The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-05-10
PRACTICAL ORATORY,
An Elective speech by III. H. AsO"i"'
son, the COlOred Deiesate
from Arkansas.

H., Eoota even. and, in the face OF pre-
;rdioe on all sides he struck the rlgh' key
: - and saved the Convention from the
ovh;h;tion OF narrow and passionate par g
tvism and, perhaps, from open rupture :
A. q critical moment, when both sides were
Two for revolt and defiance, after Gov
Foote like pestiferous ghost of the past
had stirred up the slumbering embers OF
an expiring fanaticism, and AFTER 0oi'
p;tpan on the other side had thrown an
armful of combustible fagots upon the nre
thot Foote kindled - Robinson stepped
forward upon the stage, panoplied IN noun,
inc Int the armor of good purpose anu
tb9 courage of a pressing exigency'
..Colored mem" said he, "Be quie'-
Don't be fools!'
There was fierce clamor on the colofeu
side, and expressions like this; "set DOWN.
ave don't want to hear you" "You Snah
speak,"
As coon rs the noise subsided the speaker
nroceeded to say: "Iam easily pursuaue'
If any gentleman in this vast audiences nuu
asked me in gentlemanly way to yieia 'pe
aoor or desist. would have promptly done
So Bet you say I shan't speak, now
tall Won that I'll be id if don
sneak, and you shall hear what nave
- COW You colored men are mere
to complain because you don't have any
tbi,o at the end of the year; and am
Lere to tell you that it is your own taui'
Won saw that the store-keeper charges you
outrageously for his goods say tna' you
have no business to give him the cnanoe ~
do IT You say that your account at tne
store never fails to oversize your pie;
say that that's human nature exactly 'ne
world over. and without regard to race. Ii
Won are going to keep on being ldiots-h
Won are going to keep on hunting up men
to take oil the profits of your LABOR, YOU II
have no trouble in finding them. You can
ho accommodated in the person OF the nan
dv and obsequeous Dutchman with MS
"sheep goots"-you can find him IN the 10y!
o, Yankee who has spilled SO much OF MS
blood.-fguratively - for your freeoon'
and who thinks he has a preNemp'iohary
right to all that you can make You Will hn'
hin, in the southern planter sometlheS
: Now Of this latter class, am sorry to say
, howe been recreant to their responsiveness III
this: they have charged too much Tor REM,
3 too much for supplies advanced ana laileu
| 70 evarcise in the proper direction tnelf
: commanding influence over their '0n
49,, 49, +anants in common, or laborers al
6 the case may be, in restraining their pio
f pensity to go in debt
, s'My complaint against you planters AM
merchants is this" Here the speahel
! turned to the white part of the audience
"you are not sufficiently alive to the neces'
sitv of protecting your laborers, against
8 shan pers, against their own thouShtleSS
ness, against your own undue exacuohS
sometimes. Some of you, perhaps ou
le NOT all, have permitted yourselves to d
1t seduced into the idea that the proper wa
g to treat the negro is to SO manipulate NIL
st that he will come out at the end OIL inc yea
al q little behind SO that you can hold on
at him as customer or laborer. tell W
r that that policy is death to both. lnvoI
lis from you more liberality, more Jlstlce' al
ed moro advice for these people, and DO I'll
tn in your interest as well as theirs appe
e. to the common sense of the money lende
it. the supply merchant, and the landlord al
tie ask them to consider the indisputable tru'
BIS that there can be no enduring prosper
lis for them except through the proportiona
SO and relative prosperity of the laporli
nd classes, and that exhorbitant charges again
of laborers will prove in the end the destru
EN- tion Of the interests of both classes.
OF "You see before you, gentlemen, M
IN who has never darkened the door OF
a school house, but [ remember well when
III asked one of my young white friends
oe- give me a copy to learn to write by. !
'hV gave me this: Disappointment sink t
nc heart of man, but the renewal OF no
laS oives consolation The copy made Wy
gut impression on my mind at the time, and
II nv observation and experience since OF
an 90 to strengthen my faith in the prodiglc
my depth of its meaning. Destroy the hope
be a man. white or black, and you at OF
SUI ~ destroy the best pant of his vital enert
MI, The hopeless man cannot be good laOo
tul or good artizan, or good citizen eV'
nst The man who labors year after year,
'ra' comes out at the end of every year III
'"" ,rorse off than he was the year before
whistle his courage along for while,
gu be ia bound to sink or go to Kansas at Ia
a1s It may be his own fault. That makes
difference, the practical result is the san
son His courage gives way under SO many
the heated disappointments. His heart Fl
to him. His hope is gone. 1t is natural
ish. snch a man to be restless and dissatisf
gbat Can't YOU with your wisdom, your pow
ned. of foresight and calculation, devise SO
wav to change this system? If the colo
Zen. man mr. the colored mans wife or daugl
gal2 wants to plunge into whiskey, costly re
can or pevgaws, can't you point out the col
hat? ouencies and restrain the extraVagal
IS a Won't you do it? Won't you frown
iary any man who will deliberately pile up
now account against him to cover his W
It year's work based on gim-cracks and +
top whiskey2 In word, will you not s
the against excessive charges and use
nd potent influence to prevent the colored
lied borer from frittering away his years
not inos before the harvest season? II
the will, my word for it, you can do it, and
sion will soon see the cure of the Exodus te
,ack- ''Now, colored men, 1 have this to 81
, If YOU. don't know what you take me
. Y.a.u. - 7 an, and have bee