AMONG all the States of the Union, not one has a history more interesting than Virginia, for her annals are full of strangely poetic incident, from the world-famous idyl of Pocahontas to the tragic stories still fresh in our own memories; and from the fertile seaboard to the rich mountain valleys of her western border, there is scarcely a field or village that has not its tale to tell. More than one great name, “familiar in our mouths as household words,” belongs in the catalogue of Virginia's children; and although to-day her greatness is a thing of the past and the future, yet that future promises such certainty as is more than guaranteed by her natural advantages and the brave and willing temper of her people.

In the history of this State, there arose, long years ago, an unnatural relation between two races, which furnished a problem, dealt with by statesmen, philanthropists, and fanatics, and finally solved by God himself, in his own time, and his own way; and it is with an outgrowth of that problem and its solution that this little book has to do.

The introduction of negroes into the country as slaves was made at a time when only a few minds, here and there, had any true conception of the rights of individuals, or could put a fair interpretation upon that higher law which makes us our brothers' keepers; and the virgin soil and relaxing climate of

IT is evident that the only test of any system of education which can be of value is the test of practical application, and when the founders of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute were called upon to decide as to the general character of the school they were about to establish, they were keenly alive to the importance of making use of all possible means to insure the success of their unique undertaking, an undertaking which was at that time so far without precedent as to be to many minds simply chimerical.

First of all, therefore, they consulted the needs of those who were destined to become the pupils of the school, and then took careful account of the experience of various experimentalists, a course which resulted in the adoption of a “Manual Labor System,” which, by right of the originality of certain of its features, may fairly be known as the “Hampton System.” This system, as it stands, is remarkable; because, while it has drawn largely from different sources in our own and other countries, its application to a people scarcely emerged from, slavery made requisite certain peculiarities which are particularly worthy of notice as being a direct result of an unparalleled social revolution.

The slaves, whose emancipation made such a school as Hampton possible, found, as the inevitable effect of their enslavement, their chief misfortune in deficiency of character rather than in ignorance. They were improvident, without self-reliance, and immoral. On the other hand, they possessed the virtues of patience and cheerfulness, a hearty desire for improvement, especially in book knowledge, while in many cases there existed a religious fervor often amounting to a form of superstition, so vivid was, and still is, their belief in all conditions of the supernatural, from God to Satan. Four millions of these slaves were set free with absolutely no preparation for a state of which the novelty alone was sufficient to blind or dazzle their unused faculties, and with scarcely more than nominal restraint or assistance, were left to shift for themselves, in the midst of the ruins of the only social law of which they had any experience.

It can hardly be necessary to allude in other than the briefest terms to the condition of the Southern States directly after the war; and, indeed, there are only two facts which require just here to be dwelt upon—namely, first, that the slaveholders bereft of their slaves were almost as helpless as the slaves, so far as concerned the retrieval of their fortunes; for not only had six generations of slave-owning in a marked manner enfeebled the power of a majority of the dominant race, but the annihilation of property in men left the South in almost universal bankruptcy; second, that enforced labor being no longer to be had, the future of the South depended upon the speedy creation of a class of skilled and willing laborers, and that such laborers were to be found mainly in the vast army of unemployed freed men and women.

No one for whom the question had any interest could fail to see that the best hope of both whites and blacks lay in a wise training of both races for the work that was waiting for them, and the establishment in the South of schools that should afford such training. General Armstrong, stationed as an officer of the Freedmen's Bureau at Hampton, where the work had been already so well begun by the American Missionary Association, saw the importance of locating one of these schools at that point, central as it was to the great negro population of Virginia, North-Carolina, and Maryland, a population numbering more than a million. The seed sown years ago in far-off Pacific islands sprang now into quick fruitage, for a youth passed among a people similar in many respects to the Anglo-African, gave him a peculiar power to grasp the problem of the successful establishment of a normal school for freedmen. The intelligent and liberal support of the American Missionary Association and the Freedman's Bureau enabled him, when appointed Principal of the Hampton Institute, to adopt a manual-labor system, his opinion being that such a system, carefully prepared, would best meet the exigencies of the case. He had seen the successful working of such schools among the semi-civilized natives of the Sandwich Islands, and his own views were strengthened by the testimony of some of the oldest of the pioneer missionaries, one of whom, the Rev. Dwight, Baldwin, D.D., in writing to Hampton, gives briefly the result of their experiments among the Hawaiian people. He says, “The Lahainaluna school has been a great light in the midst of the Hawaiian Islands. For the whole forty years that it has been in operation, it has been a mighty power to aid us in enlightening and Christianizing the Hawaiian race. Without this seminary, how could we have furnished any thing like efficient teachers for a universal system of common schools, a system which has already made almost the entire people of these islands readers of the Bible? Then, also, of all the native preachers and pastors who have been enlisted in this good work, it has been very rare to find one particularly useful who has not been previously trained in this seminary. And throughout the islands, except just about the capital, where foreigners are employed, the execution of the laws depends entirely upon educated Hawaiians. It has always been a manual-labor school. This arose partly from necessity; but a second reason was that all our plans for elevating this people were laid from the beginning to give them not only learning, but also intelligent appreciation of their duties as men and citizens, and to prepare them in every way for a higher civilization. The plan pursued here in this respect is the same, I believe, essentially, as you have pursued at the Hampton Institute. It is the plan dictated by nature and reason, and if you pursue it thoroughly and wisely, it will make your Institute a speedy blessing to all the freedmen of the South.”

From such witnesses as these, and from the carefully reported experience of schools in Germany, France, and Great Britain, all possible facts were obtained, and Hampton, in 1868, was inaugurated as a manual-labor school. To the completeness with which it has fulfilled its original design, many witnesses have borne testimony, and that one given by the Rev. George L. Chancy, of Boston, in January, 1870, is especially interesting from its impartiality:

“This school, open alike to men and women of every race, but only attended now by freedmen, sets the rule of education to the whole nation. The State which is kept standing on the threshold of our Union carries in her hands the ideal school. The Northern men and women who went South to teach have learned more than they have taught. Driven by the necessity of their impoverished pupils, they have learned to combine an education of the hand with the education of the mind. It is already written in the proof-sheets of the new history, that Massachusetts learned from Virginia how to keep school.”

At the very outset, the trustees were wise enough to reject the theory that the manual labor performed by students must necessarily be made profitable, but based their efforts upon the fact that their system had for its primary object the education of the pupils. They devoted themselves to obtaining for the scholars such advantages as the nature of their past lives made specially desirable; and realizing distinctly that true manhood is the ultimate end of education, of experience, and of life, they grounded their work on the conviction that the best and most practical training is that of the faculties which should guide and direct all the others. They appreciated also the comparative uselessness of educating the men of any race when their mothers and sisters are left untrained, and resolved that the Hampton system should include both sexes under the most favorable possible circumstances.

The school opened in April, 1868, with twenty (20) scholars and two (2) academic teachers, while for the term beginning September, 1873, the catalogue shows us a roll of twelve (12) teachers in the academic department, six (6) teachers in the industrial departments, and two hundred and twenty-six (226) pupils. These figures in themselves represent success, and the reports of the various departments furnish still further proof that the division of labor and study has been satisfactory to teachers and scholars, while the pecuniary result is altogether better than was originally expected. At the opening of the present term, the system may be considered as matured, and the division of the school into academic and industrial departments, each with its separate corps of teachers, under the

The farm of one hundred and ninety (190) acres, which includes seventy-two (72) acres of the “Segar Farm,” recently purchased with the avails of the Land Scrip Fund, is managed by an experienced farmer; and for the purpose of interfering as little as possible with recitations, the students are divided into five squads, which are successively assigned one day in each week for labor on the farm. All the boys also work a half or the whole of every Saturday, during the term. Each student has therefore, each week, from a day and a half to two days of labor on the farm, for which he is allowed from five to ten cents an hour, or from seventy-five cents to two dollars a week, according to his ability.

From two to four hired men are steadily employed to take care of teams, drive market-wagon, etc.; but the greater part of the farm-work is done by the young men of the school. Market-gardening is carried on extensively, hundreds of dollars' worth of asparagus, cabbages, white and sweet potatoes, peas, and peaches being annually sold at Fortress Monroe, or shipped to the markets of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York, and Boston. Between twenty and thirty gallons of milk are daily supplied to the boarding department of the school or sold in the neighborhood, at an average price of thirty cents per gallon.

The introduction of blooded stock, a French Canadian stallion, Ayrshire cattle, Chester, pigs, etc., is directly benefiting the farmers of the surrounding country, the appreciation of the value of these importations being shown by the fact that at the Virginia and North-Carolina State Agricultural Fair held in Norfolk, in the autumn of 1872, three first prizes were taken by normal-school stock.

The division of the one hundred and forty-six (146) acres under cultivation during the past year is as follows:

The printing-office connected with the school was founded by the gift of one thousand dollars from Mrs. Augustus Hemenway, of Boston, and was opened for business November 1st, 1871, beginning with two small presses, a second-hand Washington hand-press, and a quarter-medium Gordon press, to which was added last winter, by the liberality of Messrs. Richard Hoe & Co., of New-York, a first-class hand stop cylinder press, a gift of very great value to the school. About the same time, a donation of nearly three hundred dollars' worth of new type was made by Messrs. Farmer, Little & Co., New-York. These generous gifts have greatly increased the working facilities of the office, which is the only one in Hampton. By the job-work which it is thus able to take in, it is established upon a paying basis, as well as enabled to offer greater advantages of work to the students. The boys employed in the office are selected as showing particular aptitude for the business, and the majority of them make rapid progress—one indeed having been able during the past year to pay his way in school by work done out of school hours.

The first cost of the office and its furniture was paid by friends in the North, and the neighborhood affords a fair regular supply of job-work, while an illustrated paper, The Southern Workman, is published monthly, for circulation among the industrial classes of the South, among whom it has met with a very favorable reception.* *See Note 3 in Appendix.

In addition to their training on the farm and in the printing office, the male students are employed in the carpenter and blacksmith-shops, shoe-shop and paint-shop, where most of the ordinary repairs and light work of the establishment are done. These different departments of manual labor furnish such variety of instruction as admirably prepares the students for the uncertainty of their future lives, and enables them at the end of the three years' course to choose between several occupations, in any one of which they can serve with honor and profit to themselves.

The young women of the school are also provided with an Industrial Department (founded by a Northern lady), where they are taught to cut and fit garments, and to use various sewing-machines, the articles which they produce being sold to members of the school or to persons in the neighborhood; and the report of the founder of this department is, that “the young women employed are in most cases faithful and industrious, eager and grateful for the opportunity of earning something toward their expenses, while their spirit and conduct in connection with the department have, except in a few cases, been good in all respects.” In addition to the special work of this department, the girls are taught the ordinary duties of a household, laundry-work, etc., and are thus fitted to become cleanly and thrifty housekeepers, while their personal habits are carefully superintended, and they are constantly instructed in the simpler laws of health.

The labor performed by the students during the last two years and its results are so essential a part of the school's history, that the following extract from the Treasurer's report is given, as embodying statistics of real value:

SESSION OF 1871-2.

CREDITS FOR LABOR.

Total . . . . . $4,253 97

SESSION OF 1872-3.

CREDITS FOR LABOR.

Total . . . . . $5,382 07

The rates of credit for labor are adjusted according to its market value, and the training which the students receive in the thorough examination and understanding of their accounts, which are made out in detail monthly by the Treasurer, is of permanent and incalculable benefit to them.

One of the fundamental principles of the school is that nothing should be given which can be earned or in any way supplied by the pupil, and in consonance with this principle, regular personal expenses for board, etc., rated at $10 a month, are thrown upon each student, to be paid by them, half in cash and half in labor. Good mechanics, first-rate farm-hands and seamstresses can earn the whole of this amount, but those pupils whose labor is of little value, and who are destitute, being either orphaned or with impoverished parents, require and receive proper aid, nearly one third of the boarders having been assisted by direct donations during the past term. To this purpose are devoted the annual income from the “Peabody Fund” of $800, and such part of the cash receipts of the school as may be found necessary; personal relief being made systematically exceptional and closely contingent upon high merit.

Among the most prominent dispensers of such aid are Mr. and Mrs. George Dixon, of the English Society of Friends, and during six years teachers among the freedmen in the South, at their own charges. They are now giving personal aid to forty-five of their former pupils as members of this institution. To this end, they have secured funds by personal effort in England. Mr. Dixon was for twenty-five years head of the Agricultural College at Great Ayton, Yorkshire, England, and now, as a resident on the Normal School premises, and lecturer on Agricultural Chemistry, adds very materially to the resources of the faculty.

While every thing is thus done to cultivate a spirit of self-reliance and independence, it has been proved, as a matter of fact, that beyond this payment of actual personal expenses, the colored youth of the South are not able to go. These young men and women at Hampton strain every nerve to meet the daily cost of their food and clothing, and it is beyond a doubt that if they are to get any education at all, such education must be given to them. Instruction, therefore, is the central point of our work, and entails the chief outlay, to meet which, the actual cost of educating each individual, estimated at $70 per annum, has to be secured by voluntary contributions. In order, therefore, to keep up that practical, personal interest in the school which, so long as it depends upon private charity, is of the first importance, a system of scholarships has been instituted and found to be most successful.

These scholarships are divided as follows: Annual scholarships of $70, scholarships for the course of three years of $210, and permanent scholarships of $1000, the interest of which is forever devoted to the education of a pupil. Last year, 152 annual (or $70) scholarships were contributed, many of the donors of which have signified their intention to renew them, thus meeting the heaviest present expense of the school; but the desire of the trustees is to establish, as rapidly as possible, permanent (or $1000) scholarships, and a number of professorships, of from $10,000 to $25,000 each, which will save the time and cost of annual collections, and insure the future of the institution.

The Rev. Thomas K. Fessenden, of Farmington, Ct., over two years ago undertook the work of securing an endowment. His efforts have been successful beyond expectation (see note in Treasurer's report in Appendix); and in this connection, it is not out of place to mention that Mr. Fessenden is the founder of the Girls' Industrial School at Middletown, one of the noblest charities in Connecticut. As a member of the Legislature of that State, his influence secured the passage of a satisfactory law in behalf of that school, and his personal solicitations resulted in an endowment of nearly $100,000 for it.

The wholesome and pleasant relation which grows up between the givers of our scholarships and their recipients, does in no way abate the self-respect of the latter, and entails no loss of stimulus to hard work; for, in the words of the Principal of the school, “it is helping those who help themselves, and, as results show, is productive of sound scholarship and Christian manliness.” Each student who is thus assisted is expected, in the first instance, to write a letter of acknowledgment to the unknown friend whose interest is so substantially shown, and the donor not seldom finds an unexpected source of happiness in the quaint expressions of gratitude which reach him in the name of some dark-faced boy or girl hungry for books and their mysterious contents.

The three classes of the school—Seniors, Middlers, and Juniors— are carefully divided according to the ability of their members, and the standard of scholarship is unvarying, no individual being retained unless there is shown both desire and power to keep up with the class studies, although so much hearty assistance is given by the teachers, both in and out of school hours, that only the hopelessly stupid or careless need fear expulsion. The teacher who in her turn takes charge of the boys' or girls' evening study hour finds her office no sinecure, as she moves among the desks, stopping here and there to answer the impatient appeal of lifted hands with the few words of advice or encouragement that shall make the crooked ways straight through the intricacies of algebra, or the labyrinth of moods and tenses.

IN the year 1863, when the need of the freed people was most extensive and pressing, General B. F. Butler, being then chief in command at Fortress Monroe, erected with government funds the large wooden building shown in the accompanying cut, which has ever since been known as “The Butler School.”

By the end of that year, above six hundred pupils were gathered within its rough walls, under the care of the Rev. Charles A. Raymond, chaplain of the military post, who conducted it upon the Lancasterian plan—that is, by a system of monitors who, after receiving instruction from the principal, would at once convey it to their pupils. Their task must have been sufficiently perplexing, inasmuch as to the ordinary difficulties of such a school was added the unpleasantness of having all the six hundred children, utterly untrained as they were, huddled into a single room; for in those dark days, the refinements of education were things scarcely to be so much as hoped for. This overcrowding was, however, gradually relieved by the establishment of another school at “Slabtown” (an impromptu suburb of Hampton), and by the building of the “Lincoln School” in 1866, by General Armstrong, with funds supplied by General Howard.

The “Butler” school-house was turned over by the government in 1865 to the American Missionary Association, who supplied it with teachers until it became the property of the trustees of the Hampton Institute, upon whose grounds it stands. In 1871, these trustees requested the public school officers of the county to assume charge of it, reserving the right to nominate its principal. It thus became a free county school, the building, however, remaining the property of the Hampton Institute, whose officers and teachers have kept a watchful eye upon an institution many of whose pupils naturally pass into the more advanced system of Hampton, and graduate from there.

In fact, the school as it now stands is properly preparatory to the “Normal.” It is at present under the charge of George and Eunice Dixon, members of the Society of Friends, whose faithful labors for the freedmen, both in this country and in England, have allied them so closely with the Hampton School that they have come finally to take, as teachers, direct interest in its work, and from their present responsible position furnish the following facts in regard to their school:

“Its pupils,” writes Mrs. Dixon, “now number 194: 95 girls and 99 boys, running, in age, from five years to twenty-four, and my assistants are a young colored woman, a graduate of the Normal School at Providence, Rhode Island, and a young colored man, a graduate of the Hampton Normal School. There are two divisions—the county school and the preparatory class for the ‘Normal;’ the latter numbering some forty members, most of whom show a strong desire to learn, and are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and grammar.

“As this is usually their first experience of school life, we found it, in the beginning, difficult to establish any proper discipline; but the system which we have chosen has been gradually successful, and our school is in comparatively good order. We told our scholars at the outset that there was to be no whipping, but that persistent violation of the rules of the school would result in expulsion, and our resolution has been carried out. One very bad boy has been expelled, with the promise of being allowed to reënter next year if he shows himself deserving of the privilege, and others have been suspended for a day or two, and taken back on a promise of obedience. The plan has worked well, and had a good effect upon the school.”

The Superintendent of Public Schools for the county, a Southern gentleman, George M. Peek, Esq., has always shown especial interest in the Butler School, and on his last official visit to it expressed his warm gratification with its present condition, which is very encouraging, as its influence among the younger children of the neighborhood is immediate, while its position as preparatory to the higher training of Hampton makes its well-being a matter of serious importance.