AS IT ONCE WAS—THE LIFE OF A SLAVE.
SPARKLING GEMS
OF
RACE KNOWLEDGE WORTH READING.
A COMPENDIUM OF VALUABLE INFORMATION AND WISE
SUGGESTIONS THAT WILL INSPIRE NOBLE EFFORT AT
THE HANDS OF EVERY RACE-LOVING
MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD.
ILLUSTRATED WITH SUPERB HALF-TONE ENGRAVINGS.
COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY
JAMES T. HALEY.
SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION,
PRICE, $1.25.
"Give attendance to reading." (1 Tim. iv. 13.)
"No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding
them with good books. A book is better than sleep for weariness."
(Henry Ward Beecher.)
Nashville, Tenn.:
J. T. Haley & Company, Publishers.
1897.
DEDICATION.
To every Son and Daughter of the Race,
whose noble aspirations are to do good and be good,
This Little Volume Is Dedicated
By the Compiler.
Copyright, 1897, by J. T. Haley & Company.
PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT.
If, as Lord Bacon says, "reading makes a full man," then it behoovesevery one who has any aspirations to read.
The negro is just passing, as it were, through the gateway that entersupon life's great work, and the publishers of this little volume areanxious to see our "brother in black" develop, both from anintellectual and a moral standpoint, and are ready to do what they canto stimulate the race on to still greater achievements than they haveever before accomplished. In launching "Sparkling Gems" we are simplyputting forth to the world what we hope may, in some measure, instructand encourage the colored people. We have compressed a vast amount ofvaluable race information into a small compass. The style of the workis good, and its moral tone is excellent. It can scarcely fail toprofit every member of the race who will read it, hence it should bein every family, in every office, and in every library.
It has been the earnest aim of the compiler to embody in these pagesthe latest conclusions of some of the most prominent Afro-Americanscholars on several of the mooted subjects pertaining to the race.
We owe a debt of lasting gratitude to many of our friends who have sogenerously furnished us valuable assistance in the collection ofdata for this volume, among whom we may mention W. B. Rust and T. B.Mears as among the most enthusiastic.
Believing that there is a genuine need for such a work as we haveproduced, we offer it to our colored friends and their white friends,praying God's blessing upon it.
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