The organ of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, O. [Ohio]) 1852-1853, 1852-02-13

a singular ambition to employ esquiPedaliaR
words, whether they understand their meaning,
or whether they'nayeany; or not. II they can |
string four or five syllables together, they are
delighted. II they are not undei stood, it proves
their learning. They never omit an opportuni- |
ty to 'let Off few of these choice sounds,
whenever they observe a respectable-looking |
white man going by. They not unfrequently |
Join four or five substantives together, which Is |
a phraseology peculiar to themselves, aud which,
according to the grammar they studied, is per- |
fectly correct. How they grin, when they have |
been prosperous in an effort Of the kind, and
how they imagine their education is appreciated
Look heeyah, Mr.. POmey Augustus, says
Saraphiua Blackblossom: ''does you runs aboard
de river noWi"
ooh, yes, my dear Miss Starlip, | does. No,
no, I'se mistaken dar; | does not. To speak
most properly de bullgine Of de aqueous proPel-
| Ter on which / enlisted my services disploded,
and obfuscated de principal perifunctum OF de
steam; so l was compliged to abdicate in favor
Of another colOred gentleman Of less lrefum-
gumshun but more transcumdental impuditer-
euce dan dis here child"
"Oh, la, now, MIR, Augustus. bow you does
ltalkl Your splendidest conversation powers is
quite overpowering to dis niggas dibulescent
sensibilities. You is decidedly tractibistible
colored gentleman; any ybody would really sup
pose you had been born in a gramendous col.
lege."
Such is the conversation between the knights
of the sable complexion and their tender Dull
cineas. Ridiculous and inccnpreheusible though
such jargon be, it is almost laughsble when EN-
bellished with the airs and aifectation Of
the negroes themselves. A little nonsense
now and then is not disrelished by even the wi
sest. Bucktown fairly turns itself out Of door,
when the weather proves attractive. Wash tubs
and white buckets enjoy holiday, and
their presiding spirits assemble al the windows
and on the corners to smoke, laugh, and talk,
as if they had no thought of future labor. They
then forget the fatiguing hours before them,
and enter into any sort Of enjoyment with as
much zest as if they owned the Western hem
isphere. If man thinks he does, or even for
gets the future, he is wealthy beyond measure.
Is he not?
The interior Of the negro habitations present
oftentimes favorable contrast to the dingy and
unprepossessing exterior. Though the apart.
ments are small, and few in number, yet are
they at times scrupulously clean, and furnished
with a strainiug after taste, that is fattering to
the motive rather than the exercise Of the tac-
ulty. Cheap pictures, in brilliant colors, repre-
senting distinguished or notorious characters,
who would institute suit for libel could they
behold their distorted imsges-hang in profu-
sion about the walls. Small figures Of stone or
wax, that look indescribable, deck the mantel.
piece, and two or three cages of birds, with dis.
cordant throats, the corners Of the room. Sey-
7 eral young darkies are crawling or running
about the room, while an elderly woman with
flatiron in her hand, and a shirt before her, is
singing away as merrily as a lark.
Other tenements there are that are squalid
with filth and wretchedness. Scarcely an en-
tire article Of furniture remains in the ROOM
Chairs without backs tables without legs, bed
steads without bedding. are huddled together,
and render the place more desolatC to the eve
than would even complete vacancy. To finish
the picture, a man and woman with perhaps two
children lie upon the bare and dirty floor, in a
beastiy state Of inebriety, parents and offspring
all reduced to the same actual as we'll as moral
parallel by the great leveler, Rum. There they
pass hours in drunken sleep, not even curse
breaking the horrible stiffness. One Of the be-
sotted parents rises at last and seizes upon some
small article of furniture to pawn at the nearest
grocery for qu-rt Of alcohol After drinking
! Luls1 nc llll5 bAC ubioOlAO plubp WIN MS lOuu
blashphemies, breaks whatever comes within his
reach, beats his wife, and kicks his children. -
Oaths, screams, and cries Of pain and fury join
then exhaustion and drowslness succeed, and
all sink into quiet and damning rest again.-
Have such creatures sOulsi
Yet other abodes there are, Of loathsome pros.
tuition aud deeper degradation still where
blacks and whites-the refuse Of both sexes
gamble, drink, disgrace, the basest lust, riot,
grow mad, until death rids the world Of NOV
ing pestilences. Who woHld not shudder at
sight Of these infamous dens and more Infamous
inmatesi Alas who knows, that sits within
a peaceful, pleasant home, what is the world
without and what ia .naR' within! The knowl.
edge surely brings not that content OF mind, or.
rather, resignation to what we are, without
which, life--is life. What that is, each must
answer for himself.
Night gathers upon Bucktown-darkness up
on darkness-but all is not still. At the hour
Of midnight, cracked violin pours its broken
music through that shattered window, save
when drowned by boisterous laughter and un-
natural riot that grow louder and more frequent,
as the shades Of Obscurity steal towards the COM
ing day. The hour, the place, the noise and
its strangeness, create in the soul feeling al
most akin to dread, certainly to disagreeable-
ness Visions of stories, read in our youthful
days BY ilickering candles, Of the Devil and his
impS holding their dreary orgies, peep in upon
our brain. If his Satanic majesty wished 10 en-
Joy a dance he has most assuredly chosen a fit
ting time and place. But let US see, what is
this gathering-of Heaven or He'll! Come, let
US unravel the enigma
IMAGINATION frames events unknown
In wild, fantastic shapes OF hldeous ruin,
And what it fears, creates.
SAYS Hannah More; so let US go.
We enter that half opened door, and at first
conclude our misgivings as to supernatural pow
ers have interpreted truly. Upon the floor Of
room falling rapidly to decay, are nearly
twenty dancers, (if such disgusting and abomi.
nable gyrations as theirs eau be called dancing)
white, yellow black and brown. The atmOs.
phere is reeking with fotid OdOr as disagreea-
BILE as Undesirable. The vilest Of the vile
strumpets Of the town, the lowest thieves, wharf
rats, and outcast loafers, who sleep in board
yards, are associated in one repulsive throng
and eRjOyiRg themselves as none could but hOary
and rapid sinners, lost to everything but worse
than brutal pleasures. The pestilential liquid
they have dosed out to them by that old negro
with one arm, and one eye, that burns like the
fiery orb Of Poll pheme; the contact Of rum
blistered lips with the diseased ebon flesh Of a
drunken negress; and the lecherous conduct ol
sable and paler partners, are too disgusting for
animadverson or our own delay. Vice itseli
would shudder, if let fall into such plague Of
corruption. With a violent Nausea more at the
heart than elewhere, we steal from one Of the
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