An Independent, Illustrated Weekly Newspaper.
Volume 1. Number 45. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 16, 1897. Price 2 Cents.
l “ Tli e Most Un kindest Cut
oj all”
^ With an apology to Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
N There’s a time in life when nature seems
to take an etheral hue
When the storms of lite are rageing and
the skies have lost their blue,
4 When your best friends have de-ci ted and
their wrath are pouring down;
When your best girl only greets-you
il with a mean and cutting frown.
T f But there is still hope for ilus scribbler.
V There’s a balm for every wound,
Till a notice comes, “Jones has moved
^ j and his address is unknown.”
I -r
When lie’s just run oft’ the paper and day
hE break announces morn.
And lie’s feeling rather jaded and per
y J haps somewhat forlorn;
* ^ When tlie postman makes his visit, bring
* ing him the morning mail
And he gazes upon a postal and you
^ soe him turning pale.
) The cup of gall is liis reward; confidence
has been abused;
The reader has had the paper a year
^ and now marks it “llefused.”
-v
' r When the creditors have been pleading
j for the dollars they didn’t get,
And the “comps” begin a kicking
’ei use the “growler” isn’t wet,
Set aside that sorry feeling, wipe away
^ y o ur tears of gri ef;
Don’t suggest a funeral sermon, for its
' j- joys would be relief
As compared with those sad moments
when, right there before his view,
Was one subscription in a letter, and
4 he’s torn it all to-whew!
i I
II -V
I have endured lots of sorrow; I have
| suffered lots of pain;
Drained the dregs of ingratitude and
chewed the dregs again;
Built castles on fond hopes and love and
seen them reduced to wreck;
Had girls to say that they loved me,
then nearly break my neck.
But the terror of all these woes combined
are love’s gentlest lulabys—
And here my English, jingle and rhyme
gives entirely out when I attempt
to depict with any degree of accuracy
that-untellable-something which
fills your throat and bosom when you
receive a card (from one to whom you
have been sending a complimentary copy)
C asking, “Please discontinue.” The cli
J max rival to hell itself is only reached by
adding to this tlie fact that you once
loved her and even later respected and
^ honored her memory. The ingrate’s dag
ger leaves only breath for Ceasar’s cry—
“Et tu Brute. ”
^ f Respectrully dedicated and
donated to the one it fits.
T. P. Raw lings
What Does It Matter?
What does it matter,
If the world is wrong,
And the dark clouds gather,
And the winds are strong?
What does it matter
If the heart is faint,
Fiom its strifes and its battles,
And the world’s foul taint?
What does it matter
If you’ve lived in a dream,
And wake to discover
The illusions you’ve seen!
What does it matter
If your loved ones die,
And your fond hopes vanish
As you twinkle your eye!
What does it matter
If the sun never shines,
And your frame slowly weakens,
And surely declines.
What does it matter
So the soul keeps clean;
And the mind and the conscience
Are calm and serene?
Eloies Bibb.
Il ' ' A MATTER OF TATERS.
Hodge: "Well, sir, as you was say
lid in& in yer sermon on Sunday them
there common taters [commentators]
2^ didn’t agree with you, I thought I’d
bring you a few of these ’ere to try."
—Sketch.
1 iii!iftfll\ -r i
Milwaukee Matters
News of the Cream City,
Gathered and Conden
sed for the Benefit of
our Thousands of
Readers.
Youngest son of Mr. and Mrs
A. G. Burgetta died last week*,
the burial services were held
from the house. Rev. Higgins
officiating.
Mrs. A. L. Hurron is on the
sick list.
Mr.J. J. Miles has returned
from Chicago.
The Foor.ball team, is improv
ing daily.
The ladies of St. Mark’s are
planing to have a Fair in the
near future.
The St. Marks literary society
had its annual election of off
icers the 14th. inst.
Mrs Coleman of Chicago Ills is
visting her son Mr. A. H. And
erson, of 184 8th.
Misses Gertrude Beatrice Reese
of Waukesha was in our city,
Tuesday.
Mrs. Logan Davis, of Racine
made a visit to* our city last
week, the guest of her daughter
Mrs. Chas. Bell, 1246 Burleigh
Steet.
Master Oliver Harper, left
Sunday for Chicago where he
will spend a few da\rs.
Master Auther Reese of Wau
kesha, spent Sunday in our city.
Mr Rollin B. Johnson, left for
cP'
a few weeks visit to Chicago,
Duluth and other points.
Those who attended St.
Marks church Sunday evening
were treated to an excellent
discourse. Rev. Higgens is an
admirable man and evervone
seems so well pleased: the fact
was demonstrated Sunday eve
and we are sure he is to be a
favorite, we wish him success
in his good work.
The Chiistian Endeavor had
a splendid lesson Sunday eveing
but the attendance was small.
President Mrs. R. Anderson is
sued call for members to attend.
GEO. BLAND.
Minstrels at Illinois Danc
ing Academy.
One of the events to go on the
history for the coming season
was the minstrel and ball given
at Arlington hall Friday eve
ning Oct. 8th., under the direc
tion of Prof. J. J. Martin.
The audience was small but
an appreciative one. Prof. Mar
tin’s dancing school is increas
ing every week. From the way
things look now the record in
attendance will break that of
any dancing school ever in Chi
cago.
Among those who deserve
special mention are, Mathew
Brothers, acrobats; Masters
Leggens and Alix, song and
dance artists; Miss Ida Forcen,
whose singing is so soft and
sweet, spell bound the audience
Mr. Clift Johnson was business
manager.
The Following Clipping
From the Daily News
Needs No Comment.
The Alton Authorities.
The race war in Alton has broken out
afresh and the city authorities are about
to adopt heroic measures to put it down.
This race war, be it kuown, is caused by
colored children attending public schools
with white children, a very grave ofliense
—one might say criminal offense.
According to the report sent to the
daily papers the city authorities have be
come provoked with the colored people
and their persistence in sending their
children day after day where they know
they will not be permitted to enter, and
unless they desist within the next two
days the parents of the children who per
sist in coming will be arrested upon
charges of encouraging the children in
their obstinacy and “inciting disturbances
of the peace.”
The city charter oi Alton provides that
no man shall be a city authority who is
not thirty-five feet high and whose head
cannot be used as the dome of the town
hall if necessary. His brain must weigh
eighty-five pounds and contain 1,000
thought cells to the ounce. He must
know everything and be able to say it
backward. His bump of indignation
must be abnormally deleveloped and cap
able of being provoked on the slightest
provocation. He should he able to sus
pend the constitution, arrest the course
of human events and turn the hand of
time back thirty-seven years at a jump.
The powers delegated by the charter to
an Alton authority are broad and com
prehensive. He can suspend the habeas
corpusact, rascind the civil-rights act,
deny the right of trial by jury and com
mand the sun to stand still if it attracts
more attentson than he does. He can
also stretch himself until he is 205 feet high
and increase his volume until he has
more weight than public opinion.
If the parents of colored children know
their business they will not provoke the
city authorities of Alton. Than to do
this it would be far better either to kill
off their children or,rear them in ignorance
1Re$ro ©roarcss
What He has Accom- I*
plished Since His
Emancipation.
Facts and Figures.
In 30 years they have wiped
out 40 per cent of their illiter
acy; have 40.000 students in
the higher institutions of learn
ing. 30,000 negro teachers, 20r
000 youths learning trades,
1,200 pursuing classicalcourses
1,200 pursuing scientific courses
1.000 pursuing business courses
17.000 graduates, 250,000
volumes in libraries, valued at
$500,000: 156 normal schools,
colleges end universities in the
South; 500 negro doctors. 200
lawyers, 300 books by negro
authors, 3 banks, 400 news
papers, 4 magazines, $10,000,
000 in school property, $20,- f|
000 in church property, 130,- “ ■
000,000 in farms, $60,000,000
in personal property.
Races, like individuals have n
mission. The same divinity
that shapes the end of individ
ual life presides over the des
tinies of races. That the Egypt
ian, Babylonian, Greecian and
Roman contributed distinctive
elements to the tivilizdtion that " *
has given them such an eminent
position in the annals of the
world, no student of history
would dare to deny; that each
stamped its own individuality
apon its contemporaries and
handed down to posterity its
own accomplishments, must
also be conceded; that the high
est development ot these racial
powers has given man a nobler
estimate of his predecessors and
is regarded as a splendid evi
dence of their nobility of life and
character, worthy the emula
tion of generations yet unborn,
will also be admitted. Race
lines are almost as old as hu
manity and in the economy of
God are essential to the dev
elopment of the divine plan. If
they are accidental the end
accomplished is providential,
for it is truthfully said of them,
“In him we live and move and
have our continual being.”
God affected through Israel
what he did not attempt
among any other people. This
is historically true, w<ith every
race on the face of the earth.
The American negro as a mem
ber of the human family is not
unlike other people, so far as he
is affected by the divine purpose
His history in America is as
providential as it is eventful.
He is a part of a great whole,
an element in a potential sys
tem. Just as other races have
left their impress upon the
world so must he. All civilizing
forces that touch and mould
him are intended to be produc
tive of these results, and he is
set down in history as a suc
cess or a failure as he does or
does not arise to the best use of
his opportunities. A people
with the magnificient mental
and physical powers, supple
(Continued on 3rd Page)
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