THE NEGRO'S NEEDS.
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that people ? What can I say to the congregation of
Henry Ward Beecher, either for their edification or
their instruction ? Is there a topic on which I can
*;peak, is there a subject which I can discuss, which
has not already been discussed in their presence with
an ability infinitely superior, and an eloquence wide-
world renowned ? It was in the midst of such mus¬
ings and queryings that it occurred to my mind that
there was just one subject which I might take with
propriety, and, perhaps, with success, before that en¬
lightened, sympathetic and Christian audience, namely,
the needsand claims of my people—their pressing needs,
their rightful claims. With such a subject, I thought,
I might be a little more conversant than a stranger
well could be. On such a subject I might be able,
perhaps, to say a few more things, and to say them
with a little more feeling and accuracy, at least, than
one not fully identified with the race possibly could.
The place, too, where I am standing is not unsuited
to the discussion of the needs of humanity. For
surely this is the church of Henry Ward Beecher,
und these are the walls which, for fully a third of a
century, echoed and re-echoed to the most spirited
.and eloquent and thrilling appeals in behalf of hu-
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