St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-06-05
VOLUME 47---NUMBER 2445

while about half of the black claimed
to he able to do the same. The of
fenses were almost entirely of II trivial
kind, If one may call petty thieving
trivial the whites had graver offenses
to answer for. But there was one old
negress--crazy, 1 think--under SEN
tence of death for numbering two child
ren. The other sex of the two races
stood on about the same plane, with
the same sad dispropOrtion.
But really we get not much light
here. If this prison inspection teaches
anything. it teaches that the negro is
not vicious at all, but weak. In his
capacity of servent he is all the time
tempted. One remarkable discovery |
made in my prison inquiry was that he
steals not for himself or more than half
the time, but for others. He steals
food, clothes, cheap iewelry, etc. from
his employer to give away. He is gen
erOus, You see, with other peoples
property at least. SO give it as my
conviction that the worst feature in the
black mans character is that of petty
theiving, as shown by the prisoners
and prison records. A bad trait, it is
true, but nDt the worst by a good deal.
After / had bought land and settled
down on the hill overlooking Wash
ington, found to my horror that |
was within II stones throw of negro
seminary or academy, as both sexes are
taught here, and that had established
myself within hailing distance ofabout
200 blacks.
| thought it strange that had not
discovered the fact of the immediate
presence of my black neighbors ut once
| should like to see a school of 300
prOmiScuOuS whites keep still long
enough to allow Il man to buy land and
build house without letting them
selves he known. Finally it began to
dawn upon me that my neighbors were
neither noisy, indOlent nor vicious in
any degree, or at all. As the blossoms
of spring came out began to see quiet
groups of my black students on the
hills, here and there, with their books
But that was about all the sight or
sound of the negro school have vet
encountered. | have not to this DAY
heard single voice, unless first
spoke to him or her as we have some
times met in our walks under the oaks
And not one of them has ever ventured
inside Ot my Enclosure.
And rs these black people treated me
with respect, came finally to respect
them i'll return and when their princi-
pal, white man, possessed of that
quiet force which means conquest from
the first, called and asked me to see his
scholars, | gladly went to one of their
receptions. almost hesitate to tell of
the perfect order here, the perfect
everything, lest might not he entirely
indorsed. Bear in mind it has been my
business, as IL scribe and reporter of the
progress of earth, to visit many schools.
have lived at Oxford, at Cambridge,
lOafed about Heidelberg and had some
thing To say to students in Athens,
Alexandria, and even Jerusalem. but
such exact discipline, yet home-like
behavior. ! have found nowhere at all.
| call attention to the fact, which
think not generally known, that the
educated negro does not mouth his
words or abbreviate them OF speak i'll
any other way than as an educated
white man. Turn yOur back and you
would not be ublo to detect the white
from the black speaker. These students
are making the very most of their op-
portunity.
And this, think, is all that there is
of life, all that God or the country
asks of any human being. And it is the
one great argument for the bill. How
far they have advanced or how fast
they have advanced it is not so easy to
define positively Joaquin Miller in
Philadelphia Press.