HAM AND DIXIE. 
 
 A JDST, SIMPLE AND ORIGINAL 
 DISCUSSION 
 
 —OF— 
 
 The Southern Problem: 
 
 —BY— 
 
 J. B. SEVELLI-CAPPONI, 
 
 Attorney-at Law 
 
 Principal of Warden Academy, 
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1895, 
 By J. B. Sevelli-Capponi, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, ' 
 
 At Washington, D. C. 
 
SC /. ^57 
 C 94? H 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 To the departed shade of my dearly beloved 
 brother, John Downing Sevelli-Capponi, who died a 
 student of Biddle University, Charlotte, N. C., June 
 28th, 1883— and whose last dying wish was that he 
 bad lived to write a book, but hoped that the author 
 of this little volume would, one day, carry out his 
 fondest desire — this book is dedicated. 
 
 As this departed brother was so warmly devoted 
 to his race, so fluent in speech, so brilliant in mind, 
 so loving and true to this unworthy writer, and, 
 therefore, so noble a specimen of dignified Negro 
 manhood — toward the acquisition of which shining 
 qualities I trust our youth will aspire — I deem it 
 fitting and just that I choose this worthy Spirit, as a 
 proper object of the dedication of this, my first at- 
 tempt. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 The Author. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/hamdixie01capp 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 My Dear Fellow-Citizens: 
 
 The rivalry of mankind toward those high attain- 
 ments which are the direct results of individual 
 effort, may be easily discerned from personal ex- 
 perience We daily see its movements on the field 
 of battle, in the scientific domain, in the world of 
 art, in the strife for wealth, and, in short, in every 
 species of activity that is known to the human race. 
 Since this is true, should the Negro be idle and sleep 
 away his precious hours, while others are toiling on 
 with glorious success? Surely, the environments of 
 our present condition must be removed by our own 
 earnest and united action. But, while we are working 
 out our problem upon this bright land of the South, 
 which has now become our home by unavoidable 
 circumstances, let us not murmur and complain, but 
 let us work earnestly, patiently and hopefully. Now, 
 with these remarks, I hereby introduce to you this 
 present volume, which is the result of the laborious 
 and original study of the author, and intended for 
 the benefit of his race and the betterment of his 
 country. 
 
Preface. 
 
 7 
 
 I sincerely hope that from its pages you may 
 gather golden fruit which, when tasted, shall stimu- 
 late you to noble and lofty deeds. 
 
 Finally, trust in God; be men and do the right. 
 For — “Right is right since God is God, 
 
 And right the day will win ; 
 
 To doubt would be disloyalty, 
 
 To falter would be sin.” 
 
 SAMUEL MURRAY SEVILLE, 
 
 St. Augustine, Fla. 
 
AN APOLOGY. 
 
 When first I took my pen in hand 
 To air the thoughts within my mind, 
 
 I did not think to write a book 
 And send the same to all mankind; 
 
 I merely wrote as thoughts did grow 
 And jot them down for fear they’d die, 
 So what within these leaves you find 
 Hath come to me — each word and line. 
 
 Like water from a spring doth tiow, 
 
 Or from the mountain rivers gush; 
 
 So. from some distant mystic shore 
 Did thoughts and words within me rush, 
 Until myself, to be at ease, 
 
 Did send them forth my friends to please; 
 But not to please alone I wrote. 
 
 For things are said that may displease — 
 My pen, too, moved to teach the truth 
 And cure the minds that had disease. 
 
 My style oft changed, as well you see, 
 From prose to verse, as Fates decree — 
 
10 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Now stubborn facts my mind would crowd, 
 Then Fancy far would speak aloud; 
 
 And thus, two powers of thought betwixt, 
 
 I simply wrote as I was fixed. 
 
 With keenest hope that you'll forgive 
 Your humble scribe for writing so, 
 
 And show your pardon while 1 live 
 By words and deeds done here below; 
 
 I send to yon this book — your own, 
 Swift-winged, rough shod and naked-born. 
 And trust that you may take the gift, 
 
 May read the words, the thoughts may sift. 
 
 If you mistakes and wrongs do find, 
 
 Just spit them out and call them mine; 
 
 For, with no book of facts to read. 
 
 Nor others' thoughts on which to feed — 
 True, 'tis not strange that errors fly 
 Among these leaves and make me lie. 
 
 But, then, these lies you need not mind, 
 
 If truths there are beneath the rind; 
 
 No man despise what’s found within 
 A nut, because there’s hard and thin 
 A shell that holds the good inside, 
 
 Which makes him feel quite satisfied, 
 
 And pays him well beside. 
 
An Apology. 
 
 11 
 
 I know my words are limp and lame, 
 
 But you may read them just the same. 
 
 My thoughts that from above did flow 
 Are dull to you. perhaps, and slow. 
 
 But what of that? Read on see 
 What foolish things reside in me. 
 
 A fool sometimes may teach a sage, 
 
 A king may learn from simple page; 
 
 And. after all, who cares what source 
 He something learns, by chance or force, 
 If that same something serves his case 
 And causes him to win a race? 
 
 Again, if you get burned within 
 The lids that close the thoughts herein. 
 Just take it nice and go right on 
 Until some thought begins to dawn 
 That cools you off and makes you smile, 
 
 Or heats you high and makes you “bile;’’ 
 For, if you’re cool, you’re then content, 
 
 And if you're hot, my shaft is sent — 
 
 Is sent to where it well is needed. 
 
 To where I trust it will be heeded. 
 
 Now, White and Black and Brown and Red, 
 And Saffron, too, if’t must be said. 
 
 And Rich and Poor and High and Low 
 
12 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 And Good and 111 and Friend and Foe, 
 And Thick and Thin and Great and Small, 
 And These and Those and One and All— 
 I write to you and hope you’ll heed; 
 
 I give you food and hope you’ll feed; 
 
 I give advice and hope you’ll heed; 
 
 I’ve made a start and hope you’ll lead; 
 I’ve said the word — you do the deed, 
 
 And you and I both reap the meed. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Introduction 13 
 
 II. All Men Are Equal 26 
 
 III. What Manner of Man Is He? 47 
 
 IV. The Five Pillars 71 
 
 V. Weighed in Balances and Found Wanting 88 
 
 VI. Medes and Persians 129 
 
 VII. Shooting in the Air 156 
 
 VIII. What Are You Going to Do About It?. 204 
 
 IX. Work Out Your Own Salvation 213 
 
 X. The Sword of Justice 238 
 
 XL Come, Let Us Reason Together 261 
 
 XII A Letter from the Dead 280 
 
 XIII. The Curtain Falls 303 
 
 My Brother’s Scribblings 358 
 
 i 
 
HAM AND DIXIE. 
 
 A JUST. SIMPLE AN# ORIGINAL BISCDSSION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTCION. 
 
 To all whom it may concern, or who may 
 concern themselves with it, this is to make 
 certain that I, -Joseph Burritt Sevelli Capponi, 
 partly of the State of Texas and partly of the 
 State of Florida, do hereby undertake the job 
 of telling to the world what is the matter with 
 the Negro of these United States of America, 
 and how, by the help of his friends, he is to 
 take his medicine and effect his cure. 
 
 It may seem rather startling to hundreds, 
 and perhaps thousands and millions, of critics, 
 
14 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 theorists, reformers, soothsayers, astrologers, 
 magicians, and other bipeds, that I, an un- 
 known and unheard-of animal, should propose 
 to solve a problem which has already sent 
 many to the dust howling, conquered and with- 
 out hope. 
 
 But when we remember that the deep things 
 of this world and also of the world to come, 
 are often hidden from the wise and are made 
 known to the foolish; and, also, when we re- 
 member that simple, bare-headed, bare-backed 
 and bare footed common sense is often the 
 straiglitest road to the shining pearl of Truth, 
 then it is that we may be willing to receive 
 and accept the stubborn fact that a poor, sim- 
 ple and homeless Negro may tell the world in 
 general, and his race in particular, how the 
 latter shall burst his shell and step out into 
 the clear sunlight of racial manhood. 
 
 It seems that it has ever been pleasing to 
 oiu- Heavenly Father to direct and control the 
 affairs of men by means of the crudest instru- 
 ments, and thus we find little David, with sling 
 and stone, slaying the mighty giant of Gath; 
 poor and unlearned fishermen carrying the 
 Gospel of Love to dying men, and a carpenter’s 
 
Introduction. 
 
 15 
 
 son born on straw and among cattle becoming 
 the King of the Jews and the Savior of the 
 world. Therefore, haughty-minded reader, be 
 not too slow to believe that your unworthy 
 writer may be the chosen vessel tilled with and 
 bearing to you the glad tidings of a new era 
 and the rich blessings soon to fall upon a new 
 generation. 
 
 But not only is the creature from whom 
 these words are flowing, simple and obscure; 
 but the words themselves, which clothe his 
 thoughts, are also plain, odd and undressed. 
 Perhaps it were possible for me to pore over 
 the midnight of Grecian mythology, to dig into 
 the depths of Roman philosophy, to pry into 
 the mystic phases of German spiritualism, or 
 to sip from the gilded goblets of the French- 
 men's grace and lore, and thence evolve high- 
 sounding phrases, rounded periods and most 
 learned epithets. I might dip my pen in the 
 green of the Gulf and write upon the blue of 
 Heaven, in letters of emerald couched upon 
 beds of diamond, and then step aside and point 
 mankind to the beautiful symbols I had 
 wrought, and sit down and smile upon the com- 
 pliments I might receive, and then lie down 
 
16 
 
 Ham and Dixie, 
 
 and die without hope, because I had failed to 
 accomplish one useful thing for my race, or 
 one act of love for my God. 
 
 Thus it is that I care notling for empty hon- 
 ors, for baubled praises and for whitewashed 
 flattery; but I do care for the health, wealth, 
 progress and salvation of the world. I love 
 music and poetry and flowers, but you may put 
 it down where it will stick that neither of these 
 has ever yet worked a sum, solved a problem, 
 demonstrated a proposition or milked a cow. 
 And, be it known, that I would rather work out 
 the sum of life and find my answer in the 
 sanction of a just God; solve a problem of 
 right and wrong, and thus guide the thoughts 
 and actions of my fellows; demonstrate a prop- 
 osition of abstract truth, and thus teach men 
 to reason aright, and milk a cow and pour her 
 liquid flesh down the burning throat of some 
 starving wretch, than to be able to sing like a 
 nightingale on a lonely heath, talk poetry in a 
 thousand rhythms, or strew the face of the 
 earth with down of choicest flowers. Let 
 others write for fame and the laudations of 
 men, but it is my part to write in order that 
 errors may be corrected and that truth and 
 
Introduction. 
 
 17 
 
 justice may be seen in their native splendor. 
 Even now, there are hundreds, and perhaps 
 thousands, of books, booklets, pamphlets, peri- 
 odicals and other printed talk that are not 
 worth their weight in smoke, and are only use- 
 ful for the purpose of whiling away the time 
 of a brainless horde who could easily have 
 found something else worse to do. And why 
 is this so? Simply because there are some 
 who will persist in writing for the public in 
 order that their names may be spelled in black 
 and white; and others there are who will al- 
 ways be glad to read any trash that is written, 
 and thus till up their vacant minds with the 
 dirt and tilth that seep from the intellectual 
 back yards of such writers. 
 
 Let me tell you, my readers, no man, woman 
 or child in this world has ever had anything 
 worth saying or worth writing, and wanted to 
 say it or wanted to write it for the good of his 
 comrades, and actually tries to say it or tries 
 to write it, except God loosens his tongue so 
 that he can say it, or moves his pen so that he 
 can write it, and blesses either tongue or pen, 
 so that the world will accept it and be bene- 
 fited by it. If anybody will only peel off the 
 
18 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 checkered bark of prejudice, passion, selfish- 
 ness, foolishness and deviltry, and go down 
 into the solid core of truth, justice and common 
 sense, he will be able to write the world up 
 with less trash, bosh and humbug, and with 
 more good logic, sound reason and practical 
 truth. 
 
 But, through it all, people are generally in- 
 clined to think and act as they please, and 
 hence there will always be more folly than 
 wisdom, more nonsense than sense, more 
 laughter than tears. Therefore, since others 
 are thinking and acting as they plea'se, I will 
 also do the same, and will express my thoughts 
 in my own way, according to my own belief, 
 and regardless of the contrary views of others 
 and of the poisoned arrows of criticism which 
 now lay sheathed and poised for my appear- 
 ance. But, however clumsily I may build my 
 sentences, however stupidly I may choose my 
 words, or however strangely I may set forth 
 the substance of my argument, I am certain 
 that the truly good and the truly great and the 
 truly wise, who are kind enough and able 
 enough and willing enough to look through the 
 
Introduction. 
 
 19 
 
 rind will find wholesome meat, or to crack the 
 lint will find savory kernel. 
 
 After all, grammatical arrangement and 
 rhetorical finish are only the baby’s gown, and 
 the deep thinkers of the world want to tear off 
 the gown and see the naked baby, note the size 
 and beauty of its dimpled limbs, observe its 
 symmetry and plumpness, and feel sure that it 
 is a real, live, active and promising child, and 
 then they will herald abroad the news that a 
 new babe is born, and will give praise to the 
 parents and shout glory to God. 
 
 So, let the substance of this little volume be 
 true and just and right, and I will trust God to 
 clothe it as He pleases, and wise men to search 
 for it as they will, and fools to be blinded by 
 its light and be baffled by its logic. 
 
 Again, were I to imagine that these lines 
 would only bring me before the public eye, sur- 
 round me with friends, overwhelm me with 
 flattery, and put gold into my pocket, without 
 helping to raise up the weak and oppressed, 
 and give them strength, or lift away their bur- 
 dens and give them ease, or without helping 
 humanity to march on toward the realm of 
 Truth and toward the temple of Justice, I 
 
20 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 would simply throw down my pen, close up my 
 fountain of ink, set the burning end of an ex- 
 ploded match to my scribbling and try to find 
 something else to do. 
 
 But I write with a sanguine hope that some 
 good may be done in the land that gave me 
 birth. For I write because I feel, because 
 somebody’s dearest interest is at stake, and be- 
 cause I want to correct error, set people aright, 
 lift up a race, improve the world, and glorify 
 God. These, verily, are the objects which 
 force me to attempt what otherwise I would 
 never have dared to attempt; for, as I have 
 hinted before, the world is already filled with 
 useless writings, and indeed I do not wish to 
 swell the tide of so disastrous a sea. 
 
 Thank God, I have a purpose in this discus- 
 sion, and I believe that my purpose is a good 
 one; and, hence, I will proceed to reach after 
 and grasp hold of this purpose as best I can, 
 trusting to the good sense of true men and to 
 the righteousness of a just God to back me up 
 in this matter. With nothing before me save 
 ink, pen, paper, Webster and the Bible, and 
 with nothing within me save an honest pur- 
 pose, a true heart and the fear of God, I launch 
 
Introduction. 
 
 21 
 
 out in my frail bark upon the treacherous 
 deep, with Hope perched high on my brow and 
 Courage buried deep in my breast. 
 
 How, where and when 
 It will all end, 
 
 Is more than I can tell; 
 
 But God doth see 
 Whiche’er it be. 
 
 Whether ends it ill or well. 
 
 I have thus far told you, or rather hinted to 
 you what I propose to say, how I propose to 
 say it, and why I propose to say it, and now I 
 will say a few things concerning the sayer and 
 then proceed to say what I hare proposed to 
 say. 
 
 In the first place I will tell you that I came 
 tumbling into the world something over thirty 
 years ago, somewhere among the glassy lakes 
 and the orange groves of the sunny State of 
 Flowers. By my own mathematical calcula- 
 tion, I have concluded that I possess one 
 eighth Spanish blood, two-eighths Indian blood 
 and five-eighths Negro blood coursing through 
 my veins, arteries and capillaries. Therefore, 
 I am somewhat mixed in my make-up, which 
 mixture I trust will not cause my present ar- 
 gument to be mixed. 
 
22 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 It was said that I was a very promising 
 child, an interesting youth, a brilliant young 
 man in college, and — then it all stopped! 
 
 The early promises were never performed, 
 the interest was never paid, and the brilliancy 
 was beclouded with Egyptian darkness. At a 
 green age, I wrote verses at ease and threw 
 them away; solved problems in algebra for the 
 fun of making x's, and built a thousand air- 
 castles and cruelly tore them down again. In 
 imagination, I liberated the black slaves of 
 Brazil; 1 formed African Republics with Negro 
 rulers and subjects; I was the greatest orator 
 that the world has ever seen; 1 figured as the 
 bravest hero in a hundred battles, and, occa- 
 sonally, I died triumphant in the Christian 
 Faith and was carried in chariots of gold to the 
 shining Courts of Glory. In fact, I was a 
 quiet, unassuming, deep, rash, daring and ad- 
 venturous youth, caring for the opinions, crit- 
 icisms and mandates of no man, sect or creed, 
 but led and guided by my own native and de- 
 cidedly peculiar sense of right and by my own 
 deductions of reason. 
 
 After leaving Biddle University with my de- 
 gree of A. B. C.’s, I spent ten years straddling 
 
Introduction. 
 
 23 
 
 a fence, looking on both sides, smiling, 
 smoking, joking, playing, dreaming, plan- 
 ning, resolving, hoping and postponing. I 
 managed, however, to get down off of the fence 
 long enough to serve the Oracles of Blackstone 
 and to be enrolled as an attorney at law in the 
 great State of Texas, and to practice at law in 
 the peninsular State of Florida for the period 
 of six long — -weeks! Those who know me best 
 seem to think that my strong points consist in 
 taking after-dinner naps, eating three square 
 meals a day and drinking milk in all of its vari- 
 ous forms and stages. As to my disposition, I 
 will tell you in a few words, that I despise 
 hypocrisy, ceremony and lying. I think the 
 majority of the world are wrong and 
 
 that the whole ball needs overhauling 
 
 and mending in both church and state; 
 
 and furthermore, as I differ very large- 
 
 ly from the vast majority of mankind 
 upon various questions of the day, I have 
 the fool-hardiness to imagine myself as belong- 
 ing to that blessed minority who are always 
 right. Hence, I take it that I am always right; 
 so does every other poor devil think he is right. 
 But, if every other fellow thinks he is right and 
 
24 
 
 Ham and Dixie , 
 
 I think I am right, I am like everybody else, 
 and, thus, on the side of the vast majority. 
 Now, the majority were thought to be wrong; 
 and, if 1 am on the side of the majority, I must 
 also be wrong. So, 1 am wrong, after all! 
 Well, it is a pretty hard thing to tell who is 
 right and who is wrong. Perhaps, we are all 
 partly right and partly wrong, and we disagree 
 with each other when the right part of the 
 one comes into contact with the wrong part 
 of the other, or when the wrong part of the 
 one comes into contact with the right part of 
 the other; and we agree with each other when 
 the right part of the one comes into contact 
 with the right part of the other, or when the 
 wrong part of the one comes into contact with 
 the wrong part of the other. Hence, contrary 
 to the law of magnetism, the general rule in 
 this case is, like parts attract and unlike parts 
 repel. In other words, ‘‘birds of a feather flock 
 together.” So much for that. Turn it over, 
 spread it out, press it down and take it for 
 what it is worth. But, mark this: we are all 
 miserable sinners, and, may God have mercy 
 on our souls ! 
 
Introduction. 
 
 25 
 
 The crowned heads of Europe and the dusky 
 savage on the plains, are both possessed of one 
 heart, one passion and one sin. Jealousy, 
 hatred, pride, deceit, selfishness, lust and a host 
 of other monsters creep upon the earth and 
 worm their way into and among all classes, con- 
 ditions and races. Sins and crimes may differ 
 in form and color; but they flow from a com- 
 mon source, and God hates them all alike. The 
 highly-scented and rose-tinted dude, with spot- 
 less shirt-front and glittering diamonds, is 
 often inferior to the sooty and begrimed chim- 
 ney-sweep oyer whom he proudly struts. 
 
 The gay and powdered belle, rose-lipped and 
 lily-fingered, disdains to lisp in accents kind to 
 her aproned but often superior sister. The 
 Upper Ten and the Lower Five are, no doubt, 
 classed side by side on the same page of God’s 
 great book, with this difference only: the names 
 of the former are doubly underlined, indicating 
 that they are to receive double punishment — 
 one for committing the same crimes as the 
 latter, and the other for their white-washed hy- 
 pocrisy in trying to conceal them. But no 
 man has any right to boast over his fellows 
 and to imagine that he is better than they are, 
 
26 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 or that he will have more favors of God than 
 they will. Hence, let not the rich and great 
 teach themselves to believe that in God’s sight 
 they are any better than paupers and tramps, 
 nor let these last fancy that, because of their 
 poverty and hardship, they may somehow win 
 the favor of a righteous God. 
 
 Such, my dear readers, are the words with 
 which I introduce my subject and myself to 
 your learned and experienced minds, and now 
 we will go on together through these pages 
 which follow, trusting that we may know each 
 other better and that neither you or I will ever 
 live to regret the time spent in having written 
 and perused the contents of this little volume. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ALL MEN ARE EQUAL. 
 
 There are commonly said to be five races of 
 men, which classification some have com- 
 pressed, so to speak, into a metallic ball of 
 three distinct parts or races, and this ball, ac- 
 cording to my view, may be melted, cooled 
 down and hardened again into a ball which is 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 21 
 
 homogeneous in all its essential parts, and, 
 therefore, one and indivisible. I mean to say 
 that, notwithstanding the learned and elabo- 
 rate discussions of naturalists, ethnologists 
 and anthopologists with reference to the vari- 
 ous classifications of the human family, it is 
 my belief that man is a unit and that, in sound 
 reason, there is but one race. If the term 
 “race" signifies a line of descendents, originat- 
 ing from one common root or source; then, 
 since all families or divisions of mankind or- 
 iginate from Adam and Eve as earthly parents, 
 man must constitute but one race and is, there- 
 fore, a unit. The whole question, perhaps, will 
 turn one way or the other upon the meaning 
 attached to the word “race,” which may be nar- 
 rowed or widened so as to leave out or take in 
 certain qualities of more or less importance. 
 But, I do not care a fig-leaf about mere words, 
 and if the scholars of this age prefer to say 
 that there are five races of men, why, I will not 
 object, as this is of trfling importance and, in 
 no way, affects the force of my present argu- 
 ment. For, supposing that there are five races, 
 then the term “race” is conditioned by such ac- 
 cidents as form, color, hair and features and, 
 
28 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 thus, has nothing whatever to do with the es- 
 sential elements of the man himself. The same 
 is also true of any other classification. So, 
 under each of the race theories mentioned, I 
 am at liberty to hold, and do hold, that man- 
 kind is a unit. 
 
 We are told that a unit is a single thing, but, 
 like man, I hold, it may admit of several “races” 
 or kinds; namely, abstract, concrete, denomi- 
 national or fractional. It may also admit of 
 different forms, features and colors; for exam- 
 ple, we may conceive of a red line, a blue line, 
 an oval, a square or a prism. But, you will 
 understand that each of these objects or con- 
 ceptions, is a unit. Why? Because they all 
 express to our minds the idea of one thing, and 
 each of them is numerically equal to the other. 
 Man is a unit. Why? Because man is an im- 
 mortal soul and each soul is spiritually equal 
 to another. Has one soul certain qualities not 
 possessed by another? Will one soul live a 
 thousand years, another a million and another 
 forever? Is one soul capable of joy, and an- 
 other not? Can one soul know what will hap- 
 pen at sunrise a hundred years from to-day, 
 and another not able to know it? Is it possible 
 
29 
 
 All Men Are Equal. 
 
 for one soul to see objects in a curved or broken 
 line, and impossible for another? I think not. 
 On the other hand, I think it true that all souls 
 are equal; for (tod breathed the soul-principle 
 into man with one and the same breath, and 
 man then became a living- soul. Furthermore, 
 I hold that all men are created equal; that all 
 men spring from a common origin; that all 
 men possess the same elements and that all 
 men are immortal. Does any human being 
 doubt the truth of these propositions? Reader, 
 do you not believe that all men are created 
 equal ; that they are formed from the same kind 
 of sperm-cell and germ-cell; that they are 
 brought forth into the world with the same 
 natural powers and with an equal capacity for 
 development? I do not refer, understand, to 
 hereditary influences, or to the earliest possi- 
 ble impressions, which will reasonably produce 
 different effects upon different individuals; but 
 I refer simply to man in a state of nature with 
 equal or with no advantages, either by inheri- 
 tance or by circumstances. I will not enter up- 
 on any extended discussion in order to demon- 
 strate the proposition that all men are created 
 equal; but will only point you to the Declara- 
 
30 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 tion of Independence with which all are famil- 
 iar and which is known to contain the words 
 and adopt the truth of the proposition afore- 
 said. Now, the men who framed the words and 
 gave birth to the sentiment contained in this 
 grandest of all public documents, were men of 
 sound sense, solid reason and right principles, 
 and we would all do w r ell to endorse their work 
 and accept its potent truth. 
 
 Do you doubt that all men spring from one 
 common origin? The Bible tells us plainly 
 that the Lord God formed man of the dust of 
 the ground. Now, the dust of the ground is 
 the origin of the first man, Adam; but all men 
 are the descendants of Adam and, therefore, 
 all men have their origin in the dust of the 
 ground, which, indeed, is a common origin of 
 all men. There are only two elements which 
 have been mentioned as the producers of the 
 first man ; namely, the dust of the ground and 
 the breath of God — the former constituting the 
 material origin and the latter constituting the 
 spiritual origin of man. Here, some may say 
 that this is true enough with reference to Adam 
 and his descendants; but, suppose that all man- 
 kind have not descended from Adam, and that 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 31 
 
 the origin of some races may have been differ- 
 ent from and inferior to that of Adam? In 
 reply. 1 will simply say, let this truth-seeking 
 inquirer first point out an origin of any part 
 of the human family which is different from 
 that of Adam and I will take the chances to 
 prove that both origins must coincide. 
 
 To those of my readers who do not believe 
 that the scriptures are true, or who do not be- 
 lieve that there is a God, this argument will 
 have no weight. Yet, as a parting shot, I will 
 state that those who do not believe in 
 the truth of the scriptures, cannot be- 
 lieve in a God that is worth much, be- 
 cause man cannot know Him, nor does 
 He reveal Himself to man, and, there- 
 fore, His name is but an empty sound. Hence, 
 those who do not believe in the truth of the 
 scriptures, are essentially non-believers in the 
 existence of a true God. Thus, both classes 
 coincide and believe that there is no God. 
 Now, then, since you do not believe that there 
 is a God, the First Great Cause of the universe, 
 you do not believe in the existence of the uni- 
 verse. But you, yourselves, are a part of the 
 universe, if you are anything at all, and since 
 
32 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 you do not believe in the existence of the uni- 
 verse, you cannot believe in your own exist- 
 ence. Then, if your reasoning is right, you do 
 not exist, and, therefore, you need no proof 
 of the common origin of man. But, if your 
 reasoning is wrong, and you do exist, then you 
 believe in God and the scriptures and, there- 
 fore, must agree with the views I hold. 
 
 Thirdly, all men possess the same elements. 
 The truth of this proposition may be justly in- 
 ferrred from the discussion of the preceding 
 one. Man, having been formed of the dust of 
 the ground, and having been vivified and im- 
 mortalized by the breath of God, must have in 
 him dust or matter and breath or spirit. And 
 since matter and spirit are the only elements 
 found in man, we reasonably conclude that 
 all men possess the same elements. 
 
 Fourthly, all men are immortal. I do not 
 refer to the material body, which is only 
 the house wherein man lives while on 
 earth, but I refer to the soul which alone 
 is man in the truest and most enlightened 
 conception of that term. Do you doubt 
 that men are immortal? If you do, you 
 must also believe that death ends it all; that 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 33 
 
 the statement that “it is appointed unto men 
 once to die. but after this the judgment,” is a 
 biblical lie: that ffod is a fraud and a fool 
 and that you “are of all men most miserable.” 
 Do you believe that there is anything else upon 
 the earth except man that has a soul? If you 
 do. point it out to me at once and I will throw 
 down my pen. rush up to it, fall down before it 
 and call it — Man! Then, if we all are created 
 equal, have a common origin, possess the same 
 elements and are immortal, I take it to be suffi- 
 ciently demonstrated that mankind is a unit 
 and all men are equal, each to each. 
 
 Now, perhaps, there may be some big-headed 
 blue-blooded and weak-kneed son of a king, or 
 son of a king's son of some one of the so-called 
 live races, who is going to swell up and pout 
 out, because I say that all men are by nature 
 equal. This creature will, no doubt, imagine 
 himself to be better than his brother, because 
 he happens to be rolling in wealth and luxury, 
 while his brother is sweating under toil and op- 
 pression; or because he has rubbed his head 
 against college walls and comes out with a long- 
 tail of degrees, while his brother signs his name 
 with a Roman cross and makes an arithmetic 
 
34 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 with his fingers; or because his ancestors at 
 some point in the ascending line once sat upon 
 a royal throne and waved the sceptre of power, 
 while his brother’s forefathers have from time 
 immemorial contented themselves with greasy 
 footstools and have been ruled by the rod of 
 iron ; or because his skin is white, his nose is 
 high, his lips are thin and his hair is straight, 
 while his brother’s skin is black, his nose is flat, 
 his lips are thick and his hair is wool. They 
 tell me that during one period, the crowned 
 heads and the royal families of Europe actually 
 believed that they belonged to a superior race 
 than that of the peasantry and the rabble, and 
 hence they set up and put into practice the 
 doctrine of the “divine right of kings,” against 
 which the iron Cromwell dealt such terrible 
 and crushing blows. To all this kingly crowd, 
 who claim that they are born superior to the 
 masses, I will state that they now constitute 
 a stale and withering minority; for the world is 
 learning fast that courage and virtue and wis- 
 dom are the only elements of greatness and 
 superiority, and that it is a noble part for those 
 in high places to recognize the humble but true- 
 hearted commoners as brothers, and to stoop 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 35 
 
 clown and give them a helping hand. Thus, 
 we find to-day that the best and the wisest of 
 the land have undertaken to establish and pro 
 tect the liberties of the common people, the 
 rights of women and the interests of the poor 
 and oppressed nations of the earth. Indeed, I 
 honestly believe in the universal brotherhood 
 of man as strongly as I believe in the eternal 
 fatherhood of God. Furthermore, I believe 
 that the time is fast approaching and its front 
 guard is even now looming up in the distance, 
 when the principle of absolute and uncondi- 
 tional equality of mankind will spread over 
 the face of the earth like a mighty sea and 
 when he, who so far lags behind as not to adopt 
 and act upon this principle, will sink down 
 upon the pebbly bottom of the deep, while the 
 swelling tide of progress will sweep on over 
 his head. Understand, however, that when I 
 say that all men are by nature equal, I do not 
 mean that their bodies, forms, colors, features, 
 accomplishments, idiosyncrasies and adapta- 
 bilities are identical or equal ; but I do mean 
 that the invisible, intangible and incomprehen- 
 sible germ which God Almighty has planted 
 somewhere within the mysterious structure of 
 
36 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 a human being;, and which is called the human 
 soul, has always been and will always be an 
 indivisible unit and equal in all of its eternal 
 possibilities. This germ or principle is man 
 himself, and it is man in this sense that is cre- 
 tade equal ; that is formed in the image of God; 
 that does not admit of live or any other number 
 of sub divisions, and is the creature for whom 
 Christ died and whom all other earthly beings 
 should honor and obey. And i! is only when 
 this doctrine of the equality of mankind shall 
 have been warmly grasped and thoroughly 
 practiced will man learn to treat man as a 
 brother, and this great old world of ours will 
 swing around on its hinges without the least 
 friction, and the Creator of Heaven and Earth 
 will look down upon the chilren of men and 
 pour out the “oil of gladness” upon their heads. 
 But, while I believe, and others believe, that 
 all mankind are by nature equal, yet I believe 
 that none of us believe that all mankind can 
 be grouped togther in the same class, and are 
 thus equal in their conditions. For, 1 believe 
 that facts will show to any sane man with 
 eyes opened, that there are many classes and 
 conditions of men, which classes and condi- 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 87 
 
 tions, I hold, have been brought about solely 
 by external circumstances and not by a differ- 
 ence of germ-powers. The painted savage who 
 knows nothing save his arrow, tomahawk and 
 war-wlioop, has certainly not advanced so 
 high in the scale of intelligence and morality 
 as the cultured Caucasian whose mind has been 
 trained to reason, whose heart has been 
 touched with the love of God and whose hand 
 has been taught the wonderful craft of the 
 ages. The conditions of men, therefore, admit 
 of many degrees, varying all the way up from 
 the most primary rudiments of mental power 
 to the very highest feat of intellectual effort 
 that now crowns the world of science and of 
 art. This indeed shows the progressiveness 
 and capabilities of the human race, and, per- 
 haps, the unlimitable grasp and scope of the 
 human mind. Is there any end to the exercise 
 and development of the soul? Is it not possi- 
 ble that man will continue to increase in 
 knowledge and skill as the tardy ages roll by? 
 If so, what glories may yet reveal themselves 
 unto us! To what dazzling heights may we yet 
 ascend! To what mystic depths may we yet 
 explore! To what marvelous breadths may we 
 
38 
 
 Hum and Dixie. 
 
 .yet expand! ‘‘What a piece of work is man! 
 how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! 
 in form and moving how express and admira- 
 ble! in action how like an angel! in apprehen- 
 sion how like a God! the beauty of the world! 
 the paragon of animals!” Now comes the 
 question all at once from a thousand throats, 
 “Why is this difference in the condition of 
 men, if all are by nature equal?” To this 
 knock-out blow, T take great pleasure to return 
 this idem: Why is the difference in the con- 
 dition of the prancing steed and the scrub 
 pony; the luxuriant forests of the tropics and 
 the stunted shrubbery of the poles; the sledge- 
 hammer muscles of an athlete and the flabby 
 flesh of an anchorite; the wealth and influence 
 of one brother and the poverty and disgrace of 
 another; the symmetry and beauty of a sculp- 
 tured image and the revolting roughness of a 
 shapeless quarry? The steed and pony are 
 both horse-flesh; the forests and shrubbery are 
 both vegetation ; the athlete and the anchorite 
 are both men; the two brothers are both born 
 of the same parents; the image and the quarry 
 are both stone. Then, anxious inquirer, mar- 
 vel no more about the unequal condition, yet 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 39 
 
 equal nature of men, than you do about the un- 
 equal condition yet equal nature of a thousand 
 things about you. Do you not know that the 
 Creator has made every creature with capabil- 
 ities to develop themselves or of being devel- 
 oped by others? Progress, growth and devel- 
 opment run through creation, and every species 
 of the handiwork of God points to a higher 
 state and by slow gradations is moving on or 
 being moved on toward that higher state. Why, 
 man, even the cold rocks wedged in the moun- 
 tain side and hoary with age, are coming- 
 nearer to the eye and heart and brain of man 
 and, along with all else, are keeping pace with 
 the grand march of civilization. 
 
 Again comes another interrogatory: “What 
 is the cause of this development, and why 
 is it so unequal?” Go ask the Wind, the 
 Sea, the Rain, the Storm, the Mountain, 
 the Stars, the Rivers; go ask Industry, 
 Economy, Application, Virtue and Faith 
 in God; go ask Accident, Fortune, Chance, 
 Circumstances, Opportunities and Necessi- 
 ties; go ask all of these and then go ask 
 Nature’s God, and they will answer you. God 
 created man and created the earth with a thou- 
 
40 
 
 Ham and Dixie . 
 
 sand attendant circumstances; why this is so, 
 we cannot tell and no man dares to say. Man 
 stood up and stepped out into the Garden of 
 Eden, and thence multiplied and scattered 
 over the face of the earth. A rock, a stream, 
 a wind, may have changed his direction, may 
 have bent his mind, may have been a pivot 
 upon which he either turned upward to heaven 
 or downward to hell. The fertile basin of the 
 Nile or the Tigris may have developed a na- 
 tion; the sandy deserts and blasting winds of 
 Ethiopia or the barren plains and frozen hills 
 of Scythia may have produced a wandering 
 horde. Place one of three twins upon the ice- 
 bound shores of Greenland, the other upon 
 the sandy desert of Sahara and the third upon 
 the genial soil of Europe, and, were it possible 
 for them to live at all, they would each de- 
 velop their germ-powers into different direc- 
 tions, upon different subjects and unto differ- 
 ent degrees. The frozen snows of Greenland 
 may freeze out the ambition of the one; the 
 sultry sun of the desert may dry up the ener- 
 gies of the other, and the temperate breezes 
 of Europe may fan into a burning blaze the 
 dormant powers of the third. And this is nat- 
 
 r 
 
All Men Are Eqnal. 
 
 41 
 
 ural: for the winds, the showers, the moun- 
 tains, the trees, the flowers, and all the 
 other elements of Nature affect our senses; 
 direct our thoughts; develop our powers; 
 give birth to our inventions, and help 
 to make if not completely make us what 
 we are and what we hope to be. Especi- 
 ally was this true in the childhood days 
 of the human race, when Providence, in His 
 own mysterious way, was distributing this new 
 creature over the face of the earth and was 
 adapting him to the various physical conditions 
 then existing in the Universe. And, not only 
 do the elements of nature affect the conditions 
 of the human mind and help to produce the 
 different stages of human progress, but these 
 same conditions and stages are also occasioned 
 by the application of man’s natural powers to 
 the elements of Nature, or, in other words, they 
 are occasioned by toil, patience, sacrifice, econ- 
 omy and ambition. Thus it is, that one of two 
 equal men, with equal chances, by dint of labor 
 and application, will often ascend to heights 
 far above the other, who, seemingly, has buried 
 his talents in the earth and has really drifted 
 backward in the royal path of life. This is in- 
 
42 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 deed too plain to require any further discus- 
 sion, for anyone of us may see illustrations 
 of this fact every day of our lives if we will 
 but open our eyes and look around us. 
 
 Now, applying these principles to the various 
 divisions of mankind, we find the Cau- 
 casian race, at this time, the head, hands 
 and feet of the world. They have filled 
 up the world with books and these books 
 with thought; they have filled our homes 
 with luxuries; they have glided over the 
 sea with wings of sail ; they have run 
 over the land with prancing steam, and 
 they have flown through the air on pin- 
 ions of gas. They can boast of military 
 strength and splendor and they can sing of 
 daring deeds crowned with immortal glory. 
 From them, the light of the gospel and civili- 
 zation has streamed into the darkest corners 
 of the earth, and to-day, wherever men breathe 
 the breath of life, some representative 
 of this progressive race is found, con- 
 troling, directing and leading others either 
 upward to the starry skies or downward be- 
 neath the dark, cold earth. Therefore, it is the 
 utmost folly for the black man, the brown 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 43 
 
 man or the red man to rear and pitch, because 
 I now state that the white man has out stripped 
 the other divisions of the human family and is 
 able to sit down upon a gilded throne, wave his 
 magic wand and bring the rest of the world to 
 his feet. Do you not think so, reader? Do 
 you not think that Great Britain and Germany 
 and France and Spain and Russia and Italy 
 and America and the Kingdom of the Devil 
 can ride rough shod and iron-footed over sun- 
 burnt Arfica, rice-eating China and the sea- 
 girt Lsles of the Pacific? Why, certainly they 
 can; but certainly they will not. Very well, 
 we will all agree that the white man is on top, 
 for the present. How did he get there? Well, 
 to start with, the white race was blessed with 
 the original dispensation of the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ. Secondly, he drifted into fertile 
 valleys conducive to progress, and thirdly, but 
 greatest of all. he was industrious, earnest, dar- 
 ing and ambitious. This race undoubtedly 
 started out at the beginning with sleeves rolled 
 up or without sleeves and with club or sword 
 in hand to get as much out of this world as 
 possible, and that, without regard to the rights 
 and feelings of others. Is this not so, Mr. 
 
44 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 White Man? Did Pharaoh of Egypt care any- 
 thing about the sweats and groans of the chil- 
 dren of Israel as long as they continued to 
 make bricks and plant corn? Did William of 
 Normandy care much about the oppressed con- 
 dition of the conquered Britons as long as he 
 could rule in feudal power and keep them 
 crushed under foot? Did Henry VII. of Eng- 
 land exercise any special care for the rights 
 of the Red Man to the soil of North America, 
 when the Cabots returned and told him of their 
 wonderful discoveries? Did George IH., the 
 obstinate monarch of Great Britain, regard and 
 cherish the God-given rights of the thirteen 
 colonies? And, even while I write, do the 
 First Class (?) Powers of Europe care anything 
 about the natural rights of the untutored 
 tribes of Africa, as long as they can find savory 
 food upon African soil, with which to glut 
 their own insatiable maws? Why, of course 
 not, and every reader of history knows it. 
 
 Is this course of the Caucasian race right? 
 Ah, “there is the rub.” I am no moralist, and, 
 besides, in this discussion I am not dealing 
 much with the moral and spiritual side of man. 
 I leave this matter to the theologians and to 
 
All Men Are Equal. 
 
 45 
 
 God. But I Avill say this. The method and dis- 
 position of the white race, in this particular, 
 are undoubtedly the straightest and shortest 
 road to worldly power and honor; but, in God’s 
 sight, it may be the blackest sin and the deep- 
 est wrong to oppress a weaker brother, stride 
 over his prostrate body and march onward to 
 the summit of terrestrial glory. But, here, 
 we will drop the right and wrong of this 
 question and proceed to something else which 
 lies more directly in our present pathway. The 
 fact that the white man is on top still glares 
 forth as bright as ever, and I am not the kind 
 to pick a quarrrel with him or to pray down 
 curses on his head simply because he has out- 
 stripped me in the race and has won the prize. 
 I think it more fitting that I should learn a les- 
 son from my experience and gird up myself 
 for the next race which is at hand. It may not 
 have been fair for the winner to have tripped 
 me up and then run right on to the goal ; 
 but, after all, there is no use of fretting over 
 it and fussing about it, for this will only make 
 a bad matter worse. Therefore, let that race 
 which is now enjoying the distinction of being 
 nearest to the top, march onward and upward, 
 
46 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and let us who are in the rear take quick step 
 and finally gallop to the front, helping to bear 
 aloft the banner of Progress and to grease the 
 wheels of our old world so that it may roll 
 around faster and roll over quicker toward 
 Truth and Light and God. Then, indeed, will 
 white and black and yellow and red and preju- 
 dice and jealousy and oppression and hatred, 
 be swept away in the purifying breezes of a 
 universal reformation, and, everywhere belting 
 our earth, shall be seen and felt the five zones 
 of Union, Liberty, Equality, Humanity and 
 Christianity. 
 
 O, Spirit of Heaven, speed the glory of that 
 morning when stubborn man shall bow to the 
 better teachings of his nature and to a more 
 perfect interpretation of Thy will, and when 
 he shall “shuffle off this mortal coil” of strife 
 and warfare and prejudice and oppression, and 
 ■shall recognize and practice the golden and 
 God-given principle that all men are equal and 
 have the same joys, the same pains, the same 
 follies, the same feelings, the same passions, 
 the same life to live, the same Hell to shun, 
 the same Heaven to gain and the same God 
 to serve! 
 
What Manner of Man Is He? 
 
 47 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN IS HE? 
 
 Iii this chapter, I shall discuss somewhat the 
 condition of the Negro in the South; not in de- 
 tail, but in a general and summary manner. 
 The man of black has passed through consid- 
 erable hardships and very few softships during 
 his sojourn on American soil. Every school- 
 boy and every schoolgirl knows that from 1620 
 to 1865, a period of two hundred and forty-five 
 years, the Negro has had his nose to the grind- 
 stone and the white man has been turning the 
 crank. I mean that the black man, for two hun- 
 dred and forty-five years, has plowed, hoed, 
 chopped, cooked, washed, walked, run, fought, 
 bled and died for the white man; not because 
 he enjoyed it or gained by it, but simply be- 
 cause the stronger man was on top and had 
 him down, and for the time being, he had to 
 grin and bear it, or strike and die in a pile. 
 Further, we are told that not only has the Ne- 
 gro expended all of his physical being from the 
 cradle to the grave for the support and ease 
 
48 
 
 Hum and Dixie. 
 
 of his white master; but that, in consequence 
 of his relation, his intellectual and moral pow- 
 ers were also stifled, dwarfed and distorted, and 
 thus his whole being was degraded and demor- 
 alized. That such was the work of American 
 slavery, I think all unprejudiced minds will af- 
 firm; hence, no> reasonable white man is going 
 to gainsay what I have said, nor will any sensi- 
 ble black man fly into the face of my state- 
 ments and give them the lie. For common rea- 
 son and general experience will tell any and 
 everybody who has a grain of either, that hard- 
 down, tool-like, physical labor; the frequent use 
 of the lash on naked hide; the lack of books 
 and schools and teachers; the absence of an 
 intelligent form of Christian worship; the sep- 
 aration and pairing of men and women like 
 cattle, and lastly, the submissive and cringing 
 customs of plantation life, are, and must be, 
 conducive to the utter degradation of any hu- 
 man being of any race on earth. Such indeed 
 would be the effect upon men of enlightened 
 minds, if for a long period, they were ruled by 
 the iron hand of oppression, and were cut off 
 from every exercise of the mind which tended 
 to improve and ennoble it. But, when we re- 
 
What Manner of Man Is He? 49 
 
 member that the colored man entered into the 
 domain of slavery, an ignorant and uncultured 
 savage with an inheritance of thousands of 
 years of heathendom, and if we admit that he 
 was going down the scale of intelligence at 
 every successive generation during the period 
 of slavery then it must necessarily be admitted 
 that he emerged from that debasing institu- 
 tion a miserable specimen of humanity. And 
 so he did, and so would any other branch of 
 the human family. The human bod}- is a beau 
 tiful and intricate piece of machinery; the 
 human mind is a great kingdom, having its 
 throne and its scepter; the human soul is im- 
 mortal in its duration and boundless in its 
 capacity; but mark .you, that machinery may 
 be so overworked and broken and burnt and 
 twisted until it shall lose its beauty and be- 
 come repulsive; that mind may be so dullen, 
 be clouded and weakened until its throne shall 
 be demolished, its sceptre broken and its roy- 
 alty changed into dung-hill ; and that soul may 
 be so bounded and oppressed and tormented 
 and besmutted until it shall lose its pristine 
 grandeur and shall be made to eke out a worth- 
 less and miserable existence throughout all 
 
50 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 time and, perhaps, throughout the ceaseless 
 ages of eternity. 
 
 Now, let us see what the status of the 
 Negro as he came forth from the dark and 
 gruesome cell of slavery and entered into 
 the vestibule of the Temple of Freedom. 
 Financially and materially, the colored man 
 had nothing except an inexperienced brain, 
 untrained hands, access to manual labor 
 and low wages, discouragement and preju- 
 dice from without, dissension and jealousy 
 from within, and a cold, but curious world 
 to gaze upon him and shrug its shoulders and 
 say, “I told you so.” 
 
 Physically, he was tough, rough and 
 muscular; his hair was thick, knotted and 
 nappy; his feet and hands were large 
 and thick; the expression on his face was sub- 
 missive and worried; his gait was wabbling 
 and ungraceful and his physical courage, 
 though normal on all other subjects, actually 
 paled into trembling shadow when confronted 
 by a white face. Just here, some well-dressed 
 Negro Chesterfield of to-day may wince and 
 rant, and swear that I am overdrawing the re- 
 sult of slavery upon the physique of his race; 
 
What Manner of Man Is He? 
 
 51 
 
 but, if this creature w ill only call himself back 
 aud remember that I refer to the masses of the 
 colored people fresh from the cotton -fields of 
 the South, and that 1 exclude him and his pa 
 and his pa's pa, who have always lived ‘‘like 
 white folks,” I think he will change up and al- 
 low himself to agree with me. Have any of 
 you ever seen a “cullud pusson” at any time 
 after the war in the (id's and 70's, walking along 
 the dusty highway with a stick across his shoul- 
 der and a bundle at the rear end of that stick; 
 with torn hat, hickory shirt, sleeves and trous- 
 ers rolled u}>, bare legged, bare footed, singing, 
 sweating and raising dust? Have you ever ac- 
 costed such an individual, drawn him out upon 
 the subjects of ante-bellum days and “de white 
 folks?” Have you noticed the cloud in his 
 mind as to dates, causes, reasons, inferences 
 and conclusions? Have you noticed the lower 
 tone, the uneasy mien, the furtive glance to- 
 ward the hedge or up and down the road, when 
 you introduced the subjects of the white man, 
 the “Negro’s rights, or the Republican party? 
 Have you noticed the harmless, arch-innocent, 
 submissive, timid and appealing expression of 
 the face; the unkempt and knotted hair; the 
 
52 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 face dripping with sweat which he wipes off 
 with a hanging end of his shirt-sleeve; his large 
 cutieled feet with nails glistening in the sun- 
 light — I say, have you observed all these 
 things? If you have, you will not say 
 that I have overshot the mark. Reader, 
 such, no doubt, was the condition of 
 the average Negro immediately after the 
 war, and for a number of years there- 
 after. Some silly, shallow-brained white 
 man's imitator may profess to feel ashamed of 
 the picture I have drawn and curl up his lips 
 in scornful corners and rear his oiled crest 
 high in the air whenever the past states and ex- 
 periences of his worthy forefathers are opened 
 up to him. But, in diametric opposition to this 
 “kid-glove” recollection of our ancestors’ condi- 
 tion, I take great pleasure to tell you all that 
 I respect and honor the original representative 
 of pure African blood, whether in the garb of 
 road-duster, cotton-picker or trinketed prince. 
 Again, I say unto you, that I can peer beneath 
 that temple of shade, those frosty naps, that 
 humble visage and And more love, more faith- 
 fullness, more true nobility than I can ever 
 decipher from that flimsy, painted and super- 
 
What Manner of Man Is He? 
 
 53 
 
 ficial Negro copyist of the white man’s 
 style, who to-day infests our street cor- 
 ners and other public places in our 
 midst. Let me tell you, fellow-citizens, if 
 the Negro succeeds at all, he must suc- 
 ceed as a Negro and not as a mere imitator, 
 or pliant tool in the hands of other races. Let 
 it be known that I love the Negro’s melody, the 
 Negro's humor, the Negro’s pathos, the Ne- 
 gro’s wit and the Negro's blackness, because 
 these are original and God-given and they can 
 never be destroyed. 
 
 Next, let us consider the Intellectual condi- 
 tion of the Colored Brother. I will say that 
 the Negro’s mind, immediately after the war, 
 was indeed a dark and almost empty region. 
 The presentative faculty, memory, cunning, de- 
 ceit and an inferior kind of inventiveness 
 were about the principal powers culti- 
 vated and developed during the period of 
 slavery. Thus, he could easily remember the 
 spot where two roads crossed or where one 
 road forked; he could tell you precisely on 
 what log he got religion, and whether or not it 
 was on a cloudy or sunshiny day; he could put 
 on his best face and talk “in” with “de boss,” 
 
54 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 in order to undermine a fellow-workman, and 
 he could adroitly and without previous prepa- 
 ration, trump up an explanation °f the dis- 
 appearance of a fat gobbler or a promising 
 shote. If he noticed a dog on his back whin- 
 ing a doleful ditty, and a few days thereafter 
 Pompey’s little boy, who had eaten too much 
 green corn, happened to die, he would carefully 
 treasure up that incident in his mind and 
 ever afterwards declare that it is a “bad sign" 
 for a dog to get on his back and whine, “kase 
 somebody'll die, sho!’” In justice to the Negro, 
 I must state that this is by no means an indica- 
 tion that his mind is inferior, or that he is nat- 
 urally superstitious or imbecile; but it is only 
 an example of the degrading influences of a 
 long process of slavery. For the mind of the 
 Negro had never been trained to observe care- 
 fully, to classify, generalize, deduce and con- 
 clude; in other words, his reason and judgment 
 had not been brought into activity, and there- 
 fore he would jump to irrational and absurd 
 conclusions without sufficient premises or data 
 to support his simple vagaries. The same is 
 true of all minds affected by the same environ- 
 
What Manner' of Man Is He? 55 
 
 rnents and dwarfed by the same damnable in- 
 beritanee. 
 
 As to the Moral condition of the black man, 
 it might be said that he was rather in a low- 
 state. 
 
 It is, perhaps, but fair to admit that he would 
 occasionally disturb the equilibrium of the 
 Eighth Commandment; that he was deceptive 
 and often inclined to downright falsehood; that 
 he did not possess the highest regard for the 
 sacredness of the marriage relations, and that 
 he did not place a very high estimate upon 
 female virtue. Hence, we often found him 
 slipping “up,” or rather down into some insig- 
 nificant yet degrading muddle; “churched” in 
 some ecclesiastical council; or arraigned before 
 some civil tribunal of justice. 
 
 Here, I w ill say again, that it w-as no more 
 imbedded in the Negro's nature to be immoral 
 than in any other race, and that any other limb 
 of the human family, be it as wdiite as driven 
 snow-, or as red as crimson, would have been 
 in the same moral state as the black race, if 
 it was subjected to the same conditions. Even 
 as it w-as, it might be said that the enlightened 
 races of the earth were equally as guilty of the 
 
56 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 same acts of immorality as the Negro I have 
 just described. There was this distinction, 
 however: the black man lifted a hen off of her 
 roost, or a pig out of his pen ; the white man 
 embezzled his thousands and swindled his mill- 
 ions in the craft of lawful trade; the black 
 man failed to estimate the true value of the 
 virtue of his own women, the white man failed 
 to estimate the true value of the virtue of 
 women of other races; the black man drank 
 his “red eye” and staggered around in public 
 places with empty pocketbook and mouthful 
 of big words; the white man drank his cham- 
 pagne and fine whiskey in club-rooms and iu 
 private parlors, and was taken home in a 
 closed carriage. 
 
 Thus, the Negro, because he was poor and ig- 
 norant, practiced a low and public immorality; 
 while the white man, because he was rich and 
 intelligent, practiced a high and private im- 
 morality. Both kinds of immorality are equal 
 and one, just as the Negro and the white man 
 are equal and one. Human nature is always 
 and everywhere the same, and “a man is a man 
 for a’ that.” So, if any of my readers in this 
 progressive Nineteenth Century is so dead 
 
What Manner of Man Is He ? 
 
 57 
 
 asleep or so strongly prejudiced or so grossly 
 ignorant or so sadly incredulous as not to be- 
 lieye that all human nature is the same, I 
 would respectfully advise you either to change 
 your opinions on this line or close the book 
 and say nothing. For, mr whole discussion is 
 based upon that principle as a foundation stone 
 and it may continually rasp against your sen 
 sitiye souls and make you sick, and I do not 
 wish to produce an epidemic among you. for 
 then the world will know you are guilty and 
 will only laugh at your calamity; and, besides, 
 as your disease would be a peculiar one, you 
 may not be able to find any physician to pre- 
 scribe for you or any remedy that will suit your 
 case. 
 
 Spiritually, the average colored man was all 
 emotion. The dark days through which lie had 
 passed, and was passing, spread over and about 
 him like a thick cloud ; the hope of the religion 
 of Jesus Christ bursting through this surround- 
 ing darkness and upon his benighted and dis- 
 tressed soul, filled and thrilled every tissue and 
 fibre of his being with sensations of fantastic 
 delight, and then it was that he was 
 lifted above and beyond the miserable 
 
58 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 conditions of life and up into the im- 
 agined courts of eternal joys. Then he 
 sruggles and leaps and plunges as if to 
 loosen himself from his earthly coil in order 
 that his soul may feast forever upon the glories 
 and beauties of his Heavenly vision. Thus he 
 shouts and “gits ’ligion,” and his “soul feels 
 happy,” and he knows that he is a “child of 
 God,” and he has given unto him a “little white 
 stone,” and he is “gwine to heben sho is you 
 born!” These truly, are some of his favorite 
 expressions when in this ecstatic state, and 
 these expressions and those gesticulations re- 
 ally constitute the corpus of his religion. For, 
 after these bodily and verbal demonstrations 
 are made in open church, his religious part 
 has been essentially performed, and now, sat- 
 isfied that lie has been “born agin,” he goes 
 forth breaking the Sabbath with idle stories, 
 courting other men’s wives, deceiving his 
 neighbors, ignoring his debts, drinking his 
 whiskey and often committing raids upon the 
 personal goods of another. Of course, this 
 description was not literally true in every case. 
 For I sincerely believe that there were some 
 few who were true as steel, and, as far as they 
 
What Manner of Man Is He f 
 
 59 
 
 knew, were genuine disciples of Christ. And 
 even now, while my pen moves, I be- 
 lieve that they are shouting around the 
 great, white throne in Heaven, cast- 
 ing their glittering crowns at the 
 Father’s feet and crying out “Holy! Holy! 
 Holy! Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, 
 and is to come!” Further, I believe that a 
 greater proportion of our people were saved 
 in Heaven at that day than others more en- 
 lightened, because they served God with the 
 clearest light they had and in the best way they 
 knew how, and, after all, that is all we can 
 expect of any one, and, as far as we know, it is 
 all that God expects. 
 
 In this way, I have briefly outlined somewhat 
 the condition of the Negro immediately after 
 the war, which gave him his freedom. This 
 race has been ejoying the blessings of liberty 
 for thirty years and has rapidly improved its 
 material, physical, intellectual, moral and spir- 
 itual conditions; and, perhaps, considering the 
 difficulties with which it has been surrounded, 
 it has improved as rapidly as might be ex- 
 pected of any race. Therefore, the Negro’s 
 present condition is far better and much more 
 
60 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 advanced than that which I have just been 
 describing, although much of this description 
 will still apply to his present status, which fact 
 will be more readily noticed in a subsequent 
 chapter. However, it will give .me pleasure to 
 state that the colored people of the South, at 
 this time, own thousands of broad acres of 
 land; hundreds of thousands of solid Ameri- 
 can dollars; several flourishing and prof- 
 itable corporations; numbers of good 
 schools. Seminaries and Universities: many 
 successful Doctors, Lawyers, Clergymen 
 and other professional men, and, in general, 
 it may be said that this race is surely 
 marching upward to a higher plane and, with 
 the help of God and the co-operation of good 
 men, it will soon take its place in the front 
 ranks of civilization. 
 
 Thus, it seems that the Colored Brother has 
 at last passed through the dark days of slavery 
 and the trying times of reconstruction, and is 
 still alive and on Southern soil, and, further- 
 more, is fast improving in the knowledge and 
 practice of civilized life. This undoubtedly 
 proves to the world that this black-skinned and 
 curly-headed race has a wonderful power of 
 
What Manner of Man Is He f 
 
 61 
 
 endurance and, like the children of Israel, 
 thrives and multiplies rapidly, even under the 
 most terrible opprssion. The Negro has been 
 a faithful and profitable slave for over two 
 hundred years; he has bowed his head for the 
 white man's blows; he has bared his back for 
 tlm white man’s whip, and lie has suffered un- 
 told and untellable humiliation and agony for 
 the white man’s ease and gain. Although ‘‘lie 
 was oppressed, and he was afflicted, 3 7 et he 
 opened not his mouth; he was brought as a, 
 lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before 
 her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his 
 month." When he was left on the plantation 
 to support and protect the wives, daughters 
 and children of the Southern warriors, and 
 though it was in his power to burn, pillage, 
 murder and drain the South of its precious 
 life-blood, he — the noble creature that he was 
 — stood at the entrance of his master’s dwell 
 ing, as firm as a mastiff, ever ready to die in 
 defense of “missus and de Chilian.” Was 
 there ever virtue of a higher order than this? 
 This was not human, for man will wreak ven- 
 geance when the time is fitting; it was divine, 
 for God is slow to anger and swift to mercy. 
 
62 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 And again, after the war, we are told that men 
 would disguise themselves in gowns and cloaks 
 and caps and horns, and arm themselves with 
 whips and pistols and rifles, and break into the 
 peaceful huts of black men in dead of night, 
 while slumber was sweet to the soul, arouse 
 the slumbering inmates, whip them until the 
 blood would run like water from the gaping 
 wounds, or stretch them between the heavens 
 and the earth until their necks were broken 
 and their souls had gone to God, or set them 
 off within range and riddle their poor black 
 bodies with the rifle’s bullet. Yet, through it 
 all, the Negro “opened not his mouth.” 
 
 My readers must understand that I do not 
 bring up the deeds of those dark and bloody 
 days in order to call forth sympathy for the 
 Negro, or stir up hatred for the white man; but 
 1 merely mention these things to show the mar- 
 velous power of uncomplaining endurance that 
 is possessed by the black race. It is not in 
 the scope of this little volume to resurrect the 
 “bloody shirt and wave it dripping with gore 
 before the eyes of the whites and blacks, in or- 
 der that they might rush upon each other and 
 drench the land with fraternal blood; but it is 
 
What Manner of Man Is He t 
 
 63 
 
 rather its mission to draw a curtain over the 
 sins of the past and allow the myrtle of peace 
 to poise itself between them in the peaceful 
 calm of everlasting - friendship. In concluding 
 this sketch of the Negro’s enduring power, and 
 incidentally of the white man's treatment of 
 him, it might be said that those who are in- 
 clined to look through the eyes of other por- 
 tions of mankind, may find but little, if any- 
 thing, to justify such a course of action prac- 
 ticed by the Southern whites upon the South- 
 ern blacks; but, on the other hand, those who 
 look upon this same treatment through the 
 eyes of the Southern white man and consider 
 his training, passions and prejudices, may find 
 for such treatment many palliating excuses, if 
 not complete justification. No doubt other 
 races, if placed in the same situation as the 
 white people of the South, would have treated 
 the Negro in the same manner. And, I verily 
 believe that this self-same patient and long- 
 suffering race, which I have just been describ- 
 ing, would have lorded it over the white man 
 with equal cruelty and oppression if circum- 
 stances had placed him where the white man 
 stood and the white man in the position that 
 
64 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 lie himself occupied. For, we are all weak and 
 liable to do wrong, and each of us has his own 
 peculiar share of human frailties. Therefore, 
 let no one be too hasty to note and condemn 
 what lie happens to think is wrong in others; 
 but let him rather search his own heart, reflect 
 upon his own actions, find his own wrongs and 
 set them right, and discover his own errors 
 and correct them. Perhaps, some persons may 
 think and say that I am not pitching into the 
 Southern whites deep enough and with suffi- 
 cient “blood in my eye,” along this line. To 
 such fire-eaters, I will reply that I am not writ- 
 ing these lines as a Negro, for the Negro, or as 
 a white man's Negro for the white man; but 
 I am simply writing it as a man for Humanity. 
 Therefore, if anybody or any race thinks I am 
 going to write up one side and write down the 
 other without regard to right or truth, he is 
 sadly mistaken. This is the grand trouble be- 
 tween the races of the South to-day — there is 
 entirely too much one-sided business. The 
 white man sees in himself too much, and fails 
 to see the best qualities of the Negro; the Ne- 
 gro fails to see his own defects, but is contin- 
 ually finding something wrong in the white 
 
What Manner of Man Is He t 
 
 65 
 
 man. Each race should now learn to see more 
 sparkling virtues in the other, and to find that 
 in itself is lodged the tap-root of much of the 
 seeming wrongs and abuses that may have been 
 perpetrated against it. 
 
 Now, although the Negro has so patiently en- 
 dured his burdens and his disadvantages, and 
 has passed through his darkest days and 
 is rapidly improving in the elements of 
 nationality; yet, it seems that even now 
 he is not perfectly satisfied with his lot, 
 nor is the white man of the South exactly sat- 
 isfied with the present condition of things. 
 It seems, then, that on the part of the 
 Negro there is something else lacking — 
 some hankering after certain positions or con- 
 ditions for which his soul is still earnestly 
 panting. Man is by nature endowed with cer- 
 tain internal elements for which there must be 
 found certain external counterparts suitable 
 and satisfying to those elements. Thus, he 
 loves life and strongly desires to protect it; 
 hence, he has an arm strong enough to strike 
 and wisdom to manage that stroke in defense 
 of that life. He has implanted within his 
 brain a strong desire to know and to search 
 
6G 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 after truth, hence, the powers of his mind are 
 of sufficient grasp to investigate all subjects 
 and the lap of Nature has space enough to fur- 
 nish materials for his investigations. He de- 
 lights to worship and confide in a Supreme Be- 
 ing; hence, in all states, in all climes and in all 
 ages he has either found, made, imagined or 
 had revealed unto him an Almighty Being be- 
 fore whom he bows in dust, and whose will is 
 his most sacred law. Therefore, because of 
 such an inward desire and such an outward 
 realization, the Negro, although he has done 
 well, and is apparently happy, is yet neverthe- 
 less unsatisfied and is seeking for the exercise 
 of some power or the gratification of some sen- 
 timent hitherto beyond his reach. Some, per- 
 haps, may say that the Negro is perfectly con- 
 tented with his present lot; that he is always 
 careless, cheerful and happy, and that he is a 
 creature who tamely submits to the inevitable, 
 be it hard or soft, and that therefore he is 
 eminently fitted for his past and present condi- 
 tions. I will say to this, while it is true that 
 the colored man has a remarkable capacity for 
 adapting himself uncomplainingly to any and 
 all circumstances, however severe they may 
 
What Manner of Man Is He f 
 
 67 
 
 be, yet silence is not always an equiva- 
 lent of consent, and, amid the “whips 
 and scorns" of life, he often feels the 
 “Divinity that stirs'’ within him, and 
 then he stands np and looks ont into the hazy 
 distance with a longing hope for a better day. 
 He may clap and whistle and dance on the 
 depot platforms and upon the hard pavement 
 of the street corners; but at home, around his 
 humble hearthstone, in groups at church, or in 
 local halls and in his State and National con- 
 ventions, he is constantly lamenting his hard 
 lot and his lack of opportunities, and often 
 plans, resolves, petitions and appeals to others 
 for recognition and assistance. 
 
 What does it all mean? It simply means 
 that the colored man is a human being, 
 and although flattered by others and per- 
 suaded to believe that he is moving on 
 nicely; yet his powers must not be con- 
 fined to any prescribed limits, his mind 
 must not meet any wall across the line of its 
 progress, through which it dares not flash a 
 ray of light, and his soul, like the feathered 
 songster of the air, wants to rise on wings of 
 ambition to the most distant heights and bathe 
 
68 
 
 Ham and 'Dixie. 
 
 itself in the glowing light of a million worlds. 
 It is not a free body that the Negro wants — 
 thank God he has that. It is a free sonl for 
 which he groans, and when the chains of steel, 
 which now bind his grandest aspirations to the 
 humblest stations of life, shall wane into 
 threads of straw, then will he be free indeed, 
 and his groanings will cease and his soul, as 
 to its temporal condition, will be thoroughly 
 satisfied. 
 
 The history of the Negro lias been a pecu- 
 liar one. From the darkness of Ethiopia, 
 where he roamed over the plains and through 
 the forests in wild and untaught savagery, to 
 the ungenial shores of the New World, where 
 the white man and the powers of Darkness held 
 him in bonds of iron for nearly two hundred 
 and fifty years, and, then, having been brought 
 safely through the perils of warfare, he, by 
 some fortunate stroke, was ushered into a 
 state of full-fledged citizenship! Now, he is ar- 
 rayed in citizen’s apparel and .yet not enjoying 
 a citizen’s privilege; enrolled as an American, 
 and yet not at home on American soil; pro- 
 tected by the Constitution of the United States 
 and the arms of the nation, and yet handled 
 
What Manner of Man Is He? 
 
 69 
 
 by a stronger race at will and prevented from 
 enjoying those rights to which the laws make 
 him entitled. 
 
 What, in truth, is the Negro of today? 
 Is he slave, alien, parasite or citizen? The 
 slave, both body and soul, is controlled by a 
 master; but does not the white man control the 
 body and limit the spirit of the Negro? An 
 alien is one born without the jurisdiction of 
 the United States and over whom this govern- 
 ment has no power; but is not the Negro, as a 
 race, born under the jurisdiction of the King- 
 dom of Slavery, and is it not true that the gov- 
 ernment of the United States is powerless to 
 protect him in the exercise of his just rights? 
 A parasite is a creature, either animal, or veg- 
 etable, that hangs on and depends upon some 
 other creature from which he derives a scanty 
 and uncertain existence; but is not the Negro 
 mechanically hanging on to this government, 
 and is he not depending upon the white nlan 
 for employment in order to secure the necessi- 
 ties of life? A citizen is one who enjoys the 
 freedom, the priviledge and the protection of a 
 free city or a free government; but does not 
 the Constitution declare that “all persons born 
 
70 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 or naturalized in the United States and subject 
 to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the 
 United States and of the state wherein they re- 
 side?” The Negro is surely a strange mixture 
 of human possibilities, and his condition and 
 opportunities are equally as strange. Is it too 
 much to hope that, out of this peculiar condi- 
 tion, God, who is at the helm of the Universe, 
 will yet bring this race on to a realization of 
 ' v reat things and to the possession of high 
 places? Never yet lias the Negro made a rec- 
 ord of himself on the pages of the history of* 
 civilization, and may we not hope that his his- 
 tory is yet to be written in indelible letters on 
 tablets of adamant? 
 
 Only let the Negro be original; let him be 
 free and independent; let him be true and brave 
 and noble ; let him trust in the righteous God 
 of Heaven and the land that gave him birth 
 will yet live to be proud of his efforts, to re- 
 spect and honor him and to adopt him in the 
 family as a returned prodigal who had spent 
 his early life in “feeding swine.” 
 
 Black man, fear not. Your glory will ere 
 long burst upon you with all the radiance of 
 a noonday sun. Be ready; be watchful; and 
 “quit you like men.” 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FIVE PILLARS. 
 
 In the preceding chapter, I have somewhat 
 described the past condition of the colored 
 man; his great power of endurance and his 
 longing for free air. I have also stated that, 
 not only is the Negro himself dissatisfied with 
 his present lot, but that the white race, be- 
 cause of the Negro, is also dissatisfied with 
 the condition of affairs in the South; and hence 
 they are both frequently suggesting plans and 
 advancing theories whereby this state of 
 things may change for the betterment of all 
 concerned. Thus, it seems that both Ne- 
 gro and white man instinctively feel that the 
 former is not exactly in his proper sphere and 
 that something ought to be done to place him 
 aright, to adjust the relations between the two 
 races and to improve the general condition of 
 the South. If then, we take it as proved that 
 the black man is not yet enjoying that state 
 which he desires to reach, and toward which 
 he is striving, it now behooves us to look into 
 this matter more carefully in order that we 
 
Hum and Dixie. 
 
 72 
 
 may more clearly understand his troubles, the 
 nature thereof, the causes therefor, and, 
 finally, how these troubles may be removed 
 and he be made truly happy and prosperous. 
 In other words, we want to diagnose his case 
 under all the light of sound reason and impar- 
 tial justice; probe with keen instruments to 
 the core and search for the seat and origin of 
 his disease, and then subsequently write out a 
 prescription adapted to his ills and which, if 
 tilled and followed by himself, will effect his 
 cure and bring him to that state of healthful- 
 ness for which his innermost soul is now crav- 
 ing. 
 
 From these preliminary remarks, it will 
 be seen that, in my present work, I will make 
 it my duty to tell to all the world, both great 
 and small, what is specifically the matter with 
 the black man ; the primary cause of his pres- 
 ent unsatisfying condition; and, finally, I will 
 tell, as best I can, what this race must do and 
 what others must do for and with said race in 
 order that all these troubles may be rolled 
 away and the whole country be benefited there- 
 by. Now, then, if the Negro is sick there is 
 something wrong with his physical or mental 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 73 
 
 mechanism; if he is in trouble there is some- 
 thing - wrong with his relations to the external 
 world; if he is dissatisfied, he must either be 
 sick or in trouble or else imagines himself to 
 be in one of such states. Well, we will say 
 that the Negro is mentally sick, in trouble and 
 is also dissatisfied; and that all this is so be- 
 cause of the facts that his own mechanism is 
 out of order, his relations with the external 
 world are in bad shape and he imagines himself 
 in a far worse condition than he really is. We 
 will say, further, that he either fancifully im- 
 agines or reasonably believes that the white 
 man of the South oppresses him; closes the 
 avenues to the choicest places against him, and 
 does not tender to him that encouragement and 
 recognition to which he thinks he is entitled. 
 This imagination or belief, resting upon and 
 hanging over his mind from day to day like a 
 black cloud, sickens him, baffles him arud pro- 
 duces in him that longing for the uplifting of 
 that cloud and the ushering in of a healthful 
 and invigorating stream of pure light. 
 
 Then, the great thing that is troubling the 
 Negro, and that is also rendering the white 
 man dissatisfied and is disturbing the peace 
 
74 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and retarding the progress of the South, may 
 resolve itself simply into the real or imagined 
 condition of the Negro himself and the rela- 
 tions existing between him and the white 
 man. Here is the situation to a pin’s point. 
 The Negro thinks that the white man of the 
 South hates him and is prejudiced toward him 
 because his skin is black and his hair is short; 
 he thinks that there is nothing wrong with 
 himself which should cause the white man to 
 ignore him or to keep him relegated to the 
 backyard. Therefore, he thinks his present 
 state is due altogether to the white man of the 
 South, who is the roaring lion in the pathway 
 of his progress by which he cannot pass, and 
 near which he is afraid to approach. On the 
 other hand, the white man, having been ac- 
 customed to buy and rope and work and whip 
 the Negro like oxen, cannot bear the idea of 
 
 seeing these oxen in the garb of men, with 
 
 « 
 
 brains in their heads and souls in their bodies, 
 taking a part of the reins of the government 
 and occupying a few high places of honor in 
 the land. Thus, the Negro continually abuses 
 the Southern whites because they do not open 
 their bosoms and tell him to jump in, and the 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 75 
 
 white man is continually ignoring the Negro, 
 holding him back from and keeping him out of 
 any position of honor for which he may happen 
 to be qualified. This desire for recognition on 
 the part of the black man and the consequent 
 failure to receive it from the white man; this 
 ignoring of the black man on the part of the 
 white man and a consequent desire to keep 
 him down and out, and this constant wrangling 
 and confusion between the two races — all tend 
 to create, first, that dissatisfaction among the 
 Negroes to which I have already referred; sec- 
 ondly, that peculiar, disgusting sensation of 
 the white man toward the Negro and toward 
 the general condition of affairs, and, lastly, 
 that conservative and non-progressive state 
 into which the South has drifted and from 
 which it is just now beginning to emerge 
 Now, to satisfy these desires, to adjust these 
 differences and to put on a safe and harmoni- 
 ous basis the entire condition of the South, is 
 the great problem before the country, and is 
 now the nut that I have undertaken to crack, 
 and which, by God’s help, I intend to crack 
 and give you, my countrymen, the kernel. 
 Now, in order to crack this nut with my naked 
 
76 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 fist, I first must draw off at a great distance 
 and gather all the momentum and secure all 
 the directness of aim that I possibly can. 
 Therefore, I am going to discuss in the first 
 place what are the essential qualities that a 
 people must have in order to become a nation, 
 and to be regarded by others with feelings of 
 respect and recognition and to be received by 
 them on the common ground of equality. 
 
 There are five great pillars which I shall rear 
 up, upon which a nation can safely rest, nour- 
 ish and secure a high place in the history of the 
 world. These are Union, Integrity, Wisdom, 
 Courage and Ambition. By union, as used 
 here, is meant oneness of plan, purpose and 
 action. In order that a. people consisting of 
 different individuals, families and communi- 
 ties, may succeed in some great undertaking, 
 they must acquire this principle of union. 
 They must think and act as one man. They 
 
 must all have the same object in view and must 
 * 
 
 use the same means to secure that object. 
 Suppose a general wants to capture a certain 
 fort and has an army of a thousand men which 
 are necessary to accomplish this work. Sup- 
 pose this army of a thousand men are divided 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 11 
 
 into ten companies of a hundred men — all 
 brave, armed and ready for the siege. Sup- 
 pose further, on the morning of the attack 
 these ten companies disagree among thqm- 
 selves and secret plans are formulated, un- 
 known to the general, and having in view dif- 
 ferent and conflicting objects. We will say 
 that three companies have decided to open fire 
 upon the fort at eight o’clock; two companies 
 have decided to begin firing at nine o’clock; 
 two other companies have decided not to fire 
 at all, and the remaining three companies have 
 decided to fire on the other seven companies 
 at half-past eight o’clock. What do you sup- 
 pose will be the result? Do you think that 
 fort will be taken? Let us see. Now, if it 
 requires a thousand men to make the capture, 
 it is evident that three hundred men, who be- 
 gin to fire at eight o’clock are insufficient to 
 do the job. But at half-past eight three hun- 
 dren men are ready to fire upon the seven hun- 
 dred. Now, two hundred of these seven hun- 
 dred men will not fire at all, and, therefore, 
 there will be left but five hundred men — two 
 hundred of whom will not begin firing until 
 nine o’clock — to fire upon the fort and also 
 
78 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 to repel the counterfiring of the recreant three 
 hundred. Thus, if each man retains his com- 
 posure and strives in an orderly manner to 
 carry out the secret and conflicting instruc- 
 tions given him, it is plainly seen that the fort 
 will not be taken. But, adding to the disad- 
 vantages? of a lack of union, the surprise and 
 confusion naturally arising on such occasion; 
 it is still more certain that the fort can never 
 be taken with such an army. Why? Simply 
 because there is a lack of union. That is all. 
 The men may have been brave enough, skillful 
 enough and well enough armed; but no union 
 was among them and they failed. Just so with 
 a people or a race. If there is a lack of union, 
 either as to time, means, purpose, end or action, 
 it can never succeed. One illustration, and 
 I shall have erected my first pillar. The thir- 
 teen colonies of America were simply one 
 body with thirteen arms, and every arm dealt 
 terrific blows upon the cheek of John Bull, 
 and after seven years of constant slugging, the 
 said John Bull retired from the ring, a sadder 
 but wiser man. And, foremost among the qual- 
 ities that achieved this glorious victory was 
 Union. 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 79 
 
 But a people must possess Integrity in order 
 to become a nation. Integrity is virtue, up- 
 rightness, reliability, honesty, truthfulness, 
 genuineness, moral soundness and freedom 
 from any corrupting motives. Integrity is the 
 solid oak with broad branches waving in the 
 balmy air and strong roots bursting through 
 the loamy soul. A people, then, must be mor- 
 ally sound from head to heel and from heart 
 to hide in order to rise to lofty heights and to 
 maintain these heights when once they have 
 been secured. Many a man has fallen into the 
 mire and slime of degradation because of some 
 moral weakness which he had not the will- 
 power to overcome. Thus, when a people be- 
 gin to practice falsehood, deceit, hypocrisy, re- 
 venge, selfishness, intemperance and prostitu- 
 tion, their fate as a nation is sealed forever 
 and soon they must fall to rise no more. 
 
 It is said that the flourishing states of Greece 
 and Rome, which in their days had topped the 
 world, lost at once their vaunted powers when 
 their virtue had been besmirched with the filth 
 and scum of those ages. Unbridled vice will 
 drag kings down from their thrones and soil 
 their once crowned heads with mire; but virtue 
 
80 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 will lift paupers up from their footstools and 
 plait a chaplet of flowers about their heads and 
 place a sceptre of power within their hands. 
 
 And, now, I set tip the third pillar, which 
 is Wisdom. “Knowledge is power.” But wis- 
 dom is greater than knowledge, for wisdom in- 
 cludes knowledge and the due use of it. Wis- 
 dom also includes that light which comes 
 down from above and illumines the minds and 
 hearts of men in such manner as all the treas- 
 ures of the world can never do. That nation is 
 wise that knows all science, all art, all litera- 
 ture, all jurisprudence, all philosophy, all the- 
 ology and then rightly applies this knowledge 
 to the practical and proper things of life. 
 Those who walk in wisdom's way will one day 
 shine as the noonday sun, and will shed their 
 dazzling light into all the remotest corners of 
 the earth. 
 
 England, perhaps, with her colonies 
 and her independent descendants, is to-day 
 among the foremost, if not at the top, of the 
 world’s category of nations. Why? Because 
 her literature and language are read and spo- 
 ken all over terrestrial creation ; her numerous 
 inventions are employed and enjoyed wherever 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 81 
 
 man treads the earth and breathes the air; her 
 brilliant minds flash their light among' all na- 
 tions, kindreds and tongues, and lastly, be- 
 cause she possesses that superior wisdom that 
 comes from God, and which the world can 
 neither give or take away. No ignorant people 
 can ever hope to rise high in the estimation of 
 an intelligent and criticising world; but they 
 must be satisfied with lower stations and infe- 
 rior places and with the position of servants 
 and “dumb-driven” cattle. Just so sure as 
 sunlight is stronger than darkness and drives 
 it away: so is Wisdom more powerful than Ig- 
 norance and will one day hurl it from the four 
 corners of the earth. No people will be re- 
 spected and ought to be respected, who is too 
 lazy or too unconcerned, when the opportunity 
 is within their grasp, to acquire any knowledge 
 above their fellows and to apply that knowl- 
 edge toward their own advancement and to- 
 ward the improvement of all the nations 
 of the world. It is man’s duty to gain 
 wisdom, to acquire power, to teach his 
 fellows and to lead them to nobler 
 lives. Therefore, in order to become a 
 great nation, a community or a people must 
 
82 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 first get wisdom, which is one of the surest 
 means to that end for which they seek and one 
 of the strongest pillars that support a national 
 existence. 
 
 My fourth pillar is Courage. The story 
 of the Spartans will never die, and the 
 daring deeds of Alexander and Caesar and Na- 
 poleon and Wellington and Grant and Lee will 
 live green in the memory of a thousand gen- 
 erations. The savage bravery of the Red Man 
 of the American forests has won for him an ad- 
 miration that time shall never efface. 
 
 And so, through all the ages, wherever 
 stout hearts beat and bold brows gather, there 
 will always be found some faithful admirer, 
 bowing at their feet and showering upon them 
 praise, honor and admiration. Courage will 
 infuse fresh blood into the sagging veins of the 
 patient; courage will raise up the head of the 
 dying warrior on a field of battle and cause 
 him to shout words of cheer to his faltering 
 comrades; courage will lift up a degraded and 
 unnoticed people and cause them to stand erect 
 at the very threshold of the world’s most 
 splendid temples; courage is the crowning vir- 
 tue which the Ancients made a god, and which 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 83 
 
 men of modern times will ever honor as long 
 as the stars glow in their sockets and as 
 long as the earth turns on its axis. That 
 timid and cowardly race who stands trembling 
 by, while the brave are cutting their way 
 to fame and to fortune, must content itself 
 with the slop and the garbage which others 
 have thrown away to their swine and dogs. It 
 is indeed the brave hearts and the dar- 
 ing minds of this world that can hope 
 to march into Kings’ Palaces and up to 
 Royal Thrones amid the glare of swords and 
 the shower of bullets and the roar of cannon. 
 It is, therefore, as true as sunlight that no peo- 
 ple under heaven can ever grow into a flour- 
 ishing and honored nation except the blood of 
 heroes course through their veins and fires 
 them on to noble deeds. But a people must 
 not only possess that physical courage which 
 nerves them for the perils of the battle-field; 
 but they must also have that mental courage 
 which will urge them toward the accomplish- 
 ment of Herculean tasks for national im- 
 provement and which will sustain them 
 through all the obstacles and failures of time. 
 And, beyond these, they must also have that 
 
84 
 
 Ham and Dixie , 
 
 moral courage which will fortify their souls in 
 the hour of temptation and enable them to 
 stand firm as the hills and to come off with 
 the laurels of a thousand victories. 
 
 My fifth and last pillar is Ambition. By 
 this term, I mean that proper degree of desire 
 to excel, which prompts an individual or a peo- 
 ple to aim toward aud to strive for high places 
 and great possessions, and which urge them 
 to out-strip all others around them by all hon- 
 orable means within their power. Under this 
 head, 1 will also include Race-pride, a principle 
 which causes a people to think highly of them- 
 selves and to believe that they have no superi- 
 ors on earth; a principle which produces a 
 high-toned, dignified and progressive nation; 
 a principle which has brought the English peo- 
 ples to the top of the world’s civilization and, 
 has caused them to be honored, perhaps, 
 above all other races. It is a true state- 
 ment that no creature can ascend higher 
 than his ideal, but there is a possibility 
 that he may go up to that height. A people 
 then, must have high and grand ideals; they 
 must not be satisfied with low places and pri- 
 mary stations for all time; they must demand 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 85 
 
 and obtain great tilings, when, in tlieir very 
 natures, they are not adapted to small things; 
 they must reach high and get what they reach 
 for, because they really deserve it, and not 
 because they simply desire it. 
 
 I have placed Ambition last in line because 
 it is the gas that sets the balloon out in 
 mid-air and causes it to float in space 
 and rise beyond the clouds; it is the 
 breeze which spreads the sail and drives the 
 stately ship onward through the maddening 
 billows and wafts her safe into port, and it is 
 the feathery pinions of the warbling songster 
 with which she rises on bed of air and 
 bathes her plumage in the mist of heaven. 
 Ambition! Thou hast made an Alexander; 
 thou hast made a Napoleon; thou hast made a 
 Cromwell; thou hast made a Wellington. In- 
 deed, thou, in some one of thy many forms hast 
 made every man that is worth the making, and 
 without thy rasping spur man would sink into 
 an idle, worthless and degraded wretch. A 
 people, without ambition as defined herein, 
 although possessing Union, Integrity, Wisdom 
 and Courage, may yet be satisfied in humble 
 places and make no shining mark in the 
 
86 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 world’s history. Have you not seen many a 
 man that has great powers lying dormant 
 within hint and splendid opportunities lying un- 
 used at his feet, and yet that man basks in the 
 sickening sunshine and dreams of better days, 
 or lolls lazily in the cooling shade and drowses 
 his precious time away? Thus, also, many 
 communities and peoples have frittered away 
 centuries because, forsooth, they lacked the 
 heat of ambition to expand their latent forces 
 and to direct them toward the realization of 
 man's highest hope and to the consummation 
 of man’s chiefest end. 
 
 These, dear readers, are my five pillars 
 upon which a great nation may be su- 
 perstructed and which have more or less 
 supported every nation that stands to- 
 day as first-class powers of the world. With 
 these live pillars, or principles, no people 
 can long remain obscure. The human mind is 
 so constructed that it is bound to appreciate 
 and recognize sterling qualities in anyone, or 
 in any race, regardless of color, form or hair. 
 If the pig-tailed inhabitants of China had de- 
 veloped the qualities of the Englishman and, 
 as a consequence, had marched to the summit 
 
The Five Pillars. 
 
 87 
 
 of power, while the latter had built walls 
 around their country and had enclosed both 
 their feet and brain in moulds of wood; then 
 indeed would the world bow at the feet of the 
 Celestials and sing their praises in verse and 
 rhyme. Black would have been White, and 
 White would have been Black, if Black had 
 aroused her dormant powers and had now 
 straddled the world, while White had buried 
 her talents in the earth and was now at the 
 foot of the nations. After all, intrinsic worth 
 measures our market-value and mere shadowy 
 face-values unbacked by something substantial 
 will depreciate before the eyes of the world as 
 surely as stars, loosened from the stays, will 
 fall to the ground. Therefore, those who are 
 on top have gotten there by merit, and those 
 who are at the foot have either buried or mis- 
 used their talents, while others “fought to win 
 the prize and sailed through bloody seas.” 
 
88 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WEIGHED IN BALANCES AND FOUND WANTING. 
 
 We have already seen what are the neces- 
 sary elements required to produce a successful 
 Nation capable of winning- the respect of the 
 rest of mankind; now, we are ready to take an- 
 other step onward in our discussion, which 
 shall be to find out whether the Negro of the 
 South possesses these elements. 
 
 Is the Negro united? Let us see. To be 
 united, is to be one in purpose, means 
 and action. Are we, as a race, one in 
 purpose? Have we black people of these 
 United States ever yet in our history had 
 one great purpose toward the accomplish- 
 ment of which, every man, woman and child 
 of us, have directed our energies and powers 
 in a complete union? It has been said that 
 several times during the period of slavery, Ne- 
 groes have attempted to plot an insurrection 
 and to effect the murder of their masters in or- 
 der that they may gain that God-given liberty 
 which is by nature theirs. If these plottings 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 89 
 
 were true at all, it is certain that they only 
 meant a feeble, fluttering and merely local at- 
 tempt to throw off the yoke of bondage, with- 
 out either wisdom on the part of the leaders 
 or union on the part of the race. When the civil 
 war that drenched the fertile soil of the Sunny 
 South with crimson blood, broke out in all its 
 wild fury, and when the Negro by united effort 
 could have arisen as one man and slain the 
 families, and destroyed the homes, and ended 
 the rebellion of the South, he satisfied himself 
 with an occasional runaway to the Union 
 forces, and thus would have thrown away for- 
 ever this golden opportunity to breathe the 
 air of freedom, had not the government been 
 able to save the Union and to sever the cap- 
 tives’ chains. 
 
 After the war, has the spirit of union ever 
 welded together in one band the efforts of this 
 people? Today, let one man, or body of men 
 suggest colonization of the Negro to the shores 
 of his native land; will he or they succeed in 
 getting every individual of the race to fall in 
 line and rally in union to such giant undertak- 
 ing? Will there not rather be a weak, falter- 
 ing, child like effort on the part of a few of the 
 
90 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 race; while thousands, and perhaps millions, 
 will wag their heads on their necks and roll 
 their eyes in their sockets and swear by their 
 ways and actions that they will not move an 
 inch? Again, if one man, or a body of men 
 should step out and declare that the race 
 should no longer endure the white man’s bul- 
 let through their bodies, and the white man’s 
 rope around their necks, and that they should 
 rather meet this dominant race in open battle, 
 or by secret strategem, and die in defense of 
 their liberties; think you that there would be 
 a. union among the race and that they would 
 rally as planets around the sun, to the execu- 
 tion of so daring a deed? Suppose, again, that 
 a scheme be generated whose purpose shall be 
 to settle the Negro in some Western State by 
 purchasing so much lands therein until the 
 Negro’s vote shall control its government and 
 the Negro’s influence will drive out the white 
 man ; do you dream that united effort in this 
 direction would be secured and that every in- 
 dividual of the race would work with might 
 and main to reach that end? To all these ques- 
 tions, and to a hundred others of a like nature, 
 we all instinctively answer, No! Then, reader, 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 91 
 
 lias the Negro of this country ever united in 
 the past to accomplish one great act, or to dare 
 one heroic deed? If he has, then for heaven’s 
 sake, show me when and where and how. I do 
 not know the history of the Negro race in 
 the South as well as you do, perhaps, and 
 I have no books at this writing to which 
 I may refer for facts; but I was born and 
 matured on Southern soil and confess that 
 I have never yet seen or heard of united 
 Negro effort of a national scope, and 
 with a grand and noble object. I have seen 
 colored people unite to some extent in voting 
 the Republican ticket; but I do not refer to 
 such a union, brought about by the solicitation 
 and persuasion of others, and which is, there- 
 fore, not a race action in a proper sense. But, 
 granting that the Negroes did unite on this 
 line — a statement which is not true, for every 
 Negro did not vote a Republican ticket — what 
 indeed was the object of such a union? It was 
 hardly greater than an expectation of receiv- 
 ing a few inferior offices; or of obtaining pro- 
 tection against the Southern whites; or an ex- 
 presssion of some sort of an appreciation for, 
 and a gratitude toward a party that they sup- 
 
92 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 posed save them their freedom. But I do not re- 
 fer to such an imperfect union, with such a sim 
 pie and uncertain object. For I am now speak- 
 ing, or rather writing, of a union that is strong 
 as death, and with an object as lofty as the 
 stars. I understand that some Negroes have 
 united locally on certain plans more or 
 less worthy; but I do not refer to 
 these efforts, however commendable they 
 may be. I mean race union, having a 
 national purpose of a high order; I 
 know of none, and I do not believe you know 
 of any, and f further do not believe that there 
 has been any such union as I have described 
 among our people. I have often thought, in a 
 younger day, that almost any plan that had 
 been suggested by our leaders for the solution 
 of this race, would have succeeded if the Ne- 
 groes had thoroughly united on some one of 
 them and welded themselves to the execution 
 thereof with the firmness of death. 
 
 Well, there is no need of my writing 
 any more on this point; we are not united, 
 as a race, as far as I can see, upon any- 
 thing except — complaining! We cannot even 
 unite on a day for celebrating our Eman- 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 93 
 
 cipation Anniversary; for some celebrate the 
 19th of June, others the 1st of January; 
 while others, still, do not celebrate at all. We 
 can not all unite in showing - our appreciation 
 of a grand offer of a Building for Negro Ex- 
 hibits at the Exposition in Atlanta, which will 
 soon take place; for I understand i hat some 
 among us do not want a separate building; 
 others will take the separate building, but can- 
 not endure what they are pleased to style the 
 “Jim Crow” cars in which they must ride to 
 the “Gate City;” and there are yet others who 
 will take advantage of neither the Building or 
 the “Jim Crow,” but will remain at home and 
 do nothing. Lastly, but not least, we are not 
 united on a name. In fact the American Negro 
 is, to-day, without a name. Are we Africans, 
 Ethiopians, Negroes, Niggers, Black People, 
 Zulus, or what? Let us have a name, fitting 
 and applicable only to the Negroes of the 
 United States, and let us choose this name our- 
 selves and not take one coined for us by others. 
 My colored friends, if you ever expect to make 
 a history for yourselves, either in this country, 
 in Africa, or in the grave, you must make up 
 your minds to unite, and unite like men. You 
 
94 
 
 Ham. and Dixie. 
 
 must determine to pull through to victory in 
 one noble phalanx; or to step down into 
 your graves like heroes. If you cannot do this, 
 then throw up your hands in everlasting 
 despair! 
 
 Next, is the Negro a race possessing in- 
 tegrity? Is he of sound morals? Is he free 
 from corrupt motives? Does he possess a high 
 sense of honor? In the first place, integrity de- 
 mands that we should be truthful and reliable 
 in all of our dealings with each other. Now, 
 I have noticed, in my limited experience, that 
 our people, as a rule, are not as reliable and 
 truthful as they ought to be, or as a high de- 
 gree of integrity demands. We often create 
 debts and do not expect, or have no future 
 plans, to liquidate them; we enter into obliga- 
 tions and fail to meet them according to their 
 terms; and, in a word, we do not in general 
 transact business matters upon the principles 
 of rigid honesty and fairness. Why, I know, 
 today, several ministers of the Gospel among 
 us who owe money, and will neither pay it or 
 come up like men to their creditors and render 
 any satisfactory explanations. But of all per- 
 sons, our clergy ought to be men of sound lion 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 95 
 
 estv, and, if some of tliem are not, wliat may 
 be expected of the laity? I know of leading- 
 men of our people, who will go among the 
 ignorant classes and, by getting up lodges, 
 running excursions, organizing societies, estab- 
 lishing or representing corporations and com- 
 panies, or by resorting to some sort of emigra- 
 tion scheme, will rob the masses of their hard- 
 earned dollars and go on their way rejoicing 
 as if nothing wrong had been done. I have 
 known of committees authorized to collect 
 money for charitable and religious purposes 
 who will proceed to solicit subscriptions and 
 raise funds in accordance with instructions, 
 but who will also retain a portion of such col- 
 lections for their own personal benefit and 
 turn over the remainder with the understand- 
 ing that this was the total amount collected. 
 Preachers of God's Gospel have been also 
 known to appropriate to their own use and 
 comfort a portion of big-rally moneys or of the 
 proceeds from contributions and church festi- 
 vals, and then go right on preaching the 
 doctrine that “You may take all the world, but 
 give me Jesus!” Put not only are there numer- 
 ous instances of dishonesty; but there is also 
 
96 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 among our people a great tendency to decep- 
 tion. A “sister” in the congregation may shout 
 until she is hoarse, or until she falls on the floor 
 in a dead swoon; and, then, during the week, 
 may live a life of immorality am] disgrace. A 
 “brother” may bow his head at the end of every 
 period in the sermon and cry “Amen !” with 
 tears in his eyes; and then leave the church 
 and drink whisky, or “run after” other women 
 and neglect his own family. A business or race 
 meeting of some kind may be called and the 
 hall may be crowded with laughing faces; 
 speeches may be made amid deafening shouts 
 of applause; names may be enrolled, or hands 
 may be raised in endorsement of the proceed- 
 ings and obligations of such meeting. Yet 
 those who have been the loudest in their ap- 
 plause, or the first to tender their approval and 
 to make fair promises, may, in a few days, be 
 the first to withdraw their consent and, per- 
 haps, the foremost to work against the enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Furthermore, we are not only guilty of 
 deception, but we do not, as a race, seem to 
 have a very high sense of honor. I have seen 
 a group of colored men stand by and grin, 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 97 
 
 while one white man was beating or otherwise 
 mistreating a Negro boy or girl. I have known 
 colored men who will allow their sisters, 
 daughters or wives to be insulted, and, then, 
 not attempt to offer them the least protection. 
 I have known colored women to rejoice at the 
 moral downfall of a young and tender girl just 
 budding into womanhood. I have noticed a 
 group of colored men stand around saloon cor- 
 ners with cigar stumps in their mouths and 
 bad whisky on the inside, and talk disrespect- 
 fully of every woman that passed by. 1 have 
 witnessed school children run over and tram- 
 ple upon the weaker ones on the play-ground 
 and laugh over and enjoy their sobs and tears 
 with the keenest delight. Laborers undermine 
 each other in order to get work; women slan- 
 der their fair rivals in order to secure lovers; 
 husbands beat their weak and often worthy 
 wives; divorces and separations are nearly as 
 frequent as marriages in some communities; 
 and thus, in one way or the other, in some place 
 or the other, at some time or the other, 
 we are continually hearing of some 
 act among our race which bears no mark 
 of honor. And, at this point, I am constrained 
 
98 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 to say, that it seems as if our sense of honor 
 is far keener when aroused by our own race 
 than when aroused by a member of the white 
 race. For I have known Negro men on excur- 
 sions, or at festivals, who were so sensitive, or 
 who had so much honor (?) that another Negro 
 could scarcely dispute their words or talk to 
 their wives or women; but these same coward- 
 ly wretches would allow white boys to spit in 
 their faces, kick them across the streets or mal- 
 treat their female friends and relatives, and 
 take it like yelping curs, or like bumps on a 
 log. This goes to show that when Negro men 
 pull their “guns,” or draw their knives or raise 
 their canes upon each other, they do not make 
 this assault in order to protect their honor; 
 for, if they did, they would assail any man, 
 white or black. It rather shows that they are 
 ready to raise a row among their own people, 
 because of a fool’s belief that this bullying 
 spirit will puff them into great heroes, or be- 
 cause of a cowardly disposition to oppress and 
 impose upon timid and defenseless persons. 
 
 Thus have I given a few illustrations tending 
 to prove that, in my estimation, our people do 
 not yet possess those whole-souled and manly 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 99 
 
 qualities which are necessary to make a great 
 nation. You will understand that we have many 
 individuals amongst us who are persons of 
 integrity; but I hold that a large majority of 
 our number are lacking somewhat in this re- 
 spect. Many a person among us may apparent- 
 ly be moral, and may be pleasant neighbors 
 and ordinarily good citizens, and yet may not 
 possess that species of integrity which I con- 
 ceive to be especially important in the struct- 
 ure of a Nation. This species of integrity to 
 which I allude may be best summed up in the 
 word Honor — a term which I have used before. 
 It seems to me that a keen sense of honor will 
 urge every one who possesses it to dare the 
 noblest deeds and to execute the most heroic 
 actions. It will cause him to protect the weak, 
 the virtuous and the innocent; it will cause him 
 never to desert a friend in trouble or in need; 
 it will cause him to stand by his word and to 
 perform his obligations though the heavens 
 fall; it will cause him to mete out justice to 
 every creature; and, lastly, it will give him that 
 manly, and her that womanly spirit and cast 
 which will impel them to choose death rather 
 than surrender their principles to the damna- 
 
100 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 ble passions of hell. That captive who is con- 
 demned to die and who obtains a respite from 
 his conqueror and is allowed to see, for the last 
 time, the beloved face of his darling wife, and 
 to pat the curly locks of his only child, and then, 
 remembering his faithful promise to return, 
 abruptly leaves his home, his wife and child, 
 marches boldly into his dungeon and places 
 his head on the chopping block, furnishes in 
 deed a most worthy example of Honor in its 
 highest and purest sense. Black men, do not 
 satisfy your minds by saying that you are as 
 moral as white men, and that if they were in 
 your positions they would be no better than 
 you are. No race should be your criterion. 
 You should pitch your ideals high up and fast 
 by the throne of Heaven and strive to reach 
 them with every nerve within your bodies. It is 
 true, the white races have their weaknesses as 
 all men will have and apparently must have; 
 but I think I lie not when I say that they excel 
 our people in this golden virtue of Integrity. 
 And, if they do not excel us in this quality, 
 they can better afford to exist without it than 
 we; because they have already made their 
 mark in the world’s history, but we, poor 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 101 
 
 devils, have done comparatively nothing to 
 make the world wiser or better for our having 
 lived in it. Therefore, if we wish to soar to the 
 stars; we must first cleanse and strip ourselves 
 of every stain and weakness that tend to baffle 
 our efforts and drag us down to earth. We can 
 rise, and we will rise; but, listen! we will never 
 rise until we become men and women of honor; 
 and, if we are already such, as some may think, 
 then indeed is our day near at hand and the 
 victorious shouts of our foremost, will soon be 
 heard in the land. 
 
 Do the Negroes possess wisdom? Let us see. 
 Wisdom, as is generally defined, includes both 
 knowledge and the proper use of it. First, 
 then, do we possess knowledge? I do not mean 
 simply the power to know but also the product 
 of the diligent exercise of that power to know. 
 It is granted that we have the same power to 
 know as other races; for we have already found 
 that all men are created equal. But, have w r e 
 diligently exercised our powers to know, and 
 consequently do we possess the product of this 
 exercise, which is knowledge? Well, to go 
 right to the point, we certainly did not execise 
 our mental powers while roving through the 
 
102 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 bull-rushes of Africa, aud T am still more cer- 
 tain that we did not train these powers while 
 hunted by hounds and driven by the lash, in 
 America. Then, when and where and how 
 have we so trained our intellectual faculties 
 that we may now boast of knowledge? The 
 when must be during the period between the 
 years of 1865 and 1895; the where must be 
 within the boundaries of the United States of 
 America, and the how must be in the public 
 schools and, later on, iii those Higher Institu- 
 tions of Learning so kindly established for our 
 special benefit. But is it possible that a race 
 unused to wisdom's way and stunted by cen- 
 turies of heathendom and slavery, can gain the 
 knowledge of the ages, in thirty years? Is it 
 possible that the Negro can acquire knowledge 
 right here on Southern soil, when they tell me 
 that he is debarred from all places' of profit 
 and honor, whereby he may be impelled to his 
 greatest efforts and wherein he may have the 
 opportunity to drill and increase his most bril- 
 liant powers? This is impossible; and so we 
 find it. The colored man of the South has done 
 well — perhaps, as well as any other race could 
 have done under similar circumstances; but he 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 103 
 
 lias not done well enough to give him that 
 place in the field of knowledge which will win 
 for him that recognition for which he now 
 seeks. For, you will understand that when 1 
 use the term knowledge, I do not mean, simply, 
 a mastery of Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and 
 a smattering of Latin, Greek, Science and Phi- 
 losophy. I do not mean a parrot-like recollec- 
 tion and repetition of certain deductions al- 
 ready drawn and certain facts already discov- 
 ered, by other minds. 
 
 I mean the proper assimilation of the present 
 store of knowledge in the world, handled, 
 directed, improved and applied, in that original 
 and peculiar manner which is distinctively 
 native to the Negro. By wisdom, I mean that 
 proper application of this assimilated know! 
 edge to all the practical affairs of a nation, 
 which can never fail to gain the respect of men 
 of all ages and of all races. The great difficul- 
 ty with our race to-day is, that we strive to 
 imitate the white man too closely. It seems 
 that our chief aim is to be like ‘de white folks.” 
 We copy the white man's dress; his style of 
 speech; his gait of walk; his music; his ora- 
 tory; his language; his thoughts and his ac- 
 
104 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 tions, in general. We have nothing original 
 except our Jubilee Songs, our broken English 
 and our color; and some of us are fools enough 
 to be ashamed of them. I do not object to our 
 using the white man’s knowledge, for all gener- 
 ations build upon the foundation of their prede- 
 cessors; but I do object to that ape like imita- 
 tion of the white man which tends to destroy 
 the individuality and originality of the Negro. 
 One writer once said that our lamented Fred 
 Douglass was a white man in every respect ex- 
 cept his color and hair. This, to my mind, was 
 no special compliment to this worthy man. The 
 dignified Indian and the conservative Celestial 
 can preserve their national impress; but the 
 Son of Ham satisfies himself with a servile 
 imitation of a superior race. Thus it is that we 
 have not that knowledge and that wisdom 
 which a people must have in order that they 
 may stand as a first-class power of the world. 
 
 Again, we should not flatter ourselves to be- 
 lieve that the Negro’s mind is superior to that 
 of other races, as some of our people believe. 
 We often hear that a certain Negro Doctor is 
 the most skillful physician in the city; that a 
 certain Negro lawyer is shrewder than all the 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 105 
 
 white lawyers in a given district; and that the 
 Negro children of a certain school, excel in 
 scholarship all the white children in the same 
 direction. We Negroes generally say such 
 things and often some white man will join us 
 in order to encourage us and, perhaps, to mis- 
 lead us. But, friends, do not let us fool our- 
 selyes in this matter. Our talents are not 
 superior to those of the white man; they may 
 be different from his, but not superior thereto. 
 For all men are created equal. And, practical- 
 ly, we are not yet up with the whites in intel- 
 lectual development; and, therefore, it is all 
 bosh to talk about our being their superiors 
 in this respect. If our greatest men were 
 white, the most of them would occupy only an 
 ordinary place in the ranks of that progressive 
 race. A Negro who can draw a picture, chisel 
 out a piece of statuary, or write verses with 
 rhymes, are exaggerated into great artists, 
 sculptors, and poets; but where are our 
 Michael Angelos, our Raphaels, our Shake- 
 speares, our Miltons, our Longfellows, our 
 Edisons and a host of other shining marks 
 which adorn the gilded pages of the history of 
 the white race? As yet, we are only twaddling 
 
106 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 infants that now and then catch and make use 
 of a noble thought, a glowing word and a high- 
 toned act, from those around us. We have not 
 vet begun to draw upon the natural resources 
 which lie buried beneath our apparently sim- 
 ple exterior. Now, mark you, I do not intend 
 that these statements shall cast any shade 
 upon the brilliancy of any of our illustrious 
 men; for, after all, the work they have achieved 
 with their disadvantages are comparatively as 
 brilliant as that greater work accomplished by 
 others with far greater advantages. Again, 
 these statements are not made with a view to 
 discourage the masses of our people and thus 
 hinder them from attempting great and useful 
 things. On the contrary, I make these state- 
 ments in order that we may know our true 
 merit and capabilities; for it is indeed a sad 
 thing for anyone or people to imagine that he 
 or they have done a big thing while others 
 smile in a corner of their mouths and think in 
 their hearts that such being or beings are 
 “soft'’ and “green.” Let us understand our- 
 selves and strive to mend our defects, correct 
 our errors and battle for higher places and 
 wider fields. In truth, it is not our part to sing 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 107 
 
 of our own greatness, while others see nothing 
 at all great; nor is it our part to boast of our 
 own glory, while it lives and thrives only in 
 our own fanciful brains and the world recog- 
 nizes it not. Brethren, we lack wisdom; there- 
 fore let us possess it. For, “wisdom is the 
 principal thing; therefore get wisdom, and 
 with all the getting, get understanding.” 
 
 Fourthly, has the Negro courage? If 
 he has, I am frank to say that he has 
 failed, as a race, to put it into practice. 
 Is it courage to cross our hands for the chains 
 of slavery, bow our heads for slaps and kicks 
 and bare our backs for the lash and the hick- 
 ory? Is it courage to allow others to insult our 
 wives and our daughters in our presence and 
 not lift one hand toward their defense? Is it 
 courage to allow any race, however strong and 
 powerful, to trample us under foot and grind 
 us into powder, and to use us for gravel-walks 
 and foot balls? If this is courage, then talk no 
 more of the bravery of the Indian on the plains, 
 who, rather than to submit to the white man’s 
 mastery, prefers death on the gory battle-field, 
 in the glorious sunshine or under the shadow 
 of the stately forests. If this is courage, then 
 
108 
 
 Ham and Dixie , 
 
 sing no more of Tell, who laid his life on his 
 country’s altar as a sacrifice for his country’s 
 glory; and silence forever the glowing tale of 
 Winkelried who bared his breast to glistening 
 bayonets, while he made way for his country’s 
 army and met death for his country’s liberty. 
 If this is courage, blot out forever any mention 
 of the heroic struggle of the Thirteen Colonies, 
 who preferred death in honorable battle to 
 slavery with its degrading peace. 
 
 Nay, nay, my countrymen, the Negro’s sub- 
 missive endurance is not courage, and the 
 world will never live to call it courage. It is 
 noble to suffer severities sent by the hand of 
 Providence, and not complain thereunder; but 
 when men seek to take from us our just and 
 natural rights, then it is fitting that we strike 
 and strike like giants. But, again is it courage, 
 in this glorious nineteenth century, to blame 
 the Southern whites for their treatment to- 
 ward us; to whine and whimper for protection 
 and help; to curse the hand of Fate; to hold 
 back our forces, and to die in the mud and 
 slime of despair? No, sir! Courage smacks of 
 sterner stuff than that. All peoples have had 
 their obstacles, their hardships, their enemies, 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 109 
 
 their superiors, tlieir struggles, their failures 
 and their successes, before they had won their 
 way to a nation’s glory and to a nation’s power. 
 It is the part of cowards to magnify a hill of 
 inconvenience into a mountain of impossibili- 
 ty; to imagine every power on earth is against 
 them, if it does not take them up in its arms 
 and caress them; and to prefer that peace 
 which comes through a degraded humiliation 
 to that strife which brings on a glorious 
 emancipation. Just here, I will say that 
 Negro historians have found quite a num- 
 ber of black heroes in the different wars 
 of our past history; but I fear that many of 
 such heroes appear far greater in the eyes of 
 such historians than they do in the eyes of the 
 world. 
 
 Let us be brave and heroic, not as a few iso- 
 lated individuals, but as a people; and then let 
 others sing our praises and not we, our own. 
 Words cannot make a brave people, if the 
 world cannot see their bravery or feel its ef- 
 fects. Reader, by advocating bravery, do not 
 think that I am urging the Black People to 
 “take up arms against a sea of troubles and by 
 opposing end them;” I am not urging them to 
 
110 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 plunge like horses into the din of battle and 
 die in mad dispair; I am not advising war and 
 bloodshed and death. For, verily, verily I say 
 unto you that the time for warfare is past, and 
 we shall never hear the boom of the cannon, 
 or see the flash of the sword, or witness the 
 flow of crimson blood, between and among the 
 two races of the South. The bugle of peace is 
 sounded and the two races of this beautiful 
 southern land, must sheathe their swords; 
 must hang up their rifles; must bury all hatred 
 and prejudice, and come and reason together 
 like rational creatures. For, the Lord hath 
 spoken it. But, Black men, we need courage. 
 We need it to help defend our common country 
 from the public enemy; we need it to help us 
 forego the follies and pleasures so prevalent 
 among us, and to apply our powers to study 
 and to labor; we need it to enable us to attempt 
 and to prosecute giant undertakings until we 
 gain the victory; we need it to aid us to resist 
 wrong and temptation, and to tight for and 
 die in defense of right, though the heavens 
 fall and the devils howl. 
 
 I tell you, men, there is no quality on earth 
 which will earn respect and admiration sooner 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 Ill 
 
 than courage. The school boy, who enters the 
 campus amid the cries of “Fresh Fish!'’ and 
 “Greener!” and “Countryman!” and all that 
 sort of thing, throws a bombshell into the 
 midst of this jeering, cowardly crowd; if he 
 step out and knock down their leader and 
 stamp him into the earth. The quiet man of 
 nerve, who stands erect and holds back a hun- 
 dred cursing, rebellious prisoners, ready to 
 rush over him and gain an entrance into free 
 air, performs this miracle by nothing else ex- 
 cept that true and manly courage that is born 
 of noble minds. That tender, delicate maiden 
 who is assailed by some degraded wretch and 
 who stands up in dignified womanhood, with 
 flashing eye and lips compressed and prefers a 
 thousand deaths to dishonor, is more powerful 
 than a score of men and is certain to blast the 
 lustful designs of her beastly assailant. Truly, 
 there is something in the eye of the hero 
 that causes the base hearts of assassins and 
 wrongdoers to quail and quiver like a leaf in 
 the breeze. All men admire courage and will 
 express their admiration with warm faces, 
 cheering words and beating hearts: all men 
 despise cowardice and will make known their 
 
112 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 disgust with repelling faces, angry words and 
 cold hearts. Those men and women who are 
 willing at all times to dare deeds of peril for 
 the sake of humanity, and who are also ready 
 to strike in defense of those just and God-given 
 rights to which we are all entitled, will never 
 fail to win the respect and honor of their fel- 
 lows and, in times of adversity, will ever find a 
 friend to soothe their troubled brows and pour 
 a drink of cold water upon their parching 
 tongues. Yea, my friends, courage is needed in 
 sorrow and in pleasure, in health and in sick- 
 ness, in wealth and in poverty, in business and 
 in religion, in life and in death; it is needed by 
 the individual, the family, the community, the 
 State and the Nation ; it is needed by the 
 Chinese, the Indian, and the Caucasian, but 
 greatest still by the American Negro. 
 
 It is more greatly needed by the Negro of 
 this country, because he has hitherto shown so 
 little of it that some are inclined to believe that 
 he has none of it at all. But, white man, do not 
 think that the Negro has no germ of Courage. 
 Rest assured that the germ of Courage has a 
 place beneath the black skin as well as it has 
 beneath a skip of alabaster. The trouble is, 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 113 
 
 the Negro’s sense of honor has not yet been 
 developed and, consequently, his courage has 
 not .yet been called forth. He evidently has 
 the seed of courage, fellow-citizens, but this 
 seed needs cultivation; and, mark you, when 
 the Negro becomes refined, no race under the 
 sun will show greater or sublimer courage than 
 he. He certainly has not shown courage in 
 submitting to the humiliation of slavery and 
 to the oppression of another race; but all this 
 happened when the Negro’s better self had not 
 been developed, and when he bore an insult 
 simply because it did not affect him as it does 
 now, and it does not affect him now as it will 
 at some future day. So, remember these 
 things, dear readers, and govern yourselves 
 accordingly. 
 
 Lastly, has the Negro Ambition? Is he desir- 
 ous of excelling others in anything great? Does 
 he despise degradation and humiliation, and 
 will he never rest until he raise himself out of 
 and beyond them and plant his footsteps upon 
 the sun lit summit of Power and Honor? Ah, 
 my friends, here is a great defect in the colored 
 man of this country. We are too easily satis- 
 fied; our ideals are far too low; the place of 
 
114 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 servants suits us; the kitchen and the back- 
 yard are our homes, so to speak; and we 
 will whistle and dance from sun to sun, if we 
 can only get a pone of bread and a piece of 
 meat-skin to chew, and at night a place where- 
 on to lay our heads. This is true. It may not 
 suit you and it may not suit me; but I tell you 
 it suits hundreds and thousands of our people. 
 Listen! The majority of our race in the South, 
 will be satisfied if they can get enough to eat, 
 enough to wear, a house in which to live and a 
 few extra dollars to spend. They would like to 
 go on excursions; they would like to enjoy As- 
 sociations, Conferences and Camp-meetings; 
 they would like to smoke, drink, gamble, 
 fight among themselves and live fast lives and 
 have a good time; but, if not aroused by some 
 worthy leader, they would care no more about 
 patriotism, business, higher education and 
 other sources and positions of responsibility 
 than a crow cares about Sunday. That is just 
 it in a nut-shell ; and there is no need to make a 
 long story short. 
 
 Ambition! Ambition, indeed! Think you 
 that the average hotel-flunkey has any higher 
 ambition than to dress well, migrate from 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc , 
 
 115 
 
 place to place, and hold “a good hand” with the 
 women? Think you that the average street- 
 loafer has greater ambition than to “shoot a 
 good pool,” hold a lucky hand at cards or sport 
 the plumpest “chippy” in town? Think you 
 that the ordinary railroad-hand, farm-laborer, 
 or street-jobber, care a picayune for the tariff, 
 the free coinage of silver, the Hawaiian policy, 
 the Cuban revolution, or the final destiny and 
 status of the Negro? Tell me, do you think 
 any of these classes feel any humiliation when 
 their employers say, “Boy, come here!” “Clean 
 my boots, Mg!” or throw a “quartah” on the 
 floor for them to pick up ; gives them a second- 
 hand coat or a pair of shoes; curses at them, 
 and sometimes kick them around? Does the 
 blood in these persons’ veins boil; do they raise 
 themselves up, look their employers in the eye 
 and show a burning spark of manhood, when 
 they are thus treated? No, indeed; they do 
 not. They grin and whistle, clean the boot, 
 pick up the “quartah,” take the “cussin” and 
 dodge the kicking. Personally, I would rather 
 own five acres of land with a log hut in the 
 centre, and dig in the soil and fish in the creek 
 and shoot in the air for my living than to dress 
 
116 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 in broad cloth and feel that I am somebody's 
 hobby-horse and that he can never treat me as 
 a man. 
 
 But, let us go up a few steps higher 
 among the better classes of our people and let 
 us see what is the extent of their ambition. 
 Well, a little higher up, we find our people in 
 possession of their own homes; doing some of 
 their own business; teaching schools; preach- 
 ing the Word ; and, apparently, getting on very 
 well. But, even here, what is their ambition? 
 Those who have homes, scarcely want other 
 real estate; and now their highest object is, 
 perhaps, to get a piano or an organ; to 
 purchase a large clock, some furniture or a 
 horse and buggy; to take in boarders; run a 
 soda-water stand or manage a small grocery. 
 Of course, this is all very good; but the hang 
 of it is, they seem to be satisfied at this, and 
 here they stop, without the least ambition to 
 direct their energies to anything higher or 
 greater or more profitable. I have known com- 
 munities who could join their means together 
 and run a saw mill ; but, instead of doing this, 
 they are satisfied with building neat cottages 
 with lumber sawed by white men. I have seen 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 117 
 
 three or four colored men in a certain district 
 able enough to open up and manage a clothing 
 store and grocery establishment, large enough 
 to supply the entire settlement ; but they seem 
 satisfied in patronizing a little cheap shop run 
 by some poor “cracker” or “wandering” Jew, 
 whom that settlement are able to buy and sell 
 again twice over. Further than this, what is 
 their ambition in a political or national point 
 of view? Well, in the first place, they will 
 want to vote; but how, they do not know. They 
 will be guided in their voting, either by some 
 white man or by some leading Negro who is 
 in turn influenced by white men — so white will 
 be pulling at one end of the string, after all. 
 Do they want office? Yes, but they scarcely 
 aspire higher than the position of policeman, 
 alderman in a small town, or some tool-like 
 deputy. Well, this is alright, except the last- 
 named office; but, you see they are inclined to 
 make these inferior offices the object of their 
 interest in politics, and if they fail to get 
 such offices or to receive any silver or favors 
 for their votes, they will hold that they 
 have been cheated out of their rights and that 
 there is no use for them to vote at all. 
 
118 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Now, is this object high enough for citizens 
 of a great country like this? No, indeed; 
 statesmanship should aim at a good govern- 
 ment, a worthy set of officers and wholesome 
 laws; a perfect protection by that govern- 
 ment and a strict execution of these laws, by 
 those officers. These are some of the objects 
 of the true statesman. But, the voter is a 
 statesman; and, hence, these should be the 
 lofty objects of the Negro voter. If the white 
 man votes for office and favors; let us be super- 
 ior to him in this respect and vote for the 
 country’s welfare. Furthermore, we should 
 not vote to please any man, or to gain money 
 or win friends any more than we should vote 
 a certain way for the promise of a few inferior 
 offices. Our ambition should be of that pure 
 kind which directs us to excel by honorable 
 means. We should form our ideal of states- 
 manship upon a right and lofty basis and work 
 heroically to realize its accomplishment. 
 While I write, several Negro newspapers are 
 begging and clamoring for a few lower offices 
 for their colored friends, and are quarreling 
 with the city governments because they do not 
 appoint Negroes to certain small positions. 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 119 
 
 Now. I honor those papers for their race in- 
 terest; but I do not approve of their methods. 
 If my ambition in voting - extended no further 
 than to obtain a few petty offices; I would stay 
 at home on election-days and let others swop 
 their votes for dollars. Certainly, qualified 
 Negroes deserve some of the best gifts of the 
 people and they ought to be appointed or 
 elected to positions of honor; but the appoint- 
 ment and election of Negro officers ought not 
 to be the soul of our political ambition. These 
 honors ought to be the result of our wise and 
 honorable statesmanship rather than that of 
 a wiry and wormlike manipulation of our vote 
 and influence. 
 
 Our political plan should be to train out- 
 voters to cast their votes intelligently and to 
 teach them that integrity which will place 
 them above the reach of corrupting influences 
 and to instill in them that courage which will 
 enable them to vote their sentiments without 
 fear of any man. We should discharge our 
 public duties honorably and with a manly 
 spirit; and when once our intrinsic worth is 
 discovered, it. of itself, will secure its own re- 
 ward and reflect great honor upon the posses- 
 
120 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 sors. Yes, I sincerely believe that a proper 
 degree of ambition will lift ns out of and above 
 our present ways of thinking, talking and act- 
 ing, and we will then begin to breathe a purer 
 and more invigorating atmosphere. Another 
 thing, ambition will give us Race-pride; for 
 then we will not feel ourselves inferior to any 
 people, but will try to excel them in a right 
 way and by lawful methods. By Race-pride, I 
 mean that high conception of one’s own race 
 that will cause him to feel that his race is 
 equal to any race on earth, and will cause him 
 to honor, protect and defend it from all attacks 
 made upon it by others. Now, of all races, the 
 Negroes of this country possess this quality 
 least. The black man feels and he foolishly 
 teaches his children to feel that he and they are 
 inferior to the white man, and that they will 
 never and can never be the white man’s equal. 
 
 Is this not the very height of folly? 
 You white men certainly cannot respect 
 such a creature as this; for, if a man 
 loses respect for himself, his respect for 
 anybody else is not worth anything. And 
 I believe you are just high-toned enough 
 not to care a fig for any such milk-and-water 
 
e 
 
 Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 121 
 
 kind of respect. Now, to show you that our 
 people think themselves inferior to the whites, 
 1 will give you a few illustrations. I suppose 
 many of you readers have heard Negro parents 
 telling their children that they will “never be 
 like white folks and there is no use to try;” 
 that “a nigger will be a nigger as long as he 
 lives;’’ and, whenever a Negro does soinetliing- 
 low and crooked, they will often exclaim, “just 
 like a nigger, you can never expect any better 
 from a nigger.” Again, they will often hold 
 up their little black babies and admiringly 
 hail them as “little white ladies,” or “little 
 white mannies.” They will also often teach 
 their children to prefix the terms of “Mr.” and 
 “Miss” to young white boys and girls; while 
 these same children are permitted to call 
 persons of the same age among their own 
 race as they please. The black man will 
 also rely upon and be governed by the 
 opinion of any ignorant white man in prefer- 
 ence to that of some very intelligent and 
 reliable colored men. Furthermore, some 
 of our people are inclined to look down 
 upon a coal-black Negro, and they will often 
 refer with pride to their color, if a shade, 
 
122 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 k 
 
 or even a half of a shade brighter than others 
 in their company. I once knew a Negro who 
 was black as a crow and well educated, and 
 yet he would not associate with black women, 
 and he finally married a woman who was as 
 white as any Caucasian. We are all more or 
 less familiar with the average Negro’s love for 
 a “yallar gal;” or a “gal wid long liar.” 
 
 They tell me that, in some communities, 
 the colored people prefer bright-colored men 
 to preach in their churches and to teach their 
 children. And, thus, from these illustrations 
 and a hundred others which might be men- 
 tioned, we can see that the Negro considers 
 himself naturally inferior to the white man 
 and that he has very little respect for his own 
 race. This is indeed one of the greatest defects 
 among our people and it shows the utter 
 degradation to which we have been dragged 
 by the customs of a life of boudage. How 
 in the name of the devil can we expect a 
 high-minded race to respect us and admit 
 us into high stations of life, when we 
 ourselves acknowledge our own triflingness 
 and inferiority and teach them to our 
 posterity? For my part, I would be glad if 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 123 
 
 every one of us was as black as the ace of 
 spades and possessed of brave hearts, bright 
 minds and a lofty ambition. It is no honor to 
 our race to have white blood in our veins. If 
 the mulatto is more intelligent, braver and 
 better than the full blooded Negro, he is proba- 
 bly so because of the white blood in his veins, 
 and the Negro race gets no credit for it; if he 
 is no more intelligent, no braver and no better 
 than the full-blooded Negro, then the white 
 blood is of no finer quality than the Negro's 
 blood. Thus, in both cases, the Negro will only 
 get credit for what he is, and the presence or 
 the absence of the white blood will neither 
 “make" or “break" him. But, according to my 
 mind, it is far better to rise or fall as 
 pure-blooded Negroes than it is to rise or 
 fall as a mixed race. For, in the former 
 case, we must stand upon our merit and 
 be credited or debited accordingly. But 
 in the latter case, if we succeed, others 
 may say that this success is due to the white 
 blood in us; and, if we fail, they may say that 
 this failure is due to the black blood in us — 
 whereas, in truth, the black blood may have 
 caused the success and the white blood, the 
 
124 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 failure. Well, we are all mixed up now, and 
 1 am willing to let the “tares and the wheat” 
 grow together, as it would be downright fool- 
 ishness to try to separate them at this time; 
 but, for heaven's sake! let us be true to our 
 color and let us make Black our ideal instead 
 of White. 
 
 And, right here, I will say that this 
 spirit of despising our own race and holding 
 up the white people as gods or demi gods, is 
 perhaps the primary cause of these rapings 
 and consequent lynchings in the South; for, I 
 believe that there are among us some ignorant, 
 degraded black hounds who would be willing 
 to die and go to hell if they could only first 
 touch the hem of a white woman's garment. 
 We lack Ambition, and a high-minded race 
 pride; and you must not forget it! So, hear 
 me, we will never amount to anything until we 
 drill into our youth and generation this great 
 element of Race-ambition and Race-pride. If 
 we fear that this cannot be done and believe 
 that the race will never be taught to hold it- 
 self superior and to aim higher; then rest as- 
 sured that with all of our property, with all 
 of our learning and with all of our style, we 
 
Weighed in Balances, etc. 
 
 125 
 
 will never become a Nation and we will always 
 be treated by our white brother as tools and 
 underlings and not one of us should utter a 
 word of complaint. Now, reader, in a crude 
 way, we have investigated the condition of 
 our people by finding out if they possess those 
 elements which are necessary to produce a na- 
 tion. And what is our verdict? Let us reason. 
 If those five pillars which I have set up as the 
 foundation of a great people are not the pillars 
 necessary to the superstructure of a Nation; 
 then the fact that the Negroes of the United 
 States are not supported by these pillars or 
 are not contemplating the erection of these 
 pillars or have not in them the materials and 
 skill to erect these pillars, is no proof that the 
 Negro is defective in himself and will therefore 
 fail to become a Nation. But, on the other 
 hand, if these five pillars which I have set up 
 as the foundation of a great people, are in fact 
 the pillars necessary to the superstructure of 
 a Nation; then the fact that the Negroes of the 
 United States are not supported by these pil- 
 lars or are not contemplating the erection of 
 these pillars or have not in them the material 
 and skill to erect these pillars, is positive proof 
 
126 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 that the Negro is defective in himself and in 
 his present condition will fail to become a Na- 
 tion. 
 
 Now, a few words about these five pillars, 
 which may also be termed principles or 
 elements. Are there any other elements be- 
 sides these five which are necessary to pro- 
 duce a Nation; or which may be used as sub- 
 stitutes for the ones that I have set up? If 
 there are others, pray tell me what are their 
 names and what is their importance and 
 whether or not they may be included under 
 some one of these five heads? I claim, then, 
 that these pillars introduced to you are at least 
 the principal, if not all, the pillars necessary 
 to rear up and sustain a Nation of the first 
 class. Assuming this to be granted, the next 
 thing is, has it been proven that the Negro is 
 defective in these important and necessary 
 elements? I think I have shown pretty 
 clearly that the Negro is defective in each 
 of these elements, and I think, further, 
 that facts will bother any one to prove 
 otherwise. Again, if you admit, as I have 
 supposed above, that these five elements 
 or pillars are necessary to the existence of a 
 
Weighed in Balances , etc. 
 
 127 
 
 Nation; then you will also admit that they are 
 the primary cause of the existence of a Nation 
 and that the one cannot exist without the oth- 
 er any more than the sun can exist without 
 light or the light without the sun. For, if the 
 sun could exist without light; then it is not 
 the source of light, and hence it is no sun. Be- 
 cause the sun is light itself and is the source of 
 all light existing within our Solar System. 
 Cause and effect are inseparable and the one 
 cannot help producing the other; nor can the 
 other help being produced by the one. Fire 
 cannot help burning me any more than I can 
 help being burned by it if I cast myself there- 
 in. Thus, those who possess these five ele- 
 ments, must of necessity be a Nation, which 
 state of being a Nation is only the effect of the 
 possession of these five elements. Now, is the 
 Negro of the United States a Nation? I mean, 
 of course, is he a people developed and abreast 
 with the foremost of the world’s civilization? 
 If he is; then there is no race problem and this 
 book is trash and I am a fool. If he is not a 
 Nation; then he cannot possess the five ele- 
 ments of a Nation, and he is therefore defect- 
 ive in all of his parts, which was to be proved. 
 
128 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 This, my black brother, is just the poiut 1 
 have been striving to make, and now since I 
 have reached it; you may consider that I have 
 drawn off with clinched fists, and I trust 
 that, at some stage in this book, I will 
 crack that nut of which I have already 
 spoken, and lay out the kernel plainly 
 to the views of all. Now, if we our- 
 selves are defective and if we have not 
 those primary elements which are necessary 
 to produce a great Nation; then, pray, what 
 is our duty in this case; what is our attitude 
 toward our neighbors, and what are the steps 
 to be taken to extricate ourselves from our 
 present condition in order that we may obtain 
 that contentment for which we are longing? 
 
 These are questions which we all should 
 strive to answer and upon which, within the 
 remaining pages of this little volume, your 
 humble writer will endeavor to flash the feeble 
 light of his Reason. 
 
3fed.es and Persians. 
 
 129 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MEDES AND PERSIANS. 
 
 It is natural for man to be selfish; to get all 
 he can ; to oppose others that are between him 
 and his objects, and to take advantage of 
 the condition of others in order that he 
 might better accomplish his own ambitious 
 schemes. The Negro, having been shown 
 to be a race lacking in the exercise of 
 those principles which combine to make 
 a strong and progressive people, the white 
 race, with every nerve strained and keen 
 to make use of every and all means tend- 
 ing to aid them in accomplishing their pur- 
 poses, fell upon the Negro as one of those 
 means. In other words, the Negro having 
 either buried his talents or having abused 
 them; it was left to the ingenious white race 
 to utilize for their own glory this wrecked rem- 
 nant of humanity in the shape of the Black 
 race. And this is right in Reason; although it 
 may be wrong in Revelation. It is right among 
 men; but it may be wrong before God. I say 
 
130 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 it is right in Reason; because what one man 
 does not nse or does misuse, ought to be turned 
 over to another who will use it properly and 
 nse it to the advantage of all concerned. If 
 I have several gold dollars and am using them 
 to close up cracks in the floor; then it is the 
 part of wisdom that some one should take them 
 from me, use them in their proper places and 
 with them purchase for me a hat or a coat 
 that 1 may need. Perhaps, it is Christian to 
 teach me how to use those dollars to my own 
 advantage; but it is human to use them to the 
 advantage of the discoverer. 
 
 Where all persons are supposed to know 
 what is their interest and how to pursue it, as 
 the case is in all civilized communities; no 
 private citizen has any legal right to take any- 
 thing belonging to another and appropriate it 
 to his own use, even if the original owner is 
 misusing it. But, in all civilized communities, 
 the wise and active are nevertheless using, the 
 ignorant and controlling them in such manner 
 as will redound to their own interest and wel- 
 fare. Now, let us suppose a case of two races, 
 both of which are created equal, from the same 
 origin and by the same God. The one, either 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 131 
 
 having had an advantage as to circumstances 
 or having used its talent and opportunity for 
 high and worthy ends, had become a great and 
 flourishing Nation; the other, either having 
 had a disadvantage as to circumstances or 
 having abused its talent and opportunity for 
 low and unworthy ends, had become a de- 
 graded and useless horde. Is it natural to sup- 
 pose that this great nation is going to share 
 up with this worthless horde, and put them 
 on an eqiial footing with themselves? Is it not 
 more natural to suppose that the Nation will 
 take advantage of the horde’s weakness and 
 ignorance and march on to loftier heights? Is 
 it not a teaching of Scripture that the tal- 
 ents of the unworthy servant shall be given 
 unto him that had earned the greatest number 
 of talents? “Take therefore the talent from 
 him and give it unto him which have ten tal- 
 ent " i the scriptural command. 
 
 , it seems that the principle of utiliz- 
 inant of an unworthy people for 
 the be en. of a people who had used their 
 talents pro erly, is not only reasonable but 
 may be alsc in accordance with the teachings 
 of a Righteous God. So, in keeping with this 
 
132 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 idea, tlie white race reduced the Negro into 
 slavery and afterwards subjected him to all 
 the humiliation belonging to that estate. The 
 white man kept the Negro ignorant by pre- 
 venting him from the use of books, and he 
 made him cowardly by use of the whip and the 
 shot-gun. He did these things not because he 
 loved the Negro less; but because he loved 
 himself more. He did these things from policy: 
 for, he knew that if the black man was edu- 
 cated and allowed considerable privilege; he 
 could not then hold him in slavery. There- 
 fore, the whites thought that this treatment 
 of the Negro was necessary to hold him in 
 such place as was most convenient to their 
 own exaltation. 
 
 And, since the war, they are still adhering 
 to their old policy, namely, to get out of the 
 Negro as much as they can without allowing 
 him to enjoy any more of the blessings of this 
 country than is possible. They are pursuing 
 this policy now, not because they really do not 
 wish the Negro to enjoy the sweets of life; but 
 because they imagine that if the Negro was 
 permitted to enjoy high and honorable sta- 
 tions, they themselves would lose something on 
 that line, 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 133 
 
 Now. I do not claim that slavery is a“Divine 
 Institution;” although it may seem to some 
 of my readers that such is my opinion. I 
 hare said that it was natural and right in 
 reason that one individual or race should use 
 another individual or race that did not have 
 sense or grit enough to use itself. Thus far, 
 the whole affair is merely human. Therefore, 
 the condition of slavery is a human and not a 
 Divine Institution. And, so far as the Scrip- 
 tural teachings show, it is rather that God 
 merely suffered these relations of Dominion 
 and Servility, instead of commanding or even 
 sanctioning them. But I am no authority as to 
 scriptural interpretation and so I will leave 
 that matter to Theologians and Biblical Com- 
 mentators. I am looking on this question be- 
 fore me with reason and common sense ap- 
 plied to solid facts. I am not soaring into the 
 air after theories out of sight; but [ propose to 
 stay on the ground and tell the thing as I see 
 it and believe it. Therefore, I do not blame 
 the white man for coming upon us like the 
 “rushing of many waters,” or like the Medes 
 and Persians, and taking possession of our 
 thrones already shattered by our own hands 
 
134 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and breaking our sceptres already rusty and 
 decayed with age and idleness. What the 
 white man did. we would have done if we 
 had their opportunity; and any other race 
 would have done the same thing if they had 
 the white man’s ambition and the white man’s 
 advantages. Why, then, are we continually 
 laying the blame upon the whites for our 
 present humble and dilapidated condition? 
 Do we not see that we ourselves are to be 
 blamed for our own degradation in allowing 
 the white man such an opportunity to bind us 
 hand and foot? I do not know, and you do not 
 know, how or when or where our ancestors 
 fell from their original state of equality with 
 the white race ; but the fact remains that they 
 did fall and did allow themselves to retrograde 
 until they were found easy preys for the prow- 
 ess of the white man. The whole affair is 
 simple enough: there is no hidden mystery 
 about it. We simply grew careless and trifling, 
 and another race came in and took our lands, 
 destroyed or weakened our powers and made 
 us “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” 
 That is all there is in it. We are sometimes 
 inclined to look upon our condition— past, 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 135 
 
 present and future, as the work of God, the 
 White Man and the Devil. We blame the 
 White Man and the Devil for slavery and its 
 concomitant evils, and we fold our arms and 
 expect God to bring us into “green pastures” 
 in the future In other words, the White 
 Man and the Devil are responsible for our 
 past and present; God is responsible for 
 our future, and we are not responsible 
 at all. I tell you it is high time that 
 we leave off foolishness, and come right 
 square down to brass- lacks. I believe that 
 God is with all races and will help those 
 that help themselves, and therefore I be- 
 lieve that Fie helps the White Man more than 
 He does the Black Man; for the White Man 
 does more for himself than the Black Man 
 does. Coming on down to the present time, 
 are we to blame the White Man of the South 
 because he claims that this is his country and 
 is not willing that we should govern and run it 
 to suit ourselves? Shall we censure him be- 
 cause he has not thrown wide the doors of 
 every department of his kingdom and bid us 
 enter and share in the enjoyment of his most 
 valuable ornaments and choicest luxuries? 
 Are we to criticise and abuse him because he 
 
136 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 is holding; us off from what he conceives to be 
 the work of his own hands? 
 
 My dear friend, if you had toiled for years 
 to plan, construct and adorn a beautiful man- 
 sion — all with your own diligent study and 
 skillful hands — and, after you had completed 
 it, an uncultured, boorish, ignorant, idle and 
 trifling fellow should come up and ask you for 
 admittance into your marble parlors and for 
 an equal share of your oldest wines; would 
 you, as a human being, admit him and share 
 with him as your equal? Would you not 
 rather say to him thus: “Sir, these giant walls 
 were reared by mine own hands; that beauti- 
 ful moulding was the result of mine own mid- 
 night study; I, from mine own coffers, have paid 
 every farthing for the erection of this costly 
 mansion, and therefore I must enjoy these 
 luxuries with my friends with whom I asso- 
 ciate and whose thoughts have aided me much 
 in this giant task. But, pardon, sir, upon what 
 right do you seek admittance into this crystal 
 palace? What have you done to prove your 
 ability, your skill and your intrinsic worth? 
 What claim can you present to us that shall 
 entitle you to an admission here? I know your 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 137 
 
 history. You once had most brilliant oppor- 
 tunities to conceive and erect just such Tem- 
 ple as this; but you permitted your opportuni- 
 ties to pass by unused, your powers to crumble 
 into clay and your right hand to “lose her cun- 
 ning.” You have allowed another race to chain 
 you in degraded slavery for two hundred and 
 fifty years, and now that you are free and have 
 been enjoying your liberty for thirty years, 
 what evidence can you produce to prove your 
 fitness to partake of all these rarities and to 
 move in the circle of my learned and polished 
 friends? 
 
 'Tis true, I believe that you are advancing; 
 that you have done much to elevate yourself; 
 but, friend, do you hope to reach in the brief 
 period of thirty years that dazzling height unto 
 which my friends and T have been diligently 
 climbing, for lo! these many centuries? Go 
 thou! Begin rather at the foot of the hill 
 v here I began ; toil night and day and cease not 
 until you have achieved some great thing 
 whereby you may earn my admiration and 
 prove to me your worthiness, and then will I 
 swing wide these gates of pearl and bid you 
 welcome!’’ Is not this language natural? Is 
 
138 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 it not in harmony with human nature? Ah, 
 then. Black Man, abuse not, curse not, despise 
 not your former masters because they have 
 hitherto debarred you from positions for which 
 you have vainly sought. These whites who 
 have once held you bound in iron bands, are 
 a proud, high-minded and powerful people. 
 They admire courage and ambition, and will 
 give them due recognition; but, on the other 
 hand, they despise cowardice and weakness, 
 and will trample them under foot. Show them 
 once that you have spirit and progressiveness, 
 and they will honor you; but exhibit only your 
 lower and degraded qualities and they never 
 will recognize you. And this is just as it 
 should be. For my part, I do not wish to be 
 taken for one whit more than I am; I do not 
 desire to be carried into great places which 
 my powers are too weak to maintain ; I do not 
 care to be carried on the shoulders of others 
 into glittering palaces I do not deserve. Most 
 assuredly, I want to be recognized according to 
 my true worth: if this is great, I shall expect 
 great things; but, if this is small, I shall ex- 
 pect only small things. The sentiment and 
 the verdict of the world are not so wrong, after 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 139 
 
 all. We all join in and declare that the Eng- 
 lish peoples are at the front of our marching 
 columns, and if the matter was looked into, 
 you will find that they are more meritorious 
 and have done more for mankind than the oth- 
 er races. If the world by silent sanction 
 agrees that an individual or a race should be 
 honored and should be regarded as the leader 
 or leaders of others; rest assured that there is 
 some intrinsic value in that individual or that 
 race which the world has almost instinctively 
 discovered. True, “there is many a flower that 
 is born to blush unseen and to waste its sweet- 
 ness on the desert air;” but, in such cases the 
 flower has not been ignored or misunderstood, 
 it has simply been unknown. The world can- 
 not pass its opinion until the subject be placed 
 before its scrutinizing eye, its practiced ear 
 and its throbbing heart. Hence, we all are gen- 
 erally recognized according to our several abil- 
 ities; and this ought to satisfy the most of us. 
 Therefore, we have no right to blame any one 
 for our present dependent condition; but, if 
 we are inclined to be cynical, and must blame 
 somebody, why, blame ourselves. Here, a 
 question presents itself to me and may pre- 
 
140 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 sent itself to others; hence, I will state it and 
 expect an answer. “Mr. Writer, you say that 
 the Negro has no reason to blame the white 
 man for overcoming him and using him as a 
 tool, while he was doing nothing for himself; 
 how is it now when the Negro is trying to do 
 something for himself and his country, the 
 white man prevents him and treats him un- 
 fairly?” In other words: “Why does the white 
 man mob and lynch the Negro? Why does he 
 cower and intimidate him and debar him from 
 all the most profitable and honorable positions 
 in the country?” 
 
 Here is my answer. The Negro has long 
 ago lost his reputation in the eyes of 
 the white man. For many years he was 
 considered no better than a good mule or 
 a faithful dog, in the white man’s estima- 
 tion. Now, after emancipation, the colored 
 man was made a citizen, with all the rights 
 and privileges pertaining to that estate. And 
 right here, I will say that this giving of citi- 
 zenship to this people when they were unpre- 
 pared for its duties or unable to protect them- 
 selves in its exercise and when the govern- 
 ment itself was unable or was unwilling to 
 
Medes and Persians. 141 
 
 protect them, was, to my mind, one of the 
 greatest mistakes of our country. The Negroes 
 have gained nothing by the right of suffrage 
 except a great deal of excitement, some little 
 experience, a few dollars for trading off some 
 of their votes and a few inferior offices; but by 
 it they have lost the lives of some of their best 
 men and have been beaten, frightened, driven 
 off from their homes and have gained the 
 enmity of their white neighbors. It is there- 
 fore decidedly my opinion that a gradual ad- 
 mission into full citizenship according to the 
 advancing intelligence and courage of our 
 people, would have prevented all this clash and 
 conflict between the races and would have 
 tended to produce harmony and prosperity 
 throughout the South. But, returning to my 
 answer above, I say that the Negroes, hav- 
 ing been given the ballot, the white 
 man determined that they should never 
 enjoy it in such manner as to get the 
 reins of government into their own hands. 
 From this determination of the white man 
 to keep the Negro out of the management of 
 the government, came most of the whipping, 
 clubbing and shooting that were received by 
 
142 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 the blacks at the hands of the whites. Now, 
 I do not think that the whites thus mal- 
 treated the Negro because they actually 
 hated him and wanted to destroy him; but 
 they treated him thus because they thought 
 that the Negro was out of his place when he 
 had business at the ballot-box or was seated 
 in official capacity. And he was out of his 
 place; for no man of any race fresh from the 
 gall and yoke of bondage, is intelligent 
 enough or manly enough to have the power 
 of the ballot placed into his hands. Those 
 members of our race, to-day, who have no bet- 
 ter sense than to vote a certain ticket be- 
 cause Mr. White Man tells him to vote it, or 
 who have no more “sand in their craws” than 
 to vote for a certain candidate because Mr. 
 White Man threatens to turn him out of a 
 job, if he does not so vote, have no more right 
 with the ballot than a Chinaman has in the 
 Presidential chair. But, we have been learn- 
 ing politics for thirty years and if some of us 
 are not yet fit for the exercise of the right of 
 suffrage, what think you of fitness immediate- 
 ly after the war? The hang of it is, some 
 how or other the Negro, when emancipated, 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 143 
 
 got it into liis head that this land and gov- 
 ernment belonged by rights to him and that 
 he could step at once from the auction-block 
 into the White House. He did not know that 
 he --«<■ v-u- only a baby and that it was neces- 
 i.n to grow and gather strength he- 
 lm h- mild run around and play with other 
 ‘•’dldren, and furthermore, that it would take 
 as for hi, 10 mature and be able to come in- 
 to contact with men. 1 think the colored people 
 were simply misled into this folly by the gov- 
 ernment which made them full-fledged citizens 
 long before they had feathers. Well, I do not 
 blame the government and, of course, 1 do not 
 blame the colored people for their innocent 
 presumption. For, the situation was new to 
 all concerned, and it was very natural that 
 mistakes could have easily been made. So, in 
 a word, the entire treatment of the Negro was 
 caused and kept up by the fact that he de- 
 manded too much in the beginning, before 
 he, as a race, could maintain his desired 
 position. The Negro wanted as big a place in 
 the government as the white man; and the 
 white man was determined that the Negro 
 would never reach his desires under the past 
 
144 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and present circumstances. The Negro, there- 
 fore, was “knocked out” and the white man 
 still holds his own, the same as ever. Person- 
 ally, I do not blame the white man; the Ne- 
 gro was too fast, and did not present himself 
 in the proper attitude. 
 
 Well, how about lynching in these latter 
 days? I object to lynching because it 
 generates a disrespect for and a lack of 
 confidence in the law of the land which 
 should always maintain its power and 
 majest.y. T object to it because it is un- 
 lawful and unconstitutional. I object to it 
 because of the danger. of putting a supposed 
 criminal to death on insufficient evidence, and 
 upon the passionate decision of an excited and 
 unreasoning mob. I object to it especially if 
 one race is lynched for crimes which are passed 
 unheeded if committed by members of anoth- 
 er race. Keeping in mind these objections, I 
 will say that, if it is right to put a man to 
 death at all, for any crime, lynching, provided 
 that the real criminal is lynched, and lawful 
 hanging, are nearly about the same in my view, 
 and, perhaps, in God’s sight, there is no dif- 
 ference between them. A sheriff springs the 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 145 
 
 trap and the condemned man is hurled into 
 an awful eternity, and the witnesses retire 
 with a sigh of relief. Now, this sheriff has in- 
 tentionally and deliberately killed a human 
 being. What right had this sheriff to kill this 
 man? O, he was authorized by a warrant of 
 execution signed by a judge before whom the 
 criminal was tried in open court and con- 
 victed by a jury of twelve men. Is that so? 
 But who gave that judge and this jury the 
 right and authority to decide that a man 
 should die? O, they are only executing the 
 law of the land which says that a man who 
 commits a certain crime shall be sentenced to 
 die, after a certain process of investigation. 
 Is that so? But, pray, what do you mean by 
 the law of the land, and whence does it get 
 its authority to put a man to death? By the 
 law of the land, we mean our Constitution and 
 the Acts of our Legislatures, both of which are 
 constructed by representatives elected by the 
 people: hence, the law of the land derives its 
 force and authority from the people. Very 
 well. Now, suppose the people of any given 
 community appoint a commitee to investigate 
 certain offensive crimes, and they find the 
 
146 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 criminal and he is adjudged by that commit- 
 tee or by that community to be guilty of a 
 crime that is punishable with death, and that 
 the community in convention assembled, 
 strings up the criminal and puts him to death; 
 is this not done by the people, and if, as you 
 say, hanging is done by the authority of the 
 people, what then is the difference? In princi- 
 ple they seem to be the same; but in policy 
 they are not. , Lynching is contrary to the 
 general law of the land, which the lynchers 
 themselves have sworn or consented to obey; 
 and it is, therefore, degrading to the country 
 and ought to be stopped. I heartily agree with 
 you, my friend, lynching is a great evil and 
 ought to be stopped. But the lynching of 
 black men by white men will never be stopped 
 until the Negroes learn to give the whites no 
 cause for lynching, and the feeling between 
 the races of the South is changed for the bet- 
 ter. In the meantime, it will be found to be 
 as natural for a man to strike in defense of 
 the virtue of his sister or his daughter or his 
 wife, as it is for the sun to shine, the winds 
 to blow or the rains to fall. The lynching 
 of Negroes just because they are Negroes, 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 147 
 
 if such there be, will cease at no great distant 
 day; but, lynching in general, which, at its 
 worst, can be nothing else than murder in some 
 one of its forms, will perhaps continue until 
 the last trump shall sound. So, let us not 
 grieve because now and then some trifling 
 Negro is found swinging to a limb; but let us 
 rather concern ourselves with those deeper 
 questions which lie at the bottom of many 
 other evils beside that of choking men. For, 
 mark you, the Negroes’ souls are being choked, 
 which, indeed, is a far greater calamity than 
 the choking of their throats. Now, reader, 
 do not imagine that I place but little stress 
 upon the lynching of my people or the lynch- 
 ing of any people; for, if you think so, you are 
 badly mistaken. In fact, I despise lynching; 
 and especially that lynching which is resorted 
 to, because the victim is a Negro. For, I be- 
 lieve that if lynching is good for one, it is 
 good for all ; and, if it is bad for one, it is bad 
 for all. And, furthermore, I heartily depre- 
 cate the lynching of any man, however trifling 
 he may be. 
 
 But, I am now concerned with a subject 
 which is of far more importance to the Ne- 
 
148 
 
 Ham and Dixie , 
 
 gro than that of lynching; because this sub- 
 ject will tend to remove those conditions 
 which now render Negro-lynching possible. 
 Therefore, I dismiss for the present any fur- 
 ther discussion of this crime. Again, there are 
 many of us who go wild over the Separate 
 Coach Bill, because of which white people are 
 not allowed to ride with black people and 
 black people are not allowed to ride with 
 white people. Now, friends, like the mighty 
 St. Paul, I will say that “none of these things 
 move me.” Biding with a well-dressed white 
 man or white woman does not make me 
 braver, wiser or better; nor does riding with 
 a poor, ragged Negro, with a pillow-slip of 
 old clothes by his side, make me any the worse. 
 Another thing: I once thought that the style 
 in which some of our people travel, was dis- 
 graceful and I confess that I was at that time 
 fool enough to feel ashamed of them. But, 
 now, I feel my “heart new opened,” and I 
 speak the truth when I say that I am ashamed 
 of no honest and brave Negro, however ragged 
 and uncouth he may appear. I am in this 
 world 'to respect and honor my people, if they 
 are men and women of integrity, as long as 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 149 
 
 I draw breath, and can move a muscle. And 
 the time shall never come when I shall 
 slight one of my blood simply because he is 
 poor and ragged and dirty. He is a Negro, and, 
 if honest and brave and true, he is as grand 
 as any prince in Europe, or any millionaire in 
 America. But here is what I am ashamed of 
 and what really makes my stomach crawl, and 
 that is this: to see a well-dressed Negro swell 
 who spends one-lialf of his life in a white 
 man's kitchen, or around a white man’s table 
 or shaving a white man’s face, and who is 
 simple enough to believe he is a white man 
 and, therefore, despises his race and wants 
 to ride in a white car and crave to marry a 
 white woman, and has done absolutely noth- 
 ing to elevate his race, but has spent his whole 
 life in trying to prove the inferiority and 
 degradation of the Negro. Now, if this does 
 not fit anybody; just consider it an imaginary 
 case and pay no attention to it. Before I leave 
 this point, I will say that the Negroes, of 
 course, ought to have exactly equal accom- 
 modations in travelling as the whites; for they 
 pay the same fare and are entitled to the same 
 returns. I believe, however, that this is the 
 
150 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 intention of the law; but I am sorry to say 
 that all the roads do not comply with its in- 
 structions in this respect. 
 
 How about the prohibition of intermarriages 
 between the races? That is alright. But, it 
 does not go far enough; for it ought to prohibit 
 white trash from running after Negro wenches 
 and Negro wenches from running after white 
 trash. 1 am in favor of seeing what the full- 
 blooded Negro can do, before the mixing-up 
 process begins. In regard to the white man’s 
 debarring the Negro from positions of honor, 
 T will say that, as a race, we have not yet 
 shown our competency for anything very great. 
 There are few individuals amongst us who 
 are worthy of honorable positions; but the 
 race is not judged by them. It is judged rather 
 by the average; and our average Negro is 
 not yet competent to hold places requiring 
 large experience and immense responsibility. 
 Our average Negro is careless, irresponsible 
 and generally unfit for the requirements of 
 important matters upon which are hinged, per- 
 haps, millions of property and thousands of 
 lives. Of course, this comes from the fact that 
 we have not been trained to business methods 
 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 151 
 
 and have not been accustomed to the weight 
 of heavy responsibilities. But, I am not now 
 explaining the causes of our present state; I 
 am only showing what our present capacity is, 
 and the result of it. Besides the foregoing 
 reason, the white man. as I have said before, 
 has long ago become disgusted with, and lost 
 confidence in. the ability of the Negro, and is 
 now generally unwilling to give him credit for 
 what he really can do. You all understand 
 that. I have acquaintances, to-day, that may 
 have pretty fair ability; but, some time in the 
 past, they have acted so shabbily that I have 
 lost confidence in them, and now I scarcely 
 believe that they are capable of even one 
 worthy act. So it is with the white man and 
 the Negro. Furthermore, the black man has 
 not yet presented himself in the proper at- 
 titude before the white people of the South, 
 in order that he may obtain what he requires 
 and what he deserves. As I will give my 
 opinion on this line in some other portion of 
 this volume, I will forego any further discus- 
 sion on this point, at the present time. On the 
 whole, we have hitherto made a sad mistake in 
 sizing up the position we hold in this country. 
 
152 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 This is in truth the White Man’s Country and 
 the White Man's government and we are only 
 a scion grafted into this white trunk ; and it is 
 yet a question before us whether this scion 
 will live and grow, or whether it will wither 
 and drop off. This whole question, I think, 
 will depend upon the constitution, the hardi- 
 hood, the vitality and the adaptability of this 
 young scion. We have already shown our 
 toughness to take punishment. Now, the world 
 wants to see the power and feel the force of 
 our right hand blows for a place and name 
 among the civilized nations of the earth. 
 Some of my colored readers may not like it 
 because I say that this is the white man’s 
 country; but it is his, all the same, and any 
 puffing to the contrary does not alter the sit- 
 uation. The white man has discovered this 
 country, has conquered it from the Indians 
 and has developed it and made it wliat it is. 
 Hence, it is his by discovery, by conquest and 
 by labor. And, he has not only made the 
 country what it is and is therefore entitled to 
 it; but, indirectly, he has made the Negro 
 what he is and, by analogy, ought to be en- 
 titled to liim(?) But, of course, I do not hold 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 153 
 
 any such foolish doctrine as that. Now, then, 
 Mr. Black Man, what are you going to do or 
 say about it? “Well,” says some one, “we Ne- 
 groes, have toiled in the South for the white 
 man, and our muscles have made the South 
 what it is, and, therefore, we ought to be en- 
 titled to the South, if no more.” Very good 
 logic, sir; but, not deep enough. How could 
 you claim what you have earned for the white 
 man, when your ancestors either sold you or 
 allowed you to enter into slavery and silently 
 consented by action, if not by words, to the 
 terms of slavery, and thus, making you your- 
 selves the property of the white man? And, 
 if you were the property of the white man; 
 how could you, being property, own property 
 in your own right? You, my brother,, were a 
 chattel when you aided in building the South; 
 and, as a chattel, you had “no right that a 
 white man was bound to respect.” But, you 
 will say, “Who made us chattels?” “Did not 
 God make us men?” True, very true. God 
 made you men; but you threw away your 
 manhood, and men made you chattels. How 
 is that? Again, some will say that the con- 
 stitution of the United States made us citi 
 
154 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 zens and, by virtue of that instrument, we 
 have as much right to this country as Mr. 
 White Man. So we have; but a right to a 
 thing and the power to hold, maintain and 
 enjoy that right are two different things. Be- 
 sides, white men made the constitution which 
 gave you this right and can also amend it to- 
 morrow so that you will have no right. Then, 
 where will you be? Black men, let us under- 
 stand our situation and govern ourselves ac- 
 cordingly. We, as yet, have nothing to boast 
 of; and the sooner we understand it, the bet- 
 ter. So, be it known that this country is not 
 ours; but let us earn an equal right to it by 
 an equal effort exerted for its welfare and 
 for its development. As for myself, I always 
 want to know how I stand, what rights have 
 I, what powers, what hopes, what fears; with 
 whom have I to contend, their rights, their 
 powers and their will. Then, if 1 have rights, 
 lam willing to die for them; if I have powers, 
 I am willing to use them; if I have hopes, I 
 will try to realize them; if I have fears, I will 
 try to remove them. 
 
 But, on the other hand, if 1 have no rights, 
 I am candid enough to ask for them; if I have 
 
Medes and Persians. 
 
 155 
 
 no powers. I am patient enough to wait for 
 their acquisition or development; if I have 
 no hopes, I will endeavor to create them; if 
 I have no fears, I am hopeful and happy. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, wherein I have 
 touched upon that great people who have 
 ruled over us for more than two hundred 
 years, their manner of behavior toward us, 
 the causes and occasions of this behavior, 
 and our true relations with respect to this 
 people, I will say that it is not my intention 
 to discourage my people from cherishing a high 
 hope for the future, nor to encourage the white 
 people to glory the more in their present posi- 
 tion. By this course I have taken, I trust that 
 the black man may see his error in the past 
 and be willing to present himself in the future 
 in a more becoming manner; and that the 
 white man, because of this better presentment 
 of the Negro, may realize the true worth of 
 the race over which he has long ruled, and 
 be willing, thenceforth, to accord him that 
 place for which he seeks and for which he 
 will, no doubt, prove himself capable. Both 
 races have undoubtedly made mistakes in the 
 past, and now, indeed, it is high time that they 
 
156 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 both should call themselves back and be glad 
 to do all within their several powers to gen- 
 erate that harmonious feeling between them- 
 selves which shall certainly redound to the 
 prosperity of the South, the welfare of our 
 entire country and the glory of a righteous 
 God. We all have our sins and commit our 
 errors, and we should, therefore, be far more 
 on the alert to feel and pick out the beam that 
 is in our own eye, than to chastise our broth- 
 er because of the mote that is in his eye. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SHOOTING IN THE AIR. 
 
 It has been seen that the white man has 
 held sway over us for many years and we have 
 no right to complain about it because it is the 
 work of our own hands; or, in other words 
 it is the result of our own negligence and 
 triflingness. But, since the war, the colored 
 man has done much to elevate himself and 
 to show to the world that he has yet some 
 spark of manhood. Not only has the Negro 
 himself taken measures to ameliorate his con- 
 dition; but others have interested themselves 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 157 
 
 and have given their advice and expressed 
 their opinions as to how he shall be benefited. 
 Hence, there have been several plans set forth 
 to solve the so-called Negro problem; but that 
 venerable problem is still before us with its 
 wonted vitality. I shall now proceed to state 
 some of these plans which have been formu- 
 lated for the purpose of lifting up the Negro, 
 but which have utterly failed to accomplish 
 the end whereto they have been devised. Some 
 of these plans have died before they were 
 born ; some were born and died in early in- 
 fancy; others lived and matured but died and 
 bore no fruit and one is still living in letter, 
 but dead in spirit and will remain dead until 
 the trump of a New South shall resurrect it 
 into life eternal. 
 
 One of the first plans thought of but died 
 before it was born, was the plan of Mis- 
 cegenation whereby the Negro and the 
 white man would so intermix that in a few 
 generations, the former, being the weaker 
 race, would ultimately be eliminated and thus 
 the country would effectively get rid of the 
 Negro and nobody would be injured by the 
 operation. This plan has never been actually 
 
158 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 attempted or put forth into action; but it has 
 been thought of and written about by certain 
 wise persons who, in this way, contemplated 
 a solution of the Negro Question. This scheme, 
 if carried out, would have been, perhaps, a 
 * pretty sure method of getting rid of both the 
 problem and the Negro, as well. It would 
 have been very much like a doctor curing his 
 patient by giving him certain kinds of medi- 
 cines which will produce death, and, thus, 
 he will get rid of both the disease and the 
 patient. While the theory of miscegenation 
 has never been put into any systematic prac- 
 tice; it seems that many of the degraded 
 classes of both whites and blacks have un- 
 dertaken of themselves to carry out its 
 mandates. And I verily believe that, if these 
 classes had been turned, aloose upon each oth- 
 er in this direction, there would soon have 
 been left neither Negro or white man; but 
 rather a low and degraded mixture of both — 
 the scraj)S and drippings of two great races. 
 But so repugnant was this idea of mixing 
 up, that the legislatures of the various South- 
 ern States, fearing something might happen on 
 this line, enacted laws prohibiting inter- 
 
Shooting in the Air. 159 
 
 marriages between the whites and blacks 
 and, thus, legally, placed a quietus upon the 
 operations of this now exploded theory. 
 
 As I have said before, I do not object to the 
 law prohibiting intermarriages; for I am op- 
 posed to the Negro’s mixture with any race 
 until he shall first have proven his ability 
 and competency, as a pure, undiluted and un- 
 adulterated Negro. Of course the time will 
 come when it shall be regarded wrong and 
 inexpedient to prohibit any man or any 
 woman from giving vent to his or her own 
 individual inclinations, be the object of their 
 affectons what it may. But the law is wise, 
 for the present, as a check upon certain inap- 
 propriate tendencies to which the society of 
 the South is just now liable. Miscegenation 
 was not only unpractical, unnatural and repug- 
 nant; but it was also absurd and unreasona- 
 ble. For, it is the height of folly to attempt 
 to ameliorate the Negro’s condition by chang- 
 ing the Negro into a white man. The coun- 
 try. by this method, may get rid of the Negro 
 and the trouble of trying to improve him; 
 but when the thing is done, where is the Ne- 
 gro? Is the Negro made better? No. Why 
 
160 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 not? Because there is no Negro. In order to 
 ascertain whether or not any being is made 
 better, there must be at least two states of the 
 same being compared with each other. There 
 must be a given state taken as a standard of 
 measurement, and another state of the same 
 being with which the standard is compared 
 in order to ascertain whether or not this 
 latter state is better. Now, the Negro’s con- 
 dition, at the close of the war, was the state 
 which was taken as a standard of measure- 
 ment. But, according to the miscegenation 
 scheme, there would not have been a second 
 state of the Negro which was to be compared 
 with that standard. Why? Because there 
 would not have been any Negro to have any 
 state. Now, if there was no state of the Ne- 
 gro, at all, there could not have been any bet- 
 ter state of the Negro; and, if the Negro did 
 not enjoy a better state, he was not made 
 any better by the operation. Hence, this 
 scheme would not have made the Negro bet- 
 ter and, if its originators thought it would, 
 they were very illogical indeed; and if they 
 did not think it would have made him better, 
 then they were selfish, for then their object 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 161 
 
 was to get rid* of the Negro and to save the 
 country the trouble of training him up and 
 making him an intelligent and worthy citizen. 
 
 For all these reasons, this plan utterly 
 failed and it is now buried forever and for- 
 gotten even by those who once thought it 
 plausible. 
 
 The next step I will mention that has 
 been taken to give the Negro a push up 
 the hill, was that of Special Legislation 
 by the general government for and in behalf 
 of the Negro. First, the colored man was 
 led to believe that “Uncle Sam’’ was going 
 to be the common dispensary of all good 
 things, including even that famous and fabu- 
 lous “40-acre-and-a-mule”-gift of which so 
 much has been said. Now, a gift can be made 
 either an excellent thing*, an indifferent 
 thing or an injurious thing. I may give a 
 horse to A, who is a bright and honest youth, 
 and this horse may become the source of A’s 
 subsequent wealth. I may give another horse 
 to B. who is a kind of “happy-go-lucky,” 
 harmless and unambitious sort of fellow, and 
 this horse may not be of any practical benefit 
 at all to him. In other words, the death or 
 
162 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 disposal of said horse may leave him the same 
 shiftless creature he was at first. Again, I 
 may give a third horse to C, a wild, wicked and 
 reckless young man, and he may ride the horse 
 on an expedition of robbery and murder, and, 
 in this act, may be killed. So it depends very 
 largely upon the recipient of the gift as to 
 whether or not it will be a blessing or a curse. 
 Now, then, suppose Congress, immediately 
 after the war, had enacted a law giving to each 
 Negro a mule and forty acres of land; how 
 many Negroes do you suppose, with the busi- 
 ness experience they then had, would have 
 taken the proper advantage of this gift? 
 Not many, I will warrant you. In all 
 probability, some sharp white “Cracker” would 
 have traded away that mule, and some 
 cross-road grocer or city saloonist would have 
 “worked” a mortgage on that forty-acre tract 
 of land; and, soon, the bulk of this valuable 
 gift would have been in the hands of the white 
 man, and the persons for whom it was intended 
 would have been left precisely in the same 
 material condition as before, only a little 
 more sad and a trifle more wise. Again, 
 this gift, instead of producing a whole 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 163 
 
 some effect upon tlie energies of our peo- 
 ple, would have been like pouring down 
 the throat of an invalid a swallow of liquor, 
 which would excite and exhilerate his sensi- 
 bilities for a short time and make him believe 
 that he is well again; but, after the reaction 
 and the collapse incident thereto, he w r ould 
 fall back upon his couch exhausted in body 
 and depressed in mind. Merely giving a man 
 something without that man’s first having a 
 capacity to retain, reproduce and utilize that 
 something, is simply dipping up water out of 
 the ocean and pouring it into a stream, for the 
 curiosity of seeing it run back into the same 
 ocean again. Nothing has been created, 
 changed, enlarged or bettered; the ocean only 
 retains its former volume and the stream is not 
 increased. A gift, therefore, may be a happy 
 surprise, a pleasurable token of friendship, a 
 something with which to curry favor or a 
 worthy act of charity; but it is not the thing 
 whereby to improve the condition of an indo- 
 lent. inexperienced and incompetent individual 
 or people. There is, however, nothing better or 
 more encouraging than a little necessary help, 
 when given to one who appreciates it, who un- 
 
164 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 derstands what to do with it, and who has the 
 will to use it in the proper way. So, the time to 
 help our people is when it is found that they are 
 earnestly, honestly and intelligently putting 
 forth every effort possible to help themselves. 
 This time will soon come, and then one of the 
 grandest opportunities will be afforded man- 
 kind to aid in bettering the condition of this 
 struggling people. But the best aid that can 
 be given to any one or to any race, and the aid 
 that the Negro needs, is not cash and property; 
 but it is smply removing alfr restraints and 
 barriers from the path of progress and open 
 unto him any position of honor for which he 
 has diligently prepared himself. From the 
 foregoing, it is seen that mere giving the Negro 
 real estate and personal goods without increas- 
 ing his capacity and thrift, could never have 
 solved our great question; because it did not 
 aim to make the Negro better or more able to 
 cope with the great task before him. 
 
 ^ Again, there were some who clamored for a 
 
 legislation by Congress tending to protect the 
 Negro in the exercise of those iimlienable 
 rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution 
 of the United States. Suppose, then, Congress 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 165 
 
 had passed such a law, and, in accordance 
 therewith, had sent soldiers armed with mus- 
 ket and sword into Southern territory to pro- 
 tect the Negro voter at the ballot-box, and to 
 intimidate the Southern whites so that they in 
 turn could not intimidate the Negroes. Think 
 you that this act of the Government would 
 have rendered the Negro fit for the due exer- 
 cise of those political rights to which he was 
 entitled by law? 
 
 See here a moment. Here are two boys 
 and a man, A, B and C. A is weak, untrained 
 and timid; B is strong, brave and active; and 
 the man.C, is, of course, stronger and possessed 
 of more influence than either of the boys. A 
 wants to get his ball which was given to him 
 by 0, and which now lies on the ground at the 
 feet of B. B does not want A to get the ball 
 because he is angry at C for giving it to A, and 
 also because he thinks that he himself has the 
 better right to, and should have the exclusive 
 use of, the ball. A does not know very much 
 about the true value of the ball, neither does 
 he know how to use it properly; but, being 
 urged by the others standing around who also 
 have certain axes to grind, he makes a feeble 
 
Ham and Dixie. 
 
 166 
 
 attempt to get the ball. But B, being so much 
 the stronger and the more experienced, pre- 
 vents him from getting anything like a full 
 possession of the ball. A is now in a terrible 
 dilemma: he is urged to get the ball by those 
 who do not want to help him; and, then, 
 whenever he attempts to get it, B would kick 
 and strike and stretch his eyes so, that, to tell 
 the truth, A is actually afraid to proceed any 
 farther with his rights. Now, at this point, C 
 comes up and holds B back so that A can get 
 get the ball without any harm or danger. A, 
 taking advantage of this opportunity, snatches 
 the ball and begins to play with it, tossing it 
 up and catching it, kicking it backwards and 
 forwards, and cutting up all sorts of childish 
 freaks with it. But, take notice that while A 
 is thus enjoying himself in the superlative 
 degree, being under the impression that every 
 day is Sunday, and while C is doing all the 
 hard and dangerous part of the work for him; 
 he himself is not thinking of fortifying his 
 resources or gaining strength or developing 
 courage and skill, either for the purpose of 
 using the ball to better advantage or protect- 
 ing himself in the use thereof. He is simply 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 167 
 
 floating' in grease, and that is all lie is doing. 
 Presently C, coming to the conclusion that A 
 must surely by this time be strong and brave 
 enough to defend himself, and that B has now 
 decided to allow A to have a share in the use 
 of the ball, and, besides, because he has some- 
 thing else of more importance to look after, 
 loosens his hold upon B and goes off to attend 
 to other matters. What takes place now? Do 
 the boys get on together smoothly? 2s ot a bit 
 of it. Do you suppose that B is fool enough 
 to allow A to “float,” while he himself is out 
 in the cold, and now there is no wall between 
 him and A? Why, no! Is A now better pre- 
 pared to protect himself in the use of his 
 ball, and to meet B manfully and equally 
 upon the battle-field, so that a peaceful so- 
 lution and compromise may result? Of 
 course not. Then what is going to be done? 
 Wait and you will see. B, although very 
 quiet while held back by the strong arms 
 of C, now raging with mortification and 
 humiliation, looks about him, and spies A 
 playing carelesssly with the ball. This 
 very sight maddens him, and, immediately 
 stepping up to A, accosts him thus, in bold and 
 
168 
 
 Ham and Dine. 
 
 rough accents: “See hyar, pardner, I reck’n 
 you liev tossed thet tliar ball around ’bout 
 long enuff. You liev had a fat thing while 
 lliet darned, brass-buttoned and blue-coated 
 son-of-a-C was hyar a ’tendin’ to other people’s 
 business. But T reck’n yer time has come. So, 
 skin out o’ this; and be blamed quick about it!” 
 And, stepping up nearer to A, lie kicks and 
 strikes him to his heart's content; and, return- 
 ing to his place with the ball, takes out a 
 cigarette and puffs it and looks out placidly 
 and dreamingly on the distant lanscape. Poor 
 A is now sitting down at the foot of the hill, 
 at the top of which we have just now left B. 
 He is sobbing lowly and the tears are trickling 
 down his dirty face, and he is nearly half-dead 
 with fright and despair. 
 
 This picture, my friends, is only a miniature 
 counterpart of what would have actually hap 
 pened if the United States had filled the South 
 with troops and protected the Negroes in the 
 exercise of their rights, as some had desired 
 them to do, and as they did attempt to do in a 
 certain way, which they wisely abandoned. 
 Thus we readily see that governmental pro- 
 tection of the Negro would have done no 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 169 
 
 good; because it tended to paralyze the 
 energies and weaken the powers and les- 
 sen the experience of the Negro, and, 
 at the same time, to arouse and kindle 
 the hatred of the South toward the Gov- 
 ernment, and to increase its prejudice toward, 
 and its contempt for, the Negroes. The Gov- 
 ernment would have finally grown tired of this 
 protecting business; would have withdrawn 
 her troops and left the Negro to the mercy of 
 the hot-blooded Southerner, and thus the con- 
 dition of affairs would have been far worse 
 than ever before. This scheme, therefore, pro- 
 ceeded upon two erroneous principles: First, 
 it undertook to force the sentiment of the 
 South into certain channels against its will; 
 and, secondly, it treated the Negro as if he was 
 a mere dummy, and, thus, cut off from him all 
 opportunities to test the situation for himself 
 and to experiment with his own resources. In 
 a word, the scheme totally ignored the princi- 
 ples of human nature, and seemed to have 
 labored under the belief that legislation can 
 create sentiment, deal out capacity and regu- 
 late the prejudices and passions of men. No 
 law can force a free, brave and enlightened 
 
170 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 people to think and act against its will; neither 
 can any law force an ignorant and timid 
 people to maintain an equality with a superior 
 race. These things must be left to the inner 
 workings and movements of the human heart, 
 and they will as surely adjust themselves as 
 the revolution of the planets and the laws of 
 gravitation. 
 
 Again, supposing the Civil Rights Bill, 
 which enabled the Negro to enter any public- 
 place of entertainment and receive the same 
 accommodations as the whites, had not died in 
 its infancy, what do you suppose would have 
 been the result? Do you think everything 
 would have moved on smoothly, and that the 
 Negro would have been ultimately benefited? 
 We will now see. Let the average Negro of 
 the 60’s and 70’s, fresh from the cotton-fields 
 and corn-hills of Georgia and Mississippi, or 
 any other Southern State, donned in jeans and 
 hickory, with coat untorn, new hat and creak- 
 ing shoes, shaved, combed and a few hard- 
 earned dollars in his pocket, enter Charles- 
 ton, Columbia, Atlanta, New Orleans or other 
 city of the South, on matters of business. Let 
 him go up to the desk of a first-class hotel, 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 171 
 
 enroll his name, pay his bills and take his 
 rooms on the second or third floor, where the 
 gentle breezes may kiss his ebony cheeks and 
 pass through the rigid curls of his shining- 
 hair. Let him enter the dining-hall, carefully 
 examine the bill of fare, make his choicest 
 selections, give his peremptory orders, settle 
 himself down, brace himself back, push up his 
 coat-sleeves and prepare for the deglutition of 
 an extra square meal. After despatching the 
 contents of the dishes before him, wherein he 
 has demonstrated his capacity for taking in 
 food, let him enter the saloon, quaff his cham- 
 pagne, puff his Havanas, and then address him- 
 self to his luxurious couch where sluggish 
 Lethe soon holds him fast in her death like 
 grip and brings before his mental vision happy 
 scenes of Paradise and the New Jerusalem, in 
 which blessed state he longs to dwell through- 
 out all the rolling cycles of eternity. The scene 
 is indeed beautiful, and, O, how our hero 
 must enjoy it! But, let him sleep in peace. 
 Disturb him not. Let the curtain fall upon 
 him, and softly retrace thy footsteps and leave 
 him locked in solitary bliss. 
 
172 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Now, behold the darker and truer side of the 
 question before us. Look! The curtain quiv- 
 ers! Some one is pulling' at the peaceful dra- 
 peries or is lingering the cords which give 
 them motion. The curtain rises slowly; and 
 now the foot of the stage is exposed to view! 
 The curtain is up and we gaze upon another 
 scene. It is dining hour in one of our large 
 hotels of the South. The hungry guests are 
 pouring in from all sides and crowding around 
 the tables. All classes and conditions are 
 there — wealthy planters from the sugar dis- 
 tricts of Louisiana, red-faced ranchmen from 
 the broad prairies of Texas, high-spirited cav- 
 aliers from the rice plantations of the Caro- 
 linas, and hot-blooded scions from the aristo- 
 cratic families of Georgia — all mingle in social 
 glee amid the ring of knives and the rattle of 
 dishes. The meal is over. The men are rising 
 from their seats and are beginning to pass out 
 into the adjoining halls and lobbies. In doing 
 so, one bright-eyed youngster with raven locks 
 dangling carelessly over his brow and a mis- 
 chievous smile playing around the corners of 
 his lips, happens to stumble over a Negro who 
 is still munching away at his meal in a 
 
173 
 
 Shooting in the Air. 
 
 secluded corner of the room and hitherto un- 
 observed. “Well, Jim Crow, what are you 
 doing- here?” are the words that ring out 
 sharply from the lips of this devilish youth. 
 At these words, the ladies, having now for the 
 first time noticed the Negro, rush from the 
 room with their hands thrown up in horror and 
 disgust; while the gentlemen look at each oth- 
 er with a cunning wink and gather around the 
 negro, who, by this time, has lost his appetite 
 and is sitting in mute silence, as huge, shining- 
 drops of perspiration find their way down his 
 sable cheeks. “Say, Bill, this is a genuine spe- 
 cimen of the ‘Massa Lincum' variety, is he 
 not?” inquires a dandy-looking swell from Co- 
 lumbia. “What shall we do with him?” he 
 asks. “This seems to be a harmless fellow, but 
 ’pears to me we ought to make an example of 
 him so that we won’t be bothered any more 
 with this blasted Civil Rights Bill,” puts in a 
 great big ranchman from Texas, as he throws 
 back a large, wide-rimmed felt over his fore- 
 head and. exposes to view a broad, red face and 
 a pair of bold, glittering eyes. “Well said, 
 Texas,” remarks a planter from Louisiana, 
 with a double watch-chain across his broad 
 
i94 
 
 Hum and l)ixie. 
 
 chest. “We’ll teach Uncle Sam that he can’t 
 come it over us in this style. Come, boys, 
 what shall we do with him? Say yer prayers, 
 nigger!” The negro is mute as a sphinx; but, 
 some how or other, there is something about 
 him that shows considerable “sand,” and he 
 does not quail worth a cent. At this point, the 
 youngster with the mischievous smile about 
 his lips, stimulated by the remarks of the older 
 men, steps up to the Negro and slaps him 
 across his face with all his might; but this 
 blow only tilts the Negro to one side. Smart- 
 ing with the keen blow he had just received, 
 the Negro springs up, stands erect and con- 
 fronts his cowardly assailants, but not retreat- 
 ing a step. “By George! boys, the v ig has got. 
 grit. Hit him agin, Dave! We wiii to ,• i the 
 black brute that Niggers are not m: to eat 
 
 with white folks.” These words are spoken 
 by the ranchman ; this time, with a sharp and 
 angry ring. This last sentence is scarcely 
 out of the Texan’s mouth before Dave had 
 kicked the Negro full under the chin, thus 
 causing him to stagger back and reel over, but 
 he did not fall. The Negro, now in full rage, 
 with clenched fists and eyes darting fire, 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 175 
 
 rushes forward and, with one blow of his 
 naked fist, lays Dave out on the floor. “Come 
 on. white men ; I can whip the last one of ye, 
 one by one. All T ask is fair play and no 
 weapons; for I am not armed.” These noble 
 words come from the quivering lips of the 
 Negro, who now stands as firm as the hills. 
 The humiliated Dave, picking himself up, and 
 now pale with anger, reaches for his hip- 
 pocket, and, although the Texan, who had now 
 begun to admire the Negro's courage, makes 
 an attempt to prevent him, he, nevertheless, 
 succeeds in drawing his six-shooter and fires. 
 The ball strikes the black hero fairly between 
 the eyes; he sways backward and forth; then 
 gradually sinks down and finally plunges for- 
 ward on the floor, with the red blood gushing 
 from the hole in his head and making a pool on 
 the thick rug on which he now lies, breathing 
 out his life in short, quick gasps. “By Gad, 
 Dave,” exclaims the noble Texan, “you 
 shouldn’t oughter pulled yer iron to sich a 
 brave feller when yoil seed that he was dead 
 game and didn't hev anything to shoot.” 
 “Well, boys, it is all over with; and I hope 
 it'll break up this damued law that tries to 
 
176 
 
 Ham and, Dixie . 
 
 make black ’uns ekal to white ’uns,” says the 
 aristocrat from Georgia. Whereupon, they all 
 pass out of the hall, leaving the body of the 
 Negro to be looked after by the hotel propri- 
 etor and the coroner. The inquest is held and 
 the verdict rendered, as follows: “Frank 
 Jones, a Negro, came to his death by a pistol 
 in the hands of Dave Singleton, a white man, 
 who fired in self-defense.” And, now, the cur- 
 tain falls and the scene passes from our view 
 and we breathe again the pure atmosphere of 
 Liberty. 
 
 Such, dear reader, is a scene drawn from 
 imagination, but describing to some extent 
 what would have really happened, if the terms 
 of the late Civil Rights Bill had been carried 
 out in the South. This enactment of Congress 
 was later found to be unconstitutional, and 
 therefore was rendered null and void. It 
 failed to accomplish one thing to elevate the 
 Negro or to make his condition more desirable; 
 simply because it attempted the impossible, 
 namely, to force the public sentiment of an 
 intelligent majority info channels through 
 which it had never run before, and which were 
 altogether out of all proportion to the social 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 177 
 
 inclinations of the South. It is always a great 
 mistake to try to compel men to think and 
 feel and act in their own private and sacred 
 domain contrary to their own native wills. 
 We should never confine the proper range and 
 exercise of any human soul, so as to have them 
 coincide with any set and prescribed rule. 
 The Southern white man has as much right to 
 keep the Negro from his table, if he so desires 
 it, as the Negro has to keep an Indian from his 
 bed. if such is his desire. In concluding the 
 discussion of special legislation for the better- 
 ment of the Negro, 1 will say bluntly that the 
 Negro needs no special legislation. All that 
 is necessary, is to treat him as a man, and not 
 as a thing. Give him the full advantages of 
 the general law- of the land, and, as fast as he 
 is capable, open to him the samp avenues that 
 are opened to any other citizen of the country. 
 Throw him upon his own resources so that he 
 may be induced to try his own wings and to 
 test his own strength. The same freedom of 
 spirit and the same voluntary flow of senti- 
 ment that I have asked for the Southern white 
 man I also ask for the Negro. I draw no line 
 between man and man. What is good for the 
 
178 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 one is good for the other; and what is cramp- 
 ing and unnatural for the other is cramping 
 and unnatural for the one. 
 
 Lastly, I do not blame those who have en- 
 deavored to obtain these special laws for the 
 Negro; nor do 1 blame the legislators or the 
 government. They have all, perhaps, advised 
 and done what they presumed to have been 
 for the best, at the time. And, now, since 
 these intended remedies have all failed to 
 accomplish anything for the black man; we 
 all, I think, have learned a valuable lesson 
 from the past and ought to be better prepared 
 to think and dictate for the future. 
 
 “Through the ages one increasing purpose runs. 
 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the process 
 of the suns.” 
 
 Another scheme for bettering the Negro’s 
 condition was that of transportation. By 
 transportation, is meant the digging up of the 
 Negro, root and branch, from the soil of the 
 South and transplanting him on the shores of 
 some strange and distant land. Several coun- 
 tries have been mentioned as possessing a 
 special adaptability for the reception and im- 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 179 
 
 provement of tlie Negro, among which, Africa, 
 Mexico, and some of the Western States, were 
 the most important. If I mistake not, this is 
 the argument of those who have favored trans- 
 portation; and, if it is not their argument, it 
 is the best that can be said for them. Here 
 it is: — This is the white man's country. He 
 discovered it, he cultivated it, lie built its 
 cities, laid out its railways, launched its 
 steamers, makes and executes its laws, man- 
 ages its courts, and, in a word, controls its 
 entire machinery. He has the power to lift 
 up whomsoever he will and to thrust down 
 whomsoever displeaseth him. He can destroy 
 and can defend. His arm is all powerful, and 
 it can strike terrific blows upon the head of 
 the ill-fated Negro that chances to arouse his 
 righteous indignation. His mandate is the 
 practical gospel of this world, and no man 
 with a black face dares to dispute his claims. 
 He can set bounds for the black man, and say. 
 “Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.” He 
 is, indeed, the chief among ten thousand and 
 altogether — a nigger-hater. Furthermore, this 
 is not only the case to-day and to-morrow and 
 the next day; but it will continue to be the 
 
180 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 case on the Southern soil until Gabriel, with 
 one foot upon sea and the other upon land, 
 shall sound his awful trump and swear that 
 Time shall be no longer. Thus, the Negro, cut 
 off from all avenues, debarred from all priv- 
 ileges, robbed of all his rights, environed on 
 all sides, burdened with almost unbearable 
 loads, confronted with hideous monsters, no- 
 where to go for help, no eye to pity and no 
 arm to save, is doomed, as long as he remains 
 in the South, to eke out a miserable and hope- 
 less existence; and, therefore, his only tem- 
 poral salvation is to leave this country and 
 wend his way to some land of peaceful bliss 
 where he can sit. under his own vine and fig 
 tree and roll on the grass and puff cheroots to 
 his heart’s delight. Moreover, in a new coun- 
 try, the Negro, having no prejudice with which 
 to encounter, no white man to kick him out of 
 a first-class car, no hotel from which he may be 
 unceremoniously ejected, and no office which 
 is too high or too rich or too honorable for him 
 to reach, has only to bask in the eternal 
 brightness of his own splendor and reach out 
 his hands for the munificent gifts of nature 
 and they shall be filled. — Such, perhaps, is the 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 181 
 
 best argument that can be put forth by those 
 who have advised and still do advise the trans- 
 portation of the Negro. 
 
 Now, let us see what is wrong with this 
 argument, and, consequently, with the scheme 
 which is based upon it. In a previous chapter, 
 we have shown that the Negro does not yet 
 possess the elements required to develop and 
 maintain a nation. If this is true, the grand 
 cause of the Negro's failure thus far has been 
 in himself, and not in any external circum- 
 stances. External circumstances are con- 
 ducive to success and may furnish the occasion 
 for the developing of a nation; but they alone 
 can never produce a nation without the exist- 
 ence of the proper elements in a people them 
 selves. You can no more make a nation out 
 of the wrong material by transporting it to 
 the most fertile lands, than you can make an 
 Apollo out of a Thersites by transporting him 
 to the moon. Just so with the Negro. You 
 cannot make a nation out of the Negro, if he 
 has not the required elements in himself, it 
 matters not where you transport him. If the 
 stuff is in him, he will succeed, wherever he is; 
 if it is not, he will fail, wherever you may 
 
182 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 plant him. Places and countries may help 
 him; but they cannot make him. He must 
 make' himself, if lie is made at all. To illus- 
 trate this, let us suppose a case: Here is a 
 fellow named “No-good,” living in the town of 
 “Tough-luck.” He was living there for thirty 
 years, and his ancestors had been living there 
 for over two hundred years. Now, Mr. “No- 
 good," during those thirty years, has done 
 nothing to make his community better, or even 
 to elevate himself, to any great extent. His 
 ancestors had done nothing to show their abil- 
 ity and enterprise during the long period that 
 they had been residents of “Tough-luck;” for, 
 during all this while, they had been slaves and 
 tools of another large family whom they 
 served in the most degrading manner. This 
 man, “No-good,” descending from this servile 
 stock and claiming that this dominant family 
 had everything in their possession or control, 
 that they could do everything and did actually 
 do everything against his interest, and that it 
 was no use for him to try to be anybody in that 
 town, concluded that, if he pulled up stakes 
 and went off to himself, he would soon feed on 
 clover, and be able to sit up “in de shade.” 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 183 
 
 Xow, “No-good” was a timid, ignorant, shift- 
 less, unambitious and an unreliable sort of a 
 fellow; yet he imagined that Ids failure in 
 “Tough-luck” was due to the prejudice and 
 opposition of the descendants of that family 
 who once ruled over his ancestors. He did not 
 once think that the trouble, after all, might 
 have been in himself, and that it would be 
 useless to change his location until he had 
 first changed himself. At any rate, “No-good” 
 picks up himself and, with his belongings care- 
 lessly done up in a white meal-sack, he jauntily 
 starts out, one beautiful morning in May, upon 
 a journey toward a distant prairie called 
 “Hardscrabble.” At noon, our hero finds 
 himself at the end of his journey, where he 
 stops awhile at the hut of an ignorant fellow, 
 who makes signs to him that he may come in 
 and rest awhile. From his host, “No-good” 
 soon learns that the country consists of very 
 rich lands and that there is plenty of fruit and 
 fish and game; quite enough to subsist upon 
 with a very little tilling of the soil. He also 
 finds that the inhabitants are ignorant and 
 shiftless, and live generally in the open air or 
 in little miserable huts made of sticks and mud. 
 
184 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 For the country is very warm and there is but 
 little need for shelter or clothing of any kind. 
 The next day, “No-good” selects a suitable 
 place and begins to erect a hut, such as he had 
 seen built by the best people in that settlement. 
 After completing his hut as best he can, he 
 now begins to look about him for materials 
 and utensils with which to open up a farm and 
 make general improvements about his prem- 
 ises. For, it must be remembered, that “No- 
 good” had brought with him the superior 
 knowledge and advanced customs of his native 
 town, and that he is far more enlightened than 
 any of his present neighbors, who, in truth, 
 are but little better than heathens. Ac- 
 quainted with these customs and possessing 
 this knowledge, “No-good” endeavors to make 
 those improvements to which he had been ac- 
 customed in his lifetime. But he soon finds 
 that he does not possess the tools with which 
 to do anything, neither the ingenuity to invent 
 or the skill to perform those things which are 
 so urgently needed in a new country. He 
 inquires after shops, hardware stores, facto- 
 ries and other places where ready-made arti- 
 cles are generally kept on hand for sale; but 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 185 
 
 all the answer he can get from the natives is 
 a shrug of the shoulders and a foolish stare 
 from their eves. “No-good,” being timid and 
 easily discouraged, and without any means 
 or encouragement, sits down, one day, in the 
 shade of a tree; and, now sorely disappointed 
 and utterly disgusted with life, begins to talk 
 aloud to himself, in this wise: “Here am I, a 
 foolish creature, who left the town of “Tough 
 luck,” where I was well known and where the 
 people were civilized, and where there were 
 stores and machineries and tools and railroads 
 and steamers and all the comforts and luxuries 
 of an enlightened country, and came here on 
 this wild and lonely prairie where there is 
 nothing but grass and trees and heathens. 
 After all, that Family of whom I was so much 
 afraid, did not prevent me from gaining an 
 independent living, if I so desired. They were 
 even kind enough to give me a helping hand 
 when I needed it, and were always willing to 
 give me good advice. Had I properly used the 
 advantages I had there, I would have been a 
 hundred times better off than I am now. I 
 really believe, after all, that my failure in 
 "Tough-luck” was chiefly, if not altogether, 
 
186 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 caused by my own negligence and triflingness. 
 Another thing, if I wanted to come to this new 
 country, why did I not wait until I had learned 
 all ihe useful trades and sciences, and had 
 saved up sufficient money to enable me to con- 
 struct railways across these plains, launch 
 steamers upon these rivers and build beautiful 
 cities on these commanding hills. Fool! fool! 
 that 1 am. If possible, I will rise up and go 
 back to “Tough-luck,” and turn over a new 
 leaf, and, if ever I live to return to this coun- 
 try, I will come back a wiser and an abler 
 man.” And, suiting the action to the word, 
 “No-good” puts his bundle over his shoulders 
 and begins to trace his way back to his native 
 city. 
 
 This picture of “No-good,” my dear reader, 
 is something more than imagination. I myself 
 have known thrifty men who had sold out their 
 homes and lands and cattle and horses, and 
 had gone into new States where they fancied 
 that they would become wealthy and inde- 
 pendent in a few years; but, in a short time, 
 they had squandered all their means, had 
 failed in their expectations, and were finally 
 glad to get back safe to the places from which 
 
 I 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 187 
 
 they at first had started out, without a home 
 and without a dollar! Even while I am 
 writing, my newspapers tell me that the colony 
 of Alabama and Georgia Negroes who were 
 recently transported to Mexico, are now in a 
 bad condition; half of their number being sick 
 and many have died, and all are desirous of 
 returning to their native States. This trans- 
 portation scheme has always failed and will 
 always fail; because it is wrong in principle 
 and faulty in logic. It proceeds upon the 
 belief that the Negro's present condition is 
 due altogether to the circumstances in which 
 he is placed, and not to his lack of those ele- 
 ments which are absolutely necessary to make 
 a nation in any country. First, instil into 
 the colored man those principles which form a 
 nation, and he will, succeed in Dixie as well as 
 in Africa. There is no doubt about that. But, 
 will he become a distinct and flourishing na- 
 tion in Dixie? No. A Negro government and 
 a Negro nation will never be established on 
 the soil of the United States; but there will be 
 something better than that. There will be a 
 National Government under whose Stars and 
 Stripes the white man, the black man, the red 
 
188 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 man and the yellow man, will all, one day, com- 
 mingle together in harmony, equality and fra- 
 ternity. If, at any time, the Negroes desire to 
 set tip a government with their own brain and 
 brawn — an object which is, indeed, honorable 
 and praiseworthy— then, after they have 
 demonstrated their ability in this country, and 
 have acquired those grand elements of which 
 I have spoken, a portion, if not all of them, will 
 naturally want to colonize the fertile valleys 
 of Africa; and, there, in conjunction with the 
 rising natives, may construct a glorious Re- 
 public to which all the nations of the earth 
 shall be made cordially welcome. Some may 
 ask, “Can the Negroes ever acquire those ele- 
 ments of which you write, in this country and 
 in the midst of the overshadowing white race?" 
 To this question, it will be said that the colored 
 man has a far better opportunity to acquire 
 those elements here than they can ever have 
 in Africa or any other uncivilized lands. Let 
 us take up these elements, one after another, 
 and make my answer solid. If the Negroes 
 are not united, where they claim they have a 
 desperate and powerful enemy against whom 
 to contend, is there any reason to suppose that 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 189 
 
 they will unite in a new country, where there 
 is no supposed enemy? Fear, want and a 
 sense of mutual protection are the causes of 
 union; and, if we cannot unite even when suf- 
 ficient causes are at hand to drive us into a 
 union, we certainly will not unite when these 
 causes of union have been removed. Next, if 
 we cannot become a people of integrity in civ- 
 ilized Amerca, where church bells chime, col- 
 leges abound, literature flourishes, charity 
 smiles and examples glow and sparkle all 
 around us; how. in the name of common-sense, 
 are we going to become a people of integrity 
 on the blasted deserts and in the gloomy jun- 
 gles of Africa? Thirdly, any simpleton among 
 us well knows that we have a far better oppor- 
 tunity to get wisdom here than we can ever 
 have in heathendom. For, here, we have the 
 treasure-house of the world’s knowledge 
 within our arm’s reach, and all we have to do 
 is to sit at the feet of the masters and drink 
 deep from the ‘Tyerean Spring.” Fourthly, 
 it seems to me that this is the very place to 
 develop whatever germ of courage we may 
 have buried within us. We are among a brave 
 people who have never yet failed to strike for 
 
190 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 liberty aud for those precious rights to which 
 they think themselves entitled. This, indeed, 
 furnishes thrilling examples, which ought to 
 arouse any latent spark of courage within us. 
 Besides, our coming into contact with this 
 people, in all the affairs of life, requires cour- 
 age of the first water ;and, if we have any 
 courage-seeds at all, they ought to grow and 
 flourish in such soil as this. Lastly, ambition, 
 as I define it, spurs one on to lofty heights and 
 impels him to excel his brother in any honest 
 and honorable manner possible. If so, why 
 can we not be ambitious here since our situ- 
 ation so loudly calls for this noble spirit to lift 
 us out of the mire of degradation and plant our 
 feet upon the rocky summits of national equal- 
 ity and glory? Is it possible that the heroic 
 grandeur of the white race so topples over us 
 that our poor puny plant of ambition is shaded 
 and grows sick and pale and withering? And 
 is it to be expected that upon the fertile shores 
 and within the sultry air of Africa that this 
 little plant is going to take roots downward 
 and throw out branches upward until it shall 
 grow into a gigantic tree? I tell you, my 
 friends, human powers thrive far better by 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 191 
 
 stimulation and encouraging examples than 
 when surrounded by inactivity and degrada- 
 tion. It is the tendency of man to deteriorate, 
 if there is nothing to call forth his activities; 
 but he will expand and improve, if external 
 conditions are of such nature as to draw forth 
 his latent powers. 
 
 Another thing: I do not like this idea of 
 running away from a country, simply because 
 we have some shadowy reasons to believe, or 
 perhaps only imagine, that the white man and 
 the devils of hell are after us. All nations 
 and peoples have had prejudices and opposi- 
 tion and superiority against which to contend ; 
 and we must expect to have the same hard- 
 ships. Why did not the blue-eyed Saxon get 
 up excursions and scamper away from the 
 approach and rule of William of Normandy? 
 Why did not the Thirteen Colonies bid fare- 
 well to the green mountains of New England 
 and the red hills of Georgia because of the roar 
 of the British Lion? Why do not the Irish 
 abandon the Emerald Isle and betake them 
 selves to some foreign clime, because of the 
 bull-headed aristocracy and the injustice of 
 the English Parliament? Why* do not the 
 
192 
 
 Ham and Dixie* 
 
 doughty natives of Cuba retreat from Spanish 
 oppression and join themselves to the people 
 of the United States, where the Eagle of Lib- 
 erty screams aloud and stretches his wings 
 from sea to sea? Nay, let us not retreat one 
 step; but let us stand as firm as the hills upon 
 the land that gave us birth. And, if fly we 
 must, let it be when we ourselves have done 
 our duty; have proven ourselves worthy; have 
 knocked in an honorable manner at the door of 
 the South for admission, and have had that 
 door to slam back in our faces and have heard 
 the click of the key as it turned in the door 
 that had been locked against us forever! Then, 
 indeed, shall it be well for us to “shake off the 
 very dust from our feet for a testimony against 
 them,” and depart unto other lands whose 
 doors are always open to receive and welcome 
 any truly worthy people. But, fear not, black 
 man, if we prove ourselves competent for the 
 task before us, the South is humane enough to 
 swing wide her gilded doors and bid us enter. 
 
 More recently, there seems to be another 
 plan for bettering the condition of our people 
 in America, and that plan is, to appeal to 
 England and. to European civilization in order 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 193 
 
 to enlist their sympathies and to win their in- 
 fluence in favor of the Negro in his sufferings 
 and against the Southern white man in his 
 course of treatment toward the Negro. Now, 
 there is, perhaps, not a colored man, woman 
 or child in this country who admires Miss Ida 
 B. Wells (now Mrs. Ida B. Barrett) more 
 than I do. I am not flattering her when I say 
 that she is a grand and noble woman, and that 
 she is doing and, I believe, will continue to do, 
 as long as a spark of life glows in her body, all 
 she can do for her race and country. Her 
 energy and courage and determination are 
 indeed a bright example for all Negro women 
 of this day and generation, and they also fur- 
 nish convincing proof of the ability of our 
 women to do their share in helping on the solu- 
 tion of this great question before us. Yet, 
 while 1 most truly admire this most worthy 
 lady for her brilliant efforts; I feel positively 
 certain that her labors to arouse England and 
 the rest of the world in behalf of the 
 Negro’s cause, will directly accomplish but 
 little. It has always been my opinion, 
 expressed in a private way, that her 
 work in this direction would go down 
 
194 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 in tlie list with other ineffective schemes that 
 have been advanced for the purpose of making 
 our condition better. I do not know what 
 object this great woman had in view when she 
 undertook to paint the Southern white man, 
 the Negro, the rope and a tree on blackest 
 canvas and to hold up this tragic scene before 
 the curious eyes of the crowned heads of 
 Europe. If she intended simply to acquaint 
 the world with certain features of Southern 
 life, she has succeeded beyond the shadow of a 
 reasonable doubt; but if she hoped by this 
 method to prevent lynching and thus improve 
 the condition of the Negro, I fear that she and 
 others who share her hopes, have been or will 
 be sadly disappointed. Will this plan suc- 
 ceed? No. Why? In the first place, will the 
 Negroes who have been lynched, bear an in- 
 spection? What I mean by this is, have these 
 victims of the rope been innocent and worthy 
 men? Have they given no cause or suspicion 
 which should justify a highly-sensitive and 
 hot-blooded race to defend the virtue of their 
 women ? Have the better classes of the 
 Southern whites endorsed the lynching of any 
 Negro that they believed to be innocent? “He 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 195 
 
 who seeks equity, must do equity.” If we wish 
 the sympathy and support of a reasoning and 
 a righteous people; we must first see to it that 
 we ourselves are clean and without stain 
 Now, if the Negro victims w r ere innocent, and 
 this fact was known by the white men who 
 have lynched them, then these lynchers were 
 the most cruel and cowardly set of human 
 beings in existence; but, if these victims were 
 guilty of the crimes for which, it is presumed, 
 they have been lynched, then they were indeed 
 the most degraded specimens of humanity on 
 earth. For my part, I do not believe that the 
 Southern whites would lynch an innocent 
 Negro; for, if they would be inclined to slay 
 one innocent man, why do they not slay the 
 whole race at once? If it is the intention of 
 the whites to destroy the Negro and keep him 
 crushed down forever; why do they not chop 
 off the heads of the leading and progressive 
 Negroes? Why do they not lynch such men 
 as Cuney, of Texas; Jones, of Arkansas; Tay- 
 lor, of Kansas; Cheatham, of North Carolina; 
 Washington, of Alabama; Murray, of South 
 Carolina, and Lee, of Florida? Would you, 
 my reader, attempt to kill a snake by chopping 
 
196 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 off a small piece of his tail in succession? 
 Would you not rather sever his head from his 
 body with one fell blow? Then, think not that 
 it is the purpose of the South to kill Negroes 
 for the sake of seeing their blood flow and 
 hear their pitiful groans. I tell you that every 
 Negro that has been lynched, has been hurled 
 into the awful presence of our Eternal Judge 
 because the lynchers either had or thought 
 they had some reason to put him to death. 
 These lynchers may have been fired on by pas- 
 sion and prejudice; but they, nevertheless, im- 
 agined that they had something of a just cause 
 for their terrible deeds. 
 
 Now, do not dream that I am justifying the 
 hellish practice of the lynch law. I have al- 
 ready stated that I object to it. But, I am now 
 asking that the same justice be dealt out to the 
 white man of the South that I ask for my own 
 race. As I have said before, I draw no lines. 
 Man is man, and any man is precious in the 
 sight of God. Let us, therefore, consider well 
 the strength of our case, ere we lay it before 
 the scrutinizing eye of an enlightened people. 
 Another thing, even if England does find that 
 the Negro victims are innocent, and that the 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 197 
 
 South is in the wrong; what is she going to do 
 about it? Is she going to equip armies and 
 navies, sail across the Atlantic, invade the 
 South and make the Southerners behave them- 
 selves? Do you think the Englishmen are 
 going to do this? Do you think they are will- 
 ing to do it? Do you think they are able to do 
 it. even if they are willing? Ah! my brothers, 
 do not fool yourselves into the belief that 
 England is able to tutu a straw on the Amer- 
 ican soil; or that she is willing to turn one, if 
 she could. England is a brave and powerful 
 and humane country, and I have always hon- 
 ored her because she has despised slavery; but 
 her past history does not show that she has 
 been in the habit of spending money and spill- 
 ing blood for the Negro’s rights and the 
 Negro's liberty. If such was her style, would 
 it not be a good plan for her to brace up those 
 Negro tribes in Africa, establish them into 
 strong and growing republics, place the reins 
 of government into their hands and offer them 
 her protecting power, instead of cutting out 
 the best buttered slices of that country and 
 swallowing them down to satisfy the cravings 
 of her own swinish appetites? When the 
 
198 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 brave Zulu's heart was throbbing for his native 
 liberty and he was ready to shed every drop of 
 precious blood in his veins to procure that 
 blessed boon; was il right and proper for the 
 (treat British Lion to shake his flowing mane 
 in rage and pounce, upon this handful of black 
 heroes and crush them into a reluctant sub- 
 mission? When the Southerners were fighting 
 for what they thought was their rights, and for 
 what would certainly have held the Negro 
 chained to the damnable curse of slavery for- 
 ever; why did England allow war-ships to be 
 built and equipped upon her soil in behalf of 
 the South, when she knew that every nail 
 driven into, those powerful instruments of 
 blood, was also riveting the Negro to the 
 whippingpost and to the auction-block? The 
 fact is, black brother, England cares no more 
 for you and me than she does for any other 
 poor devil; and she will only play the charita- 
 ble part toward us whenever this does not con- 
 flict with her own selfish interests. Another 
 point, it is a blamed hard thing for one man 
 to leave his premises and go over into the 
 yard of another man for the purpose of teach- 
 ing or forcing him to do or not to do a certain 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 199 
 
 thing' relative to his own affairs. In nine cases 
 out of ten the intruder will get “licked,” and if 
 not, his advice and influence, unasked for, will 
 not be worth the breath it takes to tell them 
 or the ink it takes to write them. You can 
 never do anything with a family tight; and the 
 best way is to let each family settle their own 
 quarrels. This trouble in the South is a family 
 business; and we members of this family must 
 adjust matters ourselves, and adjust them 
 right on Southern soil. After we have straight- 
 ened out our own misunderstandings; then 
 others may come in and congratulate and en- 
 courage us. Furthermore, I dislike this habit 
 of leaving out the man who, 1 think, is doing 
 me dirt, and going to another fellow to tell 
 him all about the dirt in order to get him to 
 say that I am right and ought to have sympa- 
 thy, and the supposed dirt-dauber is wrong 
 and ought to have his ears pulled. I believe 
 in telling a man what I think of him, to his 
 face, and, if I am too scared to do that, then I 
 will say nothing about it to any one; but “take 
 it to the Lord in prayer.” 
 
 Lastly, the Negro has resorted to the power 
 of prayer, as another means to make better his 
 
200 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 condition in the South. Now, I believe in the 
 efficacy of an humble and honest prayer from 
 a pure heart. I believe in the Omnipotence of 
 God; I believe in the Providence of God, and I 
 believe in a prayer-answering God. But, along 
 with these beliefs, l believe, also, that God’s 
 dealings with men are based upon certain un- 
 changeable and indestructible laws, among 
 which are man’s free agency, man’s instru- 
 mentality and man's responsibility. There- 
 fore, since man is a free agent, he can do any- 
 thing he pleases, if it is within his power; since 
 he is an instrument, he ought to do what is 
 assigned to him ; and, since he is a responsible 
 being, he must suffer for not doing what is 
 thus assigned. Now, these laws hold good, 
 whether we pray or not; for they are not con- 
 trolled and transformed by prayer, any more 
 than the law of right and wrong is controlled 
 or transformed by the grace of God. This 
 being the case, prayer for a certain state or for 
 a certain gift, availeth nothing; except, we, 
 who pray, discharge the part assigned to us 
 by doing something in order that we may 
 reach that certain state or possess that certain 
 gift. So, do not flatter yourselves with the 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 201 
 
 belief that you can kneel down with jour 
 knees upon the ground, with finger in jour 
 ears, with tears in jour eyes, with a moan in 
 your voice and with God on your lips, and pray 
 off jour troubles without doing anything to 
 remove them, or pray on your blessings with- 
 out doing anything to bring them. Remember 
 that God’s storehouse of knowledge, truth, 
 power, grace, mercy and salvation are at your 
 elbows, and He has given you the keys to 
 every chamber therein; but, if you will not 
 turn about, put those keys in their proper 
 places, turn them in their locks, pull open the 
 doors, and walk in and enjoy the rich blessings 
 contained there, you will live out your appoint- 
 ed days praying and moaning for free grace, 
 and, then, lie down and die without grace and 
 without hope. They tell me that, during the 
 days of slavery, our ancestors prayed earnestly 
 for the halcyon days of freedom, and freedom 
 came; but I am inclined to think that it came 
 rather in answer to the prayer of the abolition 
 ist, who both prayed and fought, than in 
 answer to the prayer of the Negro, who prayed 
 
202 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and scratched his wool. It was Cromwell who 
 said, “Trust God, but keep your powder dry;” 
 and, he won. 
 
 “Must I be carried to the skies 
 On flowery beds of ease. 
 
 While others fought to win the prize, 
 
 And sailed through bloody seas? 
 
 Sure I must light if I would reign; 
 
 Increase my courage, Lord. 
 
 I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, 
 
 Supported by thy word.” 
 
 Dear reader, 1 have thus briefly reviewed 
 the principal plans that have been introduced 
 for the purpose of making the Negro’s condi- 
 tion better. There may have been others that 
 I know not of; if so, they could not have been 
 successful; for the same old question is yet 
 before the public mind and still demands our 
 attention. If there are any persons living who 
 were the founders, promoters or admirers of 
 any of these schemes I have mentioned, I 
 will say to them that I have not tried to 
 prove their plans erroneous, because of any 
 malicious feeling toward such leaders and 
 friends, or from any desire on my part to 
 try to “pla.y smart.” On the contrary, I 
 have said what I did say from the genu- 
 ine feelings of my innermost soul, and 
 
Shooting in the Air. 
 
 203 
 
 for none other object under Heaven than to 
 set the truth out before the public, as I see it, 
 in order that some good may be accomplished 
 both for my race and for the country in which 
 I live. As 1 am now about to set forth the 
 views T have with reference to this great ques- 
 tion, and which 1 shall not expect to be per- 
 fect, I ask that you and the rest of the world 
 shall read them, think upon them, be your own 
 judges and pass your own sentences. It is 
 nearly impossible for any one individual to 
 formulate a plan or scheme by which any 
 great revolution may be effected. It is suffi- 
 cient that he shall only deduce certain prin- 
 ciples or draw certain outlines which may be 
 further developed and perfected by abler 
 minds and more skillful hands. Therefore, if 
 I shall only be successful in furnishing to the 
 world a bone of truth upon which others shall 
 lay the plump liesh of use and beauty, I shall 
 consider that I have at least accomplished 
 some benefit for that people I love so well and 
 for whom I have yet done so little. Hoping 
 that you, my readers, have gone thus far with- 
 out regret, and that you may be sufficiently 
 
204 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 interested to continue the journey with me, 
 until we both shall come to an end which may 
 please 11s both, I now bid you and this chapter 
 Farewell, until we meet again. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? 
 
 T11 a former chapter, I have shown you that 
 we, as a race, have not yet developed those ele- 
 ments which are necessary to build up a great 
 nation; in another chapter, I have shown you 
 that the white man has the rule over us and 
 that we have no reason to blame him for his 
 treatment toward us; in the last chapter, I 
 have shown you that our leaders have already 
 suggested plans whereby our condition may 
 lie made better, and, furthermore, I have 
 shown that those plans have failed and that, 
 to day, we are precisely in the same situation 
 as we have always been. Now, the question is, 
 “What are we going to do about it?” I shall 
 not in this chapter enter into a full discussion 
 of my answer to this very important question; 
 
What Are You Going to Do Aboid It? 205 
 
 but I shall simply outline the case preparatory 
 to that discussion. 
 
 Let us see. Here we are about ten millions 
 in number. We are chiefly in the South where 
 once we hoed the white man’s cotton and 
 plowed the white man's corn. We are not 
 enjoying all of the rights and privileges that 
 we wish to enjoy; and upon this point, I think 
 every Negro will agree. Whether we ever will 
 enjoy them in this country, is disbelieved by 
 many and not positively known by any one. 
 Our past has been dark and cruel; our present 
 is discouraging and unsatisfactory, and our 
 future is hidden and unknown. Will it satisfy 
 us to drudge on as we are and patiently wait 
 for “something to turn up?” Are you fathers 
 and mothers willing to die and leave your chil- 
 dren in the same uncertain and dependent 
 state in which you have always lived? Do 
 you not wish to have this question settled in 
 your life-time, so that you may “wrap the dra- 
 peries of your couch about you and lie down to 
 pleasant dreams,” feeling that your posterity 
 are marching onward to glory and to power? 
 Do you not desire to be known in the world as 
 something more than tools and cattle? Then, 
 
206 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 for Heaven’s sake, what are you going to do? 
 What must you do? If, as some say, the white 
 man of the South despises you and is doing all 
 in his power to grind you into powder, and that 
 you will never obtain your rights and a proper 
 recognition in this country; if you are without 
 fault, ;md yet are constantly liable to be 
 beaten, to be shot down and to be lynched at 
 the white man’s discretion; if your condition 
 is getting worse instead of better, and if you 
 have cause to believe that the white man is 
 treating you wrong and will never treat you 
 right; then, Mr. Negro, are you willing to de- 
 mand your rights and make the white man 
 respect you, or walk out into the clear sunshine 
 and fight and die under the blood-stained ban- 
 ner of Liberty? You, who say that you are 
 treated wrong — are you willing to fight for 
 your rights? Are you willing to pit your- 
 selves — a miserable horde of undisciplined, dis- 
 united and cowardly men — against an army of 
 battle-scarred heroes? No; I am certain you 
 are not. Then are you willing and are you 
 able to prepare ships and sail in a body to the 
 sultry shores of Africa where you imagine that 
 you will sit in the shade of th£ banana and 
 
What Are You Going to Do About Itf 207 
 
 feast on figs and oranges throughout the roll- 
 ing ages of time? No, you are not willing, as 
 a race, to go to Africa, and I believe you could 
 not do so very well, even if you so desired. 
 Furthermore, if you did go, you would not 
 make your condition any better; for such trans- 
 portation was shown to be based upon wrong 
 principles. 
 
 Then, what are you going to do? Let me 
 tell you one thing, Mr. Black Man. If you feel 
 that you are terribly wronged by Mr. White 
 Man and that you are unable or unwilling to 
 tight him on his own ground or to run away 
 from him and hide in the jungles of Africa; 
 then take a fool's advice and shut up so much 
 talk. I am surely tired of this whining and 
 crying and pouting and puckering about the 
 white man's treatment of the Negro. You 
 cannot pick up a Negro newspaper without 
 seeing it tilled with criticisms and abuses of 
 the white man’s treatment of some trifling 
 Negro that, perhaps, is not worth the type it 
 takes to write him up. Black men, have you 
 not yet learned the make-up of the white man? 
 Do you take him for a paper-man that is going 
 
208 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 to be blown off the wall of social sentiment by 
 a few weak puffs of Negro criticism? Yon are 
 simply fighting the air; playing the child, and 
 making a powerful enemy — that's all you are 
 doing! You undertake to write up a lynching 
 in your strongest words of disapproval, and 
 before you run it through the press another 
 Negro is dangling from a limb. You abuse 
 the government to-day for not appointing 
 a Negro official, and to-morrow a present 
 Negro incumbent is dumped out into the 
 cold air. You hold your conventions and 
 draw up long resolutions, and before your 
 work is made known to the public, the 
 white man has done the very thing you 
 have asked him not to do. In a, word, your 
 method is too light and flimsy and child like. 
 Our race must rise up like one man and do 
 something, and quit talking bosh and expect 
 the white man to listen and obey. Now, re- 
 member, you who believe that you are so 
 greatly maltreated by the white man, ought to 
 do one of three things: either fight like the 
 devil, run like the wind, or shut up and take it 
 like a dummy. Why, I remember when I was 
 a boy, I delighted to tease some of my play- 
 
What Are You Going to Do About It? 209 
 
 mates just to hear them sob and see the tears 
 roll down their little dirty faces; and then, 
 afterwards. I would soothe them down and 
 leave them smiling' like the sunshine between 
 the showers. Just so with the white man; he 
 does many things to the Negro to hear him 
 whine and to see what the North and Europe 
 are going to do about it. 
 
 But. my Brother in Black, I do not and can 
 not believe that the Southern white man hates 
 the Negro and wants to trample him under 
 foot, and that he stands ready with rifle in 
 hand to shoot him down as he rises. I do not 
 believe it, first, because there is nothing that 
 prevents him from cutting down the Negro, 
 root and branch, if lie wanted to; secondly, it 
 is my honest opinion that the treatment of the 
 Negro is either directly or indirectly due to his 
 own disposition and behavior; and, thirdly, I 
 have too much confidence in the justice of the 
 better classes of the Southern whites to sup- 
 pose that they actually intend to destroy the 
 blacks or to keep them down forever. There- 
 fore, I propose neither to fight, run, cry or 
 stand mute; and I cordially invite both white 
 men and black men to joiii me in this matter, 
 
210 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and let us look at the situation as becoming 
 men of reason and justice. I intend, fellow- 
 citizens, to apply to my race that rule which I, 
 or any other man of common sense, should 
 use in the ordinary transactions of life. A 
 race is only a large collection of individuals, 
 and what is good for an individual is good for 
 a race, and what is bad for an individual is 
 bad for a race. Consequently, whatever plan 
 t shall put forth as a remedy for all past 
 wrongs, shall be what Reason and Right dic- 
 tate to me as suitable for myself in my indi- 
 vidual capacity; and, furthermore, it shall be 
 what I honestly believe to be right. For, I am 
 not writing upon this subject for fun or for a 
 name; but I am writing my own thoughts and 
 feelings in my own language, every word of 
 which I heartily endorse. And, therefore, be 
 it understood that I mean every word I say 
 and I say only what I mean. But, before I 
 leave this present chapter, I will say that we 
 do need to do something for the betterment of 
 our condition and for the welfare of our coun- 
 try. I lay down this proposition because 
 some casual observer may suppose that we are 
 improving day by day, and that time will work 
 
What Are You Going to Do About It? 211 
 
 a miracle and all of a sudden we shall wake up 
 one of these fine spring mornings and find our- 
 selves in the possession of all the rights and 
 privileges we desire. 
 
 It is true that we are improving along cer- 
 tain lines; but it is equally as true that we are 
 exactly in the same place we were thirty years 
 ago, with reference to a harmonious settle- 
 ment and a peaceful understanding of the true 
 relations between the two races and how they 
 both are to work out their destinies together 
 on the same territory. We are improving in 
 book-learning and property-getting; but we 
 are neither on the road to a distinct nationality 
 or on that which leads to a friendly inter- 
 mixture with the white race. Hence, we must 
 do something; and what we do, let us do 
 quickly. Wise men have already made sug- 
 gestions and have set forth several plans for 
 the solution of this problem; but somehow or 
 other, the results arrived at have never yet 
 satisfied the conditions. And hence our great 
 race-problem is yet unsolved. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens, the time is at hand; the 
 opportunity is ripe, and we must strike now, or 
 never. We should know no discouragement, 
 
21 2 
 
 Hum and Dixie. 
 
 stop for no obstacle, and be baffled by no im- 
 pediment. We are wiser to-day than we bare 
 ever been before; we have more friends than 
 we are aware of, and, besides, “there is a just 
 God who will fight our battles for us.'’ There 
 is, indeed, a great change soon to take place 
 among the nations of the earth. Humanity is 
 gradually but surely learning to recognize and 
 to be governed by the grandest of all princi- 
 ples; namely, that “all men are created equal,” 
 and, therefore, entitled to certain inalienable 
 rights with which no one should interfere. 
 Men are also beginning to realize how sad a 
 thing it is to confine free thought in old ruts, 
 to limit the ambitious aspirations of the 
 human soul and say unto any man, “thus 
 far Shalt thou go and no farther.” To- 
 day, woman has more rights than she has 
 ever had before; capital is beginning to 
 recognize labor as never before in the 
 history of the ages; men are growing more 
 united and brotherly; and, now, there are 
 more International Congresses called and a 
 greater number of Inter-Racial Expositions 
 held than were ever called or held throughout 
 all the ages that have rolled by. 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 213 
 
 Lastly, Truth is shining with a brighter 
 light; Justice is spreading her wings over 
 greater space; Liberty is perched on higher 
 summits, and God is tilling all the dark cor- 
 ners of the earth. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WORK OUT TOUR OWN SALVATION. 
 
 Summing up briefly what has been said in 
 the foregoing chapters, it is found that all 
 men. as they come fresh and unadulterated 
 from the hands of God, are equal; that, by 
 different incidents and through various de- 
 grees of application of their natural powers, 
 some portions of humanity excel some other 
 portions; that the Caucasian race is to-day at 
 the top of the world, and that the Negro is at 
 or near the foot of the world, as a result of his 
 own lack of those elements which a people 
 must have in order to rise up and become a 
 great nation. 
 
214 
 
 Ham and Dixie, 
 
 These propositions, I assume, have already 
 been morally demonstrated, and upon them as 
 a foundation, I shall now construct my scheme 
 for the betterment of the condition of my race. 
 Now, in addition to the above, it has been seen, 
 also, that others who were far better informed 
 than 1 am, have suggested certain remedies 
 whereby the Negro might improve and become 
 a great nation. Here, indeed, it is fitting that 
 before 1 set forth the plan I have in view, I 
 first show you why these preceding plans have 
 all failed — which thing I have already inci- 
 dentally shown in part; and, then, you may be 
 the better judges as to the merit or demerit of 
 the plan I advance. Yon will take notice that 
 every method hitherto adopted or advised, 
 whose object was to improve the Negro’s con- 
 dition, has resorted to a change in some exter- 
 nal state, surroundings or influences, and has 
 never concerned itself with any change in the 
 internal status of this race. It is, perhaps, 
 safe to say that these methods have been set 
 forth, because the promoters thereof did not 
 see, or did not attach any importance to, the 
 fact that the black man himself has always 
 been and still is the source and fountain of his 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 215 
 
 past and present dependent conditions. Hence, 
 they did not deem it wise or necessary to sug- 
 gest any improvement of the Negro himself, 
 and then, afterwards, turn their attention to 
 the changing of those secondary circumstances 
 which might have helped on but could not have 
 caused the Negro's condition. Proceeding, 
 therefore, with the belief that the colored man 
 was without blemish, that he was treated 
 wrong and that everything around him was 
 unfavorable and adverse to his improvement, 
 they very naturally and, with such premises, 
 very logically, turned their attention alto- 
 gether to what was external, trusting that, if 
 all hindering circumstances were removed, he 
 would then rise and fly as a bird on her wings. 
 Now, if the Negro himself had in possession 
 those noble qualities I have heretofore referred 
 to; then surely would a removal of all external 
 opposition solve this great problem and our 
 race would soon reach the topmost rounds. 
 But the fact of the case shows that these qual- 
 ities are lacking in our people; and, there- 
 fore, even if those schemes which were •formu- 
 lated, had been extensively put into action, 
 they would never have effected a proper devel- 
 
216 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 opment of oui‘ race and made it a nation. Jn 
 a word, then, those past schemes have all 
 failed, because they did not aim at the source 
 of the disease; but were only directed toward 
 a treatment of the symptoms and the out- 
 ward conditions of that disease. And not 
 only did these schemes fail because they 
 were based upon Avroug principles, as 
 indicated above; but they also failed be- 
 cause they proceeded by improper methods. 
 I mean to say that the promoters of these 
 schemes stepped over the proper source of help 
 for the Negro and applied to other sources at 
 a greater distance which were less able to 
 render the Negro the practical help he so much 
 needed. 
 
 Thus, wrong in principle and faulty in prac- 
 tice, it is no wonder that those plans have all 
 failed to accomplish that object for which they 
 have been intended. In contradistinction, 
 therefore, to all former methods, I declare unto 
 you that the source and cause of the Negro's 
 present state, are found in his oAvn habits, 
 qualities and disposition, and, with God’s help, 
 1 intend to set forth the plan of his material 
 redemption, erected upon this proposition as a 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 217 
 
 foundation. Furthermore, I declare unto you 
 that, whereas the promoters of those schemes 
 have applied to the wrong source for help to 
 better the Negro’s condition; be it known that 
 1 shall turn my attention to a source which is 
 near at hand and from which L trust that my 
 race shall receive such assistance as can never 
 be obtained from any other source. With that 
 foundation upon which I shall build and with 
 this method by which I shall build and with 
 the co-operation of my readers and friends and 
 with the help of God, I trust we shall at last 
 arrive at a satisfactory conclusion of this 
 whole matter. 
 
 In this present chapter, I shall lay out my 
 plan upon that foundation which I have sug- 
 gested above, which plan shall consist in di- 
 recting the Negro to cure his own defects and 
 to work out his own temporal salvation. And 
 I shall reserve for some succeeding chapter the 
 discussion of that practical help which has 
 heretofore been ignored and without which our 
 best endeavors must fail. Fellow-countrymen, 
 I am no physician, but comon-sense tells me 
 that the proper way to cure a disease is, first, 
 to begin at the origin of that disease and cor- 
 
218 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 reot the trouble there; and then proceed to aid 
 Nature in patching up other tissues which are 
 indirectly affected. More particularly, if A’s 
 toothache is caused by an improper condition 
 of the stomach, I would not pull the tooth; but 
 I would first strive to get the stomach in a 
 healthy condition and then, afterwards, to 
 allay any resulting irritation remaining about 
 the margin of the tooth. For, if I pull the 
 tooth and let the stomach alone, the bad con- 
 dition of that organ will cause another tooth 
 to ache, and so I might be compelled to pull 
 one tooth after another until A is completely 
 toothless; and yet A’s general health will be 
 as bad as ever, because the source of the 
 trouble has not yet been removed. Now, it 
 may seem that the white man is treating the 
 Negroes very badly in this country by keeping 
 them out of profitable employment and club- 
 bing and lynching one or two of them every 
 now and then ; it may seem that the Negro will 
 never make a mark as a nation ou the Ameri- 
 can soil, because of these discriminations 
 against him, and it may seem then that the 
 only thing the Negro can do, to make his con- 
 dition better, is to migrate to some other coun- 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 219 
 
 try, get up into the air or sink down into the 
 earth. But these seemings or appearances are 
 only the aching of the tooth; the cause of all of 
 which is located, not in the Negro’s stomach, 
 but in the Negro’s mind, heart, soul and entire 
 being. Therefore, black men, cure your tooth- 
 ache by pulling up the roots of your disease! 
 
 The first thing you must pull up, is the root 
 of Disunion. You want to be united in every 
 good cause from the Great Lakes to the Gulf 
 and from the Rio Grande to the St. Johns. 
 There must be no traitor in your band, but 
 every man and woman and every child that is 
 old enough to twaddle and lisp, must under- 
 stand the great purpose of the race and be 
 willing to die in the accomplishment of that 
 purpose. Our leaders must be sound men and 
 the masses must follow their commands like 
 soldiers on the field of battle. There must be 
 no “Smart Alecks” in this business; no “Big 
 I’s” and “Little U’s.” There must be no secret 
 hole in the general pocket of the race through 
 which any portion of the public welfare shall 
 flow into the selfish “grabbers” of those in 
 whom any trust is placed. No private interest 
 must conflict with or be greater than that of 
 
220 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 the race’s chiefest glory and highest power. 
 That recreant wretch who dares to undermine 
 or to oppose or withdraws from or fails to com- 
 ply with, those rules which have been decided 
 upon to govern your forces and to direct your 
 energies, must be hurled from your midst, 
 branded with the curse of Cain on his brow. 
 Your plans must work with the precision and 
 uniformity of a clock. Every spring and every 
 wheel must throb and turn for the com- 
 mon end and for the common good. You 
 must marshal your Beats, your Precincts, 
 your Counties, your Districts and your States; 
 put them in harness in perfect order; 
 draw the reins; crack the whip, and 
 shout for them to move on. You must put 
 your thoughts together, your words together, 
 your means together and your actions to- 
 gether, and march onward as one man. The 
 entire race must be one army, ten millions 
 strong, with its brave commander, its sub- 
 divisions, its regiments, its companies, its out- 
 posts, its heralds, its scouts, its provisions, its 
 tents, its armory and its banner. It must not 
 be an army of destruction and robbery and 
 rapine and bloodshed; but it must be one solid 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 221 
 
 phalanx of peace and progress, bearing aloft 
 tlie royal standard of Union and Liberty, and 
 marching proudly onward to the goal of an 
 honorable Nationality. The words, “with mal- 
 ice toward none and with charity for all,” must 
 be perched high up on your manly brows, and 
 you must go forth conquering and to conquer 
 the errors and the wrongs and the prejudices 
 of the world. Such, my comrades, must be 
 your resolve. Now, come with me to a more 
 practical application of this great spirit of 
 Union. 
 
 First, let me suggest that you organize a 
 Grand Union League, spreading over every 
 square inch of territory within the borders of 
 the eleven Southern States, or, if preferable, 
 of every State in the LTnion. Let this League 
 be composed of subdivisions in every county 
 and precinct of each State, and let one law 
 and one purpose run through and govern the 
 entire organization. Let the primary object 
 of this League be, to examine into, discuss, 
 improve and develop every worthy interest of 
 your race; and also to examine into, discuss, 
 discourage and remove every degrading cus- 
 tom to which your race has hitherto adhered. 
 
222 
 
 Ham and Dixie . 
 
 The effect of this organization in every hamlet 
 and community, is to bring the plans and pur- 
 poses of your leaders home to the very doors 
 of each and every individual among you, so 
 that he may know his part and be aroused 
 toward the performance thereof. Every mem- 
 ber of your race wants to be enthused with 
 this spirit of union and progress, for God ex- 
 pects every man to do his duty; and you must 
 demand that every one do his part in the erec- 
 tion of this Great Temple of Nationality. 
 
 Again, I advise you to unite on the celebra- 
 tion of some certain anniversary, at which 
 time you shall gather yourselves together in 
 local and national Festivals; exhibit the re- 
 sults of your knowledge and your skill and 
 your progress; read papers prepared by your 
 own hands; discuss questions bearing on your 
 own welfare and on that of the country; offer 
 prizes, scholarships and titles of honor to your 
 brightest youths and scholars; receive, listen 
 to and examine reports of the various condi- 
 tions of your people; criticise and disapprove 
 of the improper states and customs as revealed 
 by such reports, and formulate plans for their 
 correction and for additional progress; and, in 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 223 
 
 general, attend to any matter which shall in- 
 crease the common interest in, and arouse an 
 ambition for, greater and higher strides for 
 wisdom and power. And among other appro- 
 priate days which you may select for this 
 Grand Fete, please allow me to say that there 
 is none more titting, perhaps, than New Year’s 
 Day, the day on which our immortal Lincoln 
 touched the pen that severed the shackles of 
 bondage from our limbs, and enabled us to 
 leap for joy and sing praises to God. 
 
 By these brief suggestions in reference to 
 the great pillar of Union which you must set 
 up in order to become a great people, I hope 
 you may understand somewhat the nature of 
 my plans on this head. I shall now proceed to 
 tell you what else you must do to work out 
 your own salvation. 
 
 Secondly, you must be a people of sound In- 
 tegrity. You must learn to mean what you 
 say and say only what you mean. You must 
 not make fair promises and have no intention 
 of fulfilling them. You must not enter into 
 obligations, simply because you are asked and 
 without any means or inclination to perform 
 them. You must look any man, white or 
 
224 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 black, in the eye and tell him exactly what 
 you propose to <lo; and, after you have ex- 
 pressed your intentions, let no one dissuade 
 you from executing them. Let your naked word 
 be your sealed bond. You must haul off your 
 young men from around the dirty saloons and 
 gambling hells and houses of prostitution; and 
 gather them on the farms, in the schools, in 
 the business houses, or in the apprentice-shops. 
 You must teach them to appreciate and to 
 practice a high sense of honor which will lift 
 them above the low and beastly habits that so 
 many of them now enjoy. You must demolish 
 your bawdy-houses, or at least reduce them to 
 such narrow limits that they will not remain 
 the sore-spots of your people and swallow up 
 the souls and bodies of so many brilliant 
 young men and women among you. You must 
 throw safe guards around your women, and 
 thus prevent them from yielding to the lustful 
 solicitations of degraded men, and esptiidally 
 white men who may debauch your tender 
 maidens but are not allowed by the law to 
 redeem them, nor would they be so inclined if 
 the laws were otherwise. Besides, your women 
 must practice and esteem virtue as a pearl 
 
Work Out Your Oim Salvation. 
 
 225 
 
 more to be desired than rubies; and they must 
 train themselves to repel the repeated sallies 
 made upon their outposts by ruthless hands 
 with intent to demolish their precious Temple 
 of Chastity and drag’ them down to hell. You 
 must purge your churches from whitewashed 
 hypocrisy and deception, and instil in them 
 the genuine piety of a practical religion which 
 will make them better men and women, and 
 cause them to become more reliable and useful 
 citizens. In short, you must be virtuous, true, 
 genuine, noble and reliable, and, above, all, 
 trust God and do your whole duty. 
 
 In the third place, it is necessary that 
 you acquire Wisdom. You must, therefore, 
 crowd the Public Schools, the High Schools, 
 the Colleges and the Universities; you 
 must understand the scientific and literary 
 professions; you must learn all of the 
 useful trades and the various kinds of skilled 
 labor; you must, in general, know and master 
 all books, all nature and all men, and, sup- 
 posing the white race to have suddenly lost its 
 craft, you must be able, alone, to manage and 
 control the machinery of the civilized world, 
 with despatch, with smoothness and with suc- 
 
 cess. 
 
226 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 And not only must you possess all knowl- 
 edge; but you must also learn to use it to the 
 best advantage and for the highest ends. You 
 must be economical, and must direct every 
 resource into some profitable and beneficial 
 channel. You must acquire and control prop- 
 erty of all kinds, such as real estate, railroads, 
 steamers, street-cars, mills, factories, cattle- 
 ranches, fine-blooded stock, machine-shops, 
 dairies, granaries, stores, drug stores, tanner- 
 ies, and, in a word, everything that is needed 
 to supply the wants of a progressive people. 
 You must quit your foolishness and go right 
 down to hard thinking and deep planning and 
 close business calculations. You must aid 
 your white fellow-citizens to build up this 
 country and help to make it one of the grandest 
 sections of the world. I have told you before 
 that this is properly the white man’s country; 
 but you must make it partly your own, not by 
 talking about it or by resting your claims upon 
 the constitution or upon your tool-like labor of 
 the days of slavery, but by actually aiding to 
 build it up and improve it as freemen and as 
 citizens. 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 227 
 
 You must also study political economy and 
 the science of government, and become wise 
 and useful statesmen and publicists. You 
 must be able to grapple with and solve all 
 public questions, in the pulpit, on the plat- 
 form and through the press and the literature 
 of the day. The white man and your country 
 need your services, and they will demand them 
 if they are only found to be useful and worthy 
 of recognition. Fear not; Wisdom is always 
 sought for and she will never want bread. The 
 time will soon come when Black Wisdom will 
 be in as great a demand as White Wisdom. 
 For, the brain and pocket of the world are get- 
 ting too wise and too broad and too deep to 
 cavil at the mere accidents of color and pre- 
 vious condition. And, now, I shall suggest 
 some few means by which you may gain wis- 
 dom, in addition to your present opportunities; 
 and, also, how you may increase your wealth 
 by the exercise of your wisdom. 
 
 First, I shall be glad to see established in 
 the metropolis of each county of the South, a 
 large hall which shall be set apart for a Read- 
 ing-room, Library and general Literary, Scien- 
 tific and Art Departments, where our youths 
 
228 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 of both sexes may pass their leisure hours in 
 reading useful books, discussing public ques- 
 tions, cultivating refined tastes, pursuing 
 special courses and developing their mental 
 powers for the benefit of themselves and to the 
 honor of their race. 
 
 Next, I want to see reared up a gigantic 
 Negro University, situated at some central 
 locality, salubrious and befitting. I want it 
 built of the most durable material, with halls 
 and rooms and departments, of exquisite 
 workmanship and stupendous grandeur. Its 
 ground must occupy a thousand acres and the 
 turrets of its vast buildings must shoot up high 
 toward Heaven. Every species of knowledge 
 and practice known to the civilized world, 
 must be taught within its walls. A young 
 man or woman graduating from its courses 
 must be able to earn an honorable livelihood 
 by at least a half-dozen different methods; 
 and more than that, they must go forth from 
 this wonderful institution with sound princi- 
 ples of manhood and womanhood drilled into 
 their innermost souls. These noble and skilled 
 graduates must be the sparkling streams flow- 
 ing through the land, making glad the waste 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 229 
 
 places of our continent. Every county and 
 every city must be represented in this Univer- 
 sity by its brightest and most promising 
 youths. This institution must not be denom- 
 inational or sectarian or sectional, or, neces- 
 sarily, racial. All races, all communities all 
 churches, all societies, all states and all coun- 
 tries must contribute to the support of this 
 grand Machinery of Improvement. The South 
 will help you, the North will help you, England 
 will help you, Europe will help you, all Heath- 
 endom will help you and the Kingdom of 
 Heaven will help you, and. thus, you cannot 
 fail to make it one of the grandest and most 
 glorious means to elevate your race, to im- 
 prove mankind and to glorify God. Here, let 
 me suggest that you make the Tuskegee 
 Normal School a nucleus around and over 
 which may eventually flourish such giant insti- 
 tutition as I here set forth. I only throw out 
 this hint for what it is worth; your general 
 views must prevail. 
 
 Your wealth will also be increased by your 
 practical wisdom; for, then, your business tal- 
 ents will be trained and keen to take advantage 
 of all your surrounding opportunities. l T ou 
 
230 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 will marshal jour several means together bv 
 jour spirit of Union and b.j the aid of jour 
 practical wisdom, jou will have sufficient fore- 
 sigh! to enable von to direct those means to 
 the best advantage. 
 
 Right here, I will saj that Firms, Corpora- 
 tions and .Joint-Stock Companies are destined, 
 in the near future, to bring untold wealth to 
 the Negro Race. The Ocala Commercial and 
 Bazar Company, of Ocala, Florida, owned, con- 
 trolled and managed exclusivelj bj Negroes, 
 are doing much to demonstrate the Negro’s 
 ability in a business line; the Mississippi Loan 
 and Buildng Association, of Natchez, Missis- 
 sippi, is another instance of the same nature; 
 and the Transportation Company, of Washing- 
 ton. D. C., is still another, and there are yet 
 others scattered all over our Southland of 
 equal, if not greater, importance, and teaching 
 the same lesson. And, furthermore, I under 
 stand that a company has been recently formed 
 in Jacksonville, Florida, whose purpose is to 
 print and publish a daily paper styled, “The 
 Daily American.” This is, indeed, a worthy 
 step and I wish it a glorious success. There- 
 fore, join your forces together and take hold of 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 231 
 
 all enterprises of profit that are open to your 
 thrift and sagacity. 
 
 Finally, forget not that Wisdom which com- 
 eth down from God and which is able to fit you 
 not only for the discharge of your temporal 
 duties; but will also prepare you for the recep- 
 tion and enjoyment of those spiritual glories 
 which await you in the Great Eteruit}’ beyond 
 the grave. 
 
 Fourthly, you must acquire and develop true 
 Courage. Fear no creature except God Al- 
 mighty. Do not imagine that rowdyism and 
 bulldozing and fighting among yourselves and 
 wife-beating and a six-shooter in your hip- 
 pocket and a razor blade in your stockings and 
 loud cursing on the street corners, are any 
 signs of courage i they are rather signs of igno- 
 rance, degradation and cowardice. Be quiet, 
 behind, be polite and be on the side of justice; 
 but flinch from no man, white or black, if your 
 rights or your honor or your virtue is at stake. 
 Do not satisfy yourselves with mere physical 
 courage, but aim at that high species of cour- 
 age which will enable you to say and do and 
 die for the right, under any and all circum- 
 stances. Train up your children to admire and 
 
Ham and Dixie. 
 
 232 
 
 practice true Courage. Never intimidate 
 them; never give them cause for fear; teach 
 them that there is no such tiling as fear. Train 
 them never to fear a problem in algebra, or a 
 hard task, or a giant undertaking of any kind. 
 Teach them to rise above all opposition, to sur- 
 mount all obstacles, to subdue their passions, 
 to conquer their enemies and to develop wills 
 of iron. Learn to be devoted to your race, 
 patriotic toward your country, true to every 
 trust, faithful to your God and fear not even 
 the Black Shades of Death. If you do these 
 things, your great nightmare of a race-problem 
 will melt into the air like Hamlet’s Ghost be- 
 fore the coming Morn of Courage and Man- 
 hood. 
 
 Lastly, you must possess Ambition. Do not 
 satisfy yourselves with low positions or with 
 small things; but work hard and aim high. I 
 do not mean by this that you are to expect high 
 places, and, at the same time, do nothing which 
 will give you a right to them; but I mean your 
 ideals should be grand and lofty, and then you 
 must cease not, neither grow weary, until you 
 reach your ideals or at least have gone as near 
 to them as is possible for human power. Am- 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation. 
 
 233 
 
 bition will cause you to build beautiful homes 
 instead of log-huts; ambition will cause you to 
 drive a carriage instead of jolting along in an 
 ox-wagon; ambition will cause you to excel in 
 scholarship, excel in the arts, excel in skilled 
 labor, excel in everything. No man with a 
 high and noble ambition will long plod down 
 the valleys and galleys of this life; he will 
 never rest until he inhale the exhilerating 
 puffs of the mountain air. You cannot rise 
 above your ambition any more than water can 
 rise above its level. Therefore, be always sure 
 that your ambition is high enough, and then it 
 is oftener that you will reach it than it is that 
 you will go half so high without any ambition 
 at all. Now, it seems that you are satisfied 
 with the cook-pot, the wash-tub, the shaving- 
 mug, the white apron, the soda-water stand 
 and the ice-cream parlor; and you will never 
 rise a step higher if Ambition lends you no 
 spur to ride onward or no wing to soar upward. 
 
 You must not disdain manual labor; and I 
 hereby teach no such foolish doctrine. For 
 there is nothing more honorable than the 
 horny-hand and the sunburnt cheek, if the one 
 is hardened and the other is bronzed by the 
 
234 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 wear and tear of honest toil. I mean, how- 
 ever, that you, as a race, must not content 
 yourselves with giving - to the world nought 
 save your muscle and your obedience; you 
 must contribute as well your brain and also 
 learn to command, to direct and to control. Do 
 not cherish any vain hope that you will ever 
 become a nation by developing only your lower 
 natures; you must ascertain for yourselves and 
 demonstrate to others, what are your higher 
 natures, and also their powers and capacities. 
 The ambition of the Red Man is to shoot a per- 
 fect shaft, to brandish his glittering steel and 
 to wave, in savage delight, a thousand drip- 
 ping scalps; and thus will he ever be until his 
 god of ambition is perched upon higher and 
 nobler summits. Your ambition, in the dark 
 days of bondage, extended, perhaps, no higher 
 than a desire to be first in filling your cotton- 
 sacks, or to excel a brother with the hoe or the 
 axe, or to win the best graces of your tyran- 
 nical masters; later on, .your ambition was to 
 own a few acres and a cottage thereon which 
 you might call your home and within which 
 you might feel like men; now, let your swift- 
 winged Ambition scale the snow-white caps of 
 
Work Out Your Own Salvation 
 
 235 
 
 the mountains and let it not be overshadowed 
 by tlie towering glory of any nation beneath 
 God's shining sun. 
 
 Thus, Fellow-Citizens, if you acquire, assim- 
 ilate and practice those live principles which 
 I have urged, you will certainly gain Wealth, 
 Power and Influence; and then will the great 
 question concerning your status and position 
 in the world be settled once for all, and you 
 will take your place of equal rank among the 
 galaxy of Nations. How are you to acquire 
 these principles? You yourselves must make 
 the acquisition. This is exclusively your own 
 special work. Others may adA’ise, aid and 
 encourage you; but I am certain that this is 
 your own individual task. No man or race can 
 unite you; no one can give you integrity; no 
 one can All you with wisdom; no earthly being- 
 can make you brave and none can infuse am- 
 bitious blood within your veins. There is no 
 use for you to criticise and abuse the white 
 man of the South; there is no use for you to 
 gaze upon the North Star; there is no use for 
 you to chant dirges to Albion’s chalky cliffs; 
 there is no use for you to roll your eye-balls 
 toward the blue of Heaven; — nothing, nothing 
 
236 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 will save you except your own efforts and the 
 help of God. You, my brothers, must do 
 something and stop talking trash. You might 
 plan and talk and write about your condition 
 until the firmament shall roll together as a 
 scroll; but, except you put your plans into exe- 
 cution and your words into substantial reali- 
 ties, you will never achieve anything greater 
 than disgust, disrespect and the lack of recog- 
 nition from those who set the sail and turn the 
 helm of the world. You must work out your 
 destiny just as if you were alone on the Amer- 
 ican Continent; you must use the same powers, 
 make the same efforts and be spurred by the 
 same ambition. If you throw up your hands 
 in despair and say, “It is impossible!” the “die 
 will be cast” and your doom will be sealed, and 
 the dashing billows of the Ocean of Life will 
 roll on bravely over your heads. 
 
 Are you equal to the situation? Will you 
 suffer yourselves to be drifted like sea-weeds 
 on the moving waters; or will you, like human 
 beings with brains and hearts and blood, burst 
 through the thin film of adverse circumstances 
 and plunge into the wholesome atmosphere of 
 the Great Beyond? Surely, you will be men. 
 
Work Out I ’ our Own Salvation. 
 
 231 
 
 Tf so, bury the past with its doubts and fears 
 and mistakes, and turn about and face your- 
 selves toward a new era, a new dispensation 
 and a Xew South. Solve your own problem by 
 curing your own defects, is the only true rem- 
 edy adapted to your case. This remedy can 
 never fail; because it is founded upon princi- 
 ples which are as firm as the rock-ribbed 
 mountains and as everlasting as the ceaseless 
 Ages of Eternity. In the succeeding chapters, 
 I will show you the proper source to which you 
 must apply for co-operation; the attitude in 
 which you must present yourselves, and some 
 practical hints which will serve somewhat as 
 the machinery which is to help you evolve the 
 foregoing principles and thus work out your 
 own Temporal Salvation. 
 
238 
 
 Hum and Dixie, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SWORD OF JUSTICE. 
 
 Reader ! A scene is thrown open before 
 mine eves. I see a tall, well dressed white 
 man. He wears a long moustache, tine gold 
 chain and polished boots. He bears his head 
 proudly, and his general demeanor betokens a 
 high sense of honor, haughty sensitiveness and 
 manly courage. He is seated on a plush arm- 
 chair, and he is calmly puffing a sweet-scented 
 Havana between his lips. His brow is slightly 
 contracted as if some relic of the past rises up 
 before his mind and gives occasion for a deep 
 reflection, mingled somewhat with keen re- 
 morse. The room in which he is thus seated, 
 has all the accoutrements and furnishings of 
 ease and comfort, without regard to expense; 
 and, from all of the indications of face, form 
 and style of the man and his apartments, we, 
 instinctively, feel that the individual before 
 us is none other than a high-bred Southern 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 239 
 
 gentleman of the present generation. There 
 is a low knock at the door; but so deeply is he 
 wrapped in somber thought that he fails to 
 catch the least sound, not even the monotonous 
 tiek-tock of the venerable heirloom above his 
 head. Again, the same faint knock is heard at 
 the door, and still there is no response from 
 within. For the third time, that knock is re- 
 peated; now louder and with greater force than 
 before. At this sound, our friend suddenly 
 starts, as if aroused out of a dream. He 
 quickly steps to the door, and, in doing so, 
 displays a graceful and manly form, which at 
 once stamps him as a man of great physical 
 strength and activity as well as one of deter- 
 mination and courage. He carelessly throws 
 open the door and invites the intruder in, while 
 he himself resumes his former position in the 
 reclining comforter. 
 
 The new-comer is a full black Negro. He 
 advances half way across the room and there 
 he stops and stands, firm and erect. He 
 is tall and nobly built; his broad chest 
 heaves as if moved with feelings strong 
 and deep; his eyes are round, full and 
 expressive of unusual intelligence; his 
 
240 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 hair is neatly brushed; his face is smoothly 
 shaven, but fittingly adorned with thick- 
 growing side-whiskers. He is nicely attired 
 in suit of blackwand, in his left hand, he holds 
 a dark-colored “Stetson,’’ while his right is 
 placed on the silver head of a large orange 
 cane upon which he gracefully leans. For 
 quite awhile, the two men, in their several 
 positions, eye each other without a word to 
 break the silence. It is plain that they have 
 met before; they know each other; they have 
 transacted business together; they have had 
 their differences; they have quarreled, and it 
 is now all of these things that come rushing to 
 their minds which prevent them from uttering 
 one, solitary word. For, it is ever thus, that, 
 when the mind is too full of grave thoughts, 
 the organs of speech are slow and clumsy in 
 action. Lovers court deepest when their 
 tongues are locked and they look into each 
 other’s eyes and feel the th robbings of each 
 other’s hearts. The hero, struggling to save 
 life from the mad waves, is silent as the stars 
 that twinkle at night; and the blushing maiden, 
 whose bosom is surging with a hidden battle 
 between passion and honor, is silent as the 
 
The Sivord of Justice. 
 
 241 
 
 tomb until the battle is ended and the victory 
 won. At length, the stillness is broken. After 
 a low bow and most courteous words of intro- 
 duction which would do honor to Lord Chester- 
 field himself, the Negro straightens himself up 
 and delivers the following address to his silent 
 but attentive host: 
 
 "Most noble sir, to thee I herewith present 
 myself; both such as I am and such as I hope 
 to be. No one better than thyself knows my 
 past history, and no one better than thou know- 
 est what I am to-day. Once a degraded slave 
 at thy feet, thou alone knowest to what low 
 depths I can descend, and what terrible suffer- 
 ings I am able to endure; and, yet. how faithful 
 I have been to thy beck and call. Having been 
 made a free man by means of the cannon’s 
 roar, the saber's flash and the flow of brothers’ 
 blood. I have still remained thy man-servant, 
 cultivating thy broad acres, building thy wind- 
 ing roads, serving around thy tables and thy 
 firesides, and used by thee in every time of 
 need. Having, from infancy, been accus- 
 tomed to thy whips and thy scorns and thy 
 ruthless hand of oppression, and my heart hav- 
 ing naturally been opened toward thy colder- 
 
242 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 natured brother of the North, by whose blood 
 ray freedom was sealed forever, I cherished 
 and obeyed and loved the man of the North, 
 while I feared and mistrusted and despised 
 thee. Thou, having first beheld me as an ig- 
 norant heathen from the Daiit Continent of 
 Ethiopia, and having since placed thy foot 
 upon my neck and taken from me every right 
 that a righteous God hath given us both, hast 
 always trained thyself to ignore, despise and 
 abuse me and still dost continue so to do. This 
 day, I do confess that my past condition was 
 chiefly due to my own unworthiness; for I 
 verily believe that, if I had shown courage and 
 a keen sense of honor, and a high-minded and 
 manly spirit, thou wouldst not, at first, have 
 put my neck under the yoke of bondage, nor 
 wouldst thou have since debarred me from 
 places of honor and treated me as thou hast 
 done. 
 
 “Most Honored Sir, I know that my folly and 
 weakness and cowardice of the past were most 
 disgusting in thy sight, and that it was chiefly 
 because of those qualities, and not because of 
 that color which God hath given me, that 
 caused thee to ignore me as thou wast wont to 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 243 
 
 do. For, I realize how degrading and unmanly 
 must such qualities as I possessed, be in the 
 estimate of one who is truly brave and high- 
 spirited. But, while thou hast had occasion to 
 disregard my abilities, to ignore my merit and 
 to use my triflingness for thine own glory; yet 1 
 beg thee to remember that, man, though made 
 in God’s image, may, by certain petty errors of 
 his and by certain untoward circumstances, be 
 dragged down to the very gates of Hell and 
 his manhood be changed into straw and trash. 
 Remember, further, that thy hand of oppres- 
 sion was far too severe for the unworthiness of 
 this, thine humble servant ; — thou didst cause 
 my eyes to rain showers of tears, my heart to 
 sink back within me in dreadful despair and 
 my blood to burst through my skin like water 
 through the clouds. And yet, through all this, 
 what harm have I ever done thee? Have I 
 ever set fire to thy dwellings? Have I ever 
 cleft the skulls of thy crowing babes? Have 
 I ever slain thee unawares in the pitch of night, 
 or from behind the wayside rock or the dark- 
 ened thicket? Have I ever poisoned thy spark- 
 ling drink or in thy choicest viands mixed 
 Hebenon’s fluid of death? Think, O, think, 
 
244 
 
 Hum and Dixie. 
 
 most noble man, what fitting- chance I have 
 had, in role of slave, to put the cold dagger to 
 thy white throat or set thy gilded mansions 
 with furious flame! What creature else be- 
 side my present self would bear, and bear, and 
 bear, and still do bear, the pangs of thy poi- 
 soned darts? Think! Am I not a man? Is 
 not the breath of God within my ebony frame? 
 Shall I not live with thee throughout the ages 
 of eternity, and shall we not at last be both 
 immortal spirits, of color none, and powers 
 equal, both as one? What matters it what 
 color I, or what color thou; since both are 
 stinking clay, and soon must soar to worlds 
 above or sink to hell below? Alas! how weak 
 wast thou, how foolish, and, to me, how cruel! 
 Dost thou not feel the dint of pity? Hast 
 thou no pang of sad remorse? Man! who 
 keeps thy conscience? Is thy conscience clear? 
 Dost thou know Christ? What doth He think 
 of thee? Stop, Adam’s son, recall thyself 
 while life holds out to burn, and while thou 
 yet hast chance to change thyself and make 
 thy future grand! Come, white man, come! 
 Thou, most fortunate Limb of Adam! We 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 245 
 
 both have done our wrong's. I well have paid 
 for mine; now, come and pay thy dues. 
 
 “Last night, whilst slumber deep possessed 
 my soul, a dream — a horrid dream did through 
 my spirit fly. My crooked hair did stand as 
 straight as thine, and cold, death like sweat 
 did fall from off my skin as rain drops from a 
 roof. Methought thine own fair self and I 
 stood near the bar of God; but not as we now 
 seem. We both were black as the lowest pits 
 of hell and felt as low and mean. The book of 
 God was ope; its pages bright as gold. But on 
 those glittering pages our names could not be 
 found. The book of the damned was there, as 
 black as our faces were then, and in that book 
 our names were first in line. Then a High 
 Angel began to read our deeds aloud, begin- 
 ning first with thine. Thou wast accused of 
 treating thy brother wrong and using ill the 
 good that God hath giv’n to thee. Thou wast 
 compelled to count in full every stroke of lash 
 that e’er did fall upon my naked skin; every 
 drop of blood that thou hast drawn from my 
 bursting veins; every red-hot ball of lead thou 
 e’er didst frizzing hurl through my soft flesh; 
 every pang of death thy rope, at dead of night, 
 
246 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 around my throat did cause; every light from 
 Wisdom’s torch thou e’er didst shade from me; 
 every honor which thou didst rob from me and 
 give to one whose parts were less than mine; 
 and every sin that’s done by me and caused by 
 thine unrighteous rule. The Angel then did 
 draw his darning sword, which well could cut 
 both right and left, and dourished it keen and 
 fast about thy head. I drew back and held 
 my breath ; for, man ! I felt for thee. I thought 
 thy time had come and would thy haughty 
 self be cut in twain and sent to lowest hell. 
 But, when that sword did flash and graze thy 
 desh; thou droppedst upon thy knees and 
 clasped thy hands upon thy breast, and cried, 
 ‘O, God, be kind ! I see my sins like mountains 
 ’tween us roll. O, spare me! spare me, now! 
 O, sheathe that awful sword, and I, to-day, will 
 start to right my hellish wrongs. Right here, 
 on bended knee, with melting heart, I swear to 
 thee I never again will draw a line ’twixt me 
 and men that God hath made, because their 
 face is black or red, or ’cause their hair is 
 straight or wool. O, God, have mercy upon 
 my soul and let no ill betide me now, and I will 
 go down to earth and mete out right to all man- 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 247 
 
 kind.' With this, the sword was hid beneath 
 the throne of God, and thou, then trembling 
 wretch, arose and seemed as thou dost now. 
 But from behind the throne a voice like thun- 
 der came and ’dressed itself to thee: ‘White 
 Man! That Sword of Justice which thou hast 
 just now seen, is dangling still unseen above 
 thy pate. If thou, with all thy power on earth, 
 treat well thy brother, who is blacker than 
 thou, but fair as thou in heart and soul; this 
 sword will harm thee not, and thy great power 
 will cover all the earth. But, if, on bended 
 knee, thou gasp the lie and still wilt treat the 
 Negro wrong; this sword will fall upon thy 
 head, and cleave it half in two, and thy throne 
 to dust shall crumble and thy wand to potter’s 
 clay — and others will take thy lands and gold 
 and name.’ 
 
 “And, then, this Great Spirit addressing me, 
 did say, ‘Man, did not the Just and Holy One 
 create thee, thy brother’s equal? How is it. 
 then, that thou hast fallen so low and weak, 
 and hast let him treat thee thus? What hast 
 thou done with thy gifts? Didst thou throw 
 them away or bury them ’neath the sand? 
 Dost thou thus prank with God, and mock His 
 
248 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 precious hand? Art thou fool to think thy 
 brother alone hath sinned, and thou go free? 
 If so, thou far art wrong, and soon shalt see.’ 
 When this was said, the Sword of Justice hung 
 low above my head and flashed like light be- 
 tween the clouds. My heart did cease to beat 
 within my breast and my hot blood did freeze 
 within my veins. I sank upon my quaking- 
 knees and o'er my heart I clasped my hands 
 and thought my time had come. 
 
 “Again, the Angel spoke such words as 
 these: ‘Man, once less than man, for slave 
 and tool thou wast. Hear now thy doom. 
 Thou hast thrown away thy noble self that 
 God hath given to thee; thou hast buried thy 
 gilded gifts beneath the earth; thou hast 
 stained thv brow with cowardice and mad’st 
 all worse by casting blame 'pon him who used 
 thee as thou mad’st thyself. Now, indeed, thy 
 chance is fair; improve it well and make thy- 
 self a man, from the germ that's wrought in 
 thee. Only show thyself a man with noble 
 parts’ and then all men will treat thee well. 
 But, mark thou this! If thou do as I bid thee, 
 a great glory awaits thee and thou shalt wear 
 Palms of Victory and a Crown of Life; but, if 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 249 
 
 thou return to thy wallow and mend not thy 
 way nor use thy talents nor make thyself a 
 man, this terrible sword shall fall on thee and 
 cleave thy skull in twain and thy whole race 
 shall be meat for feathered birds, and what 
 goods thou hast shall be given to him who 
 rules thee now! What sayest thou?’ 
 
 “Aroused by these burning words that 1 
 can ne'er forget, 1 raised my head and said 
 these things: ‘Most Holy One, this day I swear 
 to thee that, ever hence from now, I'll be a man 
 and live!' ‘Well done,’ said he; ‘now stand 
 upon thy feet and, with thy brother, go!' With 
 this I woke, and the sun did shine upon my face 
 and my heart was beating loud and fast, and I 
 was glad I lived. 
 
 “White man, 1 come to thee to tell thee that 
 I'm now a man, the same as thou. Ere this, 
 I've made mistakes and spoke hard things of 
 thee; but since I found I sinned as well as 
 thou, I lay no blame 'pon thee. We both are 
 on one land and breathe the self-same air; 
 hence, must we be each other’s friend and treat 
 each other fair. I'll do full duty to self, my 
 country and my God, and thou must do the 
 same. I know, as yet, I've nothing done to 
 
250 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 give me right on common terms with 
 thee; but, as we both have sinned, we 
 now must hide the past and henceforth 
 change anew. I pledge to thee that 1 
 will be a man and nearest friend of thine, 
 and Thou must pledge to me that thou wilt 
 treat me fair and hold no right from me. For 
 common good, we both must join our hands, 
 our heads, our hearts, our souls, our all. As I 
 rise up in manhood’s way, swing wide thy 
 gilded doors and bid me, ‘Come!’ In the spirit- 
 world, we both have seen, there is no line 
 'twixt men; then let the thing be done on earth 
 as ’tis in Heaven above. Now, well it’s mete, 
 within thy walls, that we should know each 
 other well. This mattered not while I was but 
 a thing; now, I’m, in truth, a man and we can 
 both strike hands and do that which is right. 
 Our comrades watch us both; our vow is down 
 in Heaven; the Sword of Justice hangs o’er our 
 heads and Angel’s hand is on its hilt. It is 
 written in the Rook of Heaven, that I must be 
 a man and thou must treat me so! What wilt 
 thou do?” 
 
 These words are spoken with a brave and 
 noble ring and th’ impassioned eloquence 
 
The Siv.rd of Justice. 
 
 251 
 
 native to the speaker's race shines forth in 
 word and mien. The sturdy black steps back 
 apace, and, leaning gently upon his carved 
 cane, with embroidered linen, wipes the per- 
 spiration from his anxious brow and calmly 
 awaits his reply. For a moment, all is silent 
 as the grave. No one dares to stir a limb or 
 utter a word or make a sound. The cooling 
 zephyr steals quietly through the opened lat- 
 tice and waves the white man's locks and fans 
 the Negro’s cheeks. The very air seems preg- 
 nant with something strange to hap. All 
 Nature and Art seem standing about as wit- 
 nesses of this solemn scene. The awful pres- 
 ence of an invisible spirit spreads over the pic- 
 ture its irresistible and Divine impress. Both 
 men, deep down in their hearts, experience a 
 common sensation and instinctively feel that 
 they both are men and equal. The Negro, 
 hushed with the heat of speech, and anxious 
 for the white man's reply, feels that this is now 
 his last resort, and, if this fails, friendship’s 
 peace and brother’s love will sink to rise no 
 more. The white man, impressed by those 
 burning words and by the thought of that 
 dangling sword above, and moved by that 
 
252 
 
 Hum and Dixie. 
 
 noble spirit which lies deep within his soul, 
 but is oft o’ercast with film of self and greed, 
 still sits in silence and brooding o'er his 
 thoughts — but now he moves! Upon the desk 
 hard by, he lays his smoking weed. He stands 
 upon his feet and takes a rapid stride to where 
 the Negro stands. Here, erect, with mien of 
 courtly knight and bearing proud and brave, 
 the white man stands, with folded arms across 
 his breast, and deep and burning eyes. 
 
 He speaks! The words are these: “My sable 
 Limb! All hail to thee! God made me as I 
 am. Begotten into the world by haughty sire, 
 taught ne'er to bend the knee; I never have 
 taught myself to brook an equal race. From 
 youth, I stood above my play fellows as the 
 pine above the shrub; in manhood, my ambi- 
 tion rose so high that 1 thought to rule the 
 world. I, therefore, dug deep into sciences 
 hard and dry; I studied man in all his curious 
 forms; I knew my power and craft and used 
 them to my end. T soared so high that I cared 
 for no man’s pride; nor did I regard his 
 thoughts, nor did I fear his will. Him, who 
 dared t’ oppose my rising might, I struck down 
 with my sword; him, who was down by Na- 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 253 
 
 ture’s meager gifts or rough-hewn chance and 
 lot, I changed to thing and tool and used him 
 for myself. By hap, I found thyself, not then 
 as thou art now; but a jabbering, ignorant 
 thing, and low and rude and black. At first, 
 methought that surely thou wast no man; for 
 how could God create my equal such as thou? 
 In truth, I did not stop to think. Suffice it 
 that thou then couldst do me good. I took 
 thee to myself and found thee pliant as the 
 vine and humble as the ox. Thou didst not 
 rear thyself up and show me what thou wast; 
 but, judging from thy looks, I thought it well 
 for all that I should use for good what was not 
 used at all. I used thee hard and rough, to 
 this T must confess — e’en now I feel remorse 
 for what I did to thee — but, yet, ’twas need that 
 I used thee thus to hold my grasp on thee. For 
 well I knew that if thou hadst learned my 
 sense and caught my craft, and if that grain of 
 spirit beneath that timid mien of thine had 
 grown and thrived, I could not then have held 
 thee down whit more than that yon Mount of 
 Rock and crush it into dust. Thou spok’st of 
 my Brother of the North that sprang from my 
 father's loins, and same as I. We quarreled 
 
254 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and fought like devils, and all ’bout thee; for 
 thou, indeed, wast deepest cause. From smoke 
 of battle and din of war, thou gainedst thy 
 freedom as thou hast said. Thou, poor igno- 
 rant fool, didst think that my brother did love 
 thee so; because he sang so sweet of Liberty 
 and her precious stores. But, mark you, now, 
 he ne’er could stand to feel thy touch or hold 
 thee his equal more than I. Yet, I blame thee 
 not for thy love for him and do not wish it 
 fade. This same my brother did make thee 
 man-at-law, when thou wast but a child — nay, 
 worse than that, when thou wast but a thing! 
 He well did know that thou wouldst ne’er go 
 North and thus be cast upon his hand, and, so, 
 he dumped upon my head thyself, and bade 
 me bear the load. I tell you, man, this dag- 
 gered me. What! make my slave, my lord! 
 E’en while he sit in Northern clime and then 
 dictate to me? Before God! I never would 
 have it so. With cloud of defeat upon my 
 brow, ground by the cursed law of my native 
 land, and still harassed by the sickly, white- 
 washed hand of Northern charity for thee; I 
 wreaked my vengeance full upon thy head and 
 swore to God I never would live to see the day 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 255 
 
 when thou wouldst rule o’er me. I meant it, 
 then, and still do mean it now. For, by the 
 heavens that curve us o’er and by the stars 
 that shine, I tell thee now no man shall rule 
 my race. But, more than angered by For- 
 tune’s frowning face, I was well disgusted too 
 with thee. Thou wast so ignorant, so timid, 
 so trifling and so low; and yet thou darest to 
 hold thyself ’gainst me. And, worse than this; 
 thou joinedst thy puny arm with my brother’s 
 stronger one and both ye tried to crush me 
 down. Thou never yet didst claim me for a 
 friend ; thou never yet didst place thy trust in 
 me. Thou lookedst straight toward the North 
 for thy help, and e’en now hast been across the 
 waves to sing thy tune and 'bnse my name be- 
 fore the world. What hast thou yet received? 
 What c-anst thou e’er expect? What man can 
 save thee, if I am bent on thy destruction? 
 Who dares to come within my lines and teach 
 me what to do concerning thee, or dares to 
 make me bow to thee and call thee lord and 
 king? Hadst thou been glad to put thy trust 
 in me and gain a share of my best grace, I 
 would have proved the staunchest friend of all, 
 and one more strong to give thee aid, because 
 
256 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 T am near at hand and know full well thy need. 
 But, now, behold thyself! Thou lookest well 
 and boldest thyself erect. Thou sayest that 
 thou art now a man; that thou hast thought 
 and dreamed and dreamed and thought until 
 thou feelest thyself a man. Thou comest to 
 me, within my hall and upon my land, and 
 sayest that thou hast seen thine error and hast 
 put aside thy folly and now wishest to be 
 treated as a man. Politely hast thou rapped 
 at my door and Jiast behaved thyself so well, 
 both in my sight and in my spacious rooms. I 
 myself have newly thought that thou dost own 
 some glittering parts which I do well admire, 
 and .1 stood ready that if the time should 
 come when thou’dst be true and brave and 
 comest to me in reason and in right, I would 
 give ear to thee and do that which is best. But 
 speak, man, and tell me in words more plain, 
 what is it now thou seekest?” 
 
 “My lord,” the black man said, “I know I’ve 
 been far down and here can show no proof of 
 any great worth within me; but certain I am 
 that now I’m true and brave and fair, and sure 
 will do my part within thy halls. I admit that 
 all these broad estates are thine by right of 
 
The Sword of Justice. 
 
 257 
 
 thine own finding and construction. There- 
 fore, forgetting the terrible past, and coming 
 to thee as some new suppliant, T crave admis- 
 sion into thine estates that I may share in 
 time a right with thee by labor and by thought. 
 I do not look just now for thine own choicest 
 gifts, as I have not yet shown my best and 
 choicest worth. I ask thee not to grant me the 
 reins of thy government or let me share in thy 
 best and paying stations. I only ask that thou 
 shalt ope to me such doors to thine apartments 
 as my present worth doth seem prepared to 
 till; and that, in future times, thou bid me wel- 
 come to such place and power as well befit my 
 future skill. I'm willing to toil and wait as 
 others have done before me; and all I ask of 
 thee is not to place thick walls across my path, 
 but give me all the chance thou givest to others 
 and what thyself enjovest. I do not crave to 
 dine or sleep with thee or sit with thee in 
 social chat and mirth. I do not crave t* 
 ride with thee, or send my child with thine to 
 school, or sit with thee in pew, and praise our 
 common God. But, in matters of business, 
 trade and state — in right, I ask thee know no 
 man ; draw no lines ; but give each man his due. 
 
258 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Surely, tliou, with all thy power, art not afraid 
 of worm like me. I never can and never will 
 control thy lands, and wish it not if I could. 1 
 want the share mv parts deserve, and that 
 which justice clearly gives. I believe thy state 
 is broad enough for Jew and Greek, for White 
 and Black; and, while our God ruleth o’er us 
 all, and Freedom's flag waves proud and true, 
 we all may find on common soil the home of 
 the brave and the land of the free. ’Tis these 
 I ask and nothing more; and these I hope 
 thou'lt grant.” 
 
 The white man, now, face flushed with heat 
 and pride, full-tuned to noble deeds, breaks 
 forth and says: “Well said, my sire; if thou’rt, 
 in truth, a man, and deceiv’st me not, and 
 humbly ask’st this precious boon which must 
 be sweet to thee and right for all concerned; 
 henceforth, and e’er, I open wide to thee such 
 places as I have and such for which thy powers 
 are ripe. As thou expand thyself and grow in 
 wisdom’s way, demand thy wants and I shall 
 give it thee, if in my power and thou art worth 
 the gift. From hence, fear not; naught save 
 thyself will e’er retard thy steps, and thou’lt 
 ne’er live to say that my hand has hurled thee 
 
The Siuord of Justice. 
 
 259 
 
 from any height thou darest to climb, or my 
 body will e’er shade thee from any light thou 
 lovest t’enjoy. All I ask of thee, cease thy 
 chattering complaint of me; place th^ trust in 
 me; join me to build a state that is greater yet 
 than this, and let us both together live in 
 peace. Be true and firm and brave, and cast 
 oft’ thy former trifling self and be a man! 
 Doubt me not; my word is firm as a rock. 
 Henceforth, thou'lt find my arm as strong to 
 save my friend as ’twas to strike for rights and 
 honor bright.” 
 
 “And. henceforth.” says the noble black, 
 “thou'lt find that I can dare and suffer more 
 terrible things for him who offers me his 
 friendly hand than e'er I could for him who 
 once did hold his feet upon my neck.” 
 
 “Well said", my man,” the Southern brave 
 replied ; “now, come, and let us seal our friend- 
 ship’s bond by grasp of hands — a token faint 
 of stronger bonds which this day join our 
 hearts.” 
 
 The Negro advances respectfully and, now, 
 the two men meet in the center of the room and 
 earnestly shake each other’s hands, while, 
 again, they renew their pledges to each other 
 
260 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and while the tears fall freely from eyes that 
 are blue as well as from eyes that are black 
 and while God, their Heavenly Father, looks 
 over His Great White Throne upon earth, His 
 footstool, and beholds this scene and allows 
 His richest blessings to fall down upon the 
 heads of both men and upon all their genera- 
 tions which are yet to come. 
 
 Then, suddenly, the scene passes from my 
 eyes, as it were, a dream, and I awake out of 
 my mid-day reverie and find that I am in the 
 “Ancient City” of St. Augustine, Florida. I 
 hear the deep groan of the sea and look out and 
 watch the foaming breakers as they come roll 
 ing in to the shore, and I am thinking that 
 these breakers are the generations of men, and 
 as one generation would dash itself out of exist- 
 ence against the hoary Rocks of Time, another 
 and still another, and, behind this last, another, 
 would advance and meet the same fate of its 
 predecessor and be lost for all Eternity! This 
 is, indeed, a strange life, and, after all, if we 
 can succeed in treating our brother right, in 
 lifting up the fallen and oppressed, in making- 
 men better, and in serving a just God— it mat- 
 ters not when or where or how we fall, for fall 
 we must! 
 
Come, Let U s Reason Together. 
 
 261 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 COME, LET US REASON TOGETHER. 
 
 Mv Brother in Black, this hook is not all 
 theory and propositions and imaginations; for 
 it is not my style to talk and do nothing in fact. 
 
 One of the grandest difficulties of our race, 
 to-day, is, that we make good resolutions and 
 draw up excellent plans and talk in our social 
 gatherings and write in our circulating me- 
 diums: hut have never yet come together like 
 men who mean what they say and proceed with 
 all our might to do something in reality. I 
 mean the race, as a united people, have never 
 yet put anything into action, whether good, 
 had or indifferent; and pushed it to its end. 
 Are we satisfied with our condition? I have 
 said elsewhere that we are not; I may be 
 wrong, hut I am either wrong or right. If I 
 am wrong, then we must be satisfied, and if 
 we are satisfied, then we are pretty fools to 
 complain so much about our condition; if I am 
 
Ham and Dixie. 
 
 262 
 
 right, then we are dissatisfied, and if we are 
 dissatisfied, then we are also pretty fools to 
 whine and whimper and not come out like men 
 and state our case and plead our cause. We 
 are fighting the air; and, thus far, we have 
 made no case befofe the public. Nobody 
 knows what we want; for it seems that some 
 of us want a certain thing; some of us want 
 another and others of us want nothing at all. 
 
 Some of us say, “We ought to go to Africa.” 
 Others say, “To hell with Africa! Let us live 
 and die in the South.” Some others say, “We 
 ought to have a pretty little State, all to our- 
 selves.” Others say, “To the devil with such 
 a plan! For, where there are no white 
 folks, we would cut up and shoot down 
 each other like madmen.” And, besides 
 these conflicting classes, the great majority 
 say nothing and pay no attention to public 
 questions; but plod right on like the mule they 
 plow or the ox they turn out to grass. 
 
 Now, to-day, I sound a trump loud enough 
 to be heard all over the South — nay, all over 
 the Union, and I stop you, black people, on the 
 high-wavs; in the cotton -fields ; on the trains; 
 in the school room; in the pulpit; around the 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 
 
 263 
 
 saloon-corners; in the white man’s kitchen; 
 and, in short, wherever you are — I stop you, 
 call you back and ask you, “What do you 
 want?” 
 
 Now, before you answer, every man, woman 
 and child of you, must agree on the same thing 
 and for Heaven’s sake, mean what you say and 
 die by what you mean. The answer comes 
 at once from about ten million throats, “We 
 want the white man of this country to give us 
 the same opportunity to improve as he himself 
 possesses, and not to debar us from a single po- 
 sition for which we are truly competent.” 
 
 Again I raise the trump and these words 
 peal forth: “Do you mean what you say, or, 
 is it only imagination?” The answer comes 
 again from the same source as before, “We 
 mean what we say.” 
 
 For the third time, I blast out, “If you mean 
 what you say, what are you going to do about 
 it?” Once more the answer comes, “We do not 
 know exactly what to do.” 
 
 For the fourth time, I raise the trump and 
 ask, “If a good plan is found, will the last one 
 of you stick to it and die in your tracks rather 
 than give it up?” “By the help of God, we 
 will!” is the reply. 
 
264 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Then I put the instrument to my mouth 
 for the last time, and send, over thousands of 
 miles, these words, “Look, here, people, if you 
 deceive me; I am done with you forever. I will 
 let you alone, then; and let the white man fix 
 you !” 
 
 I now hang up my trump, and sit down, with 
 my hands over my eyes, and begin to think. 
 Reader! This final blast is rathet* rough and 
 coarse; but there is a world of meaning in iv 
 
 If the Negro is really deceptive and does not 
 mean what he says, and does not intend to ex- 
 ecute his most faithful resolves, and if he 
 promise his leaders that he will fall in line 
 when the last great struggle is being made for 
 him and he fails to do so; then, indeed, is it fit- 
 ting that those who are interested in his cause 
 shall throw up their hands and leave forever 
 such a weak aipl trilling race to the sole man- 
 agement and control of the white man who 
 knows so well how to use a pliant tool. 
 
 From those imaginary answers, my friends, 
 I take it that you are willing to make one grand, 
 united and final stand for those principles 
 which I have set forth as pillars for the super- 
 structure of a great nation, and also to observe 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 
 
 265 
 
 the pratical hints I am now about to disclose 
 to you and which I have already intimated 
 somewhere else in these pages. I have said 
 enough, and I hope you understand me. 
 
 Now. I will tell you exactly what we must 
 do. I want a Grand United Negro Assembly, 
 held at some suitable place in some one of the 
 Southern States of America. I want this As- 
 sembly composed of, at least, one Negro from 
 each county in every one of the States; espec- 
 ially, of the eleven Southern States. I want 
 each Negro representative to be the soundest, 
 the bravest and the wisest Negro in each coun 
 ty ; and, moreover, I want these representatives 
 unanimously elected by the Negroes of each 
 county. I want every Negro man, woman and 
 child to understand this whole movement — its 
 plans and purposes, and to pledge themselves 
 that they will submit to and agree with any 
 and every thing decided upon in this Assem- 
 bly, and that they will be willing to lay down 
 their natural lives in the support, maintenance 
 and execution of those plans which this As- 
 sembly may see fit to adopt. This Assembly, 
 then, must express the sentiment of the entire 
 Negro race of the United States of America; 
 
266 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and what is decided in this Organization, shall 
 he endorsed and adopted by every Negro that 
 is old enough to stand alone. In this Assembly, 
 I want Union, Harmony, Courage, Humanity 
 and Faith in A lmighty God. Here, I want the 
 Negroes of America, in this Body, to make 
 their first and last united, public effort, and 
 to state once and forever to their white 
 fellow-citizens, their conditions, their wants, 
 their plans, their requests and their rights. 
 Negroes, at this Grand Assembly, I want you 
 to draw up a Memorial couched in strong 
 and manly and beautiful language and signed 
 by every member of your Assembly who will 
 go up clothed with the authority of, and 
 backed up by, the sanction and strength of his 
 entire county. In that Memorial, I want you 
 to present yourselves in a noble and dignified 
 and yet respectful manner. I want you to real- 
 ize the truths as set forth in this book which 
 say, in substance, that your own defect has 
 been and still is the chief cause of your past 
 and present failures, and that you must make 
 up your minds to work out your own salvation. 
 I do not want you to go to that Assembly with 
 the intention to quarrel with or abuse your 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together , 
 
 267 
 
 Southern White Fellow-citizens, and to de- 
 mand in a peremptory manner whatever right 
 there is to which you may imagine yourselves 
 entitled. I want you to go there forgetting 
 the conditions of the past and place yourselves 
 upon a brand new basis, holding yourselves as 
 a new people fresh upon the American soil and 
 knocking at the door of the South for a friendly 
 and respectable admission. I want it under- 
 stood by the world that your ideas and plans 
 and requests, as embodied in that Memorial, 
 will represent the sentiment of the root and 
 the branch of the whole Negro race of America. 
 
 I want you to address this Memorial, not to 
 the Northern white man, not to the Congress 
 of the United States of America, not to the 
 British Empire and the Mighty Monarchies of 
 Europe; but I want you to address it to your 
 fellow-citizens of the Sunny States of Dixie. 
 This may be done by addressing copies of this 
 Memorial to every State Legislature of the 
 South — sending them through the mail or by 
 messengers to the Governor of each State or to 
 the presiding officers of the several Legisla- 
 tures thereof. 
 
268 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 In this Assembly, I further want you to ac- 
 company this Memorial with a respectful invi- 
 tation to the white people of the South, asking 
 them to vouchsafe to meet you in a subsequent 
 General Southern Tnter-Raeial Congress, at a 
 suitable time and place, and then and there, to 
 reason together upon the Great Race Questions 
 of the Day, and to render one final and ever- 
 lasting verdict. If the business to be trans 
 acted in the preliminary Negro Assembly, can 
 be done at the same time the Inter-Racial Con- 
 gress is convened, and thus avoid the necessity 
 of the two Great Meetings; so, let it be. I 
 think, however, that the former suggestion is 
 better, from the fact that you, in your Assem- 
 bly, will have your plans fully and ably set 
 forth and decided upon by your race, and your 
 Memorial will have passed into the hands of 
 your Southern white friends, who will thus 
 have ample time to consider and reflect upon 
 your request, before they will be required to 
 meet you in a general consultation and give 
 you their final and complete decision. Besides, 
 it is more than probable that the white leaders 
 of the several Southern States may desire to 
 bring this matter before their people, in some 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 269 
 
 way or other, in order that they may feel that 
 their final answer shall voice the sentiment of 
 a majority of their better classes. 
 
 Gentlemen. I want some such general under- 
 standing of this nature, both among our own 
 people and also between us and the white 
 people of the South. I do not believe in minc- 
 ing matters any longer. If the Negroes can 
 ever unite, let them do so, now ; if they are not 
 satisfied with their present condition, let them 
 make it known like a brave and enlightened 
 people; if they have a case at all, let them 
 make it out in writing and let not only the 
 South inspect it, but let it be known to the 
 world; if they ever intend to act in their own 
 behalf, let them act now, or ever afterwards 
 hold their peace. If the white people of tlie 
 South are justified in their treatment toward 
 us, let the world know it and exonerate them 
 from all past suspicion of injustice; if they are 
 ready and willing to meet us and admit us on 
 our true merit and capacity, let that be found 
 out now ; if they feel that they never can and 
 never will make us welcome on Southern soil, 
 then let them come out like true-hearted men 
 in a General Convention and tell us so in plain 
 
'270 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 words, so that we may know what to do. For 
 one, I believe in open, square, honest and 
 above-board transactions between the races of 
 this country, just as I do in the private deal- 
 ings of individuals. Let us, then, both Negro 
 and white man, meet together in a G-eneral 
 Consultation, with white delegates and a white 
 chairman on one side of the hall, and with 
 black delegates and a black chairman on the 
 other. Let each side represent the full senti- 
 ment of its own race, and let what is done in 
 that hall, be endorsed and supported, to the 
 letter, by the masses of both races. Let this 
 •Congress of the Races be one of the grandest 
 and most glorious meetings that has ever been 
 convened on the American continent, and let it 
 teach the world a new and progressive lesson, 
 hitherto ignored or misunderstood — namely, 
 the Universal Brotherhood of Man and the 
 Eternal Fatherhood of God. 
 
 Another feature I now suggest, and that is 
 this: I want to see established in every county 
 of these Southern States a permanent Inter- 
 Racial Committee, composed of the leading 
 of both races, whose duty shall be to in- 
 v; si : gate, decide and act upon all differences 
 
Come, Let Us Reasan Together. 
 
 271 
 
 arising between the races, and whose white 
 members shall co-operate with the black mem- 
 bers in elevating the Negro in every important 
 interest, and, thus, help him to become a more 
 useful, intelligent and better citizen. If prac- 
 ticable, I want these Committees invested with 
 certain powers by our State Legislatures, in 
 order that they may exercise, along with other 
 duties, a quasi-judicial power, which shall 
 enable them to subpoena witnesses, admin- 
 ister oaths and make all necessary investiga- 
 tions with reference to such disgraceful acts 
 and misdemeanors among our people which 
 now evade the grasp of the general law. The 
 black members of these Committees rna be 
 selected from or may consist of the k 
 League suggested in a previous chapter 
 in any event, these Committees shall wo 
 gether in perfect harmony with the League, 
 both of which being composed of the best and 
 the most enlightened citizens of both races. 
 Such Committees, backed up by the sentiment 
 of the better classes of the South, and sanc- 
 tioned, as an adjunct and a limb of the Law r , 
 will have a wonderful effect in controlling our 
 people and preventing them from perpetrating 
 
272 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 those trivial but, at the same time, degrading 
 offenses of which the Law scarcely takes cogni- 
 zance, and which a pure Negro League, un- 
 supported by white influence and legal sanc- 
 tion, will not be able to prohibit. 
 
 I tell you, readers, you can hardly estimate 
 the powerful effect these Inter-Racial Conven- 
 tions, Leagues and Committees, will have upon 
 the present sentiment entertained by both 
 races of the South. The intelligent classes 
 will always mould and shape the thoughts and 
 feelings of the ignorant and lower masses. 
 Hence, if the better portion of the white South- 
 ern people will co-operate with the better por- 
 tion of our people, the great work before us 
 will already be accomplished. Most assuredly, 
 it will require some time to train the public to 
 become accustomed to the change of condi- 
 tions; but this ought to be expected, and no 
 reasonable person will be unwilling to wait 
 patiently for results. This method of bringing 
 the two elements together in a calm and delib- 
 erate consultation, is the only true method of 
 arriving at anything like an effective and per- 
 manent solution of the race problem. For no 
 other people, unconnected with the near inter- 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 273 
 
 ests of the South, can do us any good, until 
 both races at home, are first voluntarily and 
 satisfactorily reconciled to each other and are 
 willing to work together for each other’s wel- 
 fare and for the development of the country at 
 large. 
 
 Some of our people may suppose that my 
 views may do very well ; but that it is madness 
 to imagine that the Southern whites will ever 
 recognize us enough to meet us in a common 
 gathering and there discuss in brotherly har- 
 mony the Great Issue between us. If I look 
 upon the white man of theSouth as most of our 
 people do, I am certain that I would entertain 
 a similar belief; but I have great confidence in 
 the intelligent portion of the Southern whites, 
 and, therefore, I do not believe that they will 
 refuse to meet us and talk over this matter in 
 the most friendly manner. To my knowledge, 
 they have never been approached by our people 
 in the proper way; on the other hand, we have 
 said much to show that we mistrust them and 
 hold them, to-day, as our greatest enemy. I 
 am certain that if we change our attitude to- 
 ward our white friends among us and act like 
 reliable and honorable men ourselves; they 
 
274 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 will treat us well and be glad to render us all 
 the assistance within their power which will 
 tend to improve our present condition. I have 
 seen intelligent white men of the South helping 
 on and patronizing Negro enterprises; I have 
 seen them giving good advice to worthy col 
 ored persons; I have seen them aiding the 
 great cause of Negro Education and showing 
 in different ways that even now they are not 
 averse to Negro progress. 
 
 While I write, I understand that a large and 
 influential white law firm in Virginia have re- 
 cently employed a young Negro stenographer 
 and typewriter in their office. If this is true, 
 it shows a willingness on the part of the best 
 Southern whites to open up gradually to us 
 such positions as we are capable of filling with 
 accuracy and despatch. Such progressive 
 movements will, no doubt, grate upon the sen- 
 sitive feelings of some of our white citizens; 
 but, after awhile even they will become recon- 
 ciled to them and learn to think it a piece of 
 folly to refuse a competent applicant, simply 
 because he is black. Further, I am in favor 
 of appealing to the Southern whites for recog- 
 nition ; because, if they are willing to help us, 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 275 
 
 they are much better situated to do so than 
 any other section or country. They are our 
 neighbors; they furnish us employment; they 
 manage our schools; they make our State and 
 local laws; and, in a word, they control and 
 direct the affairs of the section in which we 
 live. Therefore, if they are against us, they 
 can do us greater injury than any other people; 
 and, on the other hand, if they are for us, they 
 can help us more than all others. Another 
 thing, I believe in seeing even-handed justice 
 dealt out to all men. I believe really that the 
 Southern whites are about as friendly to us as 
 many others from different sections of the 
 Union, or even from foreign countries. The 
 difference between the South and these others, 
 is simply caused by a difference of circum- 
 stances and not by any difference in the natural 
 dispositions of these several classes toward 
 the Negro. Thus, if the other sections were 
 placed in the condition of the Southern whites, 
 they would treat the Negro about the same as 
 the Southern whites treat him. At any rate, 
 whatever feeling our Southern w T hite fellow- 
 citizens may entertain toward us, will be found 
 out by the method I have herein described. If 
 
276 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 they are really willing to see us prosper and 
 become good citizens, they will certainly be 
 ready to meet us in a General Convention and 
 grant us any just and reasonable request we 
 may make; but, if they despise us and want to 
 keep us crushed down forever, they will not 
 regard our respectful invitation, but will either 
 try to wriggle out of an acceptance thereof, or 
 will come right out like honest men and tell us 
 they are neither willing to listen to our propo- 
 sitions nor to give us an opportunity to become 
 a worthy and respectable people. Again, I 
 have spoken of these Meetings, consisting, es- 
 pecially, of representatives from the eleven 
 Southern States; but I do not wish it to be 
 understood that I desire the absence of the 
 Northern Negro, who wishes to assist us in 
 this great movement. I have referred chiefly 
 to the Southern Negro; because I am discuss- 
 ing a problem which pertains specially to the 
 South and not to the North. There are many 
 able Negroes in the North who are Southerners 
 by birth and early training and, of course, 
 these cannot afford to stay away. In fact, I 
 want a demonstration of the United Negro 
 Race of this Republic, whether North or South, 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 
 
 277 
 
 East or West; so that the world may under- 
 stand exactly what the Negro of this country 
 wants, what he himself wishes to do for others 
 and what he wishes others to do for him. 
 We have never yet made a united race move- 
 ment, and, therefore, we have never yet made 
 a proposal or expressed a desire or voiced our 
 sentiment or published our request, in such 
 manner as is becoming to a people of our stage 
 of advancement. Hence, we are not in posi- 
 tion to blame any people for not granting what 
 we imagine we need or what we have hinted 
 that we need or what a part of ns think we do 
 not need. For one, I am willing and anxious 
 to try our strength and to ascertain the depth 
 of our real interest in our own affairs, and to 
 find out whether or not we mean what we say 
 and also how far our meaning a thing extends, 
 when we do happen to mean what we say. 
 
 Finally, my countrymen, I have, thus, rudely 
 outlined some sort of a scheme whereby both 
 races shall come together and reason out in a 
 friendly way the greatest question in Ameri- 
 can statesmanship. Wiser heads than mine 
 may suggest a variety of methods by which 
 this idea as herein set forth, may be executed; 
 
278 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 but I will ever maintain, until the contrary is 
 mathematically demonstrated, or shown by the 
 most positive tacts, that the Negro of the South 
 must work out his own salvation. Further- 
 more, I will ever hold that the Negro must look 
 to his Southern white fellow citizens for co- 
 operation, and that there must be a completely 
 united effort on his part and a general con 
 sultation of, and a harmonious understanding 
 between, both races, before the present fric- 
 tion in the South can be oiled away and both 
 the hitherto conflicting elements can move on 
 in perfect peace and with a glorious success. 
 It really seems strange to me that the two 
 races have not ere this met together in some 
 general body and have had a fair, honest and 
 manly understanding with each other. It 
 seems that this method is so enlightened, so 
 just, so honest, so grand and so much in keep- 
 ing with the new and highest civilization which 
 is dawning upon the world, that it is passing- 
 strange it has never yet been put into action. 
 The first step, however, in such movement, 
 must be made by the Negro and warmly re- 
 sponded to by the white man. 
 
Come, Let Us Reason Together. 279 
 
 With these words, I close this, my Simple 
 Plan for the Solution of the Southern Problem, 
 feeling confident that if those foregoing prin- 
 ciples and methods are wisely carried out, 
 the whole matter will be peaceably settled, 
 now, henceforth and forever. I have said what 
 I did say with the best possible intentions, 
 from an honest conviction of what I thought 
 was right and proper aaid without any hope of 
 reward or fear of punishment. The fact is, I 
 have been moved to say these things by a cer- 
 tain strange, inward impulse which I had no 
 hand in creating, nor did I exercise any effort 
 to destroy. So, if anything said is worthy of 
 notice, attribute it not to me; and if there is 
 any harm done, lay not the blame at my door. 
 For these views are but the utterances that 
 come deep and hollow from the World of 
 Spirits, and I am but the rude instrument 
 through which they come. These things are 
 not wise enough to spring out of the World of 
 Spirits? My dear friends, there are plenty of 
 little playful Fairies in the Spirit-World who 
 tweak babies’ noses and make them cry and 
 pull old men’s beards and make them cross, 
 and who are just mischievous enough to fill 
 
280 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 my idle brain with nonsense and have me 
 publish them, and, then, turn about and laugh 
 at my simplicity and be pleased with their 
 own shrewdness. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A LETTER FROM THE DEAD. 
 
 They fold my arms across my breast; 
 straighten out my body and lower limbs; close 
 the lids of my eyes; lay me out on the cooling- 
 board and draw a large white sheet over me. 
 They cry and mourn for the loss of a departed 
 Spirit. Men of God try to console them, and 
 point their grieving spirits to a risen Saviour 
 who has power over Death and the Grave, 
 and who is able to raise the dead to life and 
 break the jaws of hell. The clock, on the man- 
 tel, is stopped; birds cease to sing; the air is 
 calm and still, and pale-faced spirits stalk sol- 
 emnly and unseen through the vaulted cham- 
 bers. It is night! The stars peep out through 
 the windows of Heaven and look down faint 
 
J. Letter from the Dead. 
 
 281 
 
 and hushed. The wind whistles mournfully 
 around the corners and through the halls, 
 bearing messages from the World of Spirits. 
 The house, save the room of the dead, is dark 
 and empty, and there lies my body wrapped 
 in whiteness in the pale, flickering light of a 
 solitary candle. The silent watchers sit around 
 the room like tombstones about their graves. 
 Now and then, a loving friend or faithful kins- 
 man tips softly across the room, approaches 
 my body, lifts up the sheet and gazes dream - 
 ingly on my cold and marble brow, but thSre 
 is no responsive look or word or thought, for 
 my spirit has flown to worlds unknown. 
 
 The morrow comes; I am lowered into the 
 damp and darksome grave; they sing a requiem 
 as I sink in earth; they fold their arms and 
 pray to God to have mercy on the living and 
 soothe their sorrows and wipe away their 
 tears; thick and heavy clods of earth are 
 thrown upon the coffin’s lid, and now I am 
 covered up and a curving mound is raised 
 about my bones; the mourners sigh and leave 
 the grave and turn their footsteps home. 
 
 O, where am I? I feel so light and cool! 
 Methinks I am rising upward like feathers in 
 
282 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 the air. I feel no pain, no grief, no cares and 
 no fears. Everything about me shines brighter 
 than diamond, and most beautiful colors of 
 every kind seem to glow on every side. Most 
 graceful forms, tinted with choicest hue, seem 
 to fill the air and smile upon me as they pass; 
 the sweetest music steals softly from some 
 distant choir and thrills my soul with unspeak- 
 able delight. O, God! How happy! How 
 happy! How happy! I am. Will it be always 
 thus, I wonder? “No, my son,” says a voice 
 near me; “thou hast a great work before thee, 
 and thou canst not do what is assigned to thee 
 if thou art permitted to enjoy all these beau 
 tiful sights and transporting sounds. Come 
 with me.” 
 
 And immediately all these beauties vanish 
 and I find myself walking up some steep and 
 rugged heights, following closely some one 1 
 cannot see, but yet can strangely feel his pres- 
 ence. At length, we reach the top of the hill 
 ’pon which has been erected a lofty tower built 
 of hardest stone. At the base of this tower 
 begins a winding stair of shining marble that 
 leads unto the top. Up these spiral steps, my 
 invisible guide is conducting me. We are now 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 283 
 
 at the head of the stair and find a huge door 
 closed and preventing any further progress; 
 a gentle breeze fans my cheeks and the massive 
 door swings wide upon its hinges. We enter 
 a chamber with vaulted roof of finest masonry, 
 and studded with most graceful statuettes, 
 and paintings skilled and picturesque. Within 
 this chamber, stands an ancient alcove contain- 
 ing quaint books, old and musty, and written 
 in symbols I had never seen before, or heard of 
 any who had seen them. Near this treasure 
 of hidden knowledge. I behold a writing-desk, 
 paper, pen and ink, and stool 'pon which to sit 
 Within a niche overhead, above the writing- 
 desk. and hard by the alcove dark, sits a 
 golden pitcher filled with drink and a glitter- 
 ing goblet stands by its side. In one wall of 
 the room, I spy an arched window, and as the 
 air is thick and heavy, 1 rush to the opened 
 arch with the hope of inhaling a gust of re- 
 freshing breeze and gazing upon the beauties 
 of the surrounding landscape. In this, I am 
 wofully disappointed. I feel no air at all, and 
 look out upon empty space, unfilled with form 
 or sound. Recoiling back upon myself and 
 feeling strangely sad, I throw me down at the 
 
284 
 
 Ham and Dixie . 
 
 feet of a large Statue, carved in solid stone. I 
 bend upon my knees and pray as best I can 
 that God may send some spirit fair to teach me 
 what I see, where I am and why I am, at all. 
 My eyes are thick with tears which fall upon 
 the Statue’s feet, and my brain swims mad 
 and hot, while fire doth burn my heart. Feel- 
 ing my horrid state still more and more, I pray 
 as men ne’er prayed before. I roll my eyes 
 toward the roof, and move my hand in wildest 
 - passion; my body moves to and fro and I my- 
 self am all in motion, stirred by depth of feel- 
 ing, like tree-tops by a storm. And now, as I 
 throw out my arms, I strike them ’gainst the 
 Statue. It is no longer hard and cold, but soft 
 and warm like human flesh. I shrink me back 
 with fright, and upward cast mine eyes. Be- 
 hold! That marble face is flushed and warm 
 with blood and smiles so sweet and kind. The 
 Statue moves! It speaks! It bids me rise! 
 Weak, scared and limp, I scramble to my feet 
 and bow in deep submission. 
 
 Statue — Man — Angel — God! — he speaks to 
 me and says, “My son, I w'as thy Guide that 
 brought thee here unseen. In action, I am a 
 spirit invisible to human eye; in repose, I am 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 285 
 
 cold marble that thou hast just now seen. But 
 oft when it is mete, I use the middle state 
 'twixt spirit and stone and then I am a man as 
 thou; but far beyond thy ken. Young man, 
 thy task is great, but sure thou wilt succeed; 
 for there is greater strength than thine which 
 bears thee up, and there is greater wisdom 
 than thine which guides thee in the right. See 
 thou that vessel of gold in yonder niche — that 
 goblet by its side? Come, thou must drink, 
 and see and know what thou must do.” 
 
 With this, he takes the pitcher in his hand 
 and fills the goblet to the rim. The stuff is 
 black as night and thick as treacle; slow and 
 sluggish in its move. The goblet is handed 
 me. I tremble like a leaf and scarce have 
 nerve enough to hold it firm. I raise it to my 
 lips and shut my eyelids down. I drink and 
 drink and drink until I drink the dregs, and, 
 then. I lay the goblet back upon its native 
 stand. The drink is bitter as gall within my 
 mouth and throat, but as it finds my stomach’s 
 coat, it is sweet, and fills my nerve with fire 
 and brain with thoughts divine. I. ope my 
 eyes, but am all alone; for he that was a Statue 
 now is gone! 1 find the Alcove and search it 
 
286 
 
 Ham and, Dixie . 
 
 through and read the symbols there as school- 
 boys read their A’s. My brain begins to grow ; 
 my thoughts are deep and wide; my feelings 
 pure and true, till all my noble soul. I take 
 me to the Arch and look out into space — not 
 void and empty now; but live and trimmed 
 with sound and sense. What do I see? Ah, 
 cripple words that vainly wing the thoughts 
 we have! Would that my tongue could talk 
 to clay, and that my lips were spirits’ not, that 
 I may tell ye, men of earth, what strangest 
 things that now I see. Behold the sun, the 
 moon, the stars, the cloud, the air, the light, 
 the dark — all, all, beneath me in harmonious 
 action, and each his duty fills with truest satis- 
 faction. But what attracts me most is Earth, 
 with all her teeming millions of human souls, 
 of which I once was one. For, now, I am not 
 human, since I am only spirit and have not 
 flesh or bone; and yet methinks I have, and 
 talk of arms and eyes as I was wont to do. I 
 see Europa’s snow-capped Alps and Asia’s 
 frozen plains, and Afric’s burning sands upon 
 my eyeballs cast their glowing shade. And, 
 now, I note the Isles of the Sea are dancing 
 'mid the waves. My eyes in keen delight roll 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 287 
 
 westward to Fair Columbia’s happy shore, and 
 take in Greenland’s fields of ice and England’s 
 Daughter Fair. My eyes now sweep in rapid 
 glance o’er Mexico’s Cacti Hills and down the 
 Andean lofty heights to the Isles of Fire below. 
 I look again, and now I see a region I had 
 missed ; the very sight of which doth thrill each 
 drop of blood within my veins — but spirits 
 have not blood or vein, and, yet, I can but tell 
 my feel by using earthly terms. I see the 
 Glorious Union; the busy North, the Sunny 
 South, the brainy East and the woolly West. 
 I see the Giant Dome on Potomac’s winding 
 banks, and the Stars and Stripes that float in 
 brave, majestic curve. The tropic South 
 where 1 myself once lived when clothed with 
 skin and flesh, is dear to me and I must feast 
 upon the pleasing scene. I see large cities 
 with a million souls in them, where once but 
 thousands breathed. I see a thousand engines 
 pull a thousand laden trains, down vales, o’er 
 plains and through the heart of flinty mount. 
 I see the shafts of mines that burrow deep in 
 Earth, from which there come most precious 
 Nature’s gifts. With laden ships, the rivers 
 teem, which also turn the potent wheel and 
 
288 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 wet the farmer’s grain, and make it grow and 
 bloom. I hear the Factory’s hum, where cloth 
 and food and trinkets rare are made. I hear 
 the ring of hammer, the buzz of saw and rasp 
 of stone, and see great Mansions rise with tur- 
 rets in the sky and arches deep in earth. All 
 is busy, all is happy, and Peace overshadows 
 all. 
 
 But strangest yet of all, is that which now I 
 see. For, look! The sable son of Afric’s sul 
 try shores, is side by side with Europe’s scions 
 fair. In Counting-House, in Bank, in Office, on 
 Trains, in Mines, in Books, in Art, in Thought — 
 in everything, together well they move. How 
 friendly seems the two that once did hate each 
 other so, and drew such lines between! How 
 hard the Negro toils to show he is worth the 
 friendship of the world, and, too, how well 
 succeeds! He shrinks no task and spares no 
 pains; he tires not, but works both night and 
 day for both himself and land that gave him 
 birth. So different from the trifling thing he 
 was when 1 did know him last. His very look 
 is noble now. He stands erect and brave, and 
 seems a very knight in black, so gallant, true 
 and firm! How grateful is he to his friends — 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 289 
 
 liis Southern friends in white! It seems that 
 he would gladly die, if death would cause his 
 friends to live. Nor does he fail to love his 
 Northern friends who first did teach his mind 
 to think, and taught his hand its skill. Nay, 
 the only thing he does forget is the dark and 
 cruel past, wherein he stood such pains and 
 woes and made not e'en complaint. A noble 
 creature he; and now is blessed of God! The 
 white man, too, is changed. He is proud to 
 know that he has helped to make the Negro 
 grand as he. He thus debars his former slave 
 from naught himself enjoys, and yet he has a 
 thousand sweets he did not have before. Be- 
 cause there is Peace where once was War, and 
 Union where Disunion stood, because all men 
 are treated well, and God is loved and served, 
 this glorious South which once did lack, is full 
 and plenteous now. So great the change, in 
 thought and act, upon my native land, that 
 now I am thinking deep if all this change is 
 true. So greatly stirred am I about the sad 
 reflection that, after all, this view is but a 
 dream, that I am thinking hard upon a trip 
 below and see. I look again and see no way 
 that I can step on air and gently sink to earth; 
 
290 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and hence, I change my mind, and sit upon a 
 stool and spread before mine eyes some gilded 
 sheets of paper, and dip my pen in ink and 
 send .ye, men, this — 
 
 LETTER! 
 
 The Kingdom of Spirits, 
 
 Undatable Eternity. 
 
 To My White Brother of the North: 
 
 As a departed shade of a Negro of the South, 
 and knowing yet the past and present ’pon the 
 globe, I understand that one has risen up and 
 writ to all mankind that the Negro down below 
 should now begin to look to his Southern 
 friends in white for help and sanction strong, 
 while he himself should strive to make himself 
 a man. That this is right and fair, I will not 
 here deny. For it is true as sunshine ’pon the 
 earth, that Southern whites and Southern 
 blacks must blend in peaceful stripes, and yet 
 remain distinct. On Southern soil, it’s well 
 that both shall settle how their foolish dis- 
 agreement and come to understand both what 
 the one shall do and be, the other shall be and 
 do. And, after each shall know his part, he 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 291 
 
 then must sure perform; and both must work 
 together for the common good of both, and, 
 then, for all mankind. But, friend of Northern 
 clime, for my once race I speak — for know ye 
 well there is no race up here — and tell thee 
 that the blacks have cherished well what thou 
 hast done for them. Those splendid points of 
 stone which shoot up high in air, ’neath which 
 are spacious halls, where thousand youths of 
 black do daily meet with masters sage, and 
 ope bright Wisdom’s door; those sacred Tem- 
 ples of God with pillars staunch and strong 
 and clergy fit to feed the flock with precious 
 gospel truths; those sainted men and women 
 who have spent their useful lives in teaching 
 minds and cleansing hearts among a simple 
 race — all these and more hast thou this race 
 supplied. 
 
 For these, my some time race is willing now 
 to fall on bended knee, and tearful eyes will 
 tell thee how grateful are their hearts. E’en 
 now, my spirit throbs and groans as I think of 
 earthly days, when I was helped by Northern 
 friends unto Wisdom’s gracious ways. And, 
 more than these, thou hast the smile of God 
 upon thy head, and the reward of Heaven shall 
 
292 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 find thee in the end. “Well done, good and 
 faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over 
 a few things, 1 will make thee ruler over many 
 things.” Then shalt thou say, “Lord, when 
 saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or 
 thirsty, and gave thee drink? Or a stranger, 
 and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? 
 Or sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?” 
 And the King shall answer unto thee, “Verily, 
 I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it 
 unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
 have done it unto me.” “Enter thou into the 
 joys of thy Lord.” 
 
 But think not hard of thy Southern brother, 
 because of his past belief. His state from 
 thine did differ, and feelings grow from states, 
 as grapes from curling vine. Think what thy- 
 self would’st do if thou wast in his place, and 
 what he, too, would do, if he was cast in thine. 
 Ye both did from the self-same tuber spring, 
 and how, in sense, could there any difference 
 be, except by custom’s iron hand, that makes a 
 second nature out of your first selves. 
 
 Then, if ye both are one, l prithee join your 
 hands and one good people be in fact, as thou 
 art now in blood. Let, first, thy Southern 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 293 
 
 brother adopt the Negro as his friend, and let 
 the South itself with peace be overcast; and, 
 then, thou come and join thy brother's hand, 
 and ye, all three, in joyous union, band to- 
 gether for the common good — each knowing- 
 well his part and doing it, all doing right for 
 each, and knowing it. Therefore, I beseech thee 
 now; make ready all thy mind and strength to 
 lend thy hand in building up a soon united 
 South. Think not to place upon the South, in 
 future times, the care of all my race; for thou 
 thyself didst help to bind the slave which now 
 is man. “Bear ye one another's burdens and 
 thus fulfill the law.” The Negro whom ye both 
 enslaved, unknowing, caused the war. This 
 war did cause your blood to flow, your gold to 
 sink, your lands to waste. The South, of all, 
 was injured most; for it was but a wreck of its 
 once haughty self. Thus thou canst see that 
 thou didst have a hand in tearing down the 
 South, and, now, 1 ask that thou shalt lend thy 
 hand to help this self-same South to rise, and 
 lift the Negro up to meet the change, that soon 
 will come upon the land. Thy knowing brain 
 and cunning hand which God hath blessed thee 
 with, must, now, be used in building up a new 
 
294 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 and righteous South. Thy hand must join with 
 Southern hand to aid the Negro race, that once 
 did feel the weight of both your angry blows. 
 Then, make thou ready, fair friend of the 
 North; thy work is great; thy chance is broad, 
 and thou hast power and skill. List well to 
 what I here have writ! And, now, I warn thee 
 fair, that, if thou fail to do thy part, thy Luck 
 will mock thee and thy Glory fade; but if thou 
 fall in line, as I know thou wilt, thy power will 
 reach the stars and topple o'er mankind. So, 
 Fare thee well! 
 
 To My White Brother of the South: 
 
 Dost thou know me? I was once a Negro on 
 earth; but now a ghost in air. I cannot help 
 from writing thee upon this greatest theme 
 that e’er did fill a human soul or stir a spirit’s 
 rest The wafting breezes tell me, that black 
 together will come among themselves for first 
 within the South, and they will well decide 
 what they will wish to do. And then ’tis said 
 that they will call for thee and ask, in peace 
 and brother’s love, what thou wilt do for them. 
 I, being a sprite, do hap to know these things; 
 so, take it kind in me to give thee note of them. 
 
295 
 
 A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 I ever did admire thy manly self and feel that, 
 if thou once was treated fair by all the world 
 and by the Negro, too, thou then wouldst show 
 thyself a giant friend, and ope the eyes of all. 
 I cannot say that thou was treated wrong, but 
 I do think that thou hast been misjudged; for, 
 others thought that thou alone wast wrong and 
 they themselves were clean. They all have 
 learned to lay on thee the curse of slavery’s 
 sin, and the Negro’s burdens of latest years 
 were, also, laid to thee. ’Tis true, thou hast 
 thy share of all these damning wrongs, and 
 well I know that this thou wilt not seek to fly. 
 But is there none beside thyself that’s guilty 
 too with thee? I think there is, and think 
 they feel it now. This call that comes to thee 
 from Afric’s sable sons, is not from these alone 
 but Hows from God as well. 
 
 God, Nature and all else Man, now come to 
 thee and say, “White man, art thou ready to 
 deal out justice fair and meet, to these poor, 
 struggling men, that, now, their follies have 
 laid aside and stand upon their feet? Canst 
 thou hope for justice from God, if thou’rt not 
 willing to grant it here on earth? Thou art a 
 praying race, and prayest that God’s will be 
 
296 
 
 ham and Dixie. 
 
 done on earth, as same is done in heaven. 
 Dost thou not know that God’s no respecter of 
 persons, and that it is His certain will that 
 Hum shouldst treat thy brother just as thou 
 wish that self-same brother should also deal 
 with thee? If these poor blacks who’re firm and 
 true, beseech thee for thy grace, which grace 
 shall be no more than this, that thou slialt 
 ne'er bestrew their path with monsters black 
 and grim; wilt thou, canst thou be so cold, so 
 mean, so low, as not to hear their earnest cry, 
 or hearing, not perform? Is’t true that thou 
 wilt stop thine ears and turn thy heart to stone, 
 when sonls of God and God himself are kneel- 
 ing at thy throne? Man! What art thou but 
 weak and miry clay? Dost thou intend to 
 plant thyself against the world of men, 
 'gainst Nature set and true, 'gainst God, the 
 Father, Ghost and Son? But let me say no 
 more; for it’s but wasting breath to talk to 
 thee. Thou needst no words from Spirit’s lips 
 to tell thee what thou art, or what thyself must 
 do. Full well thou know'st thy duty to all 
 mankind, and that to thee and God; and with 
 thee, to know, I trow, is but to do and act. I 
 trust in thee so well that I think thou wait’st 
 
A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 297 
 
 only for the Negro to show himself a man and 
 come to thee, and thou wilt grant him all he 
 needs. There are some, I know, who'll swear 
 that I am wrong, and that my airy sprite will 
 ne’er behold the time when thou wilt treat the 
 Negro right, if left to thine own self. But 
 this I know, that, if weak men must make thee 
 do the thing that’s right, thou ne’er wilt do so; 
 for equal cannot equal force to act against his 
 will. I doubt thee not. I know thou wantest 
 peace upon thy land, and too desirest glory 
 yet to come. Thou need’st far more the aid 
 that men in black can give, than rot and ruin 
 caused by tools far worse than men. Again, 
 thou seekest the brain and skill from where the 
 North Star dances red; but it’ll ne’er come to 
 thee, till Northern men have ceased to doubt 
 confusion’s dearth, which follows fast ’pon a 
 simple horde, that long was kept from rights, 
 and held as wood and stone. But. ’side from 
 these. Humanity’s tire burns warm upon the 
 altar of thy heart, and thou canst also read the 
 Writing on the Wall, and what with one, or 
 both, or all of these, I know thou sure wilt 
 treat the Negro right. Then, meet in marbled 
 hall this Man of Black and list to what he has 
 
298 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 to say, and, if he come with uncertain and fal- 
 tering steps, as if himself not knowing what to 
 do — a part of him for one thing and part for 
 something else; then let the “coon” alone and 
 leave him with his “cob.” But, if he come with 
 Union, Power and Sense and state his plans to 
 thee and make thee know his wants; then, 
 meet him like the man thou art and say him, 
 yea or nay. 
 
 So, get thee ready, fair Southern Friend; for 
 the time will surely come when thou must 
 meet the Issue fair and shrink not from thy 
 turn. These things are all as God hath said, 
 and men are but the tools He uses; so, sad in- 
 deed is the lot of him whom God commands 
 and he refuses. Being far above thy height, 
 seeing far beyond thy scope; I, shady sprite of 
 air, inform thee now what shortly must be 
 done. So, stand! Be ready! When the time 
 is ripe, prove thou th.yself a man and win the 
 praise of men and gain the Love of God. Now, 
 Fare thee well! 
 
 To My Black Brother of the Union : 
 
 I see thy face of sorrow, and I hear thy piti- 
 ful groans; and my bowels move sore for thee. 
 
299 
 
 A Letter from the Dead. 
 
 T know that one there is — a trifling fellow he — 
 who talks to thee with sense, and tells thee 
 tliou thyself art wrong, and 'pon thyself thy lot 
 hast brought. He says that thou thy face 
 must turn toward thy neighbor white, and 
 meet and plainly tell him what thyself dost 
 need and want, and this must ask of him. I 
 tell thee, black man, these things are true, and 
 thou must them obey. If e'er thou wish to 
 make known thyself; thou must unite as one, 
 show thyself in manly shape, and publish thy 
 request. Xo one is bound to give tliee care in 
 thy present halting state, wherein thou fight 
 with thine own parts and feebly fight thy 
 friend in white, who hath more strength than 
 thou, and mocks thy weak complaints where 
 thou dost show no “sand.” If thou think it 
 meet to fight, then fight and die and be done; 
 but if thou wilt not fight, as well I know, then 
 run no more thy lip — just meet the white man 
 face to face and talk like man to man. When 
 once 'tis found that thou thy words dost mean 
 and that thy meaning something means, thy 
 friends will hear thee well and grant thee thy 
 deserts. Think not the world's against thee 
 because thy face is black, and because thy hair 
 
300 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 doth crook; there are blacker things than thou 
 that men do warmly crave, and many things 
 that bend, are sought by Kings and Queens. 
 Hence, know thou well, the World is moved by 
 worth and use, and not by hue and shape. 
 Black man! I beseech thee, now, with all my 
 spirit’s power, that thou unite thyself for this 
 thy final stand, and that, from source to end 
 of this thy part to play, thou prov’st thyself a 
 brave and worthy man. The call to thee to 
 come to judgment ’pon this earthly ball is 
 greater test to thee than ’tis to him that’s 
 white. If thou, in truth, dost mean to rise and 
 art glad to fix thyself; now is thy time to prove 
 if thou dost mean thy words, or simply tell 
 the lie. 
 
 I note thy papers full of ’buses harsh and 
 hard against the Southern whites, because 
 thou sayest they hold thee back and hang thee 
 ’gainst the law. It shows by this that thou art 
 not content with this thy lot. If this is true, 
 prove it so by showing forth thy strength, and 
 making known thy cause. Dost thou not know 
 that talking much and doing naught disgrace 
 * thy very name; and men, from these, will learn 
 quite soon that thou art but a fraud? Brave 
 
A Letter Jrom the Dead. 
 
 301 
 
 men quarrel not, and men who act are spare 
 of speech; but fools and cowards will talk and 
 roll their eves and wag - their heads and yet can 
 ne’er achieve. By talking thus and nothing- 
 done, the white man doth not care for thee, hut 
 holds thee in contempt; just as thou fear no 
 dog that barks and always fails to bite. For 
 thine own sake, please stop this way of pouting 
 out thy lips and spreading back thy mouth and 
 shaking thy head and clenching thy fist and 
 yet retreating backward, and stopping and 
 doubting and quarreling with thyself and 
 starting ahead again, and then stopping and 
 whining and cursing and talking to thyself 
 and turning around and running for help and 
 then turning back again to thy same old place 
 and fighting the air and grinning and showing 
 thyself the fool. Do what thou’rt going to do 
 and not be always at it. Strike with a whole 
 arm blow, that others thy strength may know, 
 and then respect thee for it. Blame no man 
 for doing aught to thee that thou thyself didst 
 give him cause to do. If thou art cause for 
 others’ acts then are those acts thine own, and 
 they who act are but the tools through which 
 thine acts are done. Then, blame no one for 
 
302 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 thine own acts; for thou must stand or fail 
 upon thine acts’alone. Then, Dust of Black, 
 come thou in full array to public call, and let 
 thy white friend meet thee there, as king meet 
 king on board of chess, or man meet man on 
 common ground. If tliou’lt not ’rouse thyself, 
 and do as I have bid; then lie upon thy back 
 and take the worst that comes. Perhaps, thou 
 thinkest thou’rt made to bear and talk and do 
 naught for thyself. If this is thy size, then 
 claim no more the bones this shade did some 
 time own, nor claim the shade itself, for here's 
 nor race, nor hue, nor form. Nor, will 1 claim 
 thee as my own, if thou hast grown so frail, so 
 low, so much like stone. But I do hope and 
 well do know that thou hast stuff in thee, and 
 when thou’rt full aroused, no man with blood 
 can dare whit more than thou. 
 
 O, how I love thee! E’en in my spirit-state, 
 I feel or think I feel my blood begins to boil 
 and heart begins to throb and brain begins to 
 burn, when I think of thee and think of thine 
 humble state. I would my race did bear the 
 name of Trojans, or that of Spartans, or that 
 of Romans, and, then, would I cease to fear 
 for it. But, the time will come when thou 
 
The G urtain Falls. 
 
 303 
 
 shalt wear a name as grand as these; but not 
 until thou do the deeds they did. For, heroes 
 are not made by talk or beauty, hue or hair, or 
 any such painted stuff; but by hearts that are 
 brave and pure and fear not when they die. 
 
 Black Man! Think on these things and 
 write thy Name in Gold; for I may yet some 
 day come back to earth and thy great work 
 behold. Till then; Fare thee well! 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CURTAIN FALLS. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 SCENE 1. 
 
 There lies before us a large cotton-field on 
 one of our Southern plantations. The rows 
 are long, the grass is green and thick, and the 
 cotton is eight or ten inches high A Negro, 
 black as the ace of spades, stands at one end of 
 a row, leaning lazily on his plow; the plow- 
 mule, now and then, nibbles at a bunch of 
 grass between the rows. The Negro is rigged 
 
i 
 
 304 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 up with three articles of clothing to hide his 
 black skin from the burning sun; namely, hat, 
 shirt and trousers. All these are torn and 
 hanging, and Nature’s covering is often seen 
 where Art fails to perform its part. The day 
 is hot and sultry; not even the slightest breeze 
 is felt. The very sand is dry and hot as ashes. 
 The heat itself can almost be seen as the air 
 seems to simmer and boil, and the plants and 
 trees curl their leaves as if to wither away. 
 
 The stillness is now broken. The Negro 
 straightens out his relaxed limbs, draws the 
 reins firmly, cracks the whip and shouts out 
 roughly, “Git up, mule!” to which he appends 
 the following soliloquy : “Git up, Kit! You'll 
 eat and eat and eat, and, dog-gone yer, I kant 
 git yer ter move when I wants yer ter. You is 
 de dad-blamedest mule dat eber backed his 
 yaze. H’yah, it’s ’mos’ dinnah and Massa’ll 
 soon be h’yah an' I ain't got my tas’ done yit, 
 an’ all on account ob yer own hell-fired lazi- 
 ness!”- Here he pops his whip and continues: 
 “Dis is a debil ob a how-cum-dat, for me, pore 
 niggah, to be workin' my pore black sef all out 
 ob brelf in dis hot sun, while de white man 
 settin' in de pariah fannin’ liissef like Big Ike, 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 305 
 
 and habin’ mo-gabs to wurk for him. H’yah’s 
 me, half-naked, half-starbin' and wurk in’ from 
 sunrise to sundown, from year in to year out 
 and gittin’ not a God’s ting. Yer call dat 
 right? Yer call dat far? Yer call dat jestuni? 
 Ef it ar. I'll be dogged ef 1 kin see it dat ar way. 
 Ef we pore niggahs — go ’long, mule, yer lazy, 
 triflin’, stumpy-tailed, bandy-shanked, lop- 
 sided debil, you! — ef we pore niggahs had de 
 sense de white folks was born wid, we wouldn't 
 stan’ it — yer h'yar me, people? We wouldn’t 
 stan’ it! Ivase, nobody nebber was made to 
 rule ober nobody, nohow — g’lang, sah! — I h’yar 
 dem say dat de Yankees is gwine ter cum down 
 h’yar an’ bresh out de white folks an’ tun de 
 niggahs free. Ki! I'll nebber b'lebe it in de 
 work, Massa gwine let de Yankee-man cum 
 h’yar, dribe him out o’ 'ill own house and lan’ 
 and tun we pore niggahs free? Nebber in dis 
 work; neder in de torrer one. Whah de 
 Yankee kare ’bout we, black niggahs? H'm! 
 De Yankee settin’ up yonder in ’ih blue coat 
 and 'ih shine button, sah, and eatin’ ’ill hard 
 tax and smackin’ ’ih rnout an’ lookin' ’roun’ 
 and habin’ 'ih good time, an" all dis yer — 
 Pshaw! whah you 'spose he kare "bout pore we? 
 
306 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Tell me dat! Kant tell me nuffin; niggah wool 
 too short — Whoa, mule! I wonder ef de boss- 
 man ain’t cornin’? My limbs fairly ake, an’ I 
 feel so stiff 'bout my jints dat I kin hardly put 
 one foot before de odder. I b'lebe I’ll jis — - 
 Whoa, mule, I say! — I'll jis crawl up in de 
 shade under dat ar big hiok’ry an’ res' my 
 bones a minnit — Mule, yer kin stay h’yar and 
 switch yer tail ’tell I cum back.” 
 
 Here the Negro lies down in the shade, with 
 his heels cocked up in the air. He is fanning 
 his sweaty face with his ragged hat, and, feel- 
 ing himself secure from intrusion, thus con- 
 tinues: “Sweet Canaan! dis is libin’, sho’s yer 
 born. I don’t blame de white folks fer habin’ 
 niggahs to wurk in de hot sun and dey layin’ 
 back in de shade. I would do de same ting. 
 Who wouldn’t? But wouldn’t I hab a boss 
 time, do? I'd whip niggahs fer fun and make 
 ’em wurk like dogs. Good ting I de niggah 
 and leant own nobody — Spears to me I h’yar 
 somefin’ in de bush; but no, I reckin’ not; 
 Massa Tom ain’t coinin’ dis time o’ day — so I 
 got de whole ting to myself. He! He! He! 
 Ain’t I de sharp niggah, do? De ole folks alius 
 tole me I was born foot-foremos’ ; but I nebber 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 307 
 
 did b’lebe ’em. But, I know one ting, de white 
 folks kin nebber git ahead ob dis tar-baby; no, 
 sah, yer kin bet yer boots on dat! Well, I feel 
 Icin’ o’ rested and supple in de jints — I nebber 
 was a niggah to stan’ still long, ’cos God knows 
 dere ain’t a lazy bone under dis black hide — so 
 I b'lebe I’ll git up and try dat ar back double- 
 shuffle dat dat Yirginny coon tuk off so cute 
 'todder night at Yaller Jane’s supper.” Here 
 he rises and gets himself in attitude for his 
 forthcoming feat. “Let me see how she goes!” 
 Here he sings and dances until a cloud of dust 
 is raised. The words of the song are as 
 follows: 
 
 “Swing around, Miss ’Liza Jane, 
 
 Swing around, Miss ’Liza Jane, 
 
 Swing all around and slight no one; 
 
 Swing around, Miss ’Liza Jane, 
 
 Swing your lobber, tight and fas’. 
 
 Swing around, Miss ’Liza Jane” — 
 
 “You black rascal, ye! Git to thet mewl and 
 double-quick up them rows, or I’ll peel the last 
 inch o’ hide off o’ ye !” comes suddenly from the 
 boss man, as he strikes Black Jim a few sharp 
 cuts with his whip across the neck. “Yes, sah, 
 Massah; yes, sah, Massah. Dis niggah alius 
 was a blamed fool, sah, leabin’ de white folks’ 
 
308 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 wurk fur tie shade. Whah bizness niggali got 
 wid shade, sah! Git up, mule!” excitedly re- 
 turns the Negro, as he rubs his neck and picks 
 up the reins like a squirrel. 
 
 SCENE 2. 
 
 A heavy barn-loft door is Hung wide open. 
 Let us take a peep within. Bales of freshly- 
 cut hay piled up around the corners, barrels of 
 corn, sacks of meal and bran, straw, boxes, 
 jugs, ropes, harness, old boots, screeching rats, 
 red roaches, and a hundred and one other 
 “plunder” that generally make up the contents 
 of an old-fashioned barn-loft of the South, 
 greet our eyes and regale us with the odor and 
 mal-odor of such varied stock. Presently, a 
 horizontal slat in the partition door is slided 
 back by a dexterous movement of some one’s 
 hand from without; the door is opened and the 
 intruder enters, stumbling over boxes and 
 tangling himself among ropes and bags, and 
 finally tumbles heels over head on some loose 
 straw piled up in a corner. 
 
 “Golly, do! But wouldn’t I hab cotched it 
 ef it hadn’t 'a bin fer dis mareiful straw pile?” 
 The speaker was none other than Black Jim, 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 309 
 
 whom we have met before in a certain cotton- 
 held, and whom we have recently left under 
 rather unpleasant circumstances. Nothing 
 daunted by his gymnastic gyrations just per- 
 formed, Jim takes out a blue-backed Webster, 
 without any back at all, and thus begins to 
 spell out the ‘‘First Principles:” “Dis is a, an’ 
 dat's b, a-b, ab; den, a-c, ac; an’ a-d, ad; an’ 
 a-f, af; an’ a-g, ag; an’ — dog-gone dese blasted 
 skeeters, ’pears to me dey is alius arter pore 
 me, ’pref’rence to dem wot kin able to hab 
 skeeter nets an' tings! Well, I b'lebe I knows 
 dat ar; so. I'll tun ober to whar it curns nigh 
 puzzlin' de white folks.” He reads: “I — see — 
 de — o-l-d, ole, hen. I — see — de — Ki! I b’lebe 
 T's on de same line! I tort sho dat Massa Roy 
 would ’a bin h'yar 'fore dis yer, ter help me 
 wid dese yer grammatics." Some one is com- 
 ing up the barn steps and a low, familiar 
 whistle is heard. “Dat’s dat ar boy, now,” 
 soliloquizes Black Jim. God bress Massa Roy! 
 ’Ik 'pears to me like ’ih lob niggahs same as 
 white 'uns. Dat ar young ’un is gwine ter 
 heben — yer h’yar me, folkses? Gwine dar, 
 sho!” 
 
310 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 The door opens and a bright, curly-headed 
 hoy of eight or ten summers, enters the loft and 
 takes a seat on a box near Black Jim, and says: 
 “Hello, Jim, old boy! How are you getting on 
 with that lesson? I was a little late to-day. I 
 had to go on an errand for papa; but I hope 
 you have been making good use of your time.” 
 “Lor’, honey, I’se been tryin’ de ole hen, when 
 I heered you cornin’ up-stars an’ a-gibin’ de 
 permiliar whistle to gi’ me warnin’. Massa 
 Roy, I’se been a-tinkin’ on a bery serus ques- 
 ting jis before yer cum frue de door dar a 
 minit ago.” “Why, what is it, Jim? I didn’t 
 think you ever troubled yourself much about 
 serious questions; your education does not 
 agree with you, T fear,” says Master Roy, 
 laughing over his own idea of the situation, 
 until his face is as red and rosy as an apple. 
 
 “Massa, I tort how bad it mout be fer you, ef 
 Massa Haynes would cotch us. I don’t min’ 
 mysef; kase my hide is black and tuff, an’, 
 God knows, I wouldn’t kare ’bout a breshin’, 
 now and den, ef I only kin git a little lamin’ so 
 dat I kin read de Bible an’ de nusepaper, once 
 in de while. I h’yar dem say dat we black ’uns 
 is gwine ter be free arter awhile, an’, ef dat 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 311 
 
 ar am true” Here the Negro as suddenly 
 interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Haynes, 
 the father of Roy, and the owner of Jim 
 himself. 
 
 Mr. Haynes had been an unseen listener and 
 spectator of everything that had passed, and 
 had decided not to molest the pair at that 
 time; but when he heard the unfortunate 
 Negro begin to discuss his freedom and his 
 preparation therefor, his hot blood rushed to 
 his face and he sprang out of his hiding place 
 before he even knew it himself. Straightening 
 himself up, while his eyes flash like wildfire, 
 he thus begins: “ Roy, how many times have I 
 told you not to teach these black brutes how 
 to read? Do you not know that this is against 
 the very law and policy of our government? 
 Besides, what good will it ever accomplish to 
 have these things able to read and write? As 
 slaves, they are far better without any learn- 
 ing; and the.y never will be free. God does not 
 intend that these creatures shall be free and 
 possessed of learning. Why, the very idea is 
 foolish and unnatural. It is a positive injury 
 to teach them anything except obedience to 
 their masters and how to work hard and un- 
 
312 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 ceasingly for those who have the care over 
 them. 1 will not endure any Nigger School 
 on my plantation, and, so, I may as well begin 
 now to break it up. Get up, Roy, and go 
 home to your mother and I will see about your 
 punishment later. (Exit Roy.) 
 
 Hand me that book, you black dog! Books 
 are not made for niggers. Your books are 
 the hoe and the axe and the plow! Jim, 
 who has been telling you about you black 
 folks getting your freedom? Answer me, 
 you dirty pup!’’ says Mr. Haynes gruffly, at 
 the same time kicking the Negro on the shin. 
 “Dunno, Massa,” answers Jim, innocently: 
 “specs I’se been a dreamin’ dat ar. Don’t tink 
 I b’lebe sich trash as dat, Massa; fer I knows 
 dat we poor niggahs was made fer notin’ else 
 but to wurk fer you white folks, an’ niggahs 
 will always be niggahs, as long as de sun 
 shines, Massa.” “Get up! you black beast, and 
 meet me this evening at the old gin house when 
 you are through with your day’s work. I will 
 teach you niggers your freedom!” (Exit Jim.) 
 
 “The idea of this mongrel race,” continuing 
 Mr. Haynes to himself, “wanting to get an 
 education, and talking about their freedom! 
 
313 
 
 The Curtain Falls 
 
 They will never be free; they were never made 
 to be free, and it is all foolishness to think 
 about their ever being free. Did not God him- 
 self make them black and ugly and rough and 
 degraded? Why should we men try to undo 
 what God has done, by even thinking of giving 
 these brutes their freedom? For my part, I 
 doubt they have souls; at any rate, they have 
 no rights that white men are bound to respect.” 
 
 SCENE 3. 
 
 The old gin-house, with its heavy and clumsy 
 machinery, bursts upon our view. The mas- 
 sive oaken door of one of its apartments which 
 is used in ginning time to pack seeds in, is 
 swung wide open, and we behold a large, empty 
 room, with dirt-daubers’ houses lodged about 
 the walls and spider-webs stretched all under 
 the ceiling and in the cracks and corners of the 
 sides of the room. From the center of the 
 ceiling hang the arms of an old rusty scale that 
 has been used for weighing cotton and seeds 
 and other farm-products. 
 
 The room, otherwise dark as night, is now 
 lighted by the opening of a small square in the 
 west end of the walls, through which aperture, 
 
314 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 lingering beams of the now departing sun flash 
 into the apartment, revealing the objects just 
 described and also ten thousand particles of 
 dust which float about in the sunbeams, like 
 tinj r insects on the wing. In the corner of the 
 room, crouched on the floor, sits Black Jim, 
 faithful to his appointment, with his head hung 
 down and his arms folded quietly over his 
 broad chest which is heaving up and down like 
 the tide of the deep blue sea. Noises are heard 
 on the outside, and, in a moment, there stand 
 before us, in the center of the room, the burly 
 forms of two white men. The one we have 
 met before in a barn-loft, in the role of eaves- 
 dropper, spy and anti-freedom lecturer; the 
 other we may also remember as the overseer 
 who, some time ago, caught our black here 
 under the shade of a hickory tree, shuffling and 
 singing in pure African style. 
 
 The men, for a brief interval, keep up a 
 conversation as follows: “Mr. Haynes,” says 
 the red-faced driver, puffing away at his pipe, 
 “I hev had a lot o’ dealin’s wid niggers, and I 
 tell ye, pint blank, thar ain’t no gittin’ along 
 wid ’em ’ithout a putty val’able supply o’ cold 
 timber. Yer see, I used to boss a plantation 
 
The Curtain Fa’ls. 
 
 315 
 
 away down in ther Loozi-anner bottoms, an’ I 
 reck'n I orter know what I’m a talkin’ about. 
 They alius chuse me fer a boss. Why? ’Cos 
 I’ve got long arms an' hard muscle, an’ knows 
 what to do with a whip. Talk about yer 
 nigger drivers! They ain't in it. Nigger’s 
 got no slight in a usin' o' ther lash. Damned 
 me ef I kant lay ther hide open at every crack. 
 Talkin' 'bout yer boy, Jim, I tell ye now, ye 
 better gire him a genteel dose of it this time, 
 for shure. He’s one o’ those niggers that’s 
 alius a broodin’ over soinefin an’ a talkin’ to 
 himself, an’ thet’s a bad sign, in a nigger. It 
 shows thet he ain't satisfied wid good treat- 
 ment. an' some o' these days, will wanter give 
 yer the jump. Yes, sir, ther hiek'ry an' ther 
 cowhide air the pets to cool down a nigger 
 what's persumin’ on giftin’ out o' his place, 
 an' it takes jist sich a white man as Tom Jones 
 to lay it on.” 
 
 Feeling elated over this eloquent and learned 
 speech, the said Tom Jones continues puffing 
 away at his pipe and to await the effect of his 
 masterly delivery upon Mr. Haynes. “Well, 
 Jones, I believe you are right, and feel sure 
 that you are a master in your line. I have al 
 
316 
 
 Ham and Dixie 
 
 ways desired to treat my black ’nns decently, 
 if they will let me. But when a black cur is 
 seeking- after an education and wants to read 
 newspapers and is talking about the freedom 
 of his race, it is high time to set him back a 
 step or two and make him know exactly who 
 he is and how far he must go. What do you 
 say about it, Jim? Talk, sir! you ugly wretch, 
 and tell us what to do with a nigger that has 
 got out of his place and wants to be a white 
 man!” Jim passes his right hand slowly 
 through his black wool and, still keeping 
 his head down, says: “Anyting you say, 
 Massa, I agrees ter. Ef yer says a nigger 
 ought ter be roasted alive fer wantin’ to read 
 a little fer his own reckerection, it must be 
 right. Kase you'se a white man, you is, and 
 orter know right from wrong. But, Massa, 
 it is mouty hard fer we black ’uns — rnouty 
 hard ; and sometimes I don’t keer how soon de 
 chariot will come down from Heben and tek 
 up pore black Jim into de clouds. It ’pears 
 ter me dat it is mout.y strange fer God to ’low 
 de black sheep in de foal to suffer all de hard- 
 ship ob dis life, while ’ih wool is jis as good as 
 de white ’uns. But ye white folks read an’ 
 
The Curtain Falls 
 
 317 
 
 preach de gospil ob righteousness an’ says fer 
 us niggahs to 'bey our masters, an' dat's all 
 de gospil fer we. How dat? De white man 
 kin tek all de gospil an’ de lan’ an’ de good 
 time, an' jis lebe de niggah one claw ob de 
 gospil an’ de hard wurk an’ de bull-whip?” 
 
 Here, Black Jim, who, deep down in his soul, 
 knew no such thing as fear, and, being now 
 thoroughly moved with long-pent-up feelings, 
 stood upon his feet, while the white men, as: 
 tonished at the turn of affairs, are momentarily 
 paralyzed. Jim thus continues: “Yes, Massa, 
 yer kin whip me jis as long as yer pleze an’ jis 
 as hard as yer pleze; but yer’ll neber skeer dis 
 black niggah, as long as he kin draw breff an’ 
 move a bone. 1 hab sarbed yer, year in an’ 
 year out, and all dis bekase you is white an’ I 
 is black. Who gi’ you de right ter dribe me 
 an’ beat on my pore bones ’twell dey feel like 
 lead an’ ’twell I kant lift one foot before 
 t’odder? Ain’t I a man jis like you? Habn’t 
 I got a soul and ain’t my soul as white as 
 your’n? Didn't de good Lord heng on de Ro- 
 man cross fer me as well as fer you? An’ 
 when we dat’s gwine ter Heben, gits clar, won’t 
 de white 'uns an’ de black ’uns all fall down 
 
318 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 togedder before de Big White Trone an’ cry 
 out, ‘Holy?’ Yes, Massa, yer may do what you 
 pleze wid me, but sumfin tells me as plain as 
 I see you now, dat de niggahs is all gwine ter 
 be free, an’ one day more dan all we’s gwine ter 
 git dat jestem dat de good Lord has sabed up 
 fer us. You hy’ar me? De sword ob jestem am 
 hangin’ ober yer, an’ de Righteous King is 
 gwine ter let it fall one o’ dese mornin’ ’pon top 
 yer head; an’ yer gwine ter be glad ter tun de 
 poor niggah free!” 
 
 These last words are spoken by Jim with one 
 finger pointing directly toward the faces of the 
 white men, who had been completely overcome 
 by Jim’s earnestness and boldness. Now, 
 they recover themselves, and suddenly, wild 
 with rage, they both spring upon the Negro 
 before they realize what they are doing. Mr. 
 Haynes, at length, regaining control of himself, 
 thus addresses the red-faced catch-dog at his 
 side: “Jones, I want you to string up this 
 nigger and give him a thousand lashes on his 
 naked hide. I’ll be damned if I’ll take this 
 from a white man !” 
 
 Poor Jim’s shirt is torn off and he is strung 
 up like a hog to the ceiling, and upon his 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 319 
 
 naked skin the mighty blows of the now en- 
 raged Jones begin to fall. Soon, the red blood 
 is dripping down upon the floor, the precious 
 blood for which Christ spilled his own to save. 
 The blows ring out on the silent air in sicken- 
 ing, doleful sounds, as they fall from the 
 hands of the white giant who is now surpass- 
 ing all of his past exploits in his degraded pro- 
 fession. Not a moan breaks forth from the 
 lips of the noble black, whose body swings to 
 and fro as the terrible blows fall upon it. The 
 skin is bursting all over and the blood is still 
 pouring out like water, and the white men are 
 cursing and foaming like demons, and the very 
 Devil himself, from the blackest corner of the 
 room, is cheering on the work with eyeballs of 
 tire, while his forked tail is lashing in fiendish 
 delight. 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 1. 
 
 We hear whooping and laughing within, as 
 if some one is in a high state of enjoyment. 
 The curtain is lifted. Behold the scene! We 
 are glad to see once more our hero whom we 
 
320 
 
 Ham and Dixie, 
 
 left years ago strung up ’twixt the heaven and 
 the earth and bleeding to death. Providence 
 has evidently spared this strange creature for 
 some good purpose which we hope will one day 
 be made known to us. Yes; there is no doubt 
 about it. Before us, in the back part of a 
 room, stands Black Jim. For the first time in 
 his life, he wears a pair of well-blacked shoes, 
 an untorn pair of trousers, a clean 'shirt, a new 
 coat, and hair nicely combed. He looks re- 
 spectable, and is also as proud and happy as 
 he appears. Jim has been laughing and talk- 
 ing to himself and this was the cause of the 
 merriment we have just now heard. 
 
 But, hold! Jim is advancing toward us. 
 Let us see what he is going to do and listen to 
 what he is going to say. He stops. He stands 
 upon the floor of a nicely built log cabin. On 
 the hearthstone are cooking utensils clean and 
 bright; in the center of the room is a table on 
 which is spread a white cloth; in the corner is 
 a bed neatly laid with a beautifully-colored 
 coverlet tucked in snugly all around; skin- 
 bottomed chairs are arranged about the room 
 in perfect order, and a large open-arm chair is 
 in front of the fire-place. Jim’s face is radiant 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 321 
 
 with smiles and we can plainly see the even 
 edges of his pearl-white teeth. He is so full 
 of himself that he cannot restrain his joy, and 
 we must now let him do his own talking, which 
 is to be carried on without any human listener 
 except ourselves. Listen! “Bress de Lord! 
 Black Jim am free at las’! Is dis me, do? Is 
 dis me- or is dis Ponipey? Is dis me or does I 
 jis tink it’s me? Is I dreamin’ or is I wake? 
 Kin a man dream while he is wake, or kin he be 
 wake an’ den dream? Who is me? Dey tell 
 me I is free. Kin dere be sich a ting as a free 
 niggah? Is I niggah or white folks? Man! 
 I must be niggah ! Look at my skin ! Look at 
 my har! Well, ef yer niggah, how cum yer 
 free? Dat’s de ting. How cum I free an’ den 
 niggah? Niggah free! How dat? Well, I 
 kant mek it out; but I’m sho I’se free an’ den 
 niggah, too. Bress de Lord! Niggah Jim 
 free! Massa Lincum done writ de letter and de 
 nuse done come an’ Jim done free! Teng God 
 an’ bress de Lord! I’se free sho’s yer born. 
 Chilian! I’se free! Yer hy’ar me? Dis is de 
 time I’se been long lookin’ fer, an’ it’s done 
 hy’ar, an’ I’se done free. Praise de Lord!’’ 
 
322 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Here Jim gets down on liis knees, puts liis 
 hands to his ears, sways liis body to and fro, 
 and prays until the tears run down upon his 
 cheeks. This is his prayer: “O, Fadder in 
 Heben dis monin’ I cum to dee, knee-bent an’ 
 body-bowed, an’ tenks dee fer settin’ my pore 
 black body free. I tenks dee fer Massa Lincum 
 an’ fer de White House an’ fer Massa Grant, an’ 
 fer de pen dat Massa Lincum writ de letter wid 
 an’ fer de wah dat whereby dis pore niggah 
 am free! O, my King, dou dat wurk whar no 
 man kin bender; kin pull down whar no man 
 kin buil’ up; kin buil’ up whar no man kin pull 
 down; kin pull down de man wat’s tryin’ to 
 buil’ up; kin buil’ up de man wat’s tryin’ to 
 pull down. Jerry Myer’s King! Pitch in to dy 
 golden chariot dat’s drawn by horses o’ win’ an’ 
 pull back de top, so dat dou kin see dy way clar, 
 clean from de Big White Trone down to de 
 middle o’ Georgy. Cum right true de air like 
 Tunder in de Camp o’ Zion, an’ bress dis pore 
 niggah soul. I tenks dee agin an’ agin fer 
 freedom; fer a chance to praise dee an’ to do dy 
 will an’ fer dis blessed mornin’ o’ resurrec- 
 slium. O, my Hebenly Fadder, dis mornin’ 
 help dis pore niggah to do dy will an’ to stay 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 323 
 
 free 'twell Brer Gabriel blow de cow-born, an’ 
 tell all de niggabs to git ready fer to fly. O, 
 Fadder, sabe me a par ob shinin’ wings away 
 back dar in glory, and when de time cum fer me 
 to put on dem golden slippers an’ war dat star- 
 white crown, den sen’ me dem wings so dat I 
 kin fly frue de air an’ reach de trone in time to 
 crown dee Lord ob all. Furdermore an’ whar- 
 fore, I pray dat dou would also sot my soul 
 free an’ place her on de rocks ob eternal ages 
 so dat de wabes ob de Massassep kin nebber 
 wash him off agin. O, Fadder, keep me on de 
 back o’ dy hand an’ under de ’struction ob dy 
 suspectin' wing. Keep me in de narrer pa.ff dat 
 leads off frue glory an’ pull me down de broad 
 road o’ detection. Keep de white man in ’ih 
 place, an’ let de niggah spread like a gum-tree 
 in de swamp. O, my Fadder, I tenks le fer 
 all dat an’ fer anyting more dat dou see wuff 
 while to tenk de fer. I wants ter git ter 
 Heben in a cam time; so when I roll or v to 
 die an' kant lib h’yar no longer, han’ me .own 
 ter my grabe in peas and hominy, an’ bring me 
 back agin to de fold ob de New Jeroozalam, 
 whar dere shall be weepin’ an’ nashin’ o’ de 
 teet on de banks ob delib’rance, is de humble 
 pray’r ob dis rowdy nigger. Am en !” 
 
324 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 SCENE 2. 
 
 Another scene confronts us. We are now 
 beholding a street corner in one of our large 
 Southern cities. There are a saloon, barber 
 shop and restaurant near at hand. This is 
 veritably the loafers’ corner, and now we will 
 wait a moment and see what will take place. 
 A fine carriage drives up and stops near the 
 corner; a gentleman puts his head out and asks 
 one of the bystanders for a certain person. He 
 is informed that the party desired is in the 
 saloon. He gets out and orders the carriage 
 to return for him after a short interval. He 
 steps quickly into the saloon, with the air of a 
 high-toned gentleman. He is tall, dressed in 
 black, high Grecian nose, clear, kind, blue 
 eyes, side whiskers, gold-rimmed glasses, mid- 
 dle-aged, silk hat and cane. He steps up to 
 the proprietor of the establishment and whis- 
 pers a few inaudible words to him, and, then, is 
 shown into a side room. He enters the room, 
 removes his hat, lays aside his cane and takes 
 his seat. The room is small and neatly, if not 
 costly, furnished- It is used as the private 
 
2 he Curtain Falk. 
 
 325 
 
 office of Mr Kedmond, the saloonist. The kind- 
 faced stranger, whom we will now introduce to 
 our readers as Mr. Earl Stanhope, of Boston, 
 is a wealthy gentleman, who has devoted much 
 of his life to deeds of Charity and Christianity. 
 He takes out his watch, and mutters something 
 to himself and puts it back into his pocket. 
 He seems in some haste, but his countenance 
 does not betray the least excitement or im- 
 patience. He wears the same calm and serene 
 air, that we noticed, when he first alighted 
 from his carriage. A few minutes pass. There 
 is a knock at the door, answered by a pleasant 
 “Come in, sir,” from within. 
 
 The new-comer shoves aside the door and 
 enters with considerable noise and clumsiness. 
 He is none other than Jim, whom we left a few 
 years ago praying and giving thanks to God 
 for his freedom, then recently obtained. As 
 Jim enters and stands up in the middle -of the 
 room, let us describe him before he takes his 
 seat. He is, of course, the same Jim; but he 
 is grown more corpulent and rather lazy-look- 
 ing. He is fairly dressed and neatly shaved. 
 He sports a large scarf-pin, gold chain and, 
 also, the symbols of several Orders upon the 
 
326 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 lapel of his coat. In his month, he frequently 
 bites at the end of a cigar, as horses do with 
 their bits. We are sorry to say it; but we can 
 inhale the perfumes of whisky on his breath, 
 which, perhaps, has had something to do with 
 his clumsy entrance and seeming indifference 
 to the presence of the dignified stranger. On 
 the whole, it seems that, while Jim has im- 
 proved much since his freedom, in physical ap- 
 pearance and state of contentment; yet, to a 
 close observer, it is plain that he has lost much 
 of his former innocence and simple virtue, and, 
 most certainly, he has disappointed many who 
 had expected great things of him. Now, 
 having been invited to a seat which is kindly 
 handed to him, Jim, who has now become Mr. 
 James Edward Harris, sits down quite uncon- 
 cerned and, throwing his right leg over his 
 left, leans back on his chair and, asking Mr. 
 Stanhope to excuse him, proceeds to light and 
 smoke his cigar. 
 
 The conversation thus begins: “Mr. Harris,” 
 says Mr. Stanhope, “I have always been inter- 
 ested in your history, and, having a short stop- 
 over in your city, I made it my duty to call and 
 ascertain how you are and what you are doing 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 327 
 
 and also wliat use you are making of these 
 blessed opportunities with which God has sur- 
 rounded you. Will you kindly state what you 
 have passed through since you have been 
 blessed with your freedom, for which I have 
 labored and prayed, for so many years?” Har- 
 ris — for he does not like to be called “Jim” 
 now — being always a man of much liner sense 
 than he has ever been credited with, looks 
 down upon the floor in deep meditation for a 
 considerable period of time, before he attempts 
 to answer the question put to him. 
 
 At length, he straightens himself up in his 
 seat and thus begins: “Well, sail, I tinks I 
 kin tell ye putty well de substance ob my pas’ 
 exper’ence,” says Harris, while he knocks the 
 ashes from his cigar. He continues thus: 
 "When Mr. Linkum ’mancipated me, or, in od- 
 der words, arter de close ob de wall, I was 
 berry proud ob my freedom, an' I of’n got on 
 my knees and praise de good Lord for my great 
 delib’rence from bondage. Indeed, sah, I was 
 berry tenkful fer my new condition and 
 tort dat I would soon be rich like de w’ite 
 folks. I had a little shanty ob my own, a boss, 
 a cow an' some hogs. I raised a plenty to eat 
 
Ham and Dixie. 
 
 328 
 
 and had enuff to war an’, for a few years, got 
 along tol’able well. One day I found dat de 
 deeds to my lan’ was wrong, in some way or 
 odder, or, at least, de white man I bought de 
 lan’ from, said so; an’ he tole me I would lmb 
 to move off, as de lan’ was his, but he said he 
 w T as willin’ ter pay me sumfin fur my improve- 
 ments, so I tuck de money and lef’ de lan’ wid de 
 white man. I tort den dat I wouldn’t kill 
 myself workin’ an’ tug-gin’, an' dig-gin’, an’ 
 den arter all, lose w r ot I mek an’ git 
 nuffin. So I ’eluded to go off an’ see de 
 wurl and enjoy my freedom. I tuk de k’yar 
 an’ trabel all ober de kentry an’ at las’ 
 settled down k’yar in dis city. Here, I liabs 
 a good time. I gits all I wants to eat an’ war 
 an’ smoke an’ drink, and, arter all, dat’s ’bout 
 all a nigger’s gwine ter git in dis kentry.” Here 
 Mr. Stanhope ventures a question: “Mr. Har- 
 ris, do you own any property?” “Property! 
 No, sail! I’se done wid property, I is. I’se got 
 plenty ob good close an’ a good fat job, an’ I 
 hoi’s a rabbit-foot ban’ wid cards, an’ I kin 
 shoot “crap” and kin trow dice wid de bes’ on 
 ’em, and I’se got some good wimmin friends 
 wot’s got money, and wot does I want wid 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 329 
 
 property? I am h’yar to-day and yonder to- 
 morrer and some wliar else next day, so wot's 
 de use to by lan’ an' fix np. No sail! No prop- 
 erty for me. I done ’cided to enjoy my free- 
 dom, an’ dat’s wot I’se doin'.” 
 
 "But, Mr. Harris,” breaks in Mr. Stanhope, 
 “how is it about your religion? You seem 
 once to have been very grateful to God for 
 your freedom. Are you not still grateful, and 
 do you not continue to praise God, who has 
 given you every blessing you now enjoy?” “O, 
 yes, sah, you bets I do, but de ting is sorter git- 
 tin’ ole, lak, an’ I don’t tek on so ’bout freedom, 
 lak I uster. Yer see when a fellow gits sorter 
 uster anyting, why, he don’t hab ter keep talk- 
 in’ an’ tinkin’ on de same ting all de time. 
 I’se done free an’ ebery body knows it, an’ I 
 don’t min’ it much now. De fac’ is, Mr. Stan- 
 hope, I’se in fer havin’ a good time, an’ ef I dont 
 hab it, I’ll mos’ — dat’s straight goods! Dis 
 niggah is gwine to enjoy his freedom; and don't 
 yer forget it. Property or no property, 'ligion 
 or no ’ligion; I’se gwine ter hab my fun. So 
 dere aint no two ways about dat ar. I likes 
 yer an’ ’preciates yer good advice and ’tention 
 
330 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 o' me, but dis niggali is gwine ter enjoy liisself, 
 an' dat’s straight.” 
 
 “Well, I am sadly disappointed, Mr. Harris,” 
 dejectedly puts in Mr. Stanhope, “but I trust 
 you will not be thus always. I must leave you 
 now, and shall soon be on my way home and 
 may ne ver see you any more. For God's sake 
 and for the sake of your best friends, be a man, 
 Harris; and never forget your dark history and 
 the work that God lias laid out especially for 
 you to do. Certainly, it is natural that you 
 should desire to enjoy your freedom, as you 
 have said, after having been without it so long; 
 but, after you have settled down, be a man and 
 make your mark! Good-bye, and God bless 
 you! If you ever need a friend, Harris; here 
 is my card, write me, and 1 will not fail to do 
 what I can for you.'’ 
 
 Harris, somewhat moved by the warm 
 friendship of Mr. Stanhope, stands up and 
 takes the proffered hand and says, “Good-bye, 
 Mr. Stanhope, I’ll nebber fergit yer kindness 
 ter me, an’ I hope God'll bress yer de balance 
 ob yer days. Some how or odder, dar is a good 
 spot ’bout me some whar, and now I kin feel 
 it, an’ it ’pears ter me dat I mout one o’ dese 
 
The Curtain Falk. 
 
 331 
 
 days gib yer a different account of’ misself 
 from wliat I hab giben you to-day. I tink ye'll 
 h’yar from me agin, sab. 'Twel dat time, good- 
 bye. and God bress yer!” 
 
 After warmly shaking each other’s hands, 
 the two friends part. Mr. Stanhope enters his 
 carriage and drives rapidly away and Harris 
 re-enters the pool-room, near by, and is soon 
 lost in the maneuvers of a game of pool. As 
 we see him in his shirt-sleeve, with cue in hand 
 and a cigar in his mouth, cursing, bragging 
 and betting, we almost lose hope for him, and 
 upon this scene let the curtain fall. 
 
 SCENE 3. 
 
 A weary traveller, on horse back, is riding- 
 fast niton one of our Southern roads. The day 
 is growing old and the sun is sinking fast be- 
 hind the western hills. The horse, a large and 
 beautiful chestnut, is getting impatient and, 
 ever and anon, he champs his bit and lashes his 
 tail and changes his gait into a rapid trot or 
 canter. His master, as willing to complete the 
 journey as he, but unwilling to use up free 
 horse-flesh, checks him up and is satisfied with 
 a brisk walk. Not too well acquainted with 
 
332 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 the surrounding country, the rider is very 
 anxious to reach some place where he may be 
 entertained over night, whence he may be able 
 to pursue his journey on the morrow. 
 
 He soon spies ahead of him and on the right 
 hand side of the road, a boy on horse back with 
 a whip, driving before him six or seven head of 
 cattle, among which are three or four horses. 
 He rides up fast that he may meet the boy in 
 order that he may make some inquiries con- 
 cerning the country. The boy, by this time, 
 had gotten his cattle and horses in a straight 
 line before him, and he himself is riding be- 
 hind, whistling a country air that is familiar 
 to Southern districts. The song whistled is 
 perfectly strange to our rider, who lives in Bos- 
 ton, and who is already known to us as Mr. 
 Earle Stanhope. 
 
 This worthy gentleman, being interested in 
 the fair south, has purchased some valuable 
 property in one of Dixie’s most progressive 
 States, and is now on a prospecting tour. He 
 chooses this simple method of travel, rather be- 
 cause he desires the open air and the exercise, 
 and also to render himself familiar with the 
 habits and condition of the inhabitants of 
 
1 lie Curtain Falls. 
 
 333 
 
 tlie country. “Well, my boy,” says Mr. Stan- 
 hope, “You seem to have a fair start in the 
 stock business? Are they yours?” “Yes, sah,” 
 says the boy grinning and touching his cap, “I 
 mean dey is papa’s, sah — we don’t live berry 
 fur from h’yar; yer kin see de house, when you 
 git on the hill.” From the speech and polite- 
 ness of the boy as well as the dark shade be- 
 neath his hat, Mr. Stanhope has discovered that 
 his companion is a Negro youth of considera- 
 ble intelligence. Being doubly interested in 
 the boy, because of the love he bears toward 
 his race, he says, “I am very proud of this, my 
 young man; I am nearly lost in these woods 
 and I have already travelled far, and will be 
 very glad, indeed, to find some one to guide me 
 on my journey aright.” “O, yes, sah, papa kin 
 tell yer all about dis kentry, but if yer wanter 
 yer kin stay wid us to-night ef we’ll suit yer; 
 and then yer kin go on in de morning, sah,” 
 says the boy, politely. “Thank you kindly, my 
 good fellow, I will, indeed, accept your kind 
 offer and pay you handsomely, besides.” “We 
 nebber charges anyting, sah, fer our ’commoda- 
 tions, sich as it is,” quickly speaks up the boy, 
 who seems to fear lest the gentleman may 
 
334 
 
 Ham and, Dixie, 
 
 think his hospitality arises from a selfish greed 
 for money. “I know that, my man; but, of 
 course, you must have something for your trou- 
 ble,” says Mr. Stanhope, his noble feelings ris- 
 ing high in his bosom. 
 
 Thus the pair ride on side by side, while the 
 gentle cows and horses walk on orderly before 
 them, now and then, stopping to browse upon 
 the green grass that grows along the road. 
 Presently, they arrive at a beautiful white cot- 
 tage on the left hand side of the large public 
 road. It is now dark, but the stranger can see 
 the white form of the house, the yard fence, the 
 cluster of vine in front of the porch, the clean 
 front-grounds, with rows and circles of flowers, 
 and also, by the reflection of light within, the 
 buxom form of a woman at her domestic duties. 
 The little fellow, having told Mr. Stanhope to 
 remain on horseback a minute, quickly dis- 
 mounts and imparts the news to the inmates of 
 the house, and, then, returns and tells Mr. 
 Stanhope politely to go in, while he, taking his 
 horse, passes rapidly toward the barn. Mr. 
 Stanhope walks up to the house, where he is 
 met by the portly woman of whose form he 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 335 
 
 has already caught a glimpse, through the win- 
 dow. 
 
 “Good evening, madam,” says Mr. Stanhope 
 kindly, at the same time extending his hand. 
 “Good fortune has caused me to meet your son, 
 who has politely directed me here: I .trust we 
 shall be better acquainted, ma’am.” “ >od 
 eben, sah,” returns the madam, pleas h. 
 “Jis walk right in and tek a seat; my lim 
 will be home soon an’ he kin keep yer comp’m ; 
 lie's a mouty great han’ to talk, sah, an’ I 
 knows he'll be glad to see yer. Set in de big 
 arm-chair, sah; it is de easiest fer a gemlin like 
 you, ’specially when you’se bin a ridin’ all day. 
 Lilia, bring de gemlin a fresh glass o’ water, 
 dear. I knows he must be thirsty, trabelin’ in 
 all dis heat. Now, sah, jis mek yerself at 
 home — dere is some books an’ papers on de 
 des’. an' pen an’ ink dar ; so mek yersef at home. 
 We’s nuffin but pore folks, but you’s parfeckly 
 welcome to sicli as we got. Some white folks 
 oberlooks us black ’tins; but I see dat you’se 
 not one ob dem kinds. So, ack jis as ef you 
 was in yer own house, sah, while I goes ter git 
 yer some supper.” Before Mr. Stanhope could 
 say, “Thank you, madam,” the nice-looking 
 
336 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 black woman bad gone into the kitchen to pre- 
 pare the evening meal. 
 
 Very soon, the door is opened and a large, 
 broad-chested, full-blooded Negro enters the 
 apartment. He stands in the middle of the 
 floor for a few moments, keenly eying the 
 stranger. “Good eben, sah!” exclaims the 
 Negro; “pears ter me I hab seen yer somewhar, 
 but I’ll be danged, ef I kin jis now mek out yer 
 likeness.” “If I am not mistaken, sir, are you 
 not Mr. James Harris, my old friend?” aston- 
 ishingly inquires Mr. Stanhope, over his 
 glasses. “And, bress my buttons, ef dis yer 
 ain’t Mr. Stanhope! Yer see, sah, de light was 
 in my eyes, else I’d a knowed yer, shure. I 
 neber would forgit a man like you— no, sah! 
 By no means in de wurl, sah! How hab you 
 bin, sah?” The two men shake hands and ex- 
 change the usual greetings as to health and 
 recent whereabouts, and so forth, and then 
 begin to enter upon a very important discus- 
 sion. But, before they get fairly started, the 
 bell rings for supper, and both men, being 
 hungry, repair at once to the dining-room and 
 despatch the evening meal amid the most 
 pleasant surroundings. We will not note in 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 337 
 
 detail all the circumstances of this pleasurable 
 hour, but hasten on to other scenes of more 
 importance. The meal is over; the things are 
 all put away; the rest of the family are in a 
 large room by themselves, and the two gentle- 
 men are seated in the cozy little sitting-room 
 into which Mr. Stanhope was first ushered 
 immediately upon his arrival. Mr. Harris 
 tabes down a clean pipe from the mantel, fills 
 it vith home-made tobacco, lights it and begins 
 pufing away, while Mr. Stanhope eyes him 
 admiringly through his glasses and remains 
 silent 
 
 At length, the white man breaks the monot- 
 ony, thus: “Mr. Harris, it has been some time 
 since we have met, and, since Providence has 
 so strangely and unexpectedly brought us to- 
 gether again, let us employ our evening in a 
 few series of questions and answers, in order 
 that we may better understand how each of 
 us has been getting on. So, if there is no ob- 
 jection. I'll begin by asking you to state briefly 
 your history since last we met in the city of 
 
 C .” “Berry good, sah, I was jis a tinkin’ 
 
 ob jis sich a program misef, sah,” replies 
 Harris, his countenance brightening up and 
 
338 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 his eyes sparkling like two beads of dew in the 
 sunlight. “Well, sah,” the Negro continues, 
 “arter yer lef’ me in dat saloon, I soon got tired 
 ob ‘habin’ a good time,’ as I was a tellin’ ye. 
 widout layin’ up anyting fer a rainy day. Sc, 
 I goes to work and sabes up some money ard 
 buys a small farm, buil’s a shanty and starts 
 out to ’cumerlate some stock. I now ovns 
 one hundred and sixty acres ob good lan’. six 
 or seben milk cojvs, a half o’ dozen fine-blooded 
 horses, plenty of hogs, sheep, ducks, chickens, 
 an’ lots ob odder tings dat a man need? on a 
 farm. I runs a vegetable farm, fruit orchard 
 and milk dairy, an ’I furnish de town wid early 
 marketin’. My chillun goes to school an’ also 
 helps me on de farm. I keeps two or tree men 
 employed ’roun’ de place all de time an’ pays 
 ’em well an’ dey gibs me good work. I treats 
 • ’em right an’ dey treats me de same. I hab a 
 plenty, sah, fer de present an’ I’se layin’ sumfln 
 up fer a rainy day. I’se a deacon in de church 
 an’ a super’ntendum in de Sabbaf School, sah, 
 an’ eberybody says I am jis movin’ on. So, 
 on de whole, I’se putty well sati’fied an’ got 
 hardly anyting to worry me now ’cept one 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 339 
 
 ting, an’ I specs dat’ll alius gi’ me some 
 trouble.” 
 
 Here, Mr. Harris’ face clouds up a little and 
 be knocks the ashes out of his pipe and looks 
 steadily into the fire-place before him. “What 
 is that, Mr. Harris?” quickly asks Mr. Stan- 
 hope. “I’ve been listening attentively to your 
 story, and had begun to think that you are now 
 in possession of all that a reasonable man can 
 wish. You have certainly done well, and I am, 
 indeed, proud of your record — but go on and 
 tell me what is it that gives you some trouble? 
 Perhaps, I may be of some assistance to you.” 
 
 “Well, sail, it is jis dis. Ob course, I hub all 
 I wants to eat and war, and I hab laid up some 
 money fer a rainy day; but, arter all, what 
 plezhure to me is all dis, sence my chillun ’ll 
 neber be able to enjoy dese tings arter I’m dead 
 an’ gone?” “Why not, Mr. Harris? Are they not 
 your heirs and will they not inherit your prop- 
 erty, according to the laws of descent and dis- 
 tribution?” asks Mr. Stanhope, thinking that 
 Mr. Harris fears other claimants interrupting 
 his children’s rights, after his death. “O, I 
 knows dat, Mr. Stanhope, dats de law ob be 
 lan’, sah; an’ I don’t fear any trouble on dat 
 
340 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 pint. But li’yar is de ting — 4et me show you. 
 S'pose I edikate my boy an’ he wants ter be an 
 ingineer on de train; kin he? S’pose my little 
 Lilia gets smart enuff to manage de telegram 
 business; kin she git employment in dat direc- 
 tion? S’pose anodder one ob my children 
 wants ter be a lawyer an’ gits ter be a shure 
 ’miff good ’un ; will de welty white peeple wots’ 
 got money gib him deir cases? Will de jedge 
 and de jury treat him as ef he was white? Is 
 all de abenues ob de kentry open to me an’ my 
 family? Kin I stan’ upon my own merit and 
 git sich reckonishun before de public as I am 
 entitled ter? Aint me an’ my boys hedged in an’ 
 cut off on all sides? Don’t dey try ter keep us 
 outen de bes’ places — matters not what we larn 
 and how smart we gits? Is dere any incour- 
 agement fur us to larn anyting wot we kant 
 git de chance to use ter an advantage? Some 
 o’ my white frens says dat we’s ignorant and 
 lies no kare for any biznsss — does dey expect 
 us ter be smart an’ reliable untwell dey gib 
 us somefin’ to do dat will exercise our brains 
 and train up our karekters fur honesty and in- 
 tegrity? 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 341 
 
 ,“Anodder ting; is it right to refuse a man im- 
 ployment simply lease lie’s got a black face wot 
 God has giben him? Is dat brodderly? Is dat 
 accordin' to de teachins ob de Bible which tells 
 us dat God is no respecter of pussons? I tell 
 yer, sah, when I tinks ob all dese tings, my 
 blood farly biles in my veins an’ I’ll neber be 
 satisfied untwell I’m sarten my chillun will 
 hab a far show in dis kentry, when I’m dead 
 an’ gone. My b’leef is dat one man is jis as 
 good as anodder, ef he has got as good a 
 kerec-ter. Dis way ob slitin’ a man on ac 
 count ob his skin or his liar is too weak 
 and foolish fur any man ter indulge in, 
 an’ I pray God dat dese wife folks ’roun’ 
 me h’yar will soon larn mo sense and 
 better perliteness, ’fore long. I tell you, sah, 
 de wife folks see me gwine along; but dey 
 don't know what is in me. I feel sometime jis 
 like bundlin’ up, git togedder my little ban’ an’ 
 lebe de kentry. Agin, I tinks ob askin’ de gob- 
 er’ment to set tings right an’ mek a man’s color- 
 no bar to any place ob trus’ an’ honor. But, 
 now, I tinks I’ll jis set a day an’ axe my white 
 fren’s to meet me down at de ole brick church, 
 or some odder good place, and den we’ll hab a 
 
342 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 good talk ober dis matter. I wanter meet ’em 
 in all politeness, sab, an’ good feeling, sab; 
 bnt, at de same time, I’m gwine ter mean biz- 
 ness an’ de.y mus’ mek me some kin’ o’ answer. 
 Y ou li’yar me ? Fer my part, I liab decided now 
 to put aside foolishness an’ ‘liabin a good 
 time’ an’ be a squar, up an’ up man, an’ I specs 
 my wite fren’s to list’n ter me an’ gib me a 
 man’s sbo. I blebes dey’ll do it — kase dey's 
 some mouty fine ’uns among ’em— any bow, 
 dey mus’ tell me sumfln,’ ’fore I quits ’em. Yer 
 see, Mr. Stanhope, I don’t axe ’em fer any big 
 ting kase I don’t desarbe it, but all I axe ’em 
 fur, is to op’n de way fer my chill un as fas’ as 
 dey desarbe any ting ob honor. See? I’m not 
 big-e3 7 ed or greedy. I knows I has bin trifling, 
 sab, berry trifling in de de pas’, sab; but, ’fore 
 God! I means ter be a man, an’ only wants a 
 man’s chance, sab!” 
 
 After delivering this speech, Mr. Harris is 
 still looking down in front of him as if in deep 
 meditation. Mr. Stanhope, rising, as if to re- 
 tire for the night, offers Mr. Harris his hand 
 and says, “My dear sir, you are perfectly right. 
 You are a worthy man and truly deserve 
 those things you ask. Only be a true man and 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 343 
 
 trust in God and the time is sure to come 
 when jour Southern friends will gve you all 
 you ask and I am also ready to do all I can for 
 you. So, good night and may God bless you!” 
 
 ACT ill. 
 
 SCENE 1. 
 
 Again, and, for the last time, the curtain 
 rises, and discloses to our view a large, private 
 office in one of our most progressive cities of 
 the South. The office is most splendidly fitted 
 up and bears signs of immense business and 
 vast wealth. Rich Brussel carpets spread 
 over the floor; finest mahogany chairs and 
 artistic lounges and easy comforters of rare 
 workmanship, are tastily arranged around the 
 room. Expensive desks, escritoires, libraries 
 and drawers abound; and, in short, there is 
 nothing lacking, however costly, which is nec- 
 essary to the use and ornament of this wealthy 
 establishment. It is plain that this apartment 
 is used as the private reception room of the 
 directors and other select friends of the Great 
 ^National Bank of the flourishing city of C . 
 
344 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 With exception of a few pages, messenger- 
 boys and one or more private secretaries, there 
 are only three present who seem to have 
 special interest in, and control of, the business. 
 The gentlemen are all well-dressed and brainy- 
 looking men, and they wear that air of wealth, 
 independence and dignified business courtesy 
 which are the traits that mark so well those 
 natural-born gentlemen of honor, who have 
 been successful in life. The men all look 
 somewhat familiar to us, and yet we cannot 
 remember just when, where or under what cir- 
 cumstances, we have met them. They are all 
 seated around a beautifully carved table with 
 marble cover, and each is apparently bent upon 
 some special duty of his own. What, with 
 reading the daily papers, dictating letters to 
 their clerks or stenographers, and what with 
 an occasional conference with each other as to 
 some business feature of importance, they all 
 seem actually busy and, thus far, gives us no 
 opportunity to catch any word or sentence 
 which may enable us to ascertain who they are 
 or what are their names. 
 
 In the meantime, we use our eyes and 
 thoughts, and find that one of them is a tall, 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 345 
 
 slender and elderly gentleman, witli light-blue 
 and kind-looking eyes, grey hair and side- 
 whiskers, placid and good-natured counte- 
 nance, and, by his general appearance, we de- 
 cide that bis native home is New England or 
 some other section of the North. He displays 
 wonderful business foresight, a wide knowl- 
 edge of men and nature, and, above all, a calm, 
 collected and humane disposition which fit him 
 specially for the lead-er of this giant establish- 
 ment. 
 
 Looking carefully at the next gentleman, 
 who sits at the right of the pleasant-looking 
 Northerner, we notice also a tall, well-built, 
 dark-skinned gentleman, with passionate, 
 black eyes, iron-grey hair and mustache, which 
 once must have been of raven blackness. He 
 shows that in an earlier day he must have been 
 a decidedly handsome young man and one pos- 
 sesssing much mettle and activity, of which 
 last traits we believe he still possesses a re- 
 markable share. Instinctively, and, without 
 debate, we set him down in our minds as a 
 high-bred gentleman of the South, of keen busi- 
 ness sagacity and of much spirit and dashing 
 
346 
 
 Ham and t)ixie. 
 
 boklness. He, indeed, must be tbe manager 
 and the executive spirit of the concern. 
 
 Next, seated on the left of the Northerner 
 and opposite the Southerner, is a very large, 
 bald-headed gentleman, broad-chested and of 
 corpulent waist, round, full eyes, side-whiskers 
 besprinkled with grey, full but firm lips, gen- 
 eral expression of extraordinary shrewdness 
 and a keen sense of justice, hair curly and 
 closely-trimmed and face as black and smooth 
 as a school-board. This man, is, no doubt, the 
 plumb-line that holds the enterprise to the 
 dead level of square dealing and a fair recog- 
 nition of the rights of all men. He sits there 
 like a huge iron pillar; his very blackness 
 glows and sparkles as an indication of the real 
 pearl beneath that sable coating. Having- 
 noted all these things, we are now ready to 
 listen to the conversation which we know must 
 come, sooner or later. It now begins: “Mr. 
 Haynes,” says the kindly Northerner, address- 
 ing himself to his Southern friend, “I was 
 thinking of the South as it was years ago — how 
 Nature had furnished it with her choicest gifts, 
 and yet how little had been done for its devel- 
 opment, until within a few years. It does 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 347 
 
 seem to me, after deep reflection, that there 
 must have been a dark, invisible cloud that liov- 
 ered over this section, as long as it ignored the 
 rights and privileges of a portion of its citizens. 
 It seems that you white men of the South pos- 
 sess, by Nature, the same active and enterpi’is- 
 ing spirit that we, who live in the North, pos- 
 sess, and I am sure that Nature has been kind- 
 er to your section than she has been to ours; 
 and yet, for all that, your progress has been 
 comparatively slow, until your magnanimity 
 caused you to open the doors of your country 
 to all mankind, regardless of race or color. Is 
 it not striking that a few years after this 
 change, wealthy and entei’prising immigrants 
 from the North and from Europe flocked to 
 your shores and united together their brains 
 and their capital with your resources and co- 
 operation. and, thus succeeded in building up 
 this country and in gaining immense riches? 
 Look at your counti’y to-day! It is one of the 
 most prosperous and most progressive sections 
 on the face of the earth. Hei’e, you have the 
 largest and most numerous cotton-factories, 
 the most profitable fruit and vegetable inter- 
 ests, the most extensive stock, hide and wool 
 
348 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 business, the wealthiest railroad companies, 
 the most solid banking establishments and the 
 most successful agricultural and horticultural 
 departments in the country. Your climate is 
 healthy and mild, your people are thriving and 
 happy, and I tell you, sir, you are towering 
 over other sections with remarkable rapidity, 
 and, 1 dare say, if the other parts of this Union 
 do not strike out rapidly and forcibly, they will 
 soon be left in a decided minority. And, above 
 it all, just to think ‘what hath God wrought’ in 
 the condition of that race whom we all once 
 despised! I tell you, my dear sir, I am actually 
 proud of the descendants of Africa amongst us. 
 I am really glorified when I realize the fact 
 that our great Union is broad enough and noble 
 enough to shelter under her wings and to adopt 
 as distinct portions of her vast brood the 
 White, the Black, the Red, the Yellow 
 and the Brown, and to grant them all 
 equal justice and admit them to those 
 places of honor for which they are found 
 to be prepared. T am proud, to-day, that 
 the Negro has proven himself a worthy 
 citizen, a successful man of business, a patri- 
 otic statesman, a distinguished scholar and an 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 349 
 
 unsurpassable orator, poet and musician. 
 Why, sir, we are actually honored in having 
 this race as a part and parcel of ourselves. He 
 has paid us a hundred-fold for our adopting 
 him into the file and rank of our Nationality; 
 and, to-day, sir, we ought to thank our God 
 that he has been brought to our shores and has 
 grown up among our people!” 
 
 “Mr. Stanhope,” says Mr. Haynes, the South- 
 erner whom we have met before, “your words 
 strike deep into my very soul and they are as 
 true as sunshine. God has, indeed, taught us 
 a valuable lesson in His strange dealings with 
 us and this peculiar people with whom we have 
 been so intimately connected. I know full 
 well, even better than yourself, the great 
 change which has been effected in our Sunny 
 South, and I have attributed it altogether to 
 the change brought about in our treatment of 
 the black race in our midst. Our admitting 
 the blacks on their merits, has caused them to 
 use their own natural powers as they have 
 never done before, and they have thus shown 
 to the world that they had qualities buried 
 within them of which we have never dreamed. 
 They have proven themselves worthy in every 
 
350 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 respect of the recognition given them and they 
 have aided us much in building up our country. 
 Furthermore, by our acceptance of the Negro, 
 you of the North and we of the South have 
 been brought into closer contact and into a 
 stronger and a more brotherly union. You 
 have shared with us the value of your enter- 
 prise and inventive genius and we have shared 
 with you our natural resources, our earnest- 
 ness and our hospitality. Thus, we may safely 
 say that, through the black man our great 
 calamities of the war were occasioned, and 
 from him also sprang our present prosperity. 
 He has been the occasion of war and blood- 
 shed; he has now brought peace and happiness; 
 he has separated brother from brother; he has 
 now cemented forever the bond of brotherhood 
 not only between two sections of the same race, 
 but also between all the races of the earth; he 
 has brought dreadful destruction upon our 
 Southern land, and now he has filled our bor- 
 ders with such richness and blessings as we 
 have never witnessed before. Indeed, sir, I 
 join most heartily with you in saying that he 
 is now an honor to our country, and it is one of 
 God's richest blessings that he has been 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 351 
 
 brought to our shores. Do you know, sir, that 
 once in my life I prevented this man in front of 
 me from learning to read and write; that I 
 once had him drawn up and whipped until I 
 thought he would die, for nothing else except 
 a desire on his part to get an education and to 
 gain his freedom? Do you know, sir, that I 
 once even doubted that the black man had a 
 soul to save or a God to serve? Do you know, 
 sir, that I once despised Negroes, and could 
 stand by, coolly, and see them whipped or shot 
 to death, without lifting a hand or moving a 
 muscle to save them? Talk about rights! 
 Why, sir, I thought dogs deserved more rights 
 than Negroes! I thought and said and held 
 that Negroes had no rights that white men 
 were bound to respect. Yes, sir; I was a hot- 
 blooded nigger-hater and fire-eater, and, at 
 one time, would rather have cut my throat 
 from ear to ear than to sit and do business 
 with a Negro as I do now! But, I thank my 
 God that all this is changed. Now, I am will- 
 ing that the Negro should have the same rights 
 and opportunities for himself that I enjoy. I 
 want no avenue, however high and honorable, 
 
352 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 to be debarred from him if he is fitted for it. 
 
 “To day, sir, I believe that all men are cre- 
 ated equal and should have the same just and 
 inalienable rights that God lias given them, 
 and I believe that the time will come no more 
 when I shall be so weak, so foolish and so 
 blinded as to withhold one blessed boon from 
 my fellow-man that I love to enjoy for myself. 
 Gentlemen, the world is moving on, and, with 
 it, our prejudices, our weaknesses and our 
 wrongs are moving away; and I verily believe 
 that the time is near at hand when all the 
 world shall know neither color, form, hair 
 or any other insignificant distinction, but 
 that all shall be one and shall live together in 
 perfect harmony, as Equal Children of one 
 Eternal Father!” 
 
 Here, both the Northerner and the South- 
 erner look, instinctively, at their Brother in 
 Black and almost in the saipe breath exclaim, 
 “And now what have you to say, Mr. Harris?” 
 
 Mr. Harris, who was formerly known to our 
 readers as “Black Jim,” looking earnestly into 
 the eyes of his white friends, thus begins: 
 “White Man of the North and White Man of 
 the South: of us all, I have the greatest right 
 
The Curtain Fulls. 
 
 353 
 
 to thank the God I serve. I can scarcely real- 
 ize that I am what 1 am. and it is only because 
 the mirror reflects my coal-black hue and I can 
 yet feel the old bruises and scars on my back, 
 of the dark and bloody days of the long ago, 
 that I can understand that I am a Xegro. Gen- 
 tlemen. I warmly thank you both for the kind 
 and noble words spoken of me this day. I only 
 hope that the day may yet come when I may 
 be able to show you better than I have ever 
 done before, both my gratitude to you and, 
 also, those better qualities to the world which 
 yet lie hidden within me. So far, we are only 
 on our first round of the Xew Era, and there is 
 a ‘divinity that stirs within me' and tells me 
 that we are all now but infants, compared with 
 that glorious state that shall be revealed unto 
 us from behind the mystic veil of the future. 
 But. sirs, I can never think of my past history 
 without recognizing the hand of God in it all, 
 and also without bowing my head in deep grat- 
 itude to God, “the giver of every perfect gift.’ 
 From the plow and the hoe and the axe and the 
 whipping-post and the auction-block and the 
 yelping hound and the Kuldux and the mid- 
 night lyncher; from kicks out of cars, from 
 
 12 
 
354 
 
 Ham and Dixie 
 
 blows on my head, from swellings in my 
 throat, from achings in my heart, from tears in 
 my eyes, from the darkness of death and from 
 the flames of hell — yea, from all these and 
 more, have I risen out and upward, by God’s 
 mercy, until to-day I sit between the North and 
 the South in equality, in peace and with a 
 brother’s love! Gentlemen, by your assistance 
 and with the help of God, I intend, from this 
 day forth, to be a better and a nobler man than 
 ever before. 
 
 •“I, indeed, cannot afford to misuse these 
 glorious opportunities that I now enjoy. Here, 
 in your midst, with all the doors of both North 
 and South flung wide open to me — to me, a 
 once poor and degraded wretch— I swear I 
 never will prove recreant to such brotherly 
 confidence; I never will prove unworthy of 
 such noble friendship; I never will fail to show 
 my gratitude to you and to your forthcoming 
 posterity! I am here, gentlemen, as firm as 
 the very hills; my heart beats true and fast for 
 you and our common country. Command me; 
 I am at your service. Wearied with toil and 
 cares, I will ease your burdens and soothe your 
 sorrows; wounded on the field of battle, I will 
 
The Curtain Falls. 
 
 355 
 
 run to your relief and staunch your flowing 
 blood with the very hair on my head ; forsaken 
 by the rest of mankind, I will stand by you 
 until the stars go down to rise no more. 
 
 “Sirs, I am your faithful ally; I will bare my 
 breast to the glaring sword to protect your 
 peaceful homes; I will plunge through galling 
 fire to save your crowing babes, and I will fight 
 for you until blood runs from my veins like 
 water from a leaping spring. To-day, gentle- 
 men, you have won my love, and I will teach 
 white men to know that none can love so deep, 
 endure so much, toil so hard, sink so low and 
 rise so high as the black-skinned but true- 
 hearted son of Afric’s sultry shore!” 
 
 With this, the three men now stand, and the 
 Negro, raising his hand toward Heaven, thus 
 dismisses them: “O.God, for Christ’s sake, 
 dismiss us with Thy choicest blessings, and 
 grant that we men upon earth may, henceforth 
 and ever, dwell together in perfect peace and 
 be saved at last in Thy Kingdom of Love in 
 Heaven. Amen !”• 
 
 And now the Curtain Falls, and, hoping that 
 I have at least partly succeeded in telling the 
 world what is the matter with the Negro and 
 
Ham and Dixie. 
 
 §56 
 
 how lie is to effect his own cure; and that I 
 have also done something toward cracking that 
 nut, which I had drawn off to crack, with my 
 naked fist; and bidding you, my dear readers, 
 a long Farewell until we shall all meet some 
 day before the Judgment Bar of God, wliere- 
 the Black and the White, and the Red and the 
 Brown, the Rich and the Poor, the High and 
 the Low, shall all stand equal before a just 
 God and render an Account of their Deeds done 
 upon Earth, I remain ever 
 
 Faithfully yours, for God and Humanity, 
 
 J. B. S. CAPPONI. 
 
 A BROTHER’S APPEAL. 
 
 Fellow-Countrymen, please read these fol- 
 lowing idle-hour productions of my late 
 brother, John Downing Sevelli-Capponi, to 
 whose departed shade this book is dedicated. 
 These scraps were never intended by him to 
 be published; but, as they are the only scrib- 
 blings of his that I now possess — the best and 
 most important having been lost — I have in- 
 serted them here, both to perpetuate them 
 more completely and also to give the public a 
 
A Brother’s Appeal 
 
 357 
 
 faint idea of what this youth might have done 
 had he lived to complete his education and to 
 execute his idea of writing a book. 
 
 By reading his lines, you will confer a great 
 favor upon me and also reflect much honor 
 upon the memory of him who. if living, would 
 be far more able than myself to repay you in 
 graceful compliment, flowing gratuitously 
 from a heart like Sir Phillip Sidney’s and a 
 mind like Julius Caesar's. For, like the 
 former, he was the very soul of Honor and Dig- 
 nity. and like the latter, he seemed skillful in 
 every line — prose, verse, eloquence, mathe- 
 matics, philosophy, dancing, games, athletic 
 sports, social pleasures and the elements of 
 the Christian Religion. 
 
 As an example of his ambition, I will state 
 that, after a certain examination wherein I had 
 received a higher grade in geometry than him- 
 self, he immediately entered our room, and, 
 with face flushed and eyes flashing, he said: 
 “Joe, you have beaten me this time, old boy; 
 but you will never do it again!” And he was 
 right; for, on the following examination, which 
 proved his last on earth, strange to say, we 
 both received the same marks in every branch. 
 
358 
 
 Ham and, Dixie. 
 
 And, again, to show his wonderful pluck and 
 fortitude, I will say that, while racked with 
 the most excruciating pains peculiar to the 
 disease with which he soon afterwards died, 
 and, referring to his physical tortures, he thus 
 remarked to a fellow-sufferer, “Perry, this is a 
 little different from playing croquet, is it not?” 
 
 Again, trusting you will read these lines, 
 and think kindly of the writer, who lies sleep- 
 ing beneath the willow in the cemetery at 
 Charlotte, N C., 
 
 I am sincerely yours, 
 
 J. B. S. CAPPONI. 
 
 MY BROTHER’S SCRIBBLINGS. 
 
 FOR AN AUTOGRAPH. 
 
 As friend, I tender thee my hand, 
 
 And, with it, purest wishes give. 
 
 On Virtue may thy motto stand 
 And to thyself true may thou live; 
 
 And, if thou dost, there will be no doubt 
 That to thy friends thou wilt be true — 
 
 As friend, I ask of thee this same, 
 
 In proof whereof, I write my name. 
 
My Brother's Scribblings. 
 
 359 
 
 The certainty of the uncertainty of things in 
 this uncertain world is one of the most certain 
 of things. 
 
 a' resolution. 
 
 Resolved, That I do intend to put forth every 
 effort to free myself from all impure thoughts, 
 words and deeds: holding them as inconsistent 
 with a Christian life, and that I hereafter culti- 
 vate a kind and obliging disposition toward 
 all men. 
 
 Resolved, further. That I adopt the reading 
 of the following kinds of books, viz : the Bible, 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, Shakespeare, Histories 
 and Biographies, and that I make them a 
 special study and read them understanding^. 
 
 INVOCATION. 
 
 O, come, some supernatural aid, 
 
 Inflame my heart with purest thoughts! 
 If now. within its darkest cells, 
 
 The smallest spot of mischief dwells; 
 With flaming sword from purer land, 
 Strike now with thine immortal hand — 
 Forever cleft it from its hold: 
 
 And as the fire makes pure the gold, 
 
360 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Leave thou instead an uplift soul. 
 
 Let drop within my slumb'ring heart 
 A spark. And let it burn and blaze, 
 A living flame! 
 
 CONCERNING RULES. 
 
 When, at first, the lines herein contained 
 I 'gan to dot with words and thoughts 
 Of my brain. No doubt assuming much, 
 
 I did not think, if thought at all, 
 
 To suit your taste or please your grace; 
 
 But half in jest to do my best 
 In seeing what myself did know, 
 
 And, knowing that, to see what I could do. 
 At first, good rules to write I thought was 
 right 
 
 And, then, to see — the best of all — 
 
 If I myself could live thereby. 
 
 That laws are good, no one denies, 
 
 But, after all, where lies the good? 
 
 Where is no law, there is no rule, 
 
 But laws when made — they must be kept, 
 And he who breaks them, is the fool. 
 
 And, if perchance I do succeed 
 
 The rules to keep— quite good, indeed, 
 
My Brother's Scribblings. 
 
 361 
 
 Pardon craving, if too bold I bo 
 I tender you, with open heart. 
 
 My jovial friend, these Poles of Mine. 
 
 A FRIENDLY WISH. 
 
 In the hours of calm reflection, 
 
 In the hours of social glee; 
 
 May Heaven be thy kind protection, 
 May it ever shelter thee! 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 Gentle, graceful, smiling Venus, 
 
 Thy charms ne'er fail t' inspire within us 
 Deepest thoughts of adoration 
 For thee, purest of creation. 
 
 Satan, through thy placid weakness, 
 
 Sought to strip thee of thy greatness; 
 
 And, though, by Satan thou didst fall, 
 
 And, falling-, transmit sin to all. 
 
 Yet through this same, and yielding weak- 
 ness. 
 
 One Greater came and brought thee great- 
 
 ness. 
 
362 
 
 II am and Dixie. 
 
 AN AUTOGRAPH. 
 
 Upon this leaf, at your request, 
 
 With pleasure that is not expressed, 
 
 I write for you an autograph. 
 
 That, at my words, you do not laugh 
 Is the first request I make of you. 
 With naught but good intent in view, 
 Launched now upon this sea of life — 
 This sea of toil and sin and strife, 
 
 Of rock-bound coasts beware! 
 
 List! A blissful cove may have a snare 
 Your strength is weak against the foes 
 Of Life, that do your steps oppose; 
 Trust not Beauty, for it will fail, 
 
 Nor trust your strength, for it’s too frail 
 
 AUTOGRAPH. 
 
 Except the writing which doth convey 
 These words, this leaf would spotless be 
 So may thy heart, unmarked by aught 
 Save words Divine, may glow a Light, 
 Thy else unguarded feet to guide. 
 
363 
 
 My Brother's Scribblings. 
 
 FRIENDLY HOPES AND WISHES. ' 
 
 O. would that human tongue were not so frail. 
 That of things, of times in mind resolved. 
 
 It might speak as soft and sweet 
 As sings the warbling Muse. 
 
 If 'twere so; I then might ’tempt t’ unfold 
 The Hopes and Wishes of thee I hold. 
 
 But, since the Fates did not bestow 
 A gift so enviable and great, 
 
 The pleasure it would give, I must forego, 
 
 And state myself to beg of thee 
 T’ accept this only wish I have — 
 
 That thy footsteps may ever move 
 In the Royal Path of Life; 
 
 Blest by Heaven's unchanging Love, 
 
 Thy life with constant bliss o’erflow. 
 
 A BRIEF NARRATIVE. 
 
 Took the train for M June 28th, 1882. 
 
 There was a picnic ( ?) at M . I there met 
 
 the fascinating, entertaining and irresistible 
 
 Miss H , and I was also under the most 
 
 charming intiuence of Miss G . The picnic 
 
 was on a speculating order. Everything had 
 to be bought, and when I had just begun to 
 
364 
 
 Ham and Dix'e. 
 
 conclude that the girls formed an exception to 
 the purchasable articles; I was soon brought 
 to the correct understanding that all things 
 were for sale — girls not excepted — by the 
 seraph-like voice of a country belle, at my side, 
 demanding a “treat.” Candy was the “mer- 
 chandise” requested, which I purchased; not, 
 however, without a long-drawn sigh. After 
 my friend, H, and I had bought our dinners and 
 had smoked our cigars, we were insisted upon, 
 much to my utter surprise, to partake, free of 
 charge, of a bit of cake and pie, denominated 
 “dinner!” So surprised was I that I declined. 
 H, however, made good of the gratis, and de- 
 spatched his share in the twinkling of an eye. 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF WOMAN. 
 
 Woman, whom God has made to complete 
 the happiness of man and to perfect Creation, 
 should, by no means, be separated from civil- 
 ized society. Indeed, society would be de- 
 prived of its purest charms, grace and embel- 
 lishments, were woman, its brightest flower, to 
 be removed. And so allied is this graceful and 
 
My Brother’s Seribbli n gs 
 
 3H5 
 
 gentler sex of mankind to civilization that it is 
 inseparable from a high standard of enlighten- 
 ment. 
 
 By surveying history, one can readily see 
 the importance of woman as an element of 
 human progress. She is indispensable as a 
 jewel of use and ornament; because, though 
 man is lord of creation, yet he, either by cares 
 or disappointment, often succumbs to his mis- 
 fortune, and, like the powerful oak, torn by the 
 storm, needs the delicate tendrils of woman- 
 hood to bind up his shattered powers; or, in- 
 cited by unrestrained passion, needs the kind 
 reproof which none can give better than the 
 fair Daughter of Eve. The greatest draw back 
 that some of the ancients had, was their dis- 
 regard for woman. Looking at her physical 
 weakness only, they regarded her as an object 
 of contempt, and they failed to see and to ap- 
 preciate those noble qualities and # character- 
 istics of woman — such as gracefulness, forti- 
 tude, gentleness and presence of mind, which 
 well compensate for those same qualities gen- 
 erally wanting in men. Man is a creature, 
 stern, harsh and obdurate, and, left alone to 
 
366 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 passion and caprice, he becomes the most des- 
 picable object on earth. Men who retire from 
 female society, are stern and cruel, and nations 
 that hold women inferior to men and keep 
 them strictly separated from society, are noto- 
 rious for rudeness and babarity. 
 
 No country is religious which disallows a 
 mutual sociability between the sexes. The 
 unparalleled enlightenment of England is due, 
 of course, to Christianity; but a high regard 
 for women is also an element of Christianity, 
 and, hence, one of the causes of her progress. 
 And we can almost safely say that, when the 
 rights of woman, in any given society, are un- 
 molested, Christianity is also present. In 
 some countxdes, woman is held in the greatest 
 contempt, and, in those countries, despotism 
 and barbarism are the predominant features. 
 The early Grecian husbands regarded their 
 wives as “faithful slaves;” and hence such ob- 
 scure and sequestered Grecian society was 
 divested of the refining and beneficial influence 
 of Christian wives, sisters and mothers. 
 
My Brother's Scribblings. 
 
 367 
 
 FALSEHOOD. 
 
 Falsehood is the opposite of Truth; Truth is 
 a part of the essence of God. Falsehood is, 
 therefore, diametrically opposed to God. The 
 spirit of man partakes of the nature of God; 
 man is, consequently, naturally truthful. 
 Hence, when man falsifies he thwarts his 
 nature. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Falsehood assumes various forms; it may be 
 unmodified, as in the case of Satan, when he 
 planned and told Eve a downright lie; or it 
 may assume a modification, as when Adam, 
 being called of God, remained silent. Any 
 form of deception whatever, partakes of the 
 nature of Falsehood. 
 
 FOR AN ALBUM. 
 
 I highly appreciate the pleasure permitted 
 me to disclose the very high estimation I have 
 of your excellent qualities, and I cannot for- 
 bear tendering you my best wish that you may 
 be kindly favored of Heaven in receiving a full 
 portion of unremitting happiness. 
 
368 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 Kind friend, unbounded pleasure if doth 
 afford me to express my sincere appreciation 
 of your excellent virtues. 
 
 FRICTION OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Well, why all this care and anxiety, trouble 
 and perplexity? Why do men cheat, plan, plot, 
 contrive, deceive, steal, murder, plunder, burn, 
 harass and embarrass? Jones will smile with 
 Smith to force something' out of him detri- 
 mental to Luify, because, as he claims, Luft'y is 
 a most preposterous fellow, ambitious and 
 envious in the highest degree. For the said 
 Jones claims, further, that he was going to be 
 mail agent and that he had slightly spoken to 
 Luffv about it — confiding in him, of course, as 
 he, such a fool, always does, trusting every- 
 body, which will some day be the ruin of him, 
 if it is not already — and that scoundrel of a 
 Luffv had gone right down to the railroad 
 office and secured the position for himself. 
 
 Evans does not like Baptists— says he never 
 could endure them. They always were a med- 
 dlesome sect, a long-nosed and hypocritical set 
 of folks; as, for example, there is Noodle, who 
 
My Brother’s Scribblings, 
 
 369 
 
 is eternally preaching to every honest man, 
 and yet he (Evans) can almost lay a wager that 
 Noodle, no longer than last week, shot his 
 (Evans') dog, saying that the dog had killed 
 six of his finest young turkeys, which he can 
 prove at any time, on testimony of Farmer 
 Black, to be a downright, straight-forward, out 
 rageous and unprecedented falsehood. For 
 the dog had never yet noticed turkeys and he 
 had never known him to notice poultry of any 
 kind, except three months ago. when he killed 
 three young ducks of Widow Grey, who — bless 
 her! — didn't say any more than that it was the 
 ducks’ own fault, for he remembers well what 
 she said, as he was right there working on her 
 chimney. Thus, they go on blaming, reprov- 
 ing, quarreling and fault-finding, unceasingly. 
 
 Lady Jones can't bear that haughty, stuck- 
 up, disdainful Laura Carr; and it is more or 
 less because the Baronet goes to see her daugh- 
 ter, Laura, and not her own Esther. “Peter 
 Coventry is a ‘Junior’ and doesn't know a bit 
 more than a ‘Fresh,’ ” says Ned, who is a Fresh- 
 man, “for, in contradicting me the other day 
 on the play-ground, when I told him he was 
 
370 
 
 Ham and Dixie. 
 
 ‘out,' he made one of the biggest and most in- 
 excusable mistakes ever was. Why, a ‘Prep’ 
 would have known better!” 
 
 One storekeeper sells cheaper than the 
 others and he is decently ridiculed by all of his 
 brethren, in name but not in deed, and wonder- 
 fully praised by his numerous customers until 
 he happens to “stick” them with rancid butter 
 and then he is utterly forsaken, as the last man 
 on God's green earth to deal with. 
 
 Patterson, the milkman, says he can make 
 as much from his cows as Hendricks does,- if 
 he only cared to act on the same line, to-wit: 
 to every quart of milk, add a half-pint of cool, 
 sparkling water. 
 
 Just think of such monstrosity! Well! 
 Well! Well! How amazing is this action 
 and reaction of human affairs! This constant 
 shoving and resisting and scuffling and wrest- 
 ling! — one man saying one thing; another, an- 
 other; thinking one thing, saying another; say- 
 ing one thing, meaning another; meaning one 
 thing, acting another, and conversely, and 
 vice versa, etc-., etc. 
 
 In this Babel and Confusion, where is the 
 thread of common brotherhood? Where is 
 
My Brother's Scribbling*. 
 
 371 
 
 true friendship and love and virtue and honor? 
 Have all these been lost with Eden? Did the 
 Sword of the Cherub cut from man all that was 
 good and pure, and send him forth transformed 
 into a corrupt state, deformed by sin, con- 
 formed to all evil passions, so that now he has 
 no certain form at all? 
 
 Alas! Men grumble and rumble, murmur 
 and find fault, quarrel and fight, accumulate 
 and destroy, gain and lose and bark and bite; 
 but, for all these things, they die and leave all, 
 and the king and the subject, in close brother- 
 hood, sleep beneath the weeping willow, in the 
 church yard, and the Pope’s grave is no larger 
 than the sexton’s. For such is man ! 
 
 FINIS. 
 
I