The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-02-24
THE NEGRO !. !.
: |N>><H|S LAIR
Indianola, Miss, Man Tells a Unique
=. Story Of the Colored Brother
in His Delta. ..,.

=. Story Of the ColOred Brother
in His Delta. ...,.
From early childhood I have been q
constant observer and an ardent ad-
mirer of the wondrous works of God,
says s. F. Davis, of Indiano1a, Miss, in
the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. In
my early days birds, bees, bugs and
flowers were never-ending source OF
pleasure to me and when lad Of more
mature years have lain for hours in
the shade Of some friendly tree and
played with toad frog or June bug un-
til the dinner horn blew, when I was er-
roneously supposed to have been dill
gently hoeing cotton. In after years I
have sat silently on the seashore and
watched the tide ebb and flow; have
climbed lofty mountains and looked
down upon the clouds; I have descend
ed into the valleys and stood on the
banks of the worlds greatest river and
watched it's turbulent waters roll by
have looked above into the starry deck
ed dome Of Heaven and gazed upon the
far-away planets and comets perform
ing their stupendous and harmonious
revolutions, and have seen written upon
the face of an nature the glory, and
wonder Of the great Creator. But l
have always, and do now, regard the
negro az His masterpiece. he stands
alone in a class by himself; and while
the Yazoo and Mississippi Delta is pecu-
iarly suited to his needs, yet he can ad-
| Just himself to any kinds of climatic
conditions and live and die happy under
the most trying circumstances.
| ,.t : Sleep in the Sun. @
He can lie down beneath the scorch-
| ing rays of a,noenday sun and sleep the
sleep Of the seven sleepers Of old with
out suffering any evil effects from it
whatever; or he can weather the fiercest
winter gale, clad only In pair Of cot.
ton overalls and q blue jumper. he can
also wear an overcoat to Fourth OF
July celebration, or pair OF linen pants
and IN alpaca coat to Christmas tree
and be perfectly comfortable. -. -.
And, strange as it may seem, any
body's clothes will fit him, and look nice
on him. King Solomon, in his declining
years, when he had become Thoroughly
disguised with high society and fast Ev-
ing, said that there was nothing new
under the sun; that he had gone sll the
| paits and had seen the whole show.
from the free exhibition to the grand
concert, and that there was nothing to
it, or words to that effect. But it will
be remembered 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 nothing else
like the negro under the sun. He sees
all things, hears all things, believes ali
things, and has implicit faith in every
thing he sees or hears. and stands ready
at all times to step aboard OF anything
that comes along from young mule tc
q flying machine 90 :.
! Has Used Wireless. 90
Wireless telegraphy is nothing new to
him; he has used 1t for ages; every ne
pro's mouth Is transmitter and every
ear q receiver. If anything Of import.
ance happens on plantation tonight
every negro for forty miles around will
know it by morning.
If you ever arrive in delta town on
the train on Sunday and the whole col.
ored population is not at the depot to
meet you, do not get off the train, fol
you may know that of surety some
catastrophe has just struck the town.
Saturday Is his special day by custom
and common consent, and If you have
any business to attend to In q delta town
on Saturday, attend to it early and get
off of the streets before You get hurt.
A negro cannot see you Saturday unless
you owe him something, and If you get
in his way he is liable to step on you, sit
down on you, or back you up against q
brick wall and smother you to death.
He does not usually do these things OF
any Of them, through any evil design,
as many sometimes suppose, but he sim.
ply cannot help it if you get in his way,
for he is busy and cannot look out tor
you. Saturday is his ''rashions" and
news exchange day, and in addition to
having all those things on his mind, he
has to shake hands with every other ne
gro woman he meets. You had better
take out an accident policy or, get of
the streets Saturday. ....
stomach Like An Accordion.
The standard 'trashions" for q negro
| is q peck of corn meal, two pounds OF
sugar, one pound Of coffee, three pounds
Of salt meat and one gallon Of black
molasses week, but. he can consume
all of this at one sitting if necessary, OF