Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-11-30
Free Negro Culture,

Parker Pill5ury, one Of the most
radical of all the original abolitionists,
has gone down South to see how free
dom is working there, and he writes of
what he saw with his own eyes. His
opinion of the PRESENT qualifications of
the negro to vote and govern Is thus
expressed:
Push woman suffrage at the North
against all Obstacles and oppositions a;
sparing nothing, sacred or profane, that
lies in your wav. But meantime We
may rest the suffrage question here, for
a period, at lest, until some much
more elementary culture and elevation
is secured. He surely must have a low
estimate Of the solemn responsibilities
of a government involving the liberty,
the person, the property and life ofeyery
individual in tfat government, who
would force the ballot on thousands and
thousands to be seen all over the south.
And forced it was on many men, wher-
ever the slaves have voted as much as
were ever their tasks in the cotton field
They knew no more and cared no more
for what they did in voting than if they
were as lnfantile in years as they are
in citizenship andin political experience.
"The white people here prate CON
tinually of negro ignorance and inferior
ity. But they should remember that
they themselves had the teaching and
the training of them through ten Of
their generations and this, Of which
they complain, is the melancholy result.
Intemperance here is frightfully prev
alent, and the colored people share al
most universally in the evil.
The whiskey here is diabolical, and
yet they appear to love it more than
anything else, women as well as men.
They drink it red hot from the barrel,
clean and pure, and / have seen moth
ers pour it thus down the throats of
their six months old babes. And what
is worse, there are very few white men
who employ them to any extent, that
do not keep barrel on tap, and flrn-
ish it to them whenever a better bar
| VI I1OAC W yin, Cdll DC
'The marriage tie is not even beau
knot among them. There is no tie
about it as general fact. On the
plantations, very few children, very
few, are born. Infanticide is common
it is said, but marriage is rare, unless
forced upon the parties, and that is not
frequent. In the towns it is somewhat
better than in the country, but every
where. apparently, among these poor be
ings, the legal restraints ofmarriage are
but little regarded. AS to any idea O.
comfortable housekeeping in rural dis
tricts, and they comprise almost the
whole South, it is all a mystery yet to
be revealed, even to its first principles
There are generally no stated times fol-
meals. No family meal seems ever t.
be provided. The men cook their owl
hominy or rice when they get ready
and so do the women. It is eaten clea
to this day, as in slavery times, or witt
little most unsavory and untemptins
bacon, but oftener clear than any other
Among hundreds of these poor beings
L nav Z iIOo bSOIl Ollt MILF VI
or any spoons but tin ones, that wer,
never worn thin by securing. .Thous
ands of slave quarters have no floors
none of them glass window, and yer,
few, where [ have been, decent chaiI
l still less a table or bed. | saw infant
r and very young children naked from
morning to night; and boys, of at leas
a dozen years, with only a single gal
ment, and that but a scanty apology
!, Many women, young and old, had littl
: on above the waist, and nothing beloy
: the knees, and were doing days work
! that not a white man in New Englan,
or New York could perform
"The ballot may be one thing needfu
!, there but it seems to me, soap, sane
!. fine tooth combs, pots, kettles, chair,
tables, knives, forks, spoons, decen
!, food, cooking and clothing, glass wiz
dows, and even looking glasses, shout
! at least goside by side, if they may nc
9 precede the rights of suffrage and so,
ereignity.'