The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-05-08
NEGRO FRAILTIEs.
Some Of the Trials Which the Southern
Housekeeper Must Endure.

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shadows strangely blend together all
through life and In the negro charac-
ter the good and evil is indiscrimin-
ately mixed up, with the down weight
in favor of the evil. In all human
natures / question If any can call forth
as many petty, annoying, disagreeable
traits of character as that of our ebony
hued domestics. Self-interest is the
ruling power which prompts every ac-
ton, and the reward to come actuates
every prefer of assistance.
do not speak unadvisedly when l
affirm that it is a part of the freed
mans religion to dislike the white
man and to injure and secretly appro-
pirate his property. Still, underlying
their general demeanor there is a spe-
cies of urbanity, Difference, and humil-
ity which is an outcrop of their policy
and not of their true, genuine good
will to .'de white folks.'f Yet | think
the negro man is less bitter and pos
sesses more agreeable characteristics
than the dusky daughters of our soil.
for | will place the su]ky, contentious,
sluggish freed lady of color" against
the entire domestic world for disagree
ableness. They can try you to the ut
most limits of your patience and exult
in your discontinue and annoyance
and maintain their stolld indifference
to the end.
1t is not generally conceded that the
darky is very apt or possessed of UNI
usual inventive genius, yet they COM
bine the two qualities in an unusually
exalted degree, for who can deny that
where a negro is caught in a very tight
place they are extremely apt at in
venting a very plausible excuse be-
ing in that place. / have known a
''hand" to be caught in the field with
a w~ell-stuffed bag of corr on his shout
der to solemnly affirm that he Ills dun
tuck dat sack away from a strange
niger and fore de Lord he wus lis
dat mint a-gwine to fotch it to de
boss" He wouldn't Gin no wise steal
corn. kase he could get huff jis fur de
axing."
They cling Us tenaciously to a fabri-
Gated statement of their own fertile
imagination as if it were gospel truth,
and as unblushingly as if their charac-
tiers for ~veracity were unimpeachable.
Perhaps, just at present, / am not in
a very charitable frame of mind to-
ward the darby world, for / am for the
twentieth time undergoing the trying
ordeal of having my help 'seek relig-
ion."
This simple statement will call forth
the sympathy of many a southern
housekeeper, and palliate my bitter
ness, but for the benefit of the mex
%periencedI will describe the symptoms
of a sinner suffering under the convic-
ton of u~npardoned sins. A very long
face, with a more mournful express
Ion than the one which denotes
"sulks," ushers in the proceedings.
The ~listless air, p~reoccupied manner,
ti~ghtly-ciosed mouth, the MARTYR like
bearing, constitute a picture so fresh
and vivid that / shudder even as !
write. To smile is indeed a crime of
serious magnitude, for which doubles
penance must be paid in the shape of
a still more %lugubrious expression of
countenance. Each and every little
repremand is construed into a .scensc,"
which must be borne by the seeker
with all meekness- the greater the
trials the mor complete the victory.
Your work is sadly neglected,
..kase'' yenr help saint get nc hart
to wurk while she is a seeking de sal
baton OBJ her SOUL and altogether I
hardly can determine which is the
greater of the two evils, an acute at
tack of chills or a prolonged spell of
religion seeking.
But all things must end, and early
some morGing you will be rudeIy
aroused from the blissful matutinal
dreams by the soul-freed shouts of
your s'heart's trial." and he RECALLED
with the pleasant information that
Use dun cum frew wild de the blessid
religion OBJ M sabior; Use sarched de
Lord airly and late, and, frank de
High King, Use dun foun' him; Use
bin TO de golden gate, Use knocked,
and / has entered into de kingdum; /
is a reserricted sinner, and / is
full well your help is far too happy to
descend to the sublunary realities of
cooking breakfast, you mechanically
don your clothes and proceed to the
kitchen, while the liberated sinner
sallles forth to scatter abroad s'de
blessed news"
1t is just a scene like this, and the
enforced necessity for preparing such
a meal suggested this exposure of
negro frailties and which prompts the
wish that all our work could be done
by machinery.
The mere thought is filed with bliss
and rest at the same time. i must
compromise with my better self by ex-
tending to the descendants of our old
''uncles and aunties'' my best wishes
for their future advancement and
prosperity, for the kindly remem-
ORANGES of our childhood "mammies"
prompt many kind thoughts for their