The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-04-15
A WOMAN'S LETTER FROM WASHING.
TON.
wAsurserox, D. G., March, 1870.

WASHINGTON, d. c., March, 1870.
To THE EDITOR OF THE INDEPENDENT
For once the Senate listened. A
precisely one o'clock, Vice-Preslden
Colfax announced that the senator from
Mississippi was entitled to the floor
Then on March 10th, 1870 of our Lord
for the first time in the history of the
| American nation a man of color arose
| in its Capitol to vindicate his manhood
and to speak in behalf of the rights o.
his race. Mr.. Revels is of full stature
wide-shouldered, stalwart, with com
Portable vet not overfed physique. Hi
hair has not outrun its crinkle. Hi:
features are European, his skin moi
more that one shade darker than that o.
Caucasian brunette, his face in its be-
nign expression a dusky edition of Ia.
ther Hyacinthe's. 1t has in q very
marked degree that look of beaming
benignity which we see on the faces OF
all men born pastors by vocation, and
which never seems to shine forth with
quite such radient effulgence as on the
| face of the colored pastor who feels in
very deed that he is the bishop and
shepard of the souls of an immortal
flock. Hiram Revels, whose moral fac
ulties are of higher order of de-
| yelopment than his intellectual, and
whose countenance shines with apostOl-
ic JUNCTION, looks the bishop of the Sen
ate. All things considered, it is not a
bad thing for this body to have bish-
OPP. 1t has chaplain. L heard him
pray this morning. / haven't a doubt
but he intended to offer it to the Lord,
that lOud-rolling, oratorical prayer; but
it sounded as if it were addressed to the
senator's. Half the public prayers we
hear seem to bound back from the cell
ing. wonder how they seem to the
Lord these astonishing literary perform
ances made at his feet, in which he re-
ceives much. curious information con-
corning his universe and the way to
manage It'll know l am not stand
ard in such matters. l couldn't throw
up my arms, throw back my head, and
lift up my voice in rolling thunder to
the Almighty, if / would, and would
not if 1 could. Therefore, Pm no critic
rian while 1 say that if every senator
bowed his uncovered head in silent sup
plication it would be much more i'm
pressive as an act of worship than all
the rhetoric which ever rolled heaven
ward from the desk.
Mr.. Revels's speech disappointed
many for what it was not. 1t was not
canting it was not conceited ; it was not
pompous. Considering all the condi-
tions, it was in singularly good taste.
1t is a tenet of senatorial etiquette,
which has nothing to do with color or
condition, that for the first session after
he takes his seat, new senator is to be
seen, not heard. There were special
reasons why Mr.. Revels should speak
the first time that he had a chance. He
did it, and did it well. In the quality
of his voice he has scarcely peer in the
Senate. 1t is strong, clear, mellow, and
sympathetic. 1t is warm as the heart
of one race and strong as the brain of
the other which mingle together in his
blood. At first he failed in his empha-
sis, bringing it down to period in the
middle of a complex sentence, which
he had to pick up again and carry on.
This probably arose from the nervous
excitement of his new position for he
brought his speech to close with great
self-possession and dignity. He essay
ed nothing in powerful argument. His
speech was chiefly remarkable for clear
ness and simplicity of statement and
purity of language. He made few
overstatements. But when he pro-
claimed that ''the people of the North
owe the colored race deep obligation
which it is no easy matter to fulfilI' he
certainly made one. The deeper obi
CATION is on the other side. The men
of the North, the women of the North,
have suffered more, have sacrificed
more for the African race than they can
ever conceive of or ever repay. In say
ing this, l do not forget their genera
tons of bondage or sorrow. For these
the men of the North who died for
them were not to blame. 1t is true, as
Mr.. Revels said, that when the FEEDER
al armies were thinned by death and
disaster additional force was gained in
the sable soldiers who at the eleventh
hour were mustered in to fight for the
acknowledgements of their race. They
did we'll. l would not draw one line
across their record. But before that
hour came the land was planted thick
with the flower of Northern youth who
died for them. They fought for them
selves. And the race that would not
arm and fight to the death for its own
liberty would deserve to perish.
1t is true that all the schools and
privileges of centuries of freedom can
not atone to this people for the ages of
advancement which they lost in slave-
ry. But, it is also true that no other
class in the land begin to receive at CHS
moment the attention, the care, the
amount of instruction which Is given to
them, Cultured women leave comfort
able homes at the North foregoing love,
friendship, ease placing themselves I'M
der a social ban as implacable as the
caste of India, to teach the freed people.
Northern men give up their chances of
advancement and success at home to de-
vote themselves to the educational and
material interests of this people. This
is well. But, being true, it is not well
in the faces of hundreds of thousands
of Northern graves for any African to
take on tones of patronage, and pro-
claim that the North owes to his race a
debt of gratitude that it cannot easily
repay. The North owes tina trace just
ice, brotherly kindness, equal Opportu-
nity; it owes it anguish Unreasonable
for the hearts blood poured out for its
sake but it does not owe it gratitude.
l have seen more interest, but never
such an intense curiosity, manifested as
at the opening of Mr.. Revels's speech.
Even the reporters rose en- naGSSe in
their gallery, leaning over to catch
glimpse of the speaker; but one re-
manned writing. Perhaps one-fourth of
the spectators in the gallery were colored
and as well-dressed and well-behaveed
as their white neighbors. Nevertheless
their influx had visably increased the
assemblage in the Diplomatic Gallery.
In the House the Diplomatic Gallery is
a favorite-the place for many a delight
full social chat for ladies while the
standing clerk is calling the roll, or
some member is droning out speech
to his constituents, which nobody hears.
But the entire Senate Gallery is so cosy,
compact and quiet, its audiences as a
rule so refined, that the Diplomatic Gal
lery has been left almost exclusively to
members of foreign legations. But the
colored belle, with a skin of orange and
bonnet of blue, fiirts now on the front
seat between two lemon-colored lovers.
Tier on tier behind rise the "people OF
color" of every hue from gingerbread
brown" to ebony black. And who has
a better right or deeper interest to-
day? Gods final compensation out
| shines below in the face of the senator
of their own race standing in the place
| of jefferson Davis. But in the Diplo-
matte Gallery, loi crowd the wives and
daughters of ''the Radicals" and ''life-
long Abolitionists." The men-sensi.
BILE mortals that they are-have settled
the social question below by taking Sen
ator Revels hand with an honest GRASP
and meeting him as gentlemen meet
gentlemen. But the senator's wives
Are they ''to meet Mrs. Revels as at
| equal ?" ., dear! Receive her calls
and return them, and she blacker thar
her husbandI "Never! 1 never shall =
Yes you must, my dear. She is sena
tors wife just as much as you are
There's the rub. "And sit in the gal