Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1862-10-20
The negro as a Freeman.

The condlus n oil the 'eontraOHnus "uero-
ever they have been collected during the war,
appears TO be the same--and sad enough i Is
A correspondent Of the Indianapolis STATE
Journal, writing from Cairo, the 9th instant,
gives this account Of the negroes (or msnag'
eric. as he says) there collected;
While waiting this morning Tor boat
concluded to 20 TO the menagerie-a real
show; the animal loose in and about the old
barrscks over on the banks of the Mississippi
Such sight old men and old women, heads
AZ white as wool and more kinky-babies
from one week old all the way up till too big
TO be babes, all half clad and distressingly
dirty--itis the elephant we got IN the raine,
and now what to do with it is the question.
More than two thousand Of these wretched be-
ings have been sent here BY military authority
"a preyeut starvation. They are "eaptives
of war" mcst Of them having been abandoned
by their former masters, in and about Corinth,
Inka aud Bolivar. Some are from Curtis op
erations. They have fallen into our hands in
spits of our military policy to preserve the
status Of slavery, and their number is daily
increasing. There is q great demand in this
state for men to gather the corr and cut the
winter wood--so great that Northern Illinois
is eomplainiug that The farmers in Southern
Illinois gobble up all the best rs fast as they
come Men are here every day for hands
Wishing to get into the notions Of the dar-
kies, passed among them as an Illinois far
mer, my army hst answering capital pur-
pose in the game proposed to hire man
hDon mob, AAhl, Where you want me to gof
What you GIN esf Going up to the dir
tiest woman / saw proposed TO her.
Cant 20 sab rs got four babies !" well,
! I'll take your pabea" "But Ia got hus-
band" "Well, I'll take your husband, too. "
| aBnt dar's old granny, can't leave her.
nWhy can { you go, too, granny "O, mas
ter, Ia in hopes some day 1t will please the
good Lord 10 give me back to old master"
tried dozen or more, and found underlying
the hopes Of most Of them was an ultimate
return to their native land. The one refrain
WAS eia.
- '... 40 carry me baek,"&c.
Their local attachment is unconquerable
and they seem utterly unreconciled to sepa
rating the families An over.sanguine frient
Of mine, a physician, spoke to me the othe
day 20 procure q suitable boy for him, who
after serving q reasonable time as hostler
could be put to the science Of physicking
concluded to get the boy here but yoI
ought 10 have seen tho white of their eye
and their ivory when suggested studying y
be doctor The bursting Of a bombshel
would hardly have produced greater conster
nation. The facts here and. the facts every
where bid lus ] TO look the Question fairly il
the face % Until the time comes when thes
can return to their homes in peace and ifee
dom they must be managed here, and Z
d do this some system Of apprenticeship mus
be adopted These creatures have neither tn
intelligence nor the integrity necessary Z
contracting wisely for their own labor On
man asked $l5 per month the year round
another $40, another IS. oas 600 Hl
And yet philanthropists- --so-called-deair
to turn free, and thus deprive them Of thei
natural protection and shelter, four million
OF just such beings-bring desolAtion upo
both whites and blanks- aO 3, es.. ,.4a III.