WINTER SUNSHINE. 



19 



ture. They have the quaintness and homeliness of the 

 simple English stock. I seem to see my grandfather 

 and grandmother in the ways and doings of these 

 old " uncles " and 66 aunties ; " indeed the lesson comes 

 nearer home than even that, for I seem to see myself in 

 them, and what is more, I see that they see themselves 

 in me, and that neither party has much to boast of. 



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 



Srst? 



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 Meth- 

 odists that remain are to be found in the colored 

 churches. Indeed, I fear the negro tries to ignore or 



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