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The Girl of the Period - A Veracious Chronicle of Opinion

A Canadian Firefly. "The Girl of the Period - A Veracious Chronicle of Opinion." Gall's Daily Newsletter 8 February 1897.

A VERACIOUS CHRONICLE OF OPINION

[Commentary on the trial of Mr. Nunes, a white Officer of Customs, and Mr. Moulton, a lower ranking black officer. Mr. Nunes assaulted Mr. Moulton with racist slurs while the latter was on duty; Mr. Moulton lost his temper and hit his senior officer with a cane. A fight ensued in which both were injured, and both were charged with assault. Though Judge Seymour Fisher found both partied guilty, he fined Moulton ten shillings and Nunes one shilling.]

I have not the fine, whimsical positiveness of opinion of Mr. Andrews, but this is what I think of the interesting case of Nunes vs. Moulton and vice versa, which came up in the Police Court on Friday, and of which I was an amused witness.

I think it was a case in which both men gave evidence against themselves, Nunes admitting having spoken to Moulton in a decidedly aggressive manner, and Moulton acknowledging having hit back his superior officer. I think the judge could have done no less and no more than find them both guilty of assault, and according to the justice which passes current in modern law courts, both men were fairly dealt with by the presiding Judge.

But thinking deeper, I have come to the conclusion that whilst Nunes acted like a blackguard, Moulton's conduct was that of a man. Who would not refuse to obey an order delivered in the manner in which Nunes delivered his to Moulton? Who possessing the spirit of a man would not have resisted being pushed out like a dog?

Moulton would have been beneath contempt had he meekly put up with Nunes' bullying, and I should have despised him just as I despise the "British workman" who blusters and pulls his forelock when his master condescendingly calls him "My honest fellow," 'My good fellow" etc.

I notice that Jamaicans are continually complaining about "the lazy nigger," the lazy labouring class;—I myself think there's good cause for this. But the cause of the cause is this: the labouring people here have little respect for themselves; they are the most humble and servile lot of humanity I have ever come in contact with. Sometimes I pity them—sometimes I feel like saying—"If you will get down on the ground, you must expect others to put their feet on you."

Now these people, in order to become an intelligent working class should be made to see the dignity of labour, and the only way to attain this end is by educating them to labour. Free born, educated men regard work as a blessing. Slavish and ignorant people regard it as degrading and something to be shunned whenever this is possible.

I do feel so sorry when I hear people declaring that education destroys the children of the labouring class. It is untrue of industrial education. The highest type of workingman is who wants the best education for his children, I mean by that the best education which fits them for the position they are destined to fill. For himself he naturally seeks the comforts of life as well as the necessaries, and good wages, but only the educated and skilled workman has the right to ask for this, and only the educated workman makes himself worth this.

At the same time I am no Socialist, I do not believe that all men are equal, either in the sight of God or man; they are not born so, whatever they may try to make themselves. A man may buy himself a dress coat to adorn his exterior, but that will not give him brains to furnish the inside. So I consider the true artist, the true poet, and the philosopher far away and above ordinary men. The society of wits is higher society than the society of fools.

You see, I don't feel like preaching "the brotherhood of man" because I don't believe in it, but I do believe that every man should respect the manhood of his fellow and that every man should try to live up to the best that is in him, and should not be debarred from the opportunity of doing so.

The educated workman is the most industrious in the long run, and until Jamaica realizes this and makes an effort in the right direction, the country will continue to be dragged down by a lazy, worthless population. There is plenty of room on the Island for the educated workman—they are like needles in a bundle of hay!

But to return to Moulton and Nunes. There is a humorous side to the story, and for all my declaration that Nunes acted like a bully, and Moulton like a man, to a certain extent my sympathies were with Nunes. I can understand how exasperating such comfortably pious people like Moulton can make themselves to men like Nunes. Moulton's complacency and his belief in his own impossible virtues was too funny for anything.

A CANADIAN FIRE FLY