THE HESPERIAN
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tlio jury. Tho prisoner at tho bar was black,
not white. To review the case, tho prison
er, shackled, was long ago shipped across
the seas. Tho indictment brought against
him was "Black, not human." Tho court
instructed tho jury to so find. They did so.
Their sentence was uHurd labor without
hope." A slave, he begins his sentence.
As he toils on, sympathizers argue a new
trial. Voices long silent awake and take up
the cry of justice to tho slave. Again the
court meets. Abraham Lincoln is the judge.
Ho reverses tho former decision and pro
nounces tho prisoner a man. A demurrer
was filed, but overruled at Appomattox. He
is a mftn and there can be no more contro
versy over that point. Freedom inflates his
lungs and runs in his veins. He begins to
work out his destiny. God go with him.
Again ho stands at your bar in silence, a
criminal, charged with trying to bo a man,
with trying to do what tho court granted him
power to do. I ask the prisoner one ques
tion, uDo you waive the judgment gained by
Lincoln and affirmed at Appomattox?" His
answer comes most emphatically, "ldo not."
The negro believes that all men are created
equal, and that this nation shall have a now
birth. He wishes to maintain his equality.
We have at the bar, the same slave who was
there before. Men may change, but princi
ples never. I lay my case before the young
generation; you must render the verdict.
rJ'he negro does not claim social equality with
tho white race. Ho never did. If tho defend
ant is your inferior socially, why! Because ho
has always been a slave or subject to tho
lowest forms of society. Wo are to blame
for his condition. Tho negro believes a
nation derives its powers from tho consent
of the governed, ho believes in equal pay for
equal labor, a fair field and a fair chance.
He asks for nothing morn and will take
nothing less for ho is a man. It is for this
jury to say whether justice will como as the
whirlwind or earthquake, or in peace os a
soothing benediction.
The judges were, on manuscript: Wil
liam R. Harper, Chicago, Illinois; David
S. Jordan, Palo Alto, California; John P.
Malum, Abilene, Kansas.
On delivery: Fred S. Hasslcr, Pawnee
City; Rov. 0. II. Scott, Hastings; Summer.,
Lincoln.
First place was awarded to T. E. Wing,
N. S. U.; second place to A. Turner, N.
W. U.
A report from tho secretary, since the con
test, says a mistake was made and F. W.
Dean, of Doano, won second.
Rah forN. S. U.l
Analytics of Literature
How is it that the mere arrangement of
certain arbitrary black symbols in groups
upon tho printed page becomes capable of
producing in the human mind all tho effects
of intense joy, anger, or grief ? Most peo
ple are content, to accept the sensations
without further inquiry. But those who at
tempt any investigation of the process in
volved find themselves baflled at every turn.
Tho apparent cause is so entirely dispropor
tionate to the effect. Tho elements that must
bo supplied beyond tho visible cause are so
subtile that they elude all analysis. The
chain of connection to be established be
tween the printed page and the emotional
or intellectual experience seems so intermin
able. So many unknown quantities enter
into and complicate tho equation that its so
lution becomes a matter of no little difficulty.
As well known a writer as Edmund Clarence
Stedman, in his lectures, recently, on The Na
ture and Elements of Poetry, judiciously
avoided tho point at issue by the lucid state
ment that poetry was a mysterious force akin
to tho force's of nature.
Tho latest attempt to solve this mystery of
poetry is tho Analytics of Literature by
Prof. Sherman of this University, to appear
in a few days from tho press of Ginn &
Company. The Analytics finds in experi
once one of the ultimate sources of poetic
power. From tho biological point of view
Analytics ot Literature, a Manual tor the Objective
Study ot English Prose and Poetry, by L A. Sherman,
Professor in the University of Nebraska. Boston:
Ginn & Company, 1892.
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