The following Sunday, when he received his paper, _The Herald_, an article spread over the front page, double column, caught his attention, and he read it through, as no doubt every one did, who was interested in civic welfare. It was another by the park commissioner, and was in regard to a park to be centrally located, and to be used exclusively for the use of the colored population of the city. In Effingham, there are perhaps a half dozen small and large parks, and all for white use exclusively. During the hot days of the long summer, black people must roast in their stuffy little homes, perhaps a fourth of which face alleys. Black children have no place to play, no place to exercise their little bodies, or give free vent to their desire for child play. Crime, therefore, is their greatest environment. Stealing is so bad in this city, that the druggist remarked to Wyeth one day, that if he should awaken at two A.M. and see a Negro pushing a box car up the street, not to become excited or even be surprised. Since he had been in Effingham, a man who lived to the rear of his abode, and who owned a horse and wagon, had, on three different occasions, and in less than two months, found it in a remote part of the city. It was tied to a tree or a fence, or maybe not tied at all. It was nothing uncommon. The horse was used to haul stuff that had previously been spotted and later stolen. It is this that the colored children see and become acquainted with in their alley homes, and which makes criminals of so many long before they are of age. The article by the park commissioner dealt with these conditions, as well as with the great amount of murder committed in the city. It was the desire, to locate a park near the heart of the city, so that these little children with the ebony faces, might find some relief from their alley homes, and in that way, help a little toward the discouragement of so much crime. The jail was overrun with both women and men prisoners; the funds for the purpose of building a larger jail was not forthcoming, so the city could do the least by giving these people some place of recreation.