The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-15
DR.. SIMMONS LECTURE.
THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH BE-
FORE THE WAR.
How He Eared in the Ante-Bellum
Days and His Faithfulness
to His Master.

DR.. ]. c. Simmons of Modesto deliv-
cred his excellent lecture, 1.-THE Negro
in the South Before the War; before a
small though apprecrative audience at
the Young Mems Christian Association
rooms last night.
Dr. Simmons is a pleasing speaker,
and presented his ideas in mastery
manner. Touches Of sentiment, i'm
pressive passages, and laughable incl
dents followed, each close on the heels
Of the other, and the lecture was voted
all too short.
He was thoroughly familiar with his
subject, too, having been Graded and
reared in the heart Of Georgia, long
before the war clouds lowered down. LII
slavery days, he said, both whites and
blacks accepted the situation, and were
happy. In all the world there was 10
more happy, contented people than the
negro slaves. And the masters were
kind to their slaves. They would no
more have thought of uselessly abusing
or misusing a slave than they would
any other valuable piece of property.
There were exceptions; there were bru-
tai masters, but they were the excep-
ton. Most of the stories circulated in
years past about the lash being laid
upon black backs by brutal and I'M
feeling taskmasters were untrue, and in
all his life he had only seen one negro
whipped.
The slaves, DR.. Simmons said, were
leisurely workers, and were a constant
source of care to their masters. When
house for them. On the contrary, they
were given the best to be had until
death came to them. Were a slave i'll,
the best physician was called to attend
him, and often he had known the own
ers to watch by their beds and by care
full nursing bring them through spells
of severe illness. Young and old were
a care upon the master, and the master
cared for them regardless of cost.
The slave, DR.. Simmons said, was
faithful to the master while life lasted,
and nothing would so stir the bitter ma
ture of the black man as to speak
slightingly Of his master or his master S
family, of which the slave considered
himself a part.
As race, the slaves were, before the
war, wonder. They were taught ODE
dience from birth, and learned to trust
implicitly in their masters. Crime
among them was almost unheard of,
and outrage or characterization was
never heard of until the negro was
thrown upon his own wits for a liveli-
hood. Even when the war clouds gath
cred the slave was true to the master.
1t was the slave who stayed on the plan
tation and became the mainstay of the
wife and family while the master was
fighting the battles of the South; it was
the slave who threw up the breastworlS
and trench to protect his master and it
was years after the war before he
learned that the ties formed then were
too closely woven to be torn asunder,
and that his old master was still his
best friend He had, however, found it
out.
Then the lecturer turned to the char
acteristics of the slaves as a race. and
anecdote after anecdote OF their quaint
customs and quainter sayings were
drawn from his seemingly exhaustless
fund. He told of the missionary work
done among the slaves; told how the
minister who preached for the whites
morning and night, preached to the
slaves in the afternoon; told how the
NJ E. Church South spent annually for
missionary work among the slaves,
sums aggregating from $50, coo to $780,,
COO annually.
DR.. Simmons drew a quaint picture Of
an old negro named Uncle Tom, a
preacher of ante bellum days, who
hearing that man named Simmons
had died in California, jumped to the
fIer i'm
mons in this State, and that one the
speaker, preached his funeral all over
the circuit.
DR.. Simmons account of the old-time
"shucking (husking) bee'' was drawn
true to life, and was appreciated not
only by those who had witnessed the
event, but by those who heard for the
first time.
In speaking of negro superstition, the
lecturer was not certain whether or not
the black man was more superstitious
than the white. The darby believed in
ghosts and hobgoblins, but the white
man would not begin a job of work on
Friday, and the girl who happened to
break a mirror would imagine herself
pursued by III luck for seven years. The
negro delighted In telling stories of
ghosts, and those weird tales left their
effect upon the whites who listened to
them. He had heard and shivered as a
child, and even after he had reached
manhood the same creepy feelings had
followed him when he walked out on a
dark night.
DR.. Simmons was interrupted with
frequent applause, and held the atten-
ton of his auditors to the end.