Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-03-06
4flislellanp.
From the New York Evening Post.
New Southern Institution. The Freed
mems Schools.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE SOUTH.

mems Schools.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE SOUTH
Among the new southern institutions are
the schools for the freedmen. They are pecuii-
arv southern. No other land, no other section,
presents similar spectacles. No such pupils are
IN 9tber schools For these children are not OF
one blood only, but OF one spirit; they are not
merely wiling 10 be taught, but everywhere.
from MARYLAND to Texas, from the giades OF
Florida to the turbld waters OF the Mississippi,
they are described by all their teachers as " fr-
9 Esg-r,' writes one superintendent, 1" ls no
word for their anxiety to master their lessons ;
they absolutely crazy"
ALABAMA IN 1861
Nv first experience among the freedmen oc-
CURED in the summer of 1861 at the little town
of \ thens in Alabama. General Forrest-the
same gentleman who is now quietly running
sawmiI III MlssissipPi-then fresh from the
trlg.tiul massacre OF the brave garrison Of or
Pillow, suddenly, one fine morning, cut the rail-
road north of u. and an accident at the same
time Intercepted oar communications with Chat
tanooga Ne were insulated. | was theleby
detained at Athens for Two weeks.
Somehow-irom instinct, suppose, for |
never told them that had been advocate Of
emancipation. or, as the humorlst expresses IT,
told love-
w
lersed that | was friend OF their race. One
day was waited on by deputation OF them
consisting Ut an old negro man and the cook and
servant girls at the Railroad Hotel 1hey
opened The audience, as Mr.. Jenkins says, by
remarkin5 that they wanted to talk with me
e. VERY we'll, " | SAID, = hat DO you want.
=. Want-you-to-stay here and-kesp pschool-tOr
Us. sag ! Es,' answered servant girl IN bashtul
AMI hurried tone
:. Ye=. ye=, Mass r, say yes,' chimed the wo-
men ali at once.
Ml-s'r Rsdpath," the old negro added, g Is
been i h-rd-wOrkin man all my born days. :
saved few hunder' dollar. I'll g.t you hun
j y dollars right now, down in de money, tor
mys-If and there : more n us will give you some
too, II you stay here ana teach our children
I'H gI5 dollars 70 airy man that II learn
ei Inc % read cat book saId the girl who wait
e1 ou the table as he neld up primer
oJ'Il l. added the chambermald-
=. here did you get y'r books
s'Oa, oar was q Yankee come here. and he
eav1ar il We buy books and clean out the meetln
house ned come back and teach next Mon
day We bought all the books from the sutler.
We-iJt o. Us simmia-cieaned out de room,
and dat Monday de children swarmed Ike bees
but he negr coined
o. Well. wei. l SAID, =. suppose he could not
yet :. pass But how many children would
cJme to school II opened a SCHOOL,
3" On dar : more'n two hunder," one OF them
answered, ana del gIb fifty cents a week
ebery of en-
Ile cJlored people II Athens were compar-
tivey well If as the garrison was composed OF
cJlyfed troops, AMI had spent most OF their
Dounties ana pay II tae town.
" men I returned To Nashville | tried to yet
teacher for these jealous people but before one
could leave, the town had been captured by
Forrest
The FREKDxEs's AID SOCIETIES.
This htte incident caused me to observe more
closely than before the operations OF tn Feed
men 5 sOclefie7.
General Sherman'= lines Of supplies were
guarded mainly oy negro troops. Everywhere
saw cheese black warriors, when oft duty porlng
over their primers, whenever the regiment had
a aPl4in or officers Who were interested IN
their mental well as ritual and military
education. In the BARRIERS shops OF y AslvIlle
one noticed tn.t there were \ b books laying
on the dressing tables , and L often watched,
wIJn hopeful interest, studIJus and puzzled
faces Of the men who were dlsengaged, as they
bent over their lessons The freedmen schools
were we'll attended, and were limited only by
the want oi buildings. | entered = dIlapIdated
house one day" d cOnfscated house anu ~
an upper room, cold and cherries, Wi h windows
out and 4 huge rent the roof, found class
of thirty groes-ranging IN age from five tOI
thirty five Their teacher-a kindly genteman,
terms Of their progress and conduct.
SCHOOLS N SOUTH CAROLINA.
| vas IN Charleston harbor, on board of the
Arag0, our flag was hoIsted over Fort Sumter
4 dense cloud OF smoke hung over the city. Il
had aeen evacuated few hours before, and
was then occupied by its captOrs-the Twenty
first Uuted States c0l0red troops. We had
hoped u enter it on General GilmOre's boat but
1t came of with dispatches, and We returned 10
It 70 HIiton He On Monday trod its
stree,-.
Colonel Woolford was appointed to command
the city. Four years before he had been ban
ished from IT, On the suspicion that he was tae
CORES lonJent Of the New York Tribune His
staff vas inadequate 20 the duties required OF 1t. |
volunteered my services as superintendent Of
schO 3-s, condition that equal chances should !
be g,veu 10 all classes of the cinzens-to the
poor hiccs and poor blacks alike He appoint
Cd me, aEd he'd she position for nearly five
months.
On the i ID Of March We opened at the Nor
rls street school. 1t is a fine building, and was
intended u ccommodate seven hundred and
fifty pupils. Ii was modelled after the New
York schools Charleston had three such build |
IGg and a small one, which were erected after |
fierce cppOsIt on from the ultra secess OnIstA
By municipal party led by Messrs Memming- |
er, tIzen lud Trenho In The Rhetts and Other |
rebels Oi the same class OF politicians used all
theiT luh1ence TO prevent their establishment.
1he poorer class Of the whites told me that those
meu had even dared TO assert in public that 1t |
"a7 a. absurd and dangerous to educate the la |
Doring classes IS 1t would be to instruct the
slaVes- nat they had no more right to be taught
than tue negroes. 1t was true enough, to be
sure, bat nOt Ia that sense, and 1t was an insult |
winch stFenz zthened the partIsans Of free schools.
Inc schJ0l not filled, nor cr0wded-it /
was literally j4mmed. We could do nothing, |
there were - many pupils. A few speeches
were made y ,he children, and then the little |
blacks united IN concert in ut'ering one OF the !
shortest and one OF the slncerest prayers ever
spoken or unexpressed in Charleston.
la each OF the two great rooms, five hundred
pair oi dusky hands were casped, and five hun
dred pal5 Of black eyes were reverenty closet
and tive hundred tongues Of children freed but
lew weeks before from perpetual bond age, re-
Isated this heartfelt supp!ioation
= Coo Oless-Abraham Lincoin-Our Pres:-
dent-and LibeIator-Amen"
And then, with beaming faces and extrava
CANT demonstrations of exuberant Joy, they
went home from the first free school which thev
had been permitted TO enter IN South Carolina