The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1927-04-29

They come there from all parts of
interior towns and cities, bringing W
fatherlands.
The new arrival from the South is
perhaps most in evidence. He is a
seedy, collarless, slouching fellow,
wearing a battered old soft hat.
Slow in motion, he is constantly
buffeted by the swift tides of the
avenue that sweep past him. A
stranger in the city, he is consider
ably bewildered by the sights that
confront him. A product of the
plantations, he shakes his head in
a puzzled fashion as he surveys the
hurrying throngs and endless rows
CT brick and mortar. If he be
friendless he is often willing to
make friends with the first stranger
who accosts him. Sometimes he
falls into honest hands. But fire.
quently he is a prey for unscrupul-
Gus members of the race who strip
him of his few possessions.
Whatever befalls him he is not
easily discouraged. Endowed with
the happy-gc-lucky spirit of the race
he accepts the world much as he
finds it He has come here as to a
promised land where gold and honey
are plentiful, and being man of
simple faith he believes that some-
where he will find a Black Moses
to lead him out of the paths of ad-
versity Often his Black Moses turns
out to be a well disposed colored
pastor.
Most of these Negroes from the
South who come here with golden
expectations eventually manage to
get a foothold on some kind of job.
A few of them, to be sure, who
have no one to guide and help them
succumb to temptation and fall into
evil ways. But large percentage
of them see their dream realized.
Adopts Self TO Surroundings
Frequently in less than a months
time the seedy. penniless Negro from
the South undergoes a metamor-
phosis as startling as that of an in
sect. AS he strolls jauntily along
the avenue swinging a cane, with
head erect, his most intimate friends
of the plantation would not recog-
nize him. Often in the space of a
single day he has transformed him
self into an entirely different indi-
vidual. He has, in short, by a
mere exchange of garments disasso-
ciated himself from his past and
has become a new and different
man, casting aside with his dull gar
ments century old habits and tradi-
tions. 1t is doubtful if any one ex-
cept a Negro could make this light |
ming like change.
The Negro has a positive genius |
for adoption. In an incredibly short |
time he can adapt himself to new |
conditions. Accustomed all his life
to the broad, sunny acres o the |
Southland, with plenty of free air, |
trees and flowers, he can make him
self equally at home in a narrow,
sunless flat.
1.-THE Negro" said race pastor, |
"can do this because he has a
cheerful disposition and vivid imag-
ination. Never having very much, |
he is able to make the most of very
little. He may secretly miss green |
meadows and flowers, but the repre-
sentations of flowers on the wall |
paper are real flowers to him He |
needs only to shut his eyes in order
to smell their fragrance"
Strutting the streets of Harlem
are Negroes of enviable physique,
with slim waists and straight broad |
shoulders. Many of these have
found jobs on the piers and steve
dores. They receive good pay and
can afford to wear good clothes.
Some of them dress conservatively, |
live frugally and put their savings
in the bank. Others like to dress
up and appear the glass of fashion
and the mold of form. And these
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