Thinking black; 22 years without a break in the long grass of Central ...

GO
THINKING BLACK
ways of course debar a hurried egress. The story goes
that the advent of a rare white skin one day caused a
stampede among the frightened female population, one
well-aimed rush being made for a very narrow but very
inviting doorway. Unfortunately for some of these
swarthy bipeds, a very stout dowager stuck fast in this
rat's hole entrance, effectually blocking the ingress of her
sauve qui pent sisters behind her. The narrator of this
event in African history relieves our anxiety by informing
us that the lady was eventually extricated from her
uncomfortable position, and would doubtless personally
supervise the building of her own front door in future.
Deduction : You
African town of Mansoul.
dare not (because cannot) rush the
To ask for anything in the Portuguese loaded-revolver
tone of voice is to shut yourself out by bolts and bars,
and all the facts and forces of the negro's life will be lost
to you. Be sure of it, to be ^'Farthest In" is a poor
enough thing if it only applies _^o the mere elementary
geography of Central Africa. Yet is it a pathetic fact
that many a man can live a long life in the land and
never be really in Africa, and such a man regularly reveals
his personality in the curiously candid confession :
" Yes !
I can speak all right to the native, but cannot catch what
he says." Now, where does this land him ? It means, of
course, that as the years pass his ears are shut to the
steady stream of black speech that should be daily flood-
ing his ears and washing out of the brain his purely sub-
jective ideas. The result is obvious, and here you have