Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1865-09-05
AGRICULTURAL LABOR.

Following time has come, and three-fourths Of
the the richest land in the State is now idle for
want Of labor.
1t is worse than useless to hope for regular and
reliable work from the negroes at present. A
long time must elapse before they find out that
freedom means anything but exemption from toll
NOT until bitter experience over and over a.
gain repeated burns the tru tn into them will they
be convinced. Intoxicased with change-wild
with new excitement-they are totally unfit for
steady Industry. Nor can we hope for improve
ment to degree requisite for all the use of in
dustFy and the full development of our State
improvient and lazy they will be for a generation
earning IS recarious existence by tobs-spend-
ing their earnings in profligate waste-affctng
the community with their immortality and burd-
ening it with their helplessness-we have no time
to waste IN vain regrets for their lost usefulness
but must besrir ourselves to find substitute
There is a class Of people in Virgnia-a very
large class-who deserve well of the State They
live on poorer lands, and make ends meet year
by year, by ceaseless toll. They have lived in
the present, because their me ans gave them no
hopes for the future. Too poor to improve their
lands, they have seen their crops lessen just in
proportion as their necessities increased. The
owners of few or no slaves, their own hands guild
ed the pillow and bound the sheaves. Unfelt in
the ceuaoifs-unknown in the mart-they inter.
ested the census man from the quantity of their
children and their focks of yellow legged chick
ems. TO where you would you found their sur
roundlngs the same. Emerging from the pines
you came into an abandoned old field, grown with
wild strawberry and blackberry vines, persimmon
shoots and chinquepins-a broken down fence
q patch of sun-burnt, knee-high corn tasting as
1t came out of the groun6-a COW or two tnklng
their bells in the seed tick grass-a tumble-down
stable and any quantity of tumble down shanties
piled together in strange confuson-holly-ho
and sun flowers adjoining the ragged enclosure
wherein flourished the buest of cabbages and the
sweetest OF melOns-one tall pole bore yellow
gourds-the martins homes-another groaned
under the well-buckets frequent lift-wonderful
swarms of fowls and children, all Of the same SIZE
struck the traveller with astonishment--all
speckled and yellow legged scratching in the dirt
chasing through the woods and chattering ex-
actly alike. There was a scant and scraggy or
chard-the shed of drying fruit and melon seed
theswell worn path to the spring--and the branch
with it's alder bus hes and tangled vim es There
the guinea fowls aid their nests, that must only
be robbed with silver spoon--and there dwelt
the big snake, that must be whispered of with
terror
Trouble came, and Virginia is known over the
wide world. Wherever courage fortitude deyo-
tlon are esteemed, admiration points to her.
wherever sympathy is aroused for defeat and
sorrow and desolation, tender tears well up for
her. Her great fame springs not from the ge-
NOUS OF a few whose brilliance dazzes, but from
the constancy and fidelity of her people, steady
night that shines affair." Her common soldiers
made her name illustrious The indomita-
BILE spirit that animated and sustained them du-
ring the unparalleled sufferings and dangers of
the last four years burns as high in their bosoms
now, when the victories of peace instead of war
are to be contended for, as when they first took
up arms. Injured to toll, accustomed to hardship.
practlsed IN sef-denial, active intelligent frugal
honest, practical farmers and ardent lovers of
their country, they will make the best tenantry
in the world. Glad TO leave their barren lands
for generous soil, they will carry into the field
of industry the same pluck and endurance that
made their campaigns memorable and won many a
field of battle
Land-holders who are wise will consider this
thing Rich Wing.