The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1909-09-16
THE OLD SOUTH.
Habits, Customs and Manners of
Her People Before the War
and Since The Institution of
Slavery and How the North
Misunderstood Conditions.
To the Editor OF The Robesonian;

Slavery and How the North
Misunderstood Conditions.
To the Editor OF The Robesonian:
It's now going on to fifty years
since the freedom of the negro,
and for the information of those
who knew not the negro as a
slave and to give the rising gen
GRAFTON some idea Of the habits,
customs and manners of our peo-
pie prior to our internecine war,
the following pages have been
prepared.
The customs of our people were
so regulated and fixed that
| don't suppose a century would
have changed them as much as
did those four years of war, and
subsequent defeat. For a year
or two after APPROXIMATION, outside
of Sherman's line of march, the
affairs of the plantations were
changed very little, the negro
remaining on the farms pretty
much in the same conditions as
they had been. They were given
part Of the crops, in most instan-
ces, for their labor, and remained
under the same discipline as be-
fore-the habits of obedience in
culcated by d century of slavery
were not easily broken.
The great majority of slave
owners were kind and consider
ate to their slaves. Their money
value, if for no other reason,
would induce their owners to feed
and clothe them and protect them
from punishment, other than
what was incident to proper dis
cipline on a Well-managed farm.
On a great majority of farms the
relations between the negroes
and their owners partook more of
the patriarchal form of govern
ment than that of master and
slave. The negroes generally
had two weeks vacation during
the year. One was about the
first of August, when the crops
were laid by" and the other
was Christmas week. The Au-
gust event was called the green
corn dance" at which time the
master gave them a dinner com
posed of all the good things gen.
enerally raised on a farm, and
supplemented with a generous
portion of good horse-apple cider,
a beverage that was always to be
had on Southern farm. To ev-
cry head of a family an acre OF
two was given, which was usu-
ally planted in cotton, and at
Christmas this cotton was carried
to market and the proceeds given
to each negro to use as he thought
best; and such a time as they
would have beggars my descrip.
tive powers. The question of ex-
pansion or contraction of the cur
rency, which has agitated oul
country no little in the past years,
was exemplifed to me on my re-
turn home on a furlough in 1862.
By this time the Confederate
currency had become considera
bly, inflated, and | found our ne
groes with finer clothes than they
had ever had before, and each
negro man had in his possession
a nice silver watch, besides Other
extras. All this from the pro
ceeds of the same amount of cot
ton and corn that before only af
forded him "a bare living" in
Guiding the inevitable jug o:
whiskey. Now this is what ex
pansion of the currency did fo
the Southern negro.
There were very little police ar
engagements in the South unit
: the Wat Turner outbreak tool
place in Virginia about the yea
1884, when the people becam
alarmed, and Instituted the pa
!, troll law, by which every neigh
borhood had it's captain of patrc
and a number of assistants, who's
I duty it was to see that the ne
d groes were at home at night, an
if they found any off the plants
f ton without a pass from his mas
: ter he was to be punished wit
S fifteen lashes on the bare bac
h with a switch. The writer ha
acted as captain of patrol, and
V was amusing whenever this pun
ishment had to be inflicted. Ho'
f patient he'd endure the punish
9 ment, bnt if he got a lick over tn
i. lawful number of stripes, such
. howl of protest would go up tn;
one would imagine he was beir
:; murdered! Fifteen stripes W;
u the law and he was willing
take what the law said, but an
r, thing over that was an outra!
y. to his feelings, and to his ma
lie ter's also, who would resent til
l. unlawful punishment of his slav
and!I have seen some big lawsui
e. over this matter.
AS a matter of curiosity, | W
give here the phraseology of the
q passes, which were very siml
- worded: 'My boy Tom has lea
to pass and repass from 10
IN Jones' till Monday mornin
er James Smith. - John Jones W
n often the place of his wife
of abode.
nd The people of the old Sou
ds made such poor use of what W
es the most efficient labor in t
IS. world, that they deserved to ha
=" lost them. They took up
stumps out of their fields, tn