The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-10-08
Bill Hrp'S Letter'
cw-,,,sr 70, The Weekly Constitution)

JYrol Gam &c dead Good old Sam Pitts.
He never changed his name wheh ii'o
dom came MY old master was soou
man." he said. Oar was goou Peopio
den and bad people jes Ike dar Is now
black and white. but de black has got
wusser and wusser since dey got free'
Effen a black man had good master ne
was mighty we'll off fer he didn't nave
no sponsibility. Effen bin sho of a good
master and my wife and chlldreh peeh
sho of one and We all live togedder ohIiL
we die L wouldent keer anything Dou'
freedom. Niggers got too much freeooin
anyhow My old master used 70 MAKE oe
Niger gals get married and take man
and stick to him. but nowadays dew don't
marry at all hardly. got lot OF graho-
children what haint got no daddy 10
speak of and don't know my sons IN law
Dev don't come about in daytime. DatS
what killed my old woman. She 1es SO
mortified and so shamed she never got
over It, So many spurious children an
round calm her granny. Effen "hte
woman do dat way she as disgraced' pul
a black oman don't keer; she shine as Dig
as ever and dey don't turn her ou'en ue
church In de old times she got whip
pin and dey ort to have 1t vet White
folks dun quit whippin bad niggers; dey
send en- 10 chaingang. and dev don't keer
for dat. | hear dat dar Is four OF hVe
thousand I'm dar from Georgy. How dat
-dident have nary one before de war.
Gwine to school too mucn i speK anu
work too little. Don't know what Is
gwine to come of al desc GROWN up mig
gers Oar Is a dozen or more round de
depot or trampin' around town dolh
nuthin all de time-livin' often dey iiiaiii-
mics and smokin' desc little paper see
gars.'
Old Uncle Sam dident talk much. but
sometimes he would lean on his hoe or
his AK and spress his feelins. 1t did him
! good He has been chOpping my wood
| and helping me in the garden for thirteen
| years and we will miss MIN. lie fell
| down paralyZed with his hoe in his hand
| He was THE man with the hoe TO the
| very last, but he never Was poor, for he
made a good living and had many friends
| and owned a comfortable house ana lot
| They sent to nv wife for some grave
| clothes and he will he buried in a right
| decent suit of mine and we will go 10 his
! funeral.
! | was Eliminating about this good old
! negro who had seen thirty-three years OF
! slavery and thrtv-seven of freedom and
| knew the good and the bad of both condi-
/ TONS and then my thought wandered TO
/ the malignity of those who have SANDER
! ed US so long without cause. Here Is
| book of poems by John q. Whittier ana
/ thirty-seven Of them are pitiful Appeals
/ for the poor save and invoking heaven 5
/ curses upon his master. lie knew no
/ more about slavery as 1t reciiV was than
/ he did about Barbara Freitchi, and he I'D
/ the young people of New England upon
poetic les for thirty years and lnsu..td
! into their hearts that hatred from which
/ they have never recovered. Strange II
| Is that smart people will write about
I things they have never seen. Now. the
! idea of an uneducated negro slave getting
/ down on his knees and making an apos-
/ trophe TO the north star-and yet That is
( the title of one Of the poems Inc
/ Slaves Apostrophe TO the North star
/ That niger was 'possum hunting right
/ then. but the poet makes him To say
star of the North. l look 20 thee.
Thy light and truth shall set me free"
! But enough of this. The question stu
/ survives what will become Of the negro.
/ And that other question looms uop before
| us. what will We do with l0.VOooo more
| OF them over IN the Philippines: y more
! scnseess war was never waged. Ii was
conceived In sin and IS being carried on in
! Iniquity Prosperity! Yes. II IS war that
| CLOSES over suffering and death and
| grief with a coat of prosperity. Bat II Is
| nothing but a coat. War always produces
a semblance of prosperity. for armies
4 have 10 be fed and clothed and equipped
4 Ships have to be built and cannon made
/ and 4 thousand things collateral TO these
show activity and give employment 10
( labor and to capital. This activity began
/ with the Cuban embrOgi.O and still goes
on. but in the long run somebody viii
/ have to foot the money bill. The bill for
blood and sun ring viii never be paid.
VINO wants the war but contractors who
] are growing rich from their profits?
/ When / was last in Texas heard a cattle
man say he hoped that Russia and Eng
! land would get up fight. for he had lyj.-
/ 90 head of cattle that would 60 up %
( per cent IN a day. Daily wages d3Ht 90
/ up, but everything the laborer Is obliged
TO consume has advanced. How about
1 clerk hire male and female. in the towns
ana cities How about child labor IN the
factorles-not in all the factories. but in
most of them. for there are not many
/ Gunby Jordans at the head OF southern
/ cotton mills What a beautiful tribute
| his peonle maid him n Columbus when he
returned from Europe. What q touching
| ovation those factory workers gave h'i''
Why can't the owners of every MN DO
the same by their operatives ana secure
| their love. which is worth more than Il
crown Of gold / read in an Atlanta pa
per about a poor woman who swore her
son would not be nine years old until next
| Christmas. but her husband certified 10
the superintendent OF the mill tAdt ne
was eleven so as 20 get him 4 pace for
no hoy under ten would be employed.
What a degree OF misery must be In
family WHO have 70 resort 20 such meth
DDS. The poor have but few friends. but
| hope they have enough 10 press that
labor bill before the next general as
sembly.
Later-News has just come that old
Uncle Sam is not yet dead. They began
10 dress him for the grave and suddenly
he showed a sicn of life. Maybe he viii
live TO have his obituary read to him
who knows. | read my own many years
AGO i'm n western paper when the original
Br Arp died in Texas and the editor
Thought il was /. But Uncle sam VIII
hardly live through the night.
BILL. ARP.
p S-That multItudious poem has not
ceased to come Yesterday brought a coIE
from Minnesota and one from the state
of Washington. only 3I7 have been re-
ceived up to date. / can hardly find
thanks TO so round. b. A.
ETTTIET WORKED THROUGH.