The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-08-22

are no servants, anu seIVautS arc no
cessity, except in an imaginative jack
ass's Utopia. A few of the poorer Lii
berians hire out, but they are as good as
their hirers, and consequently matters
don't work smoothly. All such "ser-
wants" are addressed by everybody as
"Mr." and "Miss." 1t sounds funny to
hear the master of the house say "Miss
-, glass of water, please" When l
visited the President I heard him ask:
"Mr. Ross, will you bring in the wine?"
This is, of course, great hindrance to
the cultivation of land on any extensive
scale, especially when there are no
horses. It cramps fearfully the sugar
production, where much and cheap labor
is indispensable at certain times. So,
disguise it as they will, the Liberians
have to -
DEPEND ON SLAVE LABOR
at last, for it comes to that. They hire
from native king a certain number Of
his superstition bound slaves for 80 much
rum, SO many brass kettles, iron bars and
guns, and 80 much calico paid to him.
The 'thands"' work we'll, and are faithful
and obedient until the king, through
caprice or having been paid, and want
| ing them to cut rice, sends orders to them
to come back. Then they leave in a
body, Just, maybe, as the planter needs
them most, and the Liberian government
is too weak to enforce the performance
of contracts. made with its citizens. One
secret of my friend Sharp's success I was
\ told is thathe makes an excellent quail
| ty Of rum, with which he pays king for
.ashelp,n' and is shrewd enough to keep on
good terms with the potentate by sending
| him, an extra cask now and then. In
this way he and: few others manage to
secure labor when they want it for their
80, 100. and $50 acre farms. One of a
thousand acres, though, it would be diff
ticult to work here. There are some
comparatively free natives who hire
cheaply, but they are unreliable and apt
to "knock off" and go at any time. You
can pick up a few always, enough to
man your canoe or do odd jobs, and if
you treat them kindly, they will hire out
TO you again, and do any kind of work.
They cannot be depended upon in any
considerable number, however These
natives are abjectly afraid of the white
man, having acquired the idea probably
from, the Liberians) that he is not only
an habitual cheat, but an habitual cut
throat. It requires several months of
acquaintance to get them fairly recon-
ciled to the Caucasian. Then unless he
be q bastard to the time who doth not
smack of observation, they like him
above all, and will give him the prefer
ence in hiring, These natives will take
anything, and the Liberians (who "hed
here from the slave holders lash") do
not scruple to administer unto them q
thrashing when provoked thereto. The
native frequently discerns the anger'in
his employers face and the stick in his
hand, and precipitately takes to fight,
leaving, if necessary, like Joseph, his
garment in the hands of the pursuer.
All the revenge he ever takes is to quit
and go home. 1t must be
AN 1NsPIRITINa SPECTACLE
to see what was described to me in an in
cidental way by the chief actor himself,
q free black Liberian man, soundly
cudgeling free black native man With a
stick, while two more free black native
men were flying over the neighboring
hedges to avoid similar castigation, the
three, free black natives, having. been
caught in the act Of dragging a bag of
rice through the mud. Such things
make me weep when I think that Wen
dali Phillips was not there. The native
is rarely SASSY" and the most he does
is to complain in sort of whine, in his
broken English. 1t is a universal Gus
tom for them to address all who they
consider as superiors as GLADLY" and
NANNY" This information was a
great comfort to me, as I had been much
| scandalized by being addressed as
daddy" by fat Kroo boy, within an
hour after my landing.)
THE DIFFICULTY REGARDING. HOUSE
SERVANTS
is in great degree obviated by prac-
tice now fortunately becoming common.
That is the binding out of native chill
dren by their parents to serve in Libe-
rian. families until twenty-one years of
age. There were from two to six of these
youngsters around nearly every house l
visited, and very bright, "handy" and
honest they seem. in return for their
services, they are clothed, fed, learned
reading, writing, Christianity and her
handmade Civilization. Quite an at
tachment in some instances seems to ex.
ist between master and servant. This
| shows a long step forward on the part of
the nstives-an appreciation of their in
! feriority to civilized people. A people
or man who. can be made to see their
or his own imperfections, is not beyond
hope. Perfect self.satisfaction is the
greatest bar to improvement, as it is the
most unmistakable mark of a fool. Had
the Liberians little of the humbleness
and consciousness of inferiority of the
| natives, I might have more hopes of
them. So far, the civilized natives have
made little progress. When they return
to their tribes they have to doH Euro
pean clothes, as, if they didn't, the medi-
cine man would probably attribute the
first misfortune that befell to his viola
ton of the customs of his ancestors,
which are more honored in the breech
cloth than in the observance of panta-
looms and paper collars, and settling"
dose of poison would remove the pro-
| gressiouist. Their knowledge of the
reading and writing of the English Ian
guage, too, is now generally employed in
aiding the king in some yillainy. Du-
ring their residence with the whites, they
usually pick up knowledge of CONNER
cial values, which makes them useful in
facilitating the trading operations of
their tribe. As the numbers of these
civilized ones increases, however, their
influence is bound to be- felt for good.
Apropo, of the natives, it may be men:
toned that the principal tribes here
| abouts are Mandingoes and Veis, the
former noted for their aptness in manu-
featuring and trading, and the latter for
having invented (patent not yet applied
for) an alphabet of their own. These
| natives generally live in thatch villages,