STORIES OF PLANTATION DAYS

Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith spoke in the Living Room of the Union last evening on "Old Plantation Days." Mr. Smith's object was to tell of the Negro's life before the Civil War, and create an atmosphere for his hearers, rather than to solve the negro problem.

The English spoken in the United States is made up of many dialects, and we can tell at once where a man comes from by his manner of speech. With the negroes, however, there are 12 distinct dialects, which the ordinary American cannot distinguish. Mr. Smith paid a warm tribute to Thomas Nelson Page and Joel Chandler Harris for adding a unique page to English literature. Negro faithfulness cannot be overrated. In the old days the southerners entrusted the protection of their wives, mothers, sweethearts and daughters to negroes. Today the newspapers are filled with accounts of their atrocious crimes. This is the direct result of taking them from the plow and setting them at the spelling book. Mr. Booker Washington's level-headed work in coaxing them back to manual labor is praiseworthy in the extreme. Granting the negro his freedom instantaneously was a mistake, but above all the mistake of granting them the right to vote is to blame for the present lamentable condition of the black race.

The negro, with all his faults, may yet become respected. He is our inheritance, and it is our duty to study his problems so that we may be able to help him.