Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-04-13

farther from association with him than /
am; more prejudiced against him, for 1t 1
is really on account Of the negro you re- /
fuse to come South, and you. in your 4
Northern home, Ostracise the negro from /
your parlor and table as much as do.
We Of the South have a more kindly /
feeling for the negro than you of the /
North. We are accustomed to an asso-
citation with him, of peculiar nature /
from childhood, that only those born |
and bred in the South can understand /
and appreciate. 1t would he useless for |
me TO attempt to explain it. Through |
war, pestilence and famine the old aifec |
ti0ns, inherited in the oldcn days of |
slavery, will cling around the Southern
heart until a new generation may change |
the ancient order OF things. can only |
speak for the present. If the Northern |
farmer will come South and dwell
amongst US, we do not ask him to con-
form to our habits and customs unless
they suit him, but we do ask him not to
expect us to conform to his. That is the
mistake some Northern people have
made. They think they must come as
missionaries, and begin their evangelical
work by insulting our intelligence and
our manhood. We claim to be Chris
tian people, and if we fail to think and
feel as you do, let us alone; we have no
desire to change either our politics or re,
ligion, and refuse to take to our heart the
iconoClast who skaters our images, how
ever false our doctrines may seem. The
sentiments imbibed with our mother $
milk will be sacred in our hearts, when
our altars are cast down, and our temples
smouldering in ashes. When you tind
an old Confederate soldier who does not
revere the memory of Lee and Stonewall
jackson, shun him as a viper He Is
false to his country. and will be false to
YOU. If you wish to come South to live
amongst us, you are welcome; we will
show you every courtesy and kindness.
Speed the plow, the loom, the anvil, or
engage in any pursuit you like; we care
nothing for your political or religious
creeds, we will let you alone in the en-
| joyment of every right and every privi-
lege, and ask only equal generosity on
your part; but it is too much to expect
that we will vote for you to represent us
in our political offices in preference to
our own people. 1t may be after we
have become well acquainted and have
! formed strong personal attachments, and
you are identified with us in our interests,
| that finding you worthy and well quail
| fed, we may crafty your ambition for
political preferment; but don't be in
hurry, or you will be disappointed.
| We have been robbed by Northern car
petbaggers and you know the old adage,
| "A burnt child breads fire." Our poll
ticians are no more saints than yours
You have heard your demagogues de-
| nounce us as uncivilized barbarians,
while they Haunted in youi faces that
disgusting emblem of falsehood and ig-
norance, the bloody shirt. When you
come South you will hear our politicians
lie about you with equal vehemence.
You wonder "why we fill the congress
sional halls with Southern brigadiers?"
Alas! My good Northern friends. if we
had had brigade for each of the South
ern brigadiers you see travelling North
or puffed in partisan papers, Lee would
have gobbled up Grant before breakfast
instead of tasting the bitter fruit of de-
feat under that sour apple tree at Apo
mattox "Tell it not in Gath, publish it
not in the streets of Ascalon," but the
fact is the majority of those Southern
brigadiers who make such ferocious
speeches in congress, never inhaled the
odor of the smoke of battle, or heard the
hiss of the MIME ball. They recei0ed both
their titles and commissions IN Washing
ton.
Let the politicians prate on and save
the Union as often as they like, you and
| will never quarrel or fight again, but
say to Capulet and Montague alike, ga
curse on both your houses" If you were
Federal soldier, bring your old blue
coat and lay it with my old tattered coat
of gray in the grave of the past, and
| together we will scatter flowers of love
and hope upon the turf that covers them;
and our children will grow up together
| in peace and friendship. In this spirit I
would show you the green fields of our
summer land, if you will ''cross over the
river and rest under the shade" and
drink together of its water, and the name
of the river is Lethe.
To what part of the South shall in
vite you? The valleys of our rivers are
the richest, and promise most to the
farmer, but they have their drawbacks.
| On our great river, the Mississippi, the
and as l write wall of sorrow is heard
from those inundated districts. This
does not happen every year, but 1 tell
you what will happen annually; the
miasmi will creep into your system, and
you will shake with chills, and parch
with fever, while the festive mosquito
huns q lullaby that accords painfully
with the quinine ringing in your ears.
This is no white mans country, but the
sons of Africa thrive here, as they do in
their native swamps of Africa. On the
east side of our State are beautiful pra-
ries, healthful and fertile, but the water
is not good. Still you can have cisterns
and catch rain water. In the central
portion of the State, that is, between the
prairies and the swamps, you can find
the greatest diversity of soils, hills and
wales, and often wide table lands will
take my own county as q fair specimen
Pontotoc county is one of the interior
counties. AT this time it is deficient in
railroad facilities, the nearest being
twenty miles distant. But this incon-
venience we hope soon to see overcome,
as two railroads are in contemplation,
that will cross each other at the town of
Pontotoc, one of which is partially graded
Pontotoc is noted more for its refined
society than its commercial facilities. It
has a fine female college, and a male
academy where young men are prepared
to enter our State University at Oxford,
thirty-fve miles distant, or the agricul-
tural and mechanical college at Starks-
vile, about fifty miles distant. The
county is abundantly supplied with free
schools for both white and black-but
we do not mix colors. The county is
beautifully diversified with hills and val
leys; some of the hills are worn, but they
have red clay subsoil, and can easily
be restored by fertilizers. Cotton is the