The Osceola times., 1884-11-15
OsCEoIA ARKANSAS, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1884

iner's certificates of ability, etc, but
l do not remember seeing any one
of these applications which was
dramatically expressed or orti,o-
graphically correct. Still, a. the APP
plicants were capable of teaching
the rudiinents of education, these
triiling defects were never permitted
to stand in the way of their employ
ment. 1t is not asserted that all
the graduates of these normal schools
and universities are equally deficient;
it is quite probable that the better
sort find places in cities, while the
country must content itself with
what is left.
The social problem in the South
does not SO Immediately concern
the wealthy as it does the poor
whites. The rich man can send his
children to academies and colleges,
he can seek sodiety wherever it is
congenial; but the poor man, tied
to one spot, must be governed by
circumstances beyond his control.
AT present the poor white and black
people work together in the fields
and shops and live on friendly terms
without hitch or jar until the white
asserts in some way his feeling of
superiority, which, both being equal
in means, education, and political
power, is based on nothing more
substantial than the mere color of
the skin. Then the negro stands
on his dignity, and is ready for COM
bat. in peaceful neighborhoods,
there is but little assumption of
superiority, and it is only manifest
ed in a silent way by the steady re-
fusal Of the white to permit his chill
dren to sit at school or in church
with the children of the black; they
may play together, work together,
and treat each other as equals, I'M
til church or school is mentioned,
and there the line is drawn. So
long as this passive ostracism works
his children no absolute evil, the
negro, with his own schools and his
own churches cares nothing for it.
1t is perhaps vain speculation as to
the future of this problem; only it
seems certain that if the white chill
dren are not educated and taught
refnements, and the black children
are, it will be difficult in the future,
even il desirable, to maintain any
distinction Of classes in the South,
and especially any favorable dis
tinction which will be based on
nothing more substantial than the
absence of color in the epidermis,
unless African nature is irredeem-
ably bad; unless the vicious quail
ties attributed to him in this paper
are irreparable, it is absolutely GER
tain that, with the aids which now
surround him, he will rise greatly
in the scale of humanity, and gen
erous world will show its favor to
the intelligent individual, no matter
how black his skin, who has lifted
himself out of the mire and con-
tempt of centuries, rather than ex-
tend helping hand to one who has
had the fortune to be born of a
higher race, but who proved un-
worthy of his lot.
Scientist and the world admit the
natural superiority of the white
races over the colored, and it seems
incontrovertible that, with equal
ambition and equal excitement to
exertion, the white will surely sur
pass the black in any and every
condition of life, and in the exercise
of every function of mind and mus
Gle; and there can be no political
ch ain strong enough to bind the
white in a subordinate position, pro-
vided he will avail himself of the
advantage which Nature has given
him in the decision of the races oc
humanity.