Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-09-08

val. Tney made their location in neighb0r-
hoods where neither ierge nor small planters
could modest tisems = oot~here they eouid
live without being diSl1Fbed or worried By the
continued sight of slaves. Now and then, you.
will find few of the more debased sort gather
cd close by towns, but generally they are some
| ten, or fifteen, or twenty miles back. What
the land would yield which they cali their own
for often they "squat' as the phrase is, en-
the States Others property-it is difficult to
say. But the best of il, on the average, would
not return ten bushels of corn to the acre; the
nLost of it not five. They grow sweet potatoes
melons, a little cotton for home use, and now
and then bag or half bag for Market. But
things are where they are. and as they are, be-
cause slavery, with its biting social ills, beat
item away, from the richer sell, and keeps
them hopelessly down and debased on the barr
rem hills.
What are their peculiarities of MUD s3
The fact. that they left the neighborhood of
large plantations, and sought a sort of wild
wood liberty, shows that they have some no.
tons of personal freedom. They have but they
are very crude. 1t was their condition which
first induced US 10 think on the subject of sIa-
very, and We endeavored, in conjunctian with
the lamented Grimke, to hit upon some plan by
which we could improve this. We sought to
visit them in their howell homes. We endeav-
ored to win their regard, and secure their conf
dence. We succeeded in this, but we faiaed,
wholly, in every effort to induce them to change
their mode of life. The ruling idea uppermost
III their minds, seemed to be hatred of labor, un-
der the conviction that it degraded them, be-
cause IL put them on an equality with slaves.
An anecdete will illustrate this feeling.
One of their number had fine intelligent
boy. lie was one that would have attracted
M in h.U III "
sei to the father that he should be educated.--.
"Let him go with us, to the town. said we,
Sand we VIII send him to school, and see what
can be done with him. sand what them
asked he, cycling us as if suspicious that some
thing wrong was to follow. "Whyt' we con-
tinued, when he has been educated, we can
send him to the carriage-maker, Mr. c., and
let him learn trade" Z. Never he quickly,
almost fiercey rejoined, with harsh OATH
:" My son shall never work by the side Of your
negroes, and Mr.. - negroes" calling
certain planters names, whose slaves were be-
ing taught the trade, C. sand be ordered about
by Mr.. c., as he ordered them about" He
was fixed. No argument, entreaty, appeal to-
Interest, could move him. The idea uppermost
in his mind, was the idea of his class-that Ia
Dor was degrading and be would rather his
son should De free in the forest If ignorant
tan debased in the city, though educated, by q
meniaI task.
What hope is there for them?
We see none. Nothing, certainly, but the
removal OF slavery, can induce them to change
their present condition.. They will not labor in
the field, while they think it degrading, nor be-
come art zans, or mechanics, while SLAYER are
such. And as for educating them, scatteredas
they are, the effort seems almost hopeless. Up
and down the river, where these poor laborers,
that the South Carolina paper talks Of, live, and
all around Georgetown, there are large rice and
cotton estates. Many of the owners Of them
aaa very wealthy; majorityIrich. Yet there
is no sort Of connection, or sympathy, between
these planters and the Sand-hillers. They are
as far apart as two races well can be. We now
speak of social separations: for we are sure the
moment they heard tho poer laborers' were
starving, these planters did what was necessary
dad more, to relieve their wants. But, we fear,
coming time will find them as they are now.
loose Ignorant, degraded, the victims of bano-
full curse.
The condition of these sand-hillers illustrates
the effects of slavery in its exteeme, or when
pushed to its farthest limit. Take one town
near the centre of South Carolina, and make d
line for ten miles south of it along the river, on
one side, looking three miles back, and we ques-,
ton whether you find over ten planters They
have each from one hundred, to two, three, four
and five hundred slaves Many of these slaves
too, are mechanics Necessarily therefore tho
the towns wane, the poorer classes emigrate, as
well as the young and enterprising. and the ig--
norant, or sand-hll class, escape to the barrens
for freedom, according to their notions of 1t.
! So much for the poor laborers of Black Riv-
er, and its neighborhood ! fou the unfortunate
sand Killers of the Carolinas.