on such occasions there is much that comes to the surface that is superficial and deceptive, but I have had experience enough not to be deceived by signs and fleeting enthusiasms. I have takes pains to go to the bottom of things and get facts, in a cold, business-like manner.
I have seen the statement made lately, by one who claims to know what he is talking about, that, taking the whole Negro race into account, ninety per cent of the Negro women are not virtuous. There never was a baser falsehood uttered concerning a race, or a statement made that was less capable of being proved by actual facts.
No one can come into contact with the race for twenty years, as I have done in the heart of the South, without being convinced that the race in constantly making slow but sure progress materially, educationally, and morally. One might take up the life of the worst element in New York City, for example, and prove almost anything he wanted to prove concerning the white man, but all will agree that this is not a fair test.
Early in the year 1897 I received a letter inviting me to deliver an address at the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw monument in Boston. I accepted the invitation. It is not necessary for me, I am sure, to explain who Robert Gould Shaw was,
