Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-06-04
RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION IN SANTA
CRUZ
LETTER FROM MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.
SANTA cauz, w. J., March 20, 1850.

SANTA CRuz w. J., March 90, 1856
EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL A. S. STANDARD:-1
have been spending nearly two weeks upon this
pleasant island amcng i.s village people, and have
made several sallies out among its sugar estates,
huding much in my wandering that think would
interest the readers of the Standard. l need not
tell them Of tho waving PALM of luxuriant cocoas,
OF orange groves, or magnificent fields, nor
OF the prospect Of the sugar and rum crop. To
them there is higher point of interest than the
agricultural productions of the island or the beau
ties whith nature has spread over its picturesque
mountains and vallies the great problem Of hu-
man freedom that is being worked out here by
the twenty thousand Of those unfortunate children
Of oppression, who twelve years ago, wore the
chains Of n master
1t is asserted boldly in the United States, and
especially in the West and South. that the etnan
cipated slaves of the West Indies in far worse
condition than they were before their release from
bondage. Even here this charge is made by nearly
every American Dane that you meet at the ho
tells or boarding houses, on the estates. So con-
stantly did hear it that | became all the more
anxious to see and hear and know for myself the
facts. I
had Just come FROM the slave region of the
South and from Cuba. / had been estates in
Missouri where 'slavery exists in its mildest
form" IA favorite expression of our people,) and
of course began to compare notes.
| On the sugar plantations bordering on tho Miss
issippi, saw hordes of slaves in the fields at work
always with an overseer behind them, whip in
hand. Their clothing was scant--nsual!y but one
garment-a kind Of chemise or frock for the wo-
men, reaching q little below their knees, no cover
ing on their head the men with pants ano
shirt (often without shirt,) and these OF thu
ooarsest material. We saw them working thus a
sunrise, at noon and at evening, and always work
ing steadily, and as if afraid to pause. .hong
; their motions were not quick as the Yankees
who has his eye ever fixed ION the main chance"
Their cabin homes on the banks of the great rir
or look comfortable to the passer-by, and eacl
family, it is said, is allowed house, and each
house is surrounded by q little land. They dc
not huddle together SO as to exclude the air. Of
ten these houses front green lawn or lane, and
look pleasant and quiet What the inside may be
we only know by hearsay, but have been told Of
dirt floors, a blanket, kettle for boiling mush--
little else. .........-
We crossed the Gulf to Havana went into the
country, visited coffee plantation, and saw the
slaves at work by the wayside We passed along.
Everything we saw seemed to tell us Of slaves in a
worse condition than in the States. They seemed
driven to their toll like many broken down cat.
tie, mping and hobbling along with listless, slow,
uneasy motions hall clOthed, dirty and toil-worn
and with no expression of countenance that told of
i hope. Gangs Of men and women--the women
with something to cover nakedness--the men,
most of them, with only a strip of coarse cloth
around the waist. At night they have not even
the cabin home to 90 to, in which to be locked,
with light and air excluded by bolts and bars, save
that which steals humanely in through the cracks
and orevices; but are hudded together into long
dark pens thatched overhead heavily with palm
leaves moudering and decayng full of damps
and vermin. Here they are locked up like sheep
or cattle, to elter out the few short hours of the
night allotted to sleep.
Such is the outward view of the condition Of
the field hands in Cuba. House servants of course
!, fare better. Now let US look at the emancipated
field hands of Santa Cruz, those poor, asyr half
starved, half-naked degraded creatures, that are
far worse off than the slaves of Cuba or South
= Carolina, of whom we have so often heard. The
+ first object of interest as rode out oae morning
was the children going to school, We we're going
from Christiansted, on the east end of the Island
to Fredericksted on the west fifteen mes(the whole
length of the Island is twenty-five miles), through
the most prosperous and rich portion of the Island
: 1t vas near eight in the morning We passed
;, group after group of coored children, with theii
little baskets or pals of dinner, going to school
. Each group had a coored woman with them, whose
duty was to see them to the school-house in good
season and in good order, to take care of their din
ners and to bring them safely home again wher
school was closed at night. These children wer,
as yell.dressed, as neat and clean the same mum
= Der Of country children in our Western States
: many of them too much dressed for a school. Al
y y wc passed them, not one failed to lift the hand
=, : and wish us good morning, and with bright
" pleasant smile, as if in their hearts they were hap
J. py' ...... =.
!. The school-house was a large airy building
4 set upon high ground, we'll ventilated, with th'
usual lattice work to let in the air and shut ont thu
r sun capable, ] should think, Of accommodating
"a two hundred children. Such school-house woult
:. be an honor to many country place, even in New
a. England. The yards were very clean and neat
n and the out-buildings comfortable. shade tree
n we're near.
al The children seemed to come from two or thre
~ milos ON each side. At nine ceased to meet o
n, pass these groups of children. We passed thre
,e Of these school-houses- them we'll filled an
IL the children quietly studying their books or stand
y, ing in rows recting their lessons, while their nur