The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-03-14

the common people up north. &c they
are getting any kinder why do they
send such a malignant man to con.
gress2 Hating the south seems 10 be
the stock infrade of most of the north
ern members. The brainy men, like
Charles Francis Adams, have modi-
fed-and Modified very much Of late.
Forty years ago he was commanding
a niger regiment down here, for
which l will never forgive him, but
lately he has made a speech at Charles
ton and another in New York, in which
he says concerning the right of a state
to seeede: If weacceptthe Judgment
of modern students and Investigators
it would seem as if the weight of argu-
ment falls into the confederate scale.
The issue was settled by might and not
by right" Then why don't they PEN
sion III soldiers and pay us for the
property they destroyed-and ask our
pardon besides. Four generations!
Old John Adams, John Quincy Adams,
his son Charles Francis Adams and
now this Charles Francis, his son,
and he is 20 years old and has
been 40 years finding out that we had
the right to secede and they had no
right to free our negroes without pay
ing for them. Besides all that, this
Adams took charge of a whole regi-
ment of our runaway negroes to fight
us with. Lew Wallace did the same
thing, Yes, he did worse. He was
president of the court that tried Wirz
and convicted him and hung him on
perjured evidence. The longer I live
the more 1 am convinced that as a gem
eral rule the smartest men are the
meanest-especialIy the politicians.
Think of Henry Ward Beecher preach
ing from his pulpit that Sharp's rifles
were better than Bibles to convert the
slave of the south, and so his
people bought the rifles and the am
munition and told old John Brown to.
go ahead. But the niggers were loyal
to their masters and wouldn't burn
nor kill nor destroy. And hence Lew
Wallace and Adams and many other
armed all they could muster up and
Joined the grand army and marched
them down upon u helpless women
and children. At that time there were
10000 runaways up nOrth-fugitive
slaves-the meanest of the race, and
nobody but an unprincipled dog of a
man would have led them against us.
Down further south the negroes mixed
with gentlemen and were rue and
faithful during the war, and as Gen.
Henry r. Jackson said, they ought to
have a monument built to their 10y
atty as high as the stars.
But, pshaw! What's the use of
scratching the old sores? Let them
scab over. Are we not all brethren
since the Spanish war? Did not we
all fight and bleed and die together
in Cuba? Don't the editor and po-
litical orators tell us that fraternaE
peace prevails between the sections?
l am still sick, and have been out of the
house but twice in thee months, and
maybe that is why l brood and ru-
inmate over the wrongs we have suf-
fered. When the spring comes and
the birds begin to sing and the flow
ers to bloom maybe 1 will write more
loving letters; and if Teddy viii re-
tract and apologize for the lies he told
on Mr.. Davis 1 will let him alone, con
sidering that his cerebeIlum is limited
by the medulIa oblongata and the
sinciPut.
never read the modern novel. They
come and they go and are forgotten;
but Miss Pettus, of Alabama, sent me
the princess of Glendale" and 1 re-
luctantly took a glance at the first page
and got caught I turned the leaf and
read on and had devOured 100 pages
before breakfast and all of it during
the day. 1t is a faithful and charming
recital of southern home life on a big
plantation before the war. Then the
war comes, with its distresses, and
Forrest with 300 men pursues -Stract
with 1900 and captures him, and Miss
Emma Samson figures as a heroine in
guiding Forrest Gro the river, and
then m the. sad story Of Sam Davis,
the typical southern hero. Interest
never flags in the beautiful story, anC
it will be a landmark for our children
and children's children, for it is faith
full to the truth of confederate history
Bill Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.