Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1869 — WHI HE Work? [ARTICLE]

WHI HE Work?

The fbllqwsng amount given to the Bos Mi, Jbr WhMB It VMefcaa, |lw t rstber i sr*lit slits wtatatioo to the Met which Ik# Whole Peec**o nary party. North and Joutfo. have bon so anxiously maintain The Jay andfeneratioa of the noe of ioiur-(Mired, poor white* who hare hang arounJ the bar room* of the South ana ■pent their time in drinking and chewing Vobaooo. and harping upon the tame string, •The nigger wont work," i* f*«t passing away— atleaal in this vicinity. The ooT area men hare gone to work with ai en era/ and will u»i* *di uur that ha* nrtoniab«d usall. and if tbeaeason continue* to be a* propitious a* it ha* opened, we may erpeet the Tory beat reaulu when the crop fVoyoaa V> give yoe e short history of a man who ha* shown *uch signal energy persereranoe, that he deserves honor L —— was born and raised in Kantacky, but We* cold into Louisiana before the war, hi* wt* and children being left behind. He has gone up after them, and will hare them with him after this to read and write, an accomplishment that cawed his sale down South, and separation from hi* family. Of courts, hi* old matter concealed that, it being a great fault, worse than a broken leg or short wind. As L had suffered from this discovery, he was very careful to keep it concealed from the people down here, till tbechange of time ns* now enabled him to nsehis knowledge to good advantage. the year* 1866 and 1867 he waa pmrirI** 1 *** 4 to work for hi* old matter, bolag persuaded by smooth speech to believe that be waa in reatlly one of the best friends of the colored race. But the fall of 1867 found him about as poor as when be started, with no good prospect of better Umee; so he and nine other* determined to look out for themselves. Their whole possession* consisted of a very scanty stock of furniture and one bale of cotton. They came o/er and borrowed our boat to ferry them across the river to an uninhabited island they had hired, and carried all their possessions down to the river bank, prepared to make ah early start in the morning. That night the bank caved in, and they lost most of their small lot of furniture, and worse than that their cotton. They were not discouraged, but wt nt ever to the island and commenced work with their an and hoe* We lent them fifty bushels of corn, which they pounded into hominy, furnished them an old gun, and trusted them for powder and shot, and they began life. They caught a loose skiff in the levee before they returned our boat, and with that they picked enough lumber from the sand bars to floor and

cover their log booses. They also used it as a fishing boat, and were successful fishermen the whole *Beason. Not a mouthful of meet did they taste till the next foil, except such gaire as they shot. Fish and hominy were their principal articles of food. They cut a little wood, which they carried on their backs to the bank of the river and sold to the steamboats. This enabled them to purchase salt, medicines, and such articles as were absolutely necessary. With their hoes only they made s crop and I was down here the other day to make a settlement of his accounts and start fair for arother year. He repaid the fifty bushels of corn, with five bushels for interest, paid his accorot for powder and idiot and for oars lost in the spring, three hundred bushels of corn for the rent of the laud; bad money enough to buy good strong c’othes for all hands, and a stock of young hogs as a start for this season, with corn and potatoes to last till a new crop. L has found friends enough to lend him money to buy four mules and f wagon, and in two years lie will undoubtedly be able to purchase the island and become one of the land holders of the eo retry. He has taught school evenings, and all hands, men, women, and children, can read, and most of them can write. With the money of th s sale of the first lot of wood they bought slates and pencils; salt first—then these. He has allowed me to copy the rules and regulations of Island. “ Anv one whose stock injures the crops of another shall pay twice over. “ Any one who steals shall pay ten times and be turned off the island. “ No one shall drink or bring a drop of liquor on the island.” Each of bis tenants is obliged to subscribe to these, and he informs me that for the whole year he has had no occasion to enforce either of them.