Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-04-14
THE NEGRO.
Mr.. Pollard Makes a Clean
Breast of It. The Thrift and
Energy Of the Blacks.

Energy OF Jne BLACKS.
The writer has to confess tha
, he was educated in that common
school Of the opinion in the Soutl
that always insisted on regarding
the negro as specifically inferior To
the white mana lower order oI
human beings, who was indebted
for what he had of civilization to
the tuition Of slavery, and who, ia.
ken from that tuition, was bound
to retrogode and to relapse into
barbarism and helplcssness, The
writer was even advanced in this
school. He had been fond OF
writing his opinions on the sub
ject-that the negro was an inferior
species Of humanity; that by the
employment ofhis initiative facnl.
ties he had obtained his martmam
Of civilization in the condition of
slavery; and that to emancipate
him would be to put him on the
high road to ruin. Educated thus
to disestcem the negro, yet always
have a compassionate interest in
him--admiring in him his extra
Ordinary qualities humor and ten
derness, indulging a number of po-
etic fancies in him, grown by edu-
cation and habit sentimental to-
ward him, yet constantly insisting
that he was a poor, intellectually
helplessly creature, who never
could get outside the leading
strings of slavery-the writer was
/ prepared TO witness with pity what
the whole So2th arranged itself to
see-the misfortune and inevitable
decline Of the negro from the mo-
ment his emancipation was de-
clared.
The south has seen no such
thing. Whatever may be the van
Iity of opinion which comEels men
to persist in error, or yet more
frequently to be silent under con-
viction, the writer comes sharply
before the public with his confes-
sion: That his former views Of
the negro were wrong; that the
results of emancipation especially
have been the reverse of his ex-
pectations-as surprise, the force
of which he can neither resist nor
contain. So keen has been that
surprise, that from the very intens-
ity Oft, the writer is,moved to com
municate it to the public. He feels
more like exclaiming "a discov-
ery" than writing in any more de-
liberate mood of the proofs he has
obtained concerning the new CON
ditiOn of the negro. 1t is that this
singularly questionable creature
has shown a capacity for education
that has astonished none more
than his former masters; that he
has given proofs of good citizen
ship which are constantly increas-
ing; that his development since
emancipation is standing sur
prise to candid observers among
the southern whites themselves ;
that his condition since has been
on the whole that ofprogress, and in
the face of difficulties that would
.soon have tested and broken down
that progress had it been fictitious
or dishonest; and that so far from
being a stationary barbarian or q
hopeless retrograde, the formerly
despised black man promises to be-
come true follower of the highest
civilization, a new object of in
terest to the world, and an exemp-
larry citisen OF the South,
Every year since the conclusion
of the war | have been in different
parts of the south; l have con
versed with all classes of people
there: IEave enjoyed the condi-
tions of a good observer. ! have
observed the remarkable good or
der in civil life which the negro
has maintained since the day he
was enancipatcd; have seen that
he is sober, law abiding-that he
has gone into his new condition
with an adoption little less than
wonderful; | have witnessed the
zeal with which the black people
are availing themselves of the
schools and means Of education; |
have observed in southern cities
the animated daily routes of their
children to the schools; | have no.
ticed the industry of the negro
its steadily, undeniable increase in
the south; | have wondered at the
remarkable thrift by which he has
obtained from his scanty wages
not only a livelihood, but degree
of comfort and deeency of dress
such as never before; l have been
pleased to see his manifestations
Of self respect, the pride shown in
dress and manners; aud, above
all, l have found in him sense Of
Importance and responsibility con-
ceived from the idea that he is on
trial before the world. -Lippin-
cotts Monthly
The bill passed the Ohio Senate
lT,,-;,,. ,,,upio;nol pornOratiOuS IN