But the teachers were forthcoming; hundreds of them; cultivated, and high-minded. They could see no way to make these fugitive slaves into decent, law-abiding, industrious people, but to give them a new character, a changed life. They must be led into an intelligent religion that should govern the whole round of their conduct. And for this they must be brought to the Bible. Therefore they must learn how to read it at the very start. And so they went to teaching grown up men and women their letters. Perhaps it looks odd to us; but there was good sense in it. This was the way of opening the Bible to these groping men; the way of leading them to an intelligent acquaintance with Jesus Christ, the hope of lost men always and everywhere. It was a noble service. There were aspects of sublimity about it; and any who are disposed to belittle it or to speak lightly of the results that flowed from it show that they do not understand the tremendous interests at stake in that critical hour of the Nation’s life; that hour of destiny, too, for these many thousand Negroes “scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd” and faint-hearted for a friendly voice and some word of encouragement. While such efforts were made to teach the Negroes to read, those engaged in this work did not by any means stop here; they set about every sort of teaching that might be of practical use. They did their best to improve the habits of the people; influencing them to be cleanly and orderly; calling them to promptness and regularity in their attendance on appointed exercises; giving the men work to do of various kinds and looking out to see that it was done properly; showing the women how to cook their food so as not to spoil it, how to mend and make garments and to be good housekeepers. The Boston Educational Commission in 1862 laid it down as a foremost object to bring about the “industrial improvement” of the Negroes, and it was in the very make-up of these thrifty New England men and women, and those from other parts of the North, to be a vital force in behalf of general efficiency wherever they took up a work like this. EDUCATION AS A SOLDIER. The training which the Negroes received during the Civil War as soldiers should not be overlooked. It represents his first opportunity for real manhood training in an effective way. The training of the military camp is no less important than the training of the school-room in the development of good habits and manners. With the beginning of 1863, immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation, a call was made for Negroes to enlist in the United States Army, to which there came a ready response. Before the end of that year there were 100,000 former slaves in the military service, about half of whom bore arms in the ranks; and by the close of the war the number of Negro troops had risen to 186,000.