d manuscript
by Rev. J. L. Tucker of Baton Rouge.

There is a negro of good character here in Baton Rouge whose name
is ---- ----. He is a whitewasher by trade and does mainly odd jobs
for the white people who are his patrons, and earns a good living.
He is widely known through the city as a good and reliable man.
Some time ago he had trouble with his wife's preacher, who came to
his house too often. The trouble culminated in his wife leaving
him. Soon thereafter he sent or went into the country and brought
home a negro woman whom he installed in his house to cook and
otherwise serve him. Explaining the circumstances to Mr. ----, he
said: "I a'in' got no use for nigga preachers. Dey is de debbil wid
de wimmen. I tol' dat ar fellah to keep away fr'm my house or I'd
hunt him wid a shotgun, an' I meant it. But he got her'n spite a
me. She went off to 'im. Now I's got me a wife from way back in de
country, who don' know the ways of nigga preachers. I kin keep her,
I reckon, a while, anyway. I pays her wages reg'lar, an' she does
her duty by me. I tell yeh, Mr. ----, a hired wife's a heap
better's a married wife any time, yeh mark dat. Ef yeh don' line er
yer can sen' her off an' get anudder, an' she's nutten to complain
'bout a' longs yeh pay her wages. Yes siree, yeh put dat down; de
hired wife's nuff sight better'n de married one. I don' fus no mo'
wid marryin' wives, I hires 'em. An I sent word to dat preacher dat
if he comes roun' my house now I lays for 'im shore wid buck shot."

Commenting, Mr. Tucker says that the man had no idea of moral wrong, the
real wife has lost no caste, the preacher stands just as well with his
flock and the "new wife" is well received. The third instance occurred
on a plantation. A married woman, not satisfied with the shoes she
received from the store, wanted a pair of yellow turned shoes. The
planter would not supply them. The woman was angry and finally left her
husband, went to a neighboring place and "took up" with another man.

These cases sufficiently illustrate prevailing conceptions of the
sacredness of the marriage tie. Certainly this involves a theory of home
life which differs from ours. Many matings are consummated without any
regular marriage ceremony and with little reference to legal
requirements, and divorces are equally informal. Moral lapses seldom
bring the Ne