The Southern reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1876-1890, 1890-05-16

ObneFWloe we must IfdclOuSly dc-
cept the stern acts.-Jelrish Times.
Africanizing the Delta.
The Jackson Commonwealth, criti-
cizing the policy, advocated by Mr.. J.
p. Richardson, Of filling our "swamp
counties" with negro Iaborers, says:
"Mr. Richardson brings forward the
old idea Of 1860 that nobody but a nc
gro can raise cotton in the delta, and
therefore we must have the negro in un-
limited numbers. This is an exploded
idea. A white man can live and work
anywhere on the face Of the earth that
any other kind Of man can exist.
''The south was filed with negroes
from the north, and the slave trade was
begun and kept going on the false idea
that a white man could not work in the
cotton fields under a southern sun.
More negroes and more cotton is the
cry that has given Mississippi black
population unprecedented proportions.
10 the very last a lot Of southern
men chung to the slave trade, and even
in 1861, so great was the force Of this
folly about the necessity Of negro labor
that number Of southern statesmen
actually wanted to reopen the African
slave trade.
This idea takes no account Of any
consideration except the immediate one
of making a dollar BY the rental or sale
Of lands. 1t is a curious spectacle that
there should be a great complaint by
one set Of white men that we have an
immense negro majority which threat
ems in their estimation all manner Of ca
lamities, and at the same time another
and a large class Of whites promoting
by every means in their power the i'm
portation Of negroes into the state.
THE negro is a free citizen and has
the right Of locomotion, and cannot le-
gally be excluded, but it is a serious
question whether the delta policy Of en-
couraging and assisting this immigra-
ton viii not ultimately prove product
i've Of more harm than good to the state.
--@@~N
Good for Evil.
There was a system Of ethics intro
duced 10 the world over eighteen hun
dred years ago which was startling in
its novelty. The Teacher who announc-
ed 1t upon his own authority quoted no
other sanction for his new precept, bat
insisted upon it as Of universal obliga-
ton.
The law Of life thus given is not easi-
ly obeyed. The Teacher must have
known this, for he declares that man
must be born again to have this spirit.
To resent injuries, to give blow for blow
is easy enough; but to answer hate with
love. to meet the despoiler Of our rights
with kindness and affection, requires a
new principle in the heart, which in re-
ality is a changed nature.
There are many who admire this
character in theory, but associate it in
their own minds with some recluse who
has retired from active life and given
himself up to holy meditation; or they
regard it as something like q Sunday
robe, 10 be brought into use only on
saints days and seasons of high relig-
ious solemnities. They do not realize
that TO be Of any practical value to the
possessor it must be inwrought into the
character, and become part Of the being
itself. The merchant at his desk, the
blacksmith at bis forge, the salesman
behind the counter, the banker and his
clerk, the writer and the printer each at
bis daily avocation, must not simply
possess it, but be transformed by it as
an all-peryading, controlling power. 1t
must direct not only the speech but the
thought that is behind it. 1t must be
in the action, but, more than
this, it must be the inspiring motive
that quickens alike all the mental and
physical activities.
Good for evil Does it seem a strange
motto? Is il wholly out Of place
in the marts Of trade {? Is It unquotable
IN the banking house? In the shop or
the factory must the hum Of the wheels
Dr. the strokes Of the hammer forever ST.
ence this pleading voice i? May no writ
Or weave its gentle words into his lines
unless he is preparing a sermon or In
lifting a creed or q catechism? 1t is
not a rare tropical growth requiring hot
house culture. Ii readily finds root in
my genial soil, when once it has estab-
ished its right Of growth. When has
been duly planted il has in ii the pledge
If an immortal life. Tits known BY its
fruits. It's blossoms are beautiful and
fragrant, but the clusters that ripen on
t. stem are the only growth beneath
he skies thatnever turns toashes on the
ir. 1t il seed time always, and no one
intent on a renovated heart need wait
or a more pr0pitious season. We wish
hat every eye which reads this line
would turn it's questioning glance in
ward TO see III the seed has lodging
place subject ID that vision, and the
qovth Of tho new life has really begun.
Lf not, the promise Of the planter il for
he present hour, and there need be no
Good for evil Ii il the temper of
he brooding heavens that m.6ld make
! paradise 81 earth. lsis II subject ofl
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