The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1883-01-25
Studies I'm the south.
atlantic MONTHLY.

nuuRAplC 4HUAuilys s.
In Louisiana everybody told me that the me-
groes were improving as laborers; at any rate
all old southerners said So This reminds me
that throughout the south the harshest critics
of the negro whom met were northern men
linen who had gone down there to work
sugar plantations, grow cotton, etc These
men, being pushing, sharp and energetic. after
the northern fashion, are always disposed to
keep the negro laborers sup to their work. p
The negroes do not like to work for them.
They require steadiness of application and
exertion of which the negro in general does not
appear to be capable. He can work hard fer a
while @by spurts, or on race, especially in a
crowd, and if he is allowed to sing while at
work. But for quiet, solitary, constant toll a
first-rate white laborer is, think, superior to
almost any negro The northern men of the
south are, as compared with southern men,
very exacting as employers. They are stern
and impatient with their Stands, and usually
lrritate and confuse the negroes. Southern
men are, usually, not at all exacting as en-
ployers of agricultural labor; they. are not
accustomed to being prompt or steadily indus
trious themselves, and they value their own
ease too much to engage in any contest with
the peculiar ways" or traits of the negro
Thus, the sshiftlessness," the slowness, the
inefficiency, the habit of taking things
so leisurely, as if one had infinite time
at his command the features of the
average negro life and character which are so
exasperating to the energetic northerner-are
accepted or recognized by most southern peo-
pie as something inevitable, like the course of
the seasons, not to be accelerated or interfered
with to any profitable end. think saw no
body in the south, white or black, except a
few leading business men in the cities, who
could do anything in fifteen minutes. 1t is
not natural to hurry in that part of the world.
/ talked with a queer old man, in the pine
woods in North Carolina, who had observed
the restlessness of most northern people when
they first came to the south. He said they
always acted @as eff they was hung on wires,
crn people @know how to take their time, an
plenty on it" In reply made the usual sage
remarks about differences of character as af-
fected by climate and environment in general,
and concluded with the opinion that life in the
south during the time of few generations
would change the Yankee blood and tempera-
nlent, and produce race of men who could
$50 slow" on occasion. 3Yes, yes" said he;
@that's SO, young man, that's SO. I've seen
EN- 1t takes 'em jest about three weeks" Ii
you give the negroes time-to say nothing far
ther regarding these taaits in the character Of
slow, inorganic way, will accomplish impor-
tant results in the course of year. Exertion
seems less necessary or desirable to dwellers
in southern lands than to northern people. A
distinguished American author has said that q
man could be happy sitting in a chair, in the
open air, all day, IN Venice, and that If one
wishes to work he should not stay there too
long. have never been in Venice, but 1 have
seen many places in the south that appeared to
resemble it closely in this respect.