wheat brought two cents a pound and barley a cent and a half, he managed very well. When I took dinner with him in the spring of 1872, he told me that he always earned his own living, for, as he put it, “I ask my people for enough as it is. They give much for so poor a community. We are educating one young man for the ministry, and we have the old and helpless always with us."

I once heard a white-haired Methodist minister of Eggleston's circuit-rider type, at a great camp-meeting on Willow Creek, talk to a number of converts and a crowd of men, women, and children, from twenty miles around in the brush-covered mountains.

"Now, brethren, our Christianity means the love of our fellow-men. Every good Christian is a good worker. He earns his wages if he works for others. He pays good wages if he hires laborers. He gives gladly to every good cause. He is like yonder oak-tree, the shelter of the flock."

Then, with strong emphasis, the old minister cried out, "He does not judge others! He keeps peace among his neighbors! The Lord Jesus is in his house !"

Came the cry from the people: "Lord Jesus, dwell in our houses." Then from one elder who sat in front of the pulpit, "Walk with us, dear Lord Jesus!"

These good men of whom I have written, and others of their sort, passed away long ago, leaving in many cases little churches which still continue. Some of them left no visible results of their toil, but it was a great work nevertheless, in all that hill country from San Diego to Humboldt, and very different, too, in many respects, from that of the pioneer ministers in the mining camps of the Sierras.

But all the men in this difficult frontier work were not such simple, earnest, and effective missionaries as these. I have met some who were entirely out of sympathy with the rude communities in which they labored. Others I have known who merely accentuated in themselves the worst faults of those backwoods communities. I have heard more than one preach whose ignorance was only equaled by his unfitness for any public service.

Such a one I remember I found preaching in a shake cabin on the borders of

Trinity County many years ago. I had ridden by with a friend on our way from Junction City to Shasta; we heard the singing; we dismounted, tied our horses, went in and joined the congregation, since both of us were church-goers and had not been within reach of Sunday service for many weeks.

It was a little frontier assembly, men, women, young folks, children, babies, sitting on unplaned slab benches. The men wore cotton or flannel shirts, overalls, and big boots. The women wore calico, and for the most part had sunbonnets. Some of the girls and boys of eighteen, and nearly all the children, were barefoot.

Never were more respectful strangers than we two intended to be, but we heard an extremely passionate sermon, peculiar in spirit, matter, and delivery, and in the end we came to grief.

"And the Lord-ah will bring down the high and mighty-ah, them that boasts of their lernin'. And the Lord-ah will make his children possess the yerth. And the great cities that are dens of wickedness-ah shall be an habitation of dragons-ah.”

"Amen!" said one or two, rocking to and fro. "Amen, in the name of the Lord!"

"Too much lernin'," he continued, "is an abomination unto the Lord-ah. Readin', writin', 'rithmetic, is enough lernin' for children. Read the Good Book and believe all you reads. It makes no differ whether the yerth be round or flat. But go to the Good Book, my hearers. Does the book say phisol'gy, or geol'gy, or botonol'gy? Those names are not in my old Bible-ah !"

At this my friend, a teacher of unusual ability, yielded to a sense of humor and allowed a faintly "audible smile" to break forth. He instantly composed his countenance, but it was too late. The preacher, who, we afterwards learned, had lately left his blacksmith's forge in another county to deal with more stubborn metal, cast a violent look at us, raised a bare and brawny arm above his head, and cried out, "Let us offer up a prayer to the Lord for the salvation of the wicked."

"O Lord!" he said, "look down upon thy people-ah, and bring upon their knees them that scorns thy gospel-ahthem that comes here with city clothes

on, and with soft hands and hard heartsah-sittin' in our midst, O Lord-ah !"

We were close to the open door, and when the prayer was finished we rose and went out, while mingled glances of amusement, vague regret, and serious disapproval followed us. We mounted, and rode on a moment in silence. Suddenly we broke out into uncontrolled laughter until the pine forest rang.

Years after, in a little Shasta country village, I helped to lift a badly injured young man from the wreck of a runaway team and carry him home to his old father, the village blacksmith, in whom I recognized the preacher. I stayed there all night until a surgeon was brought, and I learned-not for the first nor last time how much better than their doctrines men can be.

Said the old man, "I remember you young fellers, especially him that snickered in meeting. When Sammy growed up, he did that once! Mother always telled me he couldn't help it—was built jest so. He used to go down to the towns and come back and say, Pa, I know yure a good man, but you talk funny when you preaches.' Then I thrashed him till Mother begged him off. Then Mother and I tuk Sammy-he was about fifteen years old-and went down to Red Bluff and heard a good deal of preachin', till it seemed to me that the Lord meant old Sam to go back and pound iron." His eyes twinkled. "Onct Sammy said, 'Pa, you always hit them too hard. 'Member those young fellers in Trinity that you prayed at?' But old Sam makes a pretty good blacksmith, anyhow."

By A. R.

N the latter part of April of the present year there assembled in a leading

about one hundred prominent negroes, brought together at the suggestion of Dr. A. E. P. Albert, a negro minister-physician, to consider the condition of the race in New Orleans. The special object mentioned in the call was the consideration of the high death-rate recorded against negroes, and the formation of plans for better sanitation. In the discussions which took place, however, sanitation was shown to be but one of several questions demanding attention, and it was, accordingly, thought best to enlarge the scope of the movement to include certain educational problems besides. With this idea in view, a committee was appointed charged with the duty of arranging a series of public meetings, these arrangements to be reported back to the conference, which reserved the right to supervise the campaign.

In accordance with this prearranged plan, the committee met to formulate a programme. First, it was decided to discuss immediately those questions most vitally affecting the race; second, that these discussions should take place before mass-meetings of negroes called especially

Holcombe

for the purpose; third, that those leading the discussions should be negroes, assisted

lend their support. Thus, the movement was to be one wholly within the negro race; an agitation intended primarily to show the negro his condition and to urge an improvement in that condition. Incidentally it was hoped by this activity to create friends among the whites and induce them to make longed-for concessions in the public-school curriculum. A cardinal principle, therefore, was to avoid everything calculated to alienate the sympathy of the whites, and, on the other hand, to do everything possible that might tend to win or strengthen that sympathy. The subject of the first discussion was made the high death-rate. School facilities, school attendance, duties of parents, teachers, and citizens, and like subjects, were fixed for subsequent consideration. A prominent negro physician, highly esteemed by both races, was requested to act as leader on the first night, and arrangements were made to advertise the meetings in the city papers, to print and distribute posters and programmes, and to spread the news by correspondence and word of mouth.

A thousand negroes responded to the

first call. Among these were the most prominent and highly respected members of the race, ministers, teachers, physicians, skilled mechanics, government employees, caterers, and representatives from other Occupations-making up, en masse, probably five-eighths of the brains and cleanliness of New Orleans's negro population. With so favorable a start it was evident that the success of the movement would depend largely upon the first impressions made, and upon the capacity of the workers for sustained effort in the face of difficulties sure to come.

Some startling facts were presented on the night of the first meeting. Mortality among negroes in New Orleans was shown to be increasing instead of diminishing, and this despite the fact that means of prolonging life were more abundant, more successfully applied by the whites, and more available to the negroes than ever before. The reports of the City Board of Health gave 34.40 as the death-rate per one thousand per annum for negroes in 1880, as against 22.96 for the whites. In 1901, after a lapse of more than twenty years, the rate among negroes was 34.44, while that of the whites was only 20.56. The average for the twenty years following 1880 was shown to be 36.49 for negroes and 23.71 for whites. During the same period the negro rate varied from 30.77 in the minimum to 49.32 in the maximum. The variation for whites was confined between 20.56 and 27.70. In the sickliest year of the twenty, when both rates reached their maximum, the white rate varied from the average by only 4, while the negro rate varied 12.83.

The reasons for these remarkable facts were sought by the two speakers, the Chairman of the Board of Health, a white man, and the negro physician appointed to lead the discussion. The former assigned immorality and careless ways of living as the chief causes. The latter, who, on account of his race and occupation, was in a position to know, and probably did know, more about his subject, went more into details. The landlord was declared responsible for many unsanitary conditions. In New Orleans, water for drinking purposes is caught from the roofs and held in above-ground cisterns. This leaves the way open for insufficient cistern capacity, or rotten or otherwise

New Orleans has no

unsanitary cisterns. sewerage, and this gives another set of possible evils. Certain ordinances intended to regulate these matters were declared to be systematically violated by landlords having negro tenants, the very fact that their tenants are negroes being sufficient to protect such landlords from complaint, or from prosecution in the event of complaint being made. But landlords were not the only ones blamed. The negroes themselves were censured for their manner of living; for inattention to self and home; for sleeping six or eight in a small, badly ventilated room; for giving no thought to the quality or character of their food, buying beer or cake or candy when milk or bread or meat was needed; for irregular habits, carousing half the night after a day's hard work, eating sometimes at intervals of an hour, sometimes at intervals of ten. Such causes, it was said, not only produce disease, but tend to spread it when it is originated. And, once sick, the negro has small chance of recovering unless he be sent to the Charity Hospital. Besides unfavorable home surroundings, the medical treatment given him is either inefficient or careless, the majority of physicians attending such cases being employees of benevolent associations, poorly paid and with ability and willingness in proportion. A hurried examination, an equally careless prescription, little subsequent attention, outlines the programme usually followed, and the recovery of the patient, under, the circumstances, must be considered an accident of nature rather than a triumph of science.

Such being some of the causes of mortality, the question next considered was how these causes could be removed. A campaign for better sanitation was clearly demanded, but the troublesome question was yet to be answered, How can the people be reached? Those whom it was most desired to interest were the very ones who did not attend, and could not be made to attend, meetings like the ones being held. For the benefit of those who did come, however, it was decided to make public lectures on sanitary subjects a permanent feature of church work, the pulpit on certain week nights being given up to teachers, physicians, and others, white or black, for talks along helpful

lines. The great mass of negroes who could not be reached thus would be appealed to purely on educational grounds, the fact being well known that an educated negro is a clean negro. Those who could not be influenced in this way were to be turned over to ministers, teachers, and physicians, who were urged, while visiting, to take advantage of every opportunity to press the cause of sanitation and education. To further emphasize the movement, and to give it initial momentum, it was decided to hold a mass-meeting at which educational problems only should be discussed.

Back of this announcement there was undoubtedly more than a desire for better sanitation. This was the excuse; the reason was a longing for more and better education. By this means another occasion could be taken advantage of to show the people of New Orleans how tenaciously the negro held out for the restoration of that part of the public-school curriculum dropped in 1900. This action attracted much attention at the time, and subjected the School Board to numerous criticisms. By it the grammar-school grades, with the exception of the fifth grade, were altogether dropped. This left the fifth grade the limit of public-school education in the city, the only free high school being the Southern University "an industrial institution supported by the State. The Board's reasons for its action were numerous, but were grouped generally in the statement that it could see no beneficial results after all the years during which the grammar grades had been taught. By dropping them it was hoped to increase the accommodations in primary grades, where better results had been attained. It was also the intention, and still is the intention, to introduce manual training and industrial work in every negro public school in the city. The cutting down of the curriculum was solidly opposed by the negroes. The Board, however, stood firm, and for the past two years only primary grades, with the addition of the fifth grade, have been taught. Even in the face of this the negroes hope for a restoration of the old curriculum.

In taking their bearings on the publicschool situation the negroes found a peculiar state of affairs. It was shown that New Orleans has 287,104 inhab

are negroes.

itants, 77,714 of whom Among these are 94,586 children of school age, 25,282 of whom are negroes. There are 71 public schools, 60 for whites and 11 for negroes. In these are 31,165 pupils, 5,032 of whom are negroes; 784 teachers are employed, 107 of whom teach negroes, and 74 of whom are negroes. Last year $407,096.94 was spent on the white schools and $55,823.20 on the negro schools. A remarkable fact was noted while 27,133 white pupils attended the public schools, there was still a demand for ampler accommodations; 5,032 negroes were in school and there was room for 2,000 more. An attempt was made at one of the meetings to explain this fact, and the speaker appointed to discuss it began with the statement that he could not do so. Privately, however, it was stated as the general belief among negroes that the action of the Board in cutting down the curriculum was responsible. In 1899, before the cut was made, there were 6,081 pupils in attendance. Only ten per cent., about 600, of these were in the grammar grades, which makes the falling off in the primary grades for the past two years about 400. When the cut was made, so a prominent negro stated privately, the negroes got the impression (which was, in fact, without ground) that the move was only the beginning of a final exclusion from publicschool facilities, and that the sooner they began to look out for themselves the better it would be for them. Another prominent influence, no doubt, is the growing tendency among negroes to support one another in business affairs, and the fact that about one-third of the teachers in the negro public schools are white. At all events, the attendance of negro public schools has diminished, and that of the private negro schools has increased.

In this connection, a remark made by the President of the School Board in an address before one of the meetings is interesting. "During all the time I have been connected with the School Board," said he, referring to a period of about ten years, "I have never heard, and have never heard of, a complaint made by a negro patron." He stated, further, that the policy of the Board had always been to fill negro schools with negro teachers, but that this could not be done, simply