The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-08-30
BILL APPS LETTER
Compares Old Times With the
Mad Rush Of Today.
PEOPLE WERE ALL BETTER THEN.
There Was Little Crime, Fewer Divorces
and a Smaller Contingent of
Grass widows.

ho" eager we are IOr news. Two pa
pers day and the people gather at
the postoffice waiting for them, and
when it comes it's all about war afar
off and crime at home. Murder, sui
cides, divorces, outrages by negroes,
lynchings and the Atlanta muddle and
Kentucky murder thrown in as side
show. Some of the preachers are tax
ing hand in the general melee and
are raising racket in the name of the
Lord. How different is all this from
the good old times when we got the mail
only twice week and were content
to worship God on Sunday and work
on week days and had time to think
and ponder and talk to our neighbors.
When two doctors were enough for
the community and they had but
little shop full of medicine and there
were ne drug stores and no patent
medicines, and Jim Alexander and his
brother, Tom, and Glib Wright and
Adam Jones and his brother, Frank,
and I, and some other boys, who are
now dead, never were sick or took any
medicine except salts or castor oil for
green apple collie.
What glorious fellow was Bryant
Strickland, whose hearty laugh could
be heard across the town. He died
not long ago and left his hearty laugh
with his boys. And good old George
Lester, who ran against DR.. FELTON,
for congress. There never was bet
ter boy, nor better man, nor better
friend. loved him and still remem-
Der how he and I searched over the
potato patch to find some remains Of
the stars that fell in 1888. What a
change has come over the world, some
things for the better, some for the
worse, and we must take life and
progress as we find it. Pope said:
whatever is, is right" but old men
and old women can't help looking
backward and regretting that some
things have passed away. Of course,
we rejoice in the many comforts that
invention has brought to us, but take
it all in all, the average of human
happiness remains about the same as
it was sixty years ago.
We had more content then, more
love and fewer divorces and grass
widows. Children were more obedi-
ent to their parents and there were no
cigars or cigarettes or Bull Durham
tobacco or coca cola or cocaine or hip
pocket pistols. Every town had one
or two saloons where fiddle was play
ed for the old sots, but young men did
not go there. There was not young
man in our town who ever took drink
of whisky, but nowadays young men
consider it manly to smoke and drink,
and even some Of the young women
get drunk on the sly and vainly mag
inc that nobody knows it. Our negro
slaves were contented and happy and
not au outrage was committed from the
Potomac to the Rio Grande. Now
there are "a, 200 of them in the chain
gangs of the southern states and 4, 100
of them are in Georgia.
Who is responsible for all this, and
the lynchings that still go on? Mistaken
philanthropy and unmistaken ma
Lightly. If the south had been let
alone we would have had gradual
emancipation half century ago when
Henry Clay was its advocate and
Henry Clay Wings were power in
the southern states. Now we are TAX
ing the back track and are undoing
what our enemies have done, and
hope Georgia will follow North Caro-
linas lead and that Mr. Hardwick will
try his bill again at the next legisla-
ture. 1 would amend it little, but
in the main it is right. would en-
courage the negroes to better citizen
ship, both morally and intellectually.
The. county commissioners or the
grand jury should be authorized to
examine and make selection of GER
tain moral, industrious negroes and
give them the right of suffrage. There
are some in every community that
would trust. There are a dozen or
more in Gainesville, and every com
munity has few. This would create
a caste or a social condition in the
race that would have a good influence.
I would trpst such men as Professor
Council with any political privilege.
and there are others.
Frank Carpenter is great traveller
a diligent student and great writer.
1t is interesting to read from his pen
the true condition of the negro in the
Philippines. How the negro captives
are bought and sold, and he was offer
ed four likely ones for $50 by wo-
man who claimed to be Mohamme-
dan Christian. The boys average ten
dollars and good-looking girl brings
from SIS to 500. This traffic has been
going on for hundred years, but for
the last half century has been dull.
New England slave ships had to quit
the business about that time, for the
Brazil market was overstocked and |
English vessels were watching too
closely. According to history. the
last cargo was captured on the coast of
Madagascar in 1S48. 1t was yankee
craft and was fitted out in Boston. |
That is why Chief Justice Story |
oh or0ad tho GRAND iurv that erosion |