The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1901-01-15
THE SOUTHERN POINT OF
VIEW.
~. II. BIaekwsiI's Observation. In a
Virginia Trip.
(From the woman's journal

Tor a week past have bsen travelling
through the heart OF Virginia, have visit
cd the tomb and former nome Of Thomas
jefferson at beautiful Montioello, have
walked through the stately quadrangle
Of the university Of Virginia which he
helped to found, have climbed the Peaks
Of Otter and looked from their rocky
ramparts into the Shenandoah valley and
across It to the giant ranges of the ALE
ghanies. and up and down the Blue Ridge
from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. 1
have talked with southern people ana be-
come familiar with their cordial man
ners, sunny Compartments. invincible
prejudices, and soft, peculiar accent, have
visited Charlottesville and Lynohburg
and Bedford.
Here is social order quite different
from that Of the North and West, an or
der based upon an inequality of races and
q consequent modification of that prlnoi-
pie Of equality which has become a part
OF our national consciousness. All whites
are equal in superiority as such; all col
ored people are equal ss pariahs. The
xublection Of women 10 men Is here &C.
companied by a subsection Of the colored
race 80 absolute aud universal as to make
itself felt in every possible form. Riding
in the suburbs of Lychburg to its public
park, 1 found 1t divided by a fence aud
approached by separate entrances, one
labeled For colored persons only" the
other FOR white persons only" On the
cars observe brief peremptory placard
white" Every sohool-house is either
WHITE" or "Colored," and either for
boys or for girls as the case may be.
The denial Of equal suffrage TO colored
people has already been contaminated In
fact; 1t IL now being emphasized and
confirmed by constitutional provisions
A single drop o. African blood sufiicss to
place every individual man or woman In
position OF measureless infsriority.
There ID here equality, but 1t is dual
equality, white and colored capabilities
distinct and separate. The Hindu caste
il not more rigid than that which prevails
in every locality from Maryland to
Texas.
This sentiment of caste exists among
all Glasses of whites, and Ia strongest ap-
parently in the seats of collegiate educa-
ton. Have you read, asked an intelli-
gent and kindly physician of Lynch
burg, IAN article on the negroes recently
written by the chairman of the board of
managers of the university OF Virginia,
in which he compares them to dogs and
other lower animalsS 1t Is well worth
reading. And the funniest thing about
it is that the niggers actually undertook
to boycott him All his servants left
him. Not a man or woman could ne get
TO work for him." / thought to myself
that It was an encouraging evidence of
self-rsspert on their part.
A most Interesting and highly -eduoat-
ed gentleman, formerly rector of the uni
versity, said TO me: 1.-The worst thing
that ever befell the negro was that which
Mr. Lincoln regarded as the browning
glory OF his career-the act OF emancipa-
lion. IL has deprived the negro of mis-
sole protection. Today, any crime COM
mitted by a mean negro Is visited upon
his race. In New York city, In Akron
o., as well as throughout the South, VEN
Reance Is wreaked upon Innocent negroes
in no way connected with the crime.
Labor conflicts in the South Will hereaf-
ter be largely on race lines, and the result
Will be the nsgros determination. Ii
only we oould have been let alone, slavery
would have been gradually and peacefully
abolished without tll.fseling, quite as
fast as the race be came fitted for freedom
My father was large owner OF slaves.
He was an anti-slavery man. In 1881 he
introduced q bill In the Virginia legisla
ture for gradual emancipation. It came
within one vote OF adoption, and could
have easily been carried, but as IL was
matter of such importance IL was thought
best to let IL 90 back to the people for
consideration. Bnt in 1882 certain Mr..
Thompson came over from England and
Ella ouf
moral wrong, which IL was not at all;
IL was q purely practical question of how
to get along with a semi-barbarous race
with which we had to live. He de-
nounced shareholders as tyrants and OPP
pressors. Our people resented the Inter-
ference. Public sentiment instantly
changed. Never afterward could emanci-
patton secure IA hearing in the South"
~ remember, when boy" continued
old DIR. Randolph, lone occasion when
my father had as his guests Mr.. Mason,
afterward famous In the Mason and
Slidell' affair, who was intensely pro-
slavery, and X. NJ. Il. Hunter, an ultra
states-rights man. My father had just
brought from Chicago McCormick's
reaper, the first ever brought into the
state. A remarkably bright young negro
came to my father, saying: 'Massa. l
cannot make the machine work; It gets
cloQaed No. The trouble Is with the
make it shorter What Is the eocentricP'
asked the negro. My father, with his
cane, drew on the ground plan OF the
machine. Il see it now said the negro.
Soon afterward he returned, saying, The
machine works all right, SIR My father
turned to his friends, and said: You see
tnat Intelligent boy9 His grandfather
was q native African chief. My father
bought him and gave him cabin In the
negro quarters. But he never would &C.
cupy IL at night. He always slept In
tree. On his death bed my mother cared
for him, and asked MIN II there was any
thing be could fancy to eat Il think
could sat lizard. he replied; SO we
caught lizard for the old darkey.
LOOK said my father. at the transfor-
nation In thrse generationsl do you
think 1t will be possible to hold the race
in slavery when IL becomes educated and
oiyiIIzedY Imposstblel' But the northern
agitation intsrfesed prematurely with the
ciyiiizing process. and ruin for both races
ensued."
Here was the southern view OF the anti
slavery movement from the former head