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VOLUME ONE.
N UNVE 7? FI VE.
TYPE THAT IS PASSING
By S. T. DALSHEIMER.
URRENT publications, politics and con
versation deal with different phases of
the “race problem,” and its relation to
the future of the country,
more especially to the
South; for the commercial
and domestic interests of
this section are necessa-
—rily influenced by the so
lution of this very problem. What
this solution will be it is difficult to
conjecture, and in the meantime the
citizens themselves must suffer all the
pangs of a transition state between
the old and the new order of things.
It is helpful, however, while waiting
for some satisfactory condition to re
sult from the present maze which
over-education, over-civilization, even,
have produced, for us to rest a while
in careful contemplation of the past.
That wonderful past before the ques
tion of either enfranchisement or dis
franchisement of the negro was ever
used as a ponderous plank in the po
litical platform; that past, over which
hangs all the glamour of the long ago
and which the younger generation, al
most unconsciously invests with a halo
of romance—that past embraced in
the magic words “before the war!”
Only one “War” to the American
mind, of course—“ The War” means
—that conflict between the States
which left the South not only the bur
den of political reconstruction, but
also the gigantic task of financial re
construction as well. It is of that
time that we would think, if we are to
have either help or pleasure from the
recollections of the part played in our
history by the negro. Fortunately,
too, that time is not so distant but
that some of its actual conditions, as
well as of its recollections, exist to
day. But this is true only in the per
sonalities of the few old “mammies”
and “uncles” of that dead era who
still live and move among us, almost
in the old way, and themselves almost
unconscious of the vast differences
which separate youth from age, the
past from the present. It is in study
ing such a one that we of today gain
our real knowledge of a type that
is passing, but which is as distinctive
as any to be found in the record of any land or any
people. Our writers and our poets, even, have en
deavored to preserve this type in song and story,
and so faithful have been some of these attempts,
that they have rightly taken their place in the
folk-lore of our country—that phase of litera-
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ATLANTA, GA., MARCH 22, 1906.
ture that perhaps more than any other will typify
our real selves for the generations of the
future.
I would extend genuine pity to any southern man
or woman whose childhood and youth never knew
the touch and tenderness of the old black mammy
—second only to the mother herself, did the chil
dren love “mammy.” By a curious and inexplica
ble fact the mother-love was developed in these old
“ MA MM Y "
servitors in a most remarkable degree, and although
the race itself is a most prolific one, the number of
offspring of the old mammy’s very own in no way
northern man, wanted mammy, am] she was “lent”
for a few months—her experiences were wonderful
to the < d woman. With her limited mental vision
everything was a revelation, A sleeping car filled
her with astonishment—she could never adjust her
self to it—an elevator was literally a miracle and
Tiv- v \A\ e _ iFEAIt.
A COPY.
lessened the fountains of her love
and deep, unselfish devotion was given
equally to her own and her “mars
ter’s” babies. If a shadow of differ
ence in degree could be traced, it was
always to be found in favor of the lat
ter! A curious psychological phenom
enon it is that permits development
along but one line of mentality—for
these old negro nurses were often pos
sessed with the most limited intelli
gences—many of them could never be
taught to count above ten; but few
could ever be persuaded to learn the
alphabet, and perhaps not a single one
could read a line or sign her own
name. But think of their unspeakable
intelligence when it came to the care
of a baby! Compare it to the elabo
rate ‘‘training” of the professional
nurse of today, ami science itself will
stand hack before the blind, but beau
tiful knowledge of the black nurse of
p'-te-hellum days’ Is it to be won
dered nt .that smdi an element in a
boi'S'd'old was invariably loved and
honored, trusted and respected? As
the oii'dnal generation which pro
duced this prodigy began to pass, the
individual nurse was carefully pre
served for the new members of the
growing families. In a special ease,
which I have in mind, the family con
sisted of six daughters, each of whom
married, and each one divided the dear
old mammy’s time and attention for
the fiist few years after assuming her
re av duties of wife and mother. Our
vet'>r<* is taken from this particular
in livi ’iud, who is so typical of her
class that she may well be used as an
ilb’st rat ion of it.
Her “white folks” being necessa
rily scattered alter the war, her own
home rem-’ined for years with “ole
m’ss” and the eldest daughter and the
el-’est granddiild. It so happened that
tins part of the family remained for
yr- rs at the old home, so mammy had
but few new expeiiences until com
paratively late in life, and then the
changes came! One of the other
daiiL’hteis, who had married a
