Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-08-15
Freed Children In V1rginia.

s~' $soNts "'HAuS UAAoA eyes uxeO on
mc,-,he blacks so very black, the whites
So very white, like huckleberries in bowl
OF milk, somebody said,--till grew nc
nervous that felt as il must either laugh
or cry, and couldn't quite make up nv
mind what it should be.
Taking their names decided me. /,
was long time before could keep from
laughing whenever heard them. Whom
the colorcd people were slaves they had
no family names as we have; they were
just called Jim or Tom or Sally ; some.
times they added the name Of the master
or mistress, but often they had only the
One little boy gave his n .me ~ Dandy
Jim"
"What is your other name ?" l asked.
Amt got no oder name."
7" What is your mothers NAME"
shame Aunt Polly"
"What is your fathers name ?"
Shame Uncle jake"
And haven't you any name bnt Jim o.
i" Done tole yer my name Dandy Jim.
Nanny ca me Jim, ole mass, ca me
Dandy Jim. Likes dat ar de bes'."
Then | came to another who called him.
sell Pres'den' Linkum."
why" ] said, you are not Presiden,
Lincoln"
Is too. My nanny say 90"
asked his mother about it, and sure
enough all the name he had was P1esiden,
Lincoln, VI, as she called it, Pres'den,
Linkum.", Truth compels me to acknowl.
edge that president Lincoln" did no,
always behave in just the manner thu,
would have been expected from q person
with such IL distinguished name.
Another had been called anything but
" Buster" There was one pretty, bright.
lo"kingAitt!e fellow, abont fivo yea,s old
with just Civ Ugh Of lisp to make him a.
cunning ~ possible. When / asked his
name he said, 81 'th Nahala Thpriggth
boy
But what is your name ?"
"Dat al. my n,.me."
What does your mother call you ?'
Sea me Boy."
What do your people call you ?"
"Ca' me Mahala Thpriggth, boy"
So there Was nothing to be done but Ia
put HIM down as Mallala Spriggs's boy. p
Then there was "Gin'al Butler" and
,'Jim Grow" ss black as q crow, and as
full of mischief as the Jim Crow who the
old song says used to Gu: such queer
carers. l don't believe there was ever
another school register like that one.
When called the names they ran some
thing in this way Dandy Jim,' "Presi
dent Lincoln" "Baster," "Mahala
Spriggs's Boy" " General Butler" :. jim,
Crow" And the owners of these names
answered to them as seriosly as if there
wasn't anything funny about it. And
there was MT to them they didn't SEQ tina,
thsre names were at all out of the way
They had been accustomed to running
wild out Of toors I'LL their lives, and it wa!
very hard for them to sit still for two o,
three hours in school. 1t would not have
been quite SO hard if our school-room hae
been more comfortable but We had n,
NICE brick school-houso Wa had to use al
old barrack, or a barn, or whatever W,
could get. And We had NO desks o,
chairs only long benches, some Of then
wltho ut backs,-where the children had I.
slt packed lis close as behring's in box
They could not very we'll help getting int
trouble under such circumstances, ant
every few minutes some one would cal
out, "Teacher, dis yere boy chunkin'"
by which they meant pushing with hi,
elbews; or, "Te.cher. please make di
yere gal have herse'f"; or, "Teacher
make dis yere boy stop rollin' he eye
rouT ut me-" Nothing troubles them 9,
much as t. have "eyes rolf roun'" a
them. Sometimes matters were NOR
serious, and l would hear, " Boy, II
mash yer mouf CT yer dom femme lone
When they are very angry they Away,
want to smash" somebody's moufu
One day u bench full Of girls in front o
one Of the boys benches w.ls overturned
and the girls rolled in u heap on the floor
How did this happen ?" l asked.
"Dis yere Charlie" they all scrsame,
in u breath, she done did it done chup]
de bench, an ash we all on de fio'.O
"Why, Charlie" ! said, "what mad
you do that Z"
81 does hate girls" said Charlie; an,
he seemed to consider that good and stuff
cient reason for upsetting a bench full q
them.
But they very soon got over all this, an,
became as quiet and orderly as ono coul,
desire; and ] never saw any children a
the North so eager to learn. or who trio,
50 hard as these. There parents were al
very poor, and but few of them were abb,
to get locks for their children, so man,
OF the boys used to work after schoc
hours and earn money 10 buy their ow,
books. One little fellow ONLY seven year
old had looked with longing eyes, Us d.,
after day aud another came with primer
At last l missed him. lie was gone .
week then came with primer which h,
showed in triumph. "Done got nv book! !,
he said. lie was such . little fellow thu.
! never thought Of his having boug:,
1t himself so said,"I am very glad
WHO gave it to your" lie drew hi1,sel
up with the offended dignity as he answer
cd, Did MT nobody CUB it to me Da
dong nobody buy my books buys UNI my
sc's."
"wherc did you get your money ?"
asked.
Done kotch b lit for it.''
lie had caught small tis!, which he sol
to tho fishermen for bait, and saving n
the pennies he earned in this way, ut la,
had enough to buy book. The bows ha
all sorts Of ways Of making money, an
knew quite we'll how to t;.ko care OF the
own interests One hoy ten years old, q
soon as he could read in the primer startc
night school. They were several me
who wanted to learn to read, but as the
were ut work all day they had no ch.nt
to go to school. They engaged littto Die
to teach them in the Evening, paving hi
five cents il week each. He always insiste
upon being pnid in advance. l asked biz
why that was.
SWELL" he said, i" dunno nofin' 'bo,
dem ar men; dey mout 60 off any tim
an ct dey's got dar weeks larnin' fus',
mout whistle for my money. But l i
on'y a. chile. l can,t 60 nowhars w,dout q
mummy, nm Of dey puys dar money dey
sh@ huff ter git de larnin'."
1 thought that was bright enough for
Yankee hoy. He earned money in til
way t. buy all the books he needed, q,
put quito little sum in the savings-bar
besides.
These children would spend their Ia
cent Tor IL book, if they went without al
thing to eat in consequence. They d