Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1868-01-31

est to grant, they would in state of freedom
90 without rather than ask fear of re-
buff, with the vexing query if they did not
think they were worse off now than when they
were slaves.
There are some lazy and shftless individuals,
both males and females, who only wish to eat and
90 without care and responsibility-who say
they would like to be slaves rather than to lie
free and obliged to look out for themselves, but
such cases are few. As whole the laborers re
joice in their freedom, and are jealous about
doing anything which may seem to have any
thing of their old condition of slavery in it.
Their being obliged to live in the negro houses
of the planters, as they were when slaves, and
their being subordinate to many regulations
corresponding to their former co ,dition, keeps
this jealousy alive in the mind ! Of the older
ones and causes it to spring up in the minds of
the young 1t was said-and could easily be-
lieve it true-that they will often disregard
medical regulations and refuse to give their child
rem proper medicine, because in slavery times they
were Obliged, under severe punishment, to COM
ply with such requirements. Old prejudices
and superstitions also, having their foundation
in ignorance and the practices of slavery, have
still great force in the minds of mutitudes.
But I said the provisions of the g Labor Act
bear very hard on the mothers among the es-
tate laborers. On that point let it be remembered
that there is no distinction made between the
sexes as to employment-saye 50 far as certain
heavy kinds of work demand an amount Of
bodily strength which females rarely have
Males and females work together miscellaneous
ly in the fields and have wages according to the
class in which they are placed The support Of
the child for care, nursing, clothing, &c, falls
upon the mother alone and ifshe fails offull work
AS Of necessity she must, if the child Is
cared for as it should bc-she loses part Of her
wages serious loss to her. True she is liable
by law to be punished (by fine belieye), if she
grossly neglccts her infant but the risk to her
on that score, when the owner or manager wants
all the work he can get, and cares very little
whether an infant lives or dies, is not Of much
account The helpless little ones may be left
during the absence of their mothers under the
charge Of feeble Old crone whose care and res
possibility are on very low scale indeed.
That from lack of sustenance and proper care
many perish in infancy is indisputabe AS it is that
in a great many cases, where the mothers are
destitute Of the kind influences which come from
husband and family, they feel the death Of the
infant to bea gam rather than loss
Great differences were related to ne, in the
proportionatc number Of children raised, on diff
ferent estates On some, where the influences
were favorable and where also there were facili-
ties for earning support over and above the
weekly wages in cash and ration, families were
formed and children were said to be raised in
fair numbers. | recall an instance where
planter remarked to me that on one of his estates
"A large and valuable one-harily any children
were raised while on another there were many
for some reason. he said, there were more mar
riages and families On it than on the other
I dill not inquire of him how he accounted for
the difference but on abiding to it, to another
resident well acquainted with the island, the re-
ply was go that Is easily accounted for. The
first named estate is wholly occupied with cane.
There is no fruit there which the women can sell
to help support themselves and their children
and therefore they will not have them. The 9TH
err estate abounis in fruit which the women can
sell and thus easily support family and there
fore they are willing TO have one
As to the two towns on the island, where the
Labor Ac, is not in force, children Of all ages
and IN fair proportion, seemed to me to abound.
GwB,