William Benjamin Smith, perhaps the greatest scholar ever born on Kentucky soil, first saw the light at Stanford, Kentucky, October 26, 1850. Kentucky (Transylvania) University conferred the degree of Master of Arts upon him in 1871; and the University of GÖttengen granted him his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1879. Dr. Smith was professor of mathematics in Central College, Missouri, from 1881 to 1885, when he accepted the chair of physics in the University of Missouri. In 1888 he was transferred to the department of mathematics in
A SOUTHERN VIEW OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM [From The Color Line (New York, 1905)] It is idle to talk of education and civilization and the like as corrective or compensative agencies. All are weak and beggarly as over against the almightiness of heredity, the omniprepotence of the transmitted germ-plasma. Let this be amerced of its ancient rights, let it be shorn in some measure of its exceeding weight of ancestral glory, let it be soiled in its millenial purity and integrity, and nothing shall ever restore it; neither wealth, nor culture, nor science, nor art, nor morality, nor religion—not even Christianity itself. Here and there these may redeem some happy spontaneous variation, some lucky freak of nature; but nothing more—they can never redeem the race. If this be not true, then history and biology are alike false; then Darwin and Spencer, Haeckel and Weismann, Mendel and Pearson, have lived and laboured in vain. Equally futile is the reply, so often made by our opponents, that miscegenation has already progressed far in the Southland, as witness millions of Mulattoes. Certainly; but do not such objectors know in their hearts that their reply is no answer, but is utterly irrelevant? We admit and deplore the fact that unchastity has poured a broad stream of white blood into black veins; but we deny, and perhaps no one will affirm, that it has poured even the slenderest appreciable rill of Negro blood into Does some one reply that some Negroes are better than some Whites, physically, mentally, morally? We do not deny it; but this fact, again, is without pertinence. It may very well be that some dogs are superior to some men. It is absurd to suppose that only the elect of the Blacks would unite with only the non-elect of the Whites. Once started, the pamnixia would spread through all classes of society and contaminate possibly or actually all. Even a little leaven may leaven the whole lump. Far more than this, however, even if only very superior Negroes formed unions with non-superior Whites, the case would not be altered; for it is a grievous error to suppose that the child is born of its proximate parents only; it is born of all its ancestry; it is the child of its race. The eternal past lays hand upon it and upon all its descendants. However weak the White, behind him stands Europe; however strong the Black, behind lies Africa. Preposterous, indeed, is this doctrine that personal excellence is the true standard, and that only such Negroes as attain a certain grade of merit should or would be admitted to social equality. A favourite evasion! The Independent, The Nation, The Outlook, the whole North—all point admiringly to Mr. Washington, and exclaim: "But only see what a noble man he is—so much better than his would-be superiors!" So, too, a distinguished clergyman, when asked whether he would let his daughter marry a Negro, replied: "We wish our daughters to THE MERMAN AND THE SERAPH [From Poet-Lore (Boston, 1906)] I Deep the sunless seas amid, Far from Man, from Angel hid, Where the soundless tides are rolled Over Ocean's treasure-hold, With dragon eye and heart of stone, The ancient Merman mused alone. II And aye his arrowed Thought he wings As mirrored in his magic glass The lightning-footed Ages pass— And knows nor joy nor Earth's distress, But broods on Everlastingness. "Thoughts that love not, thoughts that hate not, Thoughts that Age and Change await not, All unfeeling, All revealing, Scorning height's and depth's concealing, These be mine—and these alone!"— Saith the Merman's heart of stone. III Flashed a radiance far and nigh As from the vortex of the sky— Lo! a maiden beauty-bright And mantled with mysterious might Of every power, below, above, That weaves resistless spell of Love. IV Through the weltering waters cold Shot the sheen of silken gold; Quick the frozen heart below Kindled in the amber glow; Trembling heavenward Nekkan yearned, Rose to where the Glory burned. "Deeper, bluer than the skies are, Dreaming meres of morn thine eyes are; All that brightens Smile or heightens Charm is thine, all life enlightens, Thou art all the soul's desire"— "Woe thee, Nekkan! Ne'er was given Thee to walk the ways of Heaven; Vain the vision, Fate's derision, Thee that raps to realms elysian, Fathomless profounds are thine"— Quired the answering voice divine. V Came an echo from the West, Pierced the deep celestial breast; Summoned, far the Seraph fled, Trailing splendours overhead; Broad beneath her flying feet, Laughed the silvered ocean-street. VI On the Merman's mortal sight Instant fell the pall of Night; Sunk to the sea's profoundest floor He dreams the vanished vision o'er, Hears anew the starry chime, Ponders aye Eternal Time. "Thoughts that hope not, thoughts that fear not, Thoughts that Man and Demon veer not, Times unending Comprehending, Space and worlds of worlds transcending, These are mine—but these alone!"— Sighs the Merman's heart of stone. |