Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-11-18
Gbe freeman.
For the Freeman
Letter from Georgia.


Macon about three weeks since, L found g a
heap " of papers awaiting my arrival and
not until then was | aware of your kindness
in sending me regularly the FIREMAN ana
CHRIsTIAS MESSENGER. Thank you sincerely
for thus remembering one of the band OF
teachers in Dixie. | shall enjoy the weekly
visits of these home papers very much, and
grateful thoughts viii wing their way to
your editorial sanctum each day of their ar
rival.
| went North about the middle of July.
Government not giving the teachers return
transportation. company OF four of us de-
cided t. make a pleasure tri rip of our journey
home. going by the way of Atlanta, Chatta-
noort. and Nashville, for the express purpose
Of visiting Lookout Mountain, Mammoth
Cave, and Niagara Falls. We spent three
davs very delightfully."- on Lookout, visited
the place where Hooker fought his memOra-
bic :. battle Hbove the Clouds and some
other points of interest. There is also a fine
school on the mountain. OF which | may
sometime rive YOU 4 sketch--a northern school
on southern soil.
4 visit to Mammoth Cave has been one Of
the dreams Of my life, and vet my fancy bad
never pictured it such a wonder of wonders
- [ found Langua re has no power to de-
scribe it. Like Niagara, Mammoth can be
feH. but never adequately described. One
fHSNlSe.TcS
avenues. look up into those magnificent
domes. gaze down into the dark chasms, visit
the Gothic Chapel. sit in the Star Chamber
and watch the stars fade into darkness as the
f-uife removes the lights darkness so utter
and absolute that one realizes as never before
what the Ervptians must have suffered du
rinr those three terrible days Of " darkness
shat could be felt or ride on the Echo
River and listen. to the beautiful echoes OF
song or sound they play in and out among
che rocks, chasing each other away back into
the distance, pass through Diamond GrottO,
SNOWFALL Room. Floral Hall, and the various
Cabinets, climb over the Rocky Mountains,
etc etc. and after walking miles and miles
through these and numOerless other places
most magnificent in their rock beauty one
can EeqI7l to have some idea of this wonderful
cave not otherwise.
Mammoth and niagara How utterly un-
like, vet each in its way worldwide Won
aer The one, dark, silent as the grave,
leading off into the vague and unknown, like
IN aute-chamber of eternity; the other, the
sound Of its mighty waters seeming like the
voice Of the Infinite And as one looks and
listens. the strange power of its fascination
steals over them, until they can hardly resist
the desire to plunge into the rushing, whirl-
inr. foamng current, ana 90 down amid the
rainbow-spanned spray into the depths below.
Yet one Niagara is enough for a world 1t Is
the gushing fountains. the bubblIng springs,
the silyerv streanlets the singing brooks ana
guiet rivers that do most toward making our
world 50 green and beautiful. lsit not SO IN
human life2 The good is not ali accomplished
5v the great Thank God. We may all, how
ever humble. do something in the Masters
service.
enioved my few weeks in Vermont this
summer yerv much. Ny home among Its
hills IS very dear to me and each time, as L
return 70 them. its mountains seem more
grand, and it's valleys more lovely yet L am
glad to be back again to my work here among
the freedmen. | hardly know why 1t Is, but
iite at the North does not seem as errneSt az
il used 10 me. The change maybe in myself
Our work here is such that it impels US to
throw into 1t all the energies of soul and
body: giving, giving, giving, looking alone
u God 70 supply our own heart wants Shut
of from all outside influences of society and
amusement, life here is so real, SO earnest,
that the case and leisure Of life at the North
seem hardly satisfying.
Election Is 0ver,-a day of excitement all
through the country, and yet it has been far
more peaceful here in Georgia than we feared.
In " icon there was no disturbance whatever.
As one gentleman of color told nc that day,
on his return from the Court House, ''they re
doin fine down there heap o people, but
they're havin' mighty piols tiD7s, mighty
pio1ls, an original way of expressing the
quietness at the polls.
The colOred people here have been thorough
" awake for the last few weeks. They have
\ welI-organized Grant Club, which has met
weekly all summer. sometimes oftener- The
amusing Inscription on one Of their banners,
although almost sacrilegious, will give you
an idea Of their faith in their leaders, The
>ayi0urs Of our Country-Jesus Christ, Grant
and Colfax and II. VI. Turner " Turner is
q colored minister, one OF their leading men
IN Georgia.
LAST week the Grant bugle'' rang out
each 71iqht the signal for assembling, and
crowd gathered a their hail and listened with
yDclferOus applause to speeches from various
leading men upon the duties and dangers of
the times As their hall is in the next build
irg 70 our home. from our windows we could
get the benefit of nearly all their eloquence,
and some Of their speakers have indeed
real natural elOquence, albeit Ill defiance OF
tue rules OF rhetoric and grammar. Mr.
Long. the president Of the club, is q perfect
gentleman in look and bearing, nearly white,
and one OF the most magnetic speakers ever
heard. | have often wished my friends at
the North could hear him speak. lie has
worked constantly and faithfully for the good
of his people ever since freedom during
the past wear speaking in various parts of the
state leaving his business "a clothing and
furnishing storey to suffer from his absence.
and vet neither seeking nor accepting any
Office whatever. 4 true friend to his race.
A few years ago :. slave. owned, bought,
soda mere chattel now, a noble man. In
ono of his speeches | heard him flcetiously.
remark he had been sold three times
Once he brought $500, once $3.50, and once
81 800. and if he was 10 be sold now he
didn't know what he w0uldn bring L
nave sometimes trembled, lately, as L have
heard his clarion voice sounding out upon
rhe still evening air such fearless thoughts of
rights and wrongs, of liberty and oppression,
Or It l. not a year since, at the time OF the
first election, his life threatened. and
his house guarded for several nights, and he
dar-d not ne seen after dark. The homes of
three CT four others were guarded also, for
large band Of miserable rufiians had agreed to
finish these leaders of the colored radicals y
hut the white people were made quietly but
firmly to understand that if jeff Long was
killed, Macon would be laid in ashes. The
citizens believing this would be done, re-
strained the band from their murderous de-
signs. and now he walks safely. and speaks
iearlc>siy as he pleases. The presence OF
armed soldiers here may have something to
90 with the present freedom OF speech, still.
Macon is one of the safest cities of Georgia.
At O'Clock An, on Tuesday, the bugle
sounded and the Grant Club assembled and
marched down. 20 as to be in time when the
polls were opened. Committees had been
appointed to go ont and meet the country
people as they came in. and see they had
right tickets given them The Democratic
leaders were on the alert also, and it has been
amusing to read the papers for the last few
nd