The unparalleled progress that we have made reminds me of the progress of a great river. Take for example the Mississippi. How small it is when it issues from Lake Itasca, away up at its headwaters in Minnesota. It is of truth very small indeed, when it begins its journey to the sea. But the river advances boldly upon its long way, and keeps on and on, and still on, while every now and then a branch comes flowing in, now on the right hand, now on the left, sometimes nothing but a small rivulet, then a large and swelling stream. Thus the Mississippi still keeps advancing on mile after mile on its journey, till the great Ohio swells its waters, and then the greater Missouri comes rolling down from the Rocky Mountains, and now the Mississippi is growing large, indeed—yes, very large. And here comes the Arkansas and the Red River, with many smaller streams from the east, and thus the mighty Mississippi, that began so small in Lake Itasca, has now reached the Crescent City, and whole fleets of ships can float upon its bosom before its great and swelling waters reach the Gulf of Mexico. And thus it is with the advancement that has already been made by the colored race along the whole line. We began, indeed, very small in the year 1865, when the war closed, and the appliances of education and improvement were put into our hands. But here is the year 1902, and, like the Mississippi river, we have advanced far, very far upon our way; and yet we have by no means attained the goal of our expectations, by any means, but great changes are under way, and we are still advancing. Many travelers have left it on record how they turned round upon the ever-ascending mountain way to mark progress, and see how far they had come. Then with fresh resolution they again turned their faces to the road that still lay before and above them, and that with renewed interest and courage. I don’t know how it may be with anybody else, but as I am now about sixty years of age, I am at times given to look back, and to muse not only over all the way the Lord has led me, but also how He has led the entire race in my own days. The rising generation knows little of the thoughts and feelings, and the sufferings of their fathers and mothers on their way to freedom, and the present happy condition of things. But I am like that mountain traveller of whom I have just spoken, and I sit at times and muse and muse upon the tremendous excitement all over the North on the slavery question, and how the Abolitionists demanded freedom, and the South would not listen to any such thing. Then my mind runs back to Fred. Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, and all those heroes and heroines who fought the good cause of liberty, and were faithful unto the end. We were in for a great and stirring time.