Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-05-08
The Freedmen'S Schools at Richmond.
EXTRACT FROM THE LETTER OF \ LADY TRAVEL
ING IN DINE.

ING IN DINE.
RICHMOND, Va, April 10. 1867.
No result of the war has inter
ested me more than the educational move
ment in behalf of the colored population
resulting in schools all over the South
Through the courtesy of General Schofeld,
last evening" we were escorted by his aid.
Colonel Rathbone. of Albany. to the old
building known ar Deals bakery, formerly
in use for the rebels, but confiscated during
the war for its present uses. We went
through a small dark court or yard. up mar
row unlighted. uncarpcted stairs. into two
rooms filled with dusky faces of both sexes
and all ages, which read by the light OF
small tin petroleum lamps suspended at equal
distances from the low whitewashed rafters-
The walls were adorned by engravings OF
Lincoln and Sumner, framed in some fantas-
tie way with clusters or wreaths of fern, as
if - to keep their memories green" Here
and there were those large placards of Scrip
ture verses 80 common in the hospitals lat
Paris | remember 10 have seen them at the
foot of each little cot). Blackboards and
maps completed the :. hangings" of the es-
tablshment and the rest of the furniture
was composed of unpainted pine desks and
benches, covered with the necessary lmple-
mcnts of reading. writing, spelling, geogra-
nnN ana 9rltnnetlc- me Lincoln anu 1lON
ard Schools as these institutions called,
are conducted with great fidelity by the follow
ing ladies, who instruct. upwards of two hum
dred pupils month, all regular attendants,
though not always on the same nights Miss
Foster of Somerville Miss Angel of Boston :;
Miss Ballard of Wcstborough Miss Canedv
of Fall River: Miss Francis of Boston ::
Miss Sarah Clark of Dorchester Miss Mary
Clark of Dorchester Miss Barret Miss
Knowles of Worcester Miss Crouch of
Cambridge-and all of Massachusetts. Be
sides these. Miss " oolscy of New York
superintendent of the Industrial Schools,
and Mr.. WoolfoX. slave until Richmond
fell. are also enga red in the work of instruc-
ton.
The evening school is from seven till nine,
four times week. Here are gathered in a
class who work hard all day-most of the
children = toting water. as they call it {;
tattcred and torn, and many of them bare
footed tired. one would suppose. vet all
looking cheerful and happy and grateful.
Both scholars and pupils seemed animated
by a devotion that had never impressed me
in any other pursuit of mastering b-l-a bla,
and abandon abandon, brought blush over
nv memory of those far-away school days,
not at Rugby, where many little girls
about my size. fat and rosy. and well fed and
asked one old man his age over sixty,
he said. but he only counted two.'' his
real life having begun with the fall of Rich
mond. \ little boy not seven spelt rejoice
and - sorrow : with frightful exactitude,
betraving a too evident familiarity with the
spirit as well as the letter of the subject.
There were two handsome lads almost white,
sons of a planter, who boards them here to
be educated
To provide for the fires and lights of the
establishment, each little girl is taxed ten
cents a month the boys twenty and grown
persons twenty-five. They often fall short
of the amount, and now are somewhat in
debt The other incidental expenses arc
met by the New England Branch of the
Freedmen's Aid Society. which furnishes the
teachers as we'll.
The services usually conclude by the sing
ing of one or two of their own hymns. The
leader was a child. certainly not over twelve
with as rich natural voice as | have ever
heard. Should music ever come within her
range of studies, she will make Black Swan
Of the first water. BY especial request the
vocal exercises were prolonged, and we en-
.ioyed them very much. The pupils sang the
hymn beginning
a thousand years
While Jesus walking ON the earth"
- Lord rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham :
Thank God SlaFery's cham has broke at last
Mrs Norton, among many beautiful
truths. has said somewhere - that nothing
really touches the heart of the reader but
comes directly from the heart of the writer. =
1t must be this sympathy which leads a pow
cr to those fantastic melodies and words that
Il higher style of music and poetry often
lacks.