The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus
Chapter 68 : After singing a hymn they all kneeled down, and the school closed with a prayer and ben

After singing a hymn they all kneeled down, and the school closed with a prayer and benediction. They continued singing as they retired from the house, and long after they had parted on their different ways home, their voices swelled on the breeze at a distance as the little parties from the estates chanted on their way the songs of the school room.

WILLOUGHBY BAY EXAMINATION.

When we entered the school house at Willoughby Bay, which is capable of containing a thousand persons, a low murmur, like the notes of preparation, ran over the mult.i.tude. One school came in after we arrived, marching in regular file, with their teacher, a negro man, at their head, and their _standard bearer_ following; next, a sable girl with a box of Testaments on her head. The whole number of children was three hundred and fifty. The male division was first called out, and marched several times around the room, singing and keeping a regular step. After several rounds, they came to a halt, filing off and forming into ranks four rows deep--in quarter-circle shape. The music still continuing, the girls sallied forth, went through the same evolutions, and finally formed in rows corresponding with those of the boys, so as to compose with the latter a semicircle.

The schools were successively examined in spelling, reading, writing, cyphering, &c., after the manner already detailed. In most respects they showed equal proficiency with the children of Parham; and in reading the Testament, their accuracy was even greater. In looking over the writing, several "incendiary" copies caught our eyes. One was, "_Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal_." Another, "_If I neglect the cause of my servant, what shall I do when I appear before my Master_!" A few years ago, _had children been permitted to write at all_, one such copy as the above would have exploded the school, and perchance sent the teacher to jail for sedition. But now, thanks to G.o.d!

the Negro children of Antigua are taught liberty from their Bibles, from their song books, and from their _copy books_ too; they read of liberty, they sing of it, and they write of it; they chant to liberty in their school rooms, and they resume the strains on their homeward way, till every rustling lime-grove, and waving cane-field, is alive with their notes, and every hillock and dell rings with "free" echoes.

The girls, in their turn, pressed around us with the liveliest eagerness to display their little pieces of needle-work. Some had samplers marked with letters and devices in vari-colored silk. Others showed specimens of st.i.tching; while the little ones held up their rude attempts at hemming handkerchiefs, ap.r.o.ns, and so on.

During the exercises we spoke to several elderly women, who were present to witness the scene. They were laborers on the estates, but having children in the school, they had put on their Sunday dresses, and "come to see." We spoke to one, of the privileges which the children were enjoying, since freedom. Her eyes filled, and she exclaimed, "Yes, ma.s.sa, we do tank de good Lord for bring de free--never can be too tankful." She said she had seven children present, and it made her feel happy to know that they were learning to read. Another woman said, when she heard the children reading so finely, she wanted to "take de word's out of da mouts and put em in her own." In the morning, when she first entered the school house, she felt quite sick, but all the pleasant things she saw and heard, had made her well, and she added, "I tell you, me ma.s.sa, it do my old heart good to come here." Another aged woman, who had grand-children in the school, said, when she saw what advantages the children enjoyed, she almost cried to think she was not a child too.

Besides these there were a number of adult men and women, whom curiosity or parental solicitude had brought together, and they were thronging about the windows and doors witnessing the various exercises with the deepest interest. Among the rest was one old patriarch, who, anxious to bear some part however humble in the exercises of the occasion, walked to and fro among the children, with a six feet pole in his hand, to keep order.

These schools, and those examined at Parham, are under the general supervision of Mr. Charles Thwaites, an indefatigable and long tried friend of the negroes.

We here insert a valuable communication which we received from Mr. T. in reply to several queries addressed to him. It will give further information relative to the schools.

_Mr. Charles Thwaites' Replies to Queries on Education in Antigua._

1. What has been your business for some years past in Antigua?

A superintendent of schools, and catechist to the negroes.

2. How long have you been engaged in this business?

Twenty-four years. The first four years engaged gratuitously, ten years employed by the Church Missionary Society, and since, by the Wesleyan Missionary Society.

3. How many schools have you under your charge?

Sunday schools, (including all belonging to the Wesleyan Missionary Society,) eight, with 1850 scholars; day schools, seventeen with 1250 scholars; night schools on twenty-six estates, 336 scholars. The total number of scholars under instruction is about 3500.

4. Are the scholars princ.i.p.ally the children who were emanc.i.p.ated in August, 1834?

Yes, except the children in St. John's, most of whom were free before.

5. Are the teachers negroes, colored, or white?

One white, four colored, and sixteen black.[A]

[Footnote A: This number includes only salaried teachers, and not the gratuitous.]

6. How many of the teachers were slaves prior to the first of August, 1834?

Thirteen.

7. What were their opportunities for learning?

The Sunday and night schools; and they have much improved themselves since they have been in their present employment.

8. What are their qualifications for teaching, as to education, religion, zeal, perseverance, &c.?

The white and two of the colored teachers, I presume, are well calculated, in all respects, to carry on a school in the ablest manner.

The others are deficient in education, but are zealous, and very persevering.

9. What are the wages of these teachers?

The teachers' pay is, some four, and some three dollars per month. This sum is far too small, and would be greater if the funds were sufficient.

10. How and by whom are the expenses of superintendent, teachers, and schools defrayed?

The superintendent's salary, &c., is paid by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. The expenses of teachers and schools are defrayed by charitable societies and friends in England, particularly the Negro Education Society, which grants 50l. sterling per annum towards this object, and pays the rent of the Church Missionary Society's premises in Willoughby Bay for use of the schools. About 46l. sterling per annum is also raised from the children; each child taught writing and needle-work, pays 1-1/2d. sterling per week.

11. Is it your opinion that the negro children are as ready to receive instruction as white children?

Yes, perfectly so.

12. Do parents manifest interest in the education of their children?

They do. Some of the parents are, however, still very ignorant, and are not aware how much their children lose by irregular attendance at the schools.

13. Have there been many instances of _theft_ among the scholars?

Not more than among any other cla.s.s of children.

RESULTS.

Besides an attendance upon the various schools, we procured specific information from teachers, missionaries, planters, and others, with regard to the past and present state of education, and the weight of testimony was to the following effect:

First, That education was by no means extensive previous to emanc.i.p.ation. The testimony of one planter was, that not a _tenth part_ of the present adult population knew the letters of the alphabet. Other planters, and some missionaries, thought the proportion might be somewhat larger; but all agreed that it was very small. The testimony of the venerable Mr. Newby, the oldest Moravian missionary in the island, was, that such was the opposition among the planters, it was impossible to teach the slaves, excepting by night, secretly. Mr. Thwaites informed us that the children were not allowed to attend day school after they were six years old. All the instruction they obtained after that age, was got at night--a very unsuitable time to study, for those who worked all day under an exhausting sun. It is manifest that the instruction received under six years of age, would soon be effaced by the incessant toil of subsequent life. The account given in a former connection of the adult school under the charge of Mr. Morrish, at Newfield, shows most clearly the past inattention to education. And yet Mr. M. stated that his school was a _fair specimen of the intelligence of the negroes generally_. One more evidence in point is the acknowledged ignorance of Mr. Thwaites' teachers. After searching through the whole freed population for a dozen suitable teachers of children. Mr. T. could not find even that number who could _read well_. Many children in the schools of six years old read better than their teachers.

We must not be understood to intimate that up to the period of the Emanc.i.p.ation, the planters utterly prohibited the education of their slaves. Public sentiment had undergone some change previous to that event. When the public opinion of England began to be awakened against slavery, the planters were indured, for peace sake, to _tolerate_ education to some extent; though they cannot be said to have _encouraged_ it until after Emanc.i.p.ation. This is the substance of the statements made to us. Hence it appears that when the active opposition of the planters to education ceased, it was succeeded by a general indifference, but little less discouraging. We of course speak of the planters as a body; there were some honorable exceptions.

Second, Education has become very extensive _since_ emanc.i.p.ation. There are probably not less than _six thousand_ children who now enjoy daily instruction. These are of all ages under twelve. All cla.s.ses feel an interest in _knowledge_. While the schools previously established are flouris.h.i.+ng in newness of life, additional ones are springing up in every quarter. Sabbath schools, adult and infant schools, day and evening schools, are all crowded. A teacher in a Sabbath school in St.

John's informed us, that the increase in that school immediately after emanc.i.p.ation was so sudden and great, that he could compare it to nothing but the rising of the mercury when the thermometer is removed _out of the shade into the sun_.

We learned that the Bible was the princ.i.p.al book taught in all the schools throughout the island. As soon as the children have learned to read, the Bible is put into their hands. They not only read it, but commit to memory portions of it every day:--the first lesson in the morning is an examination on some pa.s.sage of scripture. We have never seen, even among Sabbath school children, a better acquaintance with the characters and events recorded in the Old and New Testaments, than among the negro children in Antigua. Those pa.s.sages which inculcate _obedience to law_ are strongly enforced; and the prohibitions against stealing, lying, cheating, idleness, &c., are reiterated day and night.

Great attention is paid to _singing_ in all the schools.

The songs which they usually sung, embraced such topics as Love to G.o.d--the presence of G.o.d--obedience to parents--friends.h.i.+p for brothers and sisters and schoolmates--love of school--the sinfulness of sloth, of lying, and of stealing. We quote the following hymn as a specimen of the subjects which are introduced into their songs: often were we greeted with this sweet hymn, while visiting the different schools throughout the island.

BROTHERLY LOVE.

CHORUS.

We're all brothers, sisters, brothers, We're sisters and brothers,

And heaven is our home.