days with those presented in these brighter days; if from the contents of this volume the young women of our race shall gather a single ray of hope and encouragement which will enable them to stem the tide and become women of usefulness and distinction, honored of men and blessed of God, then this barque (book) shall have accomplished one of the objects of its mission.
Again, there have been a great many untrue things said by a part of the Southern press that have been against the best interests of the race. The Northern traveler through the South has also quite often gathered information at railway stations and from other unreliable sources, which has been given to the world through a part of the Northern press, greatly to the detriment of the race. From these sources the womanhood of the race has suffered great and unmerited injustice when taken as a whole. If by reading the content; of this volume a contradiction can be justly established and thereby we can reclaim some of the prestige we have been thus caused to lose, then another important object of this mission shall have been accomplished. It is quite evident that the world has not as yet learned to fully appreciate the extent to which mind and character have been and can be developed in the women of this race.
"Great statesmen govern nations,
Kings mould a people's fate;
But the unseen hand of velvet
These giants regulate.
