Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-26
NEGROES In CLOVER.
Communities Down South Where
They Vastly Preponderate.
TRAITS OF THE NEGRO CHARACTER.
Their Improvidence, Their Vanity and
Their Love of Display.
CATTLE AND MULES YOKED TOGETHER

MONTGOMERY, Ala, Dec. PA great
deal has been written recently about the
"New South" which means. presume, the
development of the rich mineral resources OF
some districts and the rapid building of
manufacturing towns and cities in conse-
ouence. These towns do not differ materially
from places of the same class everywhere,
except, perhaps, in two particulars--that
the mass of common laborers are negroes,
and that the white people differ slightly in
their customs from the white people at the
North.
Among the leading manufacturing towns
of the South 1 have found but one that
varied from the above description. This is
Ft Payne, Ala, which is distinctlvely a
Northern town, almost all its people having
come from the North. 1 mention it espe-
cialiy because when two years ago, on a
Queen and Crescent Railway train, ran
past where it now stands, there was nothing
but q cotton field. Now it is a large. fine
looking town, with water works, electric
light, blast furnaces, rolling mill, and sew
eral other factories, giving an idea OF how
some of these new towns grow.
The Old South is the Theme.
But it is about the "Old South" that 1
started out to write-.he agricultural dis
tricts where the Yankee has not invaded.
Here the customs are much the same that
they have always been. The "black belt"
extends east and west across Alabama and
Mississippi. In Alabama it is from 30 to 20
miles wide. 1t was originally covered with
a dense growth of cane, hence it was called
Il
mense quantities of cotton, hence 1t is called
the "cotton belt" The soil is black, hence
it became known as the "black belt, and
there is now another good reason for calling
it the black belt, as at least four-fiths of
the population are black.
On Saturdays the colored people flock
into the towns in such numbers as to liter
ally blockade the sidewalks, and their OK
teams blockade the streets. Last Saturday,
ut Greensboro, Ala, two gentlemen of our
party counted the persons as they passed the
hotel, and there were 100 blacks to nine
whites.
Their teams and outfits are odd-mostly
oxen, many of them driven singly. Some
teams consist of an OK and mule, others of
an OK and a COW.
Animals Unequally Yoked Together.
During this forenoon saw man driving
a yearling calf in shafts, while, since be-
gan writing this letter, saw FROM the car
window ''poor white" driving a COW
hitched to a wagon, on which the family of
a woman and two children were moving.
Their wagons are very antiquated, but few
of them having bodies, and none of them
having brakes.
This season of the year is the time to see
the country negroes, and indeed all the
L. -
their glory. They are now marketing their
cotton, and they make" surprising quanti-
ties of that plant in this black belt. The
negroes have worked all the spring, summer
and autumn and have subsisted on scanty
allowance. Very many of them, am in
formed, have scarcely seen a dollar within
that time. Now they are having the ex-
quisite pleasure of marketing their crop and
spending the monev-what little is left after
they have satisfied the liens of the merchants
who. during the working seasons furnished
them corn, fitch and seed.
Many may wonder why they buy
cotton seed. The answer is, that most
OF them. like many of their brothers in
white, are not very provident, hence they
sell all their cotton seed at low price in
the fall and pay two or three times as much
per measure for what they need in the
spring. Their improvidence can scarcely
be wondered at, when it is remembered that
for generations they were not required to
form habits of providing for themselves.
An Easy Prey for the Fakir.
But it exposes them to many evils. They
are easily imposed upon by venders Of
nostrums and gew-gaws of every kind, and
sharpers, understanding this, strike the cot
ton belt at the cotton selling season.
I saw fakirs in almost every town
with always a crowd around them.
Some merchants have an auctioneer on the
sidewalk in front of their stores surrounded
by the dead stock which has accumulated
during the year.
In one town 1 saw flying Jenny"
('merrv-go-rounds" we call them North).
This was crowded all day long with negroes,
both young and old, and if by any means a
negro man or woman could get hold of
quarter they would stay right at the
Jenny" until the last penny was gone.
At Selma, Ala, there was a circus there
the day we were there which had
brought in most of the population for
many miles around. Happening to ride
out two or three miles into the country that
morning 1 met the typical young couple
of whom we have all heard, but perhaps few
of us have seen, walking to the circus hand
in hand. The look of anticipation on their
faces told plainly where they were going,
while the general air of perfect bliss said
plainly as words,
I'm his Annie, he's my Joe"
In justice to the colorei race, must say
that this couple seemed to be OF pure Cauca-
sian blood.
The Negroes Love for the Circus.
The circus parade passed through the
for ~ .ho Of
mile apart; thus very small circus made a
long parade. The whole affair was of such
a character that, were it to appear on the
streets Of Pittsburg, the small boys would guy
it out of town. The negroes, however,
seemed to look in wonderment at the
painted clowns and wagons with fierce, wild
animals painted on the outside.
The negro women of the towns effect cheap
hats or bonnets. but those OF the country
still adhere to the slave style of handker-
chief tied around the head in turban
fashion. Their dress makes up in bright
ness and variety OF colors what it lacks in
quality and quantity.
Another manner in which they exhibit
their improvidence and also their love Of
display is In carriage driving on the Sab
bath. The negroes of the towns who earn
weekly wages hire the finest livery car.
riages on Sunday, and seem to delight in
driving back and forth through the prin-
cipal streets of the towns.
An amusing feature is the lofty scorn
with which the town negroes look down on
the common country nigger."
City swells and Country Contrasts.
This is not surprising, as there is great
difference in condition, social position. edu-
cation and general makeup between the
wellfed, fairly dressed negro of the towns.
and the long. .haired lanL shnnl ldared