THE MARROW OF TRADITION, excerpt

"Was it not , after all, a wise provision of nature that had given to a race, destined to a long servitude and a slow emergence therefrom , a cheerfulness of spirit which enabled them to catch pleasure on the wing, and endure with equanimity the ills that seemed inevitable ? The ability to live and thrive under adverse circumstances is the surest guaranty of the future. The race which at the last shall inherit the earth--the residuary legatee of civilization --will be the race which remains longest upon it. The Negro was here before the Anglo-Saxon was evolved, and his thick lips and heavy-lidded eyes looked out from the inscrutable face of the Sphinx across the sands of Egypt while yet the ancestors of those who now oppress him were living in caves, practicing human sacrifice , and painting themselves with woad--and the Negro is here yet. "'Blessed are the meek ,' quoted Miller at the end of these consoling reflections, 'for they shall inherit the earth.' If this be true, the Negro may yet come into his estate, for meekness seems to be set apart as his portion." P. 512, " A Journey Southward," THE MARROW OF TRADITION by Charles W. Chestnutt (1901, 2002)