Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-01-09
A Classical Darky.
He Speaks Six Languages and AS
tOnishes the TOpers.

COulsHeS tue 1OperS.
From the Vallejo (Califo rnia) Independent
There is a remarkable charac
ter on the Yard i'll the person of
a young negro who speaks foul
modern languages with the great
est fuency, besides having a smat
tering of Greek and Latin. He
is about twenty-five years of age
and was born in the Caribbean Is.
lands, and educated in universi.
ty in Canada. He speaks with
wonderful auency of expression,
his conversation sounding like a
carefully written speech.
About one o'clock on Friday
morning he was leaning against
the bar in Van Smith s restaurant,
discussing the doctrine of Papal
infallibility from a Protestant
standpoint. One-hand was toy
ing with remarkably strong gin
cocktail, while the other was ges-
ticuIating to the crowd around
him. His argument was about as
follows: "You will at once ad-
nit, after a,careful investigation of
the claims Of Pope Plus TX. to
stand on an equal footing with the
power of our divine Creator, that
his bull annunciating the new
dogma of infallibiIity was a bru-
tom tulmen--or, in other words,
tehIm iimbelle sine ictu. THE
crowd nodded assent.
"Tell 'um what p inquired an
old topper, looking over the top of
his glass.
~ clam imJelte sine ictu, my
dear friend, is Latin, and means,
"A feeble weapon thrown without
effect.
Eyes, yes (hic)," exclaimed the
topper, Il know what that means,
but dis (hic) remember the appli-
cation Of the first one"
"That's Latin, too" replied the
darkey, "and means a feeble
thundlrbolt.' Gentlemen, | real
ly owe this crowd an apology for
indulging in snatches of the dead
languages, but for years gone by
.heir contemplation has been so
delightful to me in bringing my
mind in direct contact with the
buried past that at times, upon
occasions of excitement, or in the
heat of argument, thoughtless-
y allow myself to give utter
ance to my thoughts in a dead lam
guage unknown 10 most of you.
1t is with regret that | find my
S lfso much under the influence of
wine as to give utterance to words
which come from a language now,
| am sorry to say, as utterly de-
funct and useless as the bones of
Alexander's dead, which centuries
ago withered upon the Grecian
battle fields"
Several old topers who were
just elevating brimming glasses
TO distorted mouths, distorted their
mouths still wider and paused in
astonishment at the completion of
the well-rounded sentence. They
surveyed the speaker with speech
less amazement, and did not fair
ly recover their equilibrium until
he invited them to drink.
Gentlemen, 7empuS tugit-I
mean, time flies, and considerable
of period has elapsed between
drinks. As the old Roman used
to say 'Bonum 0inaSm'-beg par
don / meant to have said that
good wine makes good blood
This is a magnificent hypoth-
esis, and by reasoning direct
ly from cause to effect, and not by
false comparison or fallacious ana
logy, we are at never-failing, log
ical conclusion, firmly established
by fact, without which all reason
becomes utterly powerless-a lit
tie sugar, if you please, and no
lemon, thank you, and here's to
you ALL" and the Biographical
darky tossed a cocktail from hu.
man sight forever, and started out
of the saloon.
The old topper remarked, as he
looked wistfully after the retreat
ing mans form: "Blamed if he
don't beat all the smart niggers |
ever saw"
We understand that an effort
is being made to have him lecture
to the people of Vallejo, and he
is willing to deliver lecture if
an audience can be secured. His
name we did not learn.