> 



20 WINTER SUNSHINE. 



The negro is a plastic human creature, and is thor 

 oughly domesticated, and thoroughly anglicized. The 

 same cannot be said of the Indian for instance, be- 

 tween us and whom there can never exist any fellow- 

 ship, any community of feeling or interest ; or is there 

 any doubt but the Chinaman will always remain to 

 us the same impenetrable mystery he has been from 

 the first ? 



But there is no mystery about the negro, and he 

 touches the Anglo-Saxon at more points than the lat- 

 ter is always willing to own, taking as kindly and 

 naturally to all his customs and usages, yea, to all 

 his prejudices and superstitions as if to the manor 

 born. The colored population in very many respects 

 occupies the same position as that occupied by our 

 rural populations a generation or two ago, seeing 

 signs and wonders, haunted by the fear of ghosts and 

 hobgoblins, believing in witchcraft, charms, the evil 

 eye, etc. In religious matters, also, they are on the 

 same level, and about the only genuine shouting 

 Methodists that remain are to be found in the colored 

 churches. Indeed, I fear the negro tries to ignore 

 or forget himself as far as possible, and that he would 

 ieem it felicity enough to play second fiddle to the 

 white man all his days. He liked his master, but he 

 fik.es the Yankee better, not because he regards him 

 as his deliverer, but mainly because the two-handed 

 thrift of the Northerner, his varied and wonderful 

 ability, completely captivates the imagination of the 

 Uack man, just learning to shift for himself. 



