The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-10-22
THE LOYAL SOUTH.
Evidences of Enthusiastic Patriotism In
All the Southern States.

But DOW l may be met by some a.
,redulous nearer, who SAYS: ''Why
,all upon us to help a people who are
lot yet in that condition of reconcilia-
lion to the North and the Nation which
ian alone give assurance that our gifrs
will not be perverted to the future
arrangement of the sections and the
mperiling the peace of the Union?"
reply: l do not here discuss the
points at issue between political parties.
as they bear on the present attitude of
the Southern people. But l am pre-
pared 20 say, after careful observa-
/ ton OF political and other tendencies, in
! all the States east of the Rocky Mount
aims, within the past five years, that,
whatever of the old unfriendliness to
American institutions or dangerous
political methods NAV exist in the
! South, there are several causes of peril
! to the Republic in our own Northern
States of equal magnitude, requiring
! equal patriotism and wisdom for their
management Within the life of nv
children our proudest Northern States
may call for sympathy and aid on Vir-
| ginia and the CarolinaS in emergencies
/ that appeal to the solid conservative
American habit of thought and public
administration. Indeed in the swift COM
ing issues of the future every State and
! section may be called. in truth, to come
to the front and save the Union, as the
North so grandly did generation ago.
faIf ha- chol
that the only way to prepare any por-
| ton of this Union to meet such peril or
to perform its ordinary duties is to give
its children and youth tire full benefit
/ of our American system of universal
education-that training of the heart,
the head and the hand. through our
varied national agencies, which shall
send forth every new generation COM
petent to meet the demands of common
life or rise to the emergency of any
perilOus hour.
And | urge our people of the North
to their duty in this momentous ques-
ton of Southern education, because
know the Southern people have we'll
begun this work for themselves, and
only need our thorough sympathy and
ultl 1OI JlS ldlI du' dllCciltuC COulu
fill pages and volumes with incidents of
personal experience to confirm what l
say. Let me close this paper by one
true story of what saw in the very
heart of the old Southland:
More than twenty years ago one of
the braveSt of the young commanders
in the National army, Colonel Shaw. of
the city OF New York, fell at the head
of his brigade of cOlored soldiers, in q
desperate assault on Fort Wagner, dur
ing the siege of Charleston. He was
buried with his men, and his BODY was
never found. After the close of the war
the families, in New York and Boston.
connected with the fallen soldier. built
a school-hOuse in Charleston for col
ored children, established the Shaw
school, and for several years sup
ported it as private beneficence. Some
five years since the use of the building
was granted to the public school au-
thorit.es of the city on condition of
the support of the school as a part of
the general system of instruction. Lat
er still the building was virtually given
to the city. and all the funds of the cor
porat!on passed over for its enlarge
meut; and now one of the public schools
of Charleston bears the name of the New
York Colonel who died at the head of
his black brigade forcing the entrance
to that beleaguered city
Last April, for the third time, [ Wis
ted the city, the guest of its govern
ment; this time for the sole purpose of
speaking to and advising with colored
people. And | saw that nowhere in
this country is there now more thor
Ough and honest purpose to give these
people fair elementary education
than in the city that first threw out
the flag of revolt and shotted the first
gun turned against the Union in 1861.
There are several large schools. sup
ported from the North, which were Wis
tied. But the most interesting of all
were the two great free schools, con-
tanning two thousand colored children,
many of their teachers representing the
old respectable families of the city. No
portion of the public-school system re-
ceiveS more cordial and careful atten-
ton than this from the able Superin-
tcndent, the patriotic and energetic
Mayor, and the School Board, whose
President is the former Secretary of the
Treasury of the Confederate Government
My last visit was to the Shaw school,
now a collection of several hundred
children, with white and colored
teachers; the Principal, like the City
superintendent, an officer in the Con-
federate army. After suitable inspec-
ton was invited to the great hall to
listen to some exercises by the higher
classes. prepared, as | understood. for
their coming commencement exhibit
ton. The first was recitation, by a
hundred of the older pupils. from Long
fellows building of the Ship" Then
a boy as black as night. George Wash
lngtOn by name, was summoned from
his seat TO recitc pathetic poem: The
Dying Soldier" 1t didn't need COM
ment to show for what cause that sol
der died: for the poem was a most
touching story of peril and suffering,
even unto death, for the saving of the
Union. As the soldier neared his end
he called to his companions for one
more of the old songs of the village
Sunday-schoOl; and the whole body of
children took up the theme and sung
with pathos only heard in the tones of
the freedmen. the dying refrain. The
soldier breathed his last with prayer
Tor his country, when the entire crowd
sprang to their feet and, led by their
teachers, pealed forth:
The star sp;.ngled banner, o long may it wave
. er the land of the free and the home of the
brave.
Two weeks later | stood at the other
end of South Carolina, in the thriving
town OF Chester, in another colored
school, supported by Northern funds.
for the higher and industrial education