I remember that the
first coloured man whom I saw who knew something about foreign
languages impressed me at the time as being a man of all others to be
envied.
Naturally, most of our people who received some little education
became teachers or preachers. While among those two classes there
were many capable, earnest, godly men and women, still a large
proportion took up teaching or preaching as an easy way to make a
living. Many became teachers who could do little more than write
their names. I remember there came into our neighbourhood one of this
class, who was in search of a school to teach, and the question arose
while he was there as to the shape of the earth and how he could teach
the children concerning the subject. He explained his position in the
matter by saying that he was prepared to teach that the earth was
either flat or round, according to the preference of a majority of his
patrons.
The ministry was the profession that suffered most -- and still
suffers, though there has been great improvement -- on account of not
only ignorant but in many cases immoral men who claimed that they were
"called to preach." In the earlier days of freedom almost every
coloured man who learned to read would receive "a call to preach"
within a few days after he began reading.
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