Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-20

. sweet girl graduates With their golden
hair" although | am very sure that these
tresses are not all of the hue of the sun.
/ see jaunty hats and natty jackets. gay
scarfs and graceful robes. | see elegance,
the lot of the lowly, tc deliver from ignor-
ance and vice that victim race which our
brothers with their blood delivered from
chains.
Opposite my window they encounter a
Virginia belle, arrayed in the splendor of a
purple dress, and scarled shawl, green
hat, and blue veil Her scornful eyes
behold the object which of all others she
despises most-a ''ni oyer teacher" What
is worse; she beholds more than a dozen
''nigger teachers" all together, 1t is a
dreadful an unbearable sight, is it not, my
dear? | suppose | ought to be very sorry
for you !; but am not sorry bit. 1t is
an atfiiction of great magnitude, to be sure,
that your whilom servants should be taught
by better and prettier teachers than you
ever had in your life: but it is humilia-
ton which you will have to bear, and the
only way you can lessen it is to improve
yourself. But for YOU to toss your head
and hirt your dress at these teachers it is as
silly as it is imbecile This Virginia belle
possesses very positive convictions concern
ing these teachers. Her first conviction is
that mo respectible woman ever comes
South to teach niggers." Her second con-
viction Is that every one who does come,
ought to be arrested and put into prison"
She Is perfectly sincere in these convictions,
and perfectly free in expressing them. On
the whole we can afford to feel sorry for her
This old house, once occupied by the super
intendent Of the armories, is now used as
the temporary abode of the superintendent
Of the freed-peopies schools in the valley
OF the Shenandoah. the Rev. Mr.. Bracket
of Maine. In Il grand old room, defaced
by war, vet frightened with pictures and
books from home. overlooking the prospect
which | Just inadequately sketched | saw
Yesterday scene not to he forgotten
That lovely Sabbath afternoon no church.
doors opened to the teachers, With their
books i'll their hands, they surrounded this
wide room. holding a simple service of their
own. \ room full Of youthful women. far
from home and all its loves, sang the Lord s
song in strange land Those old walls,
which within the last five years had re-
sounded 30 often to the oath and Jest of dis
solute men, now sent back the echoes of
sweet womenly voices through which low
ing hearts trembled as they sang,
Nearer, my cod to Thee.
Nearer t. Thee"
Here was the red-lipped schoolgirl, Just
from school; here the Young widow, holding
in fearful love the memory of buried hus-
band and child; here were women in the
prime 0 f maured power, with their rare
beauty Of Slmptuous omanhood-women
whose elegance and grace and fine mentali-
" would have lent luster to the highest
sphere. Such were the teachers of the
| freed slaves. who sat and knelt together
whose soft ewes dimmed with tears a. they
sang the hymns of home, and prayed for
the blessing of God upon their work. AZ
ter making one allowance for all superficial
enthusiasm and the romance which may be
inseparable from the womanlv nature and
missionary labor, who can measure the sig
nifcance OF the fact that hundreds of
Young. gifted. cultivated women from the
North are now scattered through the South
a. teachers Of its former slaves; and,
though much against their will. and almost
contrary to their knowledge. teachers as
well Of the old-time masters? All uncon-
sciously to themselves, in their mere pres
ence, these women are educators Their
very appearance on the street has won the
respect of people who at first despised and
hated them
Mary Clemmer lines, an " independent, :