The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-02-03

manage New England township,
The grass got some of his cotton.
The caterpillar got the rest. The
Colonel got his rent. The darkies
got the money he brought and he
went back to New England diss
gusted and wrote the "FooPs En-
rand"
Then there was the philanthro-
pic fool He was as sincere fel-
low as ever read Emersons or came
from 1ndover-a cross between
Harvard and Williams, too narrow
for one and too broad for the other.
He wanted to regenerate the negro
race. True some of us and of our
erandfathers had been trying to do
that work, but Philanthropos, with
Joseph Cook in one pocket and Dr.
Leonard Baron in the other, was
going to show the work was to be
done in a way. He and his sister
and his cousin bought new specta-
cles, pu. ten pounds Of good tea in
the trunk, filled it up with Atlantic
monthlies and prepared themselves
for martyrdom Fully persuaded
the fearful cause of slavery had
ruined beyond hope the white race,
and that a Democrat and an intidcl
or 4 Catholic were the same thing
they came South. lie did not seek
out or consult with any Southern
preacher nor representative layman.
He sought out the leading colored
man Of the place, lived at his house
and soon wrote home about the os
tracism of missionaries to the ne
erocs. Stated nak"lly the fact is
sadly dcro gatory to southern civil
zation, and far more so to Southern
religion. The fact would probably "
be presented by Phianthropos to Il
Massachusetts audience thus :"Fcel
inc my heart beat with sympathy
for an oppressed race, | went south
after the war to see if | could do
something to civillze and Chris
tianize it. ! opened q school in
Atlanta. | found the poor l'rccd-
man eager for knowlegc and
earnestly desires to rise in the scale
of life. | went to do him good; |
went to his cabin. slept in his
bed, | ate of his scanty store, and
assured him that | believed him to
be man and brother. | did not
try to curry favor with his Cypress
ors; | tried to instill into his
breast q hatred Of tyranny by often
calling his attention to the wrongs
Of the past. tried to eradicate
from his breast any sense of infcri
ority and taught him to hold his
own everywhere. In one word, ]
tried to make him feel that he was
man, could | do less than de
nouncc the awful wickedness of the
rebellion, or less than to try and in
spirc in him gratitude for ithcparty
which had saved the Union and
given him his freedom? For these
things, and only these, ! was ostra
ciScd. | could feel the sneer on the
lip, of the brainlcss Southern blood,
rs | walked proudly by with one of
my colored female pupils on my arm,
and with my teachers and scholars
following in procession as we went
to the Congregational church to
hear Il mulaltO (the son, of Demo
cratic Congressman deliver n lee
turc on the emancipation procIama-
ton. only fully carried ont by the
use of the army to secure 4 free
ballot" That's his side.
The other side of the Southern
mans story may be told as follows:
The war was over. Wewerc suffer
inc from every quarter. Our dead
children, over whom we wept, were
more blessed than we. We needed
sympathy and help. The negroes
who had been our slaves, were now
our masters. They were sergcants
and corporals Of the army. They
were voting away our money with
the design of making our taxes SO
heavy as to force all we had to sale.
The Northern missionary came.
He ignored US. He sought for the
negro alone. He told him he was
now the peer and the superior OF
the Southern white. He taught
him to sing, ave will hang JEFF
Davis on sour apple tree" The
ladies Of the mission sought their
associates among our washerwomcn
and cooks. The young ladies walk
ed with our BARRIERS and carriage
drivers. They took every oPportu-
nitv to sncer at Us and ridicule.
AS they seemed to have no use for
us we let them alone. The men were
active politicians, identified with
the party which seemed bent on
our ruin. True there were eXcep-
tions. There were those who show
ed by their lives that they had come
to do the negro good and us too.
AS soon as we found such out
we gave them due respect We did
not object to their work. If they
had consulted our preachers and
philanthropists, for we have them,
and sought their cooperation, they
would have gladly joined with them,
but they did not. We die not like
them or their meth ods, and we let
them alone.
These are the too stories. Which
is correct? Both. There were many
who came in the spirit of the mis-
sionary who is here represented,
and there were many who presented
exactly the fortunes of those of
whom the representative Southerner
has spoken.-Springfeld RepubH-
can.
Railroad Taxes in Georgia.