A bit of dialogue reported as follows shows that there may be another side to the matter.
"Martha, have you wiped the sink dry yet?" asked the farmer, as he made final preparations for the night.
"Yes, Josiah," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I did want a drink, but I guess I can get along until morning."
NEGROES
A colored girl asked the drug clerk for "ten cents' wuth o' cou't-plaster."
"What color," he asked.
"Flesh cullah, suh."
Whereupon the clerk proffered a box of black court plaster.