The Arizona sentinel., 1884-05-31
OctoroonS.

as follows in the Toledo, Ohio, Blade
 There is in New Orleans race and distinct race which is no race. It has it's one hand upon the whites and the other upOn the blacks, and it occupies posi- tion betwixt and between, be- longing to both and to neither. The whites refuse 10 acknOwl- edge relationship with them. Like the bat, they are neither bird nor animal. but occupy a position entirely distinct; and a very lonesome one it is.
 These are the octoroons, which in New Orleans means not only a person whose blood is one-eighth negro, but all that class who are almost white, but in whom negro blood is perceptihle. Down here they don't say negro blood-it is negro "taint." They are not white enough for the white, nor black enough for the negro.
 Their position, especially that of the women of the race, is very peculiar. No matter how white an octoroon girl may be, white man may not marry her. She may be as beautiful as Venus, and accomplished in every possi- ble way; she may sing like Patti and paint like Rosa Bonheur; but no white man would marry her and remain in New Orleans. It would be ostracism for her. and | for him also. She could not be received in society. and he would find himself on the wrong side of the fence at once. The law is fixed, and the barricade is i'm paSsable.
 The women of this mixed race are Wondrously beautiful. Their cOmpleXIons are dazzling white, with a shade of olive under meath the skin that shines thrO', toning down the white to a shade of brown that is as beautiful, in the matter of color, as beautiful can be; their teeth are marVelS of whiteness and regularity; the figures are invariably perfect in their vOluptuousness, and the whole woman is as near physical perfection as anything ever pei mitted on this earth to the temp tation of man. Saint Anthony would have stood but a poor chance had he undergone his temptation in New Orleans, and had the arch enemy employed 0ctOroon women to work 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 dark CT in color, for they are all, neces- sarily, the sons of white men, many of whom have, for the cir mothers sake, been liberal to them in the matter of education and means 10 commence life with after education has been completed.
 To understand this, the status of the Octoroon woman must be understood. She cannot marry a white man nor can white man marry her. She cannot associate with the race with which she is allied, fer she has had opportuni- ties far above them. She looks upon the "nigger" proper with even more contempt than does the pure white. Her contempt is tinged with bitterness; for she cannot help thinking that, were she without one drop of negro blood, her beauty and acquire ments would give her auv place among women she might desire.
 But while a white man may 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 will not marry a negro, she does what seems to her the next best thing, and the only thing she can do; she accepts the "pro- lection" of q white lover and lives with him. The next thing