The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-12-29

al truths Mr. Sylvester had twentyeight
pigs After two sessions of that Sunday
school Mr.. Sylvester could muster, ali
told, but four pigs, and the school was
adjourned sine die. In st. Landre Parish,
as in all other southern localities, there is
every inducement for the negro to work
For instance: A few years ago the 5arky
who cultivated cotton was obliged to give
the firm who "ginned' it certain pro
portion of the product. Such is not the
case at present All that the ''ginner"
asks for his labor is the cotton seed, for
from this seed he has learned how to
/ manufacture cotton seed oil, cotton seed
cake for feed, and the refuse makes excel,
lent fuel But, as a rule, notwithstanding
grand opportunities. the negro works only
when moved by hunger. He is satisfied
to subsist on hog and hominy, but will
not work for his diet even if he can stt al
a pig Or ravish a hen roost. Throughout
Alabama and Mississippi, in Tennessee,
South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky
one finds practically the same ontslde of
things as regards the freedman.
Mr.. Bristol continued: 1.-The ease is not
| Overstated in the least Not only do the
| planter suffer greatly by negro apathy ane
and improVidence, but housewives have
much trouble with their domestics. In
| the black belt the colored folks will not
work on Saturday, as it is market day,
which is a general holiday. Sunday they
go to church three times and conclude
with prayer meeting. The majority are
almost useless for labor until Monday
afternoon. | spoke of some of the darkies
who lease land. Most of them mortgage
their crops at the country stores. The
stOrekeepers, obliged to wait for their
pay. charge exorbitant prices, and when
| the crops are harvested the black tenants
have little or nothing to bridge them over
| the unpr0duCtive months. So far as
morals are concerned. unchastity is well
nigh universal A virtuous woman IS
rarely found, and it is conceded that the
younger generation ofsthe freedom are
worse in this respect than the old darkies
The young black boys and girls are, as
rule, growing up good for nothing. They
are largely without discipline, and their
animalism suggests the brute. OF the
value Of the ballot they know almost
nothing. If lived down there and had
| property it would not be for my interest
nor for the best interests of the commu-
| nifty to allow the colored vote TO predom-
mate. If our northern editors and
preachers lived there they would not want
| the ignorant negroes to control their
| business"
"What is the remedy for all this?"
Education, of course. 1t will be slow
work, but it is work that should not be
neglected. The blacks dislike school
discipline. Their Improvement is pain
fully slow, for their capacity is limited
but earnest workers in the south are
laboring zealously to develop all the
mental fertility which God has given to
the black man The New Orleans Uni
versty of the Methodist Episcopal church
is attended by $50 scholars. The results
are all that can probably be expected ]
heard the young men recite. They arc
able to commit to memory the rules in the
books, but when an idea covered by a
rule is advanced in other language they
fail to grasp it. They Earn by rote,
parrot-like. There are exceptions, but
exceedingly rare. The university spoken
of is doing good work, but more money
is needed to sect e the results aimed at.
The university is an old, unsIghtly build
| ing. 1t should be razed and a cOmmodi0us
and handsome structure erected. This
would appeal more strongly to the pride
of the young men,
'Does the negro in the south seem tt
appreciate his degraded conditIoG?""
Far from it. The negro race, so fal
as animal spirits are concerned, is tht
happiest race extant. \ grinning, ragged
darky suggests the philosophy which
some one has concentrated into this sen
tence: In the nature of the soul is com
pensation for the inequalities Of cord;
tion. Lacking ir reasoning faculties,
with moral sensibilities blunted, bare
footed, bareheaded and barehanded the
darky never seems to be depressed
Beggary and bunyancy davetail. Deticien
in ambition, they seem to realize thei
ideal of life in shouting at bush meetinI
or in dancing to the music Of banjo anG
violin The southern negroes do not a
present need sympathy as much as intel
ligent control and strong. heallhfu
discipline. The negro nature is best un
derstood by the southern white man
Southerners are easy going people; they
are more patient and mild with the black!
than are the northern men who 90 dowl
there A northern manufacturer or far
mer makes Il great mistake when he sup
poses that he can handle negros as he ha:
been accustomed TO handle help in tht
north. He will lay down rules, resolve to
be kind to his help, and treat them, as fa
as he can, as equals The negroes will
at once take advantage of him, and whel
the northern man gets light on the situa
, ton he is generally harsher. and, | ma,
say. mote brutal with his help than til,
native southerner. Residence in tn
south takes all the Boston spirit out o
a man so far as the negroes are con
cerned."
In conclusion, Mr. Bristol said that ht
did not suppose his remarks at the Mon
day meeting would receive the attention
they seem to have secured. He fel
assured that he had only told the truth Il
regards the condition of the blacks in tht
! south. While there was much that j
, lamentable in the moral and social statu
of the southern negro, he did not beliey
that anything was gained by suppressin
facts, Everything that he had said o.
the subject was susceptible of proof.