Selected Primary Sources

WANTED -- BOY -- Boy to work in restaurant, Becker Bros.

WANTED -- SAWYER -- Sawyer at No. 48 Massachusetts avenue.

WANTED -- GIRL -- A good girl at 432 North Pennsylvania street, to do general housework.

WANTED -- GIRL -- A good girl at 104 South Illinois street.  Good wages given for a good girl.

WANTED -- GIRL -- A colored woman (or girl) at Fletcher's Hill, southeast corner Virginia avenue and South street.

WANTED -- PAINTERS -- Two first-class house painters at 500 North Alabama street.  None but sober men need apply.

GIRL WANTED -- German, must be a good cook, ironer, and washer.  Enquire corner College and Home Avenue, opposite University.

WANTED -- HOSTLER -- A good colored Hostler can hear of a situation by applying at this office.

WANTED -- GIRL -- German preferred, to do general housework for a family of three persons.  Apply at 44 North Illinois street.

WANTED -- GIRLS -- To stem tobacco at Highland Gem Tobacco Works, West Pearl street near Mississippi street.

We would like to ask the newspaper men of this country, why it is that they write the words Irish, Indian, German, Spanish, Chinese, Hawaian, and the like, with an initial capital letter, and then drop down to a small n when they write the word Negro? Why do you do this? Is there any sensible reason for it? Is it not borrowed from the vocabulary of the slaver, the overseer and the kidnapper? Is it not a part of the systematic effort made in the days of slavery to utterly and completely brutalize the Negro race in this country? You write the words cattle, horse, dog and negro all alike, so far as capitals are concerned. If an immigrant, however is made a watchman, your reporters inform us that an Irish, German, or Scandinavian gentleman received an appointment to the police force -- you get in the capital every time.

Finally, we would like to ask you if such a method of spelling the word Negro in your papers won't have the tendency to belittle us in the eyes of the ignorant rabble, who are barely able to read. All who go to school only a few years are taught that proper names, such as the names of cities, counties, nations and races begin with capital letters; and when they take up your papers, they find this to be the case until the Negro is reached, when they find him dished up without the use of a capital. This naturally begets a feeling of contempt towards our race in the minds of the ignorant. As Editor Harding, of the Herald, is gaining a national reputation as a word critic, we should like to hear his opinion on this matter. 

"A recent mention in the Journal of the early socialistic communities of this State," said a prominent lawyer yesterday, "reminded me of the curious religious communities that have settled at an early date in Indiana, some of which still thrive in various counties. I was reared in a part of Lagrange county where the Amish Mennonites, or 'Omishes,' as we used to call them, settled early, and where their descendants still reside a very prosperous and contented people. They have spread out since then into the adjoining counties of Elkhart and Steuben, as well as in other parts of the State, and have lost some of their early distinctive peculiarities, but there is no difficulty in recognizing a community of them when you encounter it. As I knew them they were a distinct and separate element of the population. They were undoubtedly an outgrowth of the original Anabaptists, who organized in Europe in the sixteenth century and took their name from Menno Symons, one of their early leaders. The Amish Mennonites came into prominence in Alsace, now a part of tho German empire, in the seventeenth century, and their founder, Jacob Amman, after whom they were named, advocated strict separation from the excommunicated, feet washing and great plainness in dress. They wore no buttons on their clothing, but used hooks and eyes instead, and thus came to be known as Hooker Mennonites, while other branches of tho sect that stuck to buttons were known as Button Mennonites. As I remember the early Indiana members of the denomination they all religioiusly abstained from buttons, wearing hooks and eyes to fasten their garments, which were of the plainest character. The women wore plain cotton and linsey dresses, without any flounces or furbelows, and pokes or sunbonnets, and the men wore long shad-bellied coats and soft black hats with broad brims. They celebrated the Lord's supper frequently, and the ceremony was preceded in most cases by feetwashing, the members bathing each other's pedal extremities until the entire congregation was disposed of. Baptism was by pouring, and was not administered until the candidate had grown up, infant baptism being specially abominated.

"Honesty, industry and plain dress were insisted upon, and, as the members were opposed to oaths and the infliction of punishment, they never ran for office or went to law with each other. Their disputes, if they had any, were settled by arbitration, and a lawyer would have starved to death in that vicinity if he had to depend on their business. They were all farmers, and generally the best in the. neighborhood. Most of them had big hillside barns, that overshadowed their comfortable homes, and every owner painted his barn red. You can see these big red barns yet along the line of the Lake Shore road, in the northern counties of the State, and in some sections they are the most prominent objects on the landscape. The members of  the denomination had some queer customs. Bundling was a well-recognized feature of their courting in a good many sections, and the men had a fashion of kissing each other when they met. I have seen them greet each other in this way, pulling their long beards to one side to carry out the oscillatory performance."

"Are these peculiarities still preserved among them?"

"Not among all of them. The older members of the denomination adhere more or less strictly to the old forms and customs, but some of the younger ones, like some of the younger members of the Society of Friends, run to red neckties and silk hats. They are a thrifty, well-to-do set, however, and, as a rule, are good citizens. There never have been any communistic ideas as to the holding of property among them. Every fellow goes in for himself and his family, and reaches for all there is in sight. They believe in modern farm improvements, use the newest and best farm machinery, and are in every way enterprising and progressive in their business. One peculiarity I have noticed about them is that nearly every section where they are numerous is Democratic, while the localities where the early socialistic communities have left their impress generally give Republican majorities.