The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-04-30
THE CHICKEN QUESTION

arrested in Washington for being in
possession of felonious chickens. Ae-
cording to leading religious Journal,
the man was visited in prison by his
colored pastor, who informed him
that he would at once call q church
meeting in order to provide ways and
means of extricating the unfortunate
brother from jail. As the religious
journal in question intimates, this
incident forcibly illustrates the ina
bility of the colored mind to recog.
nize a right Of property in chickens.
Why it is that a passion for snd
total inability to resist temptation
in connection with Caucasian hen
rOosts characterizes the negro,
wherever he may be, is a question
which certainly deserves investigation.
A colored man may be conscientious,
intelligent, and perfectly honest, With
the.solitsry exception OF chickens
and yet he firmly believes that chick.
ems are a birthright to his race, and
that no MAJ has right to keep them
from him. The colored preacher
whose sermons are full of.the very
best morality, whose lime is pure,
whose methcG of WhiteWashing is
above reprosch, and who could be
trusted with a moderate amount of
gold. goes down before the first
chicken temptation that besets him.
Were he to steal dollar bill, or to
uss adulterated whitewash, he would
ieel ashamed to stand in the pulpit but
and preach the colored gospel, he has
no hesitation in visiting hen-roost at
midnight on Saturday and in preach
ing a powerful sermon the next
morning on the duty of keeping the
eighth commandment.
White men, earnest in the cause Of
morality even when devoid of any
pecuniary interest in chickens, have
in vain endesvored to instil into
the colored mind the true nature of
chicken stealing. It is by no means
difficult to induce a docile coiored
man to admit that theft is wrong and
that chicken stealing is, In the eyes
of the law and the gospel, theft. Yet,
after all, these truths are only sppre-
hended intellectually. Though the
colored man cannot but admit the
force of the reasoning by which be is
shown that chicken stealing is wrong,
his heart remains untouched. He
feels in every fiber OF bis body that
chickens were created for the benefit
of the colored race, and that ne is
justified in Selling them wherever
he may find them. The consequence
is that, in spite of his admissions and
promises Of reformation, the first
plump chicken he meets in circum-
stances favorable to larceny causes him
to fall He brings it home and cooks
it without a pang OF remorse and
sleeps, after his surreptitiuos fesste,
with a conscience as clear ss that
of baby.
There is evidently an affinity be-
tween colored men and chickens so
strong as to defy the efforts of NOR
atty to keep the two separate. We
find the evidences of this affinity
wherever the negro lives or has lived.
On the tombs of ancient Egypt are
paintings representing chickens, aud
in every instance a colored man is
painted in elsse and suspicious prox.
unity to them. The Egyptians so
clearly recognized the impoSsibility |
of preserving hen roosts inviolate in |
an African country that they invented |
the plan of Matching chickens artiG-
cially. and thus prevented the extinc-
ton OF the species which would 9TH
erWise have resulted from the stealing
of all chickens without distinction of
age, sex, or laying proclivities. To
this day the native kings of Central
Africa show their love for chickens
by sdorzing themselves with chicken
feathers and by initiating in their
walk and conversation the habits and |,
manners OF their beloved fowls. The
chicken is an essential feature of the .
mysterious Voudoo ritual among the
negroes of the West Indies and our
southern States. A chicken-bone,
carefully picked and laid on the door
i'll OF an enemy, will. in the opinion
II the Voudoo believer, bsWitoh that
,nemy to such an extent that he will I.
Vish be had never been born. Like. /
wise the chicken occupies an import {
mt place in the colored ndteria me- i
,icG. Burned chicken feathers are {
Ield to be q sovereign remedy for a j
oxen different diseases, and the comb 3
4 cock. when dried and pulverized, :
} a dose that will loosen the grip oil o
hills and lever. In fact, there is !
csrcely a phase of colored life in !
7hich the chicken doeg not play an .
Important part, and we're the negro 8
} be wholly cut of from chickens he b
lould probably pine and die. q
The fact of the existence of this q
lose affinity between colored men il
nd chickens is so plain as to be i'm 4
ossibie of denial, but its secret is d
lusive. It is true that the negro y
nd the chicken have many tasts a
/ common. They are alike fond Of a
az colors, of singing at inopportune n
ours and in q way to cast gloom a
yer the neighborhood, and of eating n
all times and to an unlimited ex- h
mt. We may admit all this, but it II
lrows no light on the question why :.
Ia coloYe6 man eannot rof-o:- 49,. ;,