Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/298

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274
THE NEGRO

enjoy exceptionally good health. The lady of the M. E. Mission remarked to me a few weeks ago that she has not been confined to bed from fever or any bad effects of the climate one day since she has been in the country. She has a large and thriving school at Krootown, about ten minutes' walk from her residence, and she can be seen every day, Sunday not excepted, going to her post of duty. White foreigners who come here for the purpose of trade go to work at once, not thinking a moment about fever or the climate, and the consequence is that they invariably succeed in not only living in the climate, but in making money also. Why Some Are Dissatisfied " On the other hand, many of the emigrants sent out by your society nowadays idle away their time while they have health and strength, making no prepa- ration whatever for the future, but seem to think that they are in a land where work is not necessary to com- fort and happiness. They continue in idleness until their six months' supplies are exhausted, and the so- ciety declines to furnish them with more, then they become dissatisfied with the country and climate and seek to return to their former homes. " We want you to send us stout-hearted and willing men possessing the spirit of the Pilgrims who settled the United States of North America — men who love freedom more than the ' flesh pots of Egypt,' and who are willing to labor and endure all the hardships of a new and growing country that their posterity may be benefited and become a great nation in their ' father- land.' " The misrepresentations of the African climate have been as gross as those often made of the people, and you will find, when the so-called facts given by prejudiced and misguided persons are stripped of the fiction m which they are dressed, that no more and no less can be said of the Liberian climate than can be said of the climate of Georgia, my native State." That the various countries of Europe and other