into the school-room, provided by generous friends of the North and finally by the states. They studied hard in school and out of school. They have been forced to be students of public affairs and public men. Their opportunities, their studies, and their training, have given them both character and position in their respective communities, They are universally recognized as men of ability and worth. They are editing our newspapers, teaching our schools, filling our pulpits, pleading our causes, healing our diseases, advocating our rights, handing us out goods, building our houses; indeed, filling every vocation in our busy and complicated life. They have sprung up everywhere, and are capable, energetic, and aspiring. I am writing from knowledge and observation. I see about me what I have written. I have traveled in other sections, and seen and noted the same. If our party and our friends are to know what we are and where we are, they cannot afford to ignore these facts. If they are to deal with us justly and fairly, they must neither shut their eyes to the truth nor suffer themselves to be deceived by a perversion of the truth. I have often been surprised at the ignorance which prevails at the North, in regard to the political, material, social, and religious condition of the negro. It does not seem possible for people who live so near us to have such mistaken views, and yet it is true. Our condition is bad enough, without exaggeration. We have burdens enough to bear, without suffering from the mistaken views of those who ought to help and encourage us."
Mr. Franklin discusses the famous Dortch bill, introduced in the Tennessee Legislature, and does it from the most encouraging stand-point, claiming that the bill will redound to the intellectual benefit of the race. In another issue he comments in a vigorous way upon the opinions in The New York Independent on Dr. A. G. Haygood's answer to Senator Eutice's letter in The Forum, expressing himself in this wise
