The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-05-26
THE SOUTHERN NEGRO.
Noticeable Lnck of Progress in the Black Mou
Where Unencumbcrcd by the Whites.

correspondent of the Chicago Times
Thousands of volumes have been written
about him and many ten thousand.
OF editorials and magazine articles, and
the more we study him the more w,
don't know about some Of his pccuinri
ties. And now, after seeing the free
negro III the North, the slave negro il
the South, and the freeman and freed
man both North and South, and aftc,
coming to some conclusions in regard tc
them, | find on this coast and thrs,
islands an entirely now variety of In,
genus, ncccssitating new theory.
10 the best of my knowledge every
prophecy ever madc about the American
negro has been completely falsiiicd by
1acts, l do not, just now, remember
one guess, even by the wiscst, that has
proved correct, whether the g,lcSscr WAS
TREND or foe. In the first place there
were those iii England and the colonies
who said the negro would withnr away
IN bondage; but, unlike every other race
on the globe, and unlike his own race in
other countries, the negro in the United
States iourishcd in slavery and muItipli-
ed as no other race has.
IDEAL NEGRO SOCIETY.
Here the colorcd people own the land
and hold tic elective offices. They have
oil the churches heart could wish, and
Mt least three preachers to the sounrc
mile They have perfect social equality,
If there he such a thing, for they have
all the society there is. The whites are
so Isolated that they have none In
short, the negroes have the land n
climate to suit them, the Offices. the
stores, the schools, the churches. perfect
immunity from white oppression, and
free course to run and be gloriiicd. And
with all this, what progress? Well YOU
have to set stakes and take sight to see
that they are moving at all James
Island presents them mt their best ON the
coast; Johns is noticcably worse than
James; Wadmalaw is worse than Johns
and each successive island from here TO
Savannah, SO the whites tell me, is worse
than the last, although find this hard
to believe. The exact progress since the
war j, of course, cannot measure. aS |
was not here then to take IL point of de-
parturc; but tins insist upon, that the
poorer class could not have lived worse
than now and lived ut all. The gain has
been by those who got land. and the
poorest renter III Indiana lives far better
than the best of them on Johns and
"n1p1nlow AnI n Al
evidence, lots of people are prophcsying
as confidently as ever all sorts of good
and evil for the ncgro's future Instead
of followin this rash example, will pre-
sent the facts of my trip to this point
the reader may do his own prophcsying.
Yesterday morning ] left the hospita-
bic home of the wcll-to-do black brother,
George Brown, and travelled straight
south to LcGarc point. All the fields
were dotted with black laborcrs, IA few
plows were running, but nearly all the
work was done with hoes as large rs an
average spade, in the hands of brawny
men and women. For many hundred
yards at time the cabins lined the way
side thick enough for an ordinary vii.
lagc, but all were cmpty-thc whole
family were back in the fields The
women handled these heavy hoes quite
as dcftly as the men, and ridging for
cotton was in rapid progress, In last
years cotton patch, where the ridges
were nearly two feet above the furrows,
the boys and girls went first with heavy
Incl "A ,,fS trogh ~ hnlf rnttn1
leaves and grass rakcd MP ut low tide
and scattered it in tide furrows; the wo-
men came next with hoes and dug down
the grass and loose stuff from the ridges,
with earth enough to cover ii and the
"trash, and then the men with plow
and hoe put enough fresh earth on it to
make the middle ridge as high ns the old
one. In this the cotton is planted, and
the first plowing throws what is left of
last years ridge to the growing plants
at takes
TILE NIGGER AND THE NOE
TO make the Sea Island cotton" is the
provcrb Of the whites Many Of them
have tried machinery to do this work,
but have discarded it, They say none is
made suitable for it. Everything is raised
in ridges on the islands even those
vegetables we plant on fiat i'll the
North.
In the abandoned cabin during work
ing he .rs you wii' find no one, if the
weather is mild; if it IS cold you will see
there from three to ten children, with
one girl big enough to be trusted with n
fre---if there is any. Very often there
is none, and the little darkies crouch on
the sunny side of the cabin, THEN blue
gray-brown toes showing, like goose
feet, the effects of chilling winds There
is generally water-buckct with gourd,
cooking pot or pan, perhaps dozen
dishes of various kinds, n rude table or
q box, and in perhaps half the cabins q
rude bedstcad. Such luxurics rs mir
rors, window curtains, stoves or pictures
you win find only among the well-to-do,
and carpet 1 have yet to see in negro
cabin. All their habits show that they