Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-10-26
THE SOUTH AT SCHOOL.
One Generation Of Educated Youth the
Hope OF the south.

night the needs Of the south as regards educa-
ton, the vast social change that must be &C.
compished by this means, the results already
achieved the promise Of the future and the
part that we of the north may play in stimuli
ating the awakened south till ii can 20 on
the rest of the Union. Mr.. Mayo is qualified
20 speak knowingly on this subject by three
years of constant intercourse with southern
people of all social grades in lecturipg and
visiting in southern schools and addressing
miscellaneous audiences. For this work hc
had prepared himself. Unable to serve his
country actively in the great struggle, he asked
himself what was to be his part. lie fore
saw The great work Of rebuilding tina, must
follow the destructive work of war. Station
ed at Cincinnati for 10 years from 1868
journcyiDg through the Southwest OCCASION
ly, he saw that the real labor must begin by
establishing among the children of the South
OF both races system of universal education
and uplifting from this foundation the whole
social structure of the South. He occupied
himself till 1880 in preparation for his minis
| try of education, familiarzng himself with
| the methods and practical working of the
test schools, and then went forth with the
support only of a few benevolent northerners
aud the hospitablc welcome of the Southern
people-cntlrely independent of sect, party
| or propaganda Of any kind, laboring on his
| own responsibility as minister of the new
education. He went with recommendations
| from the best educational authorities and
public-spirited men OF the North, though
| with no official ENHANCEMENT. His method
was ito blow on every live. coal" and lose no
| time in trying to revive dead cinders, to give
| encouragement and advice to the people
| struggling with ignorance. He had been
welcomed so warmly that he could hardly
trust himself to speak of it in public. Under
every variety of circumstances, speaking as
freely as here in Burlington, he had
heard scarcely word of private
Encouragement aud had only one un-
unpleasant experience in public-and that
| from an Ohio man who took It upon him
self to champion, as he supposed, the South
crn people.
Mr.. Mayo sketched briefly the south as it
is--wlth its four million whites under
81, little more than half in any school, its
great numbers of ignorant black children,
with public schools in many states open only
three to six months in the year; the school
system, such as it is, almost entirely broken
down IN Louisiana, where the Roman Catho-
lie clergy by their bitter hostility
have almost paralyzed the system. Boston
pays twice as much annually as the whole
state OF Georgia for the instruction of its
children, and not more than one tenth of the
colored voters and onc-half the white voters
of the slave states through they may perhaps
lie able to read the ballots and write
their names make any appreciate
use of reading and writing. So
tie speaker went on with dismal facts and
| inr of lao
property; and asking his hearers to imagine
The society, with its foundation of blacks dis.
tortcd morally by generations of slavery, and
| nf equally debased poor whites, this society
Violently upturned by the cyclone of re-
| construction, the blacks and poor
whites alike cmancipated by the war
and now invested with the ballot. A typl-
cll poor white family was depicted in its
rags and slouchy degeneration the effect OF
slavery on the negro was shown, and the
speaker continued: Imagine what it is To
have state governed by such people, and
how improbable it was that people of Anglo
Saxon blood would consent to be governed
| by such Wonder not at the social chasm that
yawns between the negro and white man.
1t is impossible that there should be any
pronounce manifestation of democratic
equality and unified public spirit until this
| mass of barbarlsm has been enlightened.
| True the social division between the whites
and blacks is not likely to be entirely oh.
liberated but education draws the coors
together in justice and at heart, and gener-
alton of educational effort will at least enable
them to dwell together IN common citizen
ship. Meanwhile the South is kept down by
the influence of its laborers, the dullest class
in Christendom, manufactures and indus
tiles anguish and the section is thrown into
the hands of sharpers and plundercrs, who
unseltle state credit and state honor. Add
that whisky aud tobacco are all powerful
ami that the administration OF law is of the
loosest kind, and you have the dark side OF
the picture.
But there is a bright side. No such great
work has ever been wrought by mau as the
freeing and the advancement of this great
multitude of negroes. They are rapidly ac-
qgring land and properly, and in the schools
tIcy take readily to good schooling, to good
manners and to growth in morals There is
no fear for the growth of the coored man
if he is KEEP, out of the hands of foolish
friends and guided by the wisdom of the
country.
The poor whites, emancipated by the war;
are beginning to walk vigorously For the
next 80 years the wants OF their children will
need attention, and, educated, they will be-
came a mighty power for good
The whites still hold at the bottom the
qualities Of the old British stock, and are
developing every year in morale and in pub
ic affairs. -
A more attractive people tina the
superior class in the South does
not exist on the earth. They are small
in number, there were only $50, 900 actual
SHAREHOLDERS at the time of the rebellion aud
the slaveholdng class never numbered more
than 1900, 900 or 100000. Their sons are
bravely and industriousy endeavoring to
build up their shat cred fortunes, and their
daughters, facing life under far more diili-
culties than Northern girls, are showing them
selves Of the same energetic blood. Admir-
able is the attitude of the superior whites.
The elders, past the time of life when
changes are easily endured, are bearing
themselves with patience, dignity and return
ing friendliness, which we can meet without
SUSPICION. Among the sons and daughters
of men we were once fighting, Mr. Mayo
never spoke Of our common country without
"A RESPONSE fully as prompt and hearty as he
would have found in Massachusetts or Ohio
or Vermont. Old men of the upper classes
are getting such schooling as they can, and
everywhere are bearing themselves rs men. |
The laziness and incapacity of these people |
are not as great as we have been told. The |
sneaker could not see any great difference
hrt wteu the girls and our own sisters and |
daughters, particularly as 10 the charges of |
stupidity and laziness.
The clergy are to-day faithfully caring for |
the children, and Christian workers and pub |
lie men generally are jealous in the cause of
nropress. The Southern people in the past
10 years have not only resurrected their old
system of education, their schools and col
eges for the upper classes, and made it bet
Ter than ever, but have established in every
state the American system of free public
schools. They have paid $l5,000,0 900 an
nully ont of their own pockets for
schools and of this Sl2 OO0OO has
rome for free schools for both
noes. A mighty desire for educational and
Industrial uplifting lies below every other