The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1911-11-29

JOAN SAW CARIN-JAMA SEIZE SHELDON
by THE THROAT.
81 am afraid l don't understand"
he said, shortly, turning away. 1--WE
will talk ii over later on"
81 suppose I've been unforgivably
foolish" was her greeting when he re-
turned several hours later from
round of the plantation. I've been to
the hospital, and the man is getting
along all right. 1t is not serious
hurt"
Sheldon felt unaccountably pleased
and happy at the changed aspect Of her
mood.
you see. you don't understand the
situation" he began. I'm the first
place. the blacks have to be ruled
sternly. Kindness is all very WELL but
you cant rule them by kindness only.
| accept all that you say about the
fIawaiians and Tahitians. You say
that they can be handled that way, and
believe you. have had no expert
ence with them. But you have had no
experience with the blacks. and | ask
you to believe me. They are different
from your natives. You are used to
Polynesians. These boys are Melane-
slams. They're blacks. They're niggers
look at their kinky hair. And they're
whole lot lower than the African
niggers. Really, you know, there is a
vast difference
They possess no gratitude. no SYM
pathy. no kindness. f you are kind
to them they think you are Il fool. If
you are gentle with them they think
you are afraid. And when they think
you are afraid. watch out. for they will
get you. Just to show you, let me state
the one invariable process in a black
mans brain when on his native heath
he encounters Il stranger. His first
thought is one of fear. VIII the stran-
ger kill him? His next thought. seeing
that he is not killed is. Can he kill the
stranger! There was Packard. Il colo
NAL trader, some twelve miles down
the coast. He boasted that he ruled by
kindness and never struck blow. The
tCSuil W az ilili iit hii hbl uit dt an
He used to come down in his whale
boat to visit Hughie and me. When his
boats crew decided to go home he had
to cut his visit short to accompany
them. | remember one Sunday after
noon when Packard had accepted our
invitation to stop to dinner. The soup
was just served when Hughie saw a
niger peering in through the door. He
went out to him. for it was a violation
of Berande custom. Any niger has to
send in word by the house boys and TO
keep outside the compound. This man.
who was one of Packard's boats crew.
was on the veranda And he knew bet
ter too. What nameY said Hughie.
You tell IN white man close up we
fella boats crew go along. He no
come now. we fella boy no wait. We
60
And just then Hughie fetched him
a clout that knocked him clean down
the stairs and off the veranda"
But it was needlessly cruel Joan
objected. You wouldn't treat a white
man that way"
And that's just he point. He wasn't
Il white man. He was low black
niger. and he was deliberately insult
ing, not alone his own white master.
but every white master In the Solo
mons. He insulted me. He insulted
Hughie. He insulted Berande."
"Of course. according TO your lights.
TO your formula of the rule OF the
strong
Yes" Sheldon interrupted. but II
was according to the formula of the
rule OF the weak that Packard ruled.
And what was the result? am still
alive. Packard is dead. He was un-
swervingly kind and gentle TO his boys.
and his boys waited till one day he was
down with fever His head is over
on Maaita now. They carried away
two whaleboats as well filed with the
loot of the store. Then there was Cap
tain Mackenzie OF the ketch Minota.
He believed In kindness and paraded
around the deck without even a re-
volver on him. He was tomahawked
His head remains In Malaita. IL was
suicide SO was Packard's finish sui
eide. You must understand one thing.
Berande. bar none, Is by far the worst
plantation in the Solomons 80 far as
the labor is concerned And how 1t
came 10 be SO proves your point. The
previous owners OF Berande were not
discreetly kind. They were a pair OF
unadulterated brutes. One was down