The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-11-30
NUMBER SO

ing advantage of the ignorance
and confidence of an old time
darkey, meeting him on his for
! mer masters plantation, inform
the old eX-slave that he was one
of the men whom the govern
ment had appointed to measure
off the aforesaid forty acres and
give him deed to it, and that
another man would be round
soon to assign and deliver him
his mule with which to work it.
So with glad heart and ready
hand the old negro assisted the
pretended official in making the
measurement. When that was
done, the old man wanted his
deed, which was readily written
and delivered on the payment to
the swindler of S3.75, being all
the money the old man had. Some
days after this the old negro
seemed more independent than
usual, aud began putting on airs
of ownership, when his former
master said to him, dick, what's
the matter with you? For some
time you have been putting on
airs like you owned the place"
Yes, sar, | does own part of
de place. "How's that? What
do you mean, you old fool?"
We'll, sar, de guberment man
jist coined round and measured
me off my forty acres often your
land, and gived me a deed to it.. "
Much astonished, but knowing
some fraud had been practiced
upon the old darkey, the owner
asked to see the deed. There
upon the old man handed out his
supposed deed for the inspection
of his former master, and pres
ent landlord. AMI when held up
to the light of intelligence, the
old man was dumbfounded TO
hear the words read, "As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the will
derness, so have / lifted this old
darkey out of eight dollars and
seventy five cents. Selah!" It
was said long, long time ago,
that "a fool and bis moaev are
soon parted" and this is especi-
ally true where gross ignorance
and unbounded confidence on
one side and unscrupulousness on
the other. But l have thought
Of all the Williams known to man
kind it is he who abuses the con-
fidence reposed in him. and
swindles under the guise of
friendship. 1t puts me more in
mind of the kiss with which our
Savior was betrayed than any
with which | can compare it. 1t
was some years before the old
darkey ceased saying, "Masser"
when addressing a white man.
Old Uncle Jim Hussey, a fine old
time darkey, who lived and died
near Mooresville in Lee county,
Mississippi, kept up the habit of
calling his old friends Masser till
the time of his death. There
was another popularity about
Uncle Jim which l do not think
applies to any other ex-slave in
all this country, and that is that
he always and under all circum-
stances voted the Democratic
ticket. In the darkest days of
Mississippi. when the colored
population marched to the polls
in solid phalanx and voted in col
umns for the Republican party,
Uncle Jim always from the very
beginning and as long as he vot-
ed, put in his vote for the DEM
ocrats. He always said that as
the colored people were living
with the whites and largely de-
pendent upon them, it did seem
to him that what was to the in
uerest of one race must be equal
ly so for the other, and that as
the white people were the more
intelligent, it stood to reason
chat they would advocate and
vote for those principles which
would make for their betterment
and consequently for the best
interests of all.
He was a fine old character, as
polite as a Che: teiiicid, and as
kind hearted as any man | have
ever met, white or black. He
thought nothing oi taking off his
hat and bowling graciously to
anyone whom he met from pure
politeness. But those kind are
becoming fewer and fewer every
year. Ii we had more such men
as Uncle Jim, and fewer of the
worthless and law-breaking class,
the country would be better off.