The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-11
p SLAVE GIRLS
BOOK LEARNING
Taught Her Letters by Her
Young Master Charlie.
Started to school with 'Buckra
Children" hut the Teacher Re-
fused Her Admittnnce.

Miss Emma ]. Wilson, colored wo-
man of Mayesville, S. c., is in New York
city to try and raise money TO erect a
permanent school building for the Mayes-
Vile Educational and Industrial School.
The story OF the institution and of
Miss Wilson's life are so closely inter-
woven that they can scarcely be separ-
ated. In detailing the causes leading up
to the founding of the school, Miss VIII
son said:
when I was a little slave girl. living
on the plantation where my mother was
the cook. / used to play with my mas
ter's children. When ii became time for
them to enter school | got ready to go,
too. followed the children as far as the
front gate where the teacher met me and
said, You must go back | stood at the
gate and 'hoIlered at the top of my
voice My young master ran to me and
said. Don't CRY. Babe; I'll teach you
when I come back Then my mother
called me in, and asked what j was cry
ing for. I told her l wanted to go to
school She said:
You cannot go to school with the
Buckra children. but the time will come
when you can go
Il asked her when that time would be,
and she said: BY and by / watched
all day for the children to come home.
and when they returned in the afternoon
my young master called me and said he
was ready to give me my lesson. He
brought from school with him The
Southern Presbyterian for my primer.
- Il. h. ord
Southern Presbyterian were the first
letters OF the alphabet which / learned.
Nv little master taught me. We would
sit down together and make the letters
in the sand. and / would copy them with
my finger or a stick.
After l had learned In this way TO
write the letters / would find the old en-
velopes in which my masters letters had
come. and l practiced on these until L
could write my masters name perfectly.
zone day when the family were away
I crept into the dining-room. where the
walls were very white. and wrote my
masters name all around the room.
When the family were seated at supper.
while | was sitting on the hearth, my
mistress discovered this writing on the
wall. She said. Why, who marked my
waH?' Nobody replied. and she proceed
ed to investigate and concluded il was
taken out and whipped. While this was
going on I went Away and cried over it,
for il hurt me very much TO have my sis
ter whipped for what / had done. Soon
came back to my mistress and owned up
that I had marked the wall.
II was so Httle.~ continued Miss VIII
son. THAT she could not believe il, and
told me to sit down and write the same
thing again. which | did. She did not
punish me. but told Master Charlie to
stop teaching me.
by and by, after We were free, beg
ged my mother TO let me go to school,
but she did not think it necessary for
girls TO learn. and refused / was de-
termined not TO let the boys know more
than I did so | went to the woman on
whose plantation we were living, and
asked her to give me a Webster's blue
backed spelIing-book, and she did.
would hurry and get through nay task in
the field. hoeing corn. cotton, potatoes
or rice and then I would take the book
which I had hidden in the woods and go
out under the trees and study my les
son. As soon as | fOtnd that / was
ahead of the boys l would run out every
afternoon 10 the road. and meet the chill
dren as they passed along from school,
and try to make them spell the hard
words The first word / gave them 10
Snell was MISUNDERSTANDING They said
that there was no such word in the book
and when 1 had convinced them thar
there was, they said:
How you Farm, Amt eoin' TO SCHOOL,
Never mind / answered. how j
Tarn. You're goin' to school, an | amt
After this / made a great circle in the
road, with a smaller circle in the middle
for myself. and then asked all the chill
dren who were in the spelling class to
stand with their toes on the line of the
great circle. and put any word to me they
wanted to. up to a certain place in the
book. Then they called words TO me-
and every time i spelled them / would
Jump up and shout and 'holler' and when
they couldn't spell me down they would
say:
How did you FARM
One night the little students mother
yielded to her opportunities. and prom
Used her that she could go TO school the
next day. Full of JOY, she could not