The praises of the faithful black nurses of the South have long
been sung, but it has remained for Texas to be the first State
to formally recognize their worth. The citizens of Galveston
have inaugurated a movement to erect and dedicate a monument
to the old negro “mammy” of the South. It is planned to build
a marble monument of appropriate design to cost $500,000,
nearly half of which is already pledged. Resolutions concerning
the plan pay this tribute: “Rapidly passing from the stage of
events in the South are the few remaining representatives of
one of the grandest characters which the history of the world
records. Indeed, so high above all chronicles of pure, unselfish
and unfaltering devotion, noble self-sacrificing and splendid
heroism do they stand that they may be almost denominated a race
in themselves.” This is all much to the credit of Galveston and
Texas. But would it not be better to erect, not a monument of
marble, but an equally enduring memorial in the form of some
splendid philanthropic institution for the uplift of the black
race? Or a great hospital to care for suffering blacks? The
tribute would then be both beautiful and useful.--_Christian
Work._
(2186)