rive. One
of many such letters received is presented.

April 24, 1917.

Mr. R.S. Abbott,

Editor, the _Chicago Defender_,

Sir:

I have been reading the _Defender_ for one year or more, and
last February I read about the great northern drive to take
place May 15, on Thursday, and now I can hear so many people
speaking of an excursion to the North on the 15th of May for
$3. My husband is in the North already working, and he wants
us to come up in May, so I want to know if it is true about
the excursion. I am getting ready and, oh, so many others
also, and we want to know is that true so we can be in the
drive. So please answer at once. We are getting ready.

Yours,

This was perhaps the most popular date, but there were others, of
which August 15 was one. Usually the dates set were for Wednesday and
Saturday nights, following pay days.

Personal appeals in the form of letters have a recognized weight in
influencing action. The United States mail was about the most active
and efficient labor agent. The manner in which the first negroes left
made great opportunities for letter writing. It is to be remembered
that the departure of one person was regarded always in the light of
an experiment. The understanding existed between a man and his friends
that he would honestly inform them of conditions in the North.
Letters were passed around and read before large groups. A woman from
Hattiesburg is accredited with having sent back a letter which enticed
away over 200 persons. A tailor who had settled in a town of white
people in the West wrote a letter which was read in a church. It
explained the advantages of the free schools open to all, and the
privilege to ride and to go where one pleases. The reading of the
letter brought forth long and loud applause. A man who had left home,
writes back to his friend yet undecided:

Mike, old boy, I was promoted on the first of the month. I was
made first assistant to the head carpenter. When he is out of
place I take everything in charge and was raised to $95 per
month. You know I know my stuff. What's the news generally
around H'burg? I should have been here twenty years ago. I
just begin to feel like a man. It's a great deal of pleasure
in knowing that you have got some privileges. My children are
going to the same school with the whites and I don't have
to humble to no one. I have re