Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-02-11
THE SOUTHERN COLONEL.
A Pathetic Relic Of Ante BeIium Days.

quires no Introduction 10 the reader.
The colonel was in full bloom in the
height Of our ante-bellum civilization,
and he fingers with us yet-ln the sere
and yellow leaf. perhaps. but still mar
tial-looking. digniiied, and courteous
as ever. In these degenerate days the
colonel is not at his best in the hurly-
burly Of large city. He is too old to
rise superior to an unfavorable envir-
onment Tho flippant youngsters who
control affairs in the cities confuse
him. He knows that he is far ahead
of them in wisdom and experience, but
he knows, too, that they regard him as
an old fossil, relic Of the Silurian pc
riod, man who has lost his grip.
Sometimes the old gentleman shakes
his head sadly and Is half inclined to
admit that the younger men are right.
But this feeling Of depression soon
passes away, and his self-consciousness
reasserts itself
The best way TO study the colonel is
to get acquainted with him in the
country town where he lives, and where
his father and grandfather lived before
him. The good people around him do
not sneer ut him as an old fogy. They
know him to be fully as wide-awake
and enterprising as bis two friends, the
judge and the Squire, and what more
could be desiredp In his big white
house with the colonnado around it, he
dispenses hearty hospitality, limited
only by circumstances over which he
has no control. The negroes on the
place arc devoted to him, and the
children for miles around, and all the
women in the country look up 10 him
with enthusiastic admiration. He has
no enemies, and it is generally admit
ted that his proper place is in congress.
When these loyal constituents arc ask
ed why they do not send him, the in
variable reply is: "Well, you see he is
not ON available man." As precisely
the same state Of feeling seems to exist
throughout the district, the stranger
can not help wondering what consti-
tutes an available man.
1t is violating no confidence to say
that the colonel is in debt. Every acre
of his land is mortgaged, and he pays
q high interest. He buys his household
and plantation supplies on time at fab
ulous prices. When the cotton season
rolls round he squares up his indebted
ness as well Us he can, for he is the
soul of honor, but there is always n
heavy balance left still owing. The
creditors cheerfully agree to wait until
next year. But the next year brings q
like result. In fact, it has been so ever
since the war, and there is no prospect
of change. In his brighter moments
the colonel says that he will pull
through all right Extensive farming,
peach orchards, and new railroad
cutting through his plantation will
soon bring him even with the world.
In the meantime. if he has no money,
he still has sufficient credit. So the
outlook is not altogether dark.
At times, however, the old fellow is
downright blue. A couple of decades
ago he was satisfied that when he got
through the reconstruction period he
would be all right. Next he looked to
q democratic state governmental to bring
flush times. Then he decided that it
would take national democratic ad-
ministration to make him prosperous.
Occasionally he thinks his misfortunes
are due to demoralized labor system.
Sitting in the shade of the trees
around the courthouse, he frequently
says:
.As soon rs the nigger gets an sdu-
caticn he wants to go to preaching.
He won't split rails. He wants to live
in town. tell you. gentlemen, this
blanked Yankee free-school system has
robbed us of our laborers and turned a
horde of educated vagrants upon the
country to live without work and eat
up our substance!' 1t is useless to ar
que with the colonel on this point. He
has decided views. and stands up for
them.
In regard to other matters he has
ideas, and plenty of them. but they are
mixed. He occupies an anomalous pc
sition, standing between the past ant
present. without being fully identified
with either. He has seen the south's
old civilization 60 down in the shock o
battle, but he has been too 5ewilderet
and too sad to rock the cradle Of tn,
new civilization. "Do you believe il
state rights, colonelP" asked youns
lawyer one day. "Woll, sir, l did be
fore the war;" "And you don't be
lieve in them nowp'' ..Not by blanl
sightp' was the emphatic reply. Dur
ing the first decade after the war th
colonel frequently told his fellow-citi
zens that they need not fear certai
federal Legislation, as it was clearl
unconstitutional. The objectionabl
bills passed, nevertheless, and wer
quietly enforced. Gradually the oil
gentleman ceased his constitutions
lectures. "Constitutional!'' ho sal
one day to o rural politician, "oh, any
thing is constitutional when there is
majority in favor of it. A piece G
parchment written hundred years ag
is not going to stop men when they Sc
their way clear to securing big AZ
preparation.
sis there a help" was the questio
asked one day in theological discu:
sion. There was before tho war,
said the colonel, ''but now believe
is sheol. whatever that may be.
And yet the old man is in the mai
sweet-tempered under reverses and di
appointments. The new men wh
have pushed their way to the front h
would like to advise and instruct
they would only listen to him. NJ
long ago he wrote an elaborate articl
entitled "a Voice from the Sentinel o
the Watch Tnwar.i y IL was FIVE co