future, and fit for the place
beneath the flag that was opened Tor
them when they were made free.
She had the ambition to deserve and
hone, the courage to dare and the IN
dustry to work for that which was
good. All honor and reverence to the
American freed woman! She stands
UNIQUE in the history of the woman
hood of the world. No other has ever
had the same environment in combln-
alton with the same temperament.
Witness her great mother-heart that
could love the children OF her mistress
the same as her own. Witness her
faithfulness, her capability, her adap-
liability, filling her place wherever 1t
happened to be-whether in war or
peace. whether she were bond or tree.
Lot us honor her for her faith which
so firmly, even though unconsclously
believed in the ultimate good, the trl-
unph of Righteousness and the inner
1ight which made her see the nobility
and power Of honest labor. Iolllng'
toiling, strong-hearted, full of ambl-
ton for her children, seeing in every
, davis work another boost for them up
the golden ladder Of progress, seeing
in every soap bubble as she tolled at
tho washtub some rose and golden WIS.,
ion. and at her toll, however hard
hearing sweet voices prophetic of bet
tor davs to be for her children, If not
for her. She was the woman ideallstlc
and fine enough to dream the beautl-
full dream, yet practical and strong
enough to make the dream come true:
What was this beautiful dream! !
Cow homes, better living, pretty
clothing, beautiful churches, education
for her children; each Of her boys a
future great man, each Of her girls a
future lovely lady. All this and more
she toiled for. everything that goes to
the building of creditable citizenship.
Oh. the debt that the later generations
owe to those old freed mothers
Thinking of the D. A. r., how proudly
mipht thousands of our most cultured,
brilliant women think of themselves
as D. A. F.-Daughters of American
Freedwomen. The freedwoman whose
life was a round of Honest love, hon
est sorrow, honest work TOR To-Day
honest hope for tomorrow
Inestimable is the heritage she has
given US, for it was her Imagination
her dreams and visions, her religious
fervor blended with her courage
thrift and industry, which are largely
responsible for our poets and musl-