Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-12-10
MIR. PAGE AND "THE OLD TINE
NEGRO"

NER'S MONTHLY for November, and his
reminisc ences of The Old Time Ne
gro" will serve as reminder to the
white and colored folks of the present
time. emphasizing the past and magni.
flying the present and clarifying the
future.
Certainly no one born in this day and
time be they white or black, would
wish TO experience the conditions which
he now portrays. 1t possesses a facina
ton for the old time white folks anG
his direct offspring, but for them only
MIR. PAGE says:
Next 20 the nanny in point of dig
nifty was, OF right, the butler He held
much the same position that is held in
English houses de was a person IN
authority, and he looked that every
inch He had his ideas, and they usual
~ prevailed. He was the governor of
the young children. the mentor of the
young men. and their counsellor even
after they had grown up.
Some OF my readers may have seen in
some hotel a Negro head-walter WHO
was model of dignity and of grave au
thorIty-d field marshall in ebony-do-
ing the honors of his dining room Ike
u court chamberlain, and ruling his su
bordlnates with the authority of des
pot. Such one was prob ably some
gentleman's butler, who had risen
by his abilities TO be the chief of the
the dining room.
More than one such character rises
before me from the past, and the stories
OF their authority are part of the tradi
tlonal record of every family. The most
imposing one that L personally remem-
Der was "Uncle Tom, the butler of a
cousin, whose statelness impressed my
childhood's fancy in way which has
never been effaced. / have seen mou.
archs less impressive. HIS authorii,
was SO well recognized that ne used to
be called to make the children take their
physic.
The above is an accurate pen picture
true to lite, and can be vouched for by
every blooded southerner and favored
old time house servant in the land.
Negroes were permitted not only to
sleep with white children, and nurse
them, but were permitted to corI ect ana
punish them as well. That this was
done judiciously admits of no question
and a complaint made TO the master or
mistress by the wailing white offspring
met with reproof and was often followed
by additional punishment while the
black nanny was commended for L, I
wisdom and foresight.
liz is not this class of white people
who are ciamorIng for SEPARATION from
the Negro and advocating the enactment
OF Jim Grow Car" laws. 1t is the ELI
viors Negro hating whites who neve.
owned a Negro and who never knew tn,
value of one. Ii is only surprising tina
such n bI tllant representative of IN,
Old lime Whites should permit his ca
ents co be utilized in misrepresentilp
and injuring one of the kindliest races
of people on the face of the globe.
How II any times has his fathers ana
mothers servants prayed for his success
and wished for his prosperity? How
many times have they fondled the curly
hair of the young PAGE and prophesied
as TO the future which was in store for
hlm? In spite of all of this their off
spring to day are Struggling upward,
with hope that a kind word from hun
would Tighten the burden and cause
those who oppose our progress to c, ase
their opposition and understand.
Mr.. PAGE continues.
, 1t vas said that one of the children.
who Is now ,matron of great dignit,
ana grandmother, once, in an aweu
whisper, asked her grandmother, who
was the mistress of Uncle Tom" and
OF several hundred other servau $
Gran ma is yo feared o Unc' Tom?
} And her grandmother, Who eold the sto
ry, used to ado: "And you hnow the
truth is, l am"
IL was a cousin of hers, Mrs. Carter.
of Shirley. who used to say that when
she invited company she always had 10
break 1t TO Clarlssy, her maid.
In truth, whatever limitation there
was on the unsunted hospitality of the
South was due to the fact that the sci
wants were always considered in such
matters.
This awe of the butler in his grandeur
often did not pass away with youth. de
both demanded and received his due re-
spect even from grown members OF
the family. OF one that / knew it is
told now by gray headed men how, on
occasion, long after they were grown,
he would correct their manners, even at
table, by little rap on the head and a
whispered reproof, as he leaned over
them to place dish. And / never
knew one who did not retain his posi-
ton of influence and exercise his right
of admonition.
/ have known buffers to take uron
themselves the responsibility of saying
what young gentlemen should be admit
ted and to whom the ladies should be de
MED. In fact, every wise young man used
to be at pains to make friends with the
old servants, for they were a sagacious
class and their influence in the house.
hold was not inconsiderable. They had
an intuitive knowledge, which amounted
to instinct, for 'winnowing the grain
from the chaff,'' and they knew a
gent man" at sight. Their acute and
caustic comments have wrecked the
chances of many an aspiring young
/ sutton who failed TO meet with their ap.