The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-09-03

Virginia desper2does lived. il might
Well have had more reason for exis-
tence. II Is not TO say that our Yves
tern North Carolina people are not
lawleSs-in the sense that. in many
cases. being far removed from the in
fiuence OF the officers OF the law. uv-
ing far back in the mountains. they
not infreQuently take the law into
their own hands. That they are mere
despeTados-shooting down their enc
mics from mbush in settlement OF
their difficulties and feuds-may have
been true OF Kentucky in the earlier
feudlst era, but even then. everything
was according to a code NJ which each
side abided. The pitiful ahsurdity Of
the closing ezra piers. in which Cassan-
dra goes to England to wake the con-
science OF her cad Of q husband. and
to win over his family. reveals only
too we'll the authoress's unfamiliarity
with the phase of life. depicted with
a futility really comical in its trivial
vapoTing, represented by the higher
English society OF today.
Mrs. Emma Payne Erskine, the au-
thoress. daughter Of an English artist.
was BORN in Racine, Wis. In her
dangerous and evolutionary book.
"When the Gates Lift Up Their
Heads she has her heroine. a love
ly girl. many a young man. ambi-
tious and worthy in his aims. after
she has. lyearned that he has black
blood in his veins. Her book Tho
Mountain Girl, though finding virtu-
ally no readers in the South. because
of it's inaccuracy and warped senti-
mentality, has been unusually sue
cussful in the North and West. pass
ing through nine editions in as many
weeks. The heroine is depicted with
all the delicacy and refinement OF
feeling, the completely of mood and
temperament. Of an Anna .karenina
or a Diana Of the crossways-within
the limitations, to be sure. OF Mrs
Erskine. To unite Northern lovers
of the Southern poor white trash"
by drawing an impossible and unre-
preventative heroine-ideal in all
senses-against a background OF
habitual desperadoism, ignorance.
benighted reactionism, and crime. IS
the simple feat which Mrs. Erskine
has accomplished.
In the same way. with her former
book, When the Gates Lift Up Their
Heads. she united Northern lovers OF
the negro and Northern advocates OF
miScegenatiOn for Southern people
When it was pointed out by Southern
reviewers that Mrs. Erskine was in
consistent in refusing to answer the
question:, Would you allow your
daughter to marry a man with ne
gro blood in his veins?" in the affirm
ative, she made this evasive and pre-
varicative reply: 1t (the novel IN
question: was not a plea for the
-amalganation of the races, as some
Of the reviewers supposed. That the
mingling of the races is an eStab-
lished fact and one Of the problems
to be considered could hardly be de-
MED by any one. n in the face OF
those conditions I believe that the
only rating for humanity should be
ff1n character 9f1nGlF6 rs no
wealth nor poverty. nor ancestry, nor
color that should rank q man among
men, but his character-what he has
made of himself" l understood Mrs
Payne Erskine to recommend to her
readers, her Northern circle OF ad-
mirers only, since she has 10 other
circle, to marry negroes, provided
; they nave demonstrated high char
acter, and won recognition as 4 man
among men. This is not a plea
for the amalsamation Of the races
merely an effort to put her NortherH
!. friends in countenance, il they hap
pen to want to intermarry with
young men OF high character who
have negro blood in their veins. To
that, We have no objection on sec,
tional' grounds. AS Americans and
as Anglo-Saxons, every man and
woman of pure blood should. how
ever, on national and on ethnie
grounds, no matter h section Of
: the county he Or she halls from, con
denim and speak out in clear tones
against the insidious and subtle ma
l ture Of Mrs. Erskine's suggestion. The
notion that character confers soeiai
equality is absurd; racial aversion
/ and the passion for racial integrity i
: Instructive. Only in Northern States
are negroes allowed to i~nternnarry
with whites. and although her scene
, is laid in North Carolina. she IS con
sistent in making OF her heroine who
marries the estimabie young man
with negro blood in her veins a young
, girl from Chicago. The damage thai
:, a book Of this sort may do is incalcu
: liable. The most subtle forces upol
!, action are, in order, the force or e1-
! ample in actual life, and the force
. Of example in imagined life. as de
| picted in fiction. The danger OF
e Mrs Erskine's doctrine is this: he
: statement, doubtless sincere, that he'
J. look was not "a plea for the amalga-
- NATION 0T the r2caS' IA false. Inf