GENEALOGY EXPRESS

 

Welcome to
Black
History & Genealogy

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MRS. CORA L. BURGAN (nee MOORE.)
Pianist and Teacher.

     MRS. BURGAN is a graduate from one of the leading conservatories of music of America.  She was education in the public schools of Detroit, Mich., and at quite an early age showed the qualifications for which her father, grandfather, and, in fact, her whole family for three or more generations back, have
been famous-that of music.
     Her father for many years was a leader of the best orchestra of her native city.

MRS. CORA L. BURGAN.

     For a number of years she taught music in the Texas Blind Asylum for colored youth; in fact, she was the first lady that was honored with a position in the Institute.  Later she was appointed to a prominent position as teacher in the Paul Quinn College, by the affable Dr. I. M. Burgan, who in 1889 made her the mate for his useful career.
     Mrs. Burgan is pleasing, courteous - in fact destined to be a grand and useful woman to her race.

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MRS. JULIA RINGWOOD COSTON.
As a Journalist.

     IN journalism, as in every other calling, women are occupying a very conspicuous place.  We received on our exchange table last week Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion, edited by Mrs. Julia Ringwood Coston, of Cleveland, Ohio.  It is a beautiful twelve-page journal, and the only

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publication of its kind on the market.  Every colored woman in America should read it.  - Lynchburg Counsellor.
     Mrs. Coston says:
     "The vibrations of our silent suffering are not ineffective.

MRS. JULIA RINGWOOD COSTON.

They touch and communicate.  They awaken interest and kindle sympathies which arouse public consciousness and bid it to pity and revolt against the injustice of the oppression.  They touch the keyboard of our human mind and convey

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through the nerve keys the sympathies of the intelligent, humane and Christian public a knowledge of our grievances in all parts of this broad land, which will at some time, we believe, not distant, secure to our children the protection of the Church and State.  The cruelty of the treatment of African women in the South touched this keyboard in eighteen hundred and fifty-six. Our mothers had suffered long in hopeless endurance.  But at last the keys moved and a Lincolnic voice spoke and they received the protection of the State.  Through this board Lincoln spoke to the Church and State.  By the editorials upon our barbarous treatment in the South and injustice of our treatment in the North we acknowledge an earnest desire for a humane South and Christian North.  It will increase in potency, and secure for Afro-American women and children all the blessings of this great country."
     As to women writers, and what she thinks, let the following speak for itself

THE WOMEN WHO ARE LOVED ARE THOSE WHO ARE WOMEN.

     They have a place in all our hearts; the men adore them, and the women love them, yet they are essentially feminine.  They know naught of woman's rights and universal suffrage; they are not troubled with the affairs of State, nor are they agents of reform.  They are women, adorable women, into whose minds has crept no vicious longing for publicity, no hunger to unsurp the sphere of men.
     "Would it not be well to make such women models for our girls?  Would it not be well to consider a little what are the deepest, truest, highest rights of womankind?  "Would it not be well to look ahead a bit and ponder, what sort of a world will it be when femininity shall be extinct?
     "Women have so many rights that are truly theirs, so many opportunities for influence upon the great world, that they may stop and consider, not how to obtain more, but how to make the best use of what already is theirs.
     There pertains to true womanhood a sanctity and a purity without which the world must suffer. Politicians, lawyers and

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financiers can all be recruited from the ranks of men, but where are we to find the softening, refining influences of life if our women cease to be such?
     No one who comes in contact with homes that are happy and attractive can doubt the influence of her who is their inspiration.  A truly feminine woman, one who is thoroughly in sympathy with great and noble thoughts, has a power so penetrating that our girls have need of careful training if they are to learn to wield it well.
     Every true man has stored away in his heart an ideal woman such as would require all the strength and power of the real individual to realize.  Surely the sphere can not be low or limited that possesses such possibilities, and surely the highest, most inalienable right must be that of realizing them.
     Not for one moment is it meant to speak a light or disparaging word of that noble array of women who, finding themselves thrown on their own resources, have bravely taken up the burden and borne it through the thick of the fight.  To these be all honor accorded.
     It is not the silent army of workers who do harm, but the ostentatious seekers after notoriety.  There is no good reason why a woman should cease to be feminine because she is compelled to work, but it too often happens that the girls who are forced to earn their own living become embued with a spirit of bravado.
     Gallantry belongs to all strong, vigorous men; their natural impulse is to protect and help the struggling woman?  But what is to be done with an unsexed creature, a thing neither man nor woman?  In every situation in life, at home surrounded by luxury, or in the world struggling for preference, a woman's womanhood is her surest, strongest shield.
     Recently there has appeared in the world of letters a certain class of women writers who have thrown off the veil of modesty, and who, in the name of reform, pose as martyrs, sacrificing themselves to a great work.  To all such would-be missionaries it may be admissible to hint that the loss of one chaste womanly woman does more harm than any number of

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novels can ever do good.  Also, it might be suggested that, inasmuch as books are read, not by a limited class only, but by a large public, there is danger that more minds become polluted than purified by their influence.
     Only an utter lack of femininity could make it possible for a woman to stand before the world and proclaim its vice.  The harm her example may do to the young and ignorant aspirants for literary honors is only paralleled by the cause she has given mankind to hold her womanhood in light esteem.
     As to the worthiness of Ringwood's Journal, of which Mrs. Coston is the editress, we insert a few of the many comments from persons and presses :
 

MRS. COSTON.
     Dear Madam:  I am much pleased with "Ringwood," and wish it a hearty success.  Such a journal should be sustained by our people throughout the Union.
     We have among us here and there women and men of considerable literary ability and sterling moral worth, of whom we may be proud, who have hitherto led lives of such seclusion that they are not known beyond the locality in which they reside by name, yet whose influence has been wielded for good, and who _ould not be encouraged to remain in obscurity.
     I can imagine what a great undertaking yours is; but God is always on the side of the right, and "perseverance commands success."
     Enclosed please find my yearly subscription.  Hoping that I shall soon be in condition to send a short paper for the Journal, and bidding you God-speed in your noble work, I am, and hope to remain, yours for improvement,

     Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion, edited by Mrs. Julia Ringwood Coston, Cleveland, O., the only illustrated journal of colored ladies in the world. Besides the latest Parisian fashions of ladies' gowns, etc., it contains biographical sketches of prominent ladies of the race and of promising young misses, edited by the Mrs. M. C. Church Terrel, Washington, D. C., with the following departments: "Plain Talk to our Girls," edited by Mrs. Prof. J. P. Shorter, Wilberforce University; "Art Department," edited by Miss Adina White, Cincinnati, O.; "Mother's Corner," edited by Mrs. E. C. Nesbit, Cincinnati, O.; "Literary Department," by Mrs. M. E. Lambert, Detroit, Mich.; "Home Department," by Miss S. Mitchell, Cleveland, O.
     The current issue of Ringwood's Ladies' Magazine contains two very able articles from the pen of Mrs. Earnestine Clark Nesbit and Miss Adina White - Richmond Planet.
 

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EDITRESS RINGWOOD'S JOURNAL.
     Dear Madam:  Through the kindness of some one, I have lately received a sample copy of Ringwood's Journal for April.  I am delighted with it, and sincerely wish you positive and permanent success in establishing it.  It is so pure, so womanly - positively agreeable in its every feature as reading for private home, instruction and guidence.  Please find enclosed ($1.25) one dollar and twenty-five cents for yearly subscription, beginning with the May number.
Again wishing you every success, I am, very sincerely yours,

EDITRESS RINGWOOD JOURNAL.

     Dear Madam:  Through the kindness of Miss Mitchell I am made the happy recipient of your most satisfactory publication.   Many of my patrons have expressed themselves concerning its value, its novelty and its force, and the belief engendered by such vehemence causes me to assure you of a subscription list in Waco.
     Though your project be new and youthful as to age, you may freely dispel the delusion of failure, when taking into consideration the able associates at your command. Words, notwithstanding taking their poetical regularity, seem very dull when I attempt to say good of that which to me seems best — Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion possessing a multitude of
boastful features is before me in fact a reality.  Pure, yet simple, characterizing the sublime force of education, of woman' prosperity, and portraying staying qualities in the field of journalism.

    June 29, 1892
       Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion has made its appearance in this city.  It is a likely journal, edited by Julia Ringwood Coston, of Cleveland, Ohio, a colored woman of more than ordinary literary ability.  The illustrations are numerous and well executed.  The many department, especially those for boys and girls, are well edited by educated colored women.  Its success is assured. - Philadelphia Recorder.
     A new fashion journal published in Cleveland, Ohio, is one that is sure to attract attention, as it is a well-conducted and bright bit of work.  It is especially designed to be an Afro-American magazine, and is edited in its different departments by colored women, but the pleasing fashion articles, instructive talks with girls and mothers, and witty all-around paragraphs and interesting love stories make Ringwood's Magazine a welcome addition to any home, whether its occupants be black or white.—Philadelphia Times.
     The November number of Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion, needle-work, reading, etc., is a handsome appearing work and reflects credit upon the publisher, Mrs. W H. Coston, of this city, It contains much information of interest to the colored people of the city —Cleveland World.
     Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion, published by Mrs. W. H. Coston, of Cleveland, Ohio, has reached our office.  In appearance it is a

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typographical beauty and its matter is nicely compiled and interspersed with cuts dear to the feminine heart. It is the first publication of the kind, and should have the support of the Afro-American women of the land, as it is published by an Afro-American woman, and fully represents them "as they are intelligent, virtuous and beautiful." Rates $1.25 per year.—The State Journal, Philadelphia, Pa.
     Ringwood's Afro-American Journal of Fashion, published in Cleveland, Ohio, is deserving first recognition by the race among our papers.  We say this because of the peculiar make-up of this journal.  The Ringwood's Journal is a combination of literary taste and modern fashion, and pre-eminently accepted in the families and homes of the most cultured and refined of Americans.
     The journal is edited by Julia Ringwood Coston, Cleveland, Ohio; associate editors are: Miss Sarah Mitchell, of the same place; Miss Adina E. White, Cincinnati; Mrs. S. I. Shorter, Wilberforce; Mrs. E. C. Nesbit, Cincinnati; Mrs. M. E. Lambert, Detroit; Mrs. Bishop B. P. Lee, Philadelphia, and Mrs. M. C. Terrill, Washington, D. C.  The ladies are managing their respective departments with ability and literary tact.  The illustration and fashion department in the current number for June is admirably arranged, and shows very conclusively that Afro-American journalism is advancing.  This is the only magazine of the kind published in the world by our ladies, and for this reason alone it is suggestive of high appreciation that none can show more heartily than the race which these ladies so eminently represent. — Florida Sentinel.

Mrs. JULIA RINGWOOD COSTON,
               Publisher and proprietor Ringwood's Journal, Cleveland, Ohio:
     DEAR ADAM:  The sample copy of your journal, so kindly sent by you, has been received.
     I perused it with great interest, and noted with pleasure the peculiar characteristics of its engravings.
     Strange as the fact may seem to you it will be the first journal of fashion issued in Hayti, and I am proud that the introduction be made by a laddy of our race, for none other should have the precedence in a country of independent blacks.
     Wishing my subscription to be entered at once I could not wait for it to appear here, but if possible it can be transferred later.  I send you a draft of $1.50 (one dollar and fifty cents), the additional twenty-five cents to prepay postage.
     Praying that all success may attend your efforts, I remain, dear madam,

     Dear Mrs. Coston:  Every succeeding issue of your journal makes advanced improvements on preceding numbers.  It is an excellent periodical

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and one that every colored family ought to patronize.  Mrs. Shorter's "Talks with Girls" are very practical and highly useful; she is a true woman in the highest sense of the word.

     MRS. COSTON — Dear Friend: I prize your journal very much. I have read it through and think I shall read it again, for its contents are not only good but great. I certainly did enjoy reading it.  May God bless your effort and crown you with success. I will do all I can for you.  There are a great many young ladies in this city that I trust will become as interested in your journal as I am, if so I know they will never be without it.  You have my prayers through life as one who prizes your efforts highly.

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MRS. ALBERT WILSON, MRS. V. A. MONTGOMERY, MISS BLANCHE WASHINGTON.

     MRS. ALBERT WILSON, MRS. V. A. MONTGOMERY AND MISS BLANCHE WASHINGTON, for music and song, are first among the lovers of their art.  Worthy mention of this trio will be found elsewhere in this volume.

MISS BLANCHE WASHINGTON
MRS. ALBERT WILSON                        MRS. V. A. MONTGOMERY

Indeed, a history could be written portraying the musical accomplishments of our women, dwelling alone in the realms of classic rythm, cadence and harmony.  Suffice it; these stand out in bold relief, proofs of our progress and mile stones along the intellectual highway of Negro accomplishments.

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MRS. ELIZABETH KECKLEY
Author, Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, Teacher of Sewing at Wilberforce Universith.

    ANYONE who has met Mrs. Keckley, conversed with, or read her book entitled "Behind the Scenes," cannot but exclaim, She is a good, grand, yea, a great woman.  With a life so crowded with interesting incidents, it is no wonder that at the muses' dictation she has drawn the pen pictures and shelves them in a bound volume.  Her most delightful narrative begins in 1868, and teems with soul-stirring, melancholic accounts, with just enough wit and humor to beautify and sweeten the whole story from beginning to end.  Through apparently advanced in years, she still possesses remarkable personal charms, and, though she was educated in the school of experience, she is no less a teacher of maxims and underlying principles which go to make up character.  With her array of ready words at the command of her doctrine, she argues with elegance and force, and gently convinces you in her persuasive manner.
     She was born in Virginia, a slave, and notwithstanding opportunity, coupled with fate, said flee for your freedom, she could not bear the idea of being tracked by hounds or placed under arrest as a fugitive.  While young she was taken to St. Louis, Mo., and from thence to Washington, in 1860, where she distinguished herself as a fitter and finisher of ladies' attire.  Indeed, her successful art won for her the admiration of the ladies of the White House, and later she became Mrs. Lincoln's, Mrs. Seward's and Mrs. Jefferson Davis' dressmaker.  Beyond this, she was beloved by Mrs. Lincoln for her unswerving principles.  After the death of Mr. Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln found in her the sympathizing friend, and, indeed, relied very much on Mrs. Keckley for advice and counsel.  When Jefferson Davis was captured in disguise, Mrs. Keckley was taken before a notary and sworn that the dress found upon him was Mrs. Davis' dress, and that she was the maker of it.
     For many years our subject has been a firm friend of Wilberforce University, and having' been endowed with a goodly

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number of Mr. Lincoln's relics, she anticipated their bestowal to that institution, but on the account of delay on the part of the educational board of that school, her patience became exhausted, and she parted from them for a considerable sum, and they are now on exhibition at Libby (Prison) Museum, Chicago, Ill.  She to-day wears a gold watch chain which Mr. Lincoln prized very dearly, and which Mrs. Lincoln gave to her. 
     Following is a list of the relics:

ARTICLES OF LINCOLN RELICS.

     Comb and brush used by the president, during his entire administration.  "Stock" (black silk" worn by the President prior to his administration.
     One white kid glove, that the President wore at the last inaugural ball.
     One pocket-handkerchief taken from his pocket after his assassination.
     One watch case of the President.  One nut cracker that he used at his private table.
     Piece of dress goods worn by Mrs. Lincoln at the last inaugural ball, and made by myself.  Neck trimmings worn by Mrs. Lincoln.
     Piece of dress worn by Mrs. Lincoln the night of the assassination.  One pair of rubber over-shoes worn by the President during his entire term.
     One bonnet worn by Mrs. Lincoln the night of the assassination.  One black velvet circular worn by Mrs. Lincoln the night of the assassination and bespattered with the blood of the President.
     One china candle-stick, held by Tad Lincoln while his father delivered a speech from the north window of the White House, the Tuesday night after the fall of Richmond.
     One box containing three pieces of hair.  One piece cut from his head, while he lay in state, the morning of the day that his body was conveyed to Illinois.  The other piece was cut from the head at the tomb.
     One white kid glove worn by Mrs. Lincoln.  One piece of the carpet that was on the floor of the room that he was laid out in.
     One box.  This box contained a large wreath that was sent from (I think) some association in Philadelphia through the care of Mrs. James H. Vine, Willard Hotel, which was placed on the carpet when it was taken from the White House.  This box has the address still on it.
     One gold watch chain, the property of the President, and given to me by Mrs. Lincoln.

     Mrs. Keckley is at present instructor of the art of sewing at "Wilberforce University, and is quite conspicuous in the Liberal Arts building at the World's Fair with her figures, posing as specimens of the work done by her pupils.

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     There can be seen on exhibition both plain and fancy dressmaking, the handiwork of her instruction.

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MRS. JOSIE D. (HENDERSON) HEARD.
Poetess.

     MRS. JOSIE D. (HENDERSON) HEARD was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, Oct. 11, 1861.  Her parents Lafayette and Annie M. Henderson, though slaves, were nominally free, being permitted to hire their time and live in another city, Charlotte, North Carolina.

MRS. JOSIE D. HEARD.

     At an early age Josephine displayed her literary tastes and aptness to perform on almost any musical instrument.  As early as five years of age she could read, and was a source of general comfort to the aged neighbors, delighting to read the scriptures to them.
     She received her education in the schools at Charlotte, and having passed through them with credit, was sent to the Scotia Seminary at Concord, North Carolina, spending several years there.  Her desire was to reach even a higher plane, and she was next sent to Bethany Institute, New York, passing with honors from its walls.  She commenced teaching in the State which gave her birth; then in the State of South Carolina, at Maysville, Orangeburg, and finally in Tennessee, at Covington, near Memphis.

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In October, 1881, she became acquainted with the Rev. W. H. Heard, (now Presiding Elder of the Lancaster District, Philadelphia Conference) who was then in the U. S. R. Mail service, and they were happily united in the bonds of matrimony in the year 1882.
     Mrs. Heard evinced a fondness for poetry, and during her school days contributed to several leading evangelical periodicals.  After her marriage she was encouraged by the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Tucker Tanner, Rt. Rev. B. W Arnett, and many other friends to give more time to it.  At their solicitations she has ventured to bring to light these verses.  She has some musical talent, having composed and written a piece of music which was played at the New Orleans Exposition, and which elicited much comment from the democratic press of the South.

     In giving our subject introduction to the public, Bishop Benj. Tucker Tanner says that he somewhat influenced the publication of "MORNING GLORIES," and gives the writer real pleasure, which is enhanced by the thought that he gladly accepted the invitation to write the introduction.
     For quite a quarter of a century, he has had much to do with the literary life of the people with whom he is especially identified; as that life manifested itself in the production of papers, of monthly or quarterly magazines, of pamphlets and of books.  He rejoices in the great progress made, both in quantity and quality.  When he may be said to have begun his public literary career, in 1868, there were scarcely more than two or three papers published by colored men.  There are now quite as many hundred.  Of magazines, there was none; now there are four.  Of pamplets, upon very rare occasions, one was now and then issued.  Now they appear as do the leaves of autumn.  And the same is true of books.  A quarter of a century ago a colored author was indeed a rara avis.  Not so now, however; such individuals are fairly numerous.
     What is true of the colored literature of the country, as to quantity, is equally true as to quality.  On this score the most

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rapid advancement has also been made, incipient scholarship everywhere appearing upon the pages offered the public.
     On the line of Poetry, we as a people, give sufficient evidence to show that the Muse is indeed no respecter of persons.  That he is equally an admirer of shade; and although at times compelled in his approaches to us, to walk in unbeaten paths, yet he condescendingly comes, and inspires a music as sweet as is the wild honey of unkept hives.  If any doubt, let him read, "Morning Glories," to which these lines are to serve as an introduction.  In rigid versification, the lines herein given, may here and there come short, but for brightness of imagination, for readiness of expression, and now and then for delicateness of touch, they are genuinely poetical; clearly evincing a talent of no mean order.
     We would wish that "Morning Glories " might be received in the houses of our millions; showing thereby the party of the second part among us stands ready to support the party of the first part in all that tends to redeem the good name of the Race.

THE BLACK SAMSON.
The Product of Her Fertile Brain.

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"THEY ARE COMING"
Another of Her "Morning Glories."

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My Dear Friend:
     Our mutual friend, Mrs. Higginson, has written me enclosing a poem which gives me credit for much more than I deserve, but for which I thank thee.  It is a pleasant gift to express, as thee can, thy thoughts in verse among thy friends and acquaintances.  In this way poetry is its own great reward - it blesses and is blest.
     I am very glad to give the "token" asked for in thy little poem, by signing my name, with every good wish from thy aged friend;

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REPLY TO WHITTIER

     I now assume the pleasantest duty of my life, that of acknowledging the cordial receipt of your most inestimable favor of recent date.
     Cognizant of the weight of years you bear, I will not burden you with a long letter, while my heart out of its fullness dictates to me faster than my fingers are able to trace; but my joy is full; my gratitude unbounded.
     I should certainly have congratulated myself upon being so fortunate as to have obtained even your name from thine own hand, a letter, such as thee wrote me, freighted with rich advice and kindly recognition, is PRICELESS.
     God Buss Thee, and may thy passage to the land of the blest be upon a calm sea, with zephyrs laden with the perfume of thy noble life's deeds to waft thy spirit's bark onward, and over Jordan.

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To MRS. JOSIE D. HEARD:
     Dear Madam - Learning that you are about to publish in book form the poetic writings which from time to time you

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have contributed to the Christian Recorder and other journals, and others which have not appeared in print, I write to congratulate you, and to say that as "Snow Bound," "Maud Muller," "Evangeline" and "Miles Standish are now recited in the public schools, so in the future may be "To Whittier" and "Retrospect."
     Already one of your poems has been selected from the Christian Recorder by an Afro-American youth to be read in a Pennsylvania school, whose teacher and a majority of whose pupils are white.  I am

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Mrs. Josie D. Heard:
     I thank you and answer you that we appreciate most deeply the expression of your sympathy in our great affliciton.

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     Mrs. Heard's knowledge is extensive and various, but true to the first principles of her nature, it is poetry that she seeks in history, scenery, character aud religious belief poetry that guides all her studies, governs all her thoughts, colors all her imaginations and conversation.

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MRS. J. J. ROBERTS.
Lecturer, Educator, Philanthropist.

     THEY who know this grand woman, are always eager to emphasize the fact, by relating some of her acts of charity, reiterating some of her grand sayings, or dwelling at length upon her activity in behalf of the oppressed.  During the many long years of her eventful life, she has never lagged, to pause, or loiter, something remained to be done, as she could see clearly, and possibly better backed by her enthusiasm, and reinforced by the strength of her indomitable will.
     When Liberia declared her independence President Roberts became one of her active statesmen, later its President, and through the co-operation of this great woman, the Republic grew and flourished as the green Bay tree.
     Mrs. Roberts is the only Negro woman that has dined with President and Mrs. Cleveland at the White House.  During her stay in Washington, the Hon. ex-Minister of Liberia, John H. Smythe, took an active interest in this deserving woman, and her honors, as well the introduction to the President and Mrs. Cleveland is due this race man, of whom the citizens of the District of Columbia are proud.
     She came to America soliciting funds for the erection of a building to be used as a hospital for Liberian and American seamen, at Monrovia in Liberia, as a memorial to her husband ex-President Roberts.
     With Longfellow, Mrs. Roberts reasons, when he says:

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     She will more than likely build her hospital, the result of an earnest, fruitful life, and the happy result of a patient endeavor to make lasting her husband's name among his bemoaning countrymen.

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SUSAN McKINNEY, M. D., PH. D.
Member of Brooklyn College of Pharmacy.

     IN the professions, possibly no Negro woman has distinguished herself more than has Dr. Susan McKinney, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who takes leading part in the medical life of that city.  She is strictly a race woman, and most fully portrays that becoming interest in her philanthropic spirit to help the poor.  She is the most successful practitioner of medicine of her sex and race in the United States.
     Located as she is, and capable as she must be, her practice is not confined to the lowly of any particular nationality, but among all classes and conditions—the high, the low, the rich and the poor.  Her splendid achievements are answers to the questions and doubts of the many who question through pride, and who doubt with curiosity.  She is a full-fledged, high-toned lady physician, worthy of the mission of doing good, because in this special field she can serve the greatest number of her fellow sufferers.  She is being blessed with some of the goods of this world as she is blessing others in her daily life. 
     Woman is proving to man that God is no respector of persons, and is taking her place in all the leading movements upon which the progress of the age depends, and is refuting the doctrine of incapacity, and is rapidly approaching the summit of intellectual equality.  The old time ideas of Negro unfitness has become worn threadbare, being so continuously lashed by the waves of sentiment concerning their intellectual growth upon the turbulent sea of endeavor, and the once depraved opinion has become a new-born popular issue subserving the qualifications of all, regardless of race.
     The women are actually entering every avenue of learning reflecting credit not only in the forum, the pulpit, the press,

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but are adding dignity in the university chairs, where alone sage once sat, and many lead in the classics, the professions wherein once they were not allowed to follow.
     Dr. McKinney, by the force of her genius, the calmness of her life and beauty of her character, has set the seal of high accomplishments upon the pages of history, leading in a field of usefulness, where many of our young, capable women are sure to follow.  She is a worthy member of the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, which honor u was not attained by sudden flight."

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MADAM GLOVER.
Leading Dressmaker of Boston.

     FOR energy, pluck and patience, no Negro woman is the equal to this talented industrious woman.  Her business for many years has given employment to more than a score of women, who through the instruction, attained under her service, have made for themselves marked in the world.  Her fortune is not the only special proof of her success in the art of dressmaking and fitting, but the persistency as well as the high-toned patronage from the best ladies in Boston and vicinity, as much demonstrate her merit, as other of her qualifications.  Every year she goes to Paris for her styles.
     The field of industry is broadening for the girls of the present and future generations, most especially sewing schools are being established all over this civilized country, and the sex feel less keenly the necessity of book inculcation and more the demand of the spirit of the age, not only to know, but to know how to do sewing, painting, sketching, telegraphy, stenography, etc., are all coming into custom, as in these the women monopolize.  The art of dressmaking as Madam Glover represents it, holds up very grand inducements for the generations of girls growing up in our race.  Knowing how attention to business systematically arranged, and a careful investment of her means, has brought in return the success she has accomplished.

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MRS. HENRY HYLAND GARNET.
Early Educator

     NEW YORK CITY has long posed as the place where so many men and women of African descent first inculcated a spirit of growing out of the conditions made noticeable by the disgrace of slavery, which destroyed the senses of refinement and carried nothing but gloom and forbodings in its train.  Dr. Henry Hyland Garnett, Prof. Charles L. Reason, Bishop D. A. Payne, and a host of the leading lights of our literary and social firmament, first caught the gleam of inspiration and started their educational careers, which have so splendidly refuted the arguments that the Negro could not learn Greek and Hebrew.  It was here that this talented lady answered the call to teach.  History records the wonderful accomplishments of her efforts to lift up her fellow men.  The wave of education she sat In motion is flowing on.  That night school the work of her heart and brain as it was forty or fifty years ago, is now possessed with that enthusiasm she injected into it, only with increasing years it has kept pace with the progress of events, conducive to grander accomplishments in an age of better educational appliances and facilities, conducted by that noble and scholarly Miss J. Imogene Howard, who for a number of years has been one of the leading educators of New York city.
     Mrs. Garnett was not only a teacher, she was wife and mother—wife of a great man whom the great men of the world have delighted to honor, a minister to a foreign power, a patriot and philanthrophist—a mother of a great woman, Mary Burbosa, an educator, philanthropist and missionary, who, following in the footsteps of her father, died while engaged in the missionary work in the Dark Continent.
     The triumphs and activities of this grand woman is the early fulfilment of the highest hopes of those philanthropic personages, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, Wendell Phillips, Mr. Lovejoy, Mr. Parker, and a host of heroes who have ever watched the race with very much interest.  If

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the history of the past, portraying the rise and fall of empires, the establishment of empires and kingdoms, republics and monasteries, can serve as an incentive to the young to be ever alert to the changes consequent of the progress made in the enlightened world during the educational centuries, surely the epochs in biography can be stepping-stones upon which the aspiring man and womanhood of a defenceless race can find sure footing.
     Mrs. Garnett, exemplary in her life and character, is an example of our genius and worth as a race when placed in no indifferent position to the conditions which surrounded her young life and the facilities for encouragement which kept pace with her manifold achievements.
     During the war she toiled early and late.

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MRS. E. V. C. EATO.
Eminent Teacher.

     THE subject of this short sketch has by her tact made for herself a name among the leading educators of New York City.  The inherent principles of her art chrystalizing for years in her busy life give her the east and readiness of imparting that which she knows to her pupils, and for a considerable time have served as a convincing arguments that separate schools for the races was not a necessity, and her special fitness, as well as the fitness of other colored lady teachers, has done more to bring about the educational reform, and bridge the chasm of restriction and social life which has so long made blameful the system of education in New York, than any thing else. All credit is due these noble heroines of our race.  They have not contented themselves with meagre possibilities, but have entered the higher halls of learning and taken degrees of pedagogy.
     The writer has met quite a number of the young ladies who have profited by her teachings, her life and character, and he knows for a fact, that a lively recollection is cherished

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in their minds and hearts for this good woman whose labors show forcibly in these characters, and clearly demonstrate the quality of seed sown, principles inculcated, the inestimable value of the good work she has done for her race.  This is an instance in the life of the Negro race in a great metropolis where merited recognition equalizes the chances for their redemption from ignorance and the quagmires of prophetic chaos.  Mrs Henry Highland Garnett,  Miss J. Imogene Howard and others, possibly not so prominent in the public eye, have dignified the situation and enabled in every possible way the high ground of scholary attainment, which has inspired many young men and women of our land.  Mrs. Eato reflects a credit on the race that is so apparent in our literary and social life, which reminds us forcibly of our progress.

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MISS FREDERICKA JONES.
Education

     MISS JONES ranks among the leading educators of the race.  She is a grduate from the classic halls of the famous Michigan University, Ann Arbor Michigan.  And has since done very telling work for our race as teacher in the
northern as well as the southern college.  She is at present lady principal of Paul Quinn college, Waco, Texas.  Her special fitness commends her to the higher educational work among our people, and the above named school has under her watchful care and tutelage, made very great advances in the right direction;
     She is amiable, most agreeable in manners, and a capable counselor on topics of advanced studies.
     Her prominence as well as intellectual ability, entitles her to many pages whereon might be forcibly drawn the illustrious career of one so worthy.  We, knowing, Miss Jones' love for obscurity feel somewhat reluctant in making the fore-going statement, yet by a sense of right we have thus risked our judgment.

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NEAL GERTRUDE HAWKINS.
Eminent Singer.

     AMONG the celebrated singers of the Negro race, Neal Gertrude Hawkins takes her place along by the side of all.  It is not our purpose to give especial space to those who are actively engaged before the public, for in their realm they are seen and judged, with better satisfaction than from an open book.  We therefore will not give our subject a lengthy mention.

NEALE GERGRUDE HAWKINS.

     "Miss Neale Hawkins is one of the finest vocalists I have ever listened to.  In compass, flexibility, sweetness, pathos and power, her voice is unexcelled.
     While high culture has developed and perfected her voice, it has not detracted an atom of the mellow richness so characteristic of the Afro-American vocalist.
     Miss Hawkins is a prohibitionist, has perfect articulation, and will be a drawing card in any assembly.  She will sing prohibition into hearts whether they will or no."
     For quite a number of years, Miss Hawkins has been singing to delighted audiences, in fact she has been the support for the famous Jinglers of California, which under the musical direction of Prof. Ed. F. Morris, has reached that point in their art that makes them one of the leading musical troups before the American foot-lights.

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     Indeed to write of Miss Hawkins and her capabilities as a singer, would be incomplete without the mere mention of Mr. Ed. F. Morris who has taught her step by step, to her present advanced position in the realm of song.
     We append below a few testimonials:

MR. GEO. W. BAIN SAYS:

     "Miss Cornelia Hawkins has a marvelous voice. It surpasses in richness of tone many prima dona's of inter-national fame.
     She is as much at home in the role of a singer, as the mocking bird in his own native orange grove."

PRESS NOTICES.

     "The concert given by the Jingler Concert Company in the Victoria last night was musically a great success.  Probably
ownig to the inclement weather there was rather a thin attendance, but what the audience lacked in numbers they amply made up for in appreciation.  The programme was full of choice selections and was supplemented by nearly as many encores.  The comic part of the entertainment was inimitably rendered.  The solos were uniformly good, and the impromptu rendition of "Way Down on the Swanee River," in answer to a rather unceremonious call from one of the gods was delightful.  The quartette work was good and left nothing to be wished for.  Several character pieces were fairly done although this is quite evidently not the company's forte.  The audience was sent home in excellent humor after listening to an excellent chorus entitled 'Good Night.' "

     " The Jinglers gave a concert in the M. E. church in the lecture course and had a fine audience.  I have heard in my life some very fine female voices, but it seems to me Miss Hawkins has the sweetest voice I ever listened to.  The Jinglers will be welome any time, especially Miss Hawkins."

     "The Jingler concert company gave their first entertainment to a very fair audience in the Union church last night.  The audience was very enthusiastic and the performers were recalled many times.  The fine soprano voice of Miss Hawkins,

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the deep bass of Mr. Wallay and the magnificent tenor of Mr. Conley are such as are but seldom heard.  Their selections are varied, being Negro melodies, topical selections and popular songs of the day.  For an evenings' pleasure they excel any company that has ever visited our town.  They sing in Modesto to-night, giving a return engagement in the Union church to-morrow night."
     "On Saturday evening last Cole's Colored Jinglers appeared at Van's Opera House before a fair sized audience.  The house should have been packed full of people, and we wish it had been, for there has not been a musical combination here for years that deserves the patronage of the people more fully than does the Jinglers.  The performance was complete in every respect, and all who heard them on Saturday evening were more than pleased—they were charmed.  The voices blended so nicely and the songs were so well selected and sung that the audience was kept busy applauding and the applause was always cheerfully responded to.  Miss C. Hawkins has a soprano voice of remarkable sweetness and Miss Chinn is a fine alto.  Mr. Walley, the lion basso, is all that is claimed of him and George L. Conley is a good tenor, while Mr. B. Dozier does his part fully as a baritone.  The company is, by far, the best of the kind that has appeared here since the old Tennessee Jubilee Singers.  That remarkable organization contained Henry Hunley, the grand basso, and Miss Reynor, one of the best altos we ever heard.  The Jinglers will appear again tomorrow evening and if you have not heard them you had better go for you will be pleased."

A FIRST-CLASS PERFORMANCE GIVEN BY THE JINGLERS LAST EVENING.

     "It was an evening of music and harmony last night at Louis' opera house, and a first class peformance certainly merited a better attendance than it received, those present certainly enjoyed a treat.  "The Jinglers" is the name adopted by this company of colored vocal artists, and no concert company on the road has made a greater hit.  There are six voices, and

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each one is excellent.  George L. Conley, the tenor, G. W. Wallay, the base, and B. Dozier, the baritone, are exceptionally good.  Miss Hawkins has a soprano voice of singular sweetness and purity—as she demonstrated in her rendition of  "The Huntsman's Horn" and "The Suwanee Eiver"—while Miss Chinn possesses a cultivated contralto.  The entire program was good and there was hardly a number but received an encore, the male quartet especially carrying off the honors of the evening.  The last three numbers—"Dars a Jubilee," "Don't Feel No Way Tired" and "Good Night "— fairly enraptured the audience.  E. F. Morris is an excellent pianist and was down for several piano selections, but labored under the drawback of having a miserable instrument before him.  The piano used last night possibly harmonizes with a pair of cymbals and a bass drum, but is hardly up to the mark for a concert.  Those who have heard Miss Hawkins sing and Mr. Morris perform, will not fail to agree that for her under her instructor a bright future awaits her."

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LAISSU OF BASSA LAND.
Princess

     LAISSU was one of the most talented women of her country, and that is saying very much in favor of her sex.  She is the daughter of Boyer, King of the Bassas, an African tribe.  She was taken from her people when only eight years old and educated in one of the best universities in England, where she distinguished her race and elevated the sentiment concerning the capabilities of the African, from the sentiment concerning the capabilities of the African, from the standpoint of incapacity to her high intellectual achievement, then and there and forever.
     Many of her English friends, eager to have her remain in their land of civilization, offered her special inducements; in fact, such opportunities whereby she could have further dignified her race; but on failing to charm her imaginations for future pomp and power among them, they even misrepresented her native country.  Despite these entreaties, she determined

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to utilize her education in the training of her own people in Bassa Land.
     After her residence of fourteen years in England, at the age of 22 years, she returned to her people, bearing the beacon light of Christianity into a dark and benighted land.  In order that she might become favored, and later secure the coveted influence among her people, she adopted her native costume, which was next to nudity.  It was through these means that she Christianized a number of her brothers and her subjects, after five years of activity, spreading the Christian religion among her people, she died in the full triumph of faith, beloved and reverenced by all her people.

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AMANDA SMITH
Missionary, Author, Minister

     WHAT is the place of Amanda Smith in American history?  Has she any place there"  Mrs. Smith is an historic character.  The biography of great women, and especially great women of the Negro race, would be sadly deficient without her.
     Of this race in the United States, since 1620, there have appeared but four women whose career stands out so far, so high, and so clearly above all others of their sex that they can with strict propriety and upon well established grounds be denominated great.  These are Phillis Wheatly, Sojourner Truth, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Amanda Smith.
     More than a score of Negro women have arisen to the heigths of fame which leaped beyond the bounds of the States in which they have resided.  Nor is there a single State in our country, North or South, but that could point to Negro women, a score or so in number, who are zealous of good works, endowed with a noble spirit and a love of race, sex and self which is truly praiseworthy and distinguishing.  Indeed, in every city, village, or country neighborhood, a leading Negro woman, who is a full match for its best and leading Negro man, can be found.

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     Were this otherwise, it would present a strong incentive for melancholy, and offer some feeble extenuation to the vague and morbid dream of redemption from race of degradation by race blending through blood mingling in unnatural and uncongenial amalgamation.
     If there is a graduation from good to greater in the ordinary walks of female life among the Negroes, who does not feel his bosom heave with just and excusable pride when he reflects that among them are also those women who must be mentioned in the superlative, not only great, and greater, but greatest?  Is there not substantial reason to hope that all may arise, when we behold one woman, then another, and another ascend from conditions the lowliest to a place freely ascribed as among the highest and the greatest?
     This ascent from a depth was made by Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, Frances Harper, and Amanda Smith.
     But if these women occupy a place superlatively great as compared to all other Negro women of modern times, we would ascertain how they stand compared to each other.  For it is by this comparison that we shall be able to determine which, or whether, either is greater than the other, and wherein.
     To begin with, Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth were both Africans of unmixed blood.  Phillis Wheatley was an African of superior tribal relations by birth.  Crosses in blood are sometimes found in Africa; for many traders, if no others, have a "country wife " or so while sojourning in that country.  But Phillis was a child of pure Negro parentage.  Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Smith were mixed in the proportion of about one part Caucasian to three parts African; hence, whatever be their claim to greatness and goodness, their racial basis for the claim is African.
     Now let us compare them.
     Mrs. Wheatley was the morning star of Negro genius, being to women what Benjamin Banneker was to Negro men, the first of her line.
     Her advantages were few, and her opportunities to learn limited. But such as they were she improved them, and

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secured fame as a poetess of rare pathos and beauty.  Her claims as a poetess are attested by the few specimens of her
verses which remain, and the claim is universally accorded to her.
     An unfortunate marriage, with other disadvantages, may have interfered with the attainment of still greater renown but as it is, Mrs. Wheatley stands peerless among American Negro women for poetic genius.
     Sojourner Truth was a revolutionist and a reformer, with great political acumen in the rough.  She was in her times the peer of Frederick Douglass, being to Negro women what he was to men.  Aye, in her steadfast love to God, loyalty to the interest of all, but unyielding and undeviating fidelity, preference and zeal for her own race, she was more than his peer.
     She illustrates the capability of the race to rise by its own unaided efforts, and take a commanding and abiding place among those eminent for deeds worthy of commemoration.  We have heard somewhere that the bust of Sojourner Truth adorns a place in the British Museum.
     A slave born and reared, a fugitive among strangers, but not friendless there, Auntie Sojourner Truth has no equal in the display of natural leadership and inborn mental equipoise among the four great women with whom we class her.
     Mrs. Harper, possessing superior advantages, is superior to any one of the four great women here mentioned in mental drill and versatile literary culture.  She is an erudite, scholarly woman. She, too, is a reformer, an agitator, but not in the rough, or with any political tendencies.
     She is polished, and may be called the greatest of school-made moral philosophers yet developed among the women of the Negro race.  If Sojourner Truth was a blind giant Frances Harper was an enlightened one.  What she is Sojourner, with her chances, would have been; but what Sojourner was, with no better opportunities, Mrs. Harper would never have been.  Standing outside of the Church and Churchly relations Mrs. Harper is without an equal among Negro men of her times and type of thought.  To find a literary equal for her we must

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look either in the Negro ministry or among men who were trained for it.*
     Mrs. Smith, in connection with the others, except Mrs. Harper, came up through the enthrallments of slavery and the culture of Christian faith.  She is not, then, the indomitable agitator that Mrs. Harper is, nor the indomitable revolutionist that Sojourner Truth was, nor yet the brilliant genius that Phillis Wheatly was.  But she matches them all in this: she is a Christian of the highest type yet produced among women of her race, and as a simple, confiding child. of God has no superior among women of any race—and may we modestly say it?— nor among women of any time.
     She is an evangel of the Christian powers of her race, and an evangel of that good will from God to men which is the burden of her speeches. As a demonstration of the possibilities of the Negro woman—and if the woman, then also the man — to grasp and hold a place among those who have attained the highest heights of Christian faith and perfect self-consecration to the service of God and man Amanda Smith stands without a rival.
     Without the genius of Mrs. Wheatley, the daring of Sojourner Truth, the logic of Mrs. Harper, Mrs. Smith has a greatness born not of self nor of mind, but of soul culture by contact with God.  Herein is she great, the equal of either, and greater than any.  Among men of our race and times none equal Mrs. Smith as exemplifiers of the power of grace to save, expand and use man as an instrumentality of salvation to the human race.
     She is in these particulars, then, as we have frequently said not only the greatest Negro woman, but the greatest of the race in these times.
     Let Negro women study well her character and imitate it Let them read well her struggles up from sin and Satan to God, and use the same means if they, too, would rise like her in His likeness and image.

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     * Mrs. Harper is a member of the Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, and stands high in it, I learn. - AUTHOR

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     What grace has wrought in her it has wrought for our example, that like her in the use of means at hand so like her we afterwards might be useful in the Master's hands.
     As an enlightened, thoroughly consecrated Christian evangelist among Negro women Mrs. Amanda Smith takes the first place in American history.

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MADAM WETZEL.
Ice Dealer.

     MADAM WETZEL, of St. Johns, New Brunswick, is an example of what a woman may achieve in the world, when energy and genius are not wanting.
     Some years ago, an enterprise was started by Mr. and Mrs. Wetzel, which up to her husband's death, had not placed them in any indifferent relation to poverty, for to be sure their ice plant was not in a prosperous condition, but has been brought to its present magnitude through her energies, and business capability.  Today she employs a hundred men, does her household duties, has the care and responsibility of a large family, and by virtue of her strict attention to her business, she has crushed out the competitors, who predicted her failure, and poses as a monopolist in St Johns and vicinity.
     Woman has a most formidable foe to antagonize at every turn, and that foe is man.  When we see such women forging their way successfully, despite the obstacles engendered by her sex, she is worth forty men in business, war, politics, bar and pulpit, she should be admitted on this portrayal of her worth, to vote, to do whatever men have a right to do.  Mrs. Wetzel was left in an almost destitute condition on the death of her husband, but the power which was circumscribed in the domain of home, now had, exercise in their business, the result of which has been stated.
     Man will, when woman forces him to, concede to her the rights she demands.  The wanting quality in woman, is yet too noticeable, to materially effect any anticipated reforms

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with the deep underlying principles of equality of the sexes, in the government and various forms of business. 
     Mrs. Wetzel is not only a success as a woman, but a Negro woman.  She orders, men obey. Let others follow her example.

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MISS RACHAEL L. WALKER.
Eminent Vocalist, Distinguished Teacher.

     AMONG the intellectual citizens of Cleveland, Ohio, most especially those engaged in teaching music and song, Miss Walker takes a high place.  Her fame has grown out of the local sphere, and become national in both her mission as teacher as well as that of a pleasing vocalist.  For a number of years the citizens of Ohio Indiana and Illinois have been captivated by the exquisite melody of her voice, and the great encouragements she has received (in the frequent displays of her talents) from the press, the public, and critics everywhere she has been called to play, her inspiration has quickened her energies to more vigorously pursue the art of voice culture.

MISS RACHAEL L. WALKER.

     She has a most excellent soprano voice, with pleasing intonations, and marvelously can she command it.  She is one of the few noted singers who perform without effort.  She is a talented teacher in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, who, in spite of obstacles on account of race, has unbidden, entered the beaten track of imparting as well as reflecting a noble character on the white, as well as the Negro children who are

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committed to her charge.  If education is the key by which aroused intellect may enter all the repository of treasure, and take for itself available knowledge, she has the happy faculty of giving that key to the dominant race.  Through no favor of friends does she enjoy the position she occupies along with the great educators of this great city, but by energy and perseverance backed by a determination to obliterate caste and race restrictions by proving the merit of her brain, and the versatile range of her brilliant faculties to serve as a convincing argument in behalf of the women of the Negro race has she become so very noble in the estimation of the leading citizens of Cleveland.  She is a tireless worker, and keenly feels the necessity of setting a high example for those of her sex, and especially her race.  Miss Walker is of fair complexion, elegant form, pleasing stage appearance, a lively conversationalist, and withal an aggressive race agitator.  She has a most flattering hope for the race, contending that concentrated race effort to rise high in the scale to cope with other nations is the only wanting link in our condition.  She is a pleasing vocalist, but a most worthy teacher.

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MRS. A. J. COOPER
Author of a Voice from the South.

     MRS. COOPER'S book has been received with surprising consideration by the press throughout the country, and she is in daily receipt of clippings from quarters where least expected.  As is well known, she is the widow of an Episcopal clergyman, and at present a teacher in our High School.  She was graduated from Oberlin in '84, and was a class-mate of Mrs. Mary Church-Terrell.  Her first attempt in literature is undoubtedly gratifying, both to her and her friends, as the following criticisms show:

     New York Independent:  "It is an open secret that the author of this volume is Mrs. A. J. Cooper.  She puts a voice in her book of which she says modestly that it is only -

"An infant crying in the night,
And with no language but a cry,"

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but it is a piercing and clinging cry which it is impossible to hear not to understand—which it is impossible to shake off.  She writes with strong but controlled passion, on a basis of strong facts."
     Philadelphia Public Ledger:  "There is sound sense in this author's argument, and what is certainly rare in controversial
literature, an unblemished good humor.  Mrs. Cooper disdains to make use of weapons beneath the notice of a cultivated and high-minded womanhood.  The book commends itself to the attention of all interested in a fair discussion of a question of the day."

     Chicago Inter-Ocean: "It is not often that the question here raised has been discussed more candidly, more earnestly and intelligently, and in better spirit than in the volume before as.  The argument is keen, seldom the least shade of vindictiveness, and yet so pointed and honest as to be convincing for its justice.  She claims that the best hopes of the race rest upon the higher education of black women.  That only as the woman is educated and lifted up and refined and the home made pure, will the black man advance to an honored position."

     Boston Transcript: "Doubtless this black woman of 'Tawawa Chimney Corner,' Anna Julia Cooper, makes an intimate exposition of qualities of her people which whites are so slow to appreciate.  Indeed, the very fact of her criticism in excellent English and in welcome style, and phrase, is a manifest of ability and cultivation of those she represents."

     Public Opinion: "This volume posseses a fresh attraction, because it comes from the eager heart and mind of a 'Black Woman of the South,' as the author terms herself.  All the order of the great race to which the writer belongs pleads for a hearing for the women of her own color.  She lays down boldly, clearly and strikingly the great law that a race will finally be what it's women are.  Alongside of this she puts what she claims is a fact that the new movement to lift the black race into intelligence and spiritual life, compara-

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tively little place has been found for the young girls.  Young men are everywhere being pushed on and aided by societies and friends in the struggle to get an education.  But young women are left almost wholly unaided, and very few are as yet able to complete courses of study.  The book is written in a very judicious and elevated way.  The pages are disfigured by no extravagant ill-judged utterances, but a dignified and womanly air pervades the whole.  We commend the volume to all who wish to keep in touch with the Negro problem.  A portrait of Anna J. Cooper, whom we take to be the author,
forms a frontispiece of the volume."

     Detroit Plaindealer: "There has been no book on the race question that has been more cogently and forcibly written by either white or black authors.  The book is not only a credit to the genius of the race, but to woman whose place and sphere in life men have so long dictated."

     The Kingsley (Iowa) Times: "One of the most readable books on the race question of the South bears the above title.  It is written by Mrs. A. J Cooper, of Washington, D. C, a colored lady with the brain of a Susan B. Anthony, a George Eliot, or Frances Willard.  The volume is attracting wide attention, owing to its being worthy of careful perusal and because of its originality and great literary strength.  It is a neat, cloth bound book, retailing for $1.25, but to anyone interested in this race question it is worth many times its cost.  For sale by the author or at all book-stores.  The Times editor never has seen a stronger picture of the true conditions of affairs in the South than the one coming from this colored lady."
     Judge Tourgee: "The habit of a lifetime has made the Bystander's pencil almost infallible in its indication of verbal inaccuracy, which is, after all, the very highest test of literary merit.  The word which exactly fills the place where it is used —neither too large nor too small for the service assigned, or to
the thought it is commissioned to convey—is to literary workmanship what the perfect note is to music.  It may be slurred a little—often is—without constituting actual fault, as the rush of some great movement may even hide or excuse a false note

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now and then, but only precision can give the feeling of finish which attests the genuine literary artist.  Rarely has the unsparing pencil passed so lightly over the pages of a book of essays as it did over the pages of this 'Voice from the South.'  Its perusal would be a new sensation to many a white-souled Christian woman of the 'superior race,' who, when she had perused its bright pages from cover to cover, would be forced to admit that though she had encountered many a sharp thrust she had not received one awkward or ill-tempered blow."
     Mr. Tourgee's criticism of Mrs. Cooper's book, "A Voice from the South," possesses great interest for us, because we know him to be both free from prejudice and capable of judging literary excellence.  He declares that few women writers have shown a "daintier wit, and few works give promise of a purer literary art."  "The deft but stinging satire, the keen but not ill-tempered wit, but the tasteful self-restraint," says Mr. Tourgee, "shows the author to be a cultured lady."  According to our critic, "the white-souled Christian women of the superior race who peruse its bright pages from cover to cover will be forced to admit that, though they encountered many a sharp thrust, they received no awkward, no ill-tempered blow."  While Mr. Tourgee deprecates a little parade of quotation he pronounces u the abundant use of second-hand material to be the fashion of the times," and dulls the edge of criticism by acknowledging that "the borrowed matter is always good, aptly used, in the main, shows breadth of reading, keen observation and thorough good taste in selection."  Mr. Tourgee considers it neither surprising nor discreditable to the colored people of the United States that they have made so few contributions to literature.  The reason is cogently and succinctly stated as follows: "The best scion grafted on the strongest stock requires some period of growth before it produces fruit, and a race by law barred from the fields of literature for two centuries need at least the lifetime of a generation in which to produce literary work.  The wonder is, not that it came so late, but that it came so soon and is of such simple, genuine quality.

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MISS HATTIE GREEN.
Teacher

     MISS HATTIE GREEN is one of the lady teachers of Cleveland, Ohio, who has through her own efforts unaided won for herself a name in Ohio.  Her educational opportunities have been the best, as her talents show.  She with others, by action has refuted the fallacy of race incompetency, in passing the rigid examinations of the school board

MISS HATTIE GREEN

of Cleveland.  She is beloved by a host of persons, who admire pluck and energy, principles which if well fortified will bring success to the door of every one.  These women command the attention and respect of the races whose children they instruct without favor.  Their performance of duty actuated by a sense of right has won for themselves the merited recognition they deserve, and guarantees to them long tenure.

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IMOGENE HOWARD.
Eminent Educator; Appointed on the World's Fair Board of Lady Managers.

     A SKETCH of a remarkably clever Afro-American woman who has carved a niche for herself in the world of fame:  The appointment of Miss J. Imogene Howard as a member of the Lady Managers of the World's Fair for the State of New York has met with general approval.
     Miss Howard is a graduate of the Girls' High Normal School of Boston and was the first of her race to graduate from that institution.  She came to New York shortly after and was appointed on the staff of teachers of Colored Grammar School No. 4.  She also received the degree of Master of Arts from the College of the. City of New York in 1879, and for some years taught day school, and was appointed as principal of the colored night school, only resigning her post upon the solicitations of her friends, lest the constant strain on her mental ability and physical strength impair her health.  Supt. Jasper, it is said, remarked that the school gave the most flattering results under her management.
     Miss Howard is the daughter of Joan L. Howard, of New York city and Edwin F. Howard of Boston.
     Her brother, Dr. E. C. Howard, who is an able and large practioner of Philadelphia was a graduate of Harvard College and her sister, Miss Adeline Howard is the principal of the school in the Wormly building, Washington, D. C.
     Miss Howard has just received the degree of Master of Pedagogy of the University of the City of New York, and is a fit representative of the Educational Committee. 
     Miss Howard attended the meeting on Tuesday at the State Capitol, in the Assembly parlors, and in executive session they elected officers as follows: President. Mrs. Erastus Corning, Albany; first vice-president, Mrs. E. V. R. Waddington, New York; second vice-president, Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, Brooklyn; secretary, Miss Lesslie Pell Clarke, Springfield Centre; treasurer, Mrs. Frances Todd Patterson, Westfield.

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     An executive committee was also chosen, consisting of Mrs. Dean Sage, Mrs. Frederick P. Bellamy, Miss Annie Roosevelt, Miss Caroline E. Dennis and Mrs. Andrew G. White.
     In the evening the education committee—Mrs. White, Mrs. Bellamy, Mrs. Stranahan, Miss Patterson and Miss Imogene Howard—met with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Professor Dewey of the State Library, in reference to the educational exhibit.
     Among the associates on the board were Mrs. H. Walter Webb, wife of the vice president New York Central Railroad; Mrs. Fred P Bellamy, sister to the author of "Looking Backward," and Mrs. Andrew G. White of Cornell College.  The ladies are to meet Mrs. Potter Palmer on her return from Europe next week.  They were entertained at the palatial residences of Mrs. Dean Sage and Mrs. Erastus Corning.  Miss Howard is flooded with letters of congratulation from her many friends.

PRESS NOTICES.

     "One of the most refreshing and sensible appointments made in this State for many a day occurred when Miss Imogene Howard was placed as a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the exhibits of the State of New York for the World's Columbian Exposition.  The honor came unsolicited and was due greatly to the representation of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Matthews and Mr. and Mrs. Wm. E. Gross.  Miss Howard attended the meeting of the Board in the Assembly Parlors of the State Capitol on Tuesday, and stopped with the rest of the Board at the Kenmore Hotel, Albany.  The appointment is the adequate recognition of the race in the State, and is fitting in that Miss Howard ranks with the brainiest and most capable of our women; she is able to measure arms with the cleverest of the opposite race, having just been made Master of Pedagogy, and winning a scholarship from the University of the City of New York.  She has a record worthy of a good teacher of many years experience, which would make her a credit to any people."

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     "Miss Imogene Howard is the first and only colored woman in the Empire State appointed to a managership in the World's Columbian Exposition.  She is a worthy representative of her race in the great World's Fair, and colored people throughout the land may rest assured that in her hands the progress and ever increasing prosperity of the Negroes of America will be shown to all the world to the best possible advantage.
     "Miss Howard is one of the most thoroughly intelligent and energetic of her people.  From her earliest childhood she felt that her mission in life was to better the condition of the colored people, and in so doing she has found her life work and her pleasure.  She has taught and watched and advised, and now that she has very justly been given an official opportunity to illustrate the advancement achieved she feels that she has her reward.
     "She feels that her people, who have made such grand strides in intelligence, industry and importance during the past decade, are entitled to recognition in Chicago's great Fair, and it is her intention that those of New York at least shall refute the charge that has often been made, that the race is at a standstill, or is retrograding.  No one knows the colored people of New York better.  No one is better able to bring out their strong points, and the prospects now are that in the New York exhibit the corner devoted to the colored people will be one of the most interesting features."

SHE HAILS FROM THE HUB.

     Miss Howard was born in Boston, and lived there until she was 17 years of age.  She acquired her studious habits under Boston influences, and in this instance they did not lead to a life devoted only to Brown or Kendrik Isben.  First she attended the Boston grammar and high schools, from which she graduated with high honors.  She then became a student in the Girl's High and Normal School.  She was graduated creditably in 1868, and was the first colored graduate of that high class institution.  In the same year she came to New York and entered the employ of the New York Board of Education as a teacher in Grammar School No. 81, in West

[Page 292]
17th street, where she has since remained, teaching the colored children.
     Upon the resignation of Mrs. H. H. Garnett, she became principal of the high school, held in that school house, and she held that position for eight years.  In spite of her arduous duties as principal and instructor, she found time to attend the Saturday sessions for teachers in the Normal College, and received the degree of A. M.  This year she completed a three year's course at the University of the City of New York School of Pedagogy.  She was the only colored woman of her class, but in the class of last year the Misses F T. and H. C. Ray, and Miss Mary Eato received a like degree.
     Since beginning her educational labors in School No. 81 Miss Howard has been a keen observer of her charges, and there is no one who can better testify to the increased intelligence  of the colored children since the War of the Rebellion.  She is a bright and interesting talker and expresses her thoughts with a forcefulness that carries conviction to the hearer.
     "There is," says she, "no more interesting school in the world than ours.  One must attend it day after day and year after year, as I have, to be as interested as I have become.  We have much to contend with that others have not.  Most of our children are of poor parentage.  Many of them are the children of very ignorant parents, and home influences are not always what they should be, but in spite of all these obstacles, I think it will be impossible to find a lot of children who exhibit more actual aptitude and acuteness.  Their little intellects often seem to have been sharpened by even their short contact with an unsympathetic world, and as long as we are able to direct this precocity into the proper channels they will become good and useful men and women.

SCHOLARS THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE.

     "They are all willing to learn.  Many of them find their only home recreation in their study, and their advancement is often almost marvelous.
     "We were formerly known as Colored Grammar School

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     No. 81, but by a law passed a few years ago this distinction of colored was removed.  It was right that it should be, for it was unkind, and not in accord with our American institutions —we are surely all American born —that these children should be made to feel, even in their school life, that they are of a class apart.  The colored schools are now all numbered in regular, consecutive order with the others.  They are open to children of all colors and nationalities, and this is as it should be.
     "We now have three hundred and fifty boys and girls. Of course there are more girls than boys.  The percentage of girls is larger, I think, in all public schools.  The boys are more often forced by necessity to go to work at an early age, and our most effective labor is, therefore, among the girls.  The question as to whether the most good can be accomplished for our own people by educating the girls or the boys is one I need not discuss.  The influence of one educated woman is certainly very great; but we try to educate both sexes.
     "Our percentage of truancy is, I think, less than that in the average white school of equal size, and that in face of the fact that many of our pupils come from distant parts of town.

MODEL SCHOLARS THESE.

     "My own class ranges in numbers from twenty-five to forty.  I have one pupil who comes from 97th street, another from 44th street and the North river, and another from the Bowling Green, and these are seldom or never late or absent.
     "There is more higher education now among the colored people than ever before, but in too many instances the children have to give up when they get what they can in the grammar schools and go to work.
     "Their field of labor is, alas! very much restricted; but it is getting broader, and I look forward to the day when anything and everything will be open to the capable colored man or woman.
     "Of my own boys many have done exceedingly well.  Two are electricians, and have become quite famous.  William C. Green, also one of my boys, is stenographer for Postmaster

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Cornelius Van Cott.  Some of them are in the public and private banking houses as messengers.  One is private messenger to Archibald Rogers, and many are to be found in positions of trust in brokers' offices and big business houses.  They get better employment now-a-days than ever before, and we hope for better things yet."
     Miss Howard was appointed to the Exhibition management on June 3, and her selection was announced at a meeting held in Albany on June 7.  She will serve on the Committee on Education, her particular branch of the exhibit being woman's part in the education of New York State.  She expects to introduce educators in the work, particularly those who are engaged among the colored people.

-------------------------

MRS. MARY A. CAMPBELL
Philanthropist.

     TO write a sketch of the life of Mrs. Mary A. Campbell, the widow of Bishop Jabez P. Campbell, is the work that lies before me this beautiful Spring morning, April, 1893.  No more delightful duty will ever devolve upon me.  I only fear that I shall fail to satisfy myself or the friends of this beloved one in this attempted effort.
     Mary A Campbell was born in Philadelphia, January, 1817.  She was reared and trained in Christian duty and the domestic virtues by a loved mother.  For many years a resident of the southern section of the Quaker City.  She met and married in early life Joseph Shire.  By this marriage she had four children.  A widow at a later date, in good circumstances, beautiful in form and feature, with the attributes of a lovable wife, she entered a second time into the holy estate of matrimony.  As the beloved wife of Bishop Jabez Pitt Campbell, her personality and its virtues won her world-wide fame.  Mrs. Campbell is about the standard of her sex in height, with a soft brown skin, to which age only adds greater charms.  Her hair has long been a silver crown, bound with a black velvet

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band, in the lovely style of our grandmothers.  The one lovely charm that strikes every friend of Mrs. Campbell, both old
and new, is her smile.  Oh, the beauty and sweetness of it!  The compelling love that lingers in it! Truly it is "a smile that is a benediction."  "To know her is a liberal education."  It is one of the greatest blessings I have known in life to have had the friendship of this noble woman for a quarter of a century.  Her life is that of a devoted Christian; her hospitality is generosity personified; her home life teaches the young around her to love the home, make it the center of every noble effort for oneself and others; beautifully furnished, comfortable, neat, refined in all its belongings.  Her husband's and her son's children have grown up in it to a pure and noble manhood and womanhood.  A tender mother, a loving wife, an ever faithful friend, living close to her Savior, her good deeds and charities have been manifold.
     The Colored Old Folks' Home at West Philadelphia, Wilberforce University, the Jabez Pitt Campbell College and the Women's Mite Missionary Society have been the largest recipients of her bounty; but no needy cause or worthy sufferer has ever gone empty from her door. "What have I done, my child, that I should appear among the distinguished women of the race?" was the question asked by her in all sincere humility.  My answer, from a heart overflowing in grateful remembrance of hundreds of noble deeds, was.  "Not what have you done, but what have you not done, in every line of effort that would make one of the sex and race distinguished?"  And so I have tried to tell, in a few feeble words, the story of this helpful life—to set before your readers the noble, inspiring example of this lovely woman.
     Intelligent, educated, aspiring beyond most of her day and generation; loved, not only by her equals but almost idolized by the young and by the humble in station.  When I hear of her illness I hasten to her side, fearing it may be for the last time.  The years of her life have passed the three score years and ten limit, but the prayer in many hearts is, "Lord, spare thy servant yet a little longer."

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     Such a character in life is valuable beyond human words to express, and in death will continue, because of noble deeds, to live on and on, by its beneficent example strengthening and guiding into higher life future generations.

-------------------------

AMELIA ALLEN.
Educator.

     THE name of Amelia Allen is dear to the home and hearts of all Salina Kansas.  She is an answer in the affirmative to the hopes of the race, and the early fulfillment of

AMELIA ALLEN.

the prophecy that the girls of the Negro race with equal chances could demonstrate their worth not only in the class room bat in life as well.

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     Earnestness, which is indicative of strong force of character, together with her many acquirements, make possible the many accomplishments and achievements of a useful, active life.  "With just enough obstacles to call forth her force and ability to overcome them, these will in all probability stir other latent energies not yet awakened in her young life, and show fourth the qualifications characteristic of the many lofty expectations of those who admire her real worth.

-------------------------

GEORGIA M. DEBABTISTE.
Language Teacher and Writer

     AMONG the host of the young ladies who are doing something in an intellectual sense for the cause of the race, we may be reasonably exultant with the triumph and activities of this talented young woman.

GEORGIA M. DEBABTISTE

     Her intellectual worth far excels her opportunities, if what a person has done is the criterion.  Miss Debabtiste is quite young, but already we see signs of her labor sparkling with the brightest rays of hope.  She has started right.  Naturally possessing a thirst for language, she has shown her adaptability by force of her mental capacity to learn it, and as well impart it with ease.  For a considerable time she has been assistant teacher in languages at Lincoln Institute under the able management of Prof. Inman E. Page at Jefferson City, Missouri.

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     She is a newspaper correspondent, and writes very able articles upon all the topics pertaining to the race question.  Being clear in her style, forcible and pointed, she will in time cope with the leading writers of her sex.
     She is the daughter of Rev. Debabtiste, of ministerial prominence, who is also a writer upon all our social as well as economic questions.  She rightly inherits her talents with the pen, her logic in debate, and reflects brilliantly her capabilities to achieve much for herself, her race and prove a lasting honor to her noble parents.

-------------------------

ADA A. COOPER.
Lecturer, Teacher and Poetess.

     I, ADA A. COOPER, was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 6, 1861.  I am the daughter of Rev. A. H. Newton, of the New Jersey Conference of the A. M. E. Church, and Olivia Hamilton, who was the daughter of Robert Hamilton, who was known through New York as a singer, and who was connected with the Anglo-African.  At the age of five I was sent to school.  I knew how to read at that early age; just when I learned I don't know, but it seems to me that 1 have always known.  At the age of seven my mother died, leaving me in the care of my grandma.  From childhood I was pronounced exceedingly smart; in fact, smart beyond my years.  At ten years old I had read the Pilgrim's Progress, Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Cruesoe; and at fourteen I had read David Copperfield, and could repeat lots of verses from different poets.  At eighteen I had read Paradise Lost and Pope's Essay on Man.  I have never read either since, yet passages from both are still fresh in my mind, and I am now thirty-one.  I was always peculiar as a child; I would take part in no childish sport, not even to playing with dolls that the girl so much delights in.  I was always impressed with the idea that I had something to do in the world, something to live for, although I knew not what it was.  At eleven years of age I met with an accident which gave me the hip-joint disease.  I was thus un-

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able to walk for nearly two years.  At thirteen I again went to school, and during that year I wrote a story which I showed to my teacher.  She took it and read it; after which she told me that if I persevered I would in time be able to write something that would astonish the world.  This opened my mind to some extent, and I determined to become a writer.  At fifteen I left my northern home to go and live with my father, who was then in Little Rock, Ark.  Although so young, I took the whole journey, a distance of more than 1,300 miles, by myself.  Shortly after I reached Little Rock my father married a girl as young almost as myself.  I was then, of course, left much to myself, and during one of my lonely hours I sat down and wrote a story which I called the "Bride of Death," and laid it away to use at some time.   When I was seventeen my father removed to Raleigh, N. C, where I was sent to Shaw University.  After I had been in the school a few months my teacher discovered that I was a very fine reader, hence I was given all the reading classes to teach, and thus secured my schooling free.  I went to the school a part of three years, and during that time I had but three dresses.  A few months after I had been in Raleigh I met W. R. Harris, who was at that time a teacher in one of the city schools.  He paid marked attention to me, and I soon learned to love him.  Our love was kept a secret for upwards of a year; but when it finally became known to my father he sent me to New Berne away from Prof. Harris, because he concluded that I could not love and study too.  While in New Berne mourning for my lover, I had published the story I had written at fifteen, and continued to write other stories that soon became the rage throughout the State.  I was also there chosen to read the Emancipation poem on Emancipation Day.  I had no dress in which to appear before the public, so I borrowed one, but composed the poem that I read.  I knew that, if I could not dress, I had brain, and I was fully determined to use it.  After a time I went back to school, and again I met my lover, and we determined that we would wed let all oppose who would.  He was then a professor in St. Augustine Institute, and was studying to become an Epis-

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copal minister, so I promised to wait until he had completed his course and then be his at all hazards.  My father was
bitterly opposed to my union with him, on account of his creed.  I left school at twenty and went with my father north.  There an event happened which I shall never forget.  My home to me was not a pleasant place, and I was sickly, and had been from birth.  A doctor had given me laudanum to use to allay my pains.  One day, as I was about to use it as he had directed, a thought occurred to me that, as I was sick and seemed to be in everybody's way,  I would end my life, it seemed no good to me.  Even my lover seemed to desert me, as I had not heard from him in months.  So I poured out a spoonful and started with it to my mouth, but before I could get it there the spoon was knocked from my hand, and the bottle fell to the floor shivered into bits.  I determined then to live and live for something.  What my work in life was to be I had not yet determined, but I knew that something lay before me which I must accomplish e'er death came to me.  After so long a time I returned south to teach, and again met my old love whom I found as true as steel.  I had had a great many offers of marriage, for I was a pretty girl, being a rosy brown, with black eyes and straight, black hair; but none of them were accepted by me, for my heart was given away.  While I was teaching in Haywood, Chatham Co., an event happened to me which is worth chronicling.  I was sick, and having to seek for a doctor, I went to one known as Dr. Budd, who was said to be the best in the county.  On arriving at the house, which sat back in the yard, as do the majority of southern country homes, I met a woman coming down the path and asked her if the Doctor was at home.  Her reply was, "Yes; he is in the back yard; go there and see him."  I answered her, "I do not go in back yards to see doctors," and went straight to the front door and rang the bell.  The woman went to the side gate and said to me:  "You may ring all day, and nobody will come."  Then she called over the fence to her servant and said:  "Kitty, oh Kitty—tell the doctor there is a nigger woman out here who desires to see him."

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     Well, I have been called a plucky woman; in fact, am said to be manish.  It stood me in hand that day.  I only waited to reply just long enough to see what Kitty would say.  She said to the doctor, after a moment's pause:  "Doctor, there is a
lady out front who desires to see you."  Then I spoke and said: "The servant is a lady, hence she knows one when she
sees her.  The mistress never has been one and never will be one, and hence she don't know one when she sees her."
     "Do you insult me in my own house," asked she.
     "I care not whose house it is," said I. "You're no lady, I tell you."
     "Get out of here! " said she.
     "I'll not," said I, " until I get ready."
     About that time the doctor came up.
     "You insulted my wife," he said.
     "Your wife insulted me."
     "Well, get out of my yard."
     "I'll not until I get ready."
     "I'll hit you with this stick!" he said, grabbing a cane that lay on the porch.
     "You do," I said, "and whatever law there is in Carolina for the black woman I'll get it.  There is not much, but I'll
get what there is."
     "Whereupon he threw down the stick and said:
     "I'll put you out, any how."
     "You may do that," said I, "for I am on your premises."
     He then took me by the arm and led me out of the gate.
     I had to have a parting shot, and so I said to him:
     "If I were a man, I'd fight you; but as I am a sick woman, I tell you that you are a brute, and your wife is no lady-"
     When this affair became generally known throughout Haywood the majority of the colored people thought that I had
committed an unpardonable sin in speaking in this manner to Dr. and Mrs. Budd; but a few of the best men of the place
— Prof. S. G. Atkins and others —went to the doctor and his wife about the matter.  They declared that they knew not

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who I was, and desired the matter hushed up.  They thought that I was one of the townspeople trying to put on airs.
     Shortly after this I went to R. and was married to my heart's choice, Prof. W R. Harris, who had become an Episcopal
minister.  We were married in May, 1885.  He was made a priest in June, and died the following January.  Hence I was a bride and a widow in one year.  After his death I taught in Washington graded school for three years.  During that time I was the editor of the woman's column of a little paper called The Outlook.  A Sunday school teacher, which I have been since I was fifteen, I wrote for papers and interested myself in all charitable undertakings.
     At the end of three years a great sorrow came to me,  which so affected me that it gave me congestion of the brain.  I resigned and went to Philadelphia to the Woman's Hospital.  After remaining there a while the doctors told me that I would have to undergo an operation, which was very dangerous, but which was my only hope of life.  I prayed then, and I made a vow to Almighty God that if he would spare my life I would devote it to his service, doing all I could for the sick, the afflicted and the poor.  He answered my prayer, and I set to work as soon as I left the hospital.  I first went to Maryland to teach, and staid there eight months among the people, whom I aided in every possible way.  Of my experiences there I will not stop to tell, as it would make this sketch too long.  But they were many and varied.
     After leaving Maryland I engaged with a Western publishing house to become a traveling agent.  I entered into the work, traveling from Trenton, N J., to Easton, Pa., where I found myself sick, unable to gain an agent, and not a dollar in the world.  For a while I was nonplussed.  I finally decided to go to the Methodist minister and ask his aid.  This I did, and he said to me:
     "I will aid you by allowing you to help yourself.  Can you sing?"
     "Yes," said I.
     "Can you recite?"

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     "Yes, sir."
     "And you can lecture?"
     "I have never tried to lecture," said I, "but I suppose I might?"
     "You shall try to-morrow night," said he, " in my church."
     This was Saturday.  True to his word, on Sunday night he gave me the stand and I lectured.  Well, it was a success.  Then this good brother, whose name was F. F Smith, said to me:  "Now, to-morrow night you may sing and recite; and never be it said hereafter that you, with the brain that you possess, are left without a dollar.  Start out in the lecture field, and let this book business alone."
     I did as he advised, and traveled as a lecturer from then on, receiving favorable comments from the press and from such men as Bishops Turner, Lee, Dr. Coppin, and others.  I lectured and visited the sick until I reached Winchester, Va., where I remained five months, working as a missionary in the Free Will Baptist Church.  I accomplished much good in that community, and there decided that my life work was to be that of a missionary.  I therefore hastened to New Jersey, joined the conference, and became a missionary, or evangelist, in the A. M. E. church.  I felt that my work lay in visiting the prisons and places of ill repute.  This I did in God's name, traveling from place to place, lecturing and preaching, until I again found myself in Raleigh, N. C.  I arrived there just in time to attend the Southern Exposition, and to make a speech before the N. C. I. A. on the exposition grounds, which was said to excel any made by the men, although Gov. Pinchback and Congressman Cheatham were among the speakers.  This speech was made on the 5th day of November, 1891, and on the 18th of November I met Rev. A. B. Cooper, a promising young minister of the A. M. E. church, and married him on the 13th day of January, just three days before I had ended seven years of widowhood.
     So you see my life has been a romantic and an eventful one.  1 would tell you many things more of my life and adventures

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in the South were it not that it would make this too long.  I am now engaged in writing a book of poems, which I purpose
to finish in '93.                                          ADA A. COOPER.
     Washington, N. C.

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