St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-02-11
remarkable Specimen of Virginia Re
construction"
W NAREENTON. Va Ian - IL

% DEAR SIR: In the winter of '72-3.
y taught day and evening schools here fo
! the c"l"red people. AT the request q
" the pastor and deacons of the colore,
chnich, came here Wednesday eve
:, hlh". Jan. -, and commenced Il scric
OF Gospel meetings i'll the colorc,
. church. Wednesday evening the hous,
was filled to over-tlowng. At leas
forty persons pledged themselves thai
they would speak to some one about
his or her souls salvation before Satur.
: day night. On Friday even ing, we hao
: ayoung peoples meeting. a very deer
D interest was manifested, and some yer,
D touching requests for prayers were pre-
, scuted. At the close of the meeting
nearly all mnconverted persons in the
house, estimated at 300. expressed {;
desire t" become Christians now. AT
the request of the pastor. the meetings
were continued on Sabbath and we
have had meeting every night this
week with an ever deepening interest.
The colorcd school is taught by Mrs.
EddS, Il white woman whose husband is
Ill the penltentiary for murder. She
has been often heard to say that sne
considered it IL disgrace To teach Il col
"rcd school. and would not do it were
she not obliged t" for Il living. She has
Il Mrs. Harris (also whitr) for an assist
ant teacher. They are the same teachers
who taught the school here when | was
here three Years ago. Having heard
many complaints from the parents that
their children were not learning any
thing. yesterday afternoon visited the
school and you would have wept as did.
if you could have seen those two schools
IN one room, both teachers seated by Il
stove with two or three switches in
! their hands, and the children crowded
| just lis close aS they could pack into the
few seats that did not half ill the room
1t is very manifest that the teachers do
not care whether the scholars learn or
not. The best scholar in the school has
only reached division of simple num-
berS. There Was no order Whatever.
On enquiry | learned that some
months ago pant of the benches were
sent /" the carpenters shop for repairs.
and as the School Board refuse to pay
him but SIS for his work while he
charged 20. he has retained the benches
I IL
now, and all this time the school has
not had over halt us many seats as it
needed. but neither the teachers nor the
School Board cared. but on one of the
parents complaining to one of the School
Board am told, he said that if Mrs.
EddS did not have accommodation for
81 many She would have to tuIn out
some of them.
After the close ot the school. some of
the children drsiIcd us to stay and sing
Il few uf SankcN and Bliss hymns which
We use III our meetings. Mrs. Edd>
gave her consent and said She would
stay but had IN engagement.
teacher, To whom had not spoken,
came over and said You old Yankee.
YOU have no business here" turned
around and said : What did You say.
madam - She answered: lou Yankee
lholitiomi>t, Nnu what aIr You here tor,
intIudIng on Southern ladies' - south
ern ladies. indeed. said |. 'IlcaNen save
the mark :" Al that the children laugh
ed. and she went away muttcring curses.
That evening john Grant. the town
>argcant, came to my room and said
that the teachers had complained to the
School Board and to the town authorl-
ties that my coming into the school had
50 stirred up the children that they
could not manage them, and that if !
was i'll town in the morning the town
authorities would not be responsible
for what the Young men would do to
me. us had no business what kind of Il
school they had.
told him would make it my husi-
ness to report what kind of Il school |
found, and to tell the young men if they
wished to display any Southern chival-
ry, just to go ahead. heard nothing
more until this afternoon, when the said
Grant came with IL writ charging me
with being il book agent, and with sell
ing Sankey and Bliss hymn books with
out Il license, contrary to an Act of the
corporation. He took me before the
Judge. | stated that | came to War
renton as Il missionary and had been
holding gospel meetings in the colOred
church that used the book and had
given away many, but had sold not
over the amount of two dollars worth
ut cost He said that WAS violation
of an act of the corporation. and he
gave Judgment $500 fine and costs,
making S640, which | paid. Then
Joseph Nelson. the assessor of Internal
Revenue, said that also in selling those
books had broken the laws of Virginia
and was liable to Il fine of not less than
$50 and costs but he would give me
twenty four hours to leave Warreuton,
and if did not leave in that time he
would have me arrested and fined.
We had wonderful meeting last
night think there were at least one
hundred persons weeping when | asked
all who wished to give themselves to
the Lord, to come forward and give
| .L,n.nlues tn the ord in a covenant