Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-07-01
ONCE MORE IN TENNESSEr
BY J. o. Knott.

Nerslty al Vanderbilt. Memories are
many and varied. Nashville is a sort
of hub TO the circuit We are taking in
Chautauqua towns, but we are ALWAYS
within calling distance of the hub-in
case we wish TO call. None of us have
taken advantage as yet of this close
proximity to the Athens of the South.
As We left the Mississippi Delta
some rhymeSter in our company, in a
parody on nowhere do the roses
enough to make a fortune-then be of
Nowhere do niggers crowd the streets,
AS in the Delta;
Nowhere do hotels have such eats"
AS in the Delta
The eggs are cold, so is the ham;
The coffee'S black as Waiter Sam.
And served with, 81 don't care a d-n.''
Down in the Delta.
However, you must admit that the
Delta has money in abundance. and
spends 1t like a drunken sailor. We
notice already, as we near the hill
country, that people count pennies
much more carefully than in that
veritable Klondike, the Delta. where
mllionaires are so plentiful that they
cease to be counted or even noted. But
the get-rich-quick spirit has its dis
advantages, which affect our work
decidedly. We cannot inspire civic
pride in people where the Weather
inhabitants are remaining only long
enough to make a fortune-then be of
to Memphis or Ciarksdale Cthe Paris
of the State of Mississippi, where a
magnificent residence is built and the
once Delta man lives with his family
in luxury.
In my former communication | said
some things about the negro problem
here in this section of the South.
have since then both seen and heard
what am sure our people further
north do not know, namely, that the
more intelligent white people here, such
as preachers and teachers, confess
that they have lost almost entirely
their influence over the colored people
OF this region. They told me that the
colored people are Secretive, sus-
picious, and that they have their run
nerS, as they are called, vino COM
municate between town and town, in
the hours between midnight and four
o'clock in the morning, thus keeping in
touch with each other through leaders
and indicating what course TO take on
any question. AS an illustration: In
a certain town some deficit arose over
colored people being seated in Chau-
tauqua tent. The runners" COM
municated that fact to town where
was holding Chautauqua, and could
not get a colored person to come under
my notwithstanding my southern
birth and my assured kindly feelings.
This phrase of the negro problem, that
has arisen since the great war, is Civ
ing the southern people much concern.
and well it may. Our Chautauqua
WI may lSlP III tllC SOlullOll VI illS
problem. Many of the towns we have
lately been in have requested that next
year we give to the colored people one
entire program for an evening, the
white people declaring their willing
hess to stand outside or TO make tenn
porary seats for themselves that the
cnIo rod pannla haar the IaCtnrac
and enjoy a program especially pre-.
pared for them.
am writing this letter in the county
seat of Crockett county, Tenn. Here
David Crockett was born, and the place
is appropriately called Alamo. 1t is not
as large as Shepherdstown, and yet its
spirit of thrift is quite evident Its
people crowd the Chautauqua tent and
applaud coviferously when anything is
said that bears on civic improvement
The rural sections of the far South
are by no means the backwoods and
impoverished localities that they were
formerly. The South has money and
is making money. Not only so, but the
southern women in these rural towns
are among the most charming | have
met anywhere. They are up-to-d date in
all that bears upon the spirit of the
age, and usually lead the way in educa-
tional and welfare matters. Where
they say a Chautauqua is desired and
provision must be made for its coming
the Chautauqua comes.
Our audiences get larger as we &c
further north. We shall soon be as
far as the southern bank of the Obi"
river. We shall see much of Kcn'uctl