The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-18

posed upon them. The promise which he
has given in conduct so wise and moderate L
believe be is now fulfilling by his steady i'm
provement in his new condition; and that
too, in the face OF difficulties which have put
his capacities of developing himself to the
severest test. In short, the negro in the
South is fulfilling the expectations of his
friends surprising those who, wishing him
well, had yet pitifully distrusted him in his
new career; and giving the very best answers
to his detractors in those quiet proofs of pro-
gress which make but little noise of self
assertion, but against which no mlsrepresen-
tation, no matter how violent and persistent,
can long prevail.
There are some large, appreciable facts
in the condition of the negro in the
South which go to check the too common
habit of the newspapers to make improved,
reckless assertions concerning him. They
afford some light on a subject which covers
an extensive ground, which has but few sta
tistical guides, and on which a speculative
class of writer's, taking advantage of the sup
posed absence of any facts capable of proof
have imagined that they might impose
almost anything upon the credu-
lity of the public. Thus 1 have been
repeatedly told in a loose way that the
negro in the South will not work, that
he is hopelessly lazy, that his idea of free
dom is to live without labor, etc. This is a
common charge against the negro: it is easily
made in general terms, but happily the as
sertion may be brought under the dominion
of some general facts which go to test its
truth, and to show what prejudice and exag-
geration have dictated this reproach
There is some flippancy about this reproach
which has at last become tiresome. Nor are
the sources from which it commonly comes
very highly recommended to us for the quail
1.~f. Il.
dare to say, many thousands of lazy white
persons in the South, loafng on street
corners and drinking whisky, perpetu-
ally talking of enterprise" coming
down South--as if said enterprise was
something to be brought to them in box
and opened in their midst-the day Virginia
is admitted into the Union, or some other
event happens, who are exceedingly ready
and apt to declaim on the laziness of the
''cussed niggers" Now / do not believe that
the negro is, or ever will be, assmodel of in
dustry. His temperament is tropical But 1
do say that, notwithstanding his disadvan-
tages of nature and all other disadvantages
(and they are many), the negro has shown
since his emancipation an industry that is
extraordinary; that is constantly, daily in
creasing, both in volume and discipline; that
has supplied him with comforts that he never
knew before; that has enabled him to build
churches and to found charitable institutions
of his own; that has kept him better clothed
than he was in his former condition; and that
exhibits its results to-day in the vast bulk of
the agricultural products of the South.
From ''Two Old Heads" by Grace Green
wood, we take the following sketch of the
son of the Charlotte and Albert of Goethe's
"Werther:"-
THE CHEvALIER.
Among our visitors in Rome during the
winter of 1858 was an elderly German gentle
man, of good family and much refinement
and culture, but of peculiarly quaint ap-
pearance, and with manner of childlike SIM
plicity and kindliness. This was the Hano-
verian minister, Mr.. Kestner, best known in
society as 1.-THE Chevalier." To those who
knew our friend we'll he unfolded character
of rare purity and freshness, of genuine
old-fashioned, chivalric type; but to stran-
gers, the smiling, dapper little minister was
only interesting from some romantic antece-
dents and associations. He was the son of the
Charlotte and Albert of Geethe's "Werther
the son of noble parents, strangely misrepre-
sented by that fascinating but morbid ro-
nance, whose immense popularity ninety
years ago, and whose influence ON the life
and literature of Europe, are so difficult for
us at this day to understand. 1t was doubt
leSS tl0 SuDJl0 pOWcI, Juo lu0udDl6 6l6m6nU
of genius, which redeemed its unwholesome
sentimentalism, gave a melancholy grace to
unholy passion, and to disloyalty an almost
heroic pathos. But this can scarcely account
for the immediate and powerful hold
which not the story alone, but
the spirit and philosophy of the
story, took on the heart and imagination
of all classes of readers. 1t must be that the
book answered to strange want, a fierce
craving of the age. The soil must have been
ready for the seed. True, the romance precipi.
tated many domestic tragedy, and made
suicide epidemic; but the elements and condi
tions were all there, in the social life of that
seething and stormful age. Goethe
biographer says of it:-''Perhaps there
was never fiction that so startled and
enraptured the world. Men of all kinds
and classes were moved by it. 1t was the
companion of Napoleon in Egypt: it pene
trated into China.
The true story of Werther, Albert, ant
! Charlotte remained almost unknown beyond
the circle of their personal friends for eighty
years, until the appearance of Mr., Lewes
Life of Goethe;" though, indeed, Mrs
Kemble, in her ''Year of Consolation, CAV,
some account of it, received from the Cheva
lier, whom she knew in Rome, and calls he
charming and excellent friend"
''Werther," apparently the simplest o
all romances in construction, is reall,
curious piece of biographical mosaic
Goethe himself furnished but a portion
of the traits, sentiments and experience
of the hero from his own life; from anothe
real character-weaker, more melancholy
and more unfortunate-he filed out the por
trait and borrowed the tragedy. Charlotte j
also two in one (herself and Madame H
while Albert is only half himself-a goo
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