The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-07-30
The Story of Linus.

nC SLOAy VI A<AAAhe@0s
Extract from letter to the Educational
Committee for freedmen Boston, from one
of the Superintendents near Port Royal:
Boston, June 18th, 1868.
Perhaps the story of Linus may be in
tcrest,ng as an instance Of negro capacity.
He is black Yankee. Without drop Of
white blood in him, he has the energy and
'cu.eness and big eye for his own advantage
of born New Englander. He is not very
moral and scrupulous, and the church men,
bers will tell you mot yet with smile if
you ask whether he belongs to them. But
he leads them all in enterprise, and his am
bition and consequent prosperity make his
example very useful one on tie plantation
Half of the men on the island fenced in
gardens last autumn, behind their houses,
in which they now raise vegetables for them
selves and the Hilton Head markets. Ii
mus. in his little half acre has has quite a
little farm yard besides. With poultry hou-
ses, pig pens, and corn houses, the ar
ray is very imposing. He has even stable
for he had made out some title to a horse
which was allowed then he begged wheels
and makes cart for his work and not to
leave the luxuries behind, he next rigs up a
kind ofsulky and bows to the white men
from his carriage AS he keeps his table
in corresponding style, for he buys more
sugar Of me than any other two fa,nilies,-
of course the establishment is rather ex-
pensive. SO to provide the means, he has
three permanent irons in the fire, his cotton,
his Hilton Head Express, and his seine
Before the fishing season commenced, a
pack Of dogs for deer hunting teok the place
Of the net. While other families "carry"
from three to six or seven acres Of cotton,
Linus says he must have fourteen. To
help his wife and daughters keep this IN
good order, he went over to the rendezvous
for refugees, and imported family to the
plantation, the man of which he hired at $s
a month. His land is in separate field,
and let him take care Of it much like a
distinct plantation. With large boat
which ne owns, he usually makes weekly
trips TO Hilton Head, twenty miles dis
.ant, carrying passengers, produce, and
fish. These latter he takes in an immense
seine-an abandoned chattle-for the use OF
which he pays Government by furnishing
Gen Hunter and Staff with the finer speci-
mems, and then has ten or twenty bushels
for sale. Apparently he is either dissatis-
fed with this arrangement or means to ex.
tend his operations, for he asks me to bring
another seine, for which am to pay $40.
presume his savings, since "the guns fired
at Bay Point, which is the native record
of the capture Of these islands-amount to
four or five hundred dollars, and I expect to
see him in ten years tolerably rich man.
Linus has. it is true, but few equals on
these Island, and yet there are many who
follow not far behind him.
of good results. every case which has yet
come to my knowledge, the purchasers
have offered better prices for labor than the
Government, and the industry, prosperity,
and &C ntent of the people have changed in
proportion. I think on the government
plantations less will be done this year than
last; on the purchased plantations, far more.
The years experience will also be useful by
offering comparison between methods of
employment. Almost every proprietor
seems to have adopted his own system
Some increase the Government wages for a
days work others work in shares with
their people, paying little or no wages 9TH
ers pay the Government scale of prices, but
distribute in addition, monthly supplies
proportioned to the amount of work done.
A still greater advantage IS that Of prompt
payment. Perhaps the chief obstacle with
which the superintendents have contend, is
the long delay that has throughout the year
attended the government payments.
VEG.