The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-05
ARP ON THE EXODUS.
Every Race Has its Own Sir Oracle And
the Colored Race Seems to Have Eecn
the Most Unfortunate OF AL.

IUEl lIlC ;lll.lIIIel NDlIStll lIoil.
fcourse it was a trick-somebody's
! tr:ck-tbis gathering Of the negroes to
! 90 10 Africa. The mystery about it I'll
, is that !.02 They could have gotten
=: Just as easy-maybeS $. But it wasn't
! The trick of our people. The credulity
Of the negro is amazing. One would
think they had learned something since
freedom came-sonlething about trust
ing strangers. The idea of going to
Africa for 81 and a postage stamp would
convict anybody of lunacy. Two thou
sand Of the dupes in Atlanta with their
tickets and as many more all along the
| line to WaShington-2il waiting for the
agent and the ships. Some went from
! Cartersviiie, and are on the road some
whore. They won't talk. They are
bound TO secrecy. They have been
houdo0d. Education does not seem TO
rio tie negro Of the superstitions and
vagares that belong to the race. Every
community has its oracle, its conjurer,
its fortune teller. There is one over Oh
the hill back of Us. The women and
the girls have more faith in her than in
their preacher. II one of them loses
anything she goes to the old woman,
who listens to her story and floats some
coffee grounds in a saucer and tells the
name Of the thief, and generally tells
the truth, for she is smart and knows
her nabors. NJ daughters nurse went
TO her yesterday to have her fortune
told, and said the old woman told her
she would get a present before night
from the good lady size was nursing for.
Well, Of course that was compliment,
and my daughter didont 60 back on
the colored oracle. Her good will is
worth something when nurses are
scarce.
But I was Eliminating about the
exodus to Africa-not about the going,
but about the desire 10 go. Is it a sign
OF anything? Ever since Twas boy
there has been talking and writing
about the Jews going back to Jerusalem,
and sometimes the signs of il are pretty
good, but they have never made start.
And now the wise men say that Provi
dence planned the slavery Of the negro
for his good and waited 100 years for
his civilization, and then sent Stanley
to Africa to get the Dark Continent
ready, and now that same Providence
is inclining his mind to go there, AND
this is the beginning Of the great
exodus that is to come. Well this may
be so or it may not be, but it is all
right if it is. Our people are willing
and waiting. But the negroes can't
swim and they can't be fioated over for
Sl.02. One thing is certain-they will
90 when their time comes aud not be-
fore. This thing was tried half a CEN
tury ago and it was too soon and dident
work The Colonization Society meant
we'll and spent lots of money. They
built ships and sent agents over to
Liberia to prepare the country for the
colony. They took over thousands and
thousands Of negroes who had been set
free by their masters in Maryland and
Virginia, but they died like cattle with
the murrain. Most of the states had
laws which forbade slaves from remain
ing i'll the state after they were set free.
They had to go north or go to Liberia.
But still there was 4 great many free
negroes in the sOuth--negrOes who We're
born free-and they were middle class
between the slaves and the white folks.
They were not up to the one nor down
to the other. Like the Irishman's def
ni;ion Of fairy, They are the spirits
OF folks who are not quite good enough
for Heaven, but are leetle too good
for hell" and SO when freedom came
to the slaves, the old-fashioned, high
toned free negro was in a fix. His
middle station was knocked out and he
felt it keenly and was mad. He was
either down to the level of the "cOm-
mon nigger' or they were brought up
10 his. Most of them were respectable
muiattOes and had trades and Occupa-
tiCns in tie towns like white folks
From that class all our southern bar
Ne-S came, but as one Of them said 10
ne not long ago: Il was always a
democrat, sir, and mixed with southern
gentlemen, sir. | was in the Mexican
war, sir, and | was intimate with
General Henry r. Jackson and Cover
no. ColQuitt, and ali the blooded stock.
| associated with gentlemen, sir, be-
fore the war, but one day Mr.. Lincoln
took his pen in his hand and set all
these black niggers free, and, before
we knowed it, there was about 10000
new BARRIERS jumped up with brush
in one hand and razor in the other
and We oId-iashioned free niggers hain't
had any comfort since"
I knew one Of these high-strung
mulattOes who got rich, and owned a
plantation, and bought some slaves and
worked them. He never forgavc the
yankees for taking his property with
out paying him for it, and what was
worse, they raised up the other negroes
to be his equals.
About fifty years ago an old gentle
man died in our county leaving large
estate and over 100 slaves. He left a
will in which be set free thirty-seven
Of them, and directed that his execu-
tors should send them to Liberia. He
charged that they should be provided
with abundant clothing and when
Z