St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-05-24
Aid for the South.

AID tor the South.
Some meetings were held ut the North
Church in this place on Wednesday. to
consider the work being done 10y the
American Missionary Association among
the Freedmen of the South. These
meetings were addressed 10y Rev. Lewis
Circuit. of West Brattlcboro. and RevS.
Strictly of New York. and Woodwork
of Boston. secretaries of the AS>ocia-
ton. In opening the meeting Mr..
Grout spoke of the Importance III this
work. like that of all others. of review
ing the labor of the past. or as the mcr-
stock The war had come then the
emancipation then the Immediate and
pressing necessities of an Impoverished
race were temporarily supplied now
their education and elevation must hc
accomplished. He believed no cnntri-
buttons had ever been made which
for the education of the colorcd race ut
the south. Mr.. Circuit spoke earnestly
of the obstacles and acknowledgements
in the work. and compared the Freed
people of this country with those ot
South Africa. among whom he lahoicd
as Il missionary for fifteen Years. and
said the latter We're Il hundred fold bet
ter of than the former in all material
good. as the native African had land.
cattle. and hut to live in. while most
of the Freedmen had neither.
Mr.. Wordsworth wished /" correct
the idea somewhat prevalent that the
work ut the south MAS nearly accom-
pli$hcd it was just begun. He then
drew Il dark picture of the state "t the
cmancipatcd people and their former
masters. He also went into statistic
showing the extent al the field. Stain:
that the single state of Georgia Woui,
make eight states the size "f Ma-~achu
sets: that Texas would make thirt,
states equal in Siz" to the old Bay
State. etc. The ln>t census showed Il,
also that there were hctwrcn fourteen
and fifteen millions ot people i'll the "l'
slave states. against about eleven NIL
lions i'll the western states indlcatlu!
that the southern field of missionary
labor WAS some millions larger than TIN
western. while the Latter has no com
,,itI, tl., init
because of the utter exhaustion of tin
South by the war. He referred also t.
the character of the southern whites
their inability and unwillingncS> to cle
waite the lower classes. white and black
their prejudice against teachers who e
down there for no earthly reason hut t
do good. Ofthe thousands of Christian
teachers who had been sent there trol
the north. there were not half a dOzel
instances in which they had not hec1
treated with scorn and contempt. AM
social oStraciSm. This was but tn
natural outgrowth of the system of sla
very with which that part of our Ian
was cursed for two centuries.
Mr.. strictly thought this matter con
ccrned us as American citizens and Il
Christians. The North feel as thong
= they had gone through Il great struggle
lost thousands of their best men. give
freedom to the slaves; and now tn
| people return to their farms and thei
merchandise. letting the enfranchise
race and the Impoverished South tax
care of themselves. The white peOpl
of the South say: We were well enOug
off before the war : the slaves were we
enough off we used to take care a.,
them, until YOU came with Your armie
and crushed us and freed them an
made them voters and office holder
We told you they were not fit for libel
tv-were better off as they were. q
YOU rests the responsibility. The free
people say =: When we were slaves W
had hut. new suit of clothes once
year, and plenty of food. The Mort
gave us freedom, but it has virtual
taken away everything else. The cou1
try is desolated, and our old master
are not kindly toward us even if the