BY WILLIAM C. BROWN.
A STUDENT OF
IIJJ"COIJ\f VJ/IVEHSITT,
Robert W. Woodruff
Library
William H. Crawford Collectior
EMORY UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Archives
A Plea fir a Tlioili Train.
BY WILLIAM O. BROWN.
A STUDENT OF
LINCOLN VJ/IVEIiSITT, £jg.
Men follow leaders. And as are the leaders so are the followers.
They cherish their ideas, imitate their doings, defend and spread
their principles. Nor does the nature of the cause weaken their zeal.
A Cataline or a Washington is followed with equal devotion. And
as is the condition, so is the quality needed in the leader. The worse
the disease the more skillful must the physician be. When the dis¬
pute growing out of the late presidential election threatened the
peace of the country, those best qualified to investigate and settle the
questions at issue, were chosen. The work was assigned to the calm,
clear-headed, judicious. Thus, confidence was restored, matters
quietly adjusted, and the horrors of a civil war averted. The posi¬
tion of a leader requires his intellectual powers to be in keeping with
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his responsibilities. His knowledge must be exact and general. His
power to discern the times, lead safely in the present, and guard
against dangers in the future, is of first importance. The power of
rapidly and justly estimating the ability and endurance of men, the
effect of arms and the ever varying contingencies of flood and field,
is the first requisite for a successful general. But merely to know
the state of affairs, the way to its remedy, and the disposition of those
to be lead is not sufficient for the leader. He must also feel as they
feel; their suffering must be his suffering; their hope his hope, and
their joy his joy.
The body, soul and spirit must be devoted to the work, absorbed in
the object and imbued with the love of men, which, itself an inspi¬
ration, has always led to high achievements. Such love, devotion
and zeal as Moses, Luther and Lincoln showed must animate and
strengthen for the work. Thus, however great the interest, the so¬
licitude and desire to relieve, he only can thoroughly appreciate the
want who is one of the sufferers. That divine person, who fills all
history as the sun the hemisphere, the leader of leaders, became man
and suffered in body and spirit, that he might feel and bear the op¬
pression of a sin-cursed world. Active, intelligent, God-fearing men
must lead the four millions whom vice, ignorance and superstition
bind as tightly now as did the chains of their oppression formerly.
Churches and schools may deck every town, village and hamlet in
the land, but without qualified and efficient men in them, they are of
little wortli. The staunchest bark,if without ballast, compass, chart,
pilot, sails forth to wreck and ruin.
The common idea that a little education is good and that all should
posses it, we do not deny. It is certainly better than none. But
since there' must be leaders, we claim that those prepared for that po¬
sition should have not only the name but the qualifications. Are
those teachers, who are at best a page or so in advance of their schol¬
ars? The knowledge of the true guide is definite and covers the
whole route. The true teacher must not only be familiar with the
taught, but master of the subject. He must have mental power that
assures certainty in discernment, clearness in explanation and ability
to mould and quicken. To lift to an intellectual and spiritual level,
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men must be higher than those they would raise. The position of
the pulley is higher than the object lifted. And as a vessel is moved
by a wind that travels faster than itself, so must a pupil be carried,
if carried at all, by a stronger wind than his own.
Though exploded in theory, practically, no idea is more indulged
than that which regards it as of little moment how or by whom ele¬
mentary instruction is given, And none more absurd and pernicious
than that recently expressed by a daily paper, that for the colored
people and for those among them who are to teach, nothing more is
needed than a common school education. But it is evident to every
clear-headed man that pupils cannot be very far advanced if those
who teach know only what is in the text book. If the teachers in the
colored school in that city had known no more than what wras in the
books they taught, the brilliant minds they have from time to time
developed and sent forth to bless their race would not have been able
to do the work they have done. And we students.here in Lincoln Uni¬
versity, know how much is due to having instructors of extensive
knowledge and wide experience; and what advantage a little more
than a common school education has been to us in aiding others.
Is any one careless about the foundation of his house? Does not the
strength of the superstructure depend on the foundationV And
ought not that which is to exist forever, to receive greater attention?
The work of the teacher or leader is life-long work, and nothing
short of the most complete education should satisfy him. The poor
scholar who aspires to teach and lead soon falls behind, and is lost
in the multitude. Not unfrequently his failure is due to a false econ¬
omy. Either, over anxious to get into the world, or to save the ex¬
pense of a few years, his course is curtailed, his knowledge limited
and his power for usefulness crippled. Entering life he finds his abil¬
ity far below his aim. His usefulness "is a tale told by an idiot, full
of sound ahd fury, signifying nothing."
To require such men to lift up a people, is to require more than
did the Egyptian taskmaster. It is to demand brick not only with¬
out staw, but without clay. Lord Bacon has somewhere said "that
the opinions, feelings and thought of the young men of any present
generation, forecast the whole popular mind in the future age.'''' If this
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be so, and we intrust the virtue, integrity and intellectual growth of
our youth to unqualified men, we might as well commit man's dear,
est interest to a Cyclops with one eye and that in the back of his
head. Thoroughness of education inspires confidence, widens influ¬
ence and increases power. Tempered by the wholesome influence of
Christianity, it moderates and restrains the passions and leads to a
solid and lasting prosperity.
But some object to a higher training for the negro on the ground
that it has a tendency to puff up, and to alienate his affections from
his people. It is true there are some professing to be wise, who shut
themselves up in little knots and groups, disdain all outside of their
sacred circle, flatter themselves with the idea that to their keeping is
committed all wisdom, and fancy that they feel "Divinity within
them, breeding wings wherewith to scorn the earth." But is this the
result of of higher training? No more so than the exclusion of for¬
eigners by the Chinese was the consequence of superior intellectual
discipline. We may safely ascribe it to selfishness, to narrow minds
and hearts. The fault is not in a liberal education, but rather in the
want of it. It is the want of thorough training that fills men with
self importance. Men whose investigations into the wonders of na¬
ture have been the most extensive and profound, confess the deepest
conviction of their own ignorance. Sir Isaac Newton, a little before
his death declared, "I do not know what I may appear to the world,
but to myself I seem to be only like a boy playing on the sea shore
and diverting myself in now and then finding a pebble, or a prettier
shell than ordinary, while the whole ocean of truth lay all undiscover¬
ed before me." And who is not acquainted with the truth contained
in the lines familiar to every school boy:
"A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again."
The greatness flowing from a true elevation of mind, as has been
said, "is not a secret and solitary principle working by itself and
refusing participation, but frank and open hearted, so large in
its views, so lit eral in its feelings, so expansive in its purpose,
so beneficent in its labors as naturally and necessarily to attract
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sympathy and co-operation." Liberal education expands the pow¬
ers and faculties of the mind, gives broader views, a more com-
prehensive judgment, and prepares the man to handle wisely the pro¬
found questions which constantly arise to disturb the interests of so¬
ciety. It quickens the soul into new energy, directs its action and
enables it to pursue its end systematically and effectively. For want
of men of broad views and. fixed principles there is perpetual wrang¬
ling over trifles and society suffers. Men trust those in whom they
see the proper qualifications to lead.
To think that the ignorant cannot discern the qualities is a mistake.
They may sometimes and for a time be deceived by men sailing un
der false colors. But ignorance can never long pass for intelligence.
A person need not himself perform on the piano to distinguish be¬
tween a good and a bad player.
Self control, sagacity and promptness are discerned alike by the
educated and untaught, and responded to with the same delight and
confidence. But a man must first have confidence in himself to in¬
spire it in others. He, whose way is confined to a plank, with a fear¬
ful precipice on either side, cannot walk as boldly as he who treads
the broad highway. Nor can the man whose ability is curtailed by a
limited education contend with as much courage and success for his
own rights and the rights of others. He must have power to compre¬
hend the situation, to weigh and determine, correctly, the state of
affairs and to act quickly and fearlessly when dangers arise.
But it is said by some that a high intellectual training is not ne¬
cessary for the leaders of tho freedman\ that his condition is such as
will admit of nothing but the simplest forms of instruction and that a
thoroughly educated leader is more hurtful than useful. Did ever
any white man, after having the advantages of educated parents, the
training of the academy and the discipline of college and seminary,
find himself too well trained for his work? Though his work was
among those who were intelligent and quick to perceive, was he so
well trained as to find no difficulty in making things plain to them?
If not, can the negro with little or no education, with imperfect and
confused ideas, make clear to others what they do not understand?
Can he with half the truth explain the whole truth, unless as a teach¬
er he is quicker than the white man? While it is true there are use-
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less men among those who have had the highest advantages, and while
we find noble exceptions and influential men among those who have
not had a liberal education, yet, this does not disprove the value and
necessity of such an education. The civilization of this country, the
rapid increase of material wealth, the extension of commerce, the
unprecedented growth of national power, are all testimonies to the
worth and importance of a liberal training. If this has been the key
to success, the avenue to greatness, and the harbinger of a bright fu¬
ture to all the other races blended in this mighty nation, must we not
recognize the same qualifications as essential for black men? Or are
they excepted on the ground that they possess innate ideas of theolo¬
gy, science, medicine, law and art, and by a process of evolution, will
gradually develope and transform themselves into McCoshes, Sew-
ards and Evarts, as Mr. Darwin's monkey into man? No true phil¬
anthropist has said so, and we are slow to believe it. If it be the idea
of any, we plead for a development by the ordinary way until some
of the developments by evolution are practically demonstrated.
The freedman needs everything that other men need and needs it
now. He needs ministers and physicians of the highest intellectual
culture; he needs men skilled in law and men fitted to conduct every
department of industry on a broad and solid base. With such, the
exodus might have been unknown. With such, and with such only,
will he rise to his proper position as a man, honor his race and blot
out the reproach of his former condition. And if the friends who
are deeply interested in the welfare of the refugees would provide in
addition to homesteads and employment, schools and churches equip¬
ped with qualified men, the darkness of ignorance and vice would
soon disappear before the bright rising of a spiritual and intellectual
day. Misery and want would vanish before comfort and plenty; sor¬
row and sighing would be converted into joy and gladness; the wil¬
derness and solitary place would be glad for them; the desert blossom
as the rose. Let us, fellow students, by our zeal and earnest en¬
deavors, encourage those who are expending their time, their money,
their power, their influence in the elevation of our people. May God
reward their labors and so prosper the planting of their hands, that
after generations shall reap rich harvests; that a race hitherto fitted
only for hewers of wood and drawers of water,may be transformed in¬
to a noble and generous people, known and esteemed for their indus¬
trious habits, virtuous qualities and Christian piety.