Page:The Souls of Black Folk (2nd ed).djvu/76



Wilst Du Deine Macht verkünden,

Wähle sie die frei von Sünden,

Steh'n in Deinem ew'gen Haus!

Deine Geister sende aus!

Die Unsterblichen, die Reinen,

Die nicht fühlen, die nicht weinen!

Nicht die zarte Jungfrau wähle,

Nicht der Hirtin weiche Seele!

.

NCE upon a time I taught school in the hills of Tennessee, where the broad dark vale of the Mississippi begins to roll and crumple to greet the Alleghanies. I was a Fisk student then, and all Fisk men thought that Tennessee—beyond the Veil—was theirs alone, and in vacation time they sallied forth in lusty bands to meet the county school-commissioners. Young and happy, I too went, and I shall not soon forget that summer, seventeen years ago.