Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-01-28
A Northern Woman in Virginia.
SHE TELLS THE STORY OF HER EXPERT
ENCE THERE.

| SHE TELLS The STOR4 l1Gh IsAA A1A'A
ENCE THERE.
To the Editors of the N. Y. ErenSao i'ost:
For fortnight past 1 have watched a
rumor gradually making its way from one
newspaper o anoJher, first in New YORK
and later in other gu l, tiers, which chang
es with each fresh statement till the orlgI-
| nal one, incorrect enough, may be consld-
cred the quintessence and soul of truth
The Item having appeared IN the Evening
Post" last week, | must ask room for one
or two points concerning it, said item be-
| ing IN part as follows:
Mrs. Ellen Campbell has been for many
| years sui erintepdeht Of the North Caro-
lima Institute for Deaf, Dumb and Blind.
| In private letter To d friend at the North
she spoke Of the truth of "FOol's En-
rand" as pict ure IF southern life. This
observation was printed in "A Mnssachus
etts al newspaper al d travelled lack to
| North Carolina, whereupOn the State au-
thorities dismissed her."
| If one desired to make capital as thu
victim of another southern outrage, this
would be an excellent opportunity, but Gn-
| fortunately facts are against it.
First and least of blunders I am not
Mrs Ellen, :" but Helen Campbell, known
| to some of your readers as the writer of
certain Water street papers reprinted last
year by the Evening POST from ''Sun-
| day Afternoon now ''GOod Company.
Second, am not and never have bee,
superintendent of the North Carolina O.
any other institute for anything or any
body, nv sole connection with such insti-
tute having been the giving lessons in
cookery twice week to a class of deaf
mutes, such lessons, however, being only a
| part of my work last year in organizing
cooking schools at Raleigh, Charlotte and
| other points.
Third, and here is where truth and false
hood appear together, the opinion as to
| the "Fool's Errand" was written not in a
| private letter but in my capacity as an
| occasional correspondent for the Spring
| field Republican, in which rural" and
almost unknown sheet it appeared.
| am obliged to admit that this letter
stirred up most unexpected and tumul-
tuous little storm, not only in the teapot
| of Raleigh society but in sundry other
| teapots all over the State. I had spoken
deliberately with full knowledge of my
subject. and with a tribute to certain no.
BILE southern traits, quite ignored in the
comment upon my first attempt at free
speech. But the Raleigh "Observer'' gave
| luli pl1Co W d SIlOII dItlClo Ill WHICH,
claimed the right of the same free speech
| ground, and acquitted me fully of desire
| to place them in any unpleasant light.
had fully expected to return there for the
winter months, but continued ill-health
made the overwork of last year impossible
for this, and | most reluctantly resigned
that part of it which had to do with the
Deaf and Dumb Institute, receiving from
the trustees an acceptance, full, not only
of regret, but of the hearty kindness l
| have always experienced at their hands.
| Simple justice to all sides makes it ne
ceSsary, therefore, to state the real facts
That my letter should have produced the
stir it did is of course proof of still eX
isting narrowness and intolerance, found
chiefly however among the least instructed
and enlightened of the various editors wht
used the incident for political purposes
| one or two of whom are still most bitter
and unreconstructed rebels.
But this phase will pass, and indeed is
| already passing, Every experience of this
nature opens still more the eyes of all
earnest and progressive southerners to the
| danger at the heart of such narrowness
and | can well afford to be slightly its vic.
| tim if in any degree it may serve to do
| away with the bitterness and misuDder-
| standing, always the characteristic of ig-
norance.
HELEN CAMPBELL.
Staunton, Va. January s, 1881.
The authoress of the above is Mrs. Hell
en- Campbell, the Superintendent of the
Cooking School at the Augusta Femal.
Seminary here. The heading IS copied
| from the n. Y. ''Post' but does not seem
applicable to the contents, as the ''experi-