I will first say, I am a colored girl; my native home is in St. Augustine. I was raised by kind Northern friends. I am teaching school on the St. John’s River, about thirty or forty miles from St. Augustine. In giving my descriptions, I will first describe my school-house. It is made entirely of logs, with the exception of the door and windows, which were given by Miss M. The skies may be seen in any part of the room. The cracks in the floor are large enough to put your hands through. When it rains, it leaks in like water dropping from the trees. There is no fire-place, nor was there any way for keeping warm until, the past week, a young man got me a little stove. But the house is so open this does but little towards heating it up. We have had some cold days, and the only way I had to keep my scholars warm was, to build two large fires and have the poor little children set around them (out of doors). I rubbed their little cold hands and bare feet, and oh! how it made my heart ache to see the tears stand in their eyes, when I asked them why they didn’t put on shoes and warmer clothes, and the reply would be, “I have on all the clothes I got, and I ain’t got no shoes.” Sometimes, when I have on all I can to keep warm, most of my girls have only two garments on, the boys nothing but pants and shirt. Some of my pupils have to come between two and three miles, and then cross a creek. I have a sewing-school for my girls once a week. I read to them, and teach them things to sing while they are sewing. They are to keep what they make. I have been teaching three-and-a-half months. The age of my scholars is from three-and-a-half to twenty-four years. I have enrolled thirty scholars, most of them very good, all anxious to learn. The people are very, very poor, and have real hard times in getting clothing, and keeping from starving. They live in log huts, some of which leak, and are in a dreadful condition. I don’t know how to describe some of them. There are a few white settlers here; some of them, when the folks work for them, won’t pay. This makes it real hard, as the work they get from them is mostly their entire support.
RECEIPTS
FOR APRIL, 1878.
| MAINE, $27.24. | |
| Andover. S. W. Pearson | 5.00 |
| Bluehill. Mrs. S. D. and Mrs. P. C. 50c. ea. | 1.00 |
| Litchfield Corners. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 10.00 |
| Winthrop. Cong. Ch. $10.21; Mrs. S. B.$1 | 11.24 |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE, $417.29. | |
| Bristol. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 2.75 |
| Deerfield. Estate of Stephen Brown, byJoseph T. Brown, Ex. | 100.00 |
| Exeter. “Friends in Second Cong. Ch.,”for a Teacher | 78.00 |
| Fitzwilliam. H. H. W. and M. W. W. | 1.20 |
| Franklin. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const.Rev. Austin H. Burr, L. M. | 35.00 |
| Hampstead. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 25.00 |
| Hudson. Mrs. B. F. Chase, bbl. of potatoes. | |
| Kingston. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $5; JacobChapman $5 | 10.00 |
| Laconia. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 6.75 |
| Lyme. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) | 3.00 |
| Manchester. C. B. Southworth $50; Rev. C.W. Wallace $25 | 75.00 |
| Mount Vernon. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 19.00 |
| Nashua. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 34.78 |
| Stoddard. Rev. H. H. C. | 1.00 |
| Temple. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 8.81 |
| Wilton. “Mistletoe Band,” for Student Aid,Wilmington, N. C. | 17.00 |
| VERMONT, $1,166.04. | |
| Berlin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 11.25 |
| Bennington. Mrs. M. B. K. | 0.50 |
| Bradford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 35.35 |
| Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) | 0.50 |
| Burlington. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 165.36 |
| Clarendon. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (of wh. $3from “Mrs. G. M. H.”) $17.40; Cong. Sab.Sch. $8.02 | 25.42 |
| Danby. Rev. L. D. M. | 0.50 |
| Dorset. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 25.00 |
| East Barnard. Levi Belknap | 2.00 |
| Montpelier. Bethany Ch., to const. Rev.John H. Hincks, L. M. | 32.00 |
| North Walden. S. W. O. | 0.50 |
| Peacham. Estate of Ezra C. Chamberlin,by Wm. R. Shedd, Ex. ($60 of which toconst. Miss Jane E. Chamberlin andMiss Jennie C. Watts, L.M’s) | 500.00 |
| South Londonderry. “A Friend” | 5.00 |
| Springfield. “Springfield Mission Circle,”for Student Aid, Atlanta U. | 150.00 |
| Springfield. Mrs. F. P. | 1.00 |
| Swanton. Harry Smith | 5.00 |
| West Brattleborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 14.46 |
| West Fairlee Centre. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 14.10 |
| West Rutland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $16.10;Mrs. L. W. $1 | 17.10 |
| Westminster West. Estate of Almira Goodhue,by Homer Goodhue, Ex. | 150.00 |
| Westminster West. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 11.00 |
| MASSACHUSETTS, $3,959.55. | |
| Agawam. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 21.71 |
| Andover. Mrs. J. B. Clough $10; C. H. G.,25c. | 10.25 |
| Ashby. Cong. Sab. Sch., for Student Aid,Atlanta U. | 10.00 |
| Ashfield. B. H. | 0.54 |
| Ayer. Mrs. C. A. Spaulding, for Theo. Student,Talladega C. | 70.00 |
| Bolton. “A Friend,” for Student Aid, AtlantaU. | 20.00 |
| Boston. Walnut Ave. Cong. Sab. Sch.$132.16; Rev. Chas. Nichols $25 | 157.16 |
| Braintree. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 14.00 |
| Brocton. Joseph Hewett $5; Mrs. BaalisSanford, box of C. | 5.00 |
| Brookline. Harvard Ch. and Soc. | 69.21 |
| Buckland. Cong. Ch. | 9.55 |
| Byfield. Mrs. Jerusha B. Root $30, to const.Martin Nelson Root, M.D., L.M.;Cong. Ch. and Soc. $5.75 | 35.75 |
| Cambridge. No. Ave. Cong. Ch. | 74.91 |
| Charlton. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 14.66 |
| Chelsea. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 48.22 |
| Concord. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $20;Thomas P. Carlton $2 | 22.00 |
| Dedham. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 87.02 |
| Dorchester. Thomas D. Quincy | 2.50 |
| Dunstable. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 7.16 |
| East Charlemont. Cong. Ch. (of which $1.75from “Carpenter Bees,” for Colored Girls) | 21.00 |
| East Longmeadow. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 1.00 |
| East Medway. Mrs. M. N. M. $1; E. B. D.$1 | 2.00 |
| Fall River. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 126.89 |
| Feeding Hills. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 6.17 |
| Framingham. Plymouth Cong. Sab. Sch.$14.40; Mrs. E. H. $1 | 15.40 |
| Groton. Union Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 36.02 |
| Greenfield. Second Cong. Ch. | 3.56 |
| Hadley. Mrs. E. Porter $5; Mrs. ElizaHuntington $2 | 7.00 |
| Holden. Cong. Sab. Sch. $15; Cong. Miss.Ass’n $6, for Wilmington, N. C. | 21.00 |
| Holliston. Cong. Sab. Sch. | 10.00 |
| Holyoke. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 14.97 |
| Hopkinton. First Cong. Sab. Sch. $121.87;Mrs. P. J. Claflin $100. | 228.87 |
| Hyde Park. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 41.88 |
| Lexington. Hancock Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 13.47 |
| Lowell. Mrs. S. L. P. | 0.50 |
| Malden. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 58.72 |
| Manchester. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 50.00 |
| Marshfield. Rev. E. Alden, 2 packages ofbooks. | |
| Medway. Estate of Clarissa A. Pond, by A.Pond, Ex. | 135.00 |
| Medway. Mrs. A. D. Sanford, box of C. | |
| Melrose. E. N. C. | 0.50 |
| Methuen. Estate of Joseph F. Ingalls, bySamuel G. Sargent and Will. C. Sleeper,Ex’s. | 959.09 |
| Middleborough. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 20.00 |
| Middlefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const.Oliver Church and Rev. Chas. M.Peirce, L.M’s | 60.71 |
| Middleton. Estate of Mrs. Catharine MerriamWilkins, by Francis P. Merriam, Ex. | 100.00 |
| Monson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 17.60 |
| New Bedford. Miss H. M. L. | 1.00 |
| Newburyport. Mrs. J. B. | 0.50 |
| North Adams. Cong. Ch. | 27.68 |
| Northampton. First Cong. Ch. | 47.06 |
| Newton. Eliot Cong. Ch. and Soc. $150.64;Mrs. C. F. R. $1 | 151.64 |
| Newtonville. Mrs. J. W. Hayes | 25.00 |
| North Brookfield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 50.00 |
| Oxford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. $21.39;L. W. 50c | 21.89 |
| Pittsfield. James R. Jones | 15.00 |
| Princeton. H. N. M. | 5.00 |
| Quincy. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 37.00 |
| Salem. Geo. Driver | 5.00 |
| Shelburne. Cong. Ch. | 9.61 |
| South Amherst. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 10.00 |
| Southfield. W. H. E. | 0.50 |
| South Framingham. South Cong. Ch. andSoc. | 88.00 |
| South Hadley. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 14.00 |
| South Hadley Falls. First Cong. Ch. $42;Cong. Ch. and Soc. $41 | 83.00 |
| South Plymouth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 11.13 |
| South Weymouth. Union Cong. Ch. | 30.00 |
| Spencer. Ladies’ Benev. Soc. | 20.00 |
| Springfield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc.$38.55; Hope Cong. Ch. $21.55; SouthCong. Ch. $12.96 | 73.06 |
| Sudbury. U.E. Ch. and Soc. | 25.50 |
| Sutton. R. L. | 1.00 |
| Templeton. J. L. $1; L. M. 50c. | 1.50 |
| Tolland. Mrs. N. E. S. | 0.50 |
| Waltham. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 36.50 |
| Warwick. Trin. Ch. and Sab. Sch. | 12.00 |
| Webster. First Cong. Ch. | 25.00 |
| Westborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc., M. C.Coll. $26.93; Cong. Sab. Sch. $56.02; Mrs.W. F. Morse $5 | 87.95 |
| West Brookfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 26.75 |
| Westhampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 15.50 |
| West Springfield. Park St. Ch. | 15.00 |
| Williamsburgh. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 14.14 |
| Williamstown. First Cong. Ch. | 15.39 |
| Wilmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. | 41.80 |
| Winchester. P.S. $1; “Two Children” 86c. | 1.86 |
| Worcester. Salem St. Ch. M. C. Coll. | 19.10 |
| ——“A Friend” | 250.00 |
| ——“A Friend” | 20.00 |