Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-01
Blu REV. THOMAS DIXON, JR.
COPYRIGHT 1902
Blu Doubleday, PAGE & Co

lmpatiently. "dat wuz er low-down mean
niger! He didn't hab no salvation no.
how!'
"Then you keep deacon in your church
who served two terms in the peniten-
tiary."
ed Eph, sadly.
Turn him out, tell your
But dey all does little tings."
Turn 'em all out!"
Den we amt got no chu'ch, en- de
shepherd amt got no flock ter tend, erfer
shear. You des splain how de Lawd tenn
pers de win ter de shorn lam. Den If L
doan shear 'em, de win mought blow too
hard on EN-! En- eff 1 doan keep EN- in
de pen, how kin shear EN-? 1 axes you
dat?"
The preacher smiled and continued.
'"Then I've heard some ugly things about
you, Eph," suddenly darting a piercing
look straight into his face.
"Who, meY'
Yes, you. And can't afford to go into
the pulpit with you any more. In the old
slavery days you were taught the re-
ligion Of Christ. 1t didn't mean crime,
and lust, and lying, and drinking, what-
ever it meant. Your religion has come to
be a stencil. You are getting lower and
lower. You will be governed by no one.
I can't use force. leave you alone. You
have gone beyond me-"
but de Lawd Tub a sinner, en- his mercy
endured foreber!" solemnly grumbled
Ephraim.
I'm the old days" persisted the preach
er, ct used to preach to your people. 1
saw before me many men of character,
carpenters, bricklayers, wheelwrights.
farmers, faithful home servants that
loved their masters and were faithful I'M
to death. Now 1 see a cheap lot Of thieves
and jatlbirds and trifling women seated
in high places. You have shown no power
to stand alone on the solid basis of char
acter."
'"Why Brer' Durham" urged Eph in an
injured voice, ct baptized inter de king
dom over a hundred precious souls las
year!"
Eyes, but what they needed was not a
baptism of water. You negroes need a
racial baptism into truth, integrity, vir-
tue, self-restraint, industry, courage, pa
thence, and purity of manhood and wom-
anhood used to be hopeful about you,
but I'd Just as we'll be frank with you,
I've given you up. I've said the grace
, of God was sufficient for all problems.
don't know now. I'm getting older aud
1t grows darker to me. I have come to
believe there are some things God AL
mighty can not do. Can God make "a
stone so big He can't lift it? In either
event, He is not omnipotent. 1t looks like
He did just that thing when He made
the negro. Leave me out of your calcula-
ton, Epnraim."
Mus glib de niger time, preacherl"
Eph muttered as he walked slowly away.
When CASTOR emerged from the court
house. the preacher Joined him and they
walked home to the hotel together.
What did the two farmers on your
committee think Of the chances Of pre-
venting the Alliance from joining the
negroes?"
mot much of them. They say we can't
do anything with them when the test
comes, unless we will endorse their
scheme of issuing money on corn and
pumpkins and potatoes stored in gov
eminent barn. If 1t comes to that, will
not prostitute my intellect by advocating
any such measure on the floor of our con-
vention. We stand for one thing at least,
the supremacy of Anglo-Saxon civilian
ton. I had rather be beaten by the ne
groes and their allies this time on such an
issue
but, my boy,if Mcleod and his negroes
get control Of this state for four years,
they can so corrupt its laws and its cleo
torate, they may hold 1t quarter of a
century. We must fight to the last ditch"
''I draw the line at pumpkin leaves for
money" insisted CASTOR.
1t was but ten days to the meeting Of
the Democratic state convention. and they
were coming together divided in opinion,
and at sea as to their policy, with a united
militant Farmers Alliance demanding the
uprooting of the foundations of the eco
nomic world, and a hundred thousand ne
gro voters grinning at this opportunity to
strike their white foes, while Mcleod
stood in the background smiling over the
certainty of his triumph.