The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-20
BACK TO THE WILD.

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 BACK TO THE WILD.
 | Some time ago The Advertiser had an | item about an African who, while child, was brought to this country by a missionary. He was thoroughly edu- cated in the common schools of Ohio and then graduated from wilberforce l University as a minister. He married | a negress and four children were born to them, two of his sons now being educated at oberlin. o. The Baltimore Sun adds this sequel:
 Returning to Africa with his wife and two children. the young. minister took up the missionary work for which so much had been predicted, and at first sions being reported. He came to this country long enough to make an ex- tensive lecture tour. telling of his work he returned to his work in the jungle 1 Then came the reversion to first in- stincts that so shocked the brethren of of the church. Back in the. jungles where he was born. surrounded by the subtle influences of heathenism, the fhreuEh his ssueafa artics, and accepting the invitation of the tribe of devil worshippers to become their | Christianity and led in the wild dances and fetish practices of the ultra- heathenism, he took i've wives.
 There is nothing to be surprised at In this case. The call of the wild" was irresistible. just as 1t Is in all savage natures. The thin veneer Of civiliza- ton and Christianity placed on him by the white man scaled off as socn as he got back among his savage ancestry and surroundings. The inheritance of centuries of savagery could not be cast off. The breath of paganism filled his nostrils, the instincts of the brute dom- mated him and all that he had learned ] or absorbed amid the surroundings of Christian civilization fell from him when he found himself back at his starting point.
 We repeat that there is nothing to be surprised at. The reversion to the original savage Is just as natural to the real negro as is the color of his skin or the kinks in his hair. He can be educated and trained and elevated to a certain height by teaching from the whites and by his natural powers of imitation, until 1t might be thought that his original and native savagery had been eliminated, but it is not so. When the sustaining white hand Is removed he sinks and goes back to the starting point just as certainly and na- turally as a stone will sink in water. It Is part of the inheritance of the de- scendants of Ham and all the efforts. examples and teachings of the white race cannot change the unalterable de- crees of Nature.
 If 1t were possible for the United states to obtain full possession of Cuba, for example, remove all the whites and mixed bloods from 1t, set tie 1t exclusively with genuine negroes from the Southern States and leave them absolutely to themselves. what result might be expected? Three gem erations would not pass before the pop ulation would revert to the savagery and Pagan brutality of their heather ancestors. It is in them, always has been In them and will ever remain. The real negro has never made any permanent or notable advance towards civilization except as he has been en- couraged. led and sustained by the i white man, and he never will. The de- crees of nature are unalterable and Inviolable. They can be diverted or modified for time, but will assert themselves when left alone. To talk of a negro civilization Is Q mis- application of terms, for there is no such thing. and cannot be.
 This man of whom we have been speaking had unusual advantages. He was brought from his native wilds while 6 child. and in the years he spent in the United States 1t Is more than probable that he forgot every thing about his origin. If he had re- mained in this country the veneer of civilization would probably have ad- hered to him, and he might have made an orderly and useful citizen. yet 1t required but few months of contact with his original conditions to make of him the devil-worshiping savage that his ancestors were. The native instinct asserted itself as 1t always will.
 In spite of example and history and common sense there are to be found among us men who refuse to be con- vinced. They believe, or profess. that influence. teaching and example will elevate the negro to the level of the white race. They assert that we can make of the negro a colored white man, with all the qualities and habits of the Caucasian. The doctrine is as false as 1t Is dangerous Where it is taught the effect is bad. Where 1t Is practicei the result is perilous. Those who teach or practice 1t are not good friends for either race.
 A critical exchange, with evident knowledge of the situation says form CT statistician Hyde says that he Is still i'll. While MT. Hyde does not state the nature of his illness, it is probably sufncient to save him from having to