The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-09-10
OLE GltdIiataen


The Decline OF Color Pfe1uuiee.
From oliver JohhSon'S B collections Of an AbOli
ZIONIST in the New York Tribune.
Anglo-saxon prejudice against then egrt
Is strong v e yet, but 1t Is weak compar
cd with what It was then. No man Will
n black skin could enter a Christian
Church without consenting to the degra
dation ofthc "nigger pow" He could no
ride in any public conveyance on terms o
equality with Others. A "sry ittelllgen
cOlortd girl, the daughter Of a devoted
and useful Clergyman Of Boston, was sud
denly summoned to the bedside Of dyint
relative, in New Hampshire, A seat wa
bespoken for her In the stage, then The
only means of public conveyance; but the
driver, Oh coming to the door and finding
that she was q negro, cracked his WHIP
with an accompanying oath and drove of
without her. A colorGd manOt Boston, In
trading with a white man, became the
owner Of a pew In tho central aisle OF the
Park Street Church, and, thinking he
might be protlted by the ministrations Of
an intelligent white minister, went to 1t
one Sunday morning with Instantly. They
listened to the "stated preaching Of the
gospel" for Once under the gaze OF a
whole battery offrowning faces; but they
were not permitted to enjoy the privilege
a second time. The trustees OF the church
found some technicality by which to de-
privo the black man oil his legal rights.
His appearance and that Of his family in
that fashionable house OF worship was
accounted by all Boston Us IN outrage
scarcely less fragrant than would have
been the use Of tho pew Us a pig-pen. A
Colored merchant from Liberia, a man Of
intelligence as well az wealth, and highly
esteemed by colonizationists, being on a
visit to Boston, took the opportunity OF
making the acquaintance Of the abolition
lists. As he wished to hear DR.. Beecher
preach, | invited him, as an act OF Cour.
tesy to a distinguished foreigner, to take
q seat in my pew. On my way out OF
church | encountered the indignant
frowns OF a large number Of the congre.
CATION; but 1t wa amusing to witness
the change OF countenance that fell
upon the advocates Of colonization
as l introduced to them "Mr.
Of Liberia" They really
seemed to think his odor was not quite 50
offensive, after all, as they had suspected.
The air OF Liberia was such a powerful
disinfectantl The shareholders used to
when slaves in the kitchen, dining-room,
parlor and boudoir were as all-pervading
as flies; but there was no odorso offensive
to them as that impaired to q "nigger'
when he was set free; and northern peo-
pie in the days OF slavery, while they re-
quired the free negro to occupy a separate
apartment on steamboat and rail.car, as
being personally offensive to white olfac-
tories, never thought OF demonstrating
when the stakeholder lin the summer
weather, tooD claimed for their slaves all
the privileges Of f~irstclass travellers.
Strange that in a republican country free
dom was so offensive, while slavery was so
fragrant!
The meanness and cruelty Of this hate
full race prejudice, as It was often manifest.
ed in that day, were simply indescribable.
A bright colored lad, belonging q to my class
in Sunday school in 1881, said to me sadly
in reply to my efforts to awaken in him an
ambition .or self.imprOvement, "What's
the use in my attempting to improve my
self, when, do what | may, | never can be
anything but q %nigger?" l tried to cheer
this boy, to kindle some hope in his breast,
by reminding him that a few good men
were struggling to deliver him and his un-
fortunate race from their terrible sur
roundings; and I nm glad to say that he
became an honorablean and useful man, and
during the later years of his life he was a
faithful servant Of the United States in
the POstotice Department. In that day
no colored boy could be apprenticed to
any trade in q shop where white
men worked; still less could he
find a place, except as q menial, in
any store or office. l well remember
what amaZement was excited when Mr..
Garrison and his partner first took a black
boy as an apprentice in the office OF the
Liberator. | heard it declared on every
side that no "nigger" could learn the art
Of printing, and it was held to be evidence
Of arrogant folly to try the experiment.
II the negroes, under such circumstances,
sometimes seemed dull and even stupid,
who car wonder? What race or class Of
men is strong enough to keep its feet un-
der such q load of prejudice and Contume-
lyP Mr.. Garrison won the grateful con-
tidence Of the free colored people, not
more ty demanding the instant emancipa-
ton OF the slaves than by his uncompro-
missing assaults upon the spirit Of caste. In
short, his recognition OF the humanity OF
the negro was unqualified and complete,
and he was firmly resolved to content
himself with nothing less than the admis.
sion OF that, alike in principle and
practice. He made open war upon
an old statute OF Massachusetts in.
ficting a fine Of $50 upon any per-
son who should join in marriage any
white person with any negro, Indian or
mulatto. He saw that this statute set q
stigma upon the negro, and, therefore,
demanded its repeal. Perhaps for all his
acts this was for a time the most unpopu.
lar. The press poured upon it unmeasur.
ed ridicule and scorn, deneuncing him as
an "amalgamationist," and in the Legisla.
ture the petitions for repeal were at first
treated with contempt. But every year
they were repeated, until at last reason
prevailed and the obnoxious statute was
repealed. Upon this question he would
not %eQuivocate, he would not excuse, he
would not retreat a single inch and his
voice was finally heard and obeyed. II
was this uncomPromislngspi this abso.
lutte devotion to principle that distinguish.
ed him above other men and made his in.
~luence SO irresistible. How surely, even
if slowly, does the world yield to the might
OF such a mani The tides obey the moon
no more implicitly-the law Of gtayitation
is not more certain in its operation.
Men Of a thousand shifts and Wiles, look here!
See one Straightforward conscience put 10 pawn
To win the world! See the obOdIent sphere
By bravery'S simple gravltatlOn drawni
Iitkoro was among the colored people