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THE BUNNY SOUTH. ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 24 I89S.
—PUBLISHED BY—
THE SONNY SOOTH FOB. CO.
CLARK HOWELL, -
C. C. NICHOLS, - -
JAB. R. HOLLIDAY,
President.
Business Manager
Bee. & Treaa.
Business Ofllee, Bourns 11
stltatlon Building.
12 oun-
TERMS:
One Year. **••• W-OG
Six MonUiB COO
HT-Address all letters and make all bills pay
able to THE BUNNY SOUTH,
ATLANTA, GA.
THE KKSKOEI.
When the North freed the negroes
they assumed an awful moral and re
ligious responsibility. The burden of
the material problem they cast re
morselessly upon the white people of
the South, but accountability for the
future of the American blacks is not
so easily disposed of. They are now
exposed to all the perils of the com
petitive system which is no respecter
of color. It is merciless even to white
people, many of whom it condemns to
conditions no better if not in fact
worse than chattel-slavery, and the
burden of race prejudice will make
the matter all the worse for the blacks.
It is not impossible that the time may
come when the blacks will pray to be
supplied with humane masters as ear
nestly as the ancient Israelites prayed
God to give them a king. As the pop
ulation noth white and black increases
and wealth becomes less and less wide
ly distributed, the army of men and
women depeudant upon daily wages
for subsistence will also increase and
the contest for places will grow warm
er and more than bitter. We see that
white men and women crowd each
other pitilessly in business, and it can
not be hoped that they will be half so
considerate toward the colored race,
and the result under the competitive
system must be ultimate serf
dom for that people. Those who
urge the deportation of the negroes
may be insisting upon the impossible,
but they are telling some truths about
present and coming events. If the
people of the North would enable the
negro to enjoy opportunity for devel
opment they should put their surplus
millions into colonization schemes for
his benefit instead of high-schools in
the Souih.
The recent wild and desperate race
for homes in the Cherokee strip is
only one of many signs that the negro
question should be approaching final
settlement.
Mr. John Temple Graves wants the
black people transported to the West,
but if homes are so precious and so
hard of attainment to the whites, it is
doubtful if the American people would
consent to spare the territory neces
sary to the formation of an African
state. It might work well enough
temporarily—that is, for forty or fifty
years. But when the population of
the States becomes very dense the
black state would be in peril of inva
sion. The whites in time of want
would be strongly inclined to crowd
the negroes as they have crowded and
pushed out the Indian. It may be
after all that Bishop Turner’s plan of
settling the negroes in Liberia is the
wisest plan that can be devised.
IUMAN
(ATI.
Does it not seem singular that hu
man beings should burrow like rats
or minks, or beavers in the ground?
Does It seem credible in time of
peace? The Confederate soldiers at
Vicksburg during the siege buried
themselves in the hillsides as a secur
ity against the missiles of war, but
there is nothing surprising in that
But what do you think of families in
a civilized and christianized nation
being forced by cruel necessity to seek
homes in the soil, in times of peace
and habitually, from generation to
generation? We talk of curious re
mains of ancient chifF-dwellers and
cave-dwellers as if they were unique
somethings long departed from the
earth. But in the Spain of today there
are many families which are forced to
choose between living unsheltered on
the surface of rhe earth and burrow
ing beneath it! The fact has been
disclosed by the news-gatherers in re
porting the incidents of a great storm
which recently raged off the Spanish
coasts. It seems that multitudes
of moneyless wretches have dwelt
for many years, perhaps many
generations—in holes in the sides
of the low hills which which skirt
the coast flats in certain regions*
The winds, blowing continuously, and
with tremendous power shoreward
from the high seas, forced the salt
waters over the sands and marshes, up
against the bills and into the holes of
the human rats, who being constitu
ted physically (strange as it may seem)
like other men and women—not hav
ing yet acquired the capacity to live
in underground waters like the fishes
—perished miserably.
Does it not seem wonderful that
such human vermin should be pro
duced on this beautiful and fruitful
globe? Where is the boasted chival
ry of the Spaniards when they permit
the tender sex to be so ignominiously
trampled? But alas, even the so-call
ed chivalry of the middle ages could
not bear analysis. It was only the
grand lady who was worshiped. The
poor and friendless were crushed.
Spain is a prey to riots and insur
rection, and is hastening towards an
archy. Her privileged classes, always
intent on gratifying the selfish tastes
of the moment, have gradually brought
her to her present low and bankrupt
condition, and when the climax of
ruin comes her down-trodden cave-
dwellers will come forth in fierce and
relentless quest of a long-postponed
vengeance.
PEARL RIVERS.
XIIK FKKR1S WHEEL.
The Ferris wheel at the World’s
Exposition in Chicago is one of the
greatest wonders of the modern world.
Two hundred and sixry feet in
diameter, seating two thousand peo
ple at once in its safe swinging cars,
propelled by a gigautic steam engine,
H ride upon its majestic, sweeping rim
Sta alone worth the trip to Chicago. It
e^els as a work of art and as a show
the^^orld-renowned EiftVl tower at
k raris, and is the work of Mr. Ceo. W.
Ferris an American.
One of the most notable and es
teemed, and withal least self-assertive
women in the South is Mrs. E. J.
Nicholson, of the New Orleans Pica-
| yune. Some twenty years a ago young
poetess attracted widespread and fa
vorable attention by verses contrib
uted to the Picayune over the nom de
plume of Pearl Rivers, and this pen-
name, singularly musical, suggestive
and poetic in its very sound, became
exceedingly magnetic and popular.
Indeed, it is not too much to assert
that Pearl Rivers was the chief wo
man-poet in the Southern States at
the period referred to.
That the curiosity of the public
should have been keenly excited as to
the personality of the gifted song
stress was only natural, and Miss
Eliza J. Poitevent of the Mississippi
Gulf coast emerged from her modest
retreat as the laureled queen.
The Picayune in those days as now
had a good circulation m Mississippi,
and that state has a river known as
the “Pearl,” and long before the poet’s
identity was known many of her ad
miring readers believed that her life
was in some way associated with the
stream referred to. And this conjec
ture afterwards proved to be well-
founded, for she had known Pearl river
well in her girl-hood, and with the
true poetic instinct and license pur
loined its Dame without stopping to
ask leave. But as the little river has
little to boast of on its own account, it
would doubtless if a sentient thiDg
rejoice at the liberty which the bloom
ing young poetess took, for her verses
have immortalized it.
POOR BRUN9WICK.
The suffering people at Brunswick
should have prompt and ample assis
tance. Only those who have expe
rienced it can form any just idea of
the horrors of being shut up in a pest-
stricken city.
A few noble men and women—such
as newspaper correspondents, priests
preachers, and Protestant and Catho
lic Sisters of Mercy remain voluntar
ily, hot the great majority of the con
demned unfortunates are the victims
of poverty; but whatever the cause of
their doomed isolation, they are all for
the time-being the wards of the char
itable everywhere, and should not be
allowed to feel for one moment that
they are forgotten or neglected on the
outside.
We are among those who think
not that only individuals should divide
their plenty with the plague-stricken,
but where warrant of law Can be found
Federal, and state and city govern
ments should not hesitate in emergen
cies to expend the public money. It
should be the highest function of
government to bear the burdens of
the innocent unfortunate victims of
pestilence. If our organic laws make
no provision for such cases it is an
unfortunate mistake and should be
corrected.
Wiliam is the commonest masculine
I n&me. Next in popularity comes
Thomas, after that James.
It is undoubtedly true that as long
as gold is the single basis of the circu
lating medium those who control it
are the world’s dictators. And if for
eigners are the owners of the bulk of
coin and bullion, it follows that Amer
icans are at their mercy. For as So
ciety is organized, no enterprise can
turn a wheel without money. The
farmer, the builder, the manufacturer,
the merchant, each must secure gold
or its equivalent before he can begin
to execute his plans, and the gold
owner dictates the tims and the pre
mium to be paid for the loan which is
an absolute necessity. By withholding
circulation the money lender raises
the rate of interest and cheapens the
price of everything but gold, and dur
ing the famine so produced can buy at
panic figures whatever tne debtor class
may be forced to market to cover
present needs. And then by making
money easy all prices can be forced
up and the speculator can unload at
good, and frequently at exorbitant
profits.
With gold as the exclusive measure
of values a few men in America, Eng
land and Europe by combining can
thus play fast and loose with the busi
ness world and gradually—yes rapidly
—absorb all wealth. And this may be
good for the millionaires, but it is de
struction to labor and the middle
classes, and ultimately to this re
public.
If the American people are really
unable to find a remedy for this an
cient evil they had better throw up
the sponge as a self-governing nation.
Steam engines have risen from the
crudest forms to a state of almost mi
raculous perfection, and we can see
no reason why the time-worn systems
of public finance should not be capable
of change and improvement also.
When the victorious Germans in
1870 exacted one billion dollars in gold
from the French as a war indemnity,
the people themselves loaned the
money to their government, and them
selves hold the bulk of the securities.
It was a striking proof of the fact
that a mass of frugal, well-living
farmers is the most reliable bulwark
of a nation. The laws of this couutry
should be so shaped as to give every
encouragement to the founding of
small farm-homes. Signs of bad times
ahead are bristling on every hand and
it behooves capital in all its forms to
be less selfish and look more to “long
runs” than the “short runs.” To pay
less heed to the dime before its nose
lest it imperil the dollar in the dis
tance. The maxim, “Business is busi
ness,” rigidly adhered to, was respon
sible in no small degree for the war
which devastated this country in the
sixties, and money, the great arbiter
of worldly destinies, should beware at
this time of tempting fate too far.
Hordes of homeless and hungry hu
man beings were never known to be
reasonable.
FOITPOlflB AGAIN.
We regret to announce that the re
union of the Confederate veterans at
Birmingham has been again post
poned. The new date has not been
fixed, but it will probably be sometime
in November.
When we read of the atrocious
crimes that are being daily committed
by the blacks in all parts of the South,
and the bloody vengeance exacted by
the whites, and of the dread and un
rest which have caused a general dis
taste for rural life and brought about
a congestion of population in town
centres we can not avoid reflecting
with unspeakable regret that these
troubles have resulted from the war
between the States. If the controversy
over slavery could have been compro
mised by some plan of emancipation—
if the slave-holders could have taken
interest-bearing United States bonds
for their human chattels how different
the present would have been! The
black people would have been simply
freed-men without that ceaseless bone
of contention suffrage, and the rich
southern boDd-holders would be gath
ering their golden showers from Un
cle Sam’s strong vaults and investing
their copious capital in a thousand
ways to stimulate industry and pros
perity !
When the yellow fever makes its
appearance in any Southern city
quarantine should be general m this
section. No place should commit the
probable folly of claiming to be ex
empt. It is a species of advertising
that amounts to crime, and should not
be tolerated by public sentiment. In
deed the states should all adopt laws
requiring such quarantine. The well-
to-do citizens of the stricken city
should be required to remain at home,
or live in quarantine camps, or depart
at an early date for safe northern lati
tudes. By such means wide spread
epidemics could be prevented. An
ounce of preventive is worth a ton of
cure in such cases.
Timely Foem,
Sociai ism is making remarkable
strides across the Atlantic. Germany
has a social democratic party which
autocratic William is bound to re
spect, the element is becoming so
strong in England that even the
Grand Old Man is accused of giving it
encouragement, while in France the
radical socialists are now the recog
nized second party. The last ballot
ing for the new Chamber of Deputies
resulted as follows: Republicans 292,
Socialist Radicals 1S7, and all other
parties 93.
Is it insanity which causes the rul-
ng powers of Atlanta to invite the
yellow fever, or is it cold-blooded de
sign? The refugees from Jackson,
Miss., during the epidemic of 1878
were kept away from their homes un
til December. It is true an epidemic
may serve a practical purpose in any
city by killing off the mendicant poor,
but it should not be forgotten that
there are a good many “po’ folks”
whose duty it is, (not to speak of sel
fish inclination) to live as long as pos
sible.
The River Nile has a fall of only six
inches in 1000 miles.
Sappho’s Leap was the name given
to a white cliff or promontory an
ciently called Leucadia, now Cape Du-
cato, at the southern extremity of
Santa Maura, one of the Ionian
Islands. It was so called because
Sappho, the poetess, is reported to
have thrown herself from this height
into the sea. A criminal, with birds
attached to him to break his fall, was
thrown from this cliff at the annual
festival of Apollo; and if he reached
the water unhurt he was picked op by
boats placed there for the purpose.
This is the rock from which, accord
ing to the story, lovers threw them
selves in order to be free from the
pangs of love.
“My Tragedy,” a short story by T-
C. DeLeon, is one of the most suc
cessful serio-comic productions it has
been our fortune to enjoy in a long
while. It is published in September
Storiettes, New York.
A whale’s throat is so small you
could choke him with your flsft, and he
feeds on the smallest things in the
sea.
[From the Birmingham Age Herald
Mr. Henry Clay Fairman’s poem
“Veterans of the South,” which by
request of General Gordon, he
read at the reunion of veterans to be
held at Birmingham, on some date to
be fixed, has been already extensively
ana favorably noticed by the n res ;
For o^e unused to analytical writing
it is difficult to speak of this poem ,n
fitting terms. Mr. Fairman’s muse
calls a dead hero from the grave to
utter most startling truths with an
energy and pathos that cannot fail to
move deeply the sensitive and gener
ous mind. The introduction of this
character in the poem was most inge
nious. Yet no conception could be
more appropriate. For if the spirits
of the dead are permitted to know and
take an interest in the living—and we
cannot but feel at times that this must
be so—the shades of departed heroes
must oft have smiled iu scorn at
flights of eloquence of men, inililler-
ent to the needs of living heroes, seek
ing to win fame to themselves in laud
ing those whom human voice can
thrill no more. The fallen want not
our care. There are thousands of liv
ing veterans, now old aud weary 0 f
hope deferred, who, when told by
their friends who would fain throw
some light across their paths, that
their country will yet do them justice,
may well reply, in the words oi one of
the most pathetic poems in any lan
guage :
Wben dreamless sleep is mine, I snail not
need
The tenderness for which I sigh tonight.”
To cherish the memory of the
worthy dead is a virtue. To proclaim
and celebrate their achievements is a
custom based on the idea that it in
spires the young with higher aspira
tions. Unfortunately tnere is a ten
dency to let this custom take the place
of those testimonials of appreciation
that should be laid at the feet of the
living. The incense of praise that
should perfume the atmosphere in
which the living heart of virtue throbs
is too often kept to be offered at the
tomb. Too often the evidences of
sympathy that should cheer and
brighten life and lighten daily toil are
kept nidden, like jewels too precious
for ordinary use, until brought to
swell the pageantry of death. Nor is
this so much due to the want of hu
mane feeling as to the fact that in the
perpetual rush and struggle for
supremacy,—the absorbing efforts to
attain the objects of our ambition—we
let the tender sentiment linger in our
hearts, its office unperformed. The
author of a poem that must put every
one who reads it on guard against the
tendency of the times to postpone the
good offices due to the living, until
they can only be paid in honors to the
dead, deserves to have his memory
kept green t in the hearts of the vet
erans.
The following stanzas from the
poem will give a better idea ol it than
I can find words to convey :
“If yonr debt to the dead be not fully repaid
Tne asnes can wait, for tney hear not your
praise;
They regard not the garlands so lovingly
spiead
Nor awake to the poet's elegiac lays.
Their fame neither column nor elegy ouilds;
No witness is needed to vouch for renown;
Like ether, the space of the ages it fills
And rides on wings of the centuries down.
Ye’ve erected and carved the memorial stone
And laureled the mounds o er the spiritless
dust;
Ye have spoke and sung of the victories won
By heroes who died lu a cause tney deemed
just.
But what of the living and languishing maimed
That hobble and stumble in uifticuit ways
Unhelped, unrewarded, (forgotten?) unclaimed
To the end of their wearisome, sorrowful
days?
And what of the mothers now shattered and
Old,
whd unto death’s yawning and ravenous jaws
Devoted their sons, youthf al, ardent and bold,
A gift above pnea, to the clamoring cause?
Oh. what of their querulous, pitiful needs?
who now upboldeth their tottering frames?
who now recalls their magnanimous deeds?
Where are they living? what are th6ir
names?’’
The public will be pleased to learn
that Mr. Fairman has made a collec
tion of his stories to be published in a
handsome volume, and that “Veterans
of the South” will have a place in the
book. Every one who loves a good
story, as well as those who would
cherish the memory of the old Con
federate soldier, should have a copy.
The publication only awaits the illus
trations, which an artist is now pre
paring. John B. Beall.
Birmingham, Ala.
Those who have had the pleasure of
entertaining Mrs. William Astor, in
sist that as a guest she is the most
high-bred and delightful woman in
America. Thougn accustomed to ex
travagant luxury, and obsequious
band and foot service, Mrs. Asior is
always fearful of giving trouble, and
is the soul of consideration in great
matters as well as small. It is needless
to add that Mrs. Astor is overwhelmed
with house-party invitations.
Japanese children are taught to
write with both hands.