Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-05-18


and Improvement. Upon the conclusion OF
the following address, made by Justice A.
c. Wellborn, it was moved and unanimously
adopted that he be requested to furnish the
APFEAL a copy of his remarks, which
having been given to me / accordingly send
10 you.
MIR. wELLBoRN's ADDRESS.
NE1GHBoRs AND FRIHNDs-we have met here
this evening to ny ano Ieo5san1ze Ihe soeaI con-
will confess, it is In bad condition every way.
fear the same kindliness of feeling which existed
among US q few years ago Is departing; or II not,
our miserable occupation cotton plantingl, re-
quiring all our time, gives us no leisure for the
be tended and nursed by the loveliest flower
In our garden. At all events want of time, or in
clination, some cause has in a great degree
estopped us all, men, women and children from
these neighborly visits, which are the token OF
good Will amsng irlePos' II pe want OF nIae'
then to restore it, propose that on one Saturday
in each month we meet here or at any other
family, prepared by bringing an inexpensive din
ner 10 spend the daySthe dinner served and
eaten in common. Thus By giving one day in each
visits the entire community, with little loss OF
time at no expense, and it is to be hoped
one to look to its return with delight. And see
no reason why this cannot be continued indef-
nitely with pleasure and advantage to everybody.
one doubts and you win listen TO me few mo-
comparatiTe stranger twelve years ago, aud, of
course noted your condition more closely than
your farms, though not rich well worked and
producing fair crops; your fences in excellent re-
pair, your houses comfortable, remuneratiye
| prices for everything you produced and money
abundant; although by no means rich, plenty
more eminently social people. Your school was
supported by subscription, and was full ten
sst Vo 1e1 ~ Garrett me II
breadth in my answer. Much, perhaps one-hslf,
| the land which was then producing these
fair crops is now, not partially, but absolutely
i worn out, gashed and quilted beyond hope, and
I abandoned to sedge and sassafras; fences then
| good, are now rotted to the ground, many only
held together by the briars and bushes growing in
the corners; with very few houses showing the
tidiness of twelve years ago, age and dilspidation
l Your then well-flled school is now, in place of
ioSg enough foP your Child 10 pslea1n the a. b.
c. he has forgotten In the nine months he has not
1 gone. Several of the then neat, comfortable,
every Sabbath the voices of many Sunday school
children were heard singing the praises of God
l cations, the way of life, onward and upward, no
voice is now ever heard, except the bleating of
sheep or the gruniing Of hogs driven by stress OF
cial feeling which then impelled you to
frequent visits and general kindliness is gone.
When q person becomes sick, 1t is the part OF
ordinary common sense to inquire the cause, find
the seat of the disease and apply proper remedies
deh Hhf h haFe aed Rs IS Ta R95 one viii
less speedy relief is afforded. 1t is no ordinary
| a member of the body but q malady running
throughout the whole system, vitiating the entire
life blood, not Of this small community to which
| am talking but of the entire cotton producing
| communities of the South In Tennessee, Ala
production YOU find this terrible disease society
| entirely disrupted, social kindness gone, schools
| neglected, churches neglected, houses neglected
glish language has no word to convey the
| idea-scraped, bultongued, shoveled, gouged
l aud worried, until the soil has disappeared and
| the people disheartened aud respondent. Ali this
evil is not the result of 81 nply the production oil
limits is one of the beneficial gifts Of our climate
l But giving, as we do, every dollar, every energy
| every thought, to its production, can frame no
| language sufficiently denunciatory. can point
| to nine-tenths of the farmers, socalled, of the
South, to prove that these social and pecunisry
ills are the results OF this cause; but can find
very few Indeed to show, by contrast that another
policy produces far happier result. To point to
individuals may seem invidious, but you viii ex-
cuse me- ii is the quickest and most indisputabe
4 way of proving my assumption. You all know
Nat Jones-he is a poor man, and frail, deli.
Clean. his fields ali nicely cultivated;
| small amount of cotton; and as TO meat, in pass
| ing his house few days ago saw six of the fat
$50 pounds each net, and Kept over Tor next
winters killing, by then they will weigh SOC
visit his neighbors and send his children to school
| If he had any old enough. Billy Sand and Parson
Horne are two other examples Of this class, who
in devoting themselves to the raising of whatever
is required for the support Of their families on the
1 farm, supplemented by bale two of cotton,
insure their comfort, happiness and contentment,
and moreover give themselves time for social en-
1 joyment and recreation. Does not such a condi-
ton constitute the sum OF happiness2 And 1t is
frailest OF men II they only try properly, Very
our devotion to cotton. You '0 viii ali admit II
l 1t gives no time for social intercourse that n
| breeds poverty, and is the mother of mortgages;
are nothing: 1t robs You of all time to cultivate
| the knowledge due to an intelligent manhood,
citation with the most depraved ignorance. know
it is a frightiul charge to say you furnish your
comPanionship, but not only charge this com
| munity with it, but the entire cotton-raising
| South, and will prove It by yourselves
You know it takes you from January to January
70 RAISE Inil crop OF cotton every day not alone
OF your own time, but of every child big enough to
hoe it, or to pick it, not even time go to school
| the two or three months our admirable system
| gives US. You hire to help you. not the better
| are impovershing themselves in their own cot
| ton patch, but the itinerant homeless, vagsbond
negro, TO work, day by day, week after week in
daughters, knowing, as II know and you all know
ity ana Nth that stinks IS carbon: knowing too
as we all know, the aptitude of children to learn
bad rather than good. Ought we not then to con-
sider IL we cannot ind vocati0n which will not
force us TO provide such teachers for those whom
God gave us to train properly?
Brethren OF the cotton farm think of this; think
of it long and well Poverty Is bad mortgages are
grfevou', but these insignificant, as / have
said beside this fect-his startling terrible fact
that the children of the country should be brought
up IN such association. II this Juggernaut must be
propltated, in PHYS sake lay some other victim
under its wheels than your own children.
VIII say no more, not for fear of saying too
much against this Southern mania, for it cannot
be too much deprecated: but LET us now 20 TO work
and organize this monthly social gathering hop
ing that out of it may result general kindness and
sociaointy, and determination to SO alter our
pursuits as to give time cultivate schools to
cultivate churches and 10 cultivate society," in
fact, time to cultivate everything good but cotton.
*DRUGGIsTs say that Lydia Z. Pinkham's
Vegetable Com pound il the best remedy for