20 WINTER SUNSHINE. 



forget himself as far as possible, and that he would 

 deem it felicity enough to play second fiddle to the 

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

 likes 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 abil- 

 ity, completely captivates the imagination of the black 

 man, just learning to shift for himself. 



How far he has caught or is capable of being im- 

 bued with the Yankee spirit of enterprise and industry, 

 remains to be seen. In some things he has already 

 shown himself an apt scholar. I notice, for instance, 

 he is about as industrious an office-seeker as the most 

 patriotic among us, and that he learns with amazing 

 ease and rapidity all the arts and wiles of the poli- 

 ticians. He is versed in parades, mass meetings, cau- 

 cuses, and will soon shine on the stump. I observe, 

 also, that he is not far behind us in the observance of the 

 fashions, and that he is as good a church-goer, theatre- 

 goer, and pleasure-seeker generally, as his means will 

 allow. 



As a boot-black or news-boy he is an adept in all 

 the tricks of the trade, and as a fast young man about 

 town among his kind, he is worthy his white prototype ; 

 the swagger, the impertinent look, the coarse remark? 

 the loud laugh, are all in the best style. As a lounger 

 and starer also, on the street corners of a Sunday after- 

 noon, he has taken his degree. 



On the other hand, I know cases among our colored 



