Page:Rowland--In the shadow.djvu/325

 of his place; so lost, bewildered, dazed, blinded by the light of a glittering white world!

"And the remedy? There can be in the nature of things no immediate remedy, for the only true remedy is time—time and infinite patience. The negro must be led upward, step by step, in the clear light of religion and education. He is from us a thing apart, a brother perhaps, but an infant brother, and as such I do not think that he is entitled to a seat in the conference of those of us who are his seniors in evolution. He is our care, our responsibility, and our racial inferior. In this great country of light, these things are coming to be known; the halls of learning are open to him, he is kindly entreated to enter and hear Truth; and that sweet religion which has been from its birth the greatest civilizing influence in the history of the world is imparted to him by wise lips.

"And the mulatto with these others who by virtue of fractional quantities of negro blood still dwell in the shadow? Once before, if you remember, I offended your sense of fitness by advocating the washing out of the yellow with the white. This is constantly being done, but not fairly, because the offspring of immorality come into the world with a heavy handicap. This washing out appears to me to be legitimate and just. When the White steps down from his higher pedestal and mates with the Black who is beneath him, then does the White become responsible for the result of his degeneration. The mulatto is the white man's shame, not the poor black woman's. It is just that the white race should accept the burden.

"Ach! But the remedy for all is time; time and 315