The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-13
SUNDAY, JANUARY is, 1907.
INFORMATION WANTED.

The Raleigh Evening Times seeks in- formation. That ib not a new thing for The Times, but here's how it is:
 while some of our friends of the press are endeavoring to floor their brethren by strange and wonderful questions we would like to ask The Norfolk Landmark, The Montgomery Charlotte Observer. why 1t is that jay bird is supposed to visit the lower regions every Friday. That, we be- lieve. is a fact; Once upon time the writer of this saw a lone jay on Friday. but he will not mention the town for fear unfriendly critics will connect it with the home of the gentle man with pitchferk and horns. When this question has been properly an swered, we will butt in again to throw out another.
 The Columbia State admits the truth of the legend and wobbles around 1t in this manner: "A
 Once upon a time the writerof this saw 6 lone jay on Friday, but he will not mention the town for fear un- friendly critics will connect 1t with the home of the gentleman with pitchfork md horns" The Columbia jays are too ind of this climate to fly to others that they know not of. We could readily understand why the hapless jay-birds of some other places would like to make the Journey our contemporary re- Fers to--just for recreation. Anyhow as the innuendo of The Times was evil dently leveled at Charlotte, we leave the task of answering the question specifically to The Observer.
 So far as we have observed this is the only contemporary that has made an attempt at replying The Observer and The Landmark preserve a silence that 1t almost audible. Knowing their Ignorance and being too "uppity" to admit the fact they have crawled under the bed. That was the wisest plan, but 1t isn't The Advertisers way. When we don't know a thing we say so like the good little boy We sometimes hear of, but rarely see. Where ignorance Is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise" and worse folly to make a pretence of wis., dom
 As to the whyness of the condition referred to by The Times, we doubt if it ever gets any satisfactory solu- tion. There are legends about it, and doubtless Uncle Remus" has not neg lected to elucldste. though we do not remember to have seen any explana- tion from him. That the jaybirds visit the lower regions on Friday was be- lief as firmly fixed in the minds of the old-time plantation negroes as any thing could be. Almost threescore and ten years ago this writer listened to it from the lips of the elders among the plantation darkies, and so con scientiously did they believe it. and GA thatr n the white children who listened to them grew up with Hhe firm and unshaken conviction that, it was true beyond controversy. If there are any of the birds in Africa. of which we are not sure, the belief may have originated there, along with voudoolsm, fetish worship, and other savage articles of faith, and was transmitted to America through the slaves who were brought over from that country. and who would bring all their beliefs with them.
 If that is the way of 1t, there is nothing strange about It's surviva among the negroes. The negroes O the early days in this country. like the earlier Indians, had no knowledg, of a written language, and the legends and traditions of the fathers wer, handed down from generation to gen eration with but little change. So, f there are any jays in Africa, we may look to that country for the origin a the belief. And that's all we have tt say about jaybirds this morning.