over his weak and childlike condition. The
temptation was to forget all in drink, and to this temptation there
was a gradual yielding. With the loss of physical vigour came the loss
of mental grasp and pride in surroundings. There was the falling off
of a piece of plaster from the walls of the house which was not
replaced, then another and still another. Gradually, the window-panes
began to disappear, then the door-knobs. Touches of paint and
whitewash, which once helped to give life, were no more to be seen.
The hinges disappeared from the gate, then a board from the fence,
then others in quick succession. Weeds and unmown grass covered the
once well-kept lawn. Sometimes there were servants for domestic
duties, and sometimes there were none. In the absence of servants the
unsatisfactory condition of the food told that it was being prepared
by hands unschooled to such duties. As the years passed by, debts
accumulated in every direction. The education of the children was
neglected. Lower and lower sank the industrial, financial, and
spiritual condition of the household. For the first time the awful
truth of Scripture, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap," seemed to dawn upon him with a reality that it is hard for
mortal to appreciate. Within a few months the whole mistake of slavery
seemed to have concentrated itself upon this household. And this was
one of many.

We have seen how the ending of slavery and the beginning of freedom
produced not only a shock, but a stand-still, and in many cases a
collapse, that lasted several years in the life of many white men. If
the sudden change thus affected the white man, should this not teach
us that we should have more sympathy than has been shown in many cases
with the Negro in connection with his new and changed life? That they
made many mistakes, plunged into excesses, undertook responsibilities
for which they were not fitted, in many cases took liberty to mean
license, is not to be wondered at. It is my opinion that the next
forty years are going to show by many per cent. a higher degree of
progress in the life of the Negro along all lines than has been shown
during the first thirty years of his life. Certainly, the first thirty
years of the Negro's life was one of experiment; and consequently,
under such conditions, he was not able to settle down to real,
earnest, hard common sense efforts to better his condition. While this
was true in a great many cases, on t