Evidences of Progress Among Colored PeopleRichings, G. F.
History
Evidences of Progress Among Colored People
Richings, G. F.
African Americans
This is a much-needed work. Most abject poverty, ignorance and
improvidence cause the death of many, whose offspring are left to the
mercy of the poor neighbor. The orphan, originally received out of
kindness, is kept as a slave, when it is able to do any kind of work;
and no one suspects that there are innumerable orphans scattered in
cabins, who are practically slaves, groaning under the bitter burden
of work and the lash of taskmasters of their own race. The slavery of
adults has been abolished, and the slavery of children has been made
more bitter and more brutal. Now brutal treatment produces brutes; the
man avenges by crime society's guilt in heartlessly neglecting innocent
childhood in its sufferings and degradation.
Sufficient as is the direct object of redeeming neglected orphans, by
itself, to appeal to the heart and conscience, it is also the most
promising work for the elevation of the whole race.
This race needs examples of new life to free itself from the influences
of the past. It needs examples, not so much of college-bred men who
follow the professions, as of pure men and women who walk in the
common paths of life, and who can lead in the way of sensible, honest,
industrious, cleanly, and thrifty living, that the sense of sin and
virtue, of the morally right and wrong, may be developed. This is
the noblest and most promising of charities, because it is for the
youngest, the weakest and the lowest.
The institution occupies a farm of one hundred and a fraction acres,
in a most healthful spot, affording as fine an opportunity for the
bringing up of children as is to be found in the whole country. When
completed, several hundred children will be comfortably provided
for and trained for their life's work. One wing has been built, and
shelters between fifty and sixty children, who range in age from
infancy to fifteen or sixteen. A second wing is in progress of erection
at this writing. A steam brick yard furnishes the brick and will also
form part of the industrial system.
[Illustration: HOFFMAN WING OF COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM AND INDUSTRIAL
SCHOOL.]
As to results, so far, it is but the literal truth to say that orphans
who would otherwise have been doomed to child slavery and devoted to
destruction of body and soul, not only wonderfully prosper in health,
but are manifestly influenced by the regular occupation, the firm
discipline, the atmosphere of honesty and fidelity in work, and the
mental and religious instruction. The Rev. Paul Sterling, of Melrose,
Mass., writes to the New York _Churchman_: "It goes without saying
that such a work is doing good, but its beneficial effects are very
evident, even in the case of the youngest child, and are the best
possible endorsement of the wisdom and capacity of those who have the
Institution in charge. The scrupulous cleanliness and orderliness that
prevail is also a thing that commends the Institution to the observer."
[Illustration: THREE ORPHAN SISTERS AT LYNCHBURG SCHOOL.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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