Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-04-20

= have built out of contribution anon
l themselves, a Methodist Churcl
which cost thirteen thousand dollar:
The writer was present when thei
house of worship was dedicated
There was a congregation of abOu
two thousand cOlored people, and
: was ineXpressibly touching to motto
} what neatness of attire they had al
struggled to attain, and what a fine
hopeful appearance they presented
J not even one of the little children O
the Sunday-schOol (whO, by the way
sung from their printed hymn books
putting in q draggled appearance
Where do they get their clothes from
In the days of slavery lit is well know
by those who have visited the planta
tions, negroes were frequently fOunC
(and sometimes in circumstances o
embarrassment when ladies were pres
emit who were not presentable on ac
count of the imperfect cover of thei
nakedness there might have been ,
shirt wanting, or there might havt
been only shirt; or there might hav,
been indecent glimpses through the
rents. Now, every one who has late
ly travelled in the South will testify
that instances are very rare where {
negro makes any indecent exhibition
from imperfect clothing; and this
improvement of dress will especially
strike one familiar with the former
rags of slavery. This may be a small
circumstance in itself, but il is a large
I one when we masure ii with the
means of the negro labOrer; and it is
| eloquent alike OF the economy and
I thrift which enable him, and the
/ self-respect which prompts him, to
make such an appearance in the
world.
Another accusation usually brought
against the negro, and which has
obtained certain sort of currency by
the mere force of repetition, is that he
is vicious and disposed to be lawless.
On this subject may repeat a remark
which / recently heard in Virginia
court of justice. In the Hastings
Court of Lynchburg, worthily pre-
sided over by one of the few Northern
judges, appOintees of the military
power, who have given satisfaction to
the mixed population that so severely
tries the popularity of all its public
officers, u venerable Virginia lawyer,
formerly a STAKEHOLDER, speaking in
some case where o negro was Indicted
for crime, remarked with singular
feeling and ingenuOusness that it be-
came the white people of the South to
show an extraordinary forbearance
toward crimes imputed to the black
race, as they themselves were deeply
involved in the responsibility, on ac-
count of their long neglect of the
moral education of the negro in the
days of slavery. There is a profound
force in this remark, and one deeper
than the reader may at first appre-
hend. 1t is found on close Observa-
ton that, crccptiRg the OfenSe Of lar
ceny, which is very frequent among
the negroes, they are singularly free
from crime; and | venture the prOpo-
lar crime, which is exceptional, and
traced directly to the generalization
of slavery, there is really less lawless
ness among the negroes of the South
than among an equal number of
whites, and much less-tO make the
comparison just-than among an equal
number of whites of the same grade of
education and torture. / admit that
the negroes have a marked propensity
for thieving; it was their notorious
infirmity in the days of slavery; and
TO illustrate how clouded was their
distinction of DleuDl and teuDl under
the influence of the Institution, no
Southern man converSant with the
language of the negro ever heard him
confess to Stealing" anything-the
common word by which he pafliated
his offense, and which is yet heard in
his confessions, being that he took it.
Out of this rude sense of reprisal, as
for his unpaid labor, the negro has not
yet been adjusted, and there are vague
ideas vet in his mind which blind
him to the guilt of stealing. 1t is no.
table that larceny is a crime of but
little reproach among his fellows, and
makes him but little odiOus in the
estimation of his own people; but on
the other hand, it is punished unmer-
ciful by the courts, and it has crowd
ed the jails and penitentiaries of the
South, and will account for much the !
larger proportion of the colOred in /
mates of those institutions
But the idea that the negro has a I
bad eminence, when we come to look /
through the entire criminal records of 7
he South, is not true; especially /
when we take into account the preju- I
iices of the courts against him. In
many respects he exhibits a cleaner
pill of moral health than his white
leighbor. He is peaceful, Temarka-
lly free from offenses of violence and
disorder. He is not quarrelsome, and
{ is remarkable that the stories of his
lots in the South are invariably
mixed up with some allusiOn to the
.cts or presence of white people; it is
,ut seldom that in assemblies of his
'wn race he ever commits any disor-
Ter or in any way breaks the public ,
'eace. But the crowning and most {
virtue of the negro in the
'outh is his freedom from the vice of I
vice which is nOto-
iOus one in the land in which he
ives, and which has been the COM
aces. That the negro has been
lperior to this instrument of destruc- :
on, which has been used with such {
,arful effect on the least civilized I
ices, is a volume of commentator of
i'm, and speaks for his future more :
opefully than any other incident of :
is moral life. utter pregnant and I
truth when l say that :
is almost unknown [
nOng the negroes in the South. It 2
seldom that they are found drink .
lg to the point of absolute intoXica- :
on. or that the law, which obtains in +
lie South so many victims from this n
ice, finds any complaint on this head 4
sainst the negro. of the compara- h
We temperance of the black man in II
le South my observations have as I,
lred me daily there, and / defy the !,
llice records of this section to dis q
lte an assertion that all men will adj u
it involves deeply the morality of ti
e negro. The past holidays l spent q
the South where the customs of n
freely at Christmas time n
ere even inordinately observed, and a
t / can testify that although the ei
wn of l. furnished the usual e
lmber of cases of intoxication, eS- al
smed more innocent than at other IA
mes, did not see one instance of m
unken negro Obstructing the free h,
m of the streets or dragged to Jail. vi
But while giving some facts con- II
ming the negro in the South, neces- al
-ily very general, designed to vim ig
sate him from popular misrepresen- tu
ions, there is one imputation from be
lich 1 would especially clear him, th
on which 1 am most willing to of
It the claim of this articleas a really ev
Iuable contribution to the knowl- ris
- oF fI,a 4Vrra oOolfF;1, .F 4 -,