church held a special service
of thanks one Sunday morning, on which occasion a life-sized portrait of
their benefactor looked down from the platform on the immense
congregation below, while a young white lady, a member of the church,
read an interesting eulogy of the deceased and the pastor, Rev. A. J.
Covell, preached an eloquent sermon on the text found in Romans
13:8--"Owe no man anything but to love one another." Let us cherish the
hope that the spirit and the significance of that occasion sank deep in
the hearts of those present.

There are those who have tried to deny to our race the share that is
ours in the glory of Matzeliger's achievements. These declare that he
had no Negro blood in his veins; but the proof against this assertion is
irrefutable. Through correspondence with the mayor of Lynn, a certified
copy of the death certificate issued on the occasion of Matzeliger's
death has been obtained, and this document designates him a "mulatto."

Others have tried the same thing with reference to Granville T. Woods, a
too kind biographer, writing of him in the _Cosmopolitan_ in April,
1895, stating that he had no Negro blood in him. But those who knew Mr.
Woods personally will readily acquit him of the charge of any such
ethnological errancy.

Another effort to detract from Matzeliger's fame comes up in the
criticism that his machine was not perfect, requiring subsequent
improvements to complete it and make it commercially valuable.
Matzeliger was as truly a pioneer, blazing the way for a great
industrial triumph, as was Whitney, or Howe, or Watt, or Fulton, or any
other one of the scores of pioneers in the field of mechanical genius.
The cotton gin of to-day is, of course, not the cotton gin first given
to the world by Whitney, but the essential principles of its
construction are found clearly outlined in Whitney's machine. The
complex and intricate sewing machine of to-day, with its various
attachments to meet the needs of the modern seamstress, is not the crude
machine that came from the brain of Elias Howe; the giant locomotives
that now speedily cover the transcontinental distance between New York
and San Francisco bear but slight resemblance to the engine that
Stephenson first gave us. In fact, the first productions of all these
pioneers, while they disclosed the principles and laid the foundations
upon which to build, resemble the later developments only "as mists
resemble rain;" but these pioneers mak