Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-05-01
The Freedmen.

TIE freednaen's Bureau The Labor Ques-
tfon IN Krgtmia.
By order of the War Department, a COM
mission of inquiry has been issued into the
working of the Freedmen's Bureau in the
South The. commissioners appointed arc
Major General j. B. Steedman, of Ohio,
and Rrigadier General j. s. Fullerton, of
Missouri, two officers said to be eminently
qualified to discharge the duties assigned
them. The correspondent of the Herald
who accompanies the commission, thus writes
from Charlottesville, Va, under date of the
10th instant:
Everywhere have been have found the
most kindly relations subsisting between
blacks and whites. l have seen former slaves
working cheerfully for their old masters. still
calling them ''massa" as of old: FORMER
masters supporting the aged and infirm of
their former slaves, perfect confidence existing
on the one side, perfect reliance ON the other.
Outrages, such as have been described in the
northern papers, committed by white men
upon negroes, have undoubtedly occurred;
but they have been exceptional cases, and
are no more indicative of the general senti
ment OF the population than are stray porter
house shooting affrays indicative of the moral
state of society in New York
REPRESENTATIVE PLANTER.
In the Charlottesville district there is a
large colored population engaged exclusively
In agricultural pursuits. About forty of the
principal planters waited this morning upon
General Steedman and discussed with free
dom their position and prospects. One IF tho
number, MIR. w. P. Parish, a leading Virgin
ian, who served as colonel in the rebel army.
related his experience, which may be taken
as fair example of the general feeling of the
people. He stated that at the end of the war
he had one hundred and eleven negroes, most
OF whom he still retained in his service. as
we'll as several house servants who pleaded
poverty and begged to be allowed to remain
on the plantation. Only last week he sent
his wagons over to Buckingham to bring over
another set who had no other claim upon him
but that they were the father and mother.
brothers and sisters of his shoemaker. All
OF these negroes were now working for him
at monthly wages, without written contracts.
and were working contentedly and we'll. II
have changed my opinion entirely" said Col
Farlsh regarding tho negroes, 1 used to
think they would never make valuable mem
bers of society. But they have behaved so
admirably during the war, they have shown SO
much good feeling towards the white popula-
ton, so much good feeling has been exhibit
cd by the whites towards them, and the new
order OF things has worked so happily and so
well, that l have changed my views entirely.
The presence of the Freedmen's Bureau.
though it is we'll administered here. onlv tends
to promote bad feeling among the vicious"
In these views all of those present concurred.
One or two gentlemen acknowledged that the
bureau had been considerable service in the
past, but considered that it's continuance lon
ger than another six months would tend to
introduce elements of discord where none now
existed. convcrsed subsequently with
number of colored people, and found that they
were every whit as satisfied with their form
er masters as their employers were with them.
and were no more anxious for the perpetua-
ton Of the freedmen's court
TEACHING A CoLoRED SUNDAY SCHOOL.
One OF the most remarkable illustrations of
the good feeling prevailing in the communi-
ty witnessed on Sunday afternoon. In a
large school room under the Baptist church.
about three hundred colored children, of ali
shades from near y white to ebony black. were
assembled, and thirty or forty white persons,
many of them belonging to the first families
IN the country, and most of them the sons and
daughters of former slaveowners, were en-
gagged in teaching them. The superintendent
VI tue Scnool was MIR. a. L. Abel, of the
National Bank. Among the teachers were
Miss Ann Gilmore, sister of Gov. Gilmore;
Mrs. Thompson Brown, wife of colonel in
the rebel army, and Mrs. H. p. Loutham,
widow of the late professor of Richmond Col,
lege, and a number of ladies connected with
the Albemarle Female Institute Clear away
in one corner of the room distinguished and
learned law professor of the Virginia Tni>
versity professor Minor) was Iaboriously
engaged in teaching one bright-eyed little
darkey his letters, and quite number Of the
students of the University were pursuing sim
liar avocations. The children learn with
wonderful aptitude, and have already made
considerable progress. They are taught
spelling, reading aud singing, and it is in
tended soon to add writing and ciphering.-
Thus has education of the blacks been GOING
on for some months past, and meets not onlY
with no opposition from the old slaveowners.
but is done by their express desire and with
their active cooperation. AS many as five
hundred children have been in school at one
time, and the average daily attendance is
nearly three hundred.