Morning journal and courier., 1886-08-25
Wednesday, August 25. 1886.
THE SEA ISLAND NEGROES.

Mir. Mcclure, of the Philadelphia Times, publicly referred some time ago to the ne- groes of the Sea Islands as 'fsemi- -barbarous
 hordes of Beaufort" These negroes have
 been left mainly to themselves, with little
 assistance from white people, and therefore
 it would be easy for some people to think that they are semi-barbarous. But such
 does not appear to be the case.
 A correspondent of the St. Louis Globe
 Democrat has been visiting the Sea Islands, and he did not find very barbarous condi- ton of society thsre. On Lady's Island this is what he saw: Not one of the old cabins,
 the quarters of before the war, was to be
 seen, but from the slight elevation given by
 the buggy the could be counted within a
 stretch of mile twenty or more two-story, neatly painted houses, each with that indis-
 pensable feature of southern architecture, the gallery, and some with double galleries, all
 with window-sash and glass. Clustered
 about each farm house was the little collec-
 ton of buildings, the sranary, the barn and the buggy shed. The cotton and corn rows ran down to the road so close that the wheels
 brushed the stalks. If there was a little patch of grass COW was picketed. Some of the people were in the field plying the hoe,
 but for the most part the outdoor toilers
 were men. Busted around the houses could
 be seen the women-''idle labor," the old
 South Carolina planter would have comment
 ed with groan.
 On the island of St. Helena the reporter
 found Miss Towne, northern woman, who came to the islands on philanthropic mis- sion just after the war, became interested, bought the Frogmore plantation, and has stayed there ever since, gave the reporter some further information. Nothing, she said, had been done for these negroes in char ity, except that northern people have given | money for school and the government had | sold them land at low price. But all the
 rest they had done for themselves without l help or advice. They were not so frugal as | she could wish, partly because their exper fence with the Freedman's bank had dis couraged them, but in other respects they | are very prudent and thrifty. Miss Towne said that only two persons, and they very | old and worn out in slavery, had been sent | to the almshouse from St. Helena, with its five thousand people. There had been nc I foreclosures on the island. They would
 mortgage their crops, but not their land | More of the island is cultivated than in the
 old days, and it yields better. The people
 are quiet, peaceful, sober and honest. Miss | Towne had let her chickens run loose and ! none had ever been stolen until lately, anG
 now all the people on the island were eager to find the thief There had not been tria l justice, constable or calaboose on the island
 for years, and no need for any. They have
 temperance society, base ball clubs, anc | three brass bands.
 | Leaving out the brass band, there doesn'
 seem to be anything very barbarous abou
 the Sea Island negroes. On the contrary | they seem to be able to maintain quite al high state of civilization as exists in many places peopled by "white folks"