Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-07-05
. novel and reading Ii In daily install

/ uiCAlb.
Through his music teaching the au.
thor became acquainted with ''the best
class OF colored people In Jackson
yille," adding that "this was really"
his entrance into the race" Not only
does he write strongly of the upward
struggle. Of the negroes. but in his ac-
count OF conditions in Jacksonville and
IN other cities, he gives an unusual
picture OF well-to-do, well-educated ne
gro society. As for the negroes in. the
south he declares that they may be
roughly divided into three classes. not
SO much In respect to themselves as
In respect to their relations with the
whites. The first class which he de-
scribes are the lowest, that from which
the criminals chiefly come. It Is a class
which he declares to represent but a
small proportion Of the colored people.
although unfortunately 1t often domi-
mates public opinion concerning the
whole race. This class of blacks" he
writes, "hates everything covered by a
white skin and in regard they are
loathed by the whites" The second
class, as he divides them, comprises
the servants, the washwomen, the wait
ers, the cooks, all, in word, who are
connected with the whites by domestic
service, and between this c'ass of the
blacks and the whites he declares there
is little or no friction. His third
class is composed of the independent
workmen and tradesmen and of the
well.to-do and educated colored people,
and he adds that for directly oppo-
site reason they are as far removed
from the whites as the members OF
the first class. These people live In
little world of their own and he points
out that whereas the proudest Of
southern women could, with propriety,
and undoubtedly would in fact, 60 to
the cabin of Aunt Mary, her cook, II
Aunt Mary was sick, and minister to
her comfort with her own hands, If,
on the other hand. Aunt Mary's daugh-
ter who used to hang around the kitch-
en-, but who has received an education
and married prosperous young col.
orded man, were at deaths door, the
white woman would no more think OF
crossing the threshold of the daugh-
ter's cottage than she would Of going
into barroom for drink"
From Jacksonville, on the closing OF
the cigar factory. the author drifted to
New York. and the result is descrip-
ton of the negro underworld" Of the
metropolis such as probably has never
been written before. The young man
with little money in his pocket was
taken about by negro friends to vari-
GUS resorts, including gambling club,
frequented by negro sports" and the
like, together with white persons OF
certain sorts. Although vivid, the de-
scription is in no sense abhorrent, al
though lola might, indeed, have
envy of it as the basis Of picture to
be filled out by the unrelenting add
ton OF details. AS 1t is, the reader Is
introduced to clubs and restaurants
where negro jockeys, flushed with
their winnings on the turf, buy wine"
recklessly for all who sit aaround be-
| meath the colored celebrities upon the
wall. Frederick Douglass to Jack
Johnson, and the like. From this gas
light existence, as he well describes It,
the author, was rescued through his
musical ability In one Of these re-
sorts he had his first introduction to
"rag-time" music, which was then un-
known. With his classical education
in music he was able to develop and
! adapt the negro melodies, and on the
other hand to play classical music IN
ragtime. In the end he became
"professor" at the piano in negro
resort, and there was taken up by a
white man of wealth and leisure IN
search of novelty, who employed him
to play at Bohemian dinners and nm
ally took him abroad as a companion,
giving him opportunities in France
and Germany to pick up not only the
languages but more musical knoWi-
edge.
It was at Berlin. that after having
played some ragtime music at gath
ering of musical people. the author
Gained what for the time he conceived
to be the inspiration of his life work.
He had hardly finished his ragtime
when an enthusiastic German brushed
him off the stool and taking the same
theme varied and developed it through
every known musical form. i nao
been turning classical music into rag.
time. a comparatively easy task; ana
this man had taken ragtime and made
II classical" The thought flashed
into his mind that there was his OPP
portunity, that the music OF America
might be developed from the negro
melodies. He then determined 70
leave his leisure loving companion ana
60 back to the United States to WORK
AZ a negro composer. The decision
made. he returned to the country and
began his labors among the southern
negroes in collecting their melodies,
and the chapter in which he tells OF
this work will prove one of excep-
tional interest to any who have found
an appeal in negro music. But 1t was
while engaged in this work in a thinly
settled district that he witnessed a
lvnching In which the wretched victim
was not merely hung but burned to
death. Sick at heart, he determined.
a. he frankly expresses It, to forsake
h,a race, that I would change my
name. raise mustache, and let the
world take me for what 1t would, that
It was not necessary for me to go
about with a label Of inferiority past
ed across my forehead. All the while
understood, that 1t was not discour-
Iagem1ent, or fear, or search for a larg-
er field Of action and opportunity that
NO. driving mo out Of the negro