The Old Time Darkey.—
The old time darkey is in the evening of his life,
After the passing of the last one with the race there will be strife,
He is a colored gentleman in company or at home
And when asked to do a favor always will come.
If his people are suffering with hunger or in distress
He will divide his last slice of bacon or last crumb of bread;
If at any time employed in the field at work
He does not have to be watched for he will not shirk.
He is polite in company, at home, on the road, or street
And will pull of his hat to anyone he may meet;
He is proud of his freedom, and glad he is not a slave
But remembers his early training and knows how to behave,
He has bought his acre of land that he claims as his own
Has built a rude cabin and lives at home,
When a slave he worked through the week and on Saturday night
Danced to the tune of the banjo till broad daylight
Then on Sunday all through the day
Courted his dusky damsel in the old time way.
If asked how he liked roasted potatoes, opossum or chicken to eat
With a broad grin he answers “Dem things is sweet.”
He said poor nigger got tired of bacon and corn bread,
And relished good eating before he went to bed.
He owns he was fond of nice good picking
And thought it was no harm for mister’s niggers to eat master’s chickens,
His mouth still waters and he sighs for the luxury so fine
When he feasted on watermelons in the good old Summer time.
During the war he was industrious, polite and genteel
And took care of women and children while the men were in the field.
He was loyal to the South as any Southern son
And his conduct should be classed with Southern victory won.
The old black mamma that stayed around the home
And took care of the children the same as her own,
The children remember her kindness and care
Though now growing old they are children to her,
The old time darkeys are well meaning and try to check
The young generation that are losing self respect.
The Emancipated Negro.—To do the negro race justice, there is no doubt if they had been let alone to follow their own inclinations and judgment they would have been largely influenced in their conduct after being emancipated by their former owners and the better class of white people of the South who were then and are now their best friends, because having grown up with them in an entirely different social scale are better calculated to advise them for their good. Two classes of people accepted by them as their advisers are responsible for present conditions. A low class of avaricious, ignorant, known enemies of the South who have used them to advance their own selfish interests, and another equally objectionable class of Northern religious fanatics, whose training lead them to believe that the Southern people treated them inhumanly. By mingling with them socially and teaching them that they were entitled to recognition in the social circle of the whites, caused them to have aspirations and ambitions to which they can never attain.
The Southern people at once acknowledged their freedom, and were ready to help them in their struggle for a more prosperous career, and were willing to give them their rights before the law but not willing to place the ballot in their hands or give them a place in the counsels of the government. Negroes who have followed the advice of their real friends are now doing well, accumulating property and are in possession of homes of their own and their children are being educated, but those who have gone astray under the teaching and advice of aliens who know nothing about them and care less have become vagrants and criminals and are a menace to the communities in which they live. The negro problem will be solved by Southern people who know the characteristics of the race and will treat them in such a way as to enable them to build up as a race. If listened to their condition will be bettered and the two races will live in the Southland together harmoniously, but if the advice of their only true friends is ignored it will be a survival of the fittest and like the Indians they will by the management of Southern people be provided with a home elsewhere and live to themselves and enjoy the fullness of their freedom.
The sun may be darkened and the moon stream in blood
But the voice of the Anglo Saxons in our counsels will be heard,
The stars may fall and the earth with fervent heat melt,
But the influence of an inferior race in our counsels will not be felt.
They may come from Greenland’s icy mountain or India’s coral strand,
From the black continent of Africa or other heathen lands:
We will humanely treat the savage, and give them their rights before the law,
But before they undertake to rule they had better quietly withdraw.
In our own Sunny South we will give them a home
And teach them civilization and to no longer roam,
We have a knotty problem to solve in our own Sunny Southland,
But will resist any interference from any alien band.
The Coming South.—For forty years the oppressed South has been under a cloud groping its way in the wilderness, a part of the time without even a feint hope of reaching the promised land, but the clouds are breaking and through the dense darkness can be traced at least the outline of a silver lining. To the most obscure vision a light appears, and the dullest prophet can forecast the sunshine soon to burst forth in magnificent splendor. Neither heights, lengths, breadths, depths, principalities nor all the powers that be can stop the onward march of education, industrial development and universal wave of prosperity destined erelong to place the people of this, by nature favored land, in possession of their own. In the scientific, religious, industrial and political world, the South is forging its way to the front rank, and our grand old state of North Carolina with its variety of soil, climate, minerals, timbers and its progressive people is coming. From the foundation of the government till the sixties the native born talent of the South shaped and managed the affairs of the nation, and now she is coming, after passing through a fiery ordeal, to again resume a place that other sections of the country will be compelled to concede to her.
We no longer hear the bellowing cannon or clash of arms,
Or the tramp of soldiers marching raising alarm.
But instead the busy hum of machinery and tramp of children to school on their way,
And the blessings of peace and prosperity making triumphant strides in their day.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.