The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-21

France, Germany, Holland and ENGLAND visited
The small farm of the Vosgean fishermen, TO oel
assured by personal observation OF the truth OF
the wonderful accounts which M Cose nan
given. The fishermen were invited 10 Parls;
Kenny was incapacitated for ravel IN c0nse-
quence of disease brought on by days and nieh's
of exposure in pursuit OF the secret OF lmpr eg'
mating ova, and only Gebin obeyed the sum
mons He went with Nj. Coste, and modestlJ,
speaking in his provincial patois detailed the
particulars of the joint labors OF himself aud
his interchangeable colleague to the learned
members OF the French Academy-that moat
powerful and influential of all scientific associa
lions. lie subsequently dined with Louis Ma
poeon, President of the Republic. After a
thorough examination OF the subject, 1t was
finally decided to build a government fishery;
thirty thousand francs tS600G) were appropriated
for the purpose; NJ. Cosie was placed In charge
of the enterprise; Gehin aud Remy were engaged
TO perform the practical part of the work and
the following year saw the establishment OF the
famous 6sharm at Huniugue,
Since that time the interest In the subject has
never tagged; pisccultursts have increased in
every civilized country: hsh-farms have sprung
up all over Europe, and there are now numbers
oil them IN this country; and the rivers of Eu
rope and America are being rapidly restocked
with every variety of table fish.
From ga Bureau Majors Business and Plea
sures" we extract the following:-
Most of the difficulties between whites and
blacks resulted from the inevitable awk Waru-
ness OF tyros in the mystery OF free labor. Many
stand that work could be other than form of
slavery, or that 1t could be accomplished with
out some prodigous binding and obgating of
the hireling to the employer. Contracts which
were brought to me for approval contained all
sorts OF luoiCrous provisions. Negroes must be
respectful and polite; if they were not respectful
and polite, they must pay fine for each ofiepse;
they must admit no one on their premises unless
by consent OF the landowner; they must have
quiet household and not keep too many dogs;
they must not go off the plantation without
leave. The idea seemed to be that if the laborer
were not bound body and soul he would be of no
use. With regard to many freedmen l was
obliged to admit that this assumption was
only too correct, and to sympathze with the de-
sire to limit their noXious liberty at the same
time that | knew such limitation to be impos-
sible. When a darkey froics all night, and
thus renders himself worthless for the next days
work; when he takes into his CABIN host of
lazy relatives who eat him up. or OF thievish1
ones, who steal the neigh boring pigs and
chickens; when he gets high notions OF freedom
into his head and feels himself bound to ans wer
his employers directions with an Indifferent
whistle, what Can the latter do? My advice was
to pay weekly wages, if possible, and discharge
every man as fast as he got through with his
usefulness, But this policy was above the
general reach of Southern capital, and beyond
the usual circle of Southern ideas.
One prevalent fallacy was the suUpostion
that the farmer could, OF his own authority i'm
pose hnes; in other words. that he could with
hold all or part of the laborer's pay il he left
The statement you cannot take your mans
wages for July because he has refused to work
for you during August" was quite incompre-
hensible from the old-fashioned, patriarchal
point of view.
"But what am / to do with this fellow, who
has left me right in the hoeIng season ?" demands
a watchfu planter.
You have no remedy except to sue him for
damages resulting from Il failure of contract"
Sue him He ha'n't got nothing to collect
on"
Then don't sue him."
Exit planter. in helpless astonshment over
the mystery OF the new system, and half inclined
to believe that have been making game of him.
could. of course, have sent for the delinquent,
and ordered him to return to his work. but had
/ once began to attend personally to such cases
l should have bad business enough to kill Off
a regiment of Bureau officers: and, moreover,
i never forgot that my main duty should con-
sist in educating the entire population around
me to settle their difficulties by the civil law;
in other words, considered myself an instru-
ment of reconstruction
The majority of the complaints brought before
me came from negroes. AS would naturally
happen to an ignorant race they were liable
to many impositlons, and saw their grievances
with big eyes. There was magnitude, too in
their manner of statement; 1t was something
like an Indictment of the voluminous olden
tlme-the rigmarole which charged a pig-thiet
with stealing ten boars, ten sows, ten shOats,
etc. With pomp of manner and of words with
rotundlty of voice and superhuity of detail
which would have delighted Cicero, a negro
would so glorlfy his little trouble to give one
the impression that humanity had never before
suffered the like. Sometimes | was able to cut
short these turgid narr a,ives with few sharp
questions; sometimes | found this impossible,
and had to let them roll on unchecked,
like Mississipps. OF course the com
plants were immensely various in nature and
importance. They might refer to an alleged
attempt at assassination, or to the discrepancy
of bushel OF pea.Vines in the division of crop.
They might be against brother freedmen, as
we'll AS against former slaye-OWnerS and ''rebs ~
More than once have been umpire in the case
of a disputed jack-knife or petticoat. Priscilly
Jones informed me that her "old man was
a-routin' everybody out of the house, an
bemoaued himself because his wife Priscilly was
going to strange places along with Tom Lynch;
then Tom Lynch wanted redress and protection
because of the disquleting threats of Tom Jones.
The next minute Chloe Jackson desired justice
on Viney Robinson, who had slapped neT face
and torn her clothes. Everybody, guilty or
innocent, ran with his or her griefs to the
Bureau officer; and sometimes the Bureau
officer, half distracted, longed to subject them
all to some huge punishment. OF the complaints
against whites, the majority were because of the
retention of wages. or of alleged untairness III
the division OF the crops.
Our Young Folks for November is appa-
rently made up for the special delectation of
the very young folks and the boys and girls
who are some degree advanced beyond baby
hood will, we fancy, think it hardly up to the
usual average of excellence. The contents
are "How Quercus Alba went to the lower
world, and what came of it;' ''More about
Trotty," by Z. Stuart Phelps; "The
Burgomaster's Gull" by Celia Thax-
ter; "Icilus," a defamation, by Elijah
Kellogg; "Mary's First Trial." by Mrs. A. M.