Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-10
PRETTY OCT0R0ONs.
A Face which is No Race-The Peculiar
Position of It's Women.


Nasty, in Toledo o. Blade.l
There is in New Orleans race and dis
tinct race which is no race. 1t has its one
hand ypon the whites and the other upon
the blacks, and it occupies a position be
twixt and between, belonging to both and
| 10 neither. The whites refuse 10 acknowl-
edge them, and they hold themselves 50
far above the blacks that they viii acknowl-
edge no relationship with them. Like the
bat, they are neither bird nor animal, but
occupy q position entirely distinct, and a
very lonesome one il is These are the
,, oct6roons. which in New Orleans means
not only 4 person whose blood is one-eIghth
negro, but all of that class who are almost
white. but in whom negro blood is percep-
tible. Down here they don't say negro
blood-it is negro faint. They are not
white enough for the white nor black
enough for the negro.
Their position. especially that Of the
women OF the race, i very peculiar. No
matter how white an octOrOOn glrl may be
a white man may not marry her. She may
be as beautiful as Venus, and accomplished
in every possible way; she may sing Ike
Patti and paint Ike Rosa BOnheur, but no
white man would marry her and remain in
New Orleans 1t would be OstracIslp fer
her and for him also. She could not be re
ceived in society, and he would find him
self or the wrong side OF the wall at once.
The law is fixed and the ba!ricade IL impas-
sable.
The women of this mixed race are Won
drouslv beautiful Their compilations are
da2Zlingly white, with q shade of olive
underneath the skin that shines through,
toning down the White to q shade OF brown
that Is rs beautiful in the matter OF color
as beautiful can be. Their teeth are mar
yels of whiteness and regularity. The
figures are invariably perfect III their
yOiuptuouSncSs, and the whole woman is rs
near physical perfection as anything ever
permitted on this earth 10 the temptation OF
men st Anthony would nave stood but a
poor chance had ne undergone his tempta-
ton in New Orleans and had the arch
enemy employed Octoroon women to his
fall. There is nothing IN wOmanhoOd
more delightful. The men among them
are in various employments and many OF
them have achieved successes They have
had advantages above their half-brothers
who are darker in color, for they are ali
necessarily the sons Of white men, many
Of whom have for their mothers sake been
liberal 10 them in the matter of education
and means to commence life with after cdu-
ton was completed.
To understand this the status Of the cCto-
room woman must be understood. she
cannot marry white man, nor can awhile
man marry her. She cannot associate
with the race with which she Is allied, tor
she has had opportunities far above them
She looks upon the Niger proper with
even more contempt than does the pure
white Her contempt is tinged with bitte--
ness; for She cannot help thinking that
We're she without that one drop Of negro
blood, her beauty and requirements wOuld
give her any place among women she
might desire. But while a white man cGn-
not marry her there is no law-human At
least-that prevents his living with her. As
the poor girl cannot marry white man,
and viii not marry negro, she does what
seems TO her the next bes. thing and the
only thing She can do; she accept the pro
lection of 8 white lover and lives with
him The next thing is for thewhite lover
TO buy her house and furnish It gorgeous
lv and make il really his home. lie does
NOT take her 10 the theater or balls Of his
own class nor is he ever seen with her OF
| the street but her house is really his home.
She bears him children, and those children
he educates and provides for, H. many
| instances, better than his legal offspring
| but he may not recognize them. The black
| blood il them bars that.
When he is tired Of his illegal fame it is
the simplest thing in the world The
house and It's furnishings are hers, ana
whatever money he has given her becomes
hers in her own right; and the middle
aged woman who has lost her beauty ac-
cepts the situation lets the furnished rooms
To single gentlemen, and lives IN comfor;
all her life on the proceeds. IL was for this
that She entered into the arrangement 10
begin with. and It's ending satisfies her.
She accumulates money; her children who
would pass for white anywhere except in
! the South. 90 elsewhere, where their talent
| has scope. and become actual men; and her
daughters may cmigrate also, or they may
stay in New Orleans and 20 through the
same experience that their mothers did be
| fore them