Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-04-09
From Oolored School in South Carolina.

giving morning. l had pleasant day
there. We all ate our Thanksgiving din
ner together Some kind friends sent us
turkeys and vegetables. In the afternoon
several of us walked up on Cameron Hill,
a delightful place commanding fine view
of the city. At 6 2. NJ. that night Miss
Miller and myself bade our friends good
bye and turned our faces southwark We
travelled Thursday night and part of Fri
day, coming by way Of Atlanta. Last
night we stopped off at Allendale, S. c.,
where Miss Miller. who is a missionary.
| spoke to the people-gave them a gospel
talk. BY request | gave them a short talk
in behalf of their educational interests.
A part of them are very anxious for schools
but some do not interest themselves or
try to help. They paid excellent atten-
ton and seemed appreciative, but whether
any lasting good will come, the Lord alone
knows
| This morning we came away early and
rode down here--twenty two miles, before
| breakfast. This place is small station
to teach. | stopped off here, because this
| is where the Steele High school" Is found
ed by our Mrs. Steele She has a teachers
| home here. Mr.. and Mrs Latta from
Newton, Mass, are in charge of the school
here. They 90 North summers. They are
most excellent people, well educated and
cultured. 1t seemed so restful to me this
morning to be with them. We breakfasted
| on orn-cakes and homlnv with syrup-no
| butter; but we had coffee without milk
| Don't pity me, though, for my ride had
! given me an appetite that made it all taste
| good. The teachers home is comfortable
| but there are no luxurlcs The floors are
bare and the walls are whitewashed
| boards just heard Mrs Latta giving
! her directions for dinner to her colored
cook. She said I'VE had boiled hominy
and baked potatoes for breakfast and as
we want change, we will have fried hom-
iny and fried potatoes for dinner" They
seem very happy and cheerful in their
work here
am learning great deal about these
coored people Their condition is even
worse than anticipated. They are dense
y ignorant and supcrsfitious. or morals
| they have none, and even those among
them who claim to be religious teachers
know and practice nothing Of practical
pety. There are no villages here, but the
people live all around through these pine
woods and the children swarm in large
numbers to school coming from miles
around This i southern South Carolina in
the region known as the Black Belt" be-
cause there are so many blacks. In mum
bers they far exceed the whites think
am seeing the dark side of life here in the
Sunny South" but there Is surely great
worn to be done. and if the Lord has given
me part TO do in it. ought to feel hon
ored, ought not: | know He will help
me-. Mr., aud Mrs. Latta and Miss Miller |
will 90 to harly Branch with me this af.
ternoon and see me settled somewhere |
Miss Miller will remain with me few
days Mrs Steele sent her on q mission
AIRY tour To preach to the people here.
Central America. She is a graduate from
simpsons College for Missionaries in New
York city. She is remarkable young
woman In many respects, with tine in |
tellect, highly educated and cultured, ac-
customed TO all the comforts of life and
brought up in a tropical climate yet she is
enduring cold and other hardships brave
~ for the Masters sake
EARLY BRANCH, S. C.
We came down here yesterday a We ex-
pected. Mr. ana Mrs. Latta staid over un-
til this morning. They were expecting Us
here and had meeting appointed for US
last evening. The whites about here can
not be persuaded that a Yankee would
come to teach the colored for anything
but to make money. think you will be
interested in my surroundings. The coun
try is fiat and sandy and has a heavy
growth of pine woods. The man with
whom | am TO board, Mr. Cufy Bowles.
met us at the station with his mule and
we rode two miles out here. On the way
he told Us that he had an awful big
house" with heaps of room; )" but found,
"a expected, that it is small, though
much better than the ordinary negro cabin
in the South. | have little room all by
/ myself. containing big fireplace, a bed, a
rough washstand and small stand. The
walls even outside ones are of thin. white-
washed boards nailed to joists, with
chnks between admitting the light and
air. There are no < lass windows in the
house. but instead of windows they
have little wooden doors, which may be
opened and shut like any other door. At
this moment, midday, with the sun shin
ing brightly without, an writing by the
| light of little Kerosene Tampa very
! smoky one-because when the door is open
| the wind blows in too strongly, and when
| shut 1t is dark The same condition of
things prevails at the school-house, which
| is a log building about l5x22 feet, in which
| | am to have about seventy or eighty pu-
pills, if all come who want to. The old
ones were slaves and cannot read but
| they are anxious for schools for their chill
| dren and want them to be taught to read
ard write. | expect to open Sunday
School also and teach them something of
the Bible, of which they are very igno-
rant Mr.. Latta has been reckoning up
the cost of a new and larger school build
ing which they need The men will give
their work and the logs cost nothing. The
~, g., g..
floor and glass windows and black k-boards.
He is sure that it can be done for $40 or
s75. These people are exceedingly poor.
never saw anything like their poverty in
the North. 1t will be all they can do to
pay me the very small salary have, and
Mrs. Steele may have to help do that.
Their children may have to do without
books. The thought has occurred to me
that might interest my friends in the
North by stating the situation of these
people to them and get little help.
| |
There is all the sunshine of spring and
fragrance of flowers in The Ladies Home
Journal for April; the exquisite Easter
cover, designed by w. Hamilton Gibson,
is fair index to the charm of the whole
number. The pervading Easter spirit finds
perhaps its happiest expression in the
fiction. Mrs. Whitney's delightful serial
"A Golden Gossip" being continued