The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-24
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

I make no apology for being the ne- | gro's friend. There never was a time in the history of the south when the call
 was so great upon thinking white men to try and improve the situation between
 the two races.
 I have always tried to understand the
 negroes, and I am proud to count not
 only many of the leaders of the race my
 friends, but scores of the more humble
 who need guidance and sympathy.
 
 am rather proud of the fact that I
 have received some abusive anonymous
 letters since I have been on The Age
 Herald because denounced the effort
 that was made by some minimizing ones
 to create the idea that German agents
 were going to incite the negroes to deeds
 of crime and violence against the whites I was a bit humbled and hacked when
 I was introduced to a great gathering
 of colored people by Oscar w Adams,
 the editor of the Birmingham Reporter,
 as the best friend the negro had in Bir-
 mngham, in Jefferson county, in Ala
 bama, and in America. This meeting
 with great applause he was emboldened
 to add, Yes, my brethren, he is our great negro Noses" and just then every
 light in the church went out, and there stood reminded of the famous query, 1 Where was Moses when the light went out?" and felt that if he was as embar- rassed as I was he was glad that he was | in the dark, wherever he happened to be. | I feel grateful that a number of my white friends have called on me to come and speak to them and to the negroes in i their community with view of seeing | if something could be done to get them to stay in Alabama instead of Hooking to the east and to the west.
 Speaking to the colored people or about them is no new thing for me, and, there fore it was a pleasure TOT me to accept the invitation of Dr. w. H. Nixon, pre- siding elder of the Selma district, to speak at the Sunday school convention and al- lied religious interests at Tidewater park on Sunday afternoon.
 In spite of the rain quite crowd had l assembled. Dr. Nixon had got hold of a good idea. He reasoned that if he could | get the negro cooks to save that it would l go a long way toward solving the food 1 problem in the south, and so he had re- | quested as many of them as possible to | come out and> hear the question dis | cussed. He opened 1t by some pointed and | practical remarks. He first spoke of 1 cleanliness, and the next thing was po- liteness, and, with true negro wit said | even if it's your own husband you are cooking for, you ought to be polite to him, and then with an inimitable drolery | he added, Yes, my colored brethren l you might practice little of it towards your cook, even though she be the wife of your bosom.''
 A large number of coored preachers were present and it was the consensus | of opinion that the cooks ought to or ganize in order that they might be bet ter instructed in ways of saving and see if they could not really help the white folks as well as themselves. Such so- ciety, I believe the first one in America, was inaugurated and if pushed through out the south, will be one of the best aids that Food Administrator Hoover will have in his campaign against waste.
 I had to preach twlce Sunday, and when o'clock came Sunday afternoon was dead tired, but I did not have it in my heart to refuse my colored friends to come and speak to them and do what could to get the organization of the cooks started. It's pathetic how grateful th'e colored people are for any assistance. They as a race are but overgrown child ren. They are easily moved emotionally and can be led if our people will only take the trouble. And how eager they are for sympathy and genuine guidance.
 If you don't watch out negroes will | preach you to death, for they certainly know how to encourage a fellow while ! ke is preaching. When the famous Charles Crttenden, the founder of the famous Crittenden Homes throughout America, came to Washington, Ga, I | took him to the big colored Baptist | church and he preached to them and | they gave him so many fervent amens that he nearly killed himself before he could quit. On the way home he said to me, Brother Barnett, have been going | all over this country, but I never in all | my life have preached to such an en- tkusiastic and warm-hearted audience" | It was his first sermon to colored peo- pie.
 sat there Sunday and looked into the | earnest faces of the men and women and | said to myself, God being my helper I | am going to do what I can to help my | colored brethen materially, morally and religiously'' They are the greatest flat terers in the world. At the close of my | speech pr. Nixon, wEo is great giant l and orator of note, arose and said: You | can beat us talking but we can beat you I singing, and to prove it I am going to call | on my people to sing their thanks to | you" And they did.
 I spent a couple of hours with them and went home tired but happy, feeling i that my little efforts had got praise way beyond their worth, and that the ne- | groes of this community were feeling l out to find better way in which to | walk and wanted their white friends to ! help them make good. Will you be one to ! help them?
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