Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-29

oV6Tzal 06yS The steam SaWm1ll supplied with logs from the Carolina forests furnishes material for the fancy woodworking depart ment 1n the upper story of the same build ing. Here are colored students working all day and studying in the evening to fit them selves both mentally and pecuniarily for course in the regular school. Next we go to the large stone memorial building where a display of the industrial products of the school is arranged. One table, devoted to agricultural produce, shows boxes of straw berries, punches of asparagus, pot of butter from the school stock farm radishes, sheaves of grain of various kinds tastefully arranged and of frst-rate quality A little farther on
 showing what the wood-workers at the mill can do. Here is on exhibition work from the wood carving department partly done by
 Indian, partly by colored students. The sew ing and tailoring department makes good showing with it's display of uniforms and shirts lad out on the counter, beyond the Indian girls fancy work class has spread table with crazy patchwork crochet embroid- cry and various fancy articles. The shoe shop has sent in shoes from the great pair
 that looks as if it might have belonged to Og, King of Bashau, to the little brogans made hardly large enough for child of three. Near the shoes are the harnesses, great heavy cart harness and light driving harness, all plain, but strong and neatly finished. Up on the wall is a fine device, the monogram H. N. l., surrounded by various stars, which upon closer inspection proves to be made of mittens, the product of the knit ting machines worked by the boys, one of the most profitable industries on the place.
 In the other wing of the same building where the industrial display is held, we find ! the printing office, where steam press fur
 nishes employment for many apprentices, both colored and Indian. I think am cor rect in saying that this is the only place in l the South where colored boy can learn the printers trade.
 | Beyond the stone building is the barn where the stock brought in from She'll l banks, the school farm, some five miles back I in the country, is on exhibition for the day 1 Fine horses, both Norman and Morgan, stand in the stalls of the great stable. In the little paddock in front of the barn, pretty colts ! lift their timid, inquisitive heads to look | at us. In the barn yard cattle are standing ! looking with a mild, meditative gaze at | the strangers crowding around.
 I Here by the barn are the tin shop, the wagon shop, the blacksmith's shop the shoe l shop and the harness shop, and in therl you ! see the students hard at work, each shop superintended by skilled master workman ' who teaches the trade to his Indian and ! colored pupils
 But now the big school bell is ringing, the 1 signal that reeitations are over for the morn l ing, and we hasten to Virginia hall to see the 1 students march over to dinner. The band | strikes up bright quick march, and soon \ the long procession is seen winding through ! the trees. First comes a division of boys ! headed by the band and the band itself head ! ed by most impressive drum ajor, whose | swing and strut once seen will not soon be ! forgotten. With flags flying, drums beating ! and trumpets blowing they appear around
 the corner of General Armstrongs house, and ! then behind them, with light dresses futter- ! ing in the soft sea breeze, come the two hun
 ' dTQ6 fr1r f1nr1o aud f<1- ! lows another company of boys At the | signal from the drill master, tall ,fne-look- l ing, full blooded negro, the girls halt, the 1 two companies of boys form in two long lines
 leading up to the door of Virginia hall, the boys caps are lifted and held in the air while the company of girls march through the | avenue thus made, up the steps and into the dining hall.
 Then if we are fortunate enough to possess
 ! tickets to that entertainment we go over to Winona lodge, the Indian girls building, where simple lunch is served before the afternoon exercises-begin.
 At 1:30 the doors of the gymnasium are
 open and the crowd begins to pour into the ! great audience room, room capable of seat
 I ing between five and six thousand persons.
 ! This hall was finished just in time for last
 ! years commencement exercises and is the
 gift of MT. Monroe, a constant friend and
 benefactor of the school. It is used as 8
 gymnasium ordinarily, but is in all respects
 admirably adapted for an audience room, it's | acoustic properties being noticeably perfect.
 I It is perfectly simple in construction and was
 | built entirely by student labor under the | supervision of the heads of the departments, ! but the pointed roof with beams and rafters | visible overhead and the walls of narrow
 matched boards of southern pine make an
 effective and beautiful interior. When
 ! decorated as it is to-day with towering
 plants of all descriptions about the platform and filled with multitude in holiday attire ! 1t IS as fine sight as one would care to see. Behind the platform on seats raised one above the other sits the school, facing the | audience, the senior class in front. The ex-
 \ ercises begin with singing by the school. "All hail the power of Jesus name" comes | in clear, full tones from the many-voiced | choir and rings like the sound of great or ! gan through the hall. After short prayer l by the chaplain, MT. Strieby, the vice presi- dent of the board of trustees, introduces the ! first speaker, the salutatorian, Sarah Peake. He tells how, not far from the very
 spot where this school stands, during \ the early years of the when the negroes \ fockNd to Fortress Monroe to be under the protection of the Union guns, Mrs. Mary | Peake, one of the same family this Sarah ! Peake, taught in a low, wooden barracks the ! first school for negro children. As Sarah comes forward a murmur of applause moves \ the assemblage and she speaks most feelingly | of what work there is for negro women to do | in the South, of how that work lies all about ! them and their lives must be given to the ! salvation of their race. As she stands there 1 could hardly discover 8 trace of her ! African descent. She is more white ! than negro, but her feeling for her people is | asstrong as her desire to raise and elevate them; as sincere as they could be were she ! what. by popular prejudice she is called, | p in fart is fhp ] subject of the next address. given by w. B. Weaver former student of the school, though not graduate. He tells of the work ! that has been done in Gloucester county and of the progress that the negroes in that sec tion are making, both in regard to property, education and morality. Next to him Will I liam F. Grasty, a graduate of the class ot TT, speaks on "Our People in Southwestern Virginia" A sensible, honest, manly address | is Grasty's. He takes up the condition of the negro, his relations with the white men around him, his superstitious religious ! creeds, and deals with them fairly and plain | ly Again and again the applause of the au- dience breaks in on his speaking as he makes | a strong point or speaks truth that all feel has long waited to be spoken, and he takes his seat amid storm of applause, both | from school and audience. Then again the | school rises and some of the beautiful plan | tation melodies are sung before the next | speaker, R. J. Evans, graduate of last year, tells us about Midland and Piedmont, where ! he has been teaching for the year since his graduation. Next, Thomas Miles, from In- ! dian Territory, speaks on citizenship ! for the Indian. There is something inex- pressibly touching in the sight of this tall, I manly young fellow pleading that his people may be given the privilege that more than | any other has served to make of the negro a man. He speaks of the slavery of the Indi- an, in some respects more debasing servi- | tude than that of the African, for it is the state of complete dependence upon others without the wholesome discipline of work, and entreats that to the Indian as well as the 1 negro be given the right to stand a man among men, @ citizen among citizens.
 The next speaker, Rev. Young Jackson, from the pastors class, takes the ! subject of t'The Old and the New" He is an embodiment of the subject himself, 8 ! man of over fifty years of age, who has felt and comprehended the bitterness of slavery. He uses in speaking enough of the old negro dialect to contrast strongly with the cultiva- | ted English of the younger speakers, and his fervid, picturesque, often humorous style of oratory differs greatly from the self-con- | tained, carefully considered speeches that precede and follow his. He takes us back | by the power of his memory to the old times