The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-04

Of the black sphere could be easily learned
from almost any negro with wits of fair
activity. Hut that's al a mistake. The
negro orator, the church deacon. the jack
ol-al-trades, the literary" man and the
boothlack an contributed. and the latter,
because of the possession Of the grea test
number of facts ana the gli5best tongue.
was the most productive source of infor-
nation.
Don't picture him as barefoot, ragged,
bootblack Of the street. He is the propri-
etor of a stand" he makes sometimes $40,
sometimes Sl2 a week; he wears neat pat-
ent leather shoes aud narrow creased
trousers, and he is a graduate of the Lin
coin High School.
The orator said:
The colored people are like the white
people You viii find in Kansas City col
ored homes where there exists all the
comforts, all the luxuries of the best white
class; homes where there is education, re-
hncment and culture; homes where the
men are gentlemen. the women ladies
wher there are all those little things that
make a home delightful and hll IL with the
sweet incidents to be remembered in after
years"
but there are some negro boys, aren't
there. who are just a little sporty?" inter
rupied the inquirer
"Oh, yes; course. But the colored boys
are just like the white boye, I've shot
craps many a time at Jordan's with the
scions OF the best families of Kansas
City"
The deacon said:
I'm church member you know. and
don't mix with the sporty element, none
at all I've always lived with church peo-
pie and never have nothin' to do with
society colored feilers"
The Observation-Disclosures was tired of II"
fmeaning he never was strictly in
s'cietyD. and the literary man was
"above it, but the bootback was "onto"
a few things.
He is member Of the Douglass Club,
which has It's meetings in "cIub rooms"
on independence avenue. John says that
the colored people in Kansas City might
he classed roughly in three general divis-
ions; The literary set including doctors
lawyers, teachers, some preachers-an of
whom are church members; the strictly
society people who are of various oc-
equations. and the lowest class of labor
ers, who never try TO be sporty" at all.
It seems that the real warm babies as
a class in Kansas City are the porters in
banks and large buildings and mercantile
establishments, because they have about
$50 month to spend, and as a rule they
'let loose of it' freely, Those are the
most frequent entertainers. They give
body else. It takes money to get into
one of these. and money alone is neces-
sary
When reception Is to be given the host
does not announce it by personal invita-
tions to those whose presence he desires
A notice is sent out that reception will
take place at a given date at the enter
tainer's home or club.
Admission, q dolah or two dollahs.
says John, the bootblack, 'p'raphs a dol
lar for dinnah; you're supposed to bring
Miss So-and-so; and you'll have to have
a carriage and a full dress suit-whewi
Cheap niger says" John delivered an
emphatic negative which Is sometimes
spelled "uh, uh" but which can not be
expressed in cold type.
The most fashionable men in dark town
are Club men," but there is a vast differ
ence in clubs, Contrast. for instance, the
Autumn Leaf" Club in East Twelfth
street, which Is frequently raided by the
police, and that of the Coates house watt
ers in Central street, which Is fearfully
exclusive aud respectable-although 1.-THE
boys has their times there, too but they
amt conspicuous"
The membership Of this club is confined
rigidly to che Coates house walters: and
they have reading rooms at the club
house indicating that the members are
"culchud and refined" Sometimes dances
are given in the club rooms. Admission
to one of these Is the climax OF social
success. The invitations are covered with
a flyleaf of tissue paper.
The sleeping car porters are "hot stuff
while they last but the yare only a tram
sent element in 'scety." Their occupa-
ton prevents steady social sway. But a
Pullman porter is undoubtedly q power
He is able to devise means for taking his
favorte lady on short excursions on
slons hence the Pullman mans influence.
prosperous negro Jockey might be a
lion in society IL he would; all on account
of his money. But usually he doesn't care
to endure the restrictions which society"
would place upon him. He prefers the
slums." Give him a keg Of beer and a
roaring boisterous time" Whoop!
AS social prestige depends upon the In
come, any man who can go the pace is
welcomed in the warm set. Walters with
salaries sufficient, porters In the SWEETEST
saloons. lively young fellows who shine
shoes In barber shops, janitors in build
lngs, negro BARRIERS not of the highest
grade-all these mix in the upper middle
stratum of the negroes that go"
The propretors of one or two well-to-do
barber shops or of prosperous saloons are
in the clouds TO the ordinary "colored
s'ciety man" They are individual in
stances of social eminence and can not be
classified like their poorer brothers.
On the tattered edge of "s'cIety" are
men VINO do not work. They appear on
the streets arrayed in gaudy shirts and
ragged shoes. They live by the grace Of
women who rob other men. Their clubs
are dives for gambling and carousing.
Periodically these club men" are crowd
ed into a patrol wagon like cattle in a
stock car.
THAT kind of 'sciety is a Kttle too con-
spicuous for me-" says John.
Get lower than these and the strict limit
of "s'ciety" is passed The shiftless, coat
less set who drink the poison of cheap
barrel houses or lose their dimes and
nickels under the arc light In a back alley
make no attempts to be lions" They
do not belong to clubs, they do not dance,
and the word reception" conveys no idea
to their minds.