We must deal with circumstances as we find them, and not look backward, but forward and upwards. The negro race is a fixture in the South and will never die out, either by emigration to Liberia or from natural causes. It is susceptible of great improvement, and can be made largely conducive to the welfare and prosperity of the country.
The exercises over, President Ware, after a short, but singularly appropriate address, delivered the diplomas and certificates of scholarship to the fifteen graduates, remarking, that as they were printed in English they would not be in the predicament of some bachelors of arts who could not translate their own Latin diplomas. Thus ended the examinations and commencement of the Atlanta University.
We cannot, in all candor, pass on without again commending this institution to the good will and sympathy of the white people of Georgia. It is conducted upon proper and conservative principles. Its president and corps of instructors are honest, faithful and capable. Its pupils well behaved and exemplary. Its influence, we fully believe, will be for good to the African race, and it is to be hoped that the State will ever continue to bestow her patronage upon a foundation which is doing more than any other to elevate and bless the African race, which is destined to form an important element in the future politics and government of the country.
Lewis High School at Macon. Examinations and Entertainments.
It has been my happy privilege to visit this institution, after an absence of two years, and note the progress made by the pupils, as shown in the recent examinations and closing exercises of the school-year of 1878.
As a former teacher in the school, I was better able to judge of that progress than a stranger; and truly, looking back to those who were promising pupils then, but in lower classes, and seeing so many of them now in the highest class, and doing credit to themselves and teachers, is not only gratifying, but an encouragement to all who have taken an interest in the work here through all its vicissitudes. The school is now under the very able management of Rev. M. O. Harrington and wife, with Miss L. A. Abbott as assistant, and has ninety-three pupils enrolled. It is answering well the purpose of its establishment, viz.: To provide for colored pupils at Macon and surrounding places a higher education than the common-school, without the expense of going elsewhere.