Flatonia, Fayette Co., Texas.—This young church has twenty-five members, and several are waiting an opportunity to unite. It is negotiating for a church building.
Chattanooga, Tenn.—“The Sabbath-school is well attended. We had a concert last Sabbath evening; the house was crowded and the exercises went off quite well, after which a collection for the A. M. A. was taken.”
Indian Agency, Keshena, Wis.—From the report of the school at the Green Bay Agency we extract the following: “Our school closed on the 20th, and we are happy to report that this has been the most favorable term since the opening of the boarding-school. We have had very little sickness and very few changes, nearly all who came at the beginning of the term remaining till its close. In this respect, of steady, persevering work, we notice great improvement. It is so contrary to the habits of the Indian that we note it with pleasure. The progress, too, in studies is very satisfactory.”
GENERAL NOTES.
The Freedmen.
—In commenting on the Windom Emigration Scheme, the Atlanta Constitution says: “In Georgia the colored people are doing as well as could be expected. If they are to remain citizens they ought to be educated, and they ought to have constantly before them the example of the whites. They are beginning to appreciate the responsibilities of citizenship; they are thrifty enough to accumulate property, and they are anxious to take advantage of the educational opportunities afforded them.” The colored man is valuable to the South. The white people know it. The above is important testimony to his worth and increasing usefulness.
—The Bainbridge Democrat gives, unwittingly, testimony to the industry and thrift of the colored laborer: “The ambition of every negro man is to have a home of his own; and it is no mean ambition; yet, if something is not done, this generation will live to see the day when this class of labor cannot be obtained at any price; and if we cannot supply it with labor just as good, there will be no other alternative for the white man but to ‘go.’ People have no use for lands when there is nobody to cultivate them; and as the colored people set up in their little cabins upon their poor and sickly lands, just in proportion will our finest and best acres depreciate in value. This is a question big with interest to our people, beside which others sink into nothingness.” Application: The colored laborer is becoming a settled, independent property holder, and his own master. When he can work, buy and sell for himself, and own his cabin, he is emancipated from domineering dictation. Whoever owns his own labor must control the market.
—After all, there is an inclination to block this aspiration of the colored man. The Atlanta Constitution holds that it is an open question whether this effort should be encouraged. It holds that there are two solutions of the labor problem which is now vexing the farmers. Either the negro must be made comfortable as a tenant, or he must be encouraged to provide himself a home. Either something like the English tenant system must be adopted or the system of small farms will prevail. There is something peculiarly attractive in this English system. Whether it could be made to fit the peculiar needs of the present and the contingencies of the future, is a question that the editor is not just now prepared to discuss.
—The colored man being an American citizen, it is improbable that the English tenant system can be made to fit his case. The rights of citizenship will secure to him the rights of labor. The homestead delivers him from serfdom, and secures to him the independent ballot.