The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1920-03-06
Twelve Million of Black People Are
Building an Indlstructible MOnu-
ment Through the Churches,
Through the Homes and Through
the Schools to Higher Citizenship.
BY N. w. Harllee.

yelled in the city of Washington.
The monument will be a most be-
fitting tribute. the most pretentious
structure ever erected to the men,
DRY of man in all the ages. If you
ever visit the city of Washington,
when you look upon this monument,
you will be inspired as you have
never been in all your life before.
The spirit of all that is sublime, will
WELD up in your soul, and your very
being will seem to be afire within
feed IA new sensation revived with
you, while your body without will
the spirit that seems to come from
the departed Lincoln. Future hope
and deep anticipations will find new
responsives in your mind as you
look upon this stature of Father
! Abraham Lincoln, the Father of four
million black sons and daughters.
The cabin in which he was born
was built. of logs cut from the for
est of Kentucky, the floor of which
was the common ground, the seats
in this cabin were rude benches;
the windows were holes cut in the
sides of this house of loPe the COW
erings were slabs riven with a fro,
the doors screeked on the wooden
hinges, the chimney was a mass Of
sticks and mud; the filling between
the logs were chinks of mud and
clay, the hearth was plat of fat
stones, this hut-mansion was one
ungainly sight and of little comfort.
To make the scene complete, when
you see the manificent house-struct-
IRE, the house-monment as Wash
ineton, you must associate the cabin
with this stupendous and greatest
world structure, the transition of the
cabin into the monument and the
monument will mark the largest
transmission of human freedom in
progress.
The traditional period of the cabin
into the monument at cost of two
and one half million Of dollars. The
cabin in itself was of little value;
the dirt floor now changes into a
floor made of Georgia marble, the
screeking HINGES of wood change in
to the bronze hinges, the boards
riven with fro for COVERING are
replaced with polished marble. in
the monument of honor, the logs
hewn in the forest are replaced for
granite hewn out of the mountains
and these are combined to mark the
achievements. and this gorgeous
building is splaced at the capital Of
the greatest Republic of civilization
as token that the government fol
the people, by the people. and of the
people shall not perish from the
earth.
Who knows what small beginnine
may accomplish, or the hand hard
ened by labor, that the boy seasoned
, with want may not at some future
, day reach the go4fsif he is but am
bilious? Desting seems to favol
, those who are down an dwill per
severe with sweat and toll. will
earnestness of purpose and sing anC
whistle till the gate of success shall
fly wide.
1t is but fitting that the million,
who came into freedom through thu
, Emancipation Act should make mon
uments to the martyred president
This host is already engaged il
building monuments. These monu
ments are not of brass, nor granite
not of iron, for the elements will
them to powder and ruin like Nero!
house of gold. But they are build
ing through the churches, through
through the schools, through the &C
tivity of thrift and industry ant
through those incentives that mari
the beginning of higher civiliza
ton. These are the elements thai
must count in the final analysis thai
lead from the valley or endeavor tt
the mountain OF fulfilment.
Every school, every home, every
church, every invention. and every
honest black man is monument il
the greater monument of honor tina
is to be erected to the memory o.
; him who issued the Emancipation
Proclamation. Every book, ever!
newspaper, every law abiding blacl
man, every upright citizen is liv
ing monument that counts for muci
in the monumental construction, ant
these count for much more thai
those that are made of perishablt
material.
We are PLEADING for a higher cit
izenship, citizenship that will be ;
pride to any people, and this monu
ment talk is only to encourage thos'
who read these paragraphs. 1t II
not enough to have the education
of books. and this is desirable pc
session and every one should striv'
to acquire it, but there is a nor,
} significant education and training
outside of books, that broader edu
cation savors Of honesty, industr!
and thrift.
What does opportunity mean. ant
! Phow shall we use It? The black bo!
Is too far behind, too much time il
pleasure seeking and sight seeini
we older men do not set the eX
ample,S and example counts for NOR,
What shall we expect of our boys |
than mere idle talk. How long shall
we be a race of takers and idl,
, gossip when neither of these viii
bring commerce nor build compe
tency? Cogan says, "that principl,
| which take the deepest roots ar,
those planted during the seasons o
infancy, childhood, and youth" Bull
wer says, Serve mankind, and YOU
serve yourself, in securing the bes
means to secure your own happiness
you will have the sublime induce
ment of promoting the happiness o
: mankind"
The greatest monument that Abra
. ham Lincoln erected to the memor.
of mankind is that he freed boil
slaves. He declares that we cal
: not exist half free and half slaves
} and today the friends of education
, are declaoring that we can no
exist half intelligent and half igno
rant.
The great monument tnat the Ma
ton can erect is to provide adeauat
means for 4he education for all tn
: youth of the land. Bv education
: we mean that complete trainin
/, t..4l