Negroes At The Capitol

The philanthropic allusion of Mr. Cox to tho eolored patriots, " sitting uniformly in the galleries," and to their urgent, desperate neod oi' decent clothing, suggests a queation which somebody ought to cousider and act upon, and that omebody should be the Senate or the House of Representativos. It is, shall raen and boys, however well colored, but ragged to the xoint of iudecency, and dirty to absolute filthiness, continue to enjoy the freedom of tho gallones ? They now make them their lounging and rostingplacos. Sorao of these habitúes aro famous sleepers, Even whon tho rights and privileges and wrongs and disabilitios of their own race are under discussion, somnolency ovorcomes them, and they sleep "not wiselybut too well." Senators have told mo that through all their night sessions they are oneompassed about by this dark cloud of oblivious witnesses, who sometimes speud the entire night, ospoeially if the wcathcr be cold or stormy, luxuriating in tho warmth and comfert of the summer-liko air and soft-cushioned seats of the gallory. Now, the quostion is, should the United States Sonate Chamber be used as a station-houso for vagrants, howevor moritorious, and tattordemalions, howevcr patriotic P Colored vromen, having a moro lively sonso of propriety, and not having tho franchise, seldom visit tho Capitol excopt in their Sunday bost, and they gencrally manage to have a Sunday best, Vet I saw tho other day in the ladies' gallery of the Sonato a couple of eldorly colored laundressos who evidently didnot do their own washing, ncither did they put it out. I was a friend to the colored peoplo whon they needcd frionds- whon tho politicians who court and uso them now were ridiculing, reviling, and hunting them down ; and it is in no harsh or faultfinding spirit I speak now. " Faithful are the wounds of a friend." I moan all I say in kindness, but somobody ought to speak out when thero is a general cause of complaint. Sloth and squalor are not confined to our lately oufranchisod citiz)ns, but horo at the Capitol thoy oftenest put on that color- a color which nlways inclines mo to lonient judgmont, remembeiing the long, dreadful past, tho hard condition of tho oíd lifo, tho cruel hiudrancos, the darkness, tho bondage- all unfitting them for habits of order and industry, for solf-respccting rospectability- still, I think it is time they wore laught, either by the precopt and example of the most intelligent and refined of their own race, or by tho authority yet for a time resting in ours, to regard the proprioties and decencies of lifc. Into our street cara, especially those on the avenue, come men and boys whom it is not disagreeable but positively perilous to sit by - animated masaos cf rags, giving out foul and sickening odors. The street car, 'tis true, " is the poor man's carriage," but it is extravagance in the poor man to use it when he can as well walk. How men, ragged as Neapolitan 1 izzaroni, can afford frequent indulgencos of tho kind is to me a profound and baftling mystery. I have known groat hulkingflazy boys, with rags fluttering in overy wind, liko signáis of distress, tako a stroet car for a lift of three or f our blocks. Colored youths of this sort show a manly jealousy of their rights under the fifteenth amendment, and seldom are knowu to offer a seat to a woman, whether she be a delicate white girl or a feeblo old colored " aunty." They are almost as uncivil as New York merchants, lawyers, and editors. I hope I need not say I am glad that colored people can ride in the cars, but it does seem to me they are overdoing the thing in this city. We hardlyhave a fair chance ; they have so taken possession of that popular vehicle that we think of petitioning the munificent corporation of the Georgetown and Navy-yard Street ïtailway to furnish a set of new and elegant cars, and put now straw in them and colored conductors on them, and set them apart for our eolored citizens, leaving to us the present old, dilapidated concerns, unchanged, except that they shall be plainly lettered, "White people allowcd to ride in these cars." To be sorious and not invidious, it seems to me that for the honor and safety of the coniinunity, regulations should be establishod excluding all persons indecently ragged or offensively dirty not only from the galleries of tho Capitol but from the public conveyances of the city, and that these regulations should be rigidly enforced without regard to age, sex, color, or previous condition of servitud e. Since winter weather and lack of funds have suspended operations of the Board of Public works, many poor colored men are quite out of employmont. How do they live ? Do the ravens feed them ; and who are the ravens ? They are not riotous or disquieted. They seem rather to enjoy their leisure in hanging about the City Hall, and thronging the headquarters of tho District Government.- Any point where voting is going on, and their race is represented, has still a novel attraction for them. The more ignorant have wild ideas of their political privileges. They seem to think that offices are lying about loose, and that they can help themselves to tho franchise at any time. What man so ignorant ana so poor among them all as to bo willing to change his political status for that of an intelligent, well-to-do white woman? - They are adopting, I fear, somo of the questionable social 'philosophies of the highest civilization. A friend lately overheard a little street-corner talk between two young colored laborers. Says one, on the broad grin of friendly delight at the encounter: " Why, I declar', I'se mighty glad to seo you : how is you, and how's yer family Y" Says the other, on a broader grin, " O, I'se fust rate- but I hain't got family." " What ! is yer wife dead V" " Bless ye, no, she's only runned away with another man ; how"s your woman ?" But slavery was not the best o) schools in which to learn respect for the marriago bond as a sacred, irrovocable compact ; and perhaps it is well that they take its occasional rupturo in this easy, philosophical spirit- not considering that the emancipation proclamation and constitutional amendments give them the right to stab and smothor inconsistent consorts, like so many Othellos, or to avenge their domestic infelicities by shooting right and left, liko ordinary Anglo-Saxon héroes or great ambassadors and envoys extraordinary.