National Republican., 1883-06-14


sweet potatoes, imported butter slouchy ne
gress with her head swathed around with
couple Of yards of highly colored calico, an
open fireplace, and there you have all the fac
tors of the cuisine Everything in this world
Is comparative in its excellence, and anybody
accustomed to the everyday faro in the land
of granite and ice may rest assured that he is
not going to improve his bill of fare as he heads
outward.
There is one thing, however, that deserves
all the credit IL gets, speaking impersonally
OF what / mean as "it" i refer to the in
huence of white women on these plantations.
have no glowing tributes to pay to their
beauty, for they are no more nor less hand
some than their northern sisters, nor have
they more intelligence, while they do havo
less of the ability to take care of themselves
in the battle of life But in the old days.
when cut off from the world and surrounded
by all the demoralizing influences of slavery,
by their moral integrity they kept the whole
country from going to the devil. If the
southern women had been one-tonth part as
bad as the men everything would have
gono to tho bad long ago. The thou
sands of mulattoes, quadroons octoroons,
and still further drawn out "roons"
attest this fact. This reminds mo of somo-
thing that happened the writer not ton days
ago. put it in here to show what dashed
fool stranger may mako of himself because
he doesn't know any better. Sitting on the
porch, gallery, they call IL here of one Of
these old plantation homes, l was being en-
tertained by the lady of the house, and she
was lady, while lunch was being prepared.
She remarked incidentally that she had n
daughter at q Pennsylvania seminary, and
that she had just graduated. Presently supper
was announced, and while at the table a very
pretty, well developed young woman came
in. She had long black hair, hazel
rn ha al la
of ripe peach. There's the sweet girl
graduate thought l, and | Immediately in
quired after some of the Pennsylvania school
people knew, and like another fool, wound
up by remarking the resemblance between
the mother and daughter Under all ordinary
circumstances all this would have been
proper, but there are circumstances down
here out of the ordinary courses of human
events. And this was one of them. With
digniied frigidity the hostess remarked,
that young woman is the servant, and she
is nigger, SIR" There are some occasions
in life when anything you may say only
makes matters worse, and this was one Of
them. How did know2 That sweet girl
graduate of old-time deviltry would have
passed for white anywhere north, but here
she was Niger and proved it by her inten-
tion to marry black man. And | compared
her to the lady of tho house Ye gods and
little fishes! The very recollection of it is
painful.
In the vicinity of most plantations is still
another human element neither white nor
colored. This is the poor white, we will call
him so to distinguish him from the Others
and he is long way removed from either.
Personally, ho is a long, lean, scrawny, slab
sided lantern jawed, unkept looking man,
chewing tobacco, and, If he is rich, owning q
mule. Ho can neither read nor write, nor
could his ancestors back as far as he can go.
His wife is another of the same in all save
sex. Morally, he will do you no harm, and
politically he is democrat, and don't you
forget it.
He never went to school, for there was
none for him to attend. He never had any
thing, for he could not compete with tho
stakeholder. He belonged to the "weuns" lot
that largely made up the confederate army.
He never owned a Niger in his life, and he
was always poor and deserved to be. When
the war was on he fought for his neighbors'
slaves who characterized him as white trash,
and probably has not discovered to this day
what it was all about and--wcll, ofsuch is the
kingdom of Mississippi.
1t must not be understood, however, that
there are no persons different from those por-
trayed here. What the writer wishes to con-
vey is that the average is low and capable of
vast improvement. As in all communities,
here and there are people of intelligence, and
none know better than they that in the back
counties it is much rs l have said. For a
mile or SO along tho margin of the Mississippi
river, and along tho other rivers, the intelli-
gence and wealth of the state is found. The
back counties have no means of communities
ton with the outside world and the result is
apparent
Another idea to get rid of is the romance of
hospitality. 1t is a little difficult to define
the word. There's the hospitality of the four
dollar day hotel, and the hospitality of the
| settler in his cabin, for instance. Taken in
the sense of keeping open house, if there ever
was anything of tho kind, it is at an end
now If taken in the way of making guests
comfortable, there is just as much of it north
| as south, and as for charging for accommoda-
tions, it depends on the individual, as it does
all the world over.
All this is not calculated to favorably i'm
press the southerner. Nevertheless it Is en-
tirely harmonious with facts. The usual
method of dealing with the southern ques
tion is to refer to the chivalry and gallantry
of the masculine element and the many
| adjectived beauty Of the women. This sort
of description always pleases the object OF
adulation, and any statement of facts is an
other northern Misrepresentation of the
sunny climo, &c. Bosh What Mississippi
wants are schools, newspapers, churches, and
republicans. The latter of course, could not
be utilized under that name but
lncy COulu De Culleu reformed uemOcratS,
or independents, or some such namo.
If agricultural Mississippi will surrepti-
tiously smuggle into practice some northern
methods and put her hand to the plow, and
never look back, nor refer to the bad old days
| prosperity will be easily reached.
| This thing of referring to tho ante bellum
days, when five hundred men and women
worked free for one man, who had Niger
| to keep the gallinippers of him while he
read the then one daily paper of the state,
another niger to scratch his back, and an
| other and other, and so on, is altogether
played out and Improbable TO the man of
to-days Mississippi. If tho state will dis
card politics as n factor of success and put its
faith in God and agriculture, backed by barn
yard manure, tho writer will bet high OH a
successful outcome.
Tho Mississippi planter apparently never
seems quite 20 happy rs when he is in debt Ia
the store for bag of corn meal and u green
salted side of II western hog. With these anC
| the prospect ofa good crop pofcOtton--not to pay
for them so much as to insure renewed credit
he is content TO accept life as wholly real
lied in all its capabilities and possibilities. II
| IL ever becomes q necessity to destroy Missis.
sippi, no more eifectual means can be taler
than TO prevent the importation of hog ant
corn meal, or to destroy the credit system
| Either one will do the work and both at onc
would equal a cyclone. IL. NJ.
| OwENToN, KY.-Rev. j. N. Beck says: o"
| have used Browns Iron Bitters and conside
| it one of the best toncs sold"