It is the aim of this school to reach the homes of the common people and develop the good qualities in the young men and young women of the race.
I regard this work as being one of the most important schools in the South. This lady has borne all the cares, anxieties and difficulties engendered in this peculiar work for these many years, with remarkable fortitude and courage.
People who have always lived in the North cannot appreciate what it means to go South and take charge of a colored school. I have talked with many of the men and women now at the head of such institutions, and they tell me that it is the rarest thing for the Southern white people to ever come near them, or even speak of them, except in the most disrespectful manner. In fact, in the early days of freedom Northern teachers could hardly stay, because of their treatment on the part of the whites. There has been a great change, and many of the Southern people are willing now to admit that the white teachers have done a most excellent work for the race, but they still let them good and well alone. But in many cases it is a great help to be let alone, and especially when their recognition would not be friendly.
DAWES ACADEMY.
Dawes Academy is located at Berwin, I. T. Rev. Geo. Horne, principal. This school has an average attendance of about 100. It is developing rapidly. Rev. Horne is assisted by three teachers.
JACKSON COLLEGE.
This institution, as Natchez College, was founded by the A. B. H. Miss. Soc. at Natchez, Miss., in 1878. In 1883, as Jackson College, it was established in Jackson, the State capital. Rev. Luther G. Barrett, A. M., is president, a graduate of Harvard College and of Newton Theological Institution, a practical educator, and who was for a time professor in Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. It is beautifully and healthfully situated in the outskirts of the city, with fine buildings and an able corps of ten teachers. Its field is immense, Mississippi having 800,000 negroes. It had, up to the present yellow fever scourge, 200 students, and will, no doubt, with the passing of the fever, soon eclipse this number, as under its present efficient management it is fast gaining in popularity. It does superior work, its academical and classical departments comparing favorably with those of similar first-class institutions of the North, while it is just beginning regular college work. It has also a fine preparatory department and excellent graded musical course. It is pre-eminently a Christian school, the Bible being taught in grades one hour daily. Revivals are frequent, and generally each session closes with nearly every student a Christian. Its students stand high in the State as teachers, while many go on to professional schools of law, medicine and theology. Its great aim is to supply leaders.
STORER COLLEGE—FREE-WILL BAPTISTS.
At Harper's Ferry, W. Va., within sight of where John Brown made his famous raid, stands Storer College. The beautiful valley of the Shenandoah could not contain anything that would add more to its beauty than this splendid institution of learning.