Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-01-28
IN The SOUTH.

s | The Powerful ssDarkey'' Dialect
Grand Reception--On the Way t,
Il Asheville. North Carolina--A Fertfl
| RegfOn--Its DisadVantages--A Speci
men of the Neutrality-suspicious. ba eco
Minerals, Cotton Seed, Etc.--Bfddl'
: University--To Columbia, South Car
oHna.
COLUMBIA, S. c., Jan. %.
| To the EDITOR of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
When I was in China I drifted hopelessly
into ''Pigeon English" with the rest of the
temporary and permanent English-speakine
residents of the Celestial kingdom. Now
| am bordering on the verge of insanity lest
shall permanently contract that Ethiopian
| intonation which is SO infectious. You can't
! be long in the midst of peculiar race with
out assimilating some of the peculiarities OF
| that race. Thare is no particular harm in
saying 'topside" for up stairs, 'moon" fol
| month, adding ''ee'' to words ending in q
| consonant sound, etc. But in the case of the
| African there is something in his very into
nation that defies analysis, and yet which
suggests the darkey beyond mistake, even
though you don't say ''done gone," mig
gah,' sfto' de wah, ;" 'sFse a gwine,' etc. l
| have been thrown some during the last week
I into communities where there is no standard
of culture whatever and where the irresisti-
BILE peculiarities of the darkey dialect have
conquered everything. defy you in such &
community to shut your eyes and tell cor
| rectly whether it is white or black man
| that is talking Not only is the dialect cop
led, but even the gestures, the laugh and the
very walk of the negro are reproduced with
| startling vividness by the illiterate whites.
Occasionally you will strike place where
| the instructive Oriental 'Eexpectancy' leads
| the darkeys to treat you with nothing short
| of regal pomp. I stopped at one little, iso-
| lated town where tourists never think of
| stopping, and my experience will illustrate
phases of both darkey and ''poor white"
character. My advent at the single alleged
| hotel created quite furore among the whole
population. The blacks rushed obsequious-
| ly to attend to my minutest want, while the
whites, who all had their pants tucked in
side of their boots, stared at me with the
mild wondering expression of a COW when
she is chewing her cud and thinking of red
clover blossoms. Innocent things! They did
not realize that they were rude. One long,
lank granger gazed steadfastly into my face
when We're only two feet apart, and did
not drop his eyes even when L at length re
turned the compliment with knitting OF
the eyebrows such usually implies annoy
ance ssDe room dat nassas goin' to put
you in is jess de bes' room in de house, sab,
remarked the enterprising darkey that pilot
ed to my chamber. Then he fused
around the room nefvously III order to find
something undone, the doing of which might
conduce to my happiness. Failing in this he
reluctantly took his departure with the as
suring remark, ''Now eff da1s anything ez I
kin do for you jess you call me, boss.
Pm less goin' to look ont for vou.''
In about two minutes the door opened and
the curly head of some solcitous Pompey OF
Caesar appeared, heralded by the inquiry
''Hev fire, boss?' 1t warm that l |
had already thrown open the window, and of I
course I replied in the negative. The ques- |
toner disappeared and enjoyed some three l
minutes of my own society. Then frowsy |
female head peeped into the room with the |
remark, "Hev fire, sah?' | declined the |
offer and asked when dinner would be ready. 4
''Dunno. Specs it'll be long somewhere |
bout one Or two O'Clock or half-past" Oar |
key ideas of time are grotesquely indefinite, |
many families have never known what |
it is to have clock. Then the heads began
to follow in quick succession, with repeti- |
tions of the same question yalied only in re
spect to the titles bestowed upon me. Now |
was addressed as Colonel, now "Cap- |
tain," and now again Doctor" The I
people are lavish with honorary titles here.
The Use of the phrase 'SI reckon" is uni |
versal, and fully justifies the pIeasantries of |
the English at or1r 2st.unse III this respect l
The most amusing form of this provincial l.
ism is to my mind that in which the accent |
is put upon the pronoun IL"
From Raleigh I proceeded by way of the |
bright, promising new towns that dot the
tobacco belt, and then along the line of the
new .'Western North Carolina railway" to
the vicinity of Asheville N. G. / have no |
interest whatever to conserve when [ record |
my surprise and admiration at the fertility |
of this hitherto neglected region. Almost |
everything may be said in its favor. The /
rolling plateau between the Blue Ridge and |
the Smoky Mc9ntains, embracing many !
thousands of square miles. with Asheville as |
its metropolis, is well watered, admirably
adapted to agricultural pursuits, stocked |
with fish, game and fowl, magnifcently |
wooded, characterized by scenery that does |
not suffer when compared with Switzerland |
or Colorado, supplied with water-power, |
adapted to the pnsturing of herds and rich
n mineral deposits. There is little danger |
If exaggerating the claims of that favored |
ocality The pity is that the tide Of empire /
has been westward even to the point of eX-
,ess when these lands lay comparatively I'M
occupied, though SO richly endowed by ma |
ure. / confidently expect to see the day |
when the North and South will be industri-
lily linked by means of hundreds of pros |
oerous cities in western North Carolina The |
expansion of Asheville and the |
'ther embryo villages in the vicinity fully
ustifes this expectation. English capital =
SITS discovered this tair country some time |
go and are now trying to buy up its lumber | .
md mineral products. Three years ago the |
me railway by which the country is tapped |
vas built, and now American capitalists are |
ust beginning to discover the advantages of 1 .
he same territory. That this obscure cor |
ler should be SC wonderfully endowed, and
ct slighted, leads to the suspicion that there
My think of four, and they scarcely | ,
worthy of consideration, they all be |
more easily overcome than |
an the defects of some parts Of tile far | ;
Vest which are beinGI taleialy peopled. t.
Filst ana worst of all, the public schools
re few and abominably poor in quality. q
his applies Of course to the country at | :
arge where North Carolina's illiterate pop | l
lation dwell and where any effort to i'm t
rove the educational system is held to be |
ank heresy. These same old foSies are hard :
Torkers (the climate is very equable but not | /
ute warm enough for negro work., and !
My need to be taught the value of self-im-
rovenent. They never have had any means !.
f seeing how things ere iene Ill the North !
+ even i. .iIeir own cities The schools in L
nd about Asheville are first-class Il
Secondly, the ground is irregular and the I
luddiness 81 tho mud is very muddy. Ashe-
ille has not had time yet to pause in the '
iin' Va ito "tetetoiouS SloHtil ana DullQ Tor | J.
self sidewalks everywhere. The town I
ambles over dozen hills of red clay and . G
Though pavements are being laid CT. all the \
rincipal thoroughfares, sh9 streets some !,
mes heSGs., description. The town is full | =
elegant villas, but the commissions af the | Il
round interfere with anything Ike SYM u
etry in their best9wrpent:: Asheville will y
ever make nicely arranged city, although y
lie wrinkles in the land may be smoothed d
1T to some extent. But no disadvantages II
IN discourage the city from growing The u
'hoes of the saw and hammer are heard
yerywhere.
Thirdly, only. one line Ct -siilwpy taps the
strict. This is the Western North Carroll
>, with its two or three branches, the main u
ne of which meets the East Tennessee. Vir-
mia and Georgia at Warm s,prings in the fc
.autiful valley of thA .tErench Broad . and | d