Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-08-22
CONCERNING THE NEGRO.
he Real and the BurIesque-HOW They
Got News I'm the war.

From the Atlanta Constitution.
or course negro minstrelsy Ii an llunon' AZ
represents nothing on earth except the souoI'
NAL development Of Q most extraordinary p'u
lesQue. Perhaps the very breadth ana sta'ofe'
10 to speak, OF this burlesQue, oversnaoowinS
and putting to shame all other mooern our
iesques, gives It strength and vitality 1of !. y
enjoyed with a. keen q relish In the soo'.,
wnere the negro Is supposed TO be known, - =. -
Is In any part of the north, where all tnst -
known OF the negro is that he was slave, ana
that he has what may be called humorous
turn.
In Georgia, for instance, we have long ago
ceased to ask ourselves why the stage negro aP
pears IN variegated clothes, with has costtalls
board shirt collars threaten to scrape the hard
on nn,sn from the moon or why his ouaeons ss
rs ,srge e saucepans We ago cea Sv.
thing but comic character; that he made no
puns and asked no conundrums. Under tne
W OF the stage we have even ntsn.
s si rather than lightened by his nu IDOL
when, therefore, the Mammoth Cor the Masto'
march IN a may ppeceed to crack the old
Jokes we have seen in the almanac, and per,
Iorm on all sorts Of difficult instruments, ano
genuine-at any rate we enjoy it as keenly az II
But it is ali false in TACT tits not even passable
have some grain Of truth Of bottom.
IN the suPmer Of 1854, when sherman was
anta his army IL the e
Turner plantation, in Putnam county, met the
writer hereof in the woods and said he wanted
70 nave talk. Something like the following
colioquy ensued:
what is the matter now, Harbert?'
II tell you, honey, Amt feelin' well In my
"What is the troubleer
."Well, sir. look like ter me dey gwine ter be
aWhat kind OF trouble, Harberte"
,, mWas trouble1war trouble. Dem Yankee
'o MHo de Se Coz comm q nr, She"
"De news done get in 'mongst my bones
Deyer comm shO. Deyer comm right yer"
Harbert's statement was laughed ut as the
Well, suppose they do come, what are YOU
when. honey?''
Who? Me9 Bless yo' soul, honey! I'm 9
my bread an eat my brekkus."
vonr ELL what are you going to do after you eat
BLESS 20 soul, honey. I'm a. gwineter whirl
IN an git my dinnern r, nigh ez kin, Pm
And then what will you do?"
Wen. sir, after gifts my dinner, I'm gwine
ter fly roun' en- see eft can't get me some sup
"Then whatq"
"Den I'm gwine ter march ter de house en- AK
AAAoiSkCi ci uC got QOtDlu else Ter me lei
90 90: Den, after dat, I'm gwine back en- git me 9
little snack or sump'n n'er ter eat, en- den I'll
drap back in my cheer and nod. OATS me, up
en- down."
AFTER this conversation with Harbert, he was
In the habit of giving his young white friend a
great deal OF Information in regard TO the move
ments Of the Union army. Whether he was
moved by desire to insure the personal safety
OF his friend, or merely by desire to impress
q youngsters mind with statements that
seemed at the time to be the inventions Of the
widest Imagination, but which turned out To
pc literally true, 1t is Impossible to say. But
darbert was better informed and more accu-
rate than the newspapers of the day albeit his
method of dispensing the news seemed 10 take
Tue somewhat picturesque shape OF prophecy.
There can be no doubt that this negrO-and
or Course, others in that section-knew that
Shermans army would march through Put.
nam and by the Turner plantation.
The mystery Is not such a mystery after all.
Plantation discipline was severer In form than
In tact. 1t was rule, for instance, that negroes
should not visit neighboring plantations With.
out the written consent OF their owners-this
written consent taking the shape OF pass. a
negro without this pass was liable to be caught
and punished by the patrol. AS a III ,iter
or TACT, however, the patrol exercised its
functions OF visiting froln plantation to planta.
ton only at long intervals, and even during
the war period, when most of the able-bOd led
men were in the confederate army, its Vigilance
was not measurably increased. The result was
that negro rarely thought OF asking for n pass
unless he had occasion TO make Journey that
would carry him to a strange neghboTh oUd
He visited his friends and acQuaiuL.nces with
out let or hindrance and there was cOnst;ln,
coming anu going among the plan cations at all
times OF the night.