The Negro And The Sunny South

Excerpt from The Negro and the Sunny South: A Lecture Have heard and read a great many lectures on the Negro and the Sunny South, but not one really worth reading. Some have told all the good about the Sunny South and forgot the bad. Some have told all the bad about the Sunny South, but forgot the good. Some have taken great pains to describe the beautiful scenery and the delightful climate. Some have told us all about the tropical fruits and the beautiful birds. Some have described the cotton and the cane - some the lovely owers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

"I say, what's gone wrong now, Maurice, old fel?" The speaker, a roughly clad boy of about fifteen or over, caught hold of his companion's sleeve and looked sympathetically in his face. The lad whom he called Maurice was better dressed, and he seemed to carry with him a certain air of refinement that was lacking in his friend, who was of a rougher nature. Despite this difference he and Thad Tucker were the closest of chums, sharing each other's joys and disappointments, small though they might be. They had met just now at the post-office of a little country town not many miles below Evansville, Indiana, as the afternoon mail was being sorted. The yellow flood of the great Ohio River could be seen from where they stood, glowing in the early November sunshine. Upon being greeted with these words Maurice Pemberton shook his head dolefully. "It's come, just as I've been half expecting it these four months, Thad. The old couple I live with have sold their house and leave for Chicago in a week. That turns me out into the Streets, for you know they've given me a home ever since mother, who was a friend of Mrs. Jasper, died; and in return I've tried to make good by doing all their gardening and other work between school hours. Now a son has sent for them to come and make their home with him. Pretty tough on a fellow not to know where he's going to sleep after a single week." But Thad was smiling now, as though an idea had flashed into his head that gave him reason for something akin to pleasure. "Well, I don't know; if it comes to the worst, Pard Maurice, you're a dozen times welcome to share my old bunky on the shanty- boat. I'd just love to make another cot like mine, and have you there. Say, wouldn't it be grand? Of course, though, you'd find it a pretty poor contraption alongside the house you've lived in; but if it was a thousand dollar launch still you'd be just as welcome, and you know it," he said with a heartiness that could not be misunderstood.