Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-01-25
THE COLORED MEMBER OF THE
LEGISLATURES.

Il N'-@o~- f--<---1 a ~AAs eAAL. A1t0s
The present General Assembly OF
Tennessee viii long be noteworthy as
| including among its members the
! first aud only negro who has ever at
tanned to legislative honors in this
State. In the House, all solitary
and alone, sits the Hon. s. w. Kee-
bic, of Nashville, representing Da-
wilson county jointly with J. b.
Jeup, Philip Lindsey and j. w.
Ready, the successful Johnson-Inde-
pendent and Radical candidates for
the House at the recent election.
The 'scolored element of Davidson
would not permit itself to be over
looked-it furnished large propor-
ton of the voters, and demanded re-
observation-disclosures the Honorable
SolOn, or Solomon u really forget
which it's, was the sop offered to
the colored Cerberus. Those who
dream the animal will be appeased
by this concession are counting with
out the hosts of the tribe of Africa,
who will come up next time like the
horse-ieech, crying Give, give.r
1t must be admitted that the Hon.
S. w. Keeble bears his honors with
meekness bordering on timidity.
Generally four members from the
same county occupy but two double
desks. In this case, however, the col
Ored member has u "bunk'' all to
himself. His colleagues won't fuse
now that the election is over. Mr..
Jeup Che pronouneesi it Ydtcp) could
yGlUp with the best of them while
the race was on -, but ask him to
take seat with Solomon and he is
as dumb as an oyster, while even the
Hon. ]. w. is not half so Ready as
he was. But, after all, there are just
seventy-three members, and some-
body must be the odd member, and
in this instance pleasure waits upon
necessity with eagerness.
Keeble has the advantage of q
Southern birth and education, he can
read and write after fashion,, and
is less obnoxious on this account. He
was formerly the slave of Hon. Ed
win Keeble, of MurfreesbOrro, in this
State, and shouldered his cooking
utensils and went into the Southern
army like hero, and after the war
settled in Nashville as a barber, in
which avOcation he was engaged
when he laid down the strap for the
tOga. He is of low stature, rather
heavy set, and, while hecan undOubt-
edly claim an unmiXed African de-
scent, is of ginger-eake complexion
"a color which many Southern ne
groes have somehow come by-tak-
ing it, perhaps, rather by epidemic
than by contagion. However it was,
let us indulge the hope that the max
ing of such color is one of the lost
arts, and hereafter patronize either
plain black or white
He is evidently very lonesome, and
looks as if he thought he was doing
something wrong. In other words
the
PRAYER MADE BY LITTLE CHARLEY
HARRIS
(peace to his ashes y on going into
his first battle seems to be perpetual
ly playing over Keeble's face. Char
ley was the wag of the Thirtieth
Mississippi regiment, and did not at
tempt to conceal his trepidatiOn at
the first whistling of the minnie balls
he had ever heard. 81 tell you what"
said Charley, on his return to camp,
" 1 tell you was good scared. Some
how / felt we was doing wrong to
fight our brothers, and go out of the
Union, and all that, so l was afraid if
/ went too fighing too Vigorous the
good Lord might let me get shot; so
when the balls come singing around
my head l shut both eyes, pinted my
gun away up over the heads of the
enemy and prayed "Oh, Lord, if
you won't let no Yankee hit me, I'll
try and not hit no Yankee
Thus the "colored member seems
disposed oconciliate-content to draw
his 81 per diem and vote, the latter
of which he evidently enjoys. A
short visit this morning revealed
very clearly that as 'voter" he has
scarcely an equal-voting yes" and
{" no." and, on rising vote, jumping
up and sitting down, and looking
around after each UiUG Uoce Eyes" or
"no," as if be had shot Oft decree
which was to shake empires and was
timid of the result. He will make
but little headway as legislator this
time; indeed, if he fails to vote twice,
from sheer force of habit, on every
proposition, he will do well for be-
ginner. One of the features of this
case of rare complexion in Tennessee
legislation, is
THE MARKED KINDNESS ACCORDED
HIM
by the ex- Confederate members: they
declare their intention to hear at
tentively what he may have TO say,
and make him feel as easy as his eX-
ceptional and anomalous position will
allow. It's amusing to see the "hOn-
est farmers" drop into the House hang
themselves over the railing and turn
battery of glances from underneath
shaggy and bristling eyebrows at the
"innOvation." Heretofore cotOred
law-making has been, with the Ten
nesseeans, something to read of in
Mississippi, South Carolina, etc, but
when it comes home where they can
see it and feel it no wonder they make
faces. But enough for the present of
Mr.. Keeble. As the pioneer colOred
legisla tor of this State he is entitled
to a prominence which he will per-
haps not enjoy again hereafter.
THE CONFEDERATE AND OTHER
"ELEMENTS."
After all, Tennessee is happy be-
yond all her sister Southern States.
A public debt reduced from S40,000,O00
to S23, 900, ,000sinee the close Ofthe war,
a Demo cratic Governor, representa-
ton unalloyed by the presence ofa sim
gle carpet bagger, with every citizen
in full enjoyment of the franchise
what more does she need to enable
her to push forward to a glorious fu-
ture? Here, the property-holders
are the rulers; and when her condi-
ton is oontrasted with that of South
Carolina, where the people are ruled
by poverty and Ignorance, the con-
yast is most remarkable.
4 Curious Case in Litigation.
The former home of Thomas JEFF
r fnNrf In