He still remained in the South, for Minnie's grave had made the South to
him a sacred place, a place in which to labor and to wait until peace
like bright dew should descend where carnage had spread ruin around, and
freedom and justice, like glorified angels, should reign triumphant
where violence and slavery had held their fearful carnival of shame and
crime for ages. Earnestly he set himself to bring around the hour when
Peace, white-robed and pure, should move
O'er rifts of ruin deep and wide,
When her hands should span with lasting love
The chasms rent by hate and pride.
And he was blessed in his labors of love and faith.
Conclusion
And now, in conclusion, may I not ask the indulgence of my readers for a
few moments, simply to say that Louis and Minnie are only ideal beings,
touched here and there with a coloring from real life?
But while I confess (not wishing to mis-represent the most lawless of
the Ku-Klux) that Minnie has only lived and died in my imagination, may
I not modestly ask that the lesson of Minnie shall have its place among
the educational ideas for the advancement of our race?
The greatest want of our people, if I understand our wants aright, is
not simply wealth, nor genius, nor mere intelligence, but live men, and
earnest, lovely women, whose lives shall represent not a "stagnant mass,
but a living force.
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