PREFACE.
A number of my friends and students have, at dif¬
ferent times, advised me to publish some of my pub¬
lic and school-room addresses, urging that a perusal
of them would prove beneficial to those who would
read them. Though I was not disposed for some
time to listen to this friendly and appreciative coun¬
sel, I at length decided to do so for the following
reasons:
First, I am well aware that the greatness of a race
or nation must be known to posterity mainly through
literature. Though the remains of mammoth pyra¬
mids, obelisks, and temples remind us of the ad¬
vanced civilization of the "blameless Ethiopians,"
many scholars do not admit their progress in arts and
science because no great writings have been trans¬
mitted to us from them. On the other hand, the ge¬
nius and learning of Plato, Thucydides, Homer, De¬
mosthenes, Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, and Livy, as evi¬
denced in their writings, afford a stronger proof of
the high civilization of cultured Greece and imperial
Rome than the vast ruins of the Parthenon and the his¬
toric Coliseum. Colored-Americans can point to no
less than fifty different authors, only a few of whom
are known to the public. I sincerely wish that this
volume will prove a useful addition to our praise¬
worthy literature.
Secondly, our children should be encouraged to
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