The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-01-25
CHANGES IN THE oLD.TIME NEGRO.

CHANGES IN THE OLD-TIME NEGRO.
If anyone had left the South thirty
years ago and come back now for the
first time, of all the changes he would
notice none would strike him so forci-
bly, as the complete change of the ne
groes. 1t would be hard to believe
them the same people. In place of
the kind and polite greetings he used
to see from pleasant, good-natured,
smiling faces, he would receive a
scant nod, if any notice at all, from
surly, ill-natured ones, except in in
stances so rare as to mark the rule.
Nothing would be so CONSPICUOUS
as the absence of the old colored gen
tleman, with his smiling politeness
and strict observance of the amenities
of life, and of the kindly old NAM
mics, with their heads tied up in
many colored "head handkerchiefs,"
politely bowling and courtesying, with
pleasant smile on their fat, good
natured faces. They were such po-
lite, gentle, kindly people that it was
impossible to treat them otherwise
than kindly, and from this disposition
negroes have won their chief consid-
Grafton from the white people since
their freedom, and its opposite be-
havior is fast losing the kindly feel
ing the white people had for them.
There is nothing Southerner hates
more than an airifed, impudent ne
gro. He will overlook almost any,
thing from polite, ll-behaved one,
and nothing from an insolent one.
They were also kind and considerate
toward each other, and especially so
toward their parents and the old peo-
pie of their race, while since their
freedom / have known of numberless
instances of the most cruel neglect of
their parents and several instances of
personal violence toward them.
But l set out to write of the old
"colored gentleman" gentle, polite
and considerate. While always re-
spectful, there was nothing servile in
his manners, but always that inde-
scribable something that won equal
politeness, except from those who
couldn' t understand gentlemanly man
ners, and for the latter he showed
refined contempt that was full of
stinging rebuke that even the coars-
est felt. He was never referred to by
ladies and gentlemen as a slave, and
never thought of himself as one in the
sense that the word meant anything
servile or degrading. But the posi-
ton he held in his masters house
hold or on his plantations was one of
which he was exceedingly proud and
bore the responsibility with becoming
dignity. He was part and parcel of
the whole establishment, and strove
to do his full duty in maintaining that
position. He felt far more keenly
any slight or insult put upon his mas
ter than on himself, and the master
was very poor excuse for a man
if the colored gentleman did not try
to copy him in words and looks.
DADDY BEN.
There was one particular old man
who made the greatest impression
upon me. I used to go hunting or
fishing with him, and go about with
him on the plantation when attending
to his duties as stockminder. Many
an evening have sat up on the rail
fence around the hogpen as he called
up the hogs with his horn, and be-
tween the footing of the horn listened
to wonderful stories of "Ole, ole mar
ser an missus." l remember one of
his stories was:
'Yo great grandpaw wuz er pow
erful man. Nuttin like desc trihin'
mems you see now. He had two big
saddle hosses en- eff one er dem made
him mad when he wuz ridin' he
would jiss get down en- trow dat boss
fiat on his side. en- set on his head,
en- hole i'm down, en- whip i'm till he
wuz quiet. When he let i'm up 1
bet dat hoss wuz quiet. I useter
fetch up de cows, en- when I come up
in de ebenin' wild some er de COWS
missin' he wouldn't whip me, but
he'd ketch me an tie er rope round
my body en- let me down de we'll en-
duck me under de water two or tree
times en- den draw me up en- say:
Now, you little rascal, eff you come
up widout my cows agin I'll drown
you, sub r En- I'd fetch 'em mex
time eff mos run my legs off ter
fine EN-"
Daddy Ben looked like an old SOL
dier. He was quiet tall, but his
shoulders were Slightly bent from age,
and he was very bow-legged. His
white hair stood up thick and high on
his head. His eyes were keen and
bright, and could flash with anger or
twinkle with fun, and his nose was so
fiat, except at the end, that he could
not wear spectacles, unless he tied
piece of string to the ends and put it
over the top of his head. His face
was, on the whole, very intelligent
one, and with the exception of the
end of his nose, quite clear cut and
'restycratic" Like most men of
strong character he had no affectations
and never pretended to be anything
but what he was. If he did use some
pretty rough language sometimes
from quickness of temper, he was
natural-born gentleman, who never
shirked duty and never assumed to
be or to do anything but what he had
a right to, and inspired respect from
every one. Certainly, 1 never have
known any one whose good opinion
1 valued more highly, and whose con-
demnation 1 dreaded more when 1
was boy. And the feeling he show
ed when he exclaimed CPL tell yo'
par" was often far more dreaded than
any punishment I would have receiv-
ed from the actual telling. 1t had to