The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-12-17
Freed Children in Virginia.
A SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

uaVc ncdTu CulluIcu lCii aOOut
feeling funny" but ! never knew
exactly what they meant until the
first time that / stood up before
school of little black children
down in Virginia. "fel. funny"
then, sure enough. They had
never been to school before. they
scarcely knew what q school WAS
and they all sat with their great
shining black eyes fixed on me
the blacks so very black, the whites
so very white, like huckleb erries
in a bowl of milk, somebody said,
till / grew SO nervous that / felt as
if i must either largh or cry, and
couldn't quite make up my mind
which it should be.
Taking their names decided me.
1t was long time before could
keep from laughing whenever l
heard them. When the colored
people were slaves, they had no
family names as We have; they
were just called Jim or Tom or
Sally sometimes they added the
name of their master or mistress,
Sat often they had only the one.
one little boy gave his name as
Dandy jim"
What is your other name p l
-ked.
'.Ain't gos no oder name"
What is your mothers name 2"
"Name Aunt Polly"
WHAT'S your fathers name p
Name Uncle Jake"
"And haven't you any name but
I'm ?"
Done tole yer my name Dandy
jim Nanny ca me Jim, ole
mass ca he Darby jim. Likes
uaL ar &c pes
Then / came to another who
called himself "Pres' den Linkum.'
Why" / said, "you are not
President Lincoln =
els too. My nanny say so.'
asked his mother about it, and
sure enough all the name he had
was President Lincoln, or, as she
called it, Dresden Linkum.
Truth compels me to acknowledge
that president Lincoln did not al
ways b chave in just the manner
that would have been expected
from a parsonage with such a dis
tinguished name.
Another had never been called
anything but Buster There was
one pretty, bright looking little fell
low, about Ave years old, with just
enough of lisp to make him as
cunning as possible. When l ask
cd his name he said, ~ TIL Mahala
Thpriggth' boy"
'.But what is your name p
''Dat ar my name y
"What does your mother call
youi p
"Ca' me Boy :
'What do o,herpeople call you?"
Ca me Aahaia Thpriggth'
boy"
So there was nothing to be done
but to put him down as 'Mahala
'Sprigg's boy" Then til ere was
Gin al Butler and Jim Crow, as
black as crow, and as full Of mis-
chief as the Jim Crow who the old
song says used to cut such queer
capers. ! don't believe there was
ever another school register like
that one. When l called the
names they ran something in this
way: Dandy JIM President
Lincoln Buster 'Mahala Spriggs'
Boy,' General Butler Jim Crow
Aad the owners Of these names an
ered to them as seriously as if
ere wasn't anything funny about
And there wasn't to them !;
" didn't see that their names
ere at all out of the way.
They had been accustomed to
inning wild cut of doors all their
yes, and it WAS very hard for
EN- to sit still for two or three
purs in school. It would not
we been quite so hard if gu.
.hcolroom had been more com.
portable bot we had no nice brics
school house, we had to use an ole
barrack or barn, or whatever VIZ
could get. And we had no desI
or chairs, only long benches, some
of them without backs, where the
children had to sit packed as close
as behring's in box. They could
not very we'll help getting int
trouble under such circumstances
and every few minutes some on,
would call out: Teacher, dis vel
boy q chunkin; - by which they
meant pushing with his elbows or
Teacher. please make dis yer ga