The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-11-23
CONCERNING NE
GRO EDUCATION
New York SUM-


many complacent and unsuspecsing
persons in this part of the country to
hear it said that a very considerable
number, If not a majority, of the old.
time great Southern Shareholders were
heartily opposed to the institution"
Such is the truth, nevertheless, as
every one familiar with the inner his
tory of that section knows full we'll
There is no room for argument When
we enter the domain of imperishable
fact we shake from our heels the dust
of controversy. But a still more nov
ell and disturbing truth is that long
before the Civil War certain Louis
lana landowners of the magnificent,
patriarchal type conceived a plan for
educating their slaves, so wise, so
enlightened, and, as it proved, so sub
stantially beneficent, that modern pa
ternalism could advantageously bark
back to it at least in some particu-
lar respects.
To put it briefly, we say that long
before Uncle Toms Cabin" saw the
light, and while as yet the great slave
holding magnates Of the South re-
garded slavery as an establishment
beyond the reach of social agitation or
political vicissitude, wise and kindly
members of the ruling class had con-
ceived and set in operation system
whereby slavery could be robed of
all It's most repulsive aspects and
transformed into an agency of exal-
tation They were not doctrinaires,
these well meaning men, but they low
ed their slaves and they felt 1t their
duty, as it already was their earnest
wish. to lift them out of the mire Of
degradation and subsection, if such a
thing were possible. Thus 1t came
about that schools were established
on hundreds of plantations; nothing
like our modern schools, of course,
but just plain, simple agencies of ex-
pertinent and observation The idea
was to disclose the special gift, proc
livity or talent of the individual, not
to set up a Procrustes bed in the
way of SNUG curriculum The idea
was to encourage and disclose any
special talent and proclivity in the
Individual. The young were subject
ed to a benevolent and enlightened
nquisition. There was no cut and
Tried formula of appraisement. The
BORN artisan was not drilled to death
n obtany of ethics: the appointed
cooper, mason or blacksmith was not
required to qualify as pianist or
mathematician. Special gifts and ten
lencies were ascertained developed,
And SO it followed that
srs, carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors,
sugar boilers, artisans of
very kind, even musicians, and were
permitted to pursue their vocations
n perfect freedom, merely paying to
heir masters a small percentage on
he assessed value of the individual
n all respects they were at liberty
they lived where they pleased, ac-
Iuired their own homes and accumu-
ated their own properties, and in
ii respects were protected by the
aw. It is fact that the negro who
welt under this dispensation, seven
y-five years ago, enjoyed more actual
reedom and received more substan-
ial consideration than do his descen-
ants of today, who strut about In
lated and misled by the worthless
education" of the latter day public
chools.
A detailed record of the fruits OF
his system would astound the phil
nthropists of the present generation.
is a fact, Notwithstanding that the
laveholders of the last century did
1ore to uplift and help the negro
han all the doctrinaires and socie-
les and Governments of our day are
ding or are likely to do; and that,
the results in view, is
cry inadequate and pallid statement
I the case