Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-09-03

the Wilmington IN. C.) Free Schools.
The Boston Daily Advertiser recently re-
ferred in All editorial article to the progress
Of the public schools, at Wilmington, North
Carolina. 1t says: s9t Ata'+
The closing reports of the Wilmington free
schools are in very satisfactory contrast
with the miserable trash which we have to
read every day in ridicule of 'scarpet-bag-
gers" at the South. " Miss Bradleys schools
closed on the first instant by, o public exhi-
bition in the theatre Wilmington. 1t was
attended by very crowded audience, in
cluding the Mayor of the city and many 9TH
ers of the leading inhabitants. And these
gentlemen, and the trustees of the new free
school establishment, concurred in sending
to her formal letters of acknowledgement Of
the service which the northern teachers had
rendered to the city of Wilmington, and of
their thanks to the society which sent her !;
meanwhile leading citizens of Wilmington,
uniting in these testimonials, made practical
arrangements for extending the system of
instruction so that it might he sufficient for
all the children in the city. 4 II ssfg
This is a fair specimen Of the work of one
s'carpet-bagger" with her coadjutors. Miss
Bradley established herself two years since
in one of the most desolate regions In the
city, known as "Dry Pond, and collected
there, with her assistants, more than one
hundred OF the poorest and most ignorant
children in the world. Of eighty-fiYe par
ents of these children who, united, a. year
ago in letter inviting her to return, only
sixteen could sign their names. She has
taught these children, and has clothed and
fed them with the means placed in her hands
by the Soldiers Memorial Society, which
chooses to make such u monument for the
brave young men of Massachusetts who died
in North Carolina. And now at the end of
two years, their department and proficiency
at official examinations, and at such an exhi-
bition as we have described, is such as to
call forth the strong approval and praise of
the three leading journals of Wilmington,- -
and, as we have ssid of the leading inhabi.
tants in person. 1t even compels an enlarge
ment of the whole system, under the di-
rection of citizens of the town. Meanwhile
between twelve and fifteen hundred colored
children have been admirably trained by the
''carpet-baggers" who have specially under
taken their care.
1t appeared, In Miss Bradley's case,-
and doubtless in the other schools, that the
children well understood the principle ''from
which their blessings spring" BY a sub
scription among themselves these little va
grants purchased handsome flag. On the
Fourth of July, they raised it on their school
house, singing the various national airs with
enthusiasm. We observe, indeed, that
s'Sheridan's ride," and flag-raising and
other really national performances were a
part of the programme of the theatre.
Considering such results and the gratitude
expressed for them by intelligent people at
the South, 1t is melancholy to see the abuse
poured out by northern journals on emf
grants from the North who have moved into
southern States. The South needs northern
capital, northern men, northern institutions,
and, In particular cases like this OF Whining
tnn, the need is acknowledged manfully and
generously. What'can he Nnleaner, then,
than the ridicale bestowed by ourown press
on the efforts fthose pioneers southwark
who are carrying the arts OF high civiliza.
tion where they carried the arms before
| Twenty such enterprises as these, which
have trained in Wilmington body of neal
| two thousand children who would else have
been outcasts and little pirates, would have
been gone far to change the internal condi
tion Of twenty southern cities. The people
OF Wilmington, in modest way, are now
laying the foundations for free school es
tabishment. II we could say the same o
Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and fifteei
or twenty more southern cities, we shoult
say the most hopeful thing yet in the recon
struction of the South. For many years
perhaps, the laborers in such enterprises
will need the the assistance of the more com
pletely civilized parts of the country. Blu
| their steady work will he a firm basis for al
real reconstruction