The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-07
BROTHER GARDNER.
There Are Things That Make Him
Tired.


1t was whispered about Paradise
Hall previous to the opening of the
Saturday night meeting that the "old
man" was going to indulge in some
plain talk, and more than one mem
Der began to wonder what he had been
guilty of to call for a raking down.
There was a flutter up and down the
benches when the routine business
had been disposed of and Brother
Gardner rose in his seat and said:
81 hain't feelin' bout things as I
would like to feel. rs got the feelin'
on me dat de Guild people OBJ dis
kentry am gwine to smash in spite OBJ
all dat kin be said or dun. Ebery day
when | walks out cum home wild an
achin' heart. Every time 1 pick up a
paper and set down to read am made
to wonder what has got into de GULL d
race dat it am actin so.
81 was in a feed stoh de odder evenin'
to buy some con fur my chickens. 1
has been acquainted wit dat feed stoh
man fur 10 years, and we like each
odder. He has nebber cotched me
film my pockets wild con when his
back was turned, and he has nebber
looked down on me kase de Lord made
me black instead oh white We was
talkin' away and respectin' each odder
when in busted Brudder Jones. He
was all logged out in patent leather
shoes and a red necktie, and he per-
ceeded to swell out his chest and call
dat feed stoh man Tom and order him
to send up 10 cents worth of washed
oats in a hurry. You'd hev thought
Brudder Jones owned dis earth and dat
de hull United States was gwine to tip
Ober if he didn't get dem oats mighty
quick. He felt hisself bigger'n brick
house and of mo- Importance dan
governor, but arter he went out dat
feed stoh man called him all sorts o
names and predicted dat he'd come
down to airth wild an awful smash be-
TO- de year was out. He wasn't i'm
pressed or imposed on a leetle bit.
'Some few weeks ago Brudder Shin
dig Watkins had de griefness to lose
his wife. She was his third wife, but
when his club learned de sad news it
took right holt jest de same as if she
had been his first. 1t sorrered. 1t
brought flowers. 1t Clipped in $50
in cash. Mo'~dan fifty of us attended
de funeral. When we returned from
de sad occasion we patted Shindig on
de back and told him dat his loss was
her gain, and dat dere was no cloud
widout its silver linin'. You all re-
member how broken UP he was. Some
of US said dat he would nebber re-
kiver from de blow
"a day or two ago. only six weeks
arter de calamity, I was walking
threw Chipmunk alley. and 1 stumbled
upon Brudder Shindig. He and
Guild woman was sittin' on a doan-
step. He had his arm around dat
woman, and her head was laid on his
shoulder. When any one tells you dat
de white folks own all de rapid transis
business in de kentry you jest remem-
Der dis case.
Three months ago Brudder Pickles |
Smith lost his mother by death. She
wasn't no wuss and no better dan any
odder mans mother. Pickles had our
sympathy, and We Clipped in $25 in
cash besides Next thing we heard of
he was arrangin' wild a marble man to |
git a $500 monument for de ole woman
He wanted de genuine article, and he
wanted an angel wild her wings spread |
on top He wanted somethin' to beat
de white folks. and he would have
had it and been so years payin' for it
while he was on his way to clinch de
bargain.
"Brudder Phosphate Nickerson
blacks stoves and does whitewashin'
and his average airnings are $40 a
week. He Ibis clus to a white man
who Arms $50. Common sense would
tell Brudder Phosphate dat he was no
society swell and wasn't called upon
to put on de frills. Common sense
would tell him dat $50 will go three
times as far as SO. He don't listen to
common sense howeber. He and his
wife are tryin' to outshine dat white
family Dey hev ice cream and Angels
cake Dey buy a bushel of 'taters to
once. Dey hev a telephone in de house.
Dey swell out on Sunday mawnin's
and try to git de front pew at church.
don't know of two bigger fools in all
lie land, and de next time Brudder
Phosphate comes 10 my house to Dor
COW a dollar of me shall institute pro-
eeedin's to make his heart ache.
"Ober dar by de stove sots Shutdown
Jackson When he moved down yere
rom Albany five years ago he was a
mighty sensible man. He told me dat
he had sot down and figgered it out
lat de white folks had de bulge on all
,dder races and dot 1t was no use
% kick. He jest wanted room to lib
md get along He didn't want to git
n nobody's way. He kept to dat course
or three years and was a success. I
lev heard a dozen white men speakin'
lis praise About two years ago Brud-
Ter Shutdown changed his mind. He
de time had come to begin to
rowd to de front. He begun to swag-
,er and talk big and wear two watch
hains, and tonight he jest imagines
lat he is carryin' dis hull kentry on /
IFS shoulders. You listen to what I I
ay Oars a lion in Brudder Sun J
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