The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-09-29

The news again comes TO US h a in
the number Of iuiterates Robson eX-
ceeds any other county in the state.
To those who are acquainted with her
wealth ana industrial progress this may
BE- a surprise. The attempt to account
for 1t by saying that it is because we
have so many negroes and Croatans
amouEg Us Is misleading.
According TO the latest census there
are IN North Carolina two other coun-
ties whose coIored population far ex-
coed the combined number Of our ne
grOes and Croatans. The same report
shows that there are as many as thir-
ten others whose ratio of colored peo-
is higher than that OF Robson. But
we will deal more particularly with
whites.
The brief announcement states that
Wake county has ZI7 white children
who can neither read nor write, while
Robson has 4g7. calculating on the
basis of the last census. This gives
Robson one IIIiterdte for every As Of
its total white population; while Wake
has only one To every 13g of its whole
HUmber of White6-a comparison against
Robson OF nearly 3 to /.
The effort to show from the United
States census that RObesOn is ahead
OF Wake in education is likewise unfa-
VorabIe to Robson when we study the
matter for ourselves. The reason the
censuS figures are so great is hat all
persons, young and old, above the age
Of 10 years who could neither read nor
write are classed as ilIiterate. Where
as. the school committeeman are requir-
ed to report as iliiterates-Only those
children between the ages of y and p
who are alike deficient. Using the fig
ures for i~Iliteracy in each county pur-
porting to be taken from the census we
find Wake has 1855 ilIiterates, or 1887
per cent of Il total population of 54,626;
while Robson has 9,898 illiterates, or
24.51 per cent of a total pOuIation of 49,
81, a difference of more than 3 per cent.
in favor of Wake. Comparing the fig
ureS for whites Teach count we find
that Wake whole number of illiterateS
OF the white race are slightly over IL
per cent. of the whole, while Robeson's
are more than Il. .
iPIacing the repOrt of the school COM
mitteemen by that of the census takers,
We may reach an interesting conclusion.
We see. that the per cent. of illiteracy
pr each county come much nearer to-
%ether in the census report in whic
both young and old are classed. This
would indicate that Robeson's i~lliteracy
is relatively much higher among the
children. That the opportunities for at
tending school in each county were
formerly nearer on a parallel basis is
an easy deduction.
That many of the people of Robson
have been accustomed to educate their
children is well proven. The record of
its Scotch and S~cotch-Irish settlement
for a hundred years back v!ndicate this
assertion. 1t is hardly saying too much,
that the institution of the school is as
old as that of the home, among us.
Early in the last century we began
to establish cOuntTy academies, and in
n few years We're sending young men
to college and to the universities by
fives and tens BY the side of the great
Chalmers. in the cemetery of Edin-
burgh, Scotland. lie the remains of a
Robson student, placed there nearly
sixty years ago. Within our bounds
was founded one of the first female col
leges in the state, which IS still an cdu-
catiOnal force under the name of this,
its descendant n successor. the Red
Springs seminary. During the long
Str9S gIe for the C~Onfederacy i humble
OF academies pursued their work aai
some of the gray heads who read these
lines can associate their early memories
OF schoOl-room mOnotony. with the jing-
gle of window panes following the rOar
of artillery. Some institutions barely
stopped their exercises for Sherman's
army to pass, and the news of Lees
surrender was broker to the ears oc
many while school was in session. and
Euch as now will always recall the
Scenes of grief which followed.
= The stigma of illiteracy now resting
upon us could hardly be expected from
such a history, but repeated counts,
under different auspices. by various n
dividuals confirm the fact. It is well
for us to be honest with ourselves and
inquire the cause. That education was
never as prevalent as it should have
been, we admit. The presence of two
inferior races has been also barrier.
But a people who could give 10 the state
an unusual share of judges, congress-
gressmen and leading men of all pro-
LESSONS, without a cent. Of public
money. ought at least to make a favor
able showing with such aid.
We a seen that our Ignorance IS
relatively greatest among the children.
What has been the history of the pub
lie school sysetem in Robson? At its
beginning many country academies
were being run entirely on private
funds. and the small apportionments of
public money were first used in such
schools as mere supplements. AS the
appropriations We're gradually increased
the people became more disposed to rely
upon public aid but as the manage
ment of the schools had been in the
hands of the more Jealous and Well to
DO there was still a tendency for them to
@pse the appropriations with much the
same freedom as they had expended
their own money. There was little sys-
TEN employed in the formation of dis
tricts or IL the erection Of school hous
Is. In some cases schools were arrang-