Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-11-09
EDUCAEE TIE FRRED1LEN.

NIr. EDITOR The importance Of
prompt response to the following ap-
peal must be apparent to every phi
lanthrOpie heart 1t Is earnestly hop
ed that, by publishing the appeal in
your paper there are many IN our com
mUnity who will, without distinction
Of denomination, promptly respond to
the call Contributions IN books OF
the kind called for, if left at the De-
pository of the Delaware County Bible
Society, viii be packed and forwarded
to Gen. Wood
The appeal above referred to is en-
bodied in a letter to Bishop Menvaine
from Gen. 7. J. Wood, Assistant Com
missioner of the Freedmen's Bureau
IN the State Of Mississippi. We give
below the main portion of the letter,
which is dated Vicksburg, Miss, Oct.
/ Is. '66. After stating that one of the
! great difficulties in the establishment
/ of schools for the cOlored race IS the
/ extreme poverty not only of the blacks
/ but of the whites kindly disposed to
the enterprise, both Of whom the war
has left almost utterly impoverished,
and therefore unable to ocontribute any
thing to support schools for freedmen,
Gen. Wood says
/ Congress, at its late session, in re-
/ sp0nse to the noble and generous SEN
/ timents of the people, made an apprO-
/ priation to aid IN the education of the
/ freed people. Necessarily the amount
appropriated Is but a small part of the
means required for so extensive a
work and the money appropriated IS,
4 by the Statute, directed to be applied
( to peculiar items, such as the salaries
of the State Superintendents of the
] colOred schools, the transportation Of
/ teachers to the scene of their labOTs,
and the rents and repairs of school
/ houses.
No provision has been made for the
support of the teachers after they en-
ter on their duties, or for the gratuit-
Gus distribution of the necessary books
among the pupils who are too INDECENT
to purchase them. For the former of
these items of expense, reliance must
D6-lAsd. for time at least, on the as
slstaUce oI-Ae-thern charitable associ-
atiOns, and the smattoesauut of tuition
fees which may be collected -frega- the
more fortunate and provident of the
negroes.
1t is the chief object of this letter to
invoke your assistance, and through
you, the aid of your Church generally
throughout the Northern States, in
supplying the latter Waut-the neces-
sary books A small amount contrib
uted by each one of your churches
and invested IN books, would furnish
a number sufficient to supply the wants
Of our many pupils.
The want of books will be particul-
arly felt by the poor pupils of the
schools established in rural and remote
districts.
IF the books could be shipped to me
here, I could make arrangements tc
pay the transportation on the packages
to this place, and would send the books
to schools where the gratuitOus distrib.
ution to the scholars would be the
greatest charity.
most respectfully, but most earn
estly, invoke the assistance of yourseli
, and your churches generally, In this
, important branch of the great work ot
inaugurating a practical system Of edu.
cation for the colOrd race, and request
you will favor me with an answer as tC
what assistance L may expect iron
J yourself and your churches, at youl
earliest convenience.
1t is earnestly to be hoped that peo
pie of all denominations who desire
the education and cbristianization Of
the freed blacks Of the South will steI
forward in cheerful response to tht
above appeal. Let there be ibera
contributions of money and books
and if there are any nobIe-hearteC
young men or women who desire tt
offer themselves as teachers, here is {
great work for them. Let our mis-
sionary charity begin at home and no
wander beyond the ocean to the neg
Iect Of millions in our midst, left By
the ebb of a great civil war welterinl
, in the degradation, ignorance, poverty
and misery incurred by two centuries
of cruel bondage.