The blacks are courteous in their deportment toward the white citizens, who in return display much kindness and good will. One of the negroes, when asked recently by a Northern gentleman how his people were treated by the whites, is reported to have said. “Oh, we are largely in the majority, and the white man knows how to keep his place.” They seem willing that the white people should hold the important offices, and the most cordial relations apparently exist between all classes. Not long after the recent election in Virginia, the black people about Fortress Monroe were observed to be intently reading the newspapers. A ministerial-looking colored man, of fifty or upward, was asked by the writer if there was any law forbidding the white people to read. “Why do you wish to know that?” he inquired. On being told that the colored people were seen reading the papers while the white laborers were standing idly about, he replied pertinently, “These white folks don’t like the way the election went much, but it just suited us.”
ASSEMBLY-ROOM AT HAMPTON.
The improvements about Fortress Monroe and Hampton during the past twenty years have been considerable. New buildings have been constructed inside of the fort, and Mr. Harrison Phoebus has built near the government wharf a mammoth, hotel, the Hygeia, capable of accommodating a thousand visitors. The Soldier’s Home at Hampton has extensive grounds, and accommodations for over 600 people. A large and tasteful building has just been completed, with an audience room seating from six to eight hundred. The grounds and buildings connected with the Soldier’s Home are kept up with much care and expense.
The Hampton Institute, which has done much to work all the changes mentioned, is a village by itself, and Gen. Armstrong, its principal, has 704 students under his supervision. The village of Hampton, which was burned early in the war, has been rebuilt, and recently Newport News has come to the front in consequence of the extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad to that point. Already the company has constructed a pier said to be the largest in the United States, and land is held at $16,000 an acre at a point where scarcely a dozen houses can be seen. The harbor facilities at Newport News are unrivaled.
These varied developments have created a demand for labor and given to the negro, especially as he is the recognized laborer, a grand opportunity for securing property. A canvasser for a sewing machine company, who has spent three years in Eastern Virginia, testifies that the negroes have most of the money to be found in that country. He says they are prompt in paying their instalments, whereas when he sells to the poorer white people he fails to collect his money, for the reason that they have none.
The manners and customs of the people are still unique. It is no uncommon thing to see a heifer or a steer harnessed to a cart and driven by one or two women who bring supplies to market. Possibly one-half of the conveyances seen by a visitor during a month’s stay are of this fashion; but the proprietors do not seem to be unhappy. Indeed, a Wall street broker, who had been spending a month at the Hygeia hotel, and who was fond of the recreation afforded by visiting Hampton on market days, affirmed that these negroes were the happiest people he ever saw.
If twenty years of freedom can work such changes all over the land as are manifested here, where emancipation first dawned, surely the future is full of hope.