The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-12-29
uChristnas at tho south.n

1nStant, h9s luguDrlous artlele un-
der the above caption, in which at
truly says that the contrast between
the Christmas Of to-day-that is,
speaking of the Southland the
Christmas before the war, will illus
trate the unhappy change which has
taken place in the fortunes of the
South. It used to be literally sea-
son of peace and good will. Slavery,
the Times says, then put on its holi-
day garb; there was feasting and
merry-making everywhere. The hos
pitality of the mansion was then
more bounteous than ever. The
bondsmen, for the time. forgot their
bondage, and for week gave them
selves up to the rollicking enjoyment,
in which Sambo distances all COM
petitors. Ii WAS week Of festtiiT;;ttyy
and fun, of visiting and receiving
visits, of absence from the care and
toll which composed the sum of fifty
one parts of every year. ~ '-
Such in brief is the picture of
"Christmasat the South" which the
Times rather truthfully presents.
But even this description fails to
convey the enjoyment and fun which
it was the privilege and immunity of
the slaves to 1h1uriate in during the
holidays. Christmas gifts from the
white folks; the furnishing of teams
to bring their years saving of pro-
duce to market; the real enjoyment
of the planters, In seeing and sharing
in the festivities of "their. people,
all contributed 70 the cementing of
the natural ties existing between the
master and his servants; and hap
pier set of laborers, and more con-
genial intermingling between the en-
ployers and thei9 employees, never
did exist in any country on the face
of the earth. This has all been swept
away-irrecoverably destroyed, and
we have left us in the South, nothing
but want, misery and destitution,
with distrust, fast ripening into bit
ter animosity between the two races,
which had lived so long happy to-
gether. Let the Times draw this
picture also:
"To-day the sombre reality of the
revolution which has been effected.
Will be felt in every portion of the
South. A merry Christmas will not
be known anywhere. There can be
no exchange of tine compliments of
the season which will not sound like
bitter mockery. Despair, or some
thing like it, reigns in the mansions,
and destitntion is supreme in the
novels. Grim poverty makes its
presence felt everywhere. Those who
were once rich find themselves me-
naced with want, and those who,
though always poor, were always
provided for, now find themselves
hungry and helpless. The bond of
sympathy that formerly held these
classes together may not be absolute
ly destroyed, but an ever-present
strain threatens its destruction, and
meanwhile the redeeming fruits of
the old relationship are seen no more.
Vague apprehension is on one side
demands that yield not to reason are
appearing on the other, Neither side
knows what is coming. The blacks
will not accept freedom as snbsti-
tute for food, and the whites are
fearful of the excesses to which
famlne.stricken ignorance not seldom
tends.
"Altogether, then, the Christmas
Day of 1857 will be a black day
throughout the Southern States.
Memories of the past will rise to
make it miserable; the gloom of the
present and the darkness of the
future will swell the volume of suffer
anS and -divest, the season of both
holiness and peace. For the freed
men. in many districts, the only de-
pendence is on the Burenu-the only
chance of living honestly is in the
line which leads to pauperism. For
the great body of the whites, espe-
cially in the cotton districts, there is
no hope except in magnanimity vet
undeveloped-no road to deliverance
but that which leads through the
DARK valley of degradation and