RIGHT THINKING.                     577

It makes me have "that tired feeling" to hear an ignoramus
who doesn't know the pons asinorum from the rule of three
talking about the ignorance of the race and wondering how to
remedy it. The way to overcome ignorance in the race is for
each one in it to make the charge false as far as he is concerned.
"Charity begins at home" runs the old saw. And the best
way for everyone to help the race is to help himself first. I
had a man the other day telling me how to get rich. I listened
patiently and attentively, for I confess to being one of Dame
Fortune's admirers and wishing for her to grant me one wild
caress
                 "Ere life's autumnal blossoms fall
                 And earth's brown, clinging lips impress
                 The long, cold kiss that waits us all."
  When he had  finished  I thanked him and asked him how
long it took him to get wealthy by the means indicated.
With some confusion he admitted he had not tried it yet.
He was still poor. Well I bade him good-day!
                     "If talking were effective
                     There are scores and scores of men
                     Who'd move a mountain off its base
                     And move it on again."
  The way for the people to elevate the race is to do it as that
ancient city was cleansed--each one cleaning in front of his
own door.
  4. The educated man or woman is the effective man or
woman. Education should teach us how to grapple success-
fully with the problems of life. It is not what you know, but
what you can do, that counts. What profit would it be to a
fish to understand the art of navigating the air (flying) when
all his happiness depends on his ability to navigate the water
(swim)? Better become perfect in that first which you need
most. Many of our young folks have an idea that to get an
education means to learn to get a living without work. Of
course every old person knows better and so should every boy
and girl. Our schools should teach boys and girls that any
honest means of livelihood is honorable.




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 2

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  02
Date:  10/1911