Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-10-25
A COIOred Voter.

Charles ID. Deshler. In Harper's Magazine for
September.
Abraham, how do the white and the
colored people get along at the South?'
Why, dey gifts along well enough; to
be sure dey do. Why shouldn't dey git
along togedder? Dey all b'longs yere,
an dey was all born ar brung up yere.
Of course dey gifts along. But, massa,
re acOtes.
AS he uttered the words we votes, y
Abraham's face was study. The in
dex finger of mis- right hand was pressed
against his lips, and his countenance as
sumed an expression at once full of
meaning and yet as blank as a stone wall.
Finding that he was disposed to take
refuge behind his pantomime from fur
ther revelations, | replied; "Yes l
know you vote, Abraham, but the thing
that | want to know is, whether there
are serious troubles and differences here
between the colored people and the
white people. How is it?"
Why, to be sure dar's troubles an
differences down here; in course dar is.
Don't you see, niggers is niggers, an
white folks is white folks down Souf,
jis like dey is all over? | spect dar's
troubles tween folks up Norf, an dat s
de way tbs down Souf Sometimes de
white folks has row, an den agin
sometimes de niggers has a row; some
times de white folks pitch into de mig
gers, an sometimes de niggers pitch in
to de white folks-an den agin dey
don't. But, | say, massa, ace ,cotes!"
Again Abraham resorted to the same
expressive pantomime, but | pretended
not to comprehend his meaning, though
| began to have glimmering of it. So
| resumed: You have told me that
twice, Abraham, but it is no answer to
my question. Now no dodging, but
come straight to the point-are the
white people and the colored folks
friends or enemies? Do you under
stand that?"
"Oh yes, massa, dat talks plain
enough | guess | kin understan' it
widout kickin. Now jis lemme tell
you how It's. Spose niger gets sick; !;
well. dar amt no niger doctors, an
we've got to go to de white doctors.
Undcrstan'? Well, jis so, dar amt no
niger lawyers, nor bankers, nor butch
ers, nor bakers, nor noffin, an we've got
to pend on de white lawyers an butch
crs an bankers. Understan. massa?
Very well, den, eff | wants to buy any
thin, or eff I've got any thin to sell, dar
amt no nj ggers to go to, an I've got to
90 to de white folks. S'pose my chile
was to die, dye spect I'd want anudder
common niger lis like myself to bury
him? No, sir. He should have de best
white minister dar is a-goin'. An den
agin, s pose dar's sickness orEtrouble in
my family an | want good keer an
words of comfort, do you spect I'd run
to udder niggers to git EN-? All I've
got to say is, eff | did, I'd be disappoint-
ed, sure. But | don't do it, an no mig
gers does it what kin help it. Eff my
wife or chile gifts taken bad, | goes to
Kurnel Bob's sister, an den [ knows it s
boun' to come right eff any thin kin
make it come right; an ef | gifts into
trouble, like that dam bail, why, [ jis
goes to Kurnel Bob hisse'f, an he helps
me to pull through. OATS what we mig
gers has got to do, massa. But den
you see, ace acOteS!
No ingenuity OF which L was the mas
ter could extract a more direct reply
from Abraham, who seemed to be an
adept in the art of saying nothing with
his tongue while his face and eyes and
hands spoke volumes. | had no doubt,
however, that the impression he sought
to convey was, while there were many
strong ties of interest, affection and
sympathy between the two races, and
that while the negroes instinctively re-
sorted to the whites in great emergen-
cies, deferring to the superior intelli-
gence in matters domestic or business
concernment they still held themselves
distinct politically, because they per-
ceived that somewhere in this field there
was an antagoism of interests, which
they held in restraint by massing their
votes as an individual unit.