Preparedness
  Nothwithstanding the above magnificent re-
sults, the present need of the Negro is still
great. In order that what has already been
achieved may not be lost, and that ultimate
success may crown the efforts of the schools
and churches, the work must be carried on with
greater enthusiasm and energy and at larger
cost than ever before.  Thousands of young
people are knocking at the doors of our in-
stitutions, pleading for that preparation of
mind and heart that will fit them to help the
race still onward and upward into the larger
life of Christian manhood and womanhood,
which is the heritage of every child of God.
Educated ministers, teachers and Christian
leaders are sorely needed among the colored
people in all sections of the South. The pub-
lic schools are languishing for lack of
properly-trained teachers, and the village
and  country  churches  cry aloud for young
men and women sufficiently educated to
teach in the Sunday schools, and lead
the better example of Christian helpful-
ness before the masses, who are still ignorant
and backward and in need of training in the
simpler elements of moral manhood and wo-
manhood. The work already accomplished in
fifty years warrants the asurance that if con-
tinued, the progress in the next half century
will give to this race a further advance on the
road, which they have been so rapidly travel-
ing since their emancipation.

                     23




			

OHS Archives/Library Pamphlet Collection

Twelve Wise Men and What They Did for a Race: Schools of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church Brought Down to Date