Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1915-01-13
The Negro In His Lair. No. 1.

been q constant observer and ,ad-i
mirer Of the wondrcus works OF
God. In my early days, birds, bees,i.
bugs. and flowers were reverend
ing source Of pleasure to me, ana
when lad Of more mature year,.
l.have lain for hours: in the shade
Of some friendly tree and played
with a toad frog or june-bug until
The dinner horn, blew when ! was
enormously supposed to have BEEN
diligently hoeing cotton. In after
yeais. i have sat silently on the sea-
shore and watched the tides ebb3
aud flow; / have climbed lofty.
mountains and looked down uuon.
the clouds, I have descended into
the valleys and stood on the worlds
greatest river and watched its tur'
bulent waters roll by; l have looked
above into the star-deckcd dome OF
heaven and gazed upon the far
away planets ane comets perform
ing their stupendous and barmon.-
GUS revolutions. and have seen writ
ten upon the face of all nature the
glory and wonder of the great
creator. But / have always, and
now, regard the negro as hls
master piece. He stands alone
in a class to himself; and, while
Yazoo and the Mississippi delta is
peculiarly suited to bis needs, yet he
can adjust himself to any kind OF
climatic conditions and live and
die happy under the most trying
circumstances. He can lie down
beneath the scorching rays of a
MONDAY sun and sleep the sleep OF
seven sleepers of old without suf-
fering any evil effects from it what
ey.r, or he can weather the hercest
winter gale clad in pair of cotton
overalls and blue jumper. He
can also wear an overcoat to q
Fourth of July celebration, or q
pair OF liner pants and an alpaca
coat to a Christmas tree and be
perfectly comfortable. And strange
.asit may seem, any body's clothes
viii will iii hiinn. aok ntss esf
King Solomon, in his declining
years, when he had become thor
oughly disguised with high society
and fast living, said that there was
nothing new under the sun, that he
had gone all the gaits and had seen
the whole show, from the free ex-
hibition to the grand concert, and
there was nothing to it, or words to
that effect. But it will be remem-
bered that he never had any negroes
to deal with or he would have had
a new problem to solve every day
of his eventful life. There is moth
ing else like the negro under the
sun. He sees all things, hears all
things, and has implicit faith In
everything he sees or hears, and
sta,.ds readysat all times to step
aboard of anything that comes
along-f1om a young mule to a
flying machine. Wireless telegraphy
is nothing new to him, he has used
it for ages. Every negro's mouth
is transmitter and every ear re.
eeiver. If anything of Importance
happens on a plantation tonight
every negro for twenty miles around
will know it by morning. Sunday
is his special day, by custom and
consent, and il you ;shave any busi-
ness to attend in town on Satur-
day, attend to it early and get off
the streets before you get hurt. A
negro cannot see you unless you
owe him something, and ifyou get
in his way he is liable to step on
you or back you up against brick
wall and smother you to death.
He does not do these things, or any
of them. through evil design, as
many sometimes suppose, but he
simply cannot help it if you get in
his way, for he is busy and cannot
look out for you. Saturday is his
'rashons" and news exchange day,
and in addition to having all those
things in his mind, he has to shake
hands with every other negro wo-
man he meets. You had better take
out an accident policy or get off
the streets on Saturday. The stand
ard 'rashons" for negro is peck
of corn meal, three pounds of salt
meat, one quart of black molasses,
a pound of sugar and pound of
coffee Il week-but he can consume
all of this in one day if necessary,
or if he is working for you and
boarding himself he can live a
waek on five cents WORTH of cheese,