Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic
service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is
well to bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be
called to bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is
in the South that the Negro is given a man's chance in the
commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent
than in emphasizing this chance. Our greatest danger is that in
the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact
that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our
hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in
proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour and
put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall
prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the
superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life
and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is
as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at
the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should
we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.
To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of
foreign birth and strange tongue and habits of the prosperity of
the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own
race: "Cast down your bucket where you are.
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