Page:Negro poets and their poems (IA negropoetstheirp00kerl).pdf/209

Rh Don’t fawn up to another man And beg him for a job; Remember that your brain and his Were made by the same God. So use it boys, with all your might, With faith and courage too, And justify that wondrous faith Abe Lincoln had in you.

There are tragic stories of Negro aspirants for poetic fame that read like the old stories of English poets in London in the days when the children of genius starved and died young. As typical of not a few there is the story of James C. Hughes, of Louisville, Kentucky. The Louisville Times, March 10, 1905, contained his picture and an article by Joseph S. Cotter in appreciation of his compositions. “This young man,” writes Cotter, speaking of a collection of verses and prose sketches which Hughes then had ready for publication, “this young man has the essentials of the poet, and to me his work is interesting. It is serious, and preaches while it sings.”

To illustrate the range and quality of Hughes I will quote from this article two selections, one in prose and one in dialect verse: