Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-10-17

Negro Character illustrated.
What in ne world Is that child
screaming 80 fOr?"
Her nanny is DestiDg her, ma'ami
wild bench"
Beating her with a bench; Is the
woman a devil?"
a. lhiDB, ma'sm, she bin got the deb,
biz IN her Just now, You see she mad,
'caUs Mas Henry 'buke her bout leffin
dat tue Out in de sun, and it done gone
all t. pieces She can't take spite outen
him, 80 she take it outen her gal. Oats
de way wild niggers. De next thing
you'll see her trOw water on de dog, OF
Trail him out wild de fire-stick. Dat
chile % heI'n is awful spOilt, but she
nebber touches her bout nOthin till she
gifts mad wild white folks, what she
feared TO sassy to, or niggers what
she dasn't jaw, den she hops on Fibby
Jane and gib7 her fits.n
This lengthy explanation was vouch-
safed to me by old Bob Greene, negro
man who was saving wood in our yard.
Finding him so well disposed to en-
tighten me on the peculiarities Of his
race, and it being my rule never to des.
pise information from any source, /
continued
"Uncle Bob, do you know a colored
mau named Dick Leach?"
"Oh, yes, nam; knows him we'll "
"What sort of fellow is he?"
HES mighty gOod-n" tured, ma'sm,
but he's powerful lazy. He won't work
noways when it gifts hot in de
summer time, nor long as he can
get plum, or a blackberry, or a mush-
melon, for de picken, or stealing,
Dick will steal, Gat's de truth, but his
stealing don't do hisself no good. He
lift other fOlkg's chickens, and den give
way his own fowls what he raise to
white people. He help tother niger to
knock hog in de mead, and let him keep
alI de meat. But he nebber GIBBS no gas
siness to nobody, white nor black. He
is Il curious niger; he am dat, shore"
He certainly is, and such being MS
character l will not employ him, He
wac here We terdsy asking for work. By
the way, Uncle Rob, why do you come
to town when you could get SC
much more to do, and better prices fol
work, in the county ?n
"Weli, ma'am, l did try to farm, but
I got broke up at it."
hWho did you belong to in slavery
tjmes?"
Colonel Walter Lyle, ma'am, and a
good massa he was. / nebber would q
len him long as lie libbed, eff it hadn't
been fur de Radicals. Dey tell me we
mustn't stay wild our old owners, nOhOw;
80 l quit old m8ssa and went to Win.
chester, whar my O.dest son was. Ihgd
some money, and boss what old masss
gin me, and me and my son, we rent
land and try fur to run a farm
out, Lord, runnin' farm amt
what its cracked up to be.
We got one OBJ de merchants in Win
chester to vance for us, and when set
ting time come it took eberytiDg what
we made, 'sides de rent to pay De till.
Den when de lection come on we didn't
hab nothing to go 'pon, and de Radicals
say, Now, you jine our league an vote
our ticket, an Well supply you wild corn
and Visions | vote UNI, and den nebel
yit so much as a chaw tobacco. Dey
fool me tTO lectiOns about forty acres
an mule, what dey say de gobern-
mapt wss gwine to glb me, but | don't
blieve Una 10 more"
And where's your son nOww
"He's down TO Winchester, mR'am.
We farmed togedder de second year, and
got right good start in de way CD corn
and peas, and got our crop all out afOre
de bad weather come, cause we warn
bothered like We WAS de yesr before bOut
tending political meetins; but Jake,
dat's my son, he tuck a notion TO gel
married and bring his wife 10 lib wild US
Purity soon she fall out wild my Ole
oman. say she wasn't nOthin' but g
ttcky ;aDd next thing she say We both bin
a cumnTance on Jake. Aud fust tbir g
We knoW'd she aud Jake turn me anC
de ole msmmy cutter doors, l think ms
ana her would persisted tit hadn't 4
bin for ole massa's cousin, what hbeC
20 Winchester. She took Us in wheI
we vas down wild de chils and gin u'
medicine, jes' cause We were old fami
ly niggers."
"Why didn't you go back to your ole
master, then, Uncle BobH'
81 would, ma'am, but he was dead
and his son done gone to CslifOrny. Oh
ma'am, when / thinks bout dem ole
days, thinks we old gray-headed mig
gers is failed on hard times. Me anC
my ole oman knocks about doin' suci
ODD jobs as we can git. Our childIeT
won't do nothin' for US, and we Is to-
stiff:jointed and has the rumstiZ too baC
to work on a farm. Often my oil
oman amt able to wash and when she',
sick, dere's de DOCTORS bill. We nebe
has no bIgrCaSted tsters and baked pos
sum, nor big lIghtwood-knots fires like
we used 10. l spec wen freeze clean VI
some cold night, and l wonders who'll
see bout Euryin' Us, now ole mass
desd.n