A day school was kept in a house, near Hampton, formerly the residence of Ex-President Tyler, which was wholly given up for the use of the freedmen. This school was subsequently removed to the old Court House at Hampton, which had been fitted up for the purpose, government furnishing a portion of the lumber. This school became the largest under the care of the freedmen's teachers, and numbered at one time five hundred scholars. Among the ruins of Hampton, which had, at an early period of the rebellion, been burned by the rebels, the colored people erected rude cottages, the materials being gathered from the vacated camps, the deserted dwellings of fugitive slaveholders, &c.
Such of the freedmen as were not employed by government have obtained a living by fishing, oystering, huckstering, carting, washing, &c.
Interesting Facts.
Many highly interesting facts have been communicated with regard to the freedmen—their natural endowments, their facility in acquiring knowledge in letters and arms, their industrial habits, their shrewdness in business transactions, their gratitude, their courage, their acquaintance with passing events, their confidence that the result of the rebellion will be the liberation of their people, and their piety. Some of these facts have been extensively published, and have been read with high gratification. It is thought that a few of these facts may add to the value of this little publication.
Schools for the Children.
A young teacher at Hampton, Virginia, writes as follows: "When I first commenced the school here, I found the children such as slavery makes—quarrelsome, thievish, uncleanly in their persons and attire, and seemingly inclined to almost every species of wickedness; and it appeared to me that they were too far gone to be ever raised to any thing like intelligent children at the North. But I found that I had reckoned without my host in the persons of these children.
"At the end of the first week there was a decided improvement manifested, and in four weeks you hardly ever saw one hundred and fifty children more cleanly in their persons and apparel. Their lessons were, in most cases, quickly and correctly learned, and their behavior was kind and affectionate toward each other, while in singing the sweet little Sabbath school songs, I should not hesitate to put them side by side with the best of our Sabbath-school scholars at the North. And they so fully appreciate my humble efforts in their behalf, that my table in the school room is loaded, morning and noon, with oranges, lemons, apples, figs, candies, and other sweet things too numerous to mention, all testifying their love to me, although I can do so little for them."
Another teacher, at Beaufort, South Carolina, writes: "My school numbered about forty of the children. Most of them were very dirty and poorly dressed, all very black in color. A happier group of children I never expect to witness than those who composed my school: bright eyes, happy looks, kind and patient dispositions, made them look attractive to my eyes, though they were 'horribly black,' as some have called them, and very dirty at first. But they were so innocent, so despised by others, and withal so anxious to learn, that I felt a true sympathy for them.