He has no resources but his own labor. He earned nearly but not quite enough during vacation to carry him through this school year. He asked my advice whether he should stay at school or go and teach a school that is offered him. I advised him to stay while his money lasted, believing that when that is gone the Lord will send more. Ten dollars will meet his wants.
This has been an unusually severe winter. The colored people have been poorly prepared for it, both in regard to comfortable houses and clothing.
Our January communion was postponed, on account of the severe weather, till the first Sunday in February. We are expecting some additions to the church.
Our pupils have never made better progress. The deep snow which lay about four weeks kept some, chiefly primary scholars, away. Those who did come have done good work. We have among our pupils nine teachers, several others preparing to teach, and two preparing for the ministry.
A young lady, three miles distant, is sick with consumption. Mrs. Connet and I called upon her Saturday. She spent a year at Hampton, as student, and some years laboring at Waterbury, Ct., the last sixteen months as chief cook at the St. John’s School. Her health failed and she came home. She said she did not want to be buried so far away from her people. She and her sister were working and saving their wages to buy a farm for their parents, near the church and school. Her greatest trial now is that she will have to give up this cherished object of her life. We read and prayed with her, and commended her to him who healeth all our diseases.
It is sad to see the sick and dying in such uncomfortable hovels. This young lady is an invalid in a log house. In many places the daubing is out. The floor is of rough plank, with cracks between. The joists are partly covered with loose plank, while large spaces are not covered at all. There is no window, and the door is left open most of the time for light. The room is about eighteen by twenty feet. At one end is a fire-place, which answers the double purpose of cooking the simple fare and heating the small apartment. The bed of the sick is at the other end.
The above, with slight variation, is a description of the houses in which all the colored people live.