concerning him, worrying over the "Negro Problem" (?)) to look at the
bright side presented by the Negro newspaper. A few days ago while
worried and disconsolate over the aspersions heaped upon a defenseless
people that floated upon the feotid air from the Alabama Conference,
_The New York Age_ came to me, a ray of light in a dungeon of gross
darkness.

Prior to the year 1892 there had been no genuine zeal among colored
people to establish a colored newspaper in Wilmington. _The Record_ was
launched at about that time: but not until taken in hand by the famous
A. L. Manly did it amount to very much as a news medium. Under the
management of this enterprising little man _The Record_ forged ahead,
and at the time of its suspension was the only Negro daily, perhaps, in
the country. It was a strong champion of the cause of Wilmington's
colored citizens. Improvements in the section of the city owned by black
people were asked for, and the request granted. Good roads were secured,
bicycle paths made, etc. The greatest deed achieved however, was the
exposure by _The Record_ of the very unsanitary condition of the colored
wards in the city hospital. _The Record_ made such a glowing picture of
the state of affairs, that the Board of County Commissioners were
compelled to investigate and take action, which resulted in the putting
of the old hospital in habitable shape. This, though a good work, did not
enhance the Editor's popularity with the whites who thought him too
_high strung, bold and saucy_. And the colored people who appreciated
his pluck felt a little shaky over his many tilts with editors of the
white papers. The brave little man did not last very long however--the
end came apace: Sitting in his office one evening in August reading a
New York paper, his eyes fell upon a clipping from a Georgia paper from
the pen of a famous Georgia white woman, whose loud cries for the lives
of Negro rapists had been so very widely read and commented upon during
the past year. This particular article referred to the exposure of and
the protection of white girls in the isolated districts of the South
from lustful brutes. "Narrow-souled fool!" exclaimed the editor,
throwing the paper upon the floor; "I wonder does she ever think of the
Negro girls in isolated districts of the South exposed to lustful
whites! Does she think of those poor creatures shorn of all protection
by the men of her race! I guess her soul is too small to be generous a