Wilmington journal., 1869-08-06
Education by the "Friends - in tne
South.

The New York Observer publishes the
following extract from letter recently ad
dressed to gentleman residing in the
South, and which gives O cheering account
of the progress of the enterprise estab-
lished by the ''Friends' of Baltimore for
white education in North Carolina, the
Philadelphia Friends having the colored
children in very much the same districts
There has been much practical wisdom as
we'll benevolenre exhibited by the
'Eriends" of Baltimore in their humane
efforts in the field Of Southern educational
| labor:
BALTIMORE, July5. 1869
My Dear Friend Thine of the "a
instant is received, aud 1T gives me plea
sure to furnish 'informatiOn in the con
duet of our schools in North Carolina, and
| their success"
At the close of the war, in 1865,
'Frieuds" organized an association III Bal
! titnore on behalf of our church at large,
| for the education of our children in North
Carolina, about |, 800 between the ages of
five and eighteen We opened with twelve
schools and zoo pupils. lie people gen
orally, however, took snch interest i'll the
| w3rk that we soon made it regular sys-
tenn of education, which now embraces a
Normal school, AZ primary schools, with
1000 pupils Normal Sabbath school,
about SO Sabbath schools, and nearly 4 900
pupils over this department We have a
superintendent of education.
Our industrial department embraces q
model farm, an agricultural implement anu
seed depot, eighteen agricultural clubs, and
45O subscribers to agricultural papers all
under the care of another superintendent,
who is the farmer and lecturer. He has
solved the grass question, for in 1867 he
imported and sold at cost 500 pounds of
clover seed in 1868, 5000 pounds, and in
1869, 1880 pounds. Both superinten-
dents reside near High Point, Guilford
county, but our work is scattered through
eleven counties, and reaches from the At
Iantic to the mountains The main fea-
lures are thoroughness combined with sim
plicity and cheapness-the moral support
of all classes every Friends child in the
State being well educated. The other L.
700 children are neighbors, without regard
to creed or politics. The schools are half
self-sustaining, ami are aided by Judi
cious committee in each neighborhood :;
fifty two of the fifty eight teachers are ma
tives of Carolina, and it is a home work as
far as possible. The main feature, how
ever, is the normal during each summer
vacation of two months, for four years
past. we have boarded the teachers and ad-
trained them thoroughly in every de-
partment Of education. The result has
been n concert of action, sympathy, ac-
quaintance-in fact, the strength of our
work is in this devoted band of young teach
ers. All of them believe to be earnest
Christians. We have adopted the same
plan to improve our Sabbath schools. In
the spring We collect the superintendents
and teachers for a week at several points,
and drill them for their special work. We
held four such normals the past spring
attended one at Snow Camp, Aiamance
county, at which, for two days, six hundred
adults were present, including Presbyte-
rians. Methodists, Baptlsts and Friends
The South presents a glorious field for re-
ligious and educational labor. The chill
dren are very attractive, their minds bright,
and behavior unexceptionable. In four
years we have never had difficulty with
parents, children or neighbors Work of
this kind should be sustained upon a.
moral and religious basis only, and the re-
suit will be hearty cooperation on the part
of all.
We have whites exclusively under our
care, but our Philadelphia Friends have
the colored children in very much the same
districts, and their mission work is nearly
as large and quite as successful and inter
esting.
Including large outlay for physical re-
lief in 1865, and aid to the boarding school
and agricultural department, our expendi-
ture has been nearly 800, 900. After this
year we expect to make the work self-sus-
tanning.