The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-07-30
THE GOLDEN LEAF SOCIETY.
A New COlOred Society of the City,
What its Object is.

LTary, NOTWITHSTANDING, WITCH tHc Coloiou
race did not exist Just how his skin was
made black, or why it was made black,
no one knows, and that is not the half of
it, no one will ever know. Ii we are to
accept the bible as an authority, we could
say that "once upon time that Ham,
man, fashioned and made in the image
of the Lord, and his two daughters were
all that remained of a once noble race.
The girls got old Ham drunk, and then
there followed sin, IAN account of which
you can find in the good boOk) and ont
of that sin there arose a man, fashioned
and made similar to the white man, save
that his skin, instead of being of an ala
baster whiteness, was black and rivalled
an Egyptian night in color" Whether this
be true version of how the negro came
on this mundane sphere we do not know,
but of course like all the rest of humanity
we have an opinion, but will not express
it here, but leave you to guess what it is.
From the sin that had been committed,
there sprang twelve different races into
existence each, while fashioned and made
alike, had different colors The negro,
the primitive cause of so many different
races, seemed to flourish, or more proper
ly speaking, to grow and to multiply. In
Africa he first saw the light of day, and
there among the tall trees and bull PUSHES
that grew along the rivers and creeks
and lakes and ponds, he remained
for century after century, always increas
ing, and enjoying himself or herself to
the fullest bent of his or her heart He
knew nothing of a world outside of his
own country. His wants were but few,
and these he managed to supply, though
occasionally lion, panther or bear
would make meal out of him. But he
was happy. until the Shareholders came
in his land, and bought him of his king
or If not that capturing him by main
force-and carried him off to civilized
lard and sold him into bondage 1t was
in the strange land that his first unhappi-
ness was known. He was sad and fam
would he, like the children of Israel,
hang his harp on the willows" for
naught had he to live for. In the course
of human events he was brought to
America. 1t was in the sunny south that
he was sold to plant cane or to pick cot
ton His condition from the time he
landed in this country began to improve.
He began to acquire knowledge of right
and wrong, and also to look forward to
Sunday as a day of rest. The war came
on, and out of that war he regained his
liberty, and was once more a free man He
could look white man in the face and
say Il am free. l am no longer your
slave or anybody else's slave Henceforth
| shall enjoy the same rights and privi-
leges that you do" The race kept on
improving, and today in this fair land of
ours there ale colored people who are
educated, and by the fruits of honest toll
have acquired competence. This
brings US down to what we wish
to say, 1t was in April that
year that very intelligent negro walked
into E. W. Hurst's law office, hat in hand.
and speaking to that gentleman was told
to have a chair. The negro stated to
Mr.. Hurst that the colored people of this
city had PROJECT on hand, and had
talked it over from time to time, until
they had come to the conclusion to do
something. What they wanted was to
organize themselves into a lodge, and
have for their object the aiding and as
sisting each other in times of sickness and
in death. Mr. Hurst listened attentively
to the colOred man, and then told him he
would write out their papers for them and
send them to the secretary of state and
get their society incorporated, if that was
the desire. The old fellow said that was
just what they wanted "A Golden Leaf
Society" Elmer asked him several times
if it was Relief Society" he meant, but
the old fellow said no, it was Golden
Leaf society, though he meant relief
MIR. Hurst prepared the papers, asking
for the incorporation of the Golden Leaf
Society" and the papers were all made
out that way, and sent back here, and
these papers were duly filed with the cir,
cult clerk, and the society now meets once
a month. The officers of the society are
as follows: President, vice President,
Treasurer, Secretary and three directors
The society has goodly sum of money
in its treasury, and stands ready to re
lieve all the affliction that may fall on
any of its members. The society is in a
prosperous condition, and we are in hopes
it will live long and continue to prosper