Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Debbie Stoddart, Diane Monico, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: AS IT ONCE WAS--THE LIFE OF A SLAVE.] SPARKLING GEMS OF RACE KNOWLEDGE WORTH READING. A COMPENDIUM OF VALUABLE INFORMATION AND WISE SUGGESTIONS THAT WILL INSPIRE NOBLE EFFORT AT THE HANDS OF EVERY RACE-LOVING MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD. ILLUSTRATED WITH SUPERB HALF-TONE ENGRAVINGS. COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY JAMES T. HALEY. SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION, PRICE, $1.25. "_Give attendance to reading._" (_1 Tim. iv. 13._) "_No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with good books. A book is better than sleep for weariness._" (_Henry Ward Beecher._) NASHVILLE, TENN.: J. T. HALEY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1897. DEDICATION. _To every Son and Daughter of the Race, whose noble aspirations are to do good and be good, This Little Volume Is Dedicated By the Compiler._ COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY J. T. HALEY & COMPANY. PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT. If, as Lord Bacon says, "reading makes a full man," then it behooves every one who has any aspirations to read. The negro is just passing, as it were, through the gateway that enters upon life's great work, and the publishers of this little volume are anxious to see our "brother in black" develop, both from an intellectual and a moral standpoint, and are ready to do what they can to stimulate the race on to still greater achievements than they have ever before accomplished. In launching "Sparkling Gems" we are simply putting forth to the world what we hope may, in some measure, instruct and encourage the colored people. We have compressed a vast amount of valuable race information into a small compass. The style of the work is good, and its moral tone is excellent. It can scarcely fail to profit every member of the race who will read it, hence it should be in every family, in every office, and in every library. It has been the earnest aim of the compiler to embody in these pages the latest conclusions of some of the most prominent Afro-American scholars on several of the mooted subjects pertaining to the race. We owe a debt of lasting gratitude to many of our friends who have so generously furnished us valuable assistance in the collection of _data_ for this volume, among whom we may mention W. B. Rust and T. B. Mears as among the most enthusiastic. Believing that there is a genuine need for such a work as we have produced, we offer it to our colored friends and their white friends, praying God's blessing upon it. THE PUBLISHERS. [Illustration: AS IT NOW IS--HOME OF A FREEMAN. Residence of R. R. Church, Memphis, Tenn., the wealthiest colored man in the state; estimated at $250,000.] CONTENTS. THE NEED OF NEW IDEAS AND NEW AIMS FOR A NEW ERA 11 The Status of the Family--The Conditions of Labor--Higher Plane of Morality. LAYING THE CORNER STONE 23