Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-03-31

/ sort has been esSayed by soh back
e missionary from the North, or has been
: distinctly procured by the advice and
| instigation of white people. The negro
: naturally retires from any such expert
r ment. 20 far from preferring claim to
social equality, ne, in his habitual in
2 tercourse with the white people of the
: South is deferental, sometimes even to q
f degree of painful exhibition of submis-
e sion and compliance; for that Difference
5 "a point of good manners with the
: black man-instead Railways obtaining
credit for him. is sometimes practiced
t upon by brutal white persons, his infe-
riors in manners, to affect a command
, and mastery over him not unlike that
, in former days of slavery. The negro
is naturally polite: every white gentle
man in the South is prompt to respond
to him and to repay heartily his respect;
and If there is any fault, it is that his
yielding manners and, Obsequiousness
are carried toe far, and sometimes make
him the subject of imposition by a low
and unmanerly class of whites.
The writer was sometime ago travel
ing on the Virginia and Tennessee Rail-
road, and, smoking being excluded from
all the cars but that known as ''the ne
gro car,' he passed into tie latter to en-
I0J ki6ot. tACtC mEit SOtlic
people already seated in IL, land also some
two or three white men who were smok-
ing. The car was not full, and he re-
versed one Of the seats that he might
stretch his legs, thus occupying two of
the sofas, after the common fashion of
| travellers when there Is q surplus of seats
at their disposal. After passing several
stations the car became crowded with
negro passengers, who, in turn, took the
single seats, until at last black man and
4 woman were left standing in the isle,
| there being no seats to offer them, while
the white persons in the car yet Occupi-
/ ed from two to four seats EACH The
| poor creatures never thought of asking
for seats which really belonged to them: |
they stood up very humbly and said
nothing. The train had gone but lit
| tie way when it occurred to the writer |
that he was not acting the gentleman |
or doing as his se,f-respect required. He |
had no right to single seat in that car:
it was asotted to the colored people he |
was an intruder,a ,and doing a selfish and
mean thing in retaining seats beyond |
| his needs, even if they had not been |
asked for. So he walked along the aisle |
TO the two negroes, touched the arm
OF the man and offered him one of his
sofas. The white men who were smOk-
ing in the car sneered at him, and it
could readily be seen that their lips
formed the whisper of"D-d Yankee!"
They had mistaken him slightly, but 4
their whispered commentaries of con-
tempt did not as much affiict him as the
smell of bad whisky which they emitted |
in the warmth of their feelings After
finishing his cigar, the writer retired /
into the next car. He had been seated |
hf,ra lint faxxr ,fe -lnt, ho
gro to whom he had shown simple act
of politeness came, holding in his hands
two large, glistening pippins, which the
poor fellow had purchased by the way
side, and said in a simple, depreciating
way that was quite touching, 'Mister
Gentleman, won't you please 'cept
these?n All the fools in the world may
think as they please, but the writer was
never more satisfied with an act of civil
ity than that he had done 10 negro /;
and his cheek flushed as he answered
the poor black with as cordial and re-
spectful a THANK you!" as he eyer
gave to the proudest white man in the
land.
The negro is ambitiOus-much more
so than a distant or superficial regard OF
him would lead one to suppose; but his i
ambition does not run in the line of So
cial equality, nor yet even in that of
political preferment. From close study /
of the temper of the colOred people of
the South, am fully persuaded of one ,
curious thing-that their uneasiness is /
not so much from a desire of social /
place or Of political influence in the +
community las witness in evidence of +
the latter their comparatively small am
bitiOn for ofticel as it is to be respected L
in their new estate. | know there are L
newspapers which are constantly de- 1
viding their race; who have no other t
Hame for it but ''nigger" or 'cOlored t
cuss;" reporters who are always glad to r
barb police item with such epithets, v
who make caricatures of their speeches, fl
and who throw ridicule upon every C
effort they make in public. But a few q
months ago l noticed with pain and D
shame that when one of this unfortunate
race was hung in Richmond, Virginia,
the few untutored words he put up on
the scaffol to the Savior of all mankind u
words to which He who sat on the o
circle of that day and held the winds in C
His hands deigned to incline the ear '
We're caricatured, and set down in the D
usual gibberish of the funny orthogra- }
pliers of the newspapers. Such an eX-
ample of humor is hideous enough. But p
even il their lighter aspects these de-
risions of the negro race do harm: they q
occasion resentment; and no wonder q
that the black men sometimes burn h
with sense of injustice, for l can testi- b
fy that | have heard some of them make G
tEan white reporters who b
went to ridicule them could possibly II
have done. The natural gift which the e.
black man has for oratOry is remark D
able; and indeed shall not be surprised b
if there are achieved for future history W
some names of negroes remarkable for
that peculiar genius called eloquence, 9
llreaGy found not unfrequently among }.
races. A young negro Il
named Bland recently astOnished the el
Committee of Congress b'
Dy speech which in power and grace o'
Of delivery is reported to have compared pt
with some of the finest efforts in an pl
arena where had tilted meof the most
debaters in the country.
Such manifestations should be set down
% the credit of the negro; and his white Il
can do nothing better to "
,onciliate him, and nothing more just lie
and graceful to themselves, than to give III
lim the word of acknowledgment ard L
that he deserves. On
he other hand, the insults which he o'
receives from certain classes
N the South--the manner in which he l
s looked down upon and scorned and Z
L venture to say, more IL
CALLING to him, and more really the
,ause of his dissatisfaction, than any d'
want of suffrage and office. No brave SO
nan in the South will thus insult the as
negro: no rejecting and good white citi- p'
ZEN will thus wound him, and intlame M
With such wantonness the resentments III
If race. On the contrary, there are W
many in the ranks of his old masters us
Who are observing his efforts at ascent II
md improvement with thoughtful in h;