The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1886-06-24
Cur Georges Letter.

sing out. "hcre You Niger, help me wild dis
yer trunk" and ''nigger" will step up and assist
''nisger." as matter of course. Understand
/ there are negroes. and negroes. lust rs there
are different types of any other nationality,
/ but the great mass are a> yet uncducated, and
as one sees them on the street or al their work,
| ii is impossible to cNaggorate in Il description
1 of them. Harry Bloodgood got his celebrated
I character sketches from life. The stage hat.
with its wrinkles and hinges and trap door
/ crown. the standing collar. the surt0u coat
and buster. the burlap trousers and big shoes,
together with the faded umbrella with cord
wound around it. and last but not least, the
long. ank, thin. half starved looking cnamelled
cloth travelling bag. are all to be seen here,
/ only ten times more g1ot"sque than any negro
| minstrel ever made it, In the churches one
cam hear stump speeches, emphasized with the
4 umbrella. and the motions and cats that he
I laughs ut OH the stage. only far funner than
1 any one but the real, true, live southern darby
can make it. | attended Il negro meeting here.
/ and if could describe it as | heard it, ii would
I be most interesting assure YOU. but it cannot
| be described. The singing by the congregation
was natural pure melody. no cultivation, nor
/ ANYTHING hat a pouring out OF their feelings in
/ song. The discourse was suited to the hearers
and was earnest and honest. In addressing
hi hearers at one of these meetings the preacher
said that the great trouble with the people was
that they did not Try to rise above the earthly
things: that they seemed to he loaded down
with sin, and didn't try to shake it oil, and he
made this apt illustration. which they could all
comprehend My frcnS." said he, "whcn a
man goes up in balloon. lie takes along wild
him lot oh bags oh sand. and when de ga be-
gin, II ct out OBJ de balloon. and She begins
10 drap to de yearth. what do he do: Why,
he frows out de bags oh sand. and de balloon
She begins for 10 90 up. My fren>, dar am de
trouble wild Il great many oh lis. We am carry
in too much sand. and we want to frow it
out. and let our balloon % up" The negro
ha> Il very religion, nature but it is sadly mixed
up with superstition. H. Is full of it. Every
thing to him is 4 '>ign," and there are charms
for all evils. This superstition seems to he
Inherent i'll him, and Il nurses they teach it to
the white children. and also impart their man-
nrr of talking and their cNpres>iou> so that
moderately bright white child, by the time it is
eight or nine years old. will talk exactly like
il negro nurse, with whom ii has ALWAYS been,
and it never loses The accent fully either. |
never -aw many babies in my life as have
seen in Atlanta. and Il baby without negro
nurse would bc more of Il curiosity than
sumner resort at the sea side without an
occasional glimpse of the sea serpent. | don't
believe thcrc is a well authenticated case on
record, where Il mother here has brought up her
child without nurse: if there is. You will
find both child aud mother in some dime
museum. The children ike their negro ''manl-
mics and the nurses seem to enjoy tending
them, for they consider il Il soft Job. 50 to
speak. to r engineer TO It baby
If there i an ovcrplu> of negroes here there
is one article that Atlanta i poverty struck on.
and that i hacks. | have not seen hack,
coach or stage in the city The carriages that
20 10 the depot for Passengers. are what we
call in Belfast "eXtcnsion tops" light double
carriage thai will hold four persons. The
fare is 23e. for each passenger. and the bag
rag i DE extra and is delivered hv an eX-
press wagon. In other southern cities that |
have visited they use regular hacks. a> we do
north. but here have not even heard hack.
There is another funny custom South, and
that is the way poultry is bought. With us we
20 To the market. and the poultry all dressed,
Tor rather undrcSscl to bo exact about it, is
hung ur in SIGHT. and W. select bird and have
il sent home. Here, a vcnicr drives about
the city with Wire coop in his WAGON full of
1--we chickens and fowls. You buy them alive. |
the seller reaches into the coop, -elcs a hen
by the hind Ices. and delivers her yelling into |
the hands Of The housewife. who disappearS
into the honsc with the squaing pullct and is |
obliged to murder il and take its out>es OFF
and prepare it for the table herself. My own
idea i. thai they take a hen and cut her head
OFF with pair ci scissors. and then iab her on
an apple parrr, and peel the feathers off and
run a corcr through her. when She is ready to
cook. don't believe they 90 through any |
such red lapey method We do. They are
great on fried chicken here. They take the |
little onc~, not much larger than pigeon, and |
split them and fry them. and four or five really |
make pretty good lunch.
If bad not como away from home ia Il htIr-
ry, and left my pocket book under my pillow |
think that should have started banl, here |
There are Two National Bank. with an az
gregata capital Of 100000. and two State. and |
several private banks. the entire banking
capital being 4 tritlo over million. but for all
that, was unable to borrow dollar. Money |
is worth froll one TO one and a half per cent. |
4 month. on good security, and when man is
short and has a note coming due, he feels as if |
there wasn't a dollar in currency east of the |
Rocky mountains
The buildings in Atlanta are many Of them |
elegant. and where you see fine buildings it is
good sign of prosperity. The kimball House
is one of the finest hotel, in the country, and
cost SS25 900. The Constitution building $780,
600. The state capital in process of erection is
estimated to cost Sl,0o0.0o0. but will undoubt-
eddy cost much more. There are many bust
ness blocks costing $4,000.
found Winslow in the house of Chamber
lin, johnson ~ Co.. the finest retail dry goods,
millinery. carpet. boot and shoe and importing !
concern in the city. He has charge Of The gar
ment and para,ol department. The firm oc-
cury large three story new block, which they
have just completed, and do an immense first
class business, as they do not cater for the
cheap trade They keep as complete stock of
high grade goods as can be found in any retail
store in any city of Atlanta'> size. Mr.. Wins
low has fine position in tie house, and lis.
excellent business ability is highly appreciated
by the firm.
We hear good deal said in the papers of the
'change" in the South since the war. | wish
to explain that this does not mean ''slnall
change" The ''piece that passeth under
standing down here i, the one and two cent
piece. Every thing worth one, two, three or
four cents, costs the purchaser five. If You
buy anything that costs say 81 cents, you either
pay three cents more than the price, or the sell
Ter loses two cents. In the course of day, in
doing Il large business these odd two and three
cents count up. suppose you want an apple,
you find that they are - for IL nickle.' now
you either have to take five, or pay > cents for
one. All newspapers are ) cents. This is all
nonsense. If Il thing is only worth a cent. that
Is all it is worth, and there is no more sense in
paying five for it, than there is in paving five
dollars for something that is only worth one
They talk about the mean picayunish Eastern
people haggling about Il cent. That is not il at
all IL