The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-03-10

He hired his time, paying his maste
fifty dollars month, and established him
self as a butcher. He went to August;
and Macon. and all over eastern Georgia
purchasing cattle, but employing all his
spare hours learning to read, studying th'
bible and theology. He was ordained tt
preach by the Baptist association of who's
ministers three years ago.
He and his fellow colonists selected tbei
lots, laid out village, numbered the lots
put the numbers into hat, and drew then
out. 1t was Plymouth colony repeating
Itself: They agreed that if any Others
came to join them they should have equa
privileges. So blooms the Maytlower OF
the islands of the South Atlantic coast
owe shall build our cabins, and organ
ize our town government for the mainten
ance iof order and the settlement of al
difficulties" said Mr.. Houston. He ha:
four hundred hides, his own property
g | want to turn them into money, anc
purchase portable saw-mill to cut ou
lumber for our houses
In one day five thousand acres were as.
signed to colonists, who are eager to till
them. A, large party went down thi.
morning with what provision they could
carry. They 60 out to commence life a.
citizens. l have no doubt of their success
provided they are not hindered by arbitra,
ry authority stirred up by old prejudices
and hate.
Yesterday there was meeting of these
men at the old slave market. The room
was crowded | sat on the platform
where thousands of their fellow men had
been sold, where women had stood strip
ped OF their clothing, bearing the rude
Jests, and indecent remarks, the insulting
examination made by a hard-hearted, licen-
tlous crowd; where mothers had heard
for the last time the cries of their little
ones; where heart-strings had been torn
asunder; where the image of God was
bruised and crushed; where unimanigable
horrors had been witnessed-I sat there
and heard the men, some of them as white
as myself, talk of their future. They
came together to hear remarks from Rev.
MIR. French and Lieut. ketchum, to ask
questions and consult with each other.
They wanted to know what title they
would have to their land-what assurance
they could have that it would be their
after they had improved it. Their ques-
tions were plain, strai ight-forward, and
showed a shrewdness which | had not
looked for.
Rev Mr.. French said: 81 heard Il
white man ridicule the project, who said
one white rebel going among you would
cove down five of you. Is that so?"
Let him try it," "We'H fight. 8"
were the responses.
A tall, middlc-aged man, black as an
anthracite coal, rose and said, calmly, de-
liberately, but with tone of voice that
revealed determination not to be trihed
with -
"They may talk about one white man
soaring five negroes, but he can't scare
one. 1t has been the povr of slavery
which has cowed us, but that power is
gone. They can't scare us snow!"
Mr.. French said that the freedmen of
Beaufort, although not so intelligent as
they were, had become independent in
thought and feeling upon the subject of
their personal freedom.
"What would you do if your old mas
ter should come to take you into slavery
again! - he asked of an old woman who
was hoeing her cotton. 81 would hoe
him down, sir. That is what l would
do"
There were intelligent men in the audi
cnce-men who have hired their time,
paying fifty dollars month to their mas
tiers, supporting themselves and their fam
lilies. 1t is idle talk to say they would
not take care of themselves They are
the bone and muscle of the South, and
they have already shown that they have
no mean brain power. "The negroes of
Tennessee have shown a greater capacity
than the poor whites to rise above the
chaos of the times," was the remark of
an officer who holds a high position in
Gen: Sherman's military family, and who
has had great opportunity to make obser-
vatlons In this same old slave market,
where the iron gratings are still standing
IN the windows, are hundreds of colored
children, learning the rudiments of Ian
guage, taught by teachers of their own
color
Sitting on the auctioneer's platform,
where the wallings of despair have rent
the air, listened to recitations as correct
ly given as by children of their own years
in the graded schools of Boston. They
sang the songs of liberty with sweetness
such as never heard from an Anglo Sax
on choir of youthful voices. Yesterday
those hundreds of dark visaged men, led
by Lieut.. Ketchum, rolled out in grand
chorus the song sung by the colored SOL
dlers around their camp fires and on the
march into battle at Honey Hill
1--WE will fight for Liberty"
closing with Old Hundred, not sung by a
halt dozen, but by every one present.
Such Is brief review of the original
elements of society in Savannah. An
other element is here-the restless, ener-
getic Yankee. Stores aremultiplying, but
they are kept by men from Boston and
New York, who have not come for day
or a week, but who intend to make Sa-
vannah their future home; who will be
its citizens, who intend to build the CITY