Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1905-01-26
MRS. TERRiLL's LECTURE.
Interested Audience Hears Talented
Colored Lady's Address

Interested Audience Hears Talented
Colored Lady's Address.
Randolph partially redeemed its char
acter as poor lecture town last Thursday
evening by greeting Mrs. Mary Church
Terrill with a large audience that gave her
the compliment Of close and unWearieu
attention from the beginning TO the end
OF her forceful, eleverly conceived and
eloquentlv delivered address.
A representative OF the colored race, she
appeared ia feature and complexion more
closely allied to the Anglo-saxon, and
with her fine presence, smooth, liquid
voice and graceful manner commended
herself at once to the favor Of her listen
ers. Under the title, "The Sunny Side OF
Dark Subject" she presented the Prob
lem that is puzzling the wisest heads OF
the nation, acknowledging that even the
sunny side has many shadows.
She professed the greatest conhdencs m
the capabilities Of the negro and has pos
sibilities Of development, pointing proudly
to his achievements since the close OF the
Civil war. The emaneipated slave was
poor illiterate and utterly untitled to cope
with the responsibilities Of life; il was
rare thing 70 find one of them able TO
read vet such an eager thirst for knowf-
edge did they discover, such ambitious
longings did they have that no sacrifice
was too great 10 secure for their children
selves. Now, after a space of forty yea rss
the per cent Of illiteracy among them IS
less than with the dominant race, whose
.spoor whites OF the South are content 10
remain, generation after generation, sunk
in the depths Of ignorance and vice.
The aspirations OF the black man excited
both contempt and ridicule in his white
brethren, who laughed at his antics ike
the little dog to see the COW jump over
the moon. Indeed a parody OF Mother
Goose's melody will express their feel
ings:-
High didde, diddle,
The cats In the fiddle,
The darky jumped up 20 the moons
some people laughed 70 see such sport,
And some o. them lynched the coon
Others, however, had their wrath, in
stead Of their humor, excited az the high
Jumps of the darky; as when the indus-
4 trial schools for the negroes were opened,
a prominent southerner, with a national
reputation, raved up and down the coun-
4 try. a mad man in truth, declaring thasss
/ institutions would take the bread out OF
I the white mans mouth to give Il to tbs
/ black.
4 The negro has often been reproacIAd
with having no violent fondness Tor the
4 trades, preferring the softer employment
+ offered by the professions, when the truth
f is that the skilled negro labofer IS dfseriffi-
/ mated against by the trade unions ana
i the Federation OF Labor, and If allowed 20
work at all must take much smaller wages
/ than his no more expert white brother re
ceiyes That the constitution OF the Fed
Grafton OF Labor explicitly states, no color
i line shall be drawn, does not disproVe thi~
statement; the most powerful constitution
IN the land plainly asserts thRt the col
ored American shall enjoy equal rights OF
franchise with the white American, yet in
those districts OF the South where tha
black men outnumber the white two 70
one, the white vote ontnnmbers the black
in the same proportion.
Watermelons and chickens are popular
" supposed to be irresistible temptations
To the negro, and the sin Of being light
fingered "A constantly imputed TO him
But wnat is an occasional chicken or
watermelon 10 the embezZlement OF vast
sums by absconding bank cashiers, treas
urers OF trust funds and Sunday schoot
superintendents OF light eomplexlons
whose race as a whole is not charged with
their thieving propensities. In his native
wilds the African, like other heathen
people, is strictly honest Quantities OF
food even, can be left unguarded for any
length of time in his vicinity and be founo
untouched at the end OF It. But when ne
has been transplanted TO this country he
acquires a reputation OF appropriatng
chickens aud watermelons that do not
belong to him, and the influences that
have so contaminated his virtue the
speaker politely refrained from mention
ing.
EMPLOYER Is not too scrupulous TO defrauo
the ignorant colored laborer of his wages.
The latter, underpaid and overworked al
best, is still further handicapped by being
obliged to do all hIs trading at his en-
ployer's store, where trade he much or
iittie. his account is always overdrawn.
Forced to purchase the necessaries of hie-
he never can square himself but sinks
deeper and deeper into debt until he ~
actually living in another form Of slavery
The negro race is poetical one ana rs
idea on this frenzied finance is told Ia the
following iingle;-
An aught is an aught,
And a hgger a hgger;