The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-04-14
The Negro
Mr.. Pollard makes 3 Clean Breast Of 1.-THE
Thrift and Energy of the Blacks.
is built.
From Lippincott,s Mas

LlppiuCOJL'S MaHdZlHes .
The writer has to confess that he was
educated in that common school of opin-
ION in the South that always insisted on
regarding the negro as specially inferior
to the white mana lower order Of hu
man beings, who was indebted for what
he had of civilization to the tuition of
slavery, and who, taken from that tuition,
was bound to retrogade and to relapse in
to barbarism and helplessness. The wri-
ter was even advanced in this school. He
had been fond of writing his opinions on
| the subiect-that the negro was an infe-
rior specles of humanity; that by the
| employment of his initiative faculties he
had obtained his maximum of civilization
in the condition of slavery; and that to
emancipate. him would be to put m. on
the high road to ruin Educated thus to,
disesteam the negro, yet always having
passionate interest in him-admiring in
him his extraordinary qualities of humor
and tenderness, indulging number of
| p etic fancies in him, grown by educa-
ton and habit sentimental towards him..
yet constantly insisting that he was a
p or, intellectually helpless creature who
never could get along outside the leading
strings Of slavery-the writer was pre-
pared to witness with pity what the
whole South arranged itself to see-the
misfortune and inevitable decline of til,
negro from the moment his emancipation
was declared.
The South has seen no such thing
Whatever may be the vanity of opinion
which compels. men to persist in error, or
/ yet more frequently to be silent under the
conviction, the writer comes sharply be
fore the public with this confession
That his former views of the negro were
wrong; that the results of emancipation
Iespe ially- have tbeen the reverse of hi
Enxpec ations-a surprise, the force of
which he can neither resist or contain.
So keen has been that surprise, that from
the very intensity of it the writer is
moved to communicate 1t to the public.
He feels more like exclaiming, A dis
Icovery! !" than writing in any more de
liberate mood Of the profit he has OBJ
ltined concerning the new condition OF
the negro 1t is that 1his singularly ques
tionable creature has shownaa capacity
for education that has astonished none
lmore than his former masters; that be
has given proofs Of good citizenship
which are constantly Increasing; that
his development since emancipation is a
standing surprise to candid observers
Iamong the Southern whites themselves
that his condition since has been on the
whole that of progress and in face oil
difficulties that would soon have tested
and broken down that progress had il
been Fictitious or dish nets; and that, SC
far from being stationary barbarian OF
a hopeless retrogade, the formerly des-
pissed black man promises to become a
, true follower of the highest civilization
u new object Of interest to the world, and
an exemplary citizen of the South. y
!, Every year since the conclusion OF the
war I have been in different parts of the
:. South; I have conveIsed with all classes
Of people there; have enjoyed the con.
,iition of q good observer. | have OBJ
served the remarkable good order in civ.
ilized life which the negro has maintain
! I'd since the day he was emancipated
y have seen that he is sober, law-biding--
A hat he has gone into his new condition
with an adaptation less than wonderful
: Ii have witnessed the zeal with " hich the
,1black people are availing themselves OF
1.-THE schools and means of education !; ]
have observed in Southern cities the an,
mated daily routes of their children to
he schools; have noticed the industry
of the negro-its steady undeniable in
4 crease in the South; have wondered at
the remarkable thrift by which he has
obtained from his scanty wages
int only livelihood, but a
4 legree of comfort and decency of dress
I such as he had never before seen; have
been pleased to see his manifestations Of
>elfrespect, the pride shown in dress and
lmanners; and above all | have found in
\ him sense of Importance and responsib-
Eility conceived from the idea that he is
on trial before the world.