Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1922-05-12

Of later, goober or watermelon, but
ne is the past master in the art Of It.
He studies his white folks closely ana
observes the various manifestations
Of their different moods and notes
their various idjosyncracies and has
it all card in1exed in his woody head
and can tell each morning while his
white folks are yet atar off just
the mood they happen to be in that
morning and governs himself accord
ingly.
Bookkeeping expert accounting,
over head and all such terms so dear
to the heart Of an accountant, are al
Greek to him yet, Notwithstanding
the settlements made with him by his
white folks, he has a good idea Of
value for what he does and ne can
strike a balance that suits him and It
will be no red ink balance either. A
story is current in the south of a
settlement made by a planter with
his negro we will call Rastus. Ras-
tus came to the big house to settle,
the planter called to his overseer to
look on the books and tell how Ras-
tus stood. The overseer replied that
Rastus had a credit Of $4,000, to
which the planter said Take his note
for it" The overseer spoke up ard
suggested that the planter had mis-
understood-that Rastus had a cred
ito which the planter rejoined,
''that is all right, he is good for It.
and the sequel is that Rastus did
give his note because his white folks
had told him SO to do. Now that looks
as though Rastus had been cheated
and right here is an instance where
the average northerner, who has not
lived in the South long enough to
learn better, wastes a lot of perfectly
good but mis-directed sympathy on
such as Rastus, because it is safe to
saw that if the planter and Rastus
continue their arrangement long
enough, Rastus will, by sundry bor-
rowing, known and known only to
himself, square accounts with the
planter and nobody knows this better
than does the planter-in fact he fully
expects it.
This estate is one that is acquired
bv descent and not by purchase. A
northerner cannot go into the South
and become the Negroes white folks.
He max buy a plantation and succeed
in keeping all the tenants, He may
according to his ideas, treat them bet
fer than did the former n They
NAV, to his face, call him boss
"Cap'n" or even "Kunnel", but ne can
not hone to have them, either amoNe
themselves, or to the folks, both white
and black, on the adjoining planta'
tons, allude to and boast OF him a:
their white folks. His heirs may at
tain to this estate provided they are
to "the manor born" and brought W
under its environments.
When the c%ontractural relationship
is, technically, that Of landlords anC
tenant said tenancy is a combination
of that at will and at sufferance. a
will on the part of the negro; at sui
ferance on the part of the white MAI
The negro terminates it at Will; the
white man cannot always so terminate
it but must suffer it to continue TIL
he sometimes goes broke. And rlgh'
then and there, in many instances
the very best, the finest elements o
this estate come to the surface. Tht
white folks may go broke. The heat
of the house, the boss man, may b'
taken by death and the surviving wild
ow and heirs may be reduced in cir
cumstances to that condition know
as shabby genteel. They may have
o., left to them only those things exemp
from seizure by creditors, a few
fomily h~eirlooms, the family pride anC
in some instances 9 lot Of a~rlstocratiC
/, ideas that require money to maintain
and still the negro will continue t.
serve "Ole Miss" and the others will
the same faithfulness, devotion am
affection and with the same deferenct
to their aristocratic ideas as of old
and that too, without money ard with.
ont price, ever to the extent of shar
ING with them the products Of hi
labors or the proceeds Of his diver.
ard sundry foragings. ,
This estate has been, by circum
/, stances. evolved out Of environment
Of long standing and suits both par
ties thereto. The white folks nee,
and want the negro and The negro
/, needs and wants his white folks. The
mutually understand eachother. Z
r.-. r;,o eortbo-p lady of the oil