The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-05-24
The freedmen in this District.

Inc Er6oQauen III ILLS O1oIIi0o u
We give place to tie annexed letter
addressed to the Loyal Georgian, publish
ed at Augusta, Geo., in the interest of the
negro race. The letter is interesting, be-
cause the views presented emanate from
n standpoint where the condition of the
freedmen is supposed to be carefully
watched and guarded. Without COM
menting upon the same, we leave our
readers to judge Of the fairness and JUS
tice of the views expressed:
ANDERSON, S. c., April %, 1866.
In giving an account of the condition
of the freed people in this District, it will
be proper to allude to che relations which
existed between master and slave before
the result of the war emancipated them.
Most of the farms in this District were
small, and required constant labor to
make their cultivation profitable. The
owners therefore, generally worked with
their slaves, as farmers, at the North
worked with their laborers, and, as are
suit, the slaves were more humanely
treated, and acquired degree OF intelll-
gence unknown to those who had passed
their time on the cotton and rice planta-
tions towards the coast
On acquiring their freedom, many of
them remained with their former owners,
instead of seeking to realize their freedom
by leaving homes, and going to the large
cities and towns where they expected
food and shelter from the Government.
Until after the first of January, it was
difficult to get the freed people to make
contracts for the year; but finding that
they must work OF starve, they chose the
first alternative, and now there is scarcely
an unemployed one in the District. In
deed there is now scarcity, rather than
an excess of laborers.
The contracts that have been made are
generally very fair: being the same, in
many cases, as were formerly made with
whites and it requires only industry and
economy on the part Of the freed people,
to give them good reward for their
years labor.
Some have entered into contracts with
persons of whom they knew little, and
will perhaps make nothing; but the les
son that these will learn, willno be with,
out effect on themselves, as we'll as their
acquaintance.
This year will necessarily be hard one
for many of the freed people, for they
began with nothing; they cannot get
credit, and they are compelled to buy at
high rates from their employers, paying
at the end of the year from their shares
of the crop, or from their wages.
Then, too, it is the first in which the
experiment of free labor will be fairly
tried; and its result will be looked for
with great interest by friends, as well as
opponents of the system.
Therefore, those who have made equita-
Bile contracts are pleased with their hands.
They exhibit an interest in their work
which they could never feel while slaves,
and degree Of Intelligence which was in
many cases unlocked for.
There are to be sure some uneasy ones,
who do not fully understand the obliga-
tions and responsibilities, as we'll as the
security, that freedom bestows upon
them; and who consider contract bind
ing only as long as they choose to abide
by it; but this class is small, and will
grow still smaller in time.
Nearly all parents have a strong desire
that their children should acquire an edu-
cation; and there is now, q school in
working ordor, in which there are over
ono hundred scholars. Its teacher is q
white citizen of this place, who has taught
here many years. Nearly all the scholars
know the alphabet, and some are quite
we'll advanced in the spelling-book. None
have yet gone beyond this. All manifest
q degree of earnestness in their studies
which is not excelled by white children
Out of the school-house, one sees them on
door-steps or by the roadside, coming
their lessons, with an appearance of Wis
dom which is often ludicrous.
Well is it for chem that their lives are
not to know the heaviness of the burden
their parents so long bore. 5.
AN INTERESTING SEQUEL TO HAsrY
D,roDcr A on,r,ocnondont of the Wills