Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-08-04
dlahhurap & yonruaL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1875.
Southern Correspondence.

! he country a. almost dead level. he
timber is mainly pine. The soil is sandy
and sterile, naturally, and now aptly repre-
'entcd by the seven lean kline" from the
depicting influence Of tobacco raising and
slave cultivation. Eight to twelve bushels
Of corn per acre, is now a fair yield Most
Of the labor is yet performed by the colored
people. The OK takes the place Of the horse
aud mule, and his dwarfed condition is in
keeping with the productiyoneas Of The soil
and the enterprise Of his owner. The bit
and line guides his course as ho slowly plods
across the field The climate Of eastern NiI-
ginia on the shores Of the Chesapeake, is
hardly surpassed in America. The inyigor-
ating sea breezes make you feel that you are
rising to physical "higher lifc," and as
you walk on the beach, or sail in the boat
You involuntarily exclaim, How good
feel" \ zest is given to alimentiyencss
like that induced b. mountain hunt or a
pine forest ramble The tide ehbs aud flows
at your feet and the majestic steamer and
the white sail craft, cover the great dccp.
As a health resort, very few fail to bc ma
terially benefited.
The people are very hosptable to visitors
from tho North, and excel MS in the exhibi-
ton Of this commeudable virtue. They are
anxious strangers should locate with them,
and urge the cheapness Of real estate aud
the easy terms Of payment.
The schools are few, and Of an inferior
order The colored children are not allowed
in the common public schools yet the col
ored children are fast becoming better schol-
ars than their white neighbors The colored
people teach each other every day the year
round, and such is their desire for an educa-
ton, that they are making great progress.
The younger pupils in the Sabbath-school
are taught the alphabet, and the common
school primer is used instead of the pri-
mary Sabbath-school lesson paper. ! at
tended a colored Sabba,h-school Of one hun
dred and fifty children and adults, and never
saw the interest equaled in any Sabbath
school, though have visited many. It was
easy speaking TO children giving undivided
attention, and the Amea Of the adults
aud pastor was no interruption. The col
orcd children appear more intelligent than
the poorer class Of whites. The colorod
people seem happy and hopeful, aud are se-
curing comfortable houses. They recognize
Yankee At sight with, know YOU are
our friends. thank God you come down
to u.s."
The white people are mostly poor and dis
cooraged Before the war their great in
come was in raising servants for the cotton
states. In their business the credit sy tenn
prevailed, and bills that accrued during the
year were settled about Christmas aud if
their merchandise did not cancel the bills,
notes We're given, and planters regarded It
an honor to 90 security for each other. The
result was that most planters Were either in
debt one or two thousands at the outbreak
Of the war, or holden for others for this
amount The emancipation PROCLAMATION
took from them their slaves, which was
usually seyen-oighths Of their property by
their laws, and to meet their other obliga-
tons the whole Of the real estate was usually
sacrificed, so hard was it to find a customer
willing to give the nominal value. Very
many Of the old planters are now poor, and
resort to Nhiskey drinking to dissipate
their sorrow. They say they cannot labor
and arc waiting for something to turn up
to make times better The Yankee idea
would be to 60 to work and turn up some
thing Of a hopeful and prosperous character.
Whskey drinking is common, aud there is
no legal and very little moral restraint to
the reign Of Bacchus At a democratic
county convention, the candidate for the
legislature was blowing his own trumpet,
and the part of the speech that excited the
greatest applause, (or more like a wildcat
YELL was the following When / want
something to drink | take it. go in at the
front door, too. don't go sneaking round
at the back door walk right up to the
counter and say, a glass of whiskey, sir.
This is the Independence Of Webb Bohan-
nan" l could but wish our democratic ad-
vocstes of FREQ rum at the north were pres
ent to witness this scene, and the daily street
exhibitions. They would return converted
TO the belief in domestic, social and public
happiness through total abstinence, and no
longer oppose temperance men and crusading
women.
The efficiency of the judiciary may be in
ferred from the following record of Judge c.,
who was holding session of the county
court of Matthews county, during my visit.
IN drunken state he quarreled with a col
orcd man on the street, who knocked him
down twice, when the Judges friends car
ried him into the hotel. When over his
drunk, he acknowledged that Africa -
served him right. The next day the Judge
was doing his usual work from his official
chair, and no notice was taken Of his
| street row.
But the great, unsolyed political problem
| The future Of he S0mA. The flattering re-
ports of Henry Wilson and travelling news
paper correspondents are before the public.
Such men are met by shrewd Southern men,
who present the sunny side of affairs. They
are treated with all the hospitality for which
lut NouNntil uiRtl ~ ilpttus nc lutthi
principle of the South" Woe TO him who
disturbs our domestic institution lis not
developed, and they return to the North
with deceived minds, and blinded as to the
true sentiment of the Southern heart. Edu-
Gated to believe the colored race were 10 be
the servants of the white; perplexed by
their present poverty; incapacitated by in
dolence for commendable enterprise, and
stung by the vivid recollection of "our lost
cause" the consequence is, a bitter latent
feeling against the colored man and his
benefactor. They do not mean to give to
the emancipatcd their rights in society,
schools and government, and If they can
prevent the Northern man, who locates with
them, from taking any part in the local gov
emment they win do it. Union men who
have resided South for twenty years, except
during the war, have assured me that there
was no real cordial feeling existing between
them and the old planters, and they had nc
hope that there ever would be during the
present generation. The knowledge that
your acquaintance is to be cut by the edu
Gated Southerner, coupled with the fact that
any investment made South will ever prove
to be a permanent one, because you cannoi