24 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



But how of the evil ? No sincere man looking into the depths of 

 his own soul, or at the facts of the world around, can doubt that along^ 

 with much that is good, generous, wise, and right, there is much that 

 is bad, base, foolish, and wrong. If logic compels us to receive as an 

 axiom a good author for the former, does not the same logic equally 

 compel us to accept the axiom that the author of the latter must have 

 been one who " first had it in himself to give " ? That is, we must 

 accept the theory of a God who is half good, half evil ; or adopt the 

 Zoroastrian conception of a universe contested by an Ormuzd and 

 Ahriman, a good and evil principle, whose power is, for the present 

 at any rate, equally balanced. 



From this dilemma there is no escape, unless we give up altogether 

 the idea of an anthroi^omorphic deity, and adopt frankly the scientific 

 idea of a First Cause, inscrutable and past finding out ; and of a uni- 

 verse whose laws we can trace, but of whose real essence we know 

 nothing, and can only suspect or faintly discern a fundamental law 

 which may make the polarity of good and evil a necessary condition 

 of existence. This is a more sublime as well as more rational belief 

 than the old orthodox conception ; but there is no doubt that it re- 

 quires more strength of mind to embrace it, and that it appears cold 

 and cheerless to those who have been accustomed to see special provi- 

 dences in every ordinary occurrence, and to fancy themselves the spe- 

 cial objects of supernatural supervision in all the details of daily life. 

 Hopes and fancies, however, are powerless against facts ; and the 

 world is as surely passing from the phase of orthodox into that of 

 scientific belief as youth is passing into manhood, and the planet 

 which we inhabit from the fluid and fiery state into that of temperate 

 heat, progressive cooling, and final extinction as the abode of life. In 

 the mean time, what can we do but possess our souls in patience, follow 

 truth wherever it leads us, and trust, as Tennyson advises, that in the 

 long run everything will be for the best, and " every winter turn to» 

 spring " ? 



TWENTY YEAES OF NEGKO EDUCATION. 



By J. M. KEATING. 



T' 



UIE negro is no longer a problem. He is part of the body politic 

 and the body social of the republic. He is firmly rooted and 

 can not be moved. He is here to stay ; and any attempt to disturb 

 him, or to excite his fears as to his right to life, liberty, and the pur- 

 suit of happiness, is nothing less than a crime. 



A question touching the negro, like any other, must be considered 

 from this common-sense stand-point, and every suggestion for its solu- 

 tion must be subjected to the probing and searching "What good?'* 



