VIRGINIA.
The Work at Hampton, from a Three Months’ Observation.
REV. JOHN H. DENISON
“Arbores seret, diligens Agricola, quarum adspiciet baccam ipse nunquam.” A diligent husbandman plants trees, the fruit of which he himself shall never behold. With such sentiments did our excellent Arnold support us in the arduous pursuit of Latin prose composition. It is evident, however, that there is a difference in trees, if not in diligent husbandmen.
“Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute” is a tree whose fruit may be speedily beheld, not only by those who planted it, but by those also who cultivate or enrich it. It is a paying investment. Every year it sends its roots deeper and stretches its boughs out farther. It commends itself to the practical Christian sentiment of the South. It is a peace-making force throughout this section. Its attitude towards all Southern questions is intelligent, considerate and just; it gives no sympathy to fanaticism on either side, and nothing but discouragement to political schemers. It sends out every summer the wholesome leaven of a class of young men and women who have been trained to teach intelligently; to use their hands as well as their heads; to see the dignity of labor; to accept the situation, and not to be ashamed of their color. In short, they are trained to the work that lies before them, and not trained away from it.
It is a rare thing for a graduate of the Normal School to enter into political life. Not one has been known to be a demagogue. The standard set before them is that of a hard-working Christian manhood; and it must be said that they bid fair to make the best citizens we have, in a time when the great demand is for men who will not work for an office, but who will work honestly for a living. Our country seems to be crying for a further supply of that article which forms the staple and the grit of nations—a contented, practical manhood—the “vir integer vitæ” of Horace, re-inforced by grace. It is that demand which Hampton is seeking to meet, and does meet, with its yearly class of graduates.
Many years ago all England was startled by the arraignment of an educated gentleman for stealing; he was a graduate of Oxford; he plead guilty, but said it was his only resource; he had not been able to find any business by which he could support himself honestly. Since then the history of our financial institutions has made it appear that this gentleman was not alone in his unhappy predicament; there has been a world of college education which has not fitted its beneficiaries to gain an honest livelihood. It has given them the accomplishments of a social rank, but not the power to earn that rank; it has simply made them miserable. It has done worse even: it has left them in the midst of a moral snare. It is the grand miscalculation of our educational system. Here are millions of acres at the South waiting to be reclaimed by skilful hands; here are thousands of educated men who cannot find an honest self-supporting business. The lever of education is not applied at the right place. It is the merit of Hampton that it does apply the lever at the right place. It trains the hand as well as the head. It fits a man to take up the work God has placed before him. It gives him the conditions on which a Christian life may flourish.
The religious teaching is evangelical. The school regards itself as representing the American Missionary Association, and is faithful to the trust. Nowhere can teachers be found more earnestly evangelical, laboring often beyond their strength to bring souls to Christ. To their honor be it said, however, that both Unitarians and Friends have not only contributed of their means in large proportion, but have also served in the work of education and Christian culture with the most unselfish devotion. They reap a far richer reward than that of theological proselytism. Their noble spirit, scorning all partisan ends, seeking only for an opportunity to do good, has greatly increased the humane and beneficent influence of the school; has caused it to be widely felt outside of its own walls, and to become every day more and more an instrument of peace and reconstruction.
There is a world of kindly deeds and neighborly acts which cannot be enumerated, but which prove to the community the kinship of our Northern Christianity, and they meet with a response. When a petition was presented this winter for the purpose of subjecting the school to taxation, a large majority of the most influential citizens in Hampton entered their protest, and the petition fell to the ground. It was a sign of the times.
The religious work of the school has been well directed, although not a thing that could be put in figures. It is largely an endeavor to counteract the tendencies of ignorance and prejudice in the colored churches and so give free play to the spirit of grace. A large proportion of the students are professors of religion when they come. The emotions and prejudices have been trained to excess by an ignorant but fervid system of religion which has exercised but slight control over immoral practices. The effort is to balance this by the cultivation of the conscience and understanding in Scriptural truth; especially to hold up before their minds the idea of an every-day religion and a practical Christian manhood.
The interest this winter has not reached the revival point, but students have been led to Christ from time to time. Our hope is not in transports, but in that steadily increasing lump of leaven, a practical, self-denying piety. It shows itself in the morale of the school. We have 316 students—214 boys and 102 girls; of these, 56 are Indian boys, and 9 Indian girls.
In such a mass of human nature, fresh from uncivilization, one might expect serious disturbances and scandals, not to say rowdyism; yet Washington’s birthday was celebrated on the open green by Negroes, and Indians who had just taken off their blankets, with an Arcadian good behavior, while blacks and aborigines met together in the school parlors and played games together, boys as well as girls, without indecorum. It is a frequent comment how little trouble they make, for so miscellaneous a collection. There is a spirit, an atmosphere of Christianity that pervades everything.
Perhaps the most striking fact of the winter is the Indian work. It is a pity that people at the North do not see the great importance of this, for it is much in need of funds. Four years ago a party of hostile Indians of the most intractable sort were captured and sent in irons to St. Augustine, under charge of Capt. Pratt, U. S. A. They were desperate fellows; one killed himself rather than submit. Under the Christian treatment of Capt. Pratt they experienced a wonderful change, laid aside their savage propensities, and heartily embraced the principles of civilization. A year ago it was proposed that they should be brought to Hampton. The experiment was tried successfully. They mingle in a kindly way with the negroes, and have manifested an earnest disposition to learn what they call the white man’s road. They have given up their tobacco and their whiskey; they hold prayer-meetings together, where one may hear their tones of earnest entreaty, pleading with God in their own language. Furthermore, they show their faith by their works, and may be seen digging ditches or picking potatoes with all the energy of an Anglo-Saxon. This for aboriginal gentlemen who, four years ago, accounted manual labor to be the deepest degradation to which a warrior could submit.
Best of all, they have manifested repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. At the first communion in March, eleven of them are, at their own earnest desire, to be admitted to the church. Last summer the experiment proved such a success that the school offered to take 50 more, and educate them for Government, at the low rate of $167 apiece. It was too low an estimate; but it was thought that friends would help, especially in the erection of a building. They came last fall—40 boys and 9 girls—bright-faced, ready to learn, full of response to kindness. They are better than could have been expected; already some of them have shown an interest in Christ. No work could promise better. They have a great desire to learn, and are especially interested in the mechanical arts that will help their people toward civilization. Mr. Corliss has offered one of his engines for a machine shop, but there is no money with which to put a roof over it; even the Indian dormitory is yet unpaid for. For want of $18,000 the work is checked; but it is a vital work. If there are two classes of men to whom the people of the United States owe a helping hand, they are the Indians and the Negroes. Besides, it is God’s time; both races have been awakened to their needs; there is a cry for help. Even from the far neighborhood of Puget Sound have come letters asking if there is room at Hampton. The time has come for the elevation of the Indian race; the fulcrum is at Hampton. Here, too, is part of the lever; what we want is the other part.
“Freely ye have received,” Christ says, “freely give.” We cannot wash away our national injustice; God does not expect that. We can show penitence by our helpfulness toward those who have been its victims. So much God will expect, and it is likely to be sad for us if we fail to meet the expectation.