But wise self-reliance is as rare among an ignorant people as conceit and folly are abundant. One part of the problem before us is to develop manly courage. Slavery cut the hamstrings of independence and sapped very manhood. As a rule the negro is not certain of his rights nor is he heroic in maintaining them. He has long been habituated to wrong, and the passive virtues have become disproportionate. From the days of the Cyrenian he has ever borne the cross, and naturally his back is bent and his knees are weak. Probably there is no other man in this country who can be wronged with such impunity and success as the negro. He is outraged in business, in society and in politics. He knows his wrong, but he does not know of his power to repel it. He needs a manly self-reliance, and that he must have or he will always be victimized. As Franklin said, “If we make sheep of ourselves the wolves will have us.” It is true the virtue needed is largely moral. Scholarship alone cannot give it, but scholarship is a prime ingredient. The step of one walking in darkness is of necessity halting and hesitant. The higher education is essential to that higher courage without which right and privilege are insecure. (3.) The negro needs well-trained leaders and they must come from his own people. Race prejudice is an uncomfortable fact, and there are two sides to the color line. The Moses of the future cannot, in general, be an Egyptian, whether teacher, preacher or politician. But the future Moses will need all the learning of Egypt. A task is before him. The Red Sea indeed has been passed and God is going before. But the wilderness is simply terrible, and many are falling by the way. Leaders must be trained, and to do this is now our chief work. Every regiment certainly needs a competent colonel, and among every one thousand men there surely ought to be one well bred and well read, broad and thoughtful and scholarly, trained to thought, enriched with varied knowledge, and able either to cope with men or to grapple with difficulties. By this meager percentage, seven thousand liberally trained men are needed for the nearly seven million Africans in our country. We conclude then, that while all should have the lower education, a great many should receive the higher. Every man may need silver, but the best commerce of the world requires that some should also have gold, and a good deal of it. * * * * * SOME CHANGE NEEDED. We publish the following as evidence of the necessity for Congregational Churches among the colored people. There are some kinds of religion from which intelligent people wish to get away. Of these kinds it can be truthfully said that a “special religious interest” is not a blessing.--ED.