Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-10

ZIONIST Yankees" Many OF them voted
bv common consent although tAe law
did not allow il; aud finally they mad
their slaves, and were not very good mas
ters.
So rapidly did this class increase, more
rapidly than either whites OF slaves, tnat
the Southern Shareholders, in the decades
lust before the war, became alarmed and
/ .legisiated against acknowledgements. Yet,
despite this, the freed people 81 color con-
tinued large and important element Of
the population. Every traveller noticed
them and paid a deserved tribute TO IN
grace beauty and accomplishments OF the
Oet0roOn girl Like the hCt8irai OF Greece.
their future depended on attracting the
protection and support Of some white man,
and becoming his mistress, or p!acee, as
il was more politely termed. The girl
must play well sing well, be always good
natured. must be a perfect cook and
house keeper. economical, and clean. 10
mold her mari, as this partner for life was
frequently called.
A very small proportion Of the lighter
grades OF cO,0rcd people are insenslbiy
and slowly melting away into the whites ;
the majority u them are being swallowed
upin the great mass of negroes. Before
the war the free negroes and slaves kept
far apart: among the former, as among
the whites, there were grades Of society
based largely on the proportion OF white
blood in the veins. The cream OlOred
did not know the saddle-hued, and the
latter looked down on the mahOganies.
Freedom has altogether swept away these
distinctions, and il is impossible To
now tell the former slave from the free
man Of color.
The former slaves made better politi-
clans than the free men Of color. They
q a
then synonymous with wealth, aud when
they married sought, like Fred Douglass,
to get wives as nearly white as possible.
The girls Of the OctOrOOn class found
themselves in great demand as spOuses
for these uOuVcauX riches, and We're thus
married OIL and ceased 70 be seen at OctO-
room balls or - become the places Of
white men. There is not a prominent
cOOred politician in Louisiana whose
wife is not several shades lighter
than he is, and the higher his rank
and wealth the winter is the Wife. This
new development completely chang
ed the position occupied by the mixed
class Of the population, and with this
change came the disappearance OF the
former OcOtoroon balls. The last one
given was the celebrated Maddox ball
OF 1876, SO intimately connected with the
counting IN OF Hayes, aud at which SEN
at0r sherman and the other visiting
statesmen won such reputation as gay and
festive walters. 1t was difficult mat
ter even then TO yet together the former
octoro0n beauties, and it required all
MaddoE's persuasive eloQuence and
solicitation to achieve success. His was
the grandest ''cOlOred" ban ever seen
here, having half dozen United States
Senators and Representatives present to
lend IT dignity and grace, but 1t was the
last that ever Will be- given.
Freedom has killed INCORPORATION. The
white and black races are drifting further
apart every day, and the mixed breeds
are growing fewer. One-third OF the
negroes Of New Orleans in 1868 were Of
mixed blood. There Is less danger to-day
Of the creation OF "a mixed breed in the
South, such as exists in Mexico and
South America now, than in the days OF
81 very.
1t is not to be supposed, however, that
the former free people OF color have alto
gether disappeared. They are fewer 10
number, 1t is true, and have lost many
of their distinctive char aeteristics, but
there still remain "a number Of these an
Client families, to whom the results of the
war are vet mystery.