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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
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THE LETTERS AND DIARY OF 
 LAURA M. TOWNE 
 
') i^ , c-w^ L< 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY OF 
 LAUKA M. TOWNE 
 
 WRITTEN FROM THE SEA ISLANDS OF 
 SOUTH CAROLINA 
 
 1862-1884 
 
 EDITED BY 
 RUPERT SARGENT HOLLAND 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 prfntrt at <atbe Riberfitie pre** 
 
 1912 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY RUPERT SARGENT HOLLAND 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The value of any life cannot be reckoned merely by years 
 or by achievement. 
 
 The following letters and journal, written without a 
 thought of publication, tell a story of struggle and diffi- 
 culty, but also of hope and fulfilment. Tbe ever-widen- 
 ing influence of Miss Towne's character is still felt on 
 St. Helena Island, where for nearly forty years she made 
 her home, and where her name is loved and honored. 
 
 Her letters show how devoted she was to her work, and 
 how willingly she made sacrifices for it. Through many 
 attacks of serious illness she still had the courage to per- 
 severe, and her faith in the colored race was unwaver- 
 ing. No one ever loved her own family more tenderly, 
 or delighted more in the joys of home companionship, 
 yet all these she resigned to live on the wind-swept 
 island where she found her life-work. Though others 
 doubted and were discouraged, she never faltered. 
 
 The heroism of such a life cannot be told; it is enough 
 to know that it has had a lasting effect upon the people 
 among whom it was lived. 
 
 In the centre of St. Helena Island, near the spot where 
 stood the first schoolhouse which was the result of her 
 efforts and the scene of her labors, stands a simple stone 
 erected by her brother. On the stone is this inscription: 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 LAURA M. TOWNE 
 
 1825-1901, 
 
 She devoted thirty-eight years of her life to the 
 colored people of St. Helena Island and em- 
 ployed her means in their education and care. 
 
 The story of a noble life is told in this brief epitaph. 
 
 Alice N. Lincoln. 
 
Low-lying cotton-fields, with here and there a sentinel 
 palmetto; roads arched by moss-clad oak boughs; 
 stretches of unclaimed timber and undergrowth; wide- 
 sweeping marshes reflecting the moods and colors of the 
 sky; the salt breath of the sea, softened by its passage 
 over many islands; such is St. Helena. The cabins stand 
 lonely and apart, most of them white, some painted 
 pinks and reds. Here a woman, a bright bandana wound 
 turban-like about her head, looks from her door; yonder 
 the patriarchal figure of a man toils over the ploughed 
 field. It is a land of great distances in a small compass, 
 of soft colors, of a people utterly dependent on the soil 
 and weather, primitive in their faith and courage, long- 
 abiding, and wonderfully patient . Gratitude comes easily 
 to their lips. Thankfulness for what they have received 
 still seems the keynote of their lives. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Laura M. Towne (photogravure) Frontispiece 
 
 The Sea Islands op South Carolina (map) . . . x 
 
 A Woman of the Sea Islands 20 
 
 A St. Helena Landscape 40 
 
 The Old Penn School 80 
 
 A Sea Island. Picture 100 
 
 The School Road 120 
 
 Frogmore House 140 
 
 The Penn School 1886 180 
 
 On the Way to School 200 
 
 Memorial Fountain to Miss Towne 220 
 
 Erected by her Brother, William B. Towno. 
 
 Presentation of the New Industrial Building, 
 April, 1912 240 
 
 Upper Class of Girls, Penn School, at the Semi- 
 centennial Celebration, April, 1912 .... 280 
 
 The Smallest Children at Penn School .... 300 
 
 Ready for the Celebration. 
 
The Editor wishes to express his thanks to Miss Rossa B. Cooley, 
 Miss Grace Bigelow House, and Mr. James R. Macdonald for their 
 hospitality at St. Helena Island, and assistance in the preparation of 
 the Introduction; and to Messrs. Francis R. Cope Jr., Leigh Rich- 
 mond Miner, and C. Yarnall Abbott for the Sea Island photographs 
 used as illustrations. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Laura M. Towne wrote from her home at Frogmore 
 Plantation, on St. Helena Island, in 1877: "I have just 
 finished Miss Martineau's autobiography, and it is 
 enough to inspire the stupidest person to use the pen; 
 she did so much good with hers. But I can't say that I 
 am inspired by her example. I am only pushed to it by 
 a sense of duty; for the things going on here ought not to 
 be forgotten, nor lost, as a lesson." Miss Towne, occu- 
 pied by a thousand duties, ministering incessantly to a 
 small world of men, women, and children, had no time 
 to write an autobiography, but she kept a journal for a 
 number of years, and wrote often to her family in the 
 North, so that the record of her work has neither been 
 forgotten nor lost, but stands as a lesson of self-devo- 
 tion to a noble cause. 
 
 That man or woman is happy who loves his work. 
 Miss Towne, young, enthusiastic, high-spirited, set her 
 mind on helping the negroes, freed from the ownership 
 of the cotton planters, but freed also from their shelter 
 and protection. Here was a race of people that of neces- 
 sity were like children set suddenly adrift. They must 
 be taught, they must be cared for if they were ever to 
 grow into independence. With this purpose Miss Towne 
 went to St. Helena Island, and stayed there through the 
 Civil War and the Reconstruction era, into calmer times. 
 Her purpose never failed, and though to friends in the 
 North, — thinking of her isolation, her many privations, 
 her constant struggle to keep her school alive, — the 
 
x INTRODUCTION 
 
 sacrifice seemed prodigious, to her it meant happiness, 
 as the work chosen for her hand. Once she writes, on her 
 return to the island, "It is good to be back where you 
 are really needed. If you had seen the three little skele- 
 ton babies that were brought to me to-day, and if you 
 had heard one poor mother whose baby seemed dying, 
 say, ' Me been-a-pray day and night for you to come and 
 save my baby,' you would have been better than I am, 
 and have never given a look back to the flesh-pots of 
 Egypt, or even to the enjoyment of family, as I do." Her 
 work involved such sacrifice as very few have the 
 strength of character to make, but her reward must have 
 been great, because she loved that work with all her 
 soul. 
 : Laura Matilda Towne was born in Pittsburg, Penn- 
 I sylvania, May 3, 1825. She was the fourth child of John 
 I and Sarah Robinson Towne. Her father came from 
 Topsfield, Massachusetts, her mother from Coventry, 
 England. Her mother died when she was quite young, 
 and John Towne went back to Boston, where his chil- 
 dren were educated. Later the family moved to Phila- 
 delphia, where the oldest son had settled. Their resi- 
 dence in Boston had already interested the Townes in 
 the question of abolishing negro slavery; now this in- 
 terest deepened under the influence of William Henry 
 Furness, minister of the First Unitarian Church in 
 Philadelphia. The stirring sermons of Dr. Furness made 
 Laura Towne an eager convert to his cause. Meantime 
 she studied at the Woman's Medical College, and with 
 Dr. Constantine Hering, a well-known physician; and 
 this knowledge of medicine proved of the greatest value 
 to her in her later work. 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 The opening shot of the Civil War was fired by the 
 Confederate States on April 12, 1861. Three days later 
 President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand vol- 
 unteers. At that time Miss Towne was staying in New- 
 port, Rhode Island. She was intensely stirred by the 
 news, and her hopes set on helping the cause of the Un- 
 ion. For a month or two she found employment in sew- 
 ing for the soldiers, then she planned to engage in hospi- 
 tal service. Finally there came her golden opportunity. 
 The Federal Government wanted to send agents to the 
 Sea Islands of South Carolina to take charge of the ne- 
 groes. Miss Towne volunteered, and, acting under in- 
 structions from the Philadelphia abolitionists, sailed on 
 the steamer Oriental from New York for Port Royal, on 
 April 9, 1862. 
 
 Port Royal Island lies about fifty-five miles south of 
 Charleston, and thirty-five miles north of Savannah. 
 To its east are clustered a group of little islands, on 
 which is grown some of the best cotton in the South. 
 The nearest is Ladies' Island, and to the southeast of 
 that lies St. Helena Island, about fifteen miles long and 
 six wide. Between it and the Atlantic Ocean are a num- 
 ber of small wooded strips of sand, collectively known as 
 the Hunting Islands, the home of a few lighthouse keep- 
 ers, and serving the very useful purpose of a buffer be- 
 tween St. Helena and the winter storms. To reach St. 
 Helena the usual route is from the old town of Beaufort, 
 on Port Royal, to Ladies' Island, across that, and over a 
 narrow tide-river to St. Helena. Edisto lies a few miles 
 to the north, and Hilton Head guards the entrance to 
 the islands on the south. 
 
 The Confederates had built two earth forts on Hilton 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Head and Bay Point, which was opposite the former 
 place on Phillips' Island. These were taken by Com- 
 modore Dupont on November 7, 1861, and as a result of 
 the fighting, known as the Battle of Port Royal, that 
 place, including the town of Beaufort and the Sea Is- 
 lands, became Union territory. The planters instantly 
 fled, and the Federal Government found on its hands at 
 once several thousand freed negroes, perhaps the most 
 helpless of their race, used to the domination of white 
 and black overseers, and a large crop of cotton of the 
 finest and longest fibre, and of considerable value at any 
 time. Cotton-agents were hurried down from the North, 
 and during the winter the Secretary of the Treasury sent 
 Edward L. Pierce, of Massachusetts, as a special agent 
 to look after the negroes and insure another cotton crop 
 for the ensuing year. 
 
 Mr. Pierce proved energetic and efficient. He wrote 
 to friends in Boston that the negroes were in great need 
 of teachers and of clothing, and as a result the " Educa- 
 tional Commission for Freedmen" was organized in 
 Boston, and very soon afterwards similar societies were 
 formed in Philadelphia and New York. Each of these 
 societies sent its own teachers to the South, paying them 
 salaries ranging from $25 to $50 a month; the Federal 
 Government, for its part, making them an allowance 
 for transportation, housing, and subsistence. Miss 
 Towne went as an agent of the Freedmen's Aid Society 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 It took courage in these Northern men and women 
 to volunteer for such work in the Sea Islands. The 
 climate was known to be unhealthy, and smallpox period- 
 ically claimed its scores of victims. The Confederates 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 had only retreated a short distance inland, and might at 
 any time return in force. Finally, they were going to 
 a region peopled entirely by negroes, concerning whom 
 they knew very little, and who might regard the new- 
 comers with suspicion. 
 
 Whatever the condition of the negroes elsewhere; it had 
 been hard in reality in the Sea Islands. The cotton there 
 was an imperious crop, requiring a full year's labor to 
 prepare for market. The drivers were required to be 
 severe. The slaves had been allowed no holidays except 
 Christmas and Sundays, no rest but a few hours at night, 
 and that shortened on Saturdays by the need of grind- 
 ing at the hand-mill the weekly ration of one peck of 
 corn, turn and turn about, until daylight. The older 
 ones were dulled with incessant labor, the younger had 
 had no chance to learn anything. Miss Towne says they 
 could count no farther than ten, and that they did in 
 this fashion, " one, two, five eight, ten." Many still kept 
 the superstitions of their ancestors, shown in their belief 
 in "goofer" doctors, and in the religious services called 
 "shouts." The houses were of rough boards, with small 
 windows without glass. The floors were of sand and 
 lime. At one side was an open hearth. In spite of doors 
 and shutters large cracks let in the bitter winter cold. 
 The older people slept in bunks, the younger on the floor. 
 The cooking-utensils usually consisted of a single pot; the 
 food was hominy or peas and salt pork. Long oyster 
 shells were used for spoons, and when the family had 
 scraped the hominy from the pot the dogs were allowed 
 to clean it for the next meal. Such conditions were little 
 short of those in a savage settlement on the Congo. Yet 
 these Northern teachers, almost as ignorant of the Sea 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 Island negroes as of native Africans, had come to teach 
 them how to live and how to work intelligently. It is 
 hard to overestimate such courage and such patience. 
 
 The letters and the diary show the enthusiasm and 
 the faith with which Miss Towne and her associates 
 attacked the problem. Fortunately for her, Miss Ellen 
 Murray, her intimate friend, soon joined her at St. 
 Helena. Miss Towne was busy on every hand. She had 
 to distribute clothing and supplies, to doctor many dif- 
 ferent ailments, to show the people that the newcomers 
 were really their friends. Then there was the constant 
 arrival of Federal soldiers with news of the war, the ap- 
 pearance of refugee slaves from other parts of the South, 
 and the daily batches of rumors concerning the return of 
 the old masters. These cares occupied all her time. Very 
 soon the negroes lost all distrust of the new white people, 
 confided in them, and showed themselves as they really 
 were, children of happy, easy-going dispositions, good- 
 natured in spite of all their misery, faithful to any one 
 who would be kind to them. 
 
 That first year was a hard one. An epidemic of small- 
 pox broke out, and many of Miss Towne's friends among 
 the Union officers advised her and Miss Murray to go 
 North. Many of the agents who had volunteered in the 
 winter gave up the labor by summer, discouraged by the 
 unpromising condition of the negroes and the hardships 
 of their surroundings. But Miss Towne held on to her 
 work. Miss Murray and she found time to teach some of 
 the children at the Oaks Plantation, the Government 
 headquarters, where they were living, and in September, 
 1862, they opened a school in the Brick Church, with 
 some eighty scholars. Miss Towne said of them: "They 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 had no idea of sitting still, of giving attention, of ceasing 
 to talk aloud. They lay down and went to sleep, they 
 scuffled and struck each other. They got up by the 
 dozen, made their curtsies, and walked off to the neigh- 
 boring field for blackberries, coming back to their seats 
 with a curtsy when they were ready. They evidently 
 did not understand me, and I could not understand them, 
 and after two hours and a half of effort I was thoroughly 
 exhausted." Later the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Asso- 
 ciation sent a school-house in sections; this was put up 
 opposite the Brick Church, and christened "The Penn 
 School." 
 
 Government superintendents came and went, new 
 officers were put in charge of the Port Royal District, 
 the war continued with varying success for three more 
 years, but Miss Towne and Miss Murray stayed at St. 
 Helena. They were more than teachers, they had be- 
 come a very Providence to the people. When the epi- 
 demics raged, the two women went fearlessly from cabin 
 to cabin, tending patients who had not the slightest 
 notion how to care for themselves. Sickness decreased, 
 crops were husbanded carefully, families learned how to 
 save something from their earnings, and these home les- 
 sons taught by the Northern women were no less impor- 
 tant than those instilled in the school-room. 
 
 The old plantation-owners did not come back, and the 
 Federal Government, having handled the crops for 
 more than a year, and realizing that the people must be 
 provided with homes, finally sold the estates for unpaid 
 taxes. Eventually the proceeds of the sale, less the 
 taxes, were paid over to the Southern owners. The Gov- 
 ernment bought the land, divided it into ten-acre farms, 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 and sold these on easy terms to the negroes. The former 
 slaves now became actual real-estate owners, with a val- 
 uable stake in the community, and at once began to de- 
 velop thrift and responsibility. Protected from the ex- 
 citements of the mainland by their isolated position, 
 they rapidly became home-loving and home-keeping, 
 and showed that a race which had had no chance at 
 all, could, with fair treatment, grow into law-abiding, 
 decent men and women. 
 
 After a number of years Miss Towne bought the old 
 house and estate of Frogmore, on the eastern shore of St. 
 Helena, and there she and Miss Murray made their per- 
 manent home, only taking infrequent holiday trips to 
 their families in the North. 
 
 With the end of the war came new troubles for South 
 Carolina. The era of the "carpetbagger" set in, and the 
 machinations of greedy politicians kept ill-feeling rife. 
 We read in the letters how these stormy waves swept out 
 to St. Helena, how the negroes learned to cast their bal- 
 lots, and how Port Royal became for a second time the 
 scene of unrest. To Miss Towne, living there, indigna- 
 tion and resentment would naturally be uppermost. If 
 these feelings speak in her letters let them speak. Erase 
 the feelings of a stirring era and you erase human nature 
 out of it. 
 
 .When the wounds of war and its aftermath were 
 healed, new difficulties rose. Many of those in the North 
 who had been willing and eager to help free the negro 
 grew lukewarm toward him when that cause was won. 
 Their support was needed for interests nearer home, and 
 the old Freedmen's Relief Association languished and 
 died. Miss Towne had to fight to maintain her school. 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 She had to use her own money to pay the teachers. 
 Time and again it looked as if the work must be aban- 
 doned. But it survived, until at length, by dint of her 
 own efforts and the help of a few devoted Northern 
 friends, its existence became an assured fact. 
 
 The Sea Islands, a flat, marshy, storm-swept country 
 to Northern eyes, have a beauty of their own. Live-oaks, 
 hung with the silvery gray moss, festoon the sandy roads. 
 Tall palmettoes raise their shapely heads. Wide, many- 
 tinted marshes lure the eye. The spring comes early, the 
 end of March sees the wisterias, the wild white lilies, 
 the last yellow jessamines, and the first Cherokee roses. 
 The mistress of Frogmore delighted in nature's gifts; 
 she loved the roses and violets, the azaleas and daffo- 
 dils, the red-clad oleanders and the myrtles. These she 
 speaks of often in her letters. The place grew less and 
 less barren to her every year, and its beauties more suf- 
 ficient. 
 
 Chief satisfaction of all, the people whom she came to 
 teach justified her faith and her perseverance. She saw 
 the children who had seemed so unpromising at first grow 
 out of superstition into knowledge, and make the Sea 
 Islands many times more prosperous than before. She 
 knew that her school at least had proved that the negro 
 could profit by an education, and needed only fair play 
 to justify his right to independence. She was assured 
 of this long before she gave over active teaching. She 
 died in 1901. 
 
 Such was Miss Towne's work, growing slowly out of 
 love and patience. She came to a land of doubt and 
 trouble, and led the children to fresh horizons and a 
 clearer sky. The school she built is but the symbol of 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 a great influence ; there it stands, making the desert 
 blossom, and bidding coming generations look up and 
 welcome ever-widening opportunities. Through it she 
 brought hope to a people, and gave them the one gift 
 that is beyond all price to men. 
 
 The value of this diary and these letters lies in the 
 personal note. They should be read as the story of a 
 pioneer. It was no light task to leave home and friends 
 to volunteer for service during wartime; it was even less 
 light to stay in such service when the excitement was 
 over and only the work remained. None but a spirit 
 heroic in steadfastness could achieve such success. Yet 
 heroism was not in Miss Towne's thoughts, simply the 
 conviction that this was the work allotted her to do. We 
 must read between the lines to complete the picture. 
 The structure of daily incidents and thoughts is there, 
 we can build the full life only if we read events with 
 sympathy and understanding. 
 
 Rupert Sargent Holland. 
 
ERRATA 
 
 For William B. Towne read William E. Towne and 
 for Tripp read Fripp. 
 
THE LETTERS AND DIARY OF 
 LAURA M. TOWNE 
 
THE LETTERS AND DIARY OF 
 LAURA M. TOWNE 
 
 1862 
 
 Tuesday, April 8, 1862. 
 [Diary] On board the Oriental. 
 
 The stewardess is a character. She is a very light 
 mulatto, — tall, thin, very talkative, and frank in the 
 expression of her face. She says that passengers get 
 frightened at very slight rolling and ask the officers 
 of the boat whether there is danger, "and you can't 
 get them to give a straight answer to such questions — 
 't ain't in the nature of them. They goes in for excite- 
 ment, so they tells the ladies that it 's the worst time they 
 ever knowed, don't know whether the boat will live 
 through the night or not, — and then the ladies is 
 scared." 
 
 [Diary] Beaotort, S.C., April 17, 1862. 
 
 At Mrs. John Forbes', 1 formerly Mr. Tripp's house, — 
 a modern built new building with expensive sea wall and 
 other improvements. The wind blows freshly nearly all 
 day and the tide rises over sandy, grassy flats on three 
 sides of the house. These sands are full of fiddler-crab 
 hdles, and are at low tide the resort of negro children 
 with tubs on their heads, crabbing. Soldiers, fisher- 
 men, and stragglers also come there, and we see not 
 
 ' Mrs. John M. Forbes. Mr. Forbes had rented a house in Beau- 
 fort (or a short time. 
 
4 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 a little life. Boats frequently pass by, the negro rowers 
 singing their refrains. One very pretty one this morning 
 Moses told me was : — 
 
 " De bells done rung 
 An' we goin' home — 
 The bells in heaven are ringing." 
 
 Every now and then they shout and change the mono- 
 tony by several very quick notes, or three or four long- 
 drawn-out ones. One man sings a few words and the 
 chorus breaks in, sometimes with a shout or interject- 
 tional notes. Another song was, "We're bound to go" 
 — to heaven, I suppose. Another had a chorus of "Oh 
 yes, ma'am," at every five or six bars. 
 
 Yesterday Caroline 1 took us to her mother's house. 
 They were expecting us and were neatly dressed, and 
 elegantly furnished indeed was their room. It had straw 
 matting and a mahogany bureau, besides other things 
 that said plainly " massa's " house had contributed to the 
 splendor, probably after the hasty retreat of "massa's" 
 family. The two women there were both of the colored 
 aristocracy, had lived in the best families, never did any 
 work to speak of, longed for the young ladies and young 
 "mas'rs" back again, because April was the month 
 they used to come to Beaufort and have such gay times. 
 But if their masters were to come back they wanted to 
 go North with us. They begged us to stay, for "seemed 
 like they could n't be happy widout white ladies 'roun'." 
 They hoped it would be healthy so that we could stay, 
 but they thought it would not be so, because the city 
 is not cleaned as it used to be. They would have gone 
 
 1 A negro servant. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 5 
 
 with their masters, both of them, but they had relations 
 whom they did not want to be parted from, "except by 
 death," who were not going. One of them had gone at 
 first, but ran away and found her way back here, "by 
 de direction of de Lord." They were both nice women. 
 In the quarters we afterward went to, we saw a dirty 
 family and two horribly ugly old women. They had got 
 a lesson from some one and said, "We got to keep clean 
 or we'll all be sick." They were not putting their lesson 
 to use. 
 
 The little cook-house belonging to this fine mansion 
 is dark and dirty, but nearly empty. Cut-glass tumbler 
 and flower glass on the mantelpiece spoke of the spolia- 
 tion. Caroline, who escorted us, walked a little distance 
 behind, without bonnet or any outdoor garment. She, 
 however, wore a silver thimble very ostentatiously and 
 carried a little bit of embroidered curtain for a pocket 
 handkerchief, holding it at the middle with her hand 
 put daintily at her waist. We passed a soldier — they 
 are at every corner — and he said something rather jeer- 
 ing. Caroline stepped up, grinning with delight, and 
 told us he said, "There goes the Southern aristocracy 
 with their nigger behind them." She seemed to be 
 prouder than ever after this. She is rather pretty, very 
 intelligent and respectful, but not very industrious, I 
 fancy. 
 
 The walk through the town was so painful, not only 
 from the desertion and desolation, but more than that 
 from the crowd of soldiery lounging, idling, growing 
 desperate for amusement and occupation, till they re- 
 sort to brutality for excitement. I saw a soldier beating 
 a horse so that I think it possible he killed him. Others 
 
6 LETTERS AND DIARY OP [1862 
 
 galloped past us in a most reckless, unconscionable 
 manner; others stared and looked unfriendly; others 
 gave us a civil military salute and a look as if they saw 
 something from home gladly. There are two Pennsyl- 
 vania regiments here now, I think. The artillery is en- 
 camped near here. 
 
 Besides soldiers the streets are full of the oddest negro 
 children — dirty and ragged, but about the same as 
 so many Irish in intelligence, I think, though their mode 
 of speaking is not very intelligible. 
 
 The streets are lovely in all that nature does for theml 
 The shade trees are fine, the wild flowers luxuriant, and 
 the mocking-birds perfectly enchanting. They are so 
 numerous and noisy that it is almost like being in a 
 canary bird fancier's. 
 
 This morning we went — Mrs. Forbes, Mr. Phil- 
 brick, 1 and I — to two of the schools. There are not 
 many pupils now, as the General is sending all the negro 
 women and children to the plantations to keep them away 
 from the soldiers. They say that at Hilton Head the 
 negroes are getting unmanageable from mixing with the 
 soldiers, and this is to be prevented here. Women and 
 children, some with babies, some with little toddling 
 things hanging about them, were seated and busily at 
 work. We saw in the school Mrs. Nicholson, Miss White, 
 and Mr. Nichols, who was teaching the little darkies 
 gymnastics and what various things were for, eyes, etc. 
 He asked what ears were made for, and when they 
 said, "To yer with," he could not understand them at 
 
 1 Edward S. Philbrick, of Brookline, Massachusetts, who had vol- 
 unteered for service in the Sea Islands, and been given charge of three 
 plantations. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 7 
 
 all. The women were given the clothes they make up 
 for their children. I saw some very low-looking women 
 who answered very intelligently, contrary to my expec- 
 tations, and who were doing pretty good sewing. 
 
 There are several very light children at these schools, 
 two with red hair, and one boy who has straight black 
 hair and a head like Andrew Jackson, tall and not wide, 
 but with the front remarkably developed so as to give 
 it an overhanging look. Some, indeed most of them, J 
 were the real bullet-headed negroes. 
 
 In Miss White's school all of them knew their letters, 
 and she was hearing a class spell words of one syllable. 
 
 I have seen little, but have had two talks with both 
 Mr. Pierce 1 and Mr. French, 2 and have heard from Mrs. 
 Forbes much of what has been going on as she sees it. 
 Mr. Hooper 3 also enlightens me a little, and Mr. Phil- 
 brick. They all say that the cotton agents have been a 
 great trouble and promise still to be, but Mr. French says 
 we have gained the victory there. There seems to me to 
 be a great want of system, and most incongruous ele- 
 ments here. Some of the women are uneducated and 
 coarse injheir looks, but I should think some of them 
 at least are earnest and hard workers. Perhaps they are* 
 better fitted for this work than people with more refine- 
 ment, for it certainly takes great nerve to walk here 
 among the soldiers and negroes and not be disgusted or 
 shocked or pained so much as to give it all up. 
 
 The Boston and Washington ladies have all gone to 
 the plantations on the islands near here, where I am also 
 
 1 Edward L. Pierce, the government agent. 
 
 8 Rev. Mansfield French. 
 
 8 Edward W. Hooper, later Treasurer of Harvard College. 
 
8 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 going, and that leaves Mr. French and the New York 
 party for the mainland, or I mean for Beaufort and this 
 island. . . . 
 
 I have felt all along that nothing could excuse me for 
 leaving home, and work undone there, but doing more 
 and better work here. Nothing can make amends to 
 my friends for all the anxiety I shall cause them, for 
 the publicity of a not pleasant kind I shall bring upon 
 them, but really doing here what no one else could do as 
 well. So I have set myself a hard task. I shall want 
 Ellen's 1 help. We shall be strong together — I shall be 
 weak apart. 
 
 I think a rather too cautious spirit prevails — anti- 
 slavery is to be kept in the background for fear of ex- 
 citing the animosity of the army, and we are only here 
 by military sufferance. But we have the odium of out- 
 and-out abolitionists, why not take the credit? Why not 
 be so confident and freely daring as to secure respect ! It 
 will never be done by an apologetic, insinuating way of 
 going to work. 
 
 I wish they would all say out loud quietly, respect- 
 fully, firmly, "We have come to do anti-slavery work, 
 and we think it noble work and we mean to do it earn- 
 estly." 
 
 Instead of this, they do not even tell the slaves that 
 they are free, and they lead them to suppose that if they 
 do not do so and so, they may be returned to their mas- 
 ters. They keep in the background with the army the 
 benevolence of their plans or the justice of them, and 
 merely insist upon the immediate expediency, which I 
 must say is not very apparent. If they do not take the 
 1 Miss Ellen Murray. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 9 
 
 higher ground, their cause and reputation are lost. But 
 the work will go on. May I help it ! 
 
 [Diary] April 18, 1862 — Friday. 
 
 When I said something to Mr. Pierce about not wish- 
 ing to interfere with the system, he answered, " Oh, 
 Miss Towne, we have no systems here." He spoke play- 
 fully, but I think there is truth in it. The teachers who 
 came down here with us have not yet got to work and- 
 are going about, not knowing their destination. When we 
 came, Mr. Pierce sent us here to Mrs. Forbes without 
 any invitation from her and has left us here since with- 
 out knowing her wishes about it. She has nothing to 
 do with the Commission and should not be troubled with 
 its affairs, which makes it uncomfortable for Mr. Phil- 
 brick and me. . . . 
 
 There has been a little rebellion upon Mr. Philbrick's 
 plantation (the old Coffin plantation). 1 Two men, one 
 upon each estate, refuse to work the four hours a day 
 they are required to give to the cotton, but insist upon 
 cultivating their own cornpatch only. They threaten, 
 if unprovided with food, to break into the corn-house. 
 One man drew his knife upon his driver, but crouched 
 as soon as Mr. Philbrick laid his haDd upon his shoul- 
 der. Mr. Philbrick came to Beaufort and has taken 
 back a corporal and two soldiers to arrest and guard 
 these men for a few days. The negroes, Mr. Philbrick 
 says, are docile generally and require the positive order- 
 ing that children of five or ten years of age require, but 
 are far more afraid of any white man than of their 
 drivers. 
 
 1 At the eastern end of St. Helena Island. 
 
10 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 Pope's Plantation, St. Helena Island, April 21, 1862. 
 
 You do not know what perfect delight your letter 
 gave me, when I got it after I had done hoping for it. 
 Everybody else got their letters two days before and I 
 thought I should have to go to the plantation without 
 hearing, and once there I should never be sure of a let- 
 ter again, gentlemen's pockets being our only post. But 
 it was handed to me while I was packing at Mrs. Forbes', 
 and later in the evening when I was being driven by 
 Mr. Hooper in about half a buggy, with a skin-and-bone 
 horse, across cotton-fields, a voice from the roadside 
 hailed us — "Have you got Miss Towne there? Here 's 
 a letter for her. Came up with the groceries. Don't 
 know why or where from. Don't know when." It was 
 from Ellen, and Mr. Eustis 1 had rescued it from the 
 groceries accidentally. In the dark there Mr. Eustis 
 welcomed me to Secesh Land, and I have seen him once 
 or twice since. He and his son are both well and in the 
 highest spirits. Indeed, everybody here is well as pos- 
 sible, better than ever in their lives before, and most of 
 them in excellent spirits. And as for safety, you may be 
 sure we feel pretty secure when I tell you that we sleep 
 with the doors unlocked below, just as we used to think 
 it so wonderful to do at Jasper's. But I shall put the 
 padlock on my door, and as soon as there is any way of 
 locking the doors below, I shall do it. Now there are 
 no keys and no bolts. 
 
 In Beaufort — "Befit" the negroes call it, or "Bu- 
 
 fed " — there is less security, or folks think there is, for 
 
 they lock up, and Mr. F. was always getting up reports 
 
 1 F. A. Eustis, of Milton, Massachusetts, part owner of a planta- 
 tion on Ladies' Island. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 11 
 
 of rebel boats stealing by, but they all turned out to be 
 fishermen. Stories of danger are always being circulated, 
 but they come from waggish soldiers, I think. They said 
 that on one island the rebels had landed and carried 
 away a lady. There was not a word of truth in it, and 
 just before we came here two regiments were ordered 
 out to receive the Michigan regiment which had been 
 fighting at Wilmington Island. Some one asked what 
 they were called out for and they said the rebels had 
 landed in force at Ladies' Island, — Mr. Eustis', where 
 we were going that afternoon. I drove that very evening 
 over across part of Mr. Eustis' place in the dark with one 
 little darky, Cupid by name, and I never saw a more 
 peaceful place, and never was safer. 
 
 I think from the accounts of the negroes that this 
 plantation is a healthy one. Salt water nearly encircles 
 it at high tide. On the left are pines, in front a cotton- 
 field just planted, to the right the negro quarters, a nice 
 little street of huts which have recently been white- 
 washed, shaded by a row of the "Pride of China" trees. 
 These trees are just in bloom and have very large clus- 
 ters of purple flowers — a little like lilacs, only much 
 more scattering. There is a vegetable garden also to the 
 right and plenty of fig trees, one or two orange trees, but 
 no other fruit. We have green peas, though, and I have 
 had strawberries. Behind the house there are all kinds 
 of stables, pig-pens, etc. 
 
 The number of little darkies tumbling about at all 
 hours is marvellous. They swarm on the front porch and 
 in the front hall. If a carriage stops it is instantly sur- 
 rounded by a dozen or more woolly heads. They are 
 all very civil, but full of mischief and fun. The night we 
 
12 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 arrived Mr. Pierce had gone about five miles to marry a 
 couple. One of the party wore a white silk skirt trimmed 
 with lace. They had about half a dozen kinds of cake and 
 all sorts of good things. But the cake was horrid stuff, 
 heavy as lead. 
 
 But I am going on too irregularly. I will first describe 
 the family and then tell you, if I have time, about my 
 coming and my future prospects. 
 
 Miss Donelson and Mrs. Johnson are going home to- 
 morrow. I shall be very sorry to miss them, for I have 
 shared their room and found them very pleasant friends. 
 I have got really attached to Miss Donelson, whom I ha ve 
 seen most of, and I beg her to stay and go with Ellen 
 and me to another plantation. But she, after being very 
 undecided, has just determined to go home. You know, 
 of course, that Ellen is coming. Mr. Pierce said he wrote 
 for us to come together, but so as to make sure, he has 
 given me another pass which I shall forward by Miss 
 Johnson, and then, if Ellen still perseveres, we shall be 
 together here after all. 
 
 It is not very warm here, I can tell you. To-day the 
 thermometer is only 63, and I have worn my black 
 cloth vest and zouave jacket every day, being too cold 
 the only day I put on my black silk. 
 
 Miss Susan Walker is a very capable person, I think, 
 and she proposes taking charge of the plantation hands 
 and the distribution of the clothing. Miss Winsor is quite 
 pretty and very sensible. She has the school-children to 
 teach and is most efficient and reliable. Ellen will teach 
 the adults on this plantation. I shall — just think of it ! 
 — I shall keep house ! Mr. Pierce needs a person to do 
 this for him. The gentlemen of the company are always 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 13 
 
 coming here for consultation and there will be a large 
 family at any rate — Mr. Pierce, Miss Walker, and we 
 three younger ones, with young Mr. Hooper, who is Mr. 
 Pierce's right-hand man. We shall have visitors drop- 
 ping in to meals at all hours, and the kitchen is about as 
 far off as Mrs. Lambert's from you; the servants un- 
 trained field hands, — and worse, very young girls, 
 except the cook, — and so I shall have a time of it. I am 
 also to do copying or be a kind of clerk to Mr. Pierce, 
 and to be inspector of the huts. I shall begin by incul- 
 cating gardens. 
 
 This is not a pretty place, but the house is new and 
 clean, about as nice as country-houses in Philadelphia, 
 without carpets, though, and with few of the civilized 
 conveniences. We shall have no ice all through the sum- 
 mer, and the water is so thick that it must be filtered, 
 which will make it warm. That is the worst inconvenience 
 I see. We are at no expense at all here. The hands on 
 the place are obliged to work. All who can be are kept 
 busy with the cotton, but there are some women and 
 young girls unfit for the field, and these are made to do 
 their share in housework and washing, so that they may 
 draw pay like the others — or rations — for Govern- 
 ment must support them all whether they work or not, 
 for this summer. So far as I have seen, they are eager 
 to get a chance to do housework or washing, because the 
 Northerners can't help giving extra pay for service that 
 is done them, even if it is paid for otherwise, or by policy. 
 One old man — Uncle Robert — makes butter, and we 
 shall have plenty of it as well as milk. Eggs are scarce. 
 These things belong to the plantation and are necessary 
 to it. We do not pay for them. Robert brought in a tally 
 
14 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 stick this morning, grinning, to Miss Walker and showed 
 how many days' work he had done — rather wanting 
 pay, I think. Miss Walker said, "We have paid part in 
 clothes, you know, Uncle Robert, and the Government 
 will take care you have the rest some day." "Oh, I 
 know it, ma'am," he said, and he explained that he only 
 wanted her to see how many days he had worked. He is 
 very old, but should certainly be paid, for he takes care 
 of all the stock on the place, if he does not work the cot- 
 ton. Neither is he our servant; he only makes the butter 
 for us and for sale (which goes to the support of the 
 company expenses), and this is a small part of his work. 
 So matters are mixed up. Mr. Pierce has no salary 
 and Government gives him only subsistence and pays 
 all his expenses — nothing more. So he is entitled to 
 comfortable living, and this we shall profit by. I suppose 
 he is determined to do as Anna Loring asked — take 
 especial care of me, for he has established me where I 
 shall have the fewest hardships. When I say that we 
 shall profit by it, I mean that we must necessarily share 
 his comforts. For instance, our ration of candles is one- 
 half a candle a week. Now, Mr. Pierce must have more 
 than this, and we, downstairs in the parlor, see by his 
 light. That is, we have common soldiers' rations, and 
 he, officers', or something equivalent. I could not bemore 
 fortunately placed.it seems now, but if I find I cannot do 
 what I came for in this position, that is, influence the 
 negroes directly, I shall go somewhere else, for I find we 
 can choose. Mr Eustis cannot have any lady there, the 
 house being only a larger sort of cabin, with only three 
 rooms in all. Many of the ladies will go home in sum- 
 mer, but not because the place is unhealthy. They only 
 
18G2] LAURA M. TOWNE 15 
 
 came, like Mrs. Johnson, to stay awhile so as to start 
 this place, and others came who were not suitable. Mrs. 
 French's object was to write a book and she thinks she 
 has material enough now. 
 
 All the people here say it is healthy on these islands, 
 but the plantations inland are deadly. I am on an island 
 in a nir j new house, and I do not think there will be any 
 nec«.sity for leaving. But if it should begin to get sickly 
 hf „e, we have only to go to St. Helena's village on this 
 ame island (but higher and in pine trees; more to the 
 sea also) to be at one of their "watering-places" and in 
 an undoubtedly healthy situation. There are no negroes 
 there, though, and so we shall have no work there. 
 
 The reason why soldiers are more likely to suffer is 
 that they have to live in tents. Just think of the heat 
 in a tent! I was at the Cavalry Camp at Beaufort and 
 in the tent of Mrs. Forbes' son. It was a pretty warm 
 day, but there was a charming sea breeze. The tent did 
 not face towards the wind, and the heat was insufferable 
 in it — and the flies as bad as at Easton, I should fancy. 
 
 Mr. Pierce has just brought me some copying and 
 so maybe I shall not be able to finish this letter. 
 
 It is one o'clock and I have been scribbling all the 
 evening for Secretary Chase's benefit, and so have to 
 neglect my own family. I have had no time to write in 
 my journal for several days, which I regret very much. 
 
 St. Helena's Island, Pope's Plantation. 
 [Diaryl AprU 24, 1862. 
 
 Mr. Pierce's Head Quarters — 
 Family — Mrs. Johnson and her sister; 
 Miss Donelson; 
 
16 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 Miss Susan Walker; 
 Miss Winsor; 
 Miss Laura Towne; 
 Rina, Rebecca, Susannah, Lucy, Jane, Harry, Joe, 
 Dagus, and others, being outside and inside members 
 of the household. 
 
 Miss Donelson goes home only because she \. not so 
 situated that she can work. ' ■.* 
 
 The question of to-day is how to dispose of the clo. V 
 ing to the poor people. They are willing to buy generally, 
 but the supply is too small to admit of selling all they 
 want. . . . 
 
 They say, "Gov'ment is fighting for us and we will 
 work for Gov'ment. We don't ask money; we only ask 
 clothes and salt and sweetins." They express the greatest 
 love for the Yankees. 
 
 We ladies are borrowed, to go talk to the negroes, from 
 one plantation to another, and we do good, great good. 
 If I only had time to tell all they say to me ! Or how they 
 come thronging here for clothes and go away "too satis- 
 fied — too thank," one woman said, at receiving some 
 few things — generally, too, second-hand — some of it 
 miserable. Too thankful, indeed, if you will only let 
 them buy. We go again to-morrow upon a visit of cheer- 
 ing to the poor, anxious people who have lived on pro- 
 mises and are starving for clothes and food while pa- 
 tiently "working for Gov'ment." 
 
 The cotton agents promised last year and now are 
 just paying for the cotton picked on their promise, one 
 dollar in four — the rest in orders on their stores, where 
 they sell molasses at fifteen cents a pint and soap and 
 salt in proportion. The negroes take it hard that they 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 17 
 
 must work at cotton again this year, especially as it 
 must be to the neglect of their corn, upon which they have 
 the sense to feel that their next winter's food depends. . . . 
 
 St. Helena's, Sunday, April 27, 1862. 
 
 I have been hoping from day to day for a chance to give 
 you a good long letter, but I never was so busy in my 
 life, except just after we moved to Frog-Hollow, and it 
 is in pretty much the same style — a struggle for the food 
 of the day. To be sure, we fare very well, but that is one 
 trouble; we have a large family and not an abstemious 
 one, and I am housekeeper, with Southern servants, 
 and those irregular, and only half under my control, be- 
 ing at every other body's beck and call. . . . Miss W. it 
 was who told me we were to pay no wages for the work 
 we have done, and at first, supposing she knew, I tried 
 to reconcile myself to it by specious reasoning. But Mr. 
 Pierce says we have no right at all to take their labor and 
 leave Government to pay, or to pay our servants here 
 out of the goods sent by the commissioners. He will 
 pay the cook and driver. I have hired a washerwoman 
 and chambermaid for half a dollar a week extra. That 
 is, she gets food from Government, as all do (the corn, 
 that is, that was left on the estate), and she has her house 
 as before, but for attending to my room and doing my 
 washing I pay her half a dollar a week. Little enough, 
 but I dare not give more, as it would make the field 
 hands and others discontented. . . . I am quite charmed 
 with Miss Winsor. She is doing a good work quietly and 
 efficiently. I envy her her school, but some one must 
 keep house. ... I have a good deal of satisfaction too, 
 in housekeeping, for comfort is coming out of chaos; 
 
18 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 so I did not come here for nothing. I can do, too, what 
 I always wanted to come for specially, and that was to 
 strengthen the anti-slavery element. . . . 
 
 The blessed soldiers, with all their wrongdoing, did this 
 one good thing — they assured the negroes that they 
 were free and must never again let their masters claim 
 them, nor any masters. I think it is very touching to 
 hear them begging Mr. Pierce to let them cultivate corn 
 instead of cotton, of which they do not see the use, since 
 they worked it last year for pay which has not come yet, 
 while their corn has saved them from starvation. Next 
 week they are to be paid a dollar an acre for the cotton 
 they have planted under Mr. Pierce. They do not under- 
 stand being paid on account, and they think one dollar 
 an acre for ploughing, listing, or furrowing and planting 
 is very little, which of course it is. Mr. P. wants to make 
 it their interest to tend the cotton after it is planted, 
 and so he pays on it just as little as he can, until it is all 
 ready for the market. Meanwhile, if the masters drive 
 us off, no return will ever be made for their work, to the 
 people who are planting for us. Nothing is paid for the 
 cultivation of the corn, and yet it will be Government 
 property. The negroes are so willing to work on that, that 
 Mr. P. has made it a rule that till a certain quantity of 
 cotton is planted they shall not hoe the corn. This they 
 take as a great hardship, for the corn wants hoeing. 
 Several boxes of clothing have lately come here for dis- 
 tribution, and from early morning till evening the ne- 
 groes are flocking here to buy. I do not like the prices 
 fixed on the goods at all. They are in some cases higher 
 a good deal than the retail Philadelphia prices. Be sure if 
 Mrs. Hastings sends her box to me to mark it " Private " 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 19 
 
 and then I can dispose of it as I please. . . . Miss Win- 
 sor insists that her children shall be decently clad, or she 
 will not teach them. After the buyers have been to the 
 cotton-house where the goods are stored, they often come 
 and ask for me at the mansion house, so as to get a needle 
 and a little skein of thread — great treasures in this 
 region. They will give two or three eggs — which the 
 soldiers buy at two cents apiece here — for a needle and 
 a little wisp of tangled cotton. When that box from our 
 sewing-circle comes along, I want you to put into it for 
 me especially, at my cost, of course, a lot of coarse needles, 
 some black and white linen thread, some coarse spool 
 cotton of various colors, and some large size porcelain 
 buttons. . . . One luxury I want you to send me. It 
 is about five pounds of pulverized sugar. We have had 
 some of Mr. Pierce's and it has gone, to his great regret, 
 in this blackberry season. The fields are black with 
 them, and we have them three times a day, a needle 
 and thread paying for a quart or two. I bought yes- 
 terday a little plague for a quarter of a dollar. It was a 
 young mocking-bird which I had to get to keep a negro 
 boy from undertaking to "bring it up." 
 
 Evening 
 
 I have begun my professional career. On the next 
 plantation to this a good many negroes are sick, and at 
 church this morning the young man in charge, a Mr. 
 Buggies, asked me for some medicine for them — so he 
 came for me, and this afternoon I doctored the half- 
 dozen families who had measles and mumps. The church 
 was in the midst of splendid live-oak trees hanging with 
 moss, and the services were impressive only because 
 
20 LETTEES AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 they were so unusual, especially thesinging. The garments 
 seen to-day were beyond all description. One man had 
 a carpet, made like a poncho, and he stalked about in 
 such grandeur. There was an old woman there who came 
 from Africa in a steamship. Her face was tattooed a 
 little. Mr. Horton, who was one of our fellow passengers 
 on the Oriental, a Baptist minister, preached a sermon 
 upon true freedom, and I think the negroes liked it. We 
 heard of one old negro who got up in meeting, when one 
 of the young superintendents was leading the services, 
 and said, "The Yankees preach nothing but cotton, 
 cotton." The fact is that every man has thought it his 
 duty to inculcate the necessity of continuing to work, 
 and the negro can see plainly enough that the proceeds 
 of the cotton will never get into black pockets — judging 
 from past experience. 
 
 To-night I have been to a "shout," which seems to me 
 certainly the remains of some old idol worship. The 
 negroes sing a kind of chorus, — three standing apart 
 to lead and clap, — and then all the others go shuffling 
 round in a circle following one another with not much 
 regularity, turning round occasionally and bending the 
 knees, and stamping so that the whole floor swings. I 
 never saw anything so savage. They call it a religious 
 ceremony, but it seems more like a regular frolic to me, 
 I and instead of attending the shout, the better persons 
 '. go to the "Praise House." This is always the cabin of 
 the oldest person in the little village of negro houses, 
 and they meet there to read and pray; generally one of 
 the ladies goes there to read to them and they pray. I 
 went to-night and saw Miss Nelly Winsor sitting ready 
 to read to them; but as she seemed embarrassed I did 
 
i^fl^lMI^ 
 
 
 %affi 
 
 A WOMAN OF THE SEA ISLANDS 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 21 
 
 not stay. I shall go again next week. They meet at the 
 house of old Aunt Phillis, a real character. But I have 
 no time to tell you of her to-night. 
 
 I wish I could sketch. This country would make S. 
 wild with delight, the trees are so picturesque. I think 
 the palmetto as ugly a tree as ever was planned. I have 
 seen no strange animals except white cranes or herons 
 and turkey buzzards. There is the skin of an alligator 
 lying in the yard. It was shot in the creek here, but 
 was not more than five or six feet long. The flowers are 
 not very beautiful, that is, the wild ones, but I never in 
 my life saw such garden roses. 
 
 We have 'been riding around all week to different 
 plantations to cheer up and reassure the rather down- 
 hearted negroes, or rather the negro women. It is not a 
 cheering thing to do, except as it is gratifying to be so 
 able to give comfort. They think a white lady a great 
 safeguard from danger, and they say they arc "con- 
 tused" if llicrc arc no ladies about. 
 
 [Diary] Monday, April 28, 1862. 
 
 It is very touching to hear the negroes begging Mr. 
 Pierce to let them plant and tend corn and not cotton. 
 They do not see the use of cotton, but they know that , 
 their corn has kept them from starvation, and they are [ 
 anxious about next year's crop. Mr. Pierce takes us to 
 the different plantations as often as he can to talk to the 
 negroes and make them contented, which they are not 
 now by any means. The sight of ladies gives them a 
 feeling of security that nothing else does. 
 
 Mr. Ruggles is a fine man, quiet, good, and easy. His 
 men are contented. I went with him after church yes- 
 
22 LETTERS AND DIAItt OP [1802 
 
 terday to his plantation to visit his sick, carrying my 
 whole doctor's apparatus. It was my first purely pro- 
 fessional visit out here. 
 
 Yesterday we attended the Baptist church, deep in the 
 live-oaks with their hanging moss. It was a most pic- 
 turesque sight to see the mules tied in the woods and 
 the oddly dressed negroes crowding in. Inside it was 
 stranger still, the turbans or bare heads, the jetty faces, 
 and uncouth forms were all wild. We first had a Sunday- 
 School where the letters were taught principally, and 
 then the Commandments and the Lord's Prayer read. 
 Mr. Horton made an excellent sermon upon the text, 
 "Hold fast to that liberty wherewith Christ hath made 
 you free," or something like that. He told them that 
 liberty did not mean freedom to be idle, etc. But the 
 sermon was an exhortation to preserve liberty, and was 
 a good one. . . . 
 
 , I saw at church, and on Mr. Gabriel Caper's planta- 
 ,' tion, a woman brought from Africa whose face was tat- 
 tooed. She appeared to be of more vigorous stock than 
 our own negroes. I find most of the negroes I have seen 
 very weak and decidedly unhealthy and having bad 
 teeth. What else could be expected on hominy and pork 
 from generation to generation, and with such houses 
 and such work? 
 
 Last night I was at the "Praise House" for a little 
 time and saw Miss Nelly reading to the good women. 
 Afterwards we went to the "shout," a savage, heathen- 
 ish dance out in Rina's house. Three men stood and sang, 
 clapping and gesticulating. The others shuffled along 
 on their heels, following one another in a circle and occa- 
 sionally bending the knees in a kind of curtsey. They 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 23 
 
 began slowly, a few going around and more gradually 
 joining in, the song getting faster and faster, till at 
 last only the most marked part of the refrain is sung and 
 the shuffling, stamping, and clapping get furious. The 
 floor shook so that it seemed dangerous. It swayed 
 regularly to the time of the song. As they danced they, 
 of course, got out of breath, and the singing was kept up 
 principally by the three apart, but it was astonishing 
 how long they continued and how soon after a rest they 
 were ready to begin again. Miss Walker and I, Mrs. 
 Whiting and her husband were there — a little white 
 crowd at the door looking at this wild firelight scene; 
 for there was no other light than that from the fire, 
 which they kept replenishing. They kept up the "shout " 
 till very late. 
 
 The negroes are pretty cunning. They pretend they 
 want us to stay, that they would be in despair if we went 
 away, and they tell us they will give us eggs and chick- 
 ens. Indeed, they do constantly offer eggs and they feci 
 hurt if they are refused, for that is equivalent to refusing 
 to make any returns. Old Susannah, the cook, often sends 
 to the table fish or other delicacies. When I ask her where 
 she got them, she says a friend gave them to her and 
 she gives them to us. She does n't want pay — no, in- 
 deed. She always gave such things to her old "massas," 
 and then they in return gave a little sweetening or some- 
 thing good from the house. It was give and take, good 
 feeling all around. All giving on one side, I should think; 
 all taking, nearly, on the other; and good feeling ac- 
 cording to the nature of the class, one only content 
 in grasping, the other in giving. They transfer their 
 gratitude to " Government." One woman said to me, " I 
 
24 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 was servant-born, ma'am, and now 'cause de Gov'ment 
 fightin' for me, I'll work for Gov'ment, dat I will, and 
 welcome." Another woman, to-day, just from "the 
 main," said to me that she had hard work to escape, 
 . sleeping in "de ma'sh " and hiding all day. She brought 
 \ away her two little children, and said her master had 
 just "licked" her eldest son almost to death because he 
 was suspected of wanting to join the Yankees. "They 
 does it to spite us, ma'am, 'cause you come here. Dey 
 spites us now 'cause de Yankees come." She was grate- 
 ful to the Yankees for coming, nevertheless, but deplored 
 that the season for planting cotton was over, because 
 only the cotton-workers were to be paid and she was suf- 
 fering for clothes. Another man said, "I craves work, 
 ma'am, if I gets a little pay, but if we don't gets pay, we 
 don't care — don't care to work." Natural enough. One 
 very handsome, tall, proud-looking woman came here 
 to buy, but Miss Walker was too busy to sell. I told her 
 she could have no clothes; when she and another woman, 
 thinking I supposed them beggars, said — "We not dat 
 kind, ma'am; we got our money here." They object to 
 going to the young gentlemen on the places for clothes, 
 thinking it will be taken as a kind of advance for notice — 
 such notice as the best of them have probably dreaded, 
 but which the worst have sought. Women should be here 
 — good elderly women. Miss Donelson was anirreparable 
 loss. The men and women living together on this place are 
 not all of them married. When Miss Walker asks them 
 they say, "No, not married, ma'am, but I just tuck (took) 
 her and brought her home." They make not the slight- 
 est preparation for an expected infant, having always 
 been used to thinking it "massa's" concern whether 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 25 
 
 it was kept alive or not. The woman we saw yesterday, 
 whose baby was dead, seemed perfectly stolid, and when 
 I gave her a dollar was pleased as if she had no sorrow. 
 Yet I think the negroes are not harsh to the children. 
 They have a rough way of ordering them that sounds 
 savage. When you speak to a child who does not answer, 
 the others say, "Talk, talk. Why you not talk?" — in 
 the most ordersome tone to the silent one. 
 
 In church on Sunday after service Mr. Horton came 
 to me and said he was glad to see me there. I answered 
 that I was much gratified by his sermon, but objected to 
 two things — his qualifying their freedom rather too 
 much, and his telling them that we had all come down 
 to do them good, leaving homes and comfort for their 
 sake. " I wanted to keep up their respect for these young 
 men," he answered. "I don't know that we shall do it 
 by self-praise," I said — and he looked annoyed. "I 
 have heard them told so, so often," I said again, "that I 
 am sure that is well drilled into their heads." One thing 
 the soldiers did, notwithstanding all their wronging of 
 the slaves by taking their corn, and that is, they made 
 them fully sure that they are free and that they never 
 again can be claimed by any master as property. Some 
 of the superintendents threaten that they shall be re- 
 enslaved if they do not succeed and work as freemen. But 
 I think the negroes know that it is only a threat, and 
 despise the makers of it. 
 
 Mr. Hooper heard last night, from a special agent who 
 was sent down here to convince the soldiers that Govern- 
 ment is right in reserving their pay for their wives, that 
 it is said at the North that the goods are sold here on 
 private speculation, and that the money is put into the 
 
26 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 pockets of the superintendents. Also that the whole plan 
 is a failure and is sure to break up. I think the latter 
 very probable, for my part, for few can be found fitted 
 for carrying out such purely benevolent plans as this was 
 designed to be. 
 
 The negro men and women come crowding here at all 
 hours, begging to be allowed to buy clothing, and, al- 
 though they stand for hours in the hall, we have never 
 missed the slightest thing. 
 
 Mr. Pierce begins now to pay a dollar an acre on 
 account, which the negroes find it hard to comprehend 
 and are not well content with. We women have to be 
 borrowed and driven to the different plantations to talk 
 to and appease the eager anxiety. This is quite a tri- 
 umph, after having been rejected as useless. 
 
 On Sunday I was much pleased with one of the hymns 
 the negroes spontaneously set up, of which the refrain 
 was — 
 
 " No man can hinder me.'' 
 
 It was, I believe, saying that nothing could prevent 
 access to Jesus. I heard them introduce the names of 
 several men, as they do in improvising, but their pronun- 
 ciation was so very imperfect that I could not hear fully. 
 The men sing mostly, and have much finer voices than 
 the women. 
 
 Another song is, "The Bell done ring." Another, 
 "Bound to go." Another, "Come to Jesus." 
 
 They sing the tune of "John Brown's Body" to other 
 words, and in church or out of it, whenever they begin 
 one of these songs, they keep time with their feet and 
 bodies. It sounded very strange in the church. 
 
18G2] LAURA M. TOWNE 27 
 
 Susannah has just been up here telling me about the 
 flight of therebels. Shesays that the day after the " Guns 
 at Baypoint" (which is what all the negroes call the 
 taking of Port Royal), her master went away, taking 
 his family. He wanted Susannah to go with him, she 
 being the seamstress of the family, but she refused. He 
 then told her that if she stayed she would either be killed 
 by the Yankees or sold to Cuba; but she said, why should 
 they kill poor black folks who did no harm and could 
 only be guided by white folks? After he went, his son 
 came back once and told the negroes that they must 
 burn the cotton; but they said, "Why for we burn de 
 cotton? Where we get money then for buy clo' and shoe 
 and salt?" So, instead of burning it, they guarded it 
 every night, the women keeping watch and the men 
 ready to defend it when the watchers gave the alarm. 
 Some of the masters came back to persuade their negroes 
 to go with them, and when they would not, they were 
 shot down. One man told me he had known of thirty 
 being shot. This man is a cabinet-maker and school- 
 master among them, and says he reads all the papers. 
 He is named Will Capers. He is very intelligent and self- 
 respecting. He is in hopes he will be paid for teaching. 
 While his master was here he had a secret night-school 
 for men. He was very discontented because he was 
 ordered to the field, there being no work at his trade to 
 do. When Mr. Pierce harangued them from the porch, 
 this Will said he did not think it right to have to go to 
 the field. Mr. Pierce said, "What would you do? There 
 is no cabinetwork for you, and every man must work. 
 You want to be a soldier, I suppose, don't you? " "Yes, 
 sah," promptly. Then Mr. Pierce made two of them 
 
28 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 stand up and he drilled them a little. The other day 
 Miss W. and I, sitting in the carriage, found this man 
 standing by it. I said, "I remember your face, but I do 
 not know where I have seen you." " One of the soldiers, 
 ma'am," he answered quietly. So this man, an intelli- 
 gent, reliable negro, who has gone sensibly to the field 
 1 ever since Mr. Pierce's explanation, affirms that he knew 
 lof thirty men being shot down by their masters, and 
 Isays the masters declared they would shoot down every- 
 one they saw who remained. Nevertheless, a great part 
 of them stayed; and many of those who went came 
 back, or are coming every day. Others from the main- 
 land come here daily for clothes and have pitiful tales 
 to tell of how their masters whip those they suspect of 
 wishing to join the Yankees. Susannah's master has 
 never come back. He is probably afraid of his negroes, 
 as he was a very cruel, hard master, who gave no shoes, 
 salt, molasses, or Sunday clothes — neither would he 
 allow the field hands any meat, nor permit them to raise 
 pigs. Susannah once raised some pigs and her master 
 threatened to shoot them. , "No, massa, you cawnt do 
 it. What can I do for our children's winter shoes and our 
 salt if our pigs are shot? You cawnt do it — you cawnt 
 doit." He told her not to be impudent. "I don't mean 
 impudence, massa, but you cawnt shoot my hogs"; 
 and he could n't. He used to buy and sell as suited him. 
 Susannah's three boys (all she raised out of twenty-two 
 that she had) were sent away from her, but when she 
 had the fever from going in the sun to see the little one, 
 and crawled out to beg her master to let her have one to 
 hand her a drink of water in the night, he consented. He 
 brought one from his son's plantation, where he had 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 29 
 
 sent him, but told her that as soon as she was well she 
 must part with him again. He also whipped, or "licked," 
 as they say, terribly. For the last year he was deter- 
 mined to make them work as much as they possibly 
 could, because "he was afraid the Yankees were com- 
 ing "; and so he kept them in the fields from morning 
 till night and lashed them every day. Susannah herself 
 never had a whipping after she was a child. Her mistress 
 used to tell her she would "lash her," and scolded her, 
 but Susannah used to say "Whippin' never does me no 
 good, ma'am. I'll explain and I'll do better next time. 
 I only wants to know what you want and I '11 do it. If 
 my pride and principle won't make me do right, lash- 
 ing won't." She spoke continually of doing things from 
 pride and principle. She was sickly, and she made all 
 the ladies' dresses — two reasons for her being spared. 
 "I never axed no wagers, but my two clothes for the year. 
 I was quite satisfy if dey did n't lick me. I would work 
 or do anything for them if dey would n't lick me." Her 
 young "missuses" cried when they went away, and said 
 "Oh, Zannah, the Yankees '11 kill you. If you see a 
 Yankee it'll drive you crazy." "Why, miss, ain't dey 
 natural folks?" "Oh, no, Zannah, they don't look like 
 us." So, when Susannah saw soldiers coming, she ran 
 out to Marcus, her husband, and said, " Oh, deys soldiers, 
 deys come to kill us," and her hands shook with trem- 
 bling. But Marcus said they would n't hurt her and 
 ordered her to go to them to see what they wanted. 
 When they saw her fright, they said to her, "We are not 
 going to hurt you. We only want you to get us some- 
 thing to eat, and we '11 pay you for it. " " Oh, such pretty 
 men!" she said, "and so respectful." They stayed some- 
 
30 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 time; and Susannah used to parch peanuts for them 
 every night. All of the negroes speak with tenderness 
 and gratitude of our soldiers. Susannah says, when feel- 
 ing grateful, "Oh, you from the Norf are all so patient. 
 Such a patient people — never see nothin' like it." 
 
 We need patience. One day I came downstairs to make 
 a cup of tea for an unexpected guest. No fire and no 
 wood. No possibility of getting wood, as it was raining 
 hard. No butter. Old Robert was sick and had the key 
 of the dairy, and was away off somewhere; just as it 
 was at breakfast-time, when we had no milk, and Robert 
 was away at "the pen," too far for return before we had 
 done breakfast. I sent Lucy through the rain for Robert, 
 who came after a time with the butter — and no bread, 
 rations overdrawn and consumed, none to come till to- 
 morrow. Hominy gone. Sent Lucy to ask Susannah 
 why and where she had taken it. It came. Robert of- 
 fered to lend us a little wood — so at last we got a fire 
 (and a cup of tea with some hominy and butter). 
 
 I told Rina to come up and do our room and have not 
 seen her since. Just now Aleck was idle and I sent him 
 for wood to the pines with a little mule. I told him not 
 to whip it. He yelled and doubled himself up with laugh- 
 ing, and lashed it before my eyes until quite out of sight, 
 shrieking with laughter and paying no heed to my calls. 
 
 [Diary] May 1, 1862. 
 
 The little boys in the carts whip and goad, no matter 
 how I remonstrate and order, they laughing and jeering 
 in my face at my commands. Yesterday I saw that an 
 ox was all in welts and the skin in places quite off. Just 
 this minute Joe has gone out of the gate lashing a poor 
 
18G2] LAURA M. TOWNE 31 
 
 horse furiously at first start, and for no cause what- 
 ever. . . . 
 
 Our young men say they have to decide suddenly upon 
 such weighty questions that they are kept anxious and 
 overworked. They have learned to settle questions in 
 an offhand way. Mr. Pierce, in talking with the negroes, 
 has to alter many a half -considered thing. It is very 
 picturesque to see him in a negro village with such un- 
 clad and oddly clad groups around him, talking, reason- 
 ing, and getting such shrewd answers too. When he 
 sees a sulky woman he calls upon the ladies for help, 
 and Miss Winsor or I step out and at his command get 
 a smile on the face before we leave it. One and another 
 woman will come up with a few eggs or a plate of berries, 
 and stand with all the children and half-starved dogs 
 around the carriage. 
 
 Mr. Philbrick says that, after telling each man that 
 he should be paid exactly according to the quantity 
 of cotton he put in, they all went to work with a will, and 
 each man did his task per day, but that two women each 
 did two tasks a day and were to be paid accordingly. A 
 task is a quarter acre of hoeing or planting. These two 
 women received, besides, a head-handkerchief as a re- 
 ward. 
 
 There was a man at Captain John Tripp's who had 
 been a coachman in the family. He said his master was 
 kind, and then he went on to say that the masters had 
 "been unjust to we." "They take all our labor for their 
 own use and get rich on it and then say we are lazy and 
 can't take care of ourselves. That's not just, and they 
 were not just to we, taking all our labor and giving us 
 only two suits of clothes a year for wagers." He was a 
 
32 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 shrewd old man in other ways too, and told me, with a 
 very demure look, of how Massa John Tripp married 
 a poor woman, who came home and was as much of a 
 lady as anybody — could n't get a glass of water for 
 herself, nor nothing. 
 
 [Diary] ■ Sunday. May 4, 1862. 
 
 My thirty-seventh birthday yesterday. Never thought 
 I would spend it in South Carolina, on a plantation too, 
 and there by right as occupant. 
 
 It was beautiful this morning at church. The live- 
 oaks were more mossy and gray than ever and the spot 
 more lovely. The crowd was greater, and the dresses 
 cleaner and more picturesque too. The man with the 
 carpet poncho did not have it on to-day, probably as it 
 was so warm. But the turbans were grand. Mr. Horton 
 conducted the services finely, with plenty of old-fash- 
 ioned doctrine, to be sure, but with good sense, especially 
 when he told them how much greater men are than the 
 beasts of the field. One old negro made a fine prayer after 
 the service, just what it should be, in which he prayed 
 that God would guide and bless the good folks who had 
 come down to help them. He did not dare to mention 
 General Hunter's call for black soldiers, and all the super- 
 intendents fear it will not be responded to. Will Capers 
 has enlisted, however, and others talk of it. Will is a 
 fine fellow in every respect. 
 
 After church, groups formed outside. It was a beauti- 
 ful scene. The church overflowed; there were over three 
 hundred inside and many out — seven hundred and 
 thirty-eight in all, Mr. Horton sa3's. The children be- 
 haved well and I think the Sunday School was a success. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 33 
 
 I talked of Christ's love for children and how He would 
 take them to Heaven if they were kind to each other. 
 I had between twenty and thirty in my class. I also 
 taught them their letters and a card of words. There 
 were several black teachers. After church the superin- 
 tendents gathered around and had a little talk. Their 
 ration bread was taken in the carriage with us and dis- 
 tributed after church. That is the time for getting let- 
 ters, too, for those poor, out-of-the-way fellows on some 
 plantations. 
 
 It was amusing to see the vehicles by which some of 
 the gentlemen came. Mr. Philbrick rode on a skin-and- 
 bone horse with rope for bridle, and a side saddle. 
 Mrs. Philbrick accompanied him in a sulky, holding the 
 ropes and an umbrella, while the little negro clung on 
 the "tree" between the wheels with the whip and used 
 it when directed by Mrs. P. Behind was tied a square 
 box for bread. As we left the church, the long line of 
 negroes going slowly home was very pretty. Some of 
 them carried shoes to church in their hands and kept them 
 so, to show they owned a pair, I suppose. Decidedly 
 they were more cleanly and better clothed to-day than 
 before, and happier too. Paying them even a little has 
 reassured them. They are very eager to believe we are 
 their friends, but have had some things to make them 
 doubt. At the paying-off on this plantation the other 
 night they seemed all thankful, though some objected 
 to the bank bills. Mr. Pierce was very sorry they had 
 not specie to give them. It was a strange looking spec- 
 tacle, all those black faces peering in at door and win- 
 dow, for they assembled on the front porch and answered 
 when Mr. Pierce called their names. Mr. Hooper had 
 
34 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 the money and handed it over to Mr. Pierce, who gave 
 it to each. The earnings were from seventy-five cents 
 to three dollars each. Cotton only is paid for, not corn. 
 Each man took his money with a scrape backwards of 
 his foot, each woman with a curtsey. Rina says that they 
 never had anything but ground for floors to their cabins, 
 and they had no lofts. But after massa left, they took 
 his boards, floored their own cabins and put in lofts. 
 This does not seem as if they preferred to live in their 
 present style. 
 
 Mr. Boutwell, of the Coast Survey, was here to-day. 
 He says the St. Helena people were hard, and not con- 
 sidered well educated or good specimens of planters. 
 Certainly they were hard to their negroes, especially 
 on this place. It was being prepared for Mr. Fuller's 
 residence when the flight occurred. 
 
 Yesterday Mrs. French, Mrs. Nicholson, and Miss 
 Curtis were here with Lieutenant Gregory and Lieute- 
 nant Belcher, of the Michigan regiment. They havesome 
 special care of the ladies at Mr. French's. Lieutenant 
 Gregory said we have but 4000 soldiers here; 15,000 in 
 all Port Royal; and the enemy are concentrating around 
 us. They have already 20,000 surrounding us and may 
 take it into their heads to rout us. Their approach would 
 be in three directions, one through this island. 
 
 We have heard to-day that there is a mail to Beau- 
 fort, a late one, the earlier having been detained at 
 Hampton Roads — why, we know not. It is over three 
 weeks since a mail came in. I expect Ellen to-night. I 
 have often expected her before; but to-night she must 
 come, and Mr. Hooper has gone for her and the letters. 
 
 I heard a story of a negro the other day who was say- 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 35 
 
 ing all manner of hard things of the old masters and his 
 own in particular. "Well," said an officer, standing by, 
 "we have caught him and now what shall we do with 
 him? " "Hang him, hang him — hanging is too good for 
 him," cried the negro, in great excitement. "Well," 
 said the officer, "he shall be hung, boy, and since he in- 
 jured you so much, you shall have a chance now to pay 
 him back. You shall hang him yourself, and we'll pro- 
 tect you and see it done." "Oh, no, can't do it — can't 
 do it — can't see massa suffer. Don't want to see him 
 suffer." . . . 
 
 One of the most touching of all songs I have heard is 
 that "croon" in a minor key — 
 
 "Poor Rosie — poor gal — 
 (is to) 
 Heaven (will) be my home.' - 
 
 I never heard anything so sad. I will get the words and 
 tune some day. 
 
 My housekeeping experiences are very funny. No 
 milk — and breakfast. I send Lucy to send Aleck to 
 find Robert and bring the milk. Aleck comes back, say- 
 ing, "Can't get no milk, ma'am. Calf run away. Cow 
 won't give milk if the calf don't suck, ma'am." Two 
 hours or so after, milk comes. The cow will give no milk 
 except while the calf is having its supper, and so it is a 
 race between old Robert and the calf to see which will 
 get the most or enough. 
 
 There are sometimes six negroes in the dining-room 
 at once during meal-times — the other day Aleck mak- 
 ing his appearance with two huge fish, which he held up 
 triumphantly, raw and fresh from the water. On the 
 other hand, often at meal- times not a negro can be found; 
 
36 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 the table is not set, for Lucy has gone; the fire cannot be 
 kindled, for there is no wood and Aleck has gone; the 
 milk has not come, etc., etc. 
 
 A sad thing here is the treatment of animals. The 
 other day one of the oxen came home almost flayed, with 
 great skinless welts, and a piece of skin (and flesh, too, 
 I think), taken out over the tail. This afternoon Miss 
 Winsor and I stopped Joe, who had taken Mr. Whiting's 
 little colt and harnessed him without any permission. 
 Then he drove him at a gallop, with negroes hanging on, 
 through the deep sand, so that he came home all of a 
 tremble. All the gentlemen being gone, and nearly all 
 the ladies, they thought they could do as they pleased; 
 but Miss Winsor, with admirable tact and authority, 
 made Joe dismount, unharness, and care for the horse 
 after his return from a first trip. The dogs are all starved, 
 and the horses are too wretched. 
 
 Last night we heard the negroes singing till daylight. 
 Rina said they thought as they had Sunday to rest 
 they would keep up their meeting all night. It was a 
 religious meeting. 
 
 Mr. Hooper has returned with letters — none from 
 home for me; one from Sophie, fortunately. The other 
 two were with supplies from Philadelphia — $2000 
 worth to be distributed by me. They speak of having 
 read my letters to committees, etc., and that frightens me. 
 
 New Orleans is ours — has capitulated. Mr. Hooper, 
 Mr. Ruggles, and Mr. Horton, the Baptist minister, 
 were sitting in the parlor this Sunday afternoon. Sud- 
 denly we heard three lusty cheers. I ran in, little bird in 
 hand, and heard the joyful announcement of this news. 
 
 Miss W. has been sick and I have taught her school. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 37 
 
 Did very well, but once heard a slash and found Betty 
 with a long switch whipping two of the girls. I soon 
 stopped that and told them I had come here to stop 
 whipping, not to inflict it. Aleck, that "limb," stopped 
 in front of the desk and harangued me in orator style 
 to prove that Betty was authorized by Miss Nelly. Mr. 
 Severance drove me there and back, with a rabble of 
 negroes hanging on behind. We rode to church to-day 
 with nearly half a dozen somewhere about the carriage. 
 Lieutenant Belcher, who was Provost Marshal of 
 Port Royal, is a stanch homceopathist, and we have pro- 
 mised to doctor each other should occasion require. I 
 have a great many patients on hand — " Too many," 
 as the negroes say. 
 
 St. Helena's, May 5, 1862. 
 
 Public business before private, and I have only time 
 to say by this mail that I am well and safe, and happy 
 in your letters — the first I have received since I came 
 to this island, nearly three weeks ago. I have not received 
 a single paper, and it is of no use to send any, I am afraid ; 
 besides, I have not an instant's time for reading. No 
 one reads them here, or cares a pin for anything but 
 driving along with all there is to do. / wish there were 
 ten times as many of us here, men and women. 
 
 General Hunter has offered to arm the negroes and 
 train them. But as they think it a trap to get the able- 
 bodied and send them to Cuba to sell, they are not at all 
 anxious to be soldiers. They hate Hilton Head. So they 
 will probably seem to be cowardly to folks at the North, 
 and perhaps will prove so. Why should n't they, under 
 their training? 
 
38 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 I have had to write to-night in answer to the P. F. It. 
 Committee, whose large consignment of goods has 
 just reached here — and in good time, indeed — or 
 rather a month too late, but still, at a pinch, when they 
 will be very welcome. The poor, down-hearted, "con- 
 fused" negroes are already in better spirits from hav- 
 ing a little decent clothing to put on, with a prospect of 
 more coming. 
 
 I am going to begin a long letter soon if I ever get time. 
 This life is like keeping a hotel with poor servants, but 
 yet has its solaces. I have a large practice as doctor 
 and have had Miss Winsor's school for two days, and 
 that was by far the hardest work of all. 
 
 Ellen has not come, but I expect her daily. I had a 
 letter to-day, but she had not yet heard of her permit. 
 I really want her help here. 
 
 We are to have a dinner party to-morrow. Gen- 
 eral Stevens, Mr. Eustis, Mr. and Mrs. Forbes, etc. I 
 preside! Guess my feelings. 
 
 St. Helena's, May 8, 1862. 
 
 It is so very late and I have been writing business 
 letters till my eyes are dim, but I must say just a word 
 to you. I am so comforted by your letters. Not that I 
 need special comfort, for I never was in better health 
 and spirits, but it is so good to get a word from you. 
 
 I think it is a shame that I cannot get a minute's time 
 to write to my own family, but the work here must be 
 done. We want ten more women in this one house. For- 
 tunately I have got the servants drilled and so the house 
 is not much on my mind. You ought to have seen me 
 to-day keeping store for the negroes. The whole $2000 of 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 39 
 
 goods were consigned to me, and you may imagine me 
 unpacking clothing for some time. The molasses, etc., 
 I leave to Mr. P., but he advised me to keep the cloth- 
 ing and I see the advantage of it. 
 
 I like the work and change and bustle, and I am glori- 
 ously well. I am rejoicing to-day in the first batch of 
 letters for nearly a month. But it was as you said, I had 
 to carry my much longed for letters in my pocket for 
 hours before I could get a chance to read them. People 
 — people all the time at me; servants, young superin- 
 tendents to lunch, or to be seen on business, sick negroes. 
 I do lots of doctoring, with great success. 
 
 There are no dangers about here. No island was taken 
 at all. Do not believe all you hear. 
 
 St. Hei^ena's, May 11, 1862. 
 
 I wish I had half as much time to think of folks at 
 home as you take to think of me, but you will know how 
 busy I am when I tell you that your last letters were 
 carried in my pocket all day — nine letters — and not 
 opened, some of them; none of them read until night. 
 But every day is not so. That was yesterday, and to- 
 day I have rested. I am just as well as I can be and am 
 having a good time. As for unhealthiness, I shall go from 
 here as soon as I see that this place is not healthy. The 
 negroes say no white folks ever lived here to test it, 
 and as the house was new, it was probably so. They say 
 it is healthy for "niggers," but "white folks" always go 
 North or to Beaufort in summer. It has proved, though, 
 to be healthy wherever white folks have lived as near 
 the sea as we are, so I think I need not run till I see cause. 
 
 You need not be troubled about the allopathic doctor- 
 
40 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 ing.for there is a nice, elderly man in the army, a lieuten- 
 ant in a Michigan regiment, who has charge of the com- 
 fort of the ladies at Mr. French's. He came over here 
 with Mr. French and we made a solemn agreement, 
 he to doctor me, and I him in case we were either of us 
 ill. He is an old hand at homoeopathy, and a very good 
 doctor, I think. So I feel very safe and comfortable. 
 He is elderly, married, and stationed here for the sum- 
 mer, and at the disposal of the ladies so far as doing every- 
 thing he can for their comfort. As for going into the hot 
 sun and night dews — when I get time for a walk I shall 
 be happy. There is a pine grove close by, and I have 
 wanted from the first to go to it. It is not a stone's throw 
 from here and I have not entered it yet. I never go 
 further than the quarters or the cotton-house except 
 in the carriage, but I have had lots of beautiful rides, 
 and Mr. Pierce is going to give me a horse and buggy 
 so that I can drive whenever I please and wherever I 
 please. He does this rather for the horse's sake than 
 mine, I fancy. 
 
 It is not very hot here. There is a splendid sea breeze 
 every day and the nights are cool. We have every com- 
 fort except steady servants, and I have a real good, old 
 auntie who does my washing, chamber-work, and waiting 
 at table for half a dollar a week. Although I never 
 worked so in my life, it seems to agree with me, as I 
 am in high health and spirits, sleep like a top, laugh like 
 old times, and am jolly generally. 
 
 Ellen has not yet come and I am so afraid the Boston 
 Committee will not send her, because they will not ac- 
 cept Mr. Pierce's pass now that he thinks of leaving, 
 or because their funds are out. I expected her fully 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 41 
 
 yesterday, but the letters came and she did not. I find 
 it so much better and safer and more cool and comfort- 
 able here than I expected, that I have no scruples about 
 her coming and have got all over my fears about all 
 sorts of things that I used to be afraid would be the 
 death of her. 
 
 You must not think because I talk so much of the 
 hurry that I do not like it. I do, for it is just what I 
 came here for — though not just this kind [of work]. 
 The day I kept school for Miss Winsor I had the hard- 
 est time of all, and I concluded perhaps I was better for 
 this work than teaching. In my doctoring I can do much 
 good and give much advice that is wanted. The clothing 
 department is the most laborious, but it is very amusing 
 to sell to the negroes; they are so funny. 
 
 I see every day why I came and what I am to stay for. 
 
 Monday, May 12, 1862. 
 [Diary] The black day. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon, Captain Hazard Stevens and 
 orderly came here with an order from General Hunter, 
 commanding Mr. Pierce to send every able-bodied negro 
 down to Hilton Head to-day. Mr. Pierce was alarmed 
 and indignant and instantly went to Beaufort to see 
 General Stevens, who told him that he knew nothing of 
 this but the order, and that he considered it very ill- 
 advised. Mr. Pierce went to Hilton Head to-day and 
 saw General Hunter. Meanwhile, last evening we were 
 anxious and depressed at tea-time and talked in a low 
 tone about this extraordinary proceeding. It had been 
 agreed with Mr. Forbes that we should go to Hilton 
 Head in his yacht to-day and we spoke of not going. 
 
42 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 When Miss Walker came in we told her all about it, still 
 in a low tone. She was astonished at first and then said, 
 "Sister French's time is come." "What time?" "She 
 said she wanted to weep and pray with the people, and 
 the time has come to do it." Miss Walker left the table 
 crying herself. Rina and Lucy were in the room, of 
 course. After tea Rina came to my room and stood hang- 
 ing coaxingly about. "What are you going to do, 
 missus, to-morrow? " she asked. " Spend it in the cotton- 
 house," I said. " You not going to Hilton Head? " "No, 
 I guess not." One question followed another, and I saw 
 she was uneasy, but did not know exactly what for. By 
 the moonlight soon after when I looked out of the win- 
 dow, I saw a company of soldiers marching up to the 
 house. They stood for some time about the yard and 
 then marched off to go to the different plantations in 
 squads. Before they arrived, we all three, Miss W., 
 Miss Nellie, and I, had had a quiet time in the Praise 
 House. Miss W. came to me and said she wanted to go 
 to-night, and so I went, too, and heard good old Marcus 
 exhort, Dagus pray, Miss Nelly read, and then all sing. 
 Marcus said he had often told the negroes " dat dey must 
 be jus' like de birds when a gunner was about, expectin' 
 a crack ebery minute; " that they never knew what would 
 befall them, and poor black folks could only wait and 
 \ have faith; they could n't do anything for themselves. 
 j- But though his massa had laughed and asked him once 
 i whether he thought Christ was going to take d — d black 
 niggers into heaven, he felt sure of one thing, that they 
 would be where Christ was, and even if that was in 
 hell, it would be a heaven, for it did not matter what 
 place they were in if they were only with Christ. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 43 
 
 They thanked us for going to pray with them, so feel- 
 ingly; and I shook hands nearly all round when I came 
 away, all showing gentle gratitude to us. I could not 
 help crying when Marcus was speaking to think how soon 
 the darkness was to close around them. It was after 
 this that the soldiers marched silently up and then away. 
 The whole matter was unexplained to the negroes, as by 
 command we were not to speak of it to-night, lest the 
 negroes should take to the woods. Robert, however, 
 asked Nelly why we were going to Hilton Head, and 
 other questions. Mr. Hooper and Mr. Pierce both hav- 
 ing gone away, I determined to go and tell Rina that 
 their masters were not coming back, for this I saw was 
 their fear. So I went out to the yard and along to Rina's 
 house. I knocked, but she did not answer, and then I 
 went to Susannah's. There was no answer there either 
 and so I came home. But the poor people, though all 
 looked quiet in the little street, were really watching and 
 trembling. They set a guard or watch all along the Bay 
 here, and poor old Phyllis told me she shook all night 
 with fear. I suppose there was little sleep. Old Bess, 
 when I went to dress her leg, said, "Oh, I had such a 
 night, so 'fraid. Dey all run and I not a foot to stan' 
 on. Dey must leave me. Oh, missus, do cure my leg. 
 What shall poor Bess do when dey all take to de woods, 
 and I can't go — must stay here to be killed. Dey kill 
 me sure." I told her they would not kill the women, 
 but she was sure they would shoot them or "lick" them 
 to death. We were astir early and up very late, for after 
 twelve o'clock we heard a horse gallop up and a man's 
 step on the porch. I got out of the window and peeped 
 over. It was Stevens' orderly with his horse. I went 
 
44 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [186S& 
 
 down, let him have Mr. Hooper's bed on the parlor floor, 
 and tie his horse in the yard. After breakfast I went out 
 to the cotton house and was getting old Phyllis some 
 clothes, when Nelly sent for me. When I got in I saw 
 two or three of the men standing on the porch talking 
 together and Captain S. saying it was dirty work and 
 that he would resign his commission before he would do 
 it again. It appears that he had been up all night riding 
 over the island, and the poor soldiers had to march all 
 that time through the deep sand, those who had the 
 farthest to go, and they were ill-supplied with food. 
 When the men came in from the stables and field, 
 Captain S. told them to stand below the steps while he 
 spoke to them. So they gathered around, distrust or dis- 
 may or else quiet watching on their faces. "General 
 Hunter has sent for you to go to Hilton Head and you 
 must go." Here the two soldiers who came with him be- 
 gan loading their guns noisily. Captain S. went on to 
 say that General H. did not mean to make soldiers of 
 them against their will, that they should return if they 
 wished to; but that they had better go quietly. Miss W. 
 then asked leave to speak, told them we knew nothing of 
 this, but that we knew General H. to be a friend to the 
 black men, and they must trust, as we did, that all was 
 right and go willingly. "Oh, yes, missus," they all said, 
 and some looked willing; others less so, but they all 
 seemed to submit passively and patiently if not trust- 
 fully. I said, "I hope you will all be back again in a few 
 days with your free papers, but if you are needed, I hope 
 you will stay and help to keep off the rebels." Some men- 
 tioned their wives, and begged in a low tone that Miss W. 
 would care for them; two set out to bid good-bye and a 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 45 
 
 soldier followed them. Others sent for their caps and 
 shoes, and without a farewell to their wives were marched 
 unprepared from the field to their uncertain fate. It 
 made my blood boil to see such arbitrary proceedings, 
 and I ached to think of the wives, who began to collect 
 in the little street, and stood looking towards their hus- 
 bands and sons going away so suddenly and without 
 a word or look to them. I gave each negro man a half- 
 dollar and Miss W. each a piece of tobacco, and then they 
 marched off. Sometime after I saw the women still stand- 
 ing, and I went, on the excuse of dressing Bess's leg, 
 down to them. Some were crying bitterly, some looked 
 angry and revengeful, but there was more grief than any- 
 thing else. I reassured them a little, I think, and told 
 them we would not leave them in danger and fly without 
 letting them know. How they could see their able-bodied 
 men carried away so by force when they were all last 
 night in the terror of their masters' return, I do not see, 
 for they must see that with these men gone, they are like 
 lambs left without dogs when there are wolves about. 
 How rash of General Hunter to risk the danger of re- 
 sistance on their part, and how entirely unprotected 
 he leaves us! Besides, he takes the laborers from the 
 field and leaves the growing crop to waste, for the women 
 alone cannot manage all these cotton and corn fields 
 now that the foreman and ploughman have gone. This 
 Mr. Pierce stated forcibly to General Hunter, and he 
 admitted he had not thought of that. At least he might 
 have thought of the limits of his authority, for such forced 
 levies are surely not at the discretion of any general. It 
 was so headlong! 
 
 At Nelly's school the children saw the soldiers coming 
 
46 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 with their fathers and brothers. They began to cry and 
 sob, and could not be comforted, for Nelly could say 
 nothing but that she knew no more than they did what 
 it all meant. But she soon dismissed school and came 
 home to this sad house. We have been indignant and 
 very sad, but I have had too much to do to feel deeply 
 or think at all. I have had everybody at the plantation 
 up to the cotton-room and have given each some gar- 
 ments. This, with selling, took my entire day. 
 
 It is heart-rending to hear of the scenes to-day — of 
 how in some places the women and children clung and 
 cried — in others, how the men took to the woods and 
 were hunted out by the soldiers — of how patiently they 
 submitted, or trusted in others. Just at dusk a great 
 number with a guard were marched to this place. Mr. 
 Pierce would not let them stay. He made a little speech 
 to the negroes. Told them General Hunter said they 
 should not be made soldiers against their will, and that 
 he hoped they would get their free papers by going. 
 Told them to be cheerful, though it was not pleasant 
 being marched away from home and wives. They said, 
 "Yes, sah," generally with cheerfulness. We then said 
 good-bye to them; Miss W. and I having gone to them 
 and said a few words of encouragement. The soldiers 
 were grumbling at the work, and at having had to march 
 day and night on four biscuit — dinnerless and supper- 
 less, and through sand, on a repulsive duty; it is pretty 
 hard. They were the Seventy-ninth New York (High- 
 landers), Company D. 
 
 About four hundred men, or perhaps not so many, 
 were taken to Beaufort to-night and are to go to Hilton 
 Head to-morrow. The population is here. about 3000 to 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 47 
 
 St. Helena's, and 1500 to Ladies' Island. It is too late 
 to retrace this step, but the injustice need be carried no 
 further. Mr. P. wants to write full accounts to the War 
 Department, but I will not do as he wishes — give my 
 observation of to-day's scenes, till I know that General 
 H. is not trying for freedom. 
 
 St. Helena's, May 13, 1862. 
 
 Yesterday was a gloomy day on this island. I have 
 been interrupted by a wedding. Tom and Lucy have just 
 been united in this parlor by Mr. Pierce as magistrate, 
 and we presented the bride with a second-hand calico 
 dress, a ruffled night-gown and a night-cap. She came 
 in giggling and was soon sobered by Mr. Pierce's quiet, 
 serious tones. 
 
 To go back to the beginning of my letter. This is a 
 sad time here. On Sunday afternoon Captain Stevens, 
 son of General Stevens, 1 who commands here, and is the 
 husband of the Mrs. Stevens we knew at Newport, came 
 here with a peremptory order from General Hunter for 
 every able-bodied negro man of age for a soldier to be 
 sent at once to Hilton Head. This piece of tyranny car- 
 ried dismay into this household, and we were in great 
 indignation to think of the alarm and grief this would 
 cause among the poor negroes on this place. We have 
 got to calling them our people and loving them really — 
 not so much individually as the collective whole — the 
 people and our people. 
 
 We had been talking of going to Hilton Head in Mr. 
 Forbes' yacht, and at tea-time we discussed the whole 
 affair and said we should not go sailing under the cir- 
 1 Brigadier-General Isaac I. Stevens. 
 
48 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 cumstances. Miss Walker left the tea-table crying, and 
 we all were sad and troubled. My old Rina and little 
 Lucy were waiting on table and they kept very quiet. 
 After tea Rina came hanging around my room, and 
 asking questions in an offhand but rather coaxing way. 
 She wanted to know why we were going to Hilton Head, 
 and when I said we would not go, she wanted to know 
 what we would do then. I said, "Spend the day in the 
 cotton-house unpacking clothes as usual." She looked 
 uneasy but did not say much. 
 
 Old Robert, the dairyman, went to Miss Winsor and 
 asked the same questions and also what Captain Stevens 
 was here for. She had to say that she did not know, for 
 she did not then. 
 
 That night at about eight we saw a company of sol- 
 diers of the Seventy-ninth New York Highlanders com- 
 ing up the road. They marched into the yard and made 
 themselves at home, but very soon were ordered to 
 march again. Meanwhile Captain Stevens was finding 
 out from Mr. Pierce, how to go to the different planta- 
 tions, and was, moreover, saying that he would resign 
 his commission before he would undertake such work 
 again. That night the whole island was marched over by 
 the soldiers in squads, about six or ten going to each 
 plantation. They were unused to the duty, had to march 
 through deep sand, and some all night, to get to their des- 
 tination, and without dinner or supper, and so they were 
 grumbling at having to do this kind of thing at all. Besides, 
 the soldiers have always been friendly to the negroes, 
 have given them good advice and gentle treatment and 
 thus are honored and loved all over these islands. So 
 I have no doubt the duty was really repugnant to them. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 49 
 
 That night about twelve, after all the soldiers had 
 gone, I thought how alarmed the negroes must be. We 
 were charged not to tell them anything, for fear of their 
 taking to the woods, and so they could only guess at 
 what was going on, and I saw that they believed we were 
 going to fly to Hilton Head and leave them to the "Se- 
 cests," as they call their masters. They have a terrible 
 fear of this, and would naturally believe there was dan- 
 ger of the enemy, since the soldiers were about. They 
 could not suppose for a moment the real errand was of 
 the kind it proved to be. I was not undressed and so I 
 went out to the "yard" and to Rina's house, which is 
 in the collection of houses of house-servants which sur- 
 rounds the "yard." (This is not the negro quarters.) 
 Every house was shut and I knocked at two doors with- 
 out getting any answer, so I went home. I concluded 
 that they were not at home at all, and I think they were 
 not, for this morning Rina told me that they kept watch 
 along the creek all night, and the two old women of the 
 place both said they were up and awake all night tremb- 
 ling with fear. Poor "Aunt Bess," the lame one, told me 
 when I was dressing her leg that she was worst off of all, 
 for she had n't a foot to stand on, and when the "Se- 
 cests" came and her folks all took to the woods, she 
 should not have the power to go. "Oh, you be quick and 
 cure me, missus, — dey kill me, — dey kill me sure, — 
 lick me to death if dey comes back. Do get my foot well 
 so I can run away." She was really in great terror. 
 
 After I was undressed and in bed we heard a horse 
 gallop up and a man's step on the porch. I got softly 
 out of our window and looked over the piazza railing. 
 It was Captain Stevens' orderly come back. A bed 
 
50 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 had been made for Mr. Hooper on the parlor floor, but 
 he had gone with the soldiers to reassure the negroes, 
 who all love him and trust him. He went to let them 
 know that General Hunter did not mean to send them 
 to Cuba or do anything unfriendly. He, a young, slight 
 fellow, marched on foot through the sand six miles or 
 more — indeed, he was up all night. Mr. Pierce had 
 gone over to Beaufort to remonstrate with General 
 Stevens, and the next day he went to General Hunter 
 at Hilton Head to see what he could do to protect the 
 men, forced from their homes in this summary manner. 
 But we did not mind being left alone at all, and felt per- 
 fectly safe without a man in the house and with the 
 back door only latched. However, the orderly tied his 
 horse in the yard and slept in the parlor. A horse to 
 fly with was surely a likely thing to be stolen, but it was 
 untouched. 
 
 The next day soon after breakfast Captain Stevens 
 and two soldiers came up to the house and we sent for 
 the men whose names he had got from Miss Walker, she 
 being overseer of this plantation. There were twelve of 
 them. Some stood on the porbh, some below. Captain 
 S. ordered them all below, and he said to them that 
 General Hunter had sent for them to go to him at Hil- 
 ton Head, and they must go. The soldiers then began to 
 load their guns. The negroes looked sad, one or two un- 
 easy, and one or two sulky, but listened silently and 
 unresisting. Captain S. said none of them should be 
 made a soldier against his will, but that General Hunter 
 wished to see them all. Miss Walker asked leave to 
 speak to them, and told them that we knew no more 
 than they did what this meant, but that General H. was 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 51 
 
 their friend, that they must go obediently, as we should 
 if we were ordered, and should be trustful and hopeful. 
 I said, "Perhaps you will come back in a few days with 
 free papers." One or two of the men then made a de- 
 cided move towards their homes, saying that they were 
 going for their jackets. "Only two at a time," Captain 
 S. said, and two went, while the others sent boys for 
 jackets and hats, for they were called from their field 
 work and were quite unprepared. The women began 
 to assemble around their houses, about a square off, and 
 look towards the men, but they did not dare to come for- 
 ward, and probably did not guess what was going on. 
 A soldier followed the two men into the negro street 
 and Captain S. rode down there impatiently to hurry 
 them. They soon came up, were ordered to "Fall in," 
 and marched down the road without a word of good-bye. 
 I gave each a half-dollar and Miss W. each a piece of 
 tobacco. They appeared grateful and comforted when 
 Miss W. and I spoke to them and they said a respect- 
 ful, almost cheerful good-bye to us. It was very hard 
 for Miss W., for she knew these men well, and I only a 
 little. Besides, she had set her heart upon the success 
 of the crops, so as to show what free labor could do, and 
 behold, all her strong, steady, cheerful workers carried 
 off by force just in hoeing-corn time. Her ploughman 
 had to go, but fortunately not her foreman — or 
 "driver," as he used to be called. 
 
 After they were gone, and we had cooled down a 
 little, I made old Bess's leg my excuse for going to the 
 negro street and through the knot of women who stood 
 there. They moved off as I came, but I called to them 
 and told them it was better to have their husbands go 
 
52 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 to Hilton Head and learn the use of arms so as to keep 
 off "Secests; " that they could come back if they wanted 
 to, in a few days, etc. Some of them were crying so 
 that I could not stand it — not aloud or ostentatiously, 
 but perfectly quietly, really swallowing their tears. At 
 Miss Winsor's school the children saw the soldiers 
 coming, and when they saw their fathers marching along 
 before them, they began to cry so that there was no 
 quieting them, and they had to be dismissed. They were 
 terrified as well as grieved. On some of the plantations 
 a few of the men fled to the woods and were hunted out 
 by the soldiers; on others, the women clung to them, 
 screaming, and threw themselves down on the ground 
 with grief. This was when the soldiers appeared before 
 breakfast and while the men were at home. I am glad 
 we had no such scenes here. All the negroes trust Mr. 
 Pierce and us, so that if we told them to go, I think the'y 
 would believe it the best thing to do; but it is not so 
 with all the superintendents, — some are not trusted. 
 
 All day yesterday and to-day one after another of the 
 poor young superintendents have been coming in, say- 
 ing it was the worst day of their lives and the hardest. 
 I never saw more unhappy, wretched men. They had 
 all got really attached to their hands, and were eager, 
 too, to prove what crops free labor could raise. Mr. 
 Pierce had done what he could to induce the negroes to 
 enlist the other day when the man General Hunter 
 sent came here, but none of the gentlemen approved of 
 this violence. They were afraid the negroes might re- 
 sist, and they thought it a shame to use force with these 
 men who were beginning to trust to our law and justice. 
 I think General Hunter had an idea, which he got from 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 53 
 
 one of the gentlemen of this Association who went to 
 see him, that the persons in charge of the plantations 
 were so eager for tire cotton crop that they prevented 
 the negroes from enlisting, or induced them not to. So 
 he was determined to require the presence of the men 
 and see if they were cowards, or why they did not eagerly 
 take the chance of becoming self -defenders. 
 / Eive hundred men were sent from this island to Beau- 
 iort yesterday and went to Hilton Head, to-day, I sup- 
 pose. But not all of the men went who were required. 
 Two from this place have appeared to-day whose names 
 were down as having to go. One had been to Mr. Pierce 
 a few nights ago to say that he wanted to marry our 
 Moll and come here to live. "When? " Mr. Pierce asked. 
 "Ob," he said, "to-night." Mr. Pierce said no, he must 
 have a wedding and a good time, and invite folks to 
 see him married — not do things in that style. So Tues- 
 day was appointed, and the man said he would wait. 
 Then on Sunday came this seizure and we all lamented 
 poor Tom's separation from his Moll. To-day he ap- 
 peared and was married to-night, as I said before. I 
 saw the other man, Titus, in the yard, and said to him, 
 "Why, I thought you went with the soldiers." "No, 
 ma'am, not me, ma'am. Me at Jenkins', 1 ma'am. Ef 
 dey had come dere and axed for me, dey 'd had me. But 
 I not here." He had run, and I was glad of it! 
 
 This whole thing looks atrocious and is certainly a 
 most injudicious and high-handed measure, but some- 
 how I trust General Hunter will bring good out of it 
 and meant well. The negroes have such a horror of 
 "Hilty-Head" that nothing would have taken them 
 1 Plantation. 
 
54 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 there but force, I think. It is the shipping-off point, and 
 they have great fears of Cuba. One of the wives who 
 was crying so bitterly the first day, said to me to-day 
 that she was "sick"; she wanted her husband back 
 again "too bad." They say "too" for "very." They are 
 all still sad and uneasy and are hanging about all the 
 time in a questioning, waiting attitude. 
 
 It is late and I have time for no other letter by this 
 mail. Send this around and keep it afterwards; I have 
 no time to write a journal. 
 
 One more thing I want to mention was the touching 
 way in which two of the men came to Miss W. and begged 
 her to take care of their wives. 
 
 I am getting on famously with my unpacking and re- 
 packing, and am selling and taking money that it hurts 
 me to take. One woman bought a great bundle of 
 clothes, and I said, "Don't spend all your money." 
 "All for my chiluns," she said. "I have n't bought a 
 thing for myself. I had rather have my money in 
 clothes — my chiluns naked, quite naked — in rags." 
 The molasses and pork have not yet reached distribut- 
 ing-points, and when they do the people will have no 
 money to buy. 
 
 [Diary] Monday, May 19, 1862. 
 
 Our men have returned from Hilton Head and nearly 
 all are eager to go there again and serve in the forts, 
 though Marcus says he does not wish to fight, but only 
 to learn to fight. . . . 
 
 Very much has occurred lately, but I have no time 
 to write. I have received and distributed twenty-one 
 boxes of clothing, having sold over $155 worth and sent 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 55 
 
 out fifteen boxes to the plantations, which will be sold 
 on account or given away. . . . People have come from 
 great distances to buy here and seem almost crazy at 
 the sight of clothes — willing to pay any price. 
 
 We have had to refuse to sell, being so overworked. 
 I am sorry to say that I have discovered two cases of 
 pilfering, and the cotton house has been entered again 
 and again, we think, but nothing that we can miss is 
 taken. Our house-servants are honest as the day. 
 
 Mr. French spent Saturday night and preached here 
 on Sunday. He thinks good times are coming for us. 
 He says that General Saxton 1 will be our friend, and 
 that we shall have the military in our favor instead of 
 against us as before. The danger now seems to be — 
 not that we shall be called enthusiasts, abolitionists, 
 philanthropists, but cotton agents, negro-drivers, op- 
 pressors. The mischief has been that on this side of the 
 water, on these islands, the gentlemen have been deter- 
 mined to make the negroes show what they can do in 
 the way of cotton, unwhipped. But they have only 
 changed the mode of compulsion. They force men to 
 prove they are fit to be free men by holding a tyrant's 
 power over them. Almost every one who has attempted 
 this has failed. Those who have not attempted driving 
 are loved and obeyed. On the rationed islands, Port 
 Royal and Edisto, the negroes have worked much better 
 and have been perfectly contented. 
 
 Last Saturday the provisions from Philadelphia were 
 distributed, and I heard our folks singing until late, , 
 just as they did after their first payment of wages, only 
 then they sang till morning. 
 
 1 Rufus Saxton, Brigadier-General of Volunteers. 
 
56 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 Thorp was here the other night. Hewanted Mr. Pierce 
 to let him stay in his present position for a time, for 
 Mr. P. had wanted to remove him. He pleaded so that 
 Mr. P. yielded and Mr. T. went back to work, but he is 
 now ill and Sumner is taking his place in the distribu- 
 tion of clothes and food. This has not yet been begun 
 and the people are gloomy. Last Sunday Ria, bf Gab. 
 Capers, came over to me and asked me to speak to Mr. 
 Pierce about her horse. Mr. Saulsbury, a cotton agent, 
 had taken away a fine horse (belonging to the estate), 
 which Ria took care of and used, and in its place he 
 gave her an old beast to take her to church, as she is 
 paralytic. She came to church and heard that Mr. 
 Eustis, the provost marshal, who had made a law that 
 no negro should ride any horse without a pass, was 
 going to take away the horses of all the negroes who had 
 come to church without a pass. She appealed to Mr. 
 Pierce. He sent her to Mr. Park. She is afraid of Mr. 
 Park and appealed to me. Park was there and I went 
 directly to him. He heard me, and smiled as if a little 
 pleased to be petitioned, came forward and promised 
 the woman a pass or permission hereafter to use the 
 horse. The Mr. Field, a sutler and friend of the Whit- 
 neys, who was here a few days ago, told me he had found 
 a fine horse on the island named Fanny — a thorough- 
 bred, which he meant to take North with him. As Ria's 
 good horse's name was Fanny and he was probably one 
 of Saulsbury "s gleanings, I think we can see how the 
 negroes have been wronged in every way. Last Sun- 
 day Mrs. Whiting asked me to accept a quarter of lamb. 
 I offered to buy it and we had it for dinner. Afterwards 
 Mrs. W. told me she had no more right to the lamb than 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 57 
 
 I had, that she took it from the estate, had it killed and 
 generously gave me part. I told her of the strict mili- 
 tary order against it, when she said Government agents 
 had a right to kill, and that Mr. Mack and others did 
 so. Mr. Pierce instantly wrote to Mr. Mack to ask if 
 he had done this thing. Mr. Whiting has not been a 
 Government agent for two months, and yet he lives in 
 Government property, making the negroes work with- 
 out pay for him and living upon "the fat of the lamb," 
 — selling too, the sugar, etc., at rates most wicked, 
 such as brown sugar, twenty-five cents a pound; using 
 Government horses and carriages, furniture, corn, gar- 
 den vegetables, etc. It is too bad. The cotton agents, 
 many of them, are doing this. 
 
 [Diary] May 23. 
 
 Ellen is coming at last. I felt sure no one could stop 
 her. Mr. McKim is also to come as Philadelphia agent, 
 and I am free. 
 
 We have been for three days going to various plan- 
 tations, once to Mr. Zacha's at Paris Island, once to 
 Mrs. Mary Jenkins', Mr. Wells' and to Edgar Fripp's, 
 or to Frogmore, Mr. Saulis'; also to Edding's Point and 
 one other place. At the three places of Mr. Jenkins, 
 Mr. Fripp, and Edding, the wretched hovels with their 
 wooden chimneys and the general squalor showed the 
 former misery. One woman said the differences in the 
 times were as great as if God had sent another Moses 
 and a great deliverance — that it was heaven upon earth 
 and earth in heaven now. They all seemed to love Mr. 
 Wells. We saw there one woman whose two children/ 
 had been whipped to death, and Mr. Wells said there, 
 
58 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [18C2 
 
 was not one who was not marked up with welts. He 
 had the old whip which had a ball at the end, and he had 
 seen the healed marks of this ball on their flesh — the 
 square welts showed where it had taken the flesh clean 
 out. Loretta of this place showed me her back and arms 
 to-day. In many places there were ridges as high and 
 long as my little finger, and she said she had had four 
 babies killed within her by whipping, one of which had 
 its eye cut out, another its arm broken, and the others 
 with marks of the lash. She says it was because even 
 while "heaviest" she was required to do as much as 
 usual for a field hand, and not being able, and being also 
 rather apt to resist, and rather smart in speaking her 
 mind, poor thing, she has suffered; and no wonder 
 Grace, her child, is of the lowest type; no wonder she 
 is more indifferent about her clothes and house than any 
 one here. She says this was the crudest place she was 
 ever in. 
 
 The happiest family I know here is old Aunt Bess's 
 Minda and Jerry and herself. They are always joking 
 and jolly but very gentle. When I go there at night to 
 dress Bess's foot I find her lying upon her heap of rags 
 with the roaches running all over her and little Leah or 
 some small child asleep beside her. Jerry got me some 
 of the pine sticks they use for candles. They hold one 
 for me while I dress the foot. 
 
 It is very interesting to observe how the negroes 
 watch us for fear we shall go away. They are in constant 
 dread of it and we cannot be absent a single day with- 
 out anxiety on their part. It is very touching to hear 
 their entreaties to us to stay, and their anxious ques- 
 tions. They have a horrible dread of their masters' re- 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 59 
 
 turn, especially here where Massa Dan'l's name is a 
 terror. 
 
 They appreciate the cheapness of our goods and es- 
 pecially of the sugar at the Overseer house, and are be- 
 ginning to distrust the cotton agents who have charged 
 them so wickedly. 
 
 The scenes in the cotton-house used to be very fun iy. 
 Miss W. would say to some discontented purchaser who 
 was demurring at the price of some article, "Well, now, 
 I don't want to sell this. I believe I won't sell it to-day. 
 But if you want to take it very much at a dollar and 
 a half, you may have it. Oh, you don't? Well, then, I 
 can't sell you anything. No, you can't have anything. 
 We are doing the best we can for you and you are not 
 satisfied; you won't be contented. Just go — go now, 
 please. We want all the room and air we can get. You 
 don't want to buy and why do you stay? No, I shall not 
 let you have anything but that. I don't want to sell it, 
 but you may have it for a dollar and a half," etc., etc. 
 This is one of many real scenes. The people are eager, 
 crazy to buy, for they are afraid of their money, it being 
 paper, and besides, they need clothes and see finer 
 things than ever in their lives before. Except when 
 they are excited they are very polite, always saying 
 "Missus" to us, and "Sir" to one another. The child- 
 ren say, " Good-mornin', ma'am," whenever they see 
 us first in the day, and once I overheard two girls talk- 
 ing just after they had greeted me. One said, "I say 
 good-mornin' to my young missus [Miss Pope] and she 
 say, 'I slap your mouth for your impudence, you nig- 
 ger.' " I have heard other stories that tell tales. 
 
 The white folks used to have no cooking-Utensils of 
 
60 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 their own here. They came and required certain things. 
 The cooks hunted among the huts and borrowed what 
 they needed till the family went away, of course strain- 
 ing every nerve to get such cooking as should please. 
 "I would do anything for my massa," Susannah says, 
 "if he would n't whip me." 
 
 On May 7, as Mr. Pierce stepped off the boat at 
 Hilton Head and walked up the pier, a Mr. Nobles, chief 
 of the cotton agents here, came forward saying that he 
 had a letter for him. Then he struck him upon the head, 
 felled him, and beat him, saying that Mr. P. had re- 
 ported him to the Secretary of the Treasury and had 
 got a saddle and bridle of his. Mr. Pierce got up with 
 difficulty and took only a defensive part. Some soldiers 
 took Mr. Nobles off. Mr. Pierce had really mentioned 
 this man and his agents, which was his duty as guardian 
 of these people, for they were imposing upon the negroes 
 shamefully. They, of course, hate this whole Society 
 of Superintendents, etc., who will not see the negroes 
 wronged. So Mr. P. has had his touch of martyrdom. 
 
 The Philadelphia consignment of goods — in all 
 $2000 worth — would have done immense good if it 
 had come in season. The people of these islands, whom 
 Government does not ration (because there is corn here) 
 had nothing but hominy to eat, were naked, were put 
 to work at cotton, which they hated, as being nothing 
 in their own pockets and all profit to the superintendent, 
 who they could not be sure were not only another set 
 of cotton agents or cotton planters; and so discontent 
 and trouble arose. Mr. Pierce said to them that they 
 should be fed, clothed, and paid, but they waited and 
 waited in vain, trusting at first to promises and then be- 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 61 
 
 ginning to distrust such men as were least friendly to 
 them. 
 
 The first rations of pork — "splendid bacon," every- 
 body says — was dealt out the other day and there 
 has been great joy ever since, or great content. If this 
 had only come when first ordered there would have been 
 this goodwill and trust from the first. They even allow 
 the removal of the corn from one plantation to another 
 now without murmuring, and that they were very 
 much opposed to before. 
 
 [Diary] Tuesday, June 3, 1862. 
 
 It is a day of doubt and wearying uncertainty. Mr._ 
 Pierce is going home — perhaps not to return, and who 
 can take his place here with the negroes? They trust 
 so implicitly to his word and believe so entirely in his 
 love for them. They come to him with all complaints of 
 wrongs done them and are satisfied with his decisions 
 even when against themselves. Last Sunday after the 
 sermon he spoke to them about going away, of the bene- 
 fits they were receiving, and of his successor. He said, 
 "Lincoln always did think a great deal about you and 
 was always your friend; now he is thinking more than 
 ever and he is going to send you a protector. He is 
 going to send a much more powerful man than I am, 
 a big general to care for you — a man who has always 
 been your friend. You must love him and obey him." 
 There was something so self-forgetting and humble in 
 these words, and the manner of speaking, that it made 
 my heart swell, and when he thanked them and said 
 good-bye, a good many were much affected. 
 
 After he sat down, Mr. Horton said that all who were 
 
62 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 sorry to have him go had better express it by rising. 
 All stood up and most of them held up both hands. 
 Some began to bless and pray for him aloud, to say they 
 "thanked massa for his goodness to we," etc. It quite 
 overcame him for a minute. He covered his eyes with 
 his hands and sat down in the pew. Soon these people 
 began to crowd around him and he had to shake hands 
 with them. I saw then that his face was streaming with 
 tears, as hepassed pretty quickly out of church under the 
 old oaks and the people crowded about him. I stood 
 still in the pew watching it all, but soon I had to go 
 on down the aisle, and I saw an old blind man waiting 
 and looking anxious. Dr. Browne said to me, "He is 
 quite blind." "My friend" (to the blind man), "don't 
 you want to shake hands with Mr. Pierce?" "Yes, 
 massa, but I can't get to him — I 'se blin' an' dey crowd 
 so." "I will shake hands for you," I said, and gave him 
 my hand. "Thank you, missus — thank you," he said. 
 I gave Mr. Pierce this handshake and he treasured it, 
 I think. 
 
 It is storming most furiously, and I fear Ellen is out 
 in it. It worries me and yet I feel faith that she will 
 come to me. It seems impossible, though; all coming 
 seems stopped. The new war, excitement at the North, 
 the calling-out the militia, the battles, etc., have made 
 it almost impossible that this place can command 
 much notice. The Oriental is wrecked; the Atlantic up 
 for repairs, and communication difficult. That wretch, 
 T., who refused Mr. McKim and Ellen a passage on their 
 permit from Barney and pass from Mr. Pierce, has it in 
 his power to do such mischief and cause such delay 
 and vexation as will make it almost impossible for Ellen 
 
18G2] LAURA M. TOWNE 63 
 
 to come. She has already had one expensive journey to 
 New York for nothing. Poor Ellen! her trials are far 
 harder than mine — she has borne much more. 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, June 7, 1862. 
 
 An exciting day. This morning Mr. Eustis came over 
 and told Mr. Hooper that we ought to be ready tc go 
 at a moment's notice. For two weeks we have been quite 
 unprotected, and last night an attempt was made to pass 
 the pickets at Port Royal Ferry. A flat was seen coming. 
 Our pickets challenged it, and the negroes exclaimed, 
 "Don't shoot, massa!" Then fifty men rose up in the 
 boat and fired into the guard, killing four of them. The 
 others fled to Port Royal, I believe, carrying dismay, 
 and this morning all the ladies, cotton agents, and civil- 
 ians, except our men, embarked on the Ottawa and 
 went down to Hilton Head, Miss Walker among them. 
 Our men, of the Commission, have been bold enough. 
 Little Taylor has shouldered his gun and he this morn- 
 ing went to within four miles of the enemies' lines. 
 Ashly acted as guide to the scouts and others have gone 
 readily to the aid of the soldiery. Yet Mr. Pierce says 
 the soldiers are swearing at the "nigger lovers," who have 
 all gone — run away at the first danger. Not a man has 
 gone — not one. 
 
 There is quite a panic in Beaufort and several gun- 
 boats have gone up to it, apparently to take away the 
 commissary stores. It will then be evacuated, and what 
 will become of the poor negroes if the masters return! 
 It seems to me that this is a causeless panic. 
 
 We packed our trunks to-day according to Mr. Hoop- 
 er's orders, and we can run at any time, but leaving much 
 
64 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 behind us. I cannot bear the thought of going while 
 these poor people must stay — Aunt Bess, whose leg 
 is so bad; and some of the babies are ill now — they will 
 suffer so in the woods and marshes if they have to fly. 
 While we were packing this morning, Susannah, then 
 Rina, came and asked anxiously about our going. I told 
 thei;i all we knew — that we might have to go off, but 
 would not if we could help it; that our soldiers had all 
 gone off to take Charleston and that Secesh might come 
 down to attack us, and then the gentlemen would insist 
 upon our going. Mr. Pierce came home about eleven, 
 and he thinks we may remain. So we have composed 
 ourselves as best we can. The gentlemen are going to 
 patrol to-night, but I am more afraid of the exposure 
 than of Secesh for them, and us too. 
 
 Mr. Pierce has gone to Beaufort again. Several gentle- 
 men were here to-day, Mr. Horton among them, who 
 wanted to know if we were "going to trust the Lord and 
 keep our powder dry." I want to have Mr. Pierce secure 
 half a dozen guns for each plantation, and then if Secesh 
 come, call upon the negroes to help us and stay. I am 
 sure we shall be safe. I am entirely opposed to our fly- 
 ing. If Mr. Pierce were not going North, this would be 
 the case, I am pretty sure, but he is determined to have 
 us safe while he is gone. We have a boat in readiness to 
 set out by water, and the horses are kept fresh to take 
 us by land. One of them died to-day of poison plants, or 
 colic, — one of the handsome bays. 
 
 I have been in other excitement lately and feel al- 
 most ill from it. But first about the alarm at Beaufort. 
 It was so great that the arsenal was open, and anybody 
 wishing it could go in and get a gun. It appears that 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 65 
 
 the Pennsylvania regiment, or a guard of fifty, were 
 stationed at Port Royal Ferry, and on this alarm they 
 ran, after firing, and burned the bridge between them- 
 selves and the enemy. Their panic alarmed Beaufort. 
 The ladies fled to the gunboats and to Hilton Head. 
 They will return to-morrow probably. All Beaufort 
 was in confusion. To-night all is safety and quiet there. 
 We have had quite a cosy evening here — Mr. Pierce, 
 Mr. Hooper, Miss Winsor, and I. 
 
 [Diary] Sunday, June 8, 1802. 
 
 Before church we all, superintendents and the few 
 ladies, stood under the oaks and talked of our dangers, 
 and then Mr. Horton led us in to service. After serv- 
 ice we talked long again, till the coming rain made our 
 party from the Oaks hasten home, Park and others 
 going to the Episcopal church to try the organ. Mr. 
 Pierce had gone to Hilton Head, as a steamer was ex- 
 pected. I had reached home before the rain and was 
 lying down, when Rina rushed into my room with a haste 
 and noise so strange to her, calling out, "Miss Murray 
 has come!" I got up suddenly, but felt so faint that I 
 had to lie down again. Jerry and his boat's crew had 
 arrived with her trunk, but she did not come for an 
 hour. The men had told Mr. Pierce that they would 
 row up sooner than he could ride up to tell the news, 
 but he did not believe them, and galloped all the way 
 from Land's End to be the first to make the announce- 
 ment to me. He came in about a quarter of an hour 
 after they did, and as I was then upstairs, heard from 
 Nelly the arrival of the men. When I came down he 
 greeted me with "So you fainted at the news?" "No," 
 
60 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 I said, "not at the news, but I have not been well for 
 a week and was startled by Rina, and getting up so sud- 
 denly made me faint." He was determined to see a 
 scene if possible, but when Ellen came and I stood on 
 the porch as she came up the steps from the carriage, 
 we shook hands very quietly and walked into the parlor 
 in the ordinary manner of acquaintances. It was not 
 till we were upstairs that we cut any capers of joy. She 
 had been detained by the rain, the whole party stopping 
 in the Episcopal church where they played on the organ 
 and sang, Mr. McKim and Lucy 1 being highly de- 
 lighted at the ride, the romantic church, and the meet- 
 ing with some of the superintendents. 
 
 In the evening we went to a praise meeting, and Mr. 
 McKim spoke to the people. We heard a very fine ad- 
 dress from old Marcus. Afterwards we sat up late — 
 Mr. Pierce and Mr. McKim having a long talk over the 
 affairs of our little colony and we listening. Ellen and I 
 are to sleep on the floor, Lucy McKim and Nelly Winsor 
 in the beds in the same room. Ellen and I talked all 
 night nearly. 
 
 [Diary] June 9. 
 
 This afternoon the cotton agent, or rather the sutler, 
 Mr. Whiting, and his little wife, left the place. We are 
 so glad to have their half of the house. Mr. Pierce left 
 with me an injunction that they should take away none 
 of the furniture, and they left most of it. Mr. Elmen- 
 dorff gave into my charge some things which he should 
 claim should he come again, but he has only the right 
 of prior seizure to them. 
 
 1 Miss Lucy McKim. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 67 
 
 To-night we all went to Rina's house where the 
 people had a "shout," which Mr. McKim was inclined 
 to think was a remnant of African worship. 
 
 [Diary] June 11. 
 
 We four girls rode to "Mary Jenkins," x where the 
 children screamed and ran to hide at the sight of white 
 faces. Dr. Hering sent a consignment of looking-glasses 
 for distribution, and Mr. Hastings a number of bags 
 of salt, etc., etc. 
 
 St. Helena Island, June 13, 1862. 
 
 You do not know how comfortable and even elegant 
 our apartments are, now that we have all the furniture 
 the cotton agent had in his half of the house. There are 
 no other such accommodations in this region, and we 
 shall be foolish to go away for anything but health. 
 If there should be any likelihood of sickness, we can re- 
 move easily to the watering-place of the islands, St. 
 Helenaville, about six miles from here, and then we 
 can ride over twice a week or so to see our people. But 
 I do not see why this place cannot be a good enough 
 location to stay in all summer. As for the late alarm 
 about "Secesh" coming, everybody is ashamed of it, 
 and all try to prove that they were not frightened at such 
 an unlikelihood. It is an impossibility now, as gunboats 
 are stationed on all sides. I am so glad we did not run. 
 It was a great shame we had all the bother of packing 
 our trunks and unpacking them again. . . . 
 
 You may imagine that I was not well pleased to see 
 my entire letter printed. That last — "but I must get 
 1 Plantation. 
 
68 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 a little sleep " — seems so boasting, and in other places 
 I would have modified it. But I do not care much. If 
 my present leisure continues, I shall perhaps write for 
 the Tribune an occasional letter; but Mr. McKim is 
 taking notes, and will tell everything, I fancy. Lucy 
 is a very nice girl and she is busy collecting facts, etc. 
 Mr. French, too, is writing a book, and so there will be 
 an overstock of information, I think. . . . 
 
 Dr. Hering's looking-glasses have come, but not his 
 violins, and the candy and sugar are enjoyed hugely. . . . 
 
 I wish you were as free from every fret as I am, and 
 as happy. I never was so entirely so as now, and no 
 wonder. We found the people here naked, and beginning 
 to loathe their everlasting hominy, — afraid and dis- 
 contented about being made to work as slaves, and with- 
 out assurance of freedom or pay, of clothes or food, — 
 and now they are jolly and happy and decently fed and 
 dressed, and so full of affection and gratitude to the 
 people who are relieving them that it is rather too flat- 
 tering to be enjoyed. It will not last, I dare say, but it 
 is genuine now and they are working like Trojans. 
 They keep up the tasks of those who have gone to the 
 forts and do not complain of any amount of little extra 
 jobs. It is such a satisfaction to an abolitionist to see 
 that they are proving conclusively that they can and 
 will and even like to work enough at least to support 
 themselves and give something extra to Government. 
 
 All my affairs go swimmingly (I have the Boston 
 clothing too now, only there is none to sell), so do not 
 think of me as being a martyr of any kind. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 69 
 
 [Diary] June 14, Saturday. 
 
 Mr. McKim has returned from his excursion with Mr. 
 French and he is so impressed by our dangerous situa- 
 tion, regarding the enemy and the climate, that he 
 urges us to go home at once. Ellen and I are determined 
 not to go and I think our determination will prevail 
 over his fears, so that he will not order us home, as he 
 has the power, I suppose. We are troubled about this. 
 The military cram every newcomer with fears. 
 
 [Diary] June 15, Sunday. 
 
 The "Secesh" came over to Hutchinson's Island and 
 carried off some of the people, and so General Hunter l 
 has removed all the remaining to Beaufort. Some men 
 on the island were shot. Hunter cares well for the 
 people. 
 
 [Diary] 16th. 
 
 To-day Mr. McKim, Lucy, Ellen, and I went over to 
 Gabriel Caper's, Edgar Fripp's, Dr. Scott's, and to 
 Oliver Fripp's, where we dined with Mr. Sumner, Mr. 
 Park, and Mr. Gannett. They rode beside our car- 
 riage on their horses, and as the rains made the roads 
 bad, they explored the broken bridges and fords. We 
 had a jolly time except when Mr. McKim was question- 
 ing the people about their treatment in the old time. 
 Such dreadful stories as they told! Dr. Scott's own 
 daughter and granddaughter had marks of their mis- 
 tresses' whip to show. They lived in a very nice house 
 built entirely by the husband of one of them. 
 
 1 Major-General David Hunter, in command of the Department of 
 the South. 
 
70 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 [Diary] 18th. 
 
 Ellen had her first adult school to-day, in the back 
 room — nine scholars. I assisted. 
 
 The girls were much interested in seeing the people 
 come, with their flat baskets on their heads, to the corn- 
 house, to "take allowance," and then sit down in the 
 sand, and old and young fall to shelling the corn from 
 the cob with a speed that was marvellous, the little 
 babies toddling about or slung on the backs of their 
 mammies, or lugged about by the older sisters, not able 
 to stand straight under their weight. It was very 
 picturesque. 
 
 [Diary] June 23, Monday. 
 
 General Hunter drove us out to the camp of the black 
 regiment, which he reviewed. After our return I saw 
 Mr. McKim and Lucy off, the steamer being crowded 
 with the wounded and sick from the battle of Edisto. 
 Then Mr. French advised my returning to General 
 Hunter's. Mrs. H. had asked me to stay all night, but 
 I had declined. Now, however, it was too late to go back 
 to Beaufort in the little steamer and there was no 
 other chance but a sail-boat, so after waiting and hesi- 
 tating a long time, I consented to the intrusion, and 
 Mr. French escorted me back again, explaining to Gen- 
 eral and Mrs. Hunter my predicament. They were 
 cordial in their invitation, and I had a long talk with 
 them about plantation matters, sitting on their piazza, 
 the sentry marching to and fro and members of the staff 
 occasionally favoring us with their company. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 71 
 
 The regiment is General Hunter's great pride. They 
 looked splendidly, and the great mass of blackness, 
 animated with a soul and armed so keenly, was very im- 
 pressive. They did credit to their commander. 
 
 As we drove into the camp I pointed out a heap of 
 rotting cotton-seed. "That will cause sickness," I said. 
 "I ordered it removed," he said, very quickly, "and 
 why hasn't it been done? " Hespoketothe surgeonabout 
 it as soon as we reached Drayton's house, which is just 
 beside the camp. The men seemed to welcome General 
 Hunter and to be fond of him. The camp was in beau- 
 tiful order. 
 
 [Diary] June 24, Tuesday. 
 
 We had a serenade last night. It was given by Hol- 
 brook, Fuller, and others. They spoke about it at break- 
 fast and General Hunter laughed heartily as they wanted 
 to know why it was not appreciated by the household. 
 Wc had a very cosy, sociable, pleasant meal. Mrs. 
 Dibble, or Dibbil, thewife of an officer on Morris Island, 
 who stays with Mrs. Hunter, shared her room with me, 
 and after the serenade we slept well. I had another long 
 talk with General and Mrs. Hunter. I told him of the 
 assault upon Mr. Pierce, and the cotton agents' evil 
 doings generally. He says he shall burn Charleston if 
 he ever has a chance to take it, but that he has no chance 
 now, for all his troops are withdrawn except barely 
 enough for defence. He is a generous but too impulsive 
 man, kind to a fault to his soldiers, and more anti-slavery 
 than I expected. He wore a loose undress coat made of 
 white cassimir and a straw hat, when walking on the 
 piazza. His manner is very quick and decided, and to 
 
72 LETTERS AND DIARY OE [1862 
 
 his wife, attentive and as if he were much attached to 
 her. He told me how she went with him on all his cam- 
 paigns and how impossible it was for him to do without 
 her; and she told me how he had suffered with the cut 
 across the cheek and wound in the ankle which he re- 
 ceived at Ball's Bluff, I think, or Bull Run. I spoke of 
 Fremont admiringly, and he blazed up. "I admire his 
 anti-slavery," I said, "and his proclamation." "That 
 was well," he replied, "but his military operations were 
 ridiculous and he came near losing Missouri;" and he 
 said, I think, that he was not trustworthy. 
 
 "There's that guard asleep again," he said once. 
 "Let him sleep, David," urged his wife. "How would 
 you like to stand and walk about so long uselessly with 
 a heavy gun on your shoulder in the hot sun? Let him 
 sleep, David." "Oh, you would keep pretty order in my 
 camp," he said, laughingly, and let the man sleep. 
 
 Mr. French took me back, in the Locust Point, to 
 Beaufort. 
 
 [Diary] July 4, 
 
 Up at 4 a.m. We three girls raised our flag. Nelly had 
 had the staff planted the day before. General Saxton 
 and staff breakfasted here. Then we rode to the church 
 — General Saxton in the carriage with us three ladies. 
 
 At the Episcopal church Nelly played the organ — 
 "John Brown" and "America." Then we took our 
 places on the platform under the pines and oaks. First 
 sat General Saxton and the ladies, then the staff and 
 superintendents. A grand, noble flag, supplied by Gen- 
 eral Saxton, was stretched over the road in full view. 
 The people, marshalled by Mr. Wells on one side, Mr. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 73 
 
 Gannett on the other, came in procession from below 
 and above the church carrying branches in their hands 
 andsinging "Roll, Jordan, Roll." They formed under the 
 flag and before the platform into a dense mass and sang 
 many of their own songs. At General Saxton's request, 
 Nelly's school-children then sang Whittier's song — 
 
 " Now praise and tank de Lord, he come 
 To set de people free; 
 Ole massa tink it day ob doom. 
 But we ob jubilee." 
 
 He made alittlespeech tothepeople — manly, straight- 
 forward, and encouraging. Mr. Winsor addressed the 
 school-children, and Mr. Philbrick dilated upon work, 
 work, and cotton, cotton. Then there was an unlimited 
 supply of molasses and water, gingered, — with her- 
 rings and hard-tack provided by the bounty of Phila- 
 delphia, and spread on board tables in the woods. We 
 left them happy as larks, and all the white folks adjourned 
 to the Oaks l for a cold lunch — that is, all but General 
 Saxton and staff, who rode to Beaufort. I think the 
 lunch was only tolerably successful, as the melons were 
 green, and the corn-starch soured by the intense heat. 
 General dispersion — the lunch being over. Mr. Sum- 
 ner, Mr. Brinkerhoff, who made the prayer in the morn- 
 ing, before the addresses, stayed and sang with Nelly 
 on the porch. I came up here to write and Ellen is here 
 with me. She decked the parlors beautifully. 
 
 [Diary] July 14, Monday. 
 
 Edisto is evacuated! — and all the negroes brought to 
 
 1 The Government headquarters on St. Helena Island, where Miss 
 Towne was living. 
 
74 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 these islands. Some time ago the superintendents, Mr. 
 Delacroix being an earnest one, petitioned for guns to 
 arm their negroes. General Hunter granted them, but 
 General Wright, I think that was the name, prevented 
 or delayed their delivery. When the troops from Port 
 Royal went North, General Hunter ordered the with- 
 drawal of the troops occupying Edisto, so as to con- 
 centrate his small force. Mr. Bryant and one other went 
 to him and asked him whether he meant to leave them 
 defenceless. He said he could not protect them there — 
 that they might come within our lines, and he would 
 delay the removal of the soldiers till they had time to 
 procure transportation for the people. When Mr. 
 Bryant returned and the negroes were informed of the 
 intended evacuation, they were in great distress. They 
 said at first that they only wanted guns, but when they 
 found that the superintendents were to leave, they made 
 up their minds, after considerable advising, that they 
 had better follow the Yankees. So they collected their 
 fowls and pigs and crowded into the transports. In- 
 stead of being only one day going from Edisto to Beau- 
 fort, the delay made by their baggage transportation 
 kept them out overnight, hungry, comfortless. A few 
 old people had determined not to leave the home they 
 loved so much, and they waited on shore till the last 
 moment and then came hurrying down to the shore. The 
 people were landed at Beaufort, but that town was over- 
 crowded with refugees already, so, after being disem- 
 barked on the wharf, and I think staying there a night, 
 they had to take a steamer again and then were taken 
 to St. Helenaville, where they were settled. 
 
 Mr. Barnard had been indefatigable in helping his 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 75 
 
 people and he seemed to suffer all their privations him- 
 self and all their sorrow at leaving their home. He made 
 himself almost ill by his over-exertion. The people are 
 but half-sheltered now, and he is so anxious. 
 
 The first thing I saw this morning was the yard full 
 of carts and people. Such crowding, hurrying, ordering, 
 competing — all eager for the goods now that they have 
 a little money to purchase with. They kept it up till 
 nearly dark, though I had to pack some boxes. 
 
 Mr. Ruggles was here to dinner and the captain of 
 the black regiment and six of his men afterward. Cap- 
 tain Randolph stayed all night. 
 
 St. Helena Island, July 17, 1862. 
 
 I do want to let you know the little particulars you 
 speak of very much, but there are always so many great 
 things to tell of here that I have no time. Just now we are 
 going through "history" in the removal from Edisto of 
 all the negroes there, consequent upon the evacuation 
 of the island by our troops. The story is this — General 
 McClellan wanting more soldiers, General Stevens and 
 his regiment went North, and we had not enough sol- 
 diers left to guard Edisto, which lies near Charleston. 
 So General Hunter ordered the evacuation of the island, 
 first removing all the negroes who wished our protection, 
 and that was all who were there. They embarked in one- 
 or two vessels, sixteen hundred in all, with their house- 
 hold effects, pigs, chickens, and babies "promiscuous.",. 
 Last night Captain Hooper went io~see that they were 
 comfortably established on this island. They have the 
 fashionable watering-place given up to them, with all 
 their old masters' houses at their disposal. The super- 
 
76 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 intendents laugh about it. They say the negroes go to 
 St. Helenaville for their healths, and the white folks 
 stay on the plantations. I suppose some of the places 
 will be unhealthy, but ours is fortunately situated, as 
 we have a cool wind from the sea every day. These 
 negroes will be rationed and cared for. They say they 
 will get in the cotton here that had to be abandoned 
 when the black regiment was formed. They are quiet 
 and good, anxious to do all they can for the people who 
 are protecting them. They have not the least desire, ap- 
 parently, to welcome back their old masters, nor to cling 
 to the soil. They want only what Yankees can give 
 them. 
 
 We are going to have another change in this household. 
 Mr. Soule, 1 Mrs. Philbrick's uncle, is coming to preside. 
 He is just made General Superintendent of these two 
 islands, and this will be his headquarters. 
 
 Mr. Pierce's short visit on his return was very pleasant . 
 He came at midnight, in his usual energetic fashion, and 
 stayed some days. General Saxton, his successor, seems 
 a very fine fellow, and most truly anti-slavery. He is 
 quite interested in Nelly Winsor's movements and plans, 
 she having taken Eustis' plantation to oversee, as well 
 as this one. She is paid for this by Government fifty 
 dollars per month. Her salary as teacher from the com- 
 mission will probably soon cease. Ellen has a fine after- 
 noon school and is doing remarkably well with it. She 
 has two Sunday-School classes, one at church, one here. 
 I help hi the Sunday-School here and have a class of 
 thirty-six or so at the church. 
 
 I will go over one day — an average day — to let you 
 1 Richard Soule, Jr. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 77 
 
 know how I spend my time. If Captain Hooper has to 
 go to Beaufort by the early ferry, we have to get up by 
 six; but if he does not, we lie till after eight, and we about 
 equally divide the days between early and late rising. 
 After breakfast, I feed my three mocking-birds, — how 
 thankful I should be for a decent cage for them! — and 
 then go to the Boston store or the cotton-house and pack 
 boxes to go off to plantations, or clear up the store, or 
 sell — the latter chiefly on Saturdays, when there is 
 a crowd around the door laughing, joking, scolding, 
 crowding. Ellen always goes to the stores when I do, 
 and will stay, as she says she was commissioned expressly 
 to take care of me and work with me. She makes this 
 an excuse or a reason for insisting upon sharing every 
 bit of work I do. About eleven or twelve I come in, 
 wash, sleep, and lunch whenever my nap is out. In the 
 afternoons I expect to write while Ellen has her school, 
 for I do not help her in it, but so many folks come for 
 clothing, or on business, or to be doctored, that I rarely 
 have an hour. Then comes supper and dinner together 
 at any time between six and ten that Captain Hooper 
 gets here. About sundown, I, with Ellen, walk down 
 the little negro street, or "the hill," as they call it, — 
 though it is as flat as a pond, — to attend my patients. 
 I am sorry to say that Aunt Bess, whose ulcer I had nearly 
 cured, has another on the same leg, and so my skill seems 
 of less avail than I could hope. We had the prettiest 
 little baby born here the other day that I ever saw, and 
 good as gold. It is a great pet with us all. Indeed, it is 
 almost laughable to see what pets all the people are and 
 how they enjoy it. At church, at home, and in the 6eld 
 their own convenience is the first cared for* and compared 
 
78 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 to them the poor superintendents are "nowhar." It 
 is too funny to hear them ordering me around in the 
 store — with real good-natured liking for mischief in it, 
 too. 
 
 After dinner we sit awhile and talk in the parlor, but 
 the mosquitoes give us no peace. To-night Ellen and I 
 have taken our writing-desks and candle under our 
 mosquito net. I am glad to have good fare. We have 
 nice melons and figs, pretty good corn, tomatoes now 
 and then, bread rarely; hominy, cornbread, and rice 
 waffles being our principal breadstuffs. We have fish 
 every day nearly, but fresh meat never — now and then 
 turtle soup, though. Living on the "fat of the lamb " is 
 nothing to ours on the fat of the turtle. Our household 
 servants are four in number, besides my Rina, who washes 
 for me and does my chamber-work, besides waiting at 
 table. She is the best old thing in the world and I hope 
 I can take her North with me. ... It is grand to run 
 to my private store for nails and tacks, etc., and the sew- 
 ing-things are invaluable. The pulverized sugar lasts 
 well. Captain Hooper had a letter from Mr. P., in which 
 he speaks of the pleasant times he had here. He will 
 never have so pleasant again, I believe, because he was 
 doing a good work for no pay, and that is a satisfaction 
 not often to be had. The cotton crop here will be a suc- 
 cess, I think, and the corn will be plentiful, unless we 
 have some great storms. I wish you could see the 
 wild flowers, the hedges of Adam's-needle, with heads of 
 white bells a foot or two through and four feet high; 
 the purple pease with blossoms that look like dog- 
 tooth violets — just the size — climbing up the cotton- 
 plant with its yellow flower, and making whole fields 
 
18G2] LAURA M. TOWNE 79 
 
 purple and gold; the passion flowers in the grass; the 
 swinging palmetto sprays. 
 
 I send the music. It is not right, but will give you 
 some idea. "Roll, Jordan, Roll" is the finest song. 
 
 [Diary] July 20, Sunday. 
 
 This morning there was no white preacher. After 
 church Father Tom and his bench of elders examined 
 candidates for baptism and asked Ellen to record their 
 names. We stayed. Each candidate, clothed in the 
 oldest possible clothes and with a handkerchief made 
 into a band and tied around the forehead, stood humbly 
 before the bench. Father Tom, looking like Jupiter 
 himself, grave, powerful, and awfully dignified, put the 
 most posing questions, to which the candidates replied 
 meekly and promptly. He asked the satisfactory can- 
 didate at last, "How do you pray?" Then the soft, 
 musical voices made the coaxing, entreating kind of 
 prayer they use so much. A nod dismissed the appli- 
 cant and another was called up. There were sixty or 
 seventy to examine. 
 
 We went afterwards to St. Helenaville and stayed 
 at the Jenkins' house, which was crowded with super- 
 intendents. 
 
 Mr. Wells, Ellen, and I took a walk along the pretty 
 street under the pines on the high bluff over the water. 
 The passion flowers trailed all over the ground and the 
 crape myrtle was in full bloom. I gave Ellen and Mr. 
 Wells each a berry which I supposed was a "ground 
 berry." Mr. W. ate his in silence, but Ellen exclaimed 
 that it was intensely bitter. I was alarmed, for I knew 
 that the berry belonged to a poisonous family. We asked 
 
80 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 some of the people whether they were good to eat, and 
 they said "No — poison." I then made the two victims 
 hurry back to Mr. Jenkins' house and drink some strong 
 coffee, besides giving an antidote from my little doctor's 
 box. No bad effects. 
 
 Young Mr. John Alden lay very ill in the house. After 
 a while the people gathered before the porch and sang 
 and tried to get up a "shout," but this was not en- 
 couraged by the leaders. They sang "Happy Morning," 
 "Down in the Lonesome Valley," and others. 
 
 We rode home in the twilight escorted by Lieutenant 
 Forbes and some other horsemen. Forbes and others of 
 the cavalry are picketed at Wells', Edding's Point. 
 
 [Diary] July 21, Monday. 
 
 Captain Randolph and Mr. De la Croix were here 
 to-day. The former says he will speak at headquarters 
 about the guns not being delivered according to General 
 Hunter's orders, thus preventing the superintendents 
 undertaking the defence of the island and making re- 
 moval necessary, to the great discomfort and unhappiness 
 of the people, their impoverishment and pauperism, 
 besides abandoning the splendid crop that had already 
 cost Government so much, and that would have been 
 so profitable to it. He, Captain Randolph, is delighted 
 with the working of the system of labor pursued on these 
 islands and at the state of good order and comfort now 
 prevailing. 
 
 [Diary] July 22. 
 
 Our guns have come! Captain Thorndyke brought 
 over twenty and gave Nelly instructions. Commodore 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 81 
 
 Du Pont was here this afternoon. The people came run- 
 ning to the school-room — " Oh, Miss Ellen, de gunboat 
 come ! " I believe they thought we were to be shelled out. 
 Ellen, Nelly, and I went down to the bluff and there 
 lay a steamboat in front of Rina's house, and a gig was 
 putting off with flag flying and oars in time. Presently 
 a very imposing uniformed party landed, and, coming 
 up the bluff, Commodore Du Pont introduced himself 
 and staff. We invited him in. He said he had come to 
 explore the creek and to see a plantation. They stayed 
 only about ten minutes, were very agreeable and took 
 leave. Commodore Du Pont is a very large and fine- 
 looking man. He invited us all to visit the Wabash and 
 seemed really to wish it. 
 
 [Diary] July 23. 
 
 Nelly was busy all day cleaning and rigging her guns. 
 The men on the place seemed overjoyed at their arrival. 
 
 I packed boxes for the Edisto refugees and counted 
 up the produce of the sales. I have on hand over four 
 hundred dollars. Mr. Ruggles stayed last night in place 
 of Mr. Hooper as our protector. He brought us a present 
 of sweet potatoes, watermelons and green apples. We 
 had an apple pie! 
 
 [Diary] July 27. 
 
 Mr. Phillips, the new minister, preached, and after 
 church there was a continuation of the examination for 
 baptism. Many of the people said they had desired for 
 years to be baptized, but could not get their masters' 
 leave. 
 
82 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [18C2 
 
 [Diary] July 28, Monday . 
 
 To-night two officers in uniform came up the porch 
 steps and asked Nelly, who was there, whether they 
 could have a night's lodging, saying the larger man was 
 surgeon of the Dale, which lies out blockading the creek. 
 They had a boat-load of men here. Nelly came and 
 asked me. I said that Captain Hooper was not at home, 
 but till he came invited them in to dinner. I was afraid 
 the men might do mischief in the quarters and cheat or 
 steal from the people, so I requested that they should 
 not come ashore. This request was not heeded. The 
 surgeon talked incessantly at table. He inquired all 
 about the pickets on the island, the number of white 
 soldiers and armed black men, etc., and of Mr. Phillips 
 he asked questions about the North, whether McClellan 
 had not weakened the war spirit, etc. There was some- 
 thing very suspicious in his questions and we answered 
 them cautiously. Then he went on to speak of the re- 
 bels, calling them gentlemen and eulogizing them. We 
 replied that no rebel or traitor was a gentleman in our 
 eyes, or ought to be called so by loyal persons. He was 
 angry and rose from the table. I told him soon after- 
 wards that they had better go to Eustis' plantation, 
 as Captain Hooper was away and we did not like to 
 have guests under these circumstances. So they went 
 on, ungraciously. That night we armed old Robert 
 and Archie and we each had a loaded gun in our 
 room. 
 
 [Diary] July 31, 1862. 
 
 Mr. Soulecame to live here as General Superintendent. 
 He has recently had his arm broken and is not yet able 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 83 
 
 to cut up his food at dinner, so I did it for him, to Ellen's 
 most amusing annoyance. 
 
 Pay-day for the negroes. Nelly and Mr. Hooper paid 
 them at the rate of $2 per acre. Most of the women had 
 earned $5 — the men, on an average, not so much. 
 
 [Diary] August 4. 
 
 Bad news to-night. Halleck is made General-in- 
 Chief of the Army. There has been a meeting in New 
 York of conservative men who sent a petition to Lin- 
 coln for emancipation. 
 
 [Diary] August 6, Wednesday. 
 
 . . . They say the iron "Ram" from Charleston is 
 going to make a descent upon us. 
 
 [Diary] 9th. 
 
 . . . Ellen and I took the little children into the 
 creek to bathe, having dressed them in some of the 
 "theatricals" that came down here. There was more 
 fun and mud than cleanliness. 
 
 Hunter's negro regiment disbanded! Hunter almost 
 broke his heart pleading for pay for them, and now that 
 he sees he cannot obtain it, he disbands "for a time," 
 he says, and sends the men to "gather crop." 
 
 [Diary] August 13, Wednesday. 
 
 Dr. Wakefield and Mr. Breed went to General Hunter 
 complaining that the negro regiment was quartered in 
 their garden. General Hunter, who has always suspected 
 the superintendents of preventing enlistment and frown- 
 ing upon negro soldiers, became so exasperated by their 
 
84 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1802 
 
 complaints that he threatened to send them home in 
 irons if they oppose the negro regiment any more. 
 General Saxton is very angry at their taking it upon 
 themselves to go to General Hunter. They are under 
 General Saxton's authority and it was extreme disrespect 
 to go to General Hunter to obtain his interference in 
 General Saxton's department. 
 
 I run up the flag every evening for our men to as- 
 semble and drill. 
 
 [Diary] August 15, Friday. 
 
 Heavy firing heard before sunrise. Two gunboats 
 stationed at the mouth of our creek. Am preparing my 
 Philadelphia money for safety and I shall have the guns 
 loaded. 
 
 [Diary] August 23. 
 
 Captain Hooper had to go to-night to arrest Archie 
 for killing cows. This Archie, or Archibelle, as the people 
 call him, is Susannah's eldest son. He was married to 
 Madeline, of "Sarah Perry's," by Mr. Pierce, the night 
 I arrived at the Oaks. He has hot treated his wife well. 
 He volunteered in Hunter's regiment and deserted 
 several times, but was forgiven. Hunter did not even 
 punish desertion severely, for two reasons. He had 
 promised the people pay for their services as soldiers 
 and he could not keep his promise, and he thought the 
 men did not yet understand the stringency of military 
 law and should be excused till more used to it. 
 
 Archie went by the name of Baltimore Chaplin and 
 was so able and intelligent that he was made sergeant. 
 He was Dr. Daniel Pope's bodyservant or peculiar boy, 
 
18C2] LAURA M. TOWNE 85 
 
 and had rendered him a service that made the people 
 at the Oaks hale him. 
 
 After the flight of the rebels at the taking of Hilton 
 Head, which the negroes always call the "Gun shoot at 
 Bay Point," "Ma' Dan,"or Master Daniel, returned sev- 
 eral times to take away clothing, corn, and poultry, — in- 
 deed, all theprovisions hecould carry, and to burn Eustis' 
 bridge, — an intention frustrated, after it was actually 
 fired, by the energy of our people and those on the Eustis 
 place. He also threatened to burn the cotton in the 
 cotton-house. He came, too, to take away slaves. 
 He wanted two especially — Rina, who was washer and 
 ironer for the family, and the child's nurse called Bella. 
 Rina always ran and hid in time. She was a "fair part- 
 ridge for run," people say. Bella, too, escaped till one 
 time Archie, having discovered her retreat, hid in the 
 path while Dr: Pope went up to the door of her house. 
 She was surprised and ran from the back door. She 
 would have escaped Dr. Pope, but she ran directly into 
 Archie's arms, and he called out, "Now, we've got 
 you!" He was very young — a mere boy — and do- 
 ing his master's work according to his orders, but the 
 people will not forget his treachery. 
 
 Archie seems entering now upon a desperate course. 
 He is fitted for such a life by his former hardships and 
 experiences. After Dr. Pope took him away the last 
 time, he was once very severe, and Archie ran away to 
 get back to his mother. He was captured and whipped 
 
 — kept, too, in the stocks a cruel time. So he resolved 
 to escape, and finally reached his mother's home, worn 
 out with hunger and fatigue, having waded in the swamps 
 
 — or "bogged," as they call it — for miles, and having 
 
86 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [18G2 
 
 been days and nights in the woods, with almost nothing 
 to eat. lie seems now to be chief of a gang of men who 
 kill cows on the plantations and sell the beef to the 
 soldiers at Hilton Head — a profitable trade, but a 
 dangerous one. Captain Hooper saw him, told him he 
 was arrested, and ordered him to report to Mr. Williams 
 in the morning. He thinks Archie will do it. 
 
 [Diary] August 25, Monday. 
 
 Ellen, Mr. Soule and I drove over to see Miss Thomp- 
 son at Thorpe's, near the village. She was just teaching 
 her school, which is pretty large. She was very pleasant. 
 Every night she suffers terror for fear of an attack by 
 the rebels, as that point is somewhat exposed. 
 
 Mr. Barnard was there and showed us his people and 
 their quarters, seeming to feel keenly their deprivations. 
 He is not just like himself, though, more quickly im- 
 patient, and I think he holds unsound opinions lately — 
 quite different from his old ones. He thinks the guns 
 granted to the plantations mischievous, and drilling the 
 men wrong; and he is very much opposed to forming 
 companies — says it will teach the men to be insubor- 
 dinate. I was astonished, and asked whether he did not 
 think it would civilize them, make them manly, and 
 teach them order and systematic obedience. We dis- 
 agreed in opinions, but we are good friends always. 
 
 Great talk of evacuation of these islands. General 
 Saxton thinks of making Lands End 1 his headquarters. 
 I think all this troubles Mr. Barnard. 
 
 ' Lands End was nearly opposite Hilton Head, and a considerable 
 distance from the Oaks. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 87 
 
 St. Helena's, August 26, 1802. 
 
 It is too bad that I have had lately so little time to 
 write. But you may guess how hard it is by the sketch 
 of a day that I will give you. 
 
 I get up about six and hurry down so as to have 
 breakfast by seven for Captain Hooper to set out to the 
 ferry for Beaufort. After that I generally have three or 
 four patients, feed my birds, and am ready by nine for 
 driving out to see my patients on five plantations — 
 only one plantation or two a day, though. The roads 
 are horrible and the horses ditto, so I have a weary time 
 getting along, but it is enlivened by a little reading aloud, 
 Ellen and I taking turns at driving and reading. We 
 come hurrying home by two o'clock or a little before, 
 using mental force enough to propel the whole concern 
 — horse, carriage, and ourselves. We snatch a lunch and 
 begin school. I have the middle class, Ellen the oldest 
 and youngest. At four, school is out for the children. 
 Ellen then takes the adults while I go docLoring down 
 to the "nigger houses," or street of cabins. As soon as 
 I get home (generally with six or seven little negro girls 
 and boys — or babies — tugging to my dress and say- 
 ing, "my missus" — the little things that can scarcely 
 speak each having chosen a favorite "missus"), I run 
 up the flag and the men come for their guns. This is 
 about six o'clock. They drill an hour or so, and then I 
 take the guns again. They are kept in the room next to 
 mine, under lock and key. Then I dress for dinner, and 
 order it, or see to its coming upon the table in some pre- 
 sentable shape. Dinner takes till eight or half-past, or 
 even, if Captain H. is detained, till half-past nine. 
 I generally have several patients to attend to in the 
 
88 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 evening, and the rest of the time Ellen and I are kept 
 busy folding papers for the medicines. We go upstairs 
 so as to begin to undress at ten, and we are so sleepy 
 that I often get sound asleep just as soon as my head 
 touches the pillow. We both keep hearty and strong. 
 The negroes say I am strong "too much." . . . 
 
 By the vessel that has come I expect letters from all 
 of you. It has been so long since I heard, that I am quite 
 lonely. I dread any news from the army. General Sax- 
 ton is talking of making his headquarters on this island, 
 but alas, not here ! He has to take his staff and stores 
 with him, and we could not have them here very well. 
 We have good, gentle, conscientious Mr. Soule here, and 
 as he is General Superintendent of these two islands, 
 that is something. I hope we shall not lose Mr. Hooper, 
 who is the best fellow that ever lived. I have great dis- 
 cussions with him upon anti-slavery. 
 
 Nelly Winsor has not got back : yet. We do very well 
 — better than I expected — without her, but I shall be 
 very glad to have her return. I am not at all sorry that 
 I did not accept the superintendency of the place, for 
 it would be too much care of a kind that I do not like — 
 accounts, pay-rolls, rations to be measured exactly, 
 complaints to hear and satisfy, authority to exert. I 
 like my position as volunteer and would not willingly 
 give it up. 
 
 The mosquitoes are so horrible that we cannot, gen- 
 erally, write at all in the evening. Even Ellen has given 
 up writing then, entirely, except on such a night as this, 
 when it is an easterly cold storm, and the pests are all 
 blown away. We tried getting under the mosquito net 
 and writing, but having twice set it on fire we are afraid 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 89 
 
 to venture, and have positively abandoned all attempts 
 to use a candle at night for reading or writing. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 I keep hoping for more time and now I think I shall 
 take it. The "fever month" is over, and the fever 
 proves all a scarecrow. Common chills and fever have 
 now begun, but of a very easily managed kind. I have 
 had good luck with my patients so far, and my fame is 
 tremendous. One woman died, though, that might have 
 been saved, I think. 
 
 [Diary] August 28. 
 
 The chaplain at St. Augustine's has written to General 
 Saxton that the soldiers there sympathize more with 
 "Secesh" than with the North. 
 
 The President is out with a colonization scheme. They 
 say McClellan is to be relieved. 
 
 Ellen and I drove Jimsebub to Oaklands and we 
 crossed to Palawana, being bogged — that is, sitting 
 in the boat and being pushed over the soft, slippery 
 mud by a man behind the "dug-out." 
 
 [Diary] August 31. 
 
 Aunt Phyllis wanted to go to church and is too feeble 
 to walk, so Captain Hooper, aide-de-camp to General 
 Saxton, gave her his seat in the carriage and jumped on 
 behind himself. Harry stopped the horses. "Massa, 
 my massa, don't do dat!" he pleaded. Then he scolded 
 and begged, and begged and scolded, while Aunt Phyllis 
 sat still, saying she never rode in a "cheer" before. 
 Captain Hooper was obdurate, and Harry had to 
 
90 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1802 
 
 drive on in deep dejection of mind and mortification of 
 spirit. 
 
 To-night a Mr. Simmons, I think, who had been fight- 
 ing in the Southern army upon compulsion, and who now 
 belongs to the Maine regiment here, talked of his ex- 
 periences when fighting bis country. We heard him 
 with amazement and disgust that grew more and 
 more apparent, and when he said he had had a negro 
 whipped, Ellen and I rose and left the table. 
 
 [Diary] September 1, Monday. 
 
 Mr. Soule and Captain Hooper ate no supper to- 
 night. They are troubled. General Saxton is going 
 home for a while and Captain Moore will probably act 
 for him. There is not an anti-slavery man on General 
 Saxton's staff except Captain Hooper. General Hunter 
 has decided to evacuate within ten days, but he asks 
 to be relieved of his command. That might leave us in 
 Brennan's power! This is a trying day for us. We are in 
 low spirits and it storms without. The rebels are getting 
 bold. They landed at Brickyard on Friday. This is the 
 third attempt lately. 
 
 [Diary] September 2. 
 
 I think the last three days have been the darkest 
 hours of the summer, for we have been so sure of evacu- 
 ation. To-day it brightens a little. General Saxton was 
 to have sailed, but Mr. French came with despatches 
 that have prevented the General leaving at present. 
 Captain Hooper is light-hearted again and ate some sup- 
 per. The cavalry, which were all ordered North, had 
 embarked when the counter-order came. They have 
 disembarked and that does not look like evacuation. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 91 
 
 News from the North that McClellan's army is in con- 
 fusion and Pope in retreat. 
 
 [Diary] September 6. 
 
 Generals Hunter and Saxton have both gone North. 
 General Brennan is in command, — our worst enemy, 
 — and Captain Moore, our secret enemy, is in command 
 of Beaufort. General Hunter has gone to more active 
 work at his own request, and General Saxton to com- 
 plain of General Brennan (with whom there is no peace- 
 able cooperation), for his health, and to see about the 
 money of the cotton fund. 
 
 [Diary] 8th. 
 
 Rina of the "Corner," who was so ill as to have sent 
 for her children from Hilton Head and bade them good- 
 bye the night before I saw her, is now well and smiling. 
 She loads us with presents when we go there — figs 
 and oranges preserved in honey, honeycomb, water- 
 melons, eggs, vegetables. 
 
 We have such fun discussing love, which I have termed 
 the "psychological phenomenon," or rather, listening 
 to the discussion upon it between Mr. Soule and Cap- 
 tain Hooper. Mr. Soule contends that Captain Hooper 
 knows nothing about it and will wake up some day 
 with a start. Captain Hooper says he knew all about 
 it when he was a small boy and will never be more in 
 love than he was then. I say, "We shall see." 
 
 [Diary] September 10. 
 
 Worse news from the North. The rebels have pickets 
 on the North of the Potomac. Where next? Oh, ex- 
 cellent strategy that led to this ! 
 
92 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [18G2 
 
 [Diary] September 11. 
 
 We had a large school to-day — forty-seven scholars. 
 We are taking Nelly's scholars during her absence at 
 the North, and teach in the corner room of the Oaks. 
 
 [Diary] September 12. 
 
 There have been a good many able-bodied men living 
 on rations at St. Helena's village — refugees from Edisto. 
 A few days ago retreat to the woods was cut off by our 
 soldiers and twenty of these men seized from under 
 'beds and in various hiding-places and carried off to 
 (Fort Pulaski as laborers. This will create dismay, I am 
 afraid; but it seems just, for these men must otherwise 
 be idle and rationed till it is time for the next crop. 
 
 [Diary] 2(ith. 
 
 "Secesh" spies have been taken lately on Port Royal 
 Island, and it is said there is every probability of an 
 attack some fine night. 
 
 I have patients from Cat Island and all about. My 
 hands are full indeed. 
 
 [Diary] October 1. 
 
 To-day the news came that Lincoln has declared 
 emancipation after the 1st of January, 1863. Our first 
 victory worth the name. 
 
 [Diary] October 5. 
 
 Mr. Phillips preached under our pines. He says the 
 elders decided to exclude us from communion. So be 
 it. I have dbne. I wonder whether it was by their own 
 wish, or by instruction that they so decided. 
 
18G2] LAURA M. TOWNE 93 
 
 Mr. Judd was here to-day and lie says the soldiers 
 rob the negroes on Port Royal and lie can get no re- 
 dress. 
 
 [Diary] October 21. 
 
 Three boats full of rebels attempted to land on these 
 islands last night, two at the village and one at Edd- 
 ing's Point. The negroes with their guns were on picket; 
 they gave the alarm, fired and drove the rebels off. 
 "That tells for us," Mr. Soule says; that is, for those - 
 who have urged arming the negroes. 
 
 Ellen and I maintain that the negroes will fight; 
 others think not. Our men keep guard to-day. Every- 
 where the people question us eagerly about the fighting, 
 and are amazed and incredulous at our being beaten. 
 Rina asked us to have dinner early so that she could get 
 the tea-things washed up and go home before dark, 
 for fear of "Secesh." 
 
 [Di.iry] October 25. 
 
 Captain James has come to this plantation to re- 
 cruit negro soldiers. I believe they are to be regularly 
 enrolled in the army. All our men are going to volun- 
 teer, but with some there is a dismal forlornness about 
 their consent to go. Nelly uses strong persuasions, and, 
 with one or two lazy, bad fellows, even threats of ex- 
 pulsion from the place, if they will not volunteer. Mapy 
 go willingly. 
 
 [Diary] October 26. 
 
 At church to-day Captain Randolph and Colonel 
 Elwell were present. They came to see the colored men 
 
94 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1862 
 
 and to recruit, or rather with an eye to recruiting. But 
 there were no able-bodied young men to be seen. They 
 had all taken to the woods at the sight of epaulets, 
 guessing the errand. The seizure and transportation 
 to Pulaski of those men from the village has had a very 
 bad effect. No man likes to be seized and taken from 
 home to unknown parts — especially as they were 
 taught to expect it by their masters; these people hate 
 it, for they think they will surely be sent to Cuba. 
 
 [Diary] Thursday, November 13. 
 
 Aunt Phyllis is laughing and chuckling over the prow- 
 ess of our soldiers. She says "Dey fought and fought 
 and shot down de 'Secesh,' and ne'er a white man 
 among 'em but two captains." 
 
 Two colored companies have gone on another ex- 
 pedition to Florida under Captains James and Trow- 
 bridge. 
 
 [Diary] November 17. 
 
 Aunt Bess gets into such gales of mirth and laughs 
 so heartily whenever she thinks or talks of the flight 
 of the masters after the "Gunshoot at Bay Point." 
 She tells how she, being lame, could not run to the woods 
 as the others did when Dr. Pope came back, so she had 
 to go out into the cornfield and lie down between the 
 rows, taking little Leah with her, as she was such a baby 
 she could not walk far. The child had a cough, and 
 Aunt Bess was in mortal terror for fear that would 
 betray their hiding-place. She says she almost smothered 
 Leah, and dosed her at night with ashes tea, and the 
 little thing would almost die with suppressed cough 
 
1802] LAURA M. TOWNE 95 
 
 before she would give up. It was a hard struggle for 
 the little thing between terror and cough. I dare say she 
 will never forget it, small as she was. 
 
 Tina, of Palawana, was telling us to-day how her 
 master's family were just sitting down to dinner in their 
 far-off, lonely island, when the news came that every- 
 body was flying. They sprang up, left the silver on the 
 table, the dinner untasted, packed a few clothes for the 
 children, and were gone, never to come back. 
 
 [Diary] November 22. 
 
 This morning before breakfast Mr. Sam Phillips 
 came. He called so early so as to see me before we went 
 to school, and came with a beautiful bunch of camellias 
 and rosebuds from his garden. I went down to the par- 
 lor; he sprang up and advanced so warmly, and gladly 
 took my hands in both of his, and seemed overjoyed to 
 get back. His mother and Sophy ' are friends, and he 
 looks upon me as his auntie in this far-away place. He 
 told us much about the North, said he was so glad to 
 get back to his people. They surrounded him when he 
 came and fairly cried for joy over him, and this touched 
 his good, kind heart. He has done a great deal for them. 
 The children at our school are never tired of telling what 
 he has done, of how he taught them, and of showing the 
 much-prized books and slates he gave them. They seem 
 to love him far more than any one from the North — 
 indeed, than any one on earth, outside of their families. 
 He is pale and thin. The doctor and his mother thought 
 him not well enough to return, but he said he could not 
 stay away longer. 
 
 1 Miss Towne's sister. 
 
90 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1802 
 
 [Diary] November 28. 
 
 We have been wrapped all day in the smoke of battle 
 and the people hear the roll of cannon. They say it is 
 an attack upon Fort Pulaski. Perhaps it is now in the 
 enemy's hands. I hope not, but perhaps our folks were 
 too busy junketing to take proper precautions. Nelly 
 says many of the officers were shamefully drunk before 
 the evening was over, and it is said that the rebel ram 
 was in sight all day. 
 
 [Diary] December 25. 
 
 The celebration went off grandly. The church was 
 beautiful. Lottie draped the pulpit in long moss and 
 put a wreath of red holly and broad leaves along the 
 top, from which the moss fell like a fringe. The words, 
 "His People Are Free," were put up opposite the pul- 
 pit. Festoons of green hung between the pillars, with 
 a cluster of red berries and magnolia leaves looping 
 each up. On the walls were circlets of green, each sur- 
 rounding a little flag that Miss Ware sent us. It was 
 beautiful. We teachers were dressed in blue garibaldis, 
 with gilt buttons down the shoulders, and black skirts. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Billings, whom they call "Liberty 
 Billings," of the First South Carolina Volunteers, 1 was 
 there and addressed the children. Mr. Fairfield also 
 and Mr. Ilunn. The singing was only pretty good — 
 they were too much excited. The following is" Wliittier's 
 Hymn," to the tune of "I will believe": — 
 
 "Oh, none in all the world before 
 Were ever glad as wc. 
 
 1 A negro regiment; Thomas Wentworth Higginson, colonel. 
 
1862] LAURA M. TOWNE 97 
 
 We're free on Carolina's shore; 
 We're all at home and free! 
 
 Thou friend and helper of the poor, 
 
 Who suffered for our sake, 
 To open every prison door 
 
 And every yoke to break, 
 
 Look down, O Saviour, sweet and mild, 
 
 To help us sing and pray; 
 The hands that blessed the little child 
 
 Upon our foreheads lay. 
 
 To-day in all our fields of corn, 
 
 No driver's whip we hear, 
 The holy day that saw Thee born 
 
 Was never half so dear. 
 
 The very oaks are greener clad, 
 
 The waters brighter smile, 
 Oh, never shone a day so glad 
 
 In sweet St. Helen's Isle. 
 
 For none in all the world before 
 
 Were ever glad as wc. 
 We're free on Carolina's shore; 
 
 We're all at home and free!" 
 
 Written for the Philadelphia School on St. Helena at 
 the request of Miss Charlotte Forten, to be sung at 
 Christmas, 1862, by John G. Whittier. 
 
 After the exercises we drew each class out in the cross 
 aisle and gave each child a garment. 
 
 Mr. Soule has made an estimate that there are 1177 
 children on St. Helena and Ladies Islands attending 
 school. 
 i On Port Royal, about 550 average attendance. 
 
 In Florida, 400. 
 
1863 
 
 [Diary] January 1, 18C3. 
 
 We rejoiced at midnight with great pride and joy- 
 to think that our country is at last free. 
 
 We were late in the morning, and when we reached 
 the ferry saw the Flora depart without us. Sergeant 
 Arthur took us across in his boat, and we waited at the 
 General's house until the Flora's second trip. It was 
 a thousand pities, for when we reached Camp Sax ton 
 at Smith's plantation, 1 we arrived through the dense 
 crowd at the foot of the platform only in time to see 
 Colonel Higginson 2 standing between his two color- 
 bearers, Robert Sutton and Prince Rivers, looking 
 small — tall and large man as he is — compared with 
 them; but we missed Colonel Higginson's speech, which 
 was stirring and eloquent. 
 
 In one of the pauses of the exercises, just after the 
 regiment received its colors, I believe, the soldiers and 
 people spontaneously broke out with "My Country, 
 't is of thee," and Colonel Higginson made happy use 
 of this incident. Mrs. Gage and others had spoken; Mr. 
 Zachos' poem had been read, Mr. Judd's also. 
 
 We sang the John Brown song with the people, were 
 then asked up to the platform with the other ladies, and 
 all was over. There was a grand barbecue, and we went 
 to see the oxen, each standing roasted whole in its pit. 
 As we went to reembark, Captain Saxton made his 
 horse rear and bow to the ladies several times. At last 
 
 1 On Port Royal Island. 
 
 2 Thomas Wentworth Higginson. 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 99 
 
 he grew restive and would have thrown Captain S. if 
 Mr. Fairfield had not sprung to the rescue. 
 
 At the General's again we dined, I sitting at his right 
 hand, he taking me in to dinner. The staff, Mrs. Gage, 
 Miss Thompson, and our party were the guests. Din- 
 ner over, we sat up in the General's parlor and talked, 
 I with Mrs. Gage, the General and Captains amusing 
 themselves decking out Nelly and Tilly with scarfs and 
 swords. I observed that the General gave his yellow 
 scarf to Tilly, his red one to Nelly, thus letting Miss 
 Thompson rank Nelly. They retained these scarfs all 
 the evening. 
 
 I wore my blue silk dress and it looked well, but not 
 so pretty as Miss Louise Kellogg's, who came with other 
 guests to the dance. This was opened by the General 
 and myself in a cotillion — neither of us dancing the 
 Lancers. I found I had not forgotten, and I enjoyed it 
 exceedingly. 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, January 3, 1863. 
 
 General Saxton and Captain Hooper here to-night, 
 and Mr. Sumner too. In the black regiment a deserter 
 was shot by the guard while trying to escape. 
 
 [Diary] January 4. 
 
 A grand celebration at the church. The children 
 sang, "Sound the loud timbrel," and "Oh, none in all." 
 
 General Saxton, General Seymour, Mr. Milne, Mr. 
 Williams, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. French addressed the 
 people. They all dined here, I sitting at table opposite 
 to Mr. Soule, having General Saxton on my right hand, 
 General Seymour on my left. The dinner passed pleas- 
 
100 LETTERS AND DIARY OP [1863 
 
 antly, when some spirit prompted me to bring in Gen- 
 eral McClellan, when the two generals opposite each 
 other blazed up, General Seymour being an admirer 
 of McClellan and General Saxton saying a few noble, 
 outspoken words against his pro-slavery principles. He 
 spoke brave, true words about freedom for the blacks. 
 General Seymour did not agree with him. This malapro- 
 pos subject came near causing a little disagreeable stiff- 
 ness. Soon after dinner all went home. General Sey- 
 mour seems to be full of impulse and fire, but too much 
 impressed by a residence of former years in Charleston 
 in favor of the "chivalry." 
 
 [Diary] Sunday, February 1. 
 
 General Saxton and Captain Hooper were over to 
 church and to the Oaks to dine. General Saxton takes 
 a gloomy view of our holding these islands. General 
 Seymour says they must be held. General Saxton is 
 much opposed to the sale of the land to speculators. 
 He thinks they ought to be preempted by the people, or 
 else so divided and sold that the people can buy, and 
 not be left a prey to greedy speculators and large land- 
 holders. He thinks matters are being, injuriously to the 
 people's interests, hurried forward in favor of purchas- 
 ers. He is much troubled and grieved about it. I sug- 
 gested that Hunter should stop the sale. General 
 Saxton caught at the idea. He went to Hilton Head 
 yesterday and the sales are stopped as a military neces- 
 sity. General Hunter wants to know first where he shall 
 put refugees who come every day, and where he shall 
 get timber for Government uses after the lands are 
 sold; whence, too, will come supplies for his army. 
 

 A SKA ISI^-VNl) PICTURE 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 101 
 
 [Diary] February 2. 
 
 Mr. Pbilbrick is so angry at the stoppage of the sales of 
 lands. He wants his now and he is going to buy largely, 
 saying that it is to prevent the lands falling into the 
 hands of those who will take advantage of the people. 
 He says he will sell again to the people as soon as he finds 
 it for their interest. He says he will sell at cost. I believe 
 he is going to petition that the Island of St. Helena be 
 sold at once, and he wants all the superintendents to 
 sign. 
 
 The negro companies under Higginson have fought 
 well in Florida — four wounded. Captain Clifton 
 killed. The soldiers — white ones — set fire to St. 
 Mary's. Three colored men were taken prisoners, and 
 Higginson says if the rebels hang them he will hang 
 two whites for every one of them. 
 
 [Diary] February 3. 
 
 Many of the superintendents — those expecting to 
 hold land under Mr. Philbrick — signed the petition. 
 Mr. Ruggles and others have refused. 
 
 The Oaks, Sunday, February 8, 1863. 
 I have not yet spent any of the money. I think I may 
 want to buy, or lease land with it. If the sales had been 
 conducted as at first proposed, there would have been 
 splendid speculations here, but the speculators found 
 that out, and the best men here, General Saxton and 
 others, sent word to Washington about it, and so the 
 sale has been postponed, or, as another rumor says, 
 Congress has decided that the land shall be bid in by 
 Government unless it is bought for three-fourths of its 
 
102 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 estimated value. That will cut out all speculators. The 
 house on this place cost about twelve thousand dollars, 
 and there are five hundred acres belonging to The Oaks, 
 of good cotton land mostly (cotton selling at $1.65 per 
 pound), and yet it was thought the place would sell for 
 less than one hundred dollars. All that fun is spoiled 
 now, however, for the estimated value of the land of The 
 Oaks in the tax-tables is $2000, and the bidding-in price 
 $1500 — tqo much to be risked in these times. Whether 
 the superintendents will be retained under the new 
 leasing plan or not is a great question. I think it quite 
 likely not. W. is disgusted just now with the people, be- 
 cause they have not worked and will not work enough; 
 but what inducement they have to work, no one can 
 see. They have not been paid for their work since Sep- 
 tember, and they begin to believe that Government 
 never means to pay any more. It will take some man- 
 agement to get them to do the fencing W. wants done, 
 willingly at least. They do not see the use of fences. 
 Wherever the soldiers go they take the rails for fire- 
 wood, and this is rather discouraging to the workmen 
 who cut them upon a "promise to pay" merely. 
 
 There has been a rumor that no more letters were to 
 go North till after the great doings at Charleston, but 
 that order has not come yet. If a long time goes by with- 
 out your hearing, you may suppose that the mails are 
 stopped. 
 
 [Diary] February 12. 
 
 1 The New York regiment called "Les Enfants Per- 
 t dus " were landed on this island, and they are doing all 
 , sorts of mischief. They take the people's chickens, 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 103 
 
 shoot and carry off their pigs, and when the people de- 
 fend their property, they shoot the men and insult the 
 women. They have burned a row of houses near Lands 
 End, because, when stealing a man's pigs, he fired upon 
 them from his window. They met Mr. Sumner and pre- 
 sented a pistol at him when he ordered them off his 
 plantation. They threatened to mob Mr. Hammond 
 for trying to protect his people. 
 
 [Diary] February 24. 
 
 Hurrah! Jubilee! Lands are to be set apart for the 
 people so that they cannot be oppressed, or driven to 
 work for speculators, or ejected from their homesteads. 
 Orders to the superintendents to number the people by 
 families. '""'*"""■ 
 
 [Diary] February 25. 
 
 Rosie, Will, Mr. and Mrs. Philbrick, Charles Ware, 
 Ellen, Nelly, and I rode to the ferry, took the Bythewood 
 and crew and rowed down to Camp Saxton, taking 
 Quaker back to his regiment and getting him excused 
 for absence without leave. When we arrived, Colonel 
 Higginson was just drilling his men. Had a nice long talk 
 with him, and with Colonel Montgomery, of Kansas, who 
 walked with Ellen and me to the cypress swamp. Colonel 
 Montgomery seems to me like a fiery westerner, full of 
 fight and with sufficient confidence in himself. He told 
 us about how he had been sent by General Hunter or 
 General Saxton to recruit in Florida, and how he was 
 ill-treated and scowled at by the officers of the steamer 
 he was in. He wanted to have his men landed at Smith's 
 plantation, but the captain of the boat ignored his re- 
 
104 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 quest and kept on up to Beaufort. Meantime, General 
 Hunter and General Saxton had both gone to Smith's 
 to see the new men. When the steamer went past they 
 were astonished, and General Saxton rode up to Beau- 
 fort to see why it was so. When he learned the reason, 
 he put the steamer under Colonel Montgomery's orders, 
 and the reluctant officers had to obey him whom they 
 had so slighted. 
 
 Rowed home by moonlight. 
 
 [Diary] February 27. 
 
 They tell me that my name — L. Towne — on so 
 many boxes of herring, barrels of molasses, and hogs- 
 heads of pork made great inquiry as to who this large 
 consignee could be. When some of the officers in Beau- 
 fort heard it was a lady, they drew a picture of a tall, 
 rawboned woman, sitting on a hogshead of molasses. 
 When one of the officers was introduced to me in school, 
 he said, "Is it possible that this is Miss Towne? I 
 thought she was very tall and thin." 
 
 [Diary] March 8. 
 
 This morning Mrs. Wells came to our school to de- 
 mand that the children from her plantation should not 
 be allowed to come to us. We told her we had already 
 recommended their going to her instead of to us, but 
 that they said she did not keep school half the time and 
 never did more than hear them a little reading-lesson, 
 while they wanted to learn to write and cipher. She 
 said then that they might do as they liked — she did n't 
 want them and did n't care what they did. We told her 
 that we had refused them admittance more than once 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 105 
 
 and wished now to know from herself whether she would 
 teach them, for if she would not, we would; but if she 
 would, we did not wish them, our school being large 
 already. She said with temper that she did n't care 
 what they did or where they went, and went away in 
 ill-humor. The children say that often when they 
 "bog " across the creek, she will send them back without 
 a lesson, and she herself does not pretend to keep a regu- 
 lar school, but only to let them read to her when they 
 come. The case is the same with Miss Ruggles's schol- 
 ars, though she has a school for a week or two at a 
 time pretty regularly, and then perhaps a week or 
 two no school; a schooner coming in with goods, or 
 something of a domestic character, demanding her 
 time. 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, March 7. 
 
 Mr. Fairfield, Will, 1 Nelly, Ellen, Rosie, and I went 
 in a row-boat to Hunting Island. We walked on the 
 beach, "bogged" through sand, got caught in the rain, 
 got shells. Then we embarked again and landed in the 
 woods in another part of the island. The negro crew 
 went to work scientifically, made a table and seats, 
 built a fire, roasted potatoes and oysters, and we had a 
 jolly time. Then home, winding through the creeks and 
 over the oyster beds. 
 
 [Diary] March 9. 
 
 "The Oaks" reserved and to be our home still. Mr. 
 
 Philbrick has not bought Coffin Point. Will bought 
 
 1 Miss Towne's brother, William Edward Towne, who had joined 
 her at St. Helena Island. 
 
106 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 nothing. The land sold for about a dollar and a quarter 
 an acre; sometimes, once only, I believe, as high as 
 three dollars — sometimes lower. 
 
 [Diary] March 17. 
 
 Harry, Mr. Pierce's old guide, — or rather his first 
 guide, for Harry is not old yet, — wanted very much to 
 buy a place called "The Inlet" on Ladies Island. He 
 thought he had money enough to get it, it being a 
 plantation of three hundred acres. He was thinking of 
 bidding for it at the sale, when Mr. Philbrick heard of 
 his plans and counseled him not to buy it himself for 
 fear of risk, but to let Mr. P. buy it for him. Harry lis- 
 tened; he did not like risk. Mr. P. offered to take it 
 for a year and let Harry work it for wages, the profits 
 of the crop to be Mr. P.'s, and the expenses and risk 
 to be his. Harry came to me to ask advice. I told him 
 he had better hold the land himself if he wanted to make 
 money. He consulted also Captain Hooper, telling him 
 of my advice which was as above, and also that the risk 
 of losing the price of the land was something; but if 
 another man bought the land and afterwards did not 
 chose to sell, he would lose the land itself. Captain 
 Hooper was indignant, Harry tells me, at the terms Mr. 
 Philbrick offered, and he told Harry that he would bid 
 and if necessary help to buy for him. So the Inlet was 
 bought by Captain Hooper for Harry, costing about 
 three hundred dollars. Harry had not so much money, 
 and Captain Hooper lent him what he needed, and also 
 more to stock the place. 
 
 Harry has gone to work his plantation and we do not 
 see him here much. Harry professes himself everlast- 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 107 
 
 ingly grateful to me for "incensing " him as to his best in- 
 terests about the place, and warning him against trusting 
 to Mr. Philbrick to buy for him. I warned him against 
 letting any man buy for him in that man's own name. 
 
 [Diary] March 19. 
 
 Our people are in such trouble about the draft. They 
 trouble for their friends — Jenny for her old Dagus; 
 young Moll for Hacklas. I wrote saying that Celia was 
 a cripple and needed her husband Tom's care. To-day 
 nearly all the young men from our place went to Beau- 
 fort to offer to enlist. To-night Lucy came sobbing and 
 crying past the house, Syke, her brother, crying with 
 her, because her husband Tommy has gone. Bina says 
 the men make too much fuss about going to enlist, and 
 their wives tod great cry after them, for folks who have 
 been used to being sold away from all friends. "Dey 
 used to catch we up like fowls and sell we when dey 
 wanted a little money for spend." Now that the mas- 
 ters have gone she says the people gather close to their 
 parents — using parents as the French do "parents," 
 meaning relatives. 
 
 [Diary ] March 25. 
 
 This morning about a dozen of the black soldiers 
 came armed into our church in school-time, and hid 
 there. They were on the watch for some man who was 
 to be taken as a soldier. They suddenly rushed out of 
 church, to the great alarm of our children, clashing their 
 arms. They looked at our boys to see if they were old 
 enough to seize, but Tony and Aaron were not there. 
 The children screamed in terror. We shall complain. 
 
108 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 The colored soldiers ought not to be left to manage this 
 business alone. They do not understand yet the proper 
 restrictions of their authority. To-day they have caugbt 
 many. Robert, of Oaklands, afraid of being taken, 
 asked my advice what to do. I told him that if he re- 
 mained at home he could only lead a skulking life and 
 never have any peace. But that if he went and volun- 
 teered, or let the soldiers take him quietly, as the island 
 was picketed and he could not go now and volunteer 
 at Beaufort, he would soon be discharged, for I knew 
 him to be quite unfitted for service by rheumatism. He, 
 however, took to tbe marsh when he saw the soldiers 
 approach Oaklands, and he has not since been heard of. 
 Mr. Pierce came and examined our school. He asked 
 the children questions which they answered pretty 
 readily. To-night I had a long talk with him about 
 Miss Buggies' school. She complains that the children 
 will not go to her and will come to us. She thinks we 
 ought to forbid them. We maintain that they were our 
 scholars long before she came down here, that they are 
 attached to us and we to them, that they complain of 
 having no regular school, and no such advantages as 
 slates and copy-books. 
 
 [Diary] April 11. 
 
 Ellen, Nelly, and I alone in the house ignorant of 
 the fate of Charleston. The boat-load of "Secesh" 
 were some "big bugs of Edisto," Bina says, who were 
 taken on Bailey's Island by Captain Dutch, on the 
 blockading ship Kingfisher. He is a bold and enter- 
 prising man and has thoroughly explored these shores 
 and creeks. He knows every picket and fortified posi- 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 109 
 
 tion of the rebels near here. They say he goes in a 
 dugout right under the guns and shoots the pickets of 
 the enemy. He discovered that these young gentle- 
 men — the Seabrooks and others of Edisto — had 
 landed on the island to gather corn. He determined to 
 take them and went with a small force, surprised two 
 of their negroes in a cornfield, and compelled them to 
 lead the party to their masters' camp; all were sur- 
 prised and taken. Captain Dutch was sending them 
 down to Hilton Head when Rina saw them. I hope they 
 will not be released at once and sent (spies as they are!) 
 back to their friends. 
 
 [Diary] April 12. 
 
 Lottie to-night brings the report that the expedi- 
 tion against Charleston has returned, having done 
 nothing! Why this disgraceful return? Disheartening! 
 
 (Diary] June 3. 
 
 Set out for the village this morning and soon took 
 boats for the Kingfisher. In our boat were Ellen and I 
 with Captain Dutch; in the other, Nelly and Lottie 
 with Mr. Rhodes. After spending some hours on the 
 ship admiring the exquisite order and cleanliness, we 
 took boat again and went to Edisto under charge of 
 the mate, Mr. Rhodes, Captain Dutch not going. We 
 landed at Eddingsville and went up to Seabrook's 
 house. The gentlemen, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Fairfield, 
 and Mr. Rhodes, got supper with the help of Jim, the 
 handsome young negro who was taken by Captain 
 Dutch on Bailey's Island and forced to act as guide to 
 his master's house, where they were all taken prisoners 
 
110 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 — eleven of the "big bugs of Edisto," Rina calls them. 
 He seemed sad, and when we talked to him and asked 
 him if he were glad to be free, he said he loved his young 
 master like a brother — that they were the same age 
 and grew up together; that he wished his young master 
 were back again, and he would not give up the wife and 
 children now on the Main for all the freedom in the 
 world. We slept on the floor upon shawls, boat cushions 
 etc., and were run over by roaches and devoured by 
 fleas and mosquitoes. In the morning we again took 
 boat and followed the winding creek to Edding's house. 
 The gardens were beautiful and the house handsome, 
 but stripped of everything. The night before, when we 
 wanted a fire, Jim coolly knocked up the drawer of a 
 mahogany bureau to make one. Soon after this visit 
 to the house we went home. On board the Kingfisher 
 I could only lie down, and could not go to the dinner 
 provided. It was dusk when we reached the village and 
 dark before we were at "The Oaks." 
 
 An expedition has resulted in the arrival of five hun- 
 dred refugees at Beaufort. 
 
 [Diary] June 11. 
 
 After school I went to Beaufort and to Mr. Judd's. 1 
 Mr. Pierce was there and tried to frighten me by re- 
 presenting the important nature of the report, etc., 
 Colonel McKaye came into the parlor with Mr. Winsor, 
 the phonographic reporter. He proceeded to ask and I 
 to answer questions as definitely and shortly as possible. 
 Presently Miss Kellogg came into the room and Colonel 
 McK. looked a little annoyed, for he had said he wished 
 1 General Superintendent of Port Royal Island. 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 111 
 
 to talk to me alone; I suppose so that I could speak 
 without bias. Presently Mr. Winsor stopped reporting, 
 and Mr. McK. wanted to know why. He said he was 
 suffering from such a severe headache that he could not 
 proceed. This broke up the conference. Colonel McK. 
 then said the Government would pay any expense I 
 had been at in coming to Beaufort to testify, and when 
 I said there was none at all, he said he had wanted to 
 give Aunt Phyllis a present and gave me five dollars 
 to buy a gown for her. I then took my leave. I had to 
 go home, and Miss K. lent me her waterproof, as a thun- 
 derstorm was just coming up. Mr. Pierce and Captain 
 Hooper crossed in the special boat with me, for it was 
 too late for the ferry. The rain began to fall as we stood 
 under the shelter of the sbed at the ferry, and the gen- 
 tlemen were caught in the storm going home. I drove 
 Betty in a sulky and Captain Hooper made his little 
 Ben mount on the seat behind to hold the umbrella over 
 me. I had my pretty new hat on one arm, Ellen's basket 
 on the other under the waterproof, and I rode along 
 bare-headed. The storm came up furiously. I never 
 heard or imagined such thunder, nor saw such lightning. 
 I knew Betty shied at guns, and I was afraid the thunder 
 cracks would make her wild or jump sideways just as 
 we were on some narrow causeway, with water on each 
 side of us, for the tide was up. Ben held the umbrella 
 manfully and I was not very wet, though the rain came 
 in torrents. At last, when we were in the very causeway 
 which I had feared, there came a crack of thunder and 
 flash at the same moment. Betty shied, but not much. 
 I said, "Ben, are you afraid?" "No, ma'am," he an- 
 swered with a cool, comfortable tone of voice that testi- 
 
112 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 fied to his truth. It was more than I could say. We ap- 
 proached Eustis' bridge and here was a real terror to 
 me, for the cloud overhead was not expended and the 
 thunder was terrific. If Betty shied on the approach to 
 the bridge, we should plunge into a strong, deep, swift 
 stream. Just as I was summoning courage for the trial, 
 I saw by a flash that there was a horseman coming 
 towards me and I felt sure it was Mr. Tomlinson. 1 "I 
 came to find you," he said; and he wanted to know 
 how he could help me. I told him only by riding along 
 and pulling me out of the water if Betty plunged me in. 
 Thus we rode along, I wonderfully reassured by having 
 someone else in the same predicament. Near the bridge 
 came the expected crash, but Betty, also reassured by 
 company, did not start. A tree was struck just the other 
 side of the bridge. Once again, before we got home, a 
 flash and crack came together, exactly like the discharge 
 of a cannon, and Betty sprang to one side. Butwe reached 
 home safely, and I had to wade over shoe-tops to the 
 steps in the back yard, into which we drove at once. 
 Ellen was overjoyed that we had not been struck in the 
 terrible storm. I found my hat only a little injured. 
 
 [Diary] June 21. 
 
 To-day Mr. Fairfield ordered the boy Josie to get off 
 a horse which he had no right to ride, as Mr. F. had for- 
 bidden the boys riding after the cows and racing them 
 home, which Josie was doing. Josie refused. Mr. F. 
 then ordered him into the house. When Josie had gotten 
 the cows in the pen, he came to the yard and dismounted. 
 
 1 General Superintendent of St. Helena and Ladies Island, succeed- 
 ing Richard Soule, Jr. 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 113 
 
 Mr. F. again ordered him in, and when the boy re- 
 fused and was impudent, he took hold of him and tried 
 to compel him. Josie struggled and both fell. This hap- 
 pened more than once, when Mr. F., getting uppermost, 
 planted his knee on Josie's chest and caught hold of his 
 throat. Big Jerry was standing near by and was growing 
 more and more threatening. He kept telling Mr. F. to 
 let Josie go, he had no right to choke him. I was afraid 
 Jerry would proceed to blows, so I went down the steps 
 and warned him not to interfere, and said that Mr. F. 
 would not hurt Josie. The boy was finally dragged to 
 the steps, but there got firm hold and Mr. F. could 
 not stir him. He was white and trembling with exertion 
 and rage, and Josie was as angry. Finally, at my per- 
 suasions, Josie got up and came into the house of his 
 own accord. Mr. Fairfield shut him up in th« corn- 
 house. 
 
 [Diary] July 3. 
 
 Mr. Pierce here. We arc busy making white rosettes 
 with a tri-colored button, for the Fourth, for our whole 
 school to wear. Our children sing "The Star Spangled 
 Banner" well. All the schools met in the church to 
 practise yesterday. The poor smallpox convalescents 
 were so disappointed when I told them they ought not 
 to come. 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, July 4. 
 
 Up early and off to the Baptist church, after mixing 
 medicine and cooking cornstarch for some of Dr. Bris- 
 bane's surveyors who are ill. The school assembled in 
 the church and we pinned our badges on. It is aston- 
 
114 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 ishing how many claimed to be our scholars ! Then we 
 marched out and stood under the flag and sang "The 
 Star Spangled Banner." After this, Mr. Folsom 1 read 
 the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Lynch, the new 
 colored Methodist minister, made an oration. The 
 children sang, "Oh, None in All." Mr. Pierce then 
 spoke. Children sang "My Country." Afterwards the 
 people, led by "Billy," sang many of their own songs, 
 and we, having left our classes, sat on the platform 
 under that noble oak. There were there many officers 
 of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored), Colonel 
 Shaw, 2 Major Ned Hallowell, 3 and the surgeon, Captain 
 Hooper, Captain Saxton, Mrs. Sanders and others of 
 our department. The people had now molasses and water 
 and hard bread, for which they had a scramble. At 
 "The Oaks" we had a full table. Colonel Shaw did not 
 come, but Ned Hallowell did and others, and especially 
 do I remember the surgeon (I think it was) who was so 
 enthusiastic over the day — so happy that he had seen 
 freedmen so free and well-behaved. We had a little 
 " shout " by the children on the porch. Our Oaks people 
 had loaded us with watermelons for the Fourth. 
 
 [Diary] July 20. 
 
 I came home yesterday, and to-day I am summoned 
 by Mr. Pierce to Beaufort to help nurse the wounded 
 soldiers who have come down from Morris Island. They 
 are coming in by hundreds. We hear the guns all day 
 and night. The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts behaved 
 
 1 Charles F. Folsom, of Massachusetts, who had volunteered as a 
 superintendent. 
 
 2 Robert Gould Shaw. » Edward N. Hallowell. 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 115 
 
 splendidly at the attack on Fort Wagner. 1 They took 
 it, but we cannot hold it, for Fort Sumter commands 
 it and shells our men out. Our young Hallowell was 
 wounded three times. Mr. Pierce nursed him and 
 brought him down. Nearly all the officers of the Fifty- 
 fourth killed or wounded. Colonel Shaw, they say, 
 sprang upon the fort and called to his boys to come on, 
 and was then struck and fell. It is hoped he is a pris- 
 oner, and yet his comrades hardly dare to expect much 
 from that, for, commanding black soldiers, will he not 
 be murdered in cold blood? They are all greatly ex- 
 cited about him, hoping, fearing, disregarding their own 
 wounds in their anxiety for him. They love him. 2 
 
 [Diary] July 27, 1863. 
 
 To-day the Cosmopolitan took North many of the 
 wounded officers — Ned Hallowell, James Pope, and 
 others. Mr. Tomlinson went with them as nurse. Mr. 
 Pierce could not get a permit to go. Hallowell sent me 
 more thanks for the cornstarch, and said it was just the 
 thing. Poor young Shaw was killed and buried in the 
 trench with his soldiers. 
 
 Will has gone to nurse at one of the hospitals. He 
 took in from Frogmore an ox-load of watermelons, and 
 Mr. Fairfield took a cart-load from "The Oaks" — 
 offerings from the people to the soldiers, "wounded for 
 we," they say. 
 
 Melons are pouring in from all parts of the island — 
 
 1 July 18, 1863. The attack was led by the Fifty-fourth Massa- 
 chusetts (colored), Colonel Robert Gould Shaw commanding. 
 
 2 Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was killed in the attack on Fort 
 Wagner. 
 
116 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 free gifts — as well as potatoes (sweet), chickens, and 
 everything the people have to give. 
 
 [Diary] Tuesday, July 28, 1863. 
 
 Brought home from school to-day a heavy load of 
 watermelons. We have decided to distribute the rest 
 of the commission needles and thread in this manner. 
 We give them in exchange for melons or anything eat- 
 able that the children have to sell, and that we can send 
 to the hospitals for the wounded soldiers; we sent the 
 fruit to the colored hospitals, because the goods were 
 originally meant for them, and because the other hos- 
 pitals have more friends to care for them. All the super- 
 intendents have melons offered by cartloads by the 
 people, who seem as if they cannot give enough. 
 
 [Diary] Sunday, September 13, 1863. 
 
 To-day in church $107 was taken up for a monument 
 on Fort Wagner to Colonel Shaw from black people 
 alone, Ellen and I, however, each putting hi something. 
 Mr. Tomlinson told the people that the soldiers on 
 Morris Island were suffering for fresh food, and wanted 
 potatoes. The whole church responded that they would 
 give the potatoes. 
 
 The Oaks, St. Helena, December 10, 1863. 
 Dear Family all: — It is hard for me and for us 
 all, I know, that this letter is all of me that comes by 
 this steamer. I can't bear to think of what you will say 
 and how you will look when you get it. Don't be very 
 angry with me (as I think you must be at first), bu 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 117 
 
 consider that I am not disregarding all your requests by 
 my free will, but by really cruel circumstances, and that 
 I am bitterly disappointed myself. 
 
 I had made every arrangement to go with Rina and 
 Captain Hooper, and was making plans day and night 
 for getting to you and thinking of nothing but the 
 pleasure we should have. But since Miss Ruggles' 
 death I never dared to dwell with too much certainty 
 upon our meeting at any set time, and it fairly made me 
 tremble to see by your letters how much you were all 
 setting your minds upon it. Though Ellen was still very 
 ill when I wrote last, we had good hopes that she would 
 be well enough for me to leave her by Xmas, and, from 
 General Saxton down to the negro boys in the yard, 
 everybody was helping forward my going. But on the 
 twenty-eighth day of the sickness, the quinine seemed 
 to have lost its effect, or there was some unfavorable 
 circumstance which brought on a relapse. I sent for 
 Dr. Rogers. He thought she must have the wisest 
 medical aid or there was little hope for her. I told him 
 that she had no home at the North and was unwilling 
 to go with me without, or even with, invitation from my 
 friends. Then he said, "You must stay with her; she 
 will die if you leave her." I asked whether he thought 
 it would be long before I could go, and he said hers 
 must be a tedious convalescence — that the responsi- 
 bility and risk of taking her North made it better for 
 me not to urge her going, but that he must warn me 
 not to go away till she was in a different state from now. 
 So I have made up my mind to it, and I do not dare to 
 think of Xmas at all. I hope she will get well sooner 
 than he thinks, for she has gone on famously for the last 
 
118 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 four or five days. I shall set out as soon as she is well 
 enough to go to her mother and do without medicine. 
 Meanwhile I turn Kitty's ring and say, "Patience! 
 Patience!" . . . 
 
 General Saxton received Mr. Furness' letter and came 
 directly over to see me and order me home, but he went 
 away convinced that there was but one thing to be done. 
 Those who have been of the household know well 
 enough that I did not want any order from General 
 Saxton nor urging from Mr. Furness to take me to home 
 and Christmas, but all agree that there is only one way 
 for me now, and that is to put off going till I can do so 
 without leaving Ellen so ill. 
 
 December 11, Friday. 
 
 There are some other reasons besides Ellen's sickness 
 which make it better for me to be here, though I should 
 not have let them detain me. One is the sale of the fur- 
 niture. I want to buy a cheap table, a chair, a bed- 
 stead; or, if I can, I want to claim these things as neces- 
 sary to me as a teacher. If I am here I may get them 
 granted to me, but if I am away, there is nothing to be 
 done but to buy them when I come back, and I may 
 not be able to do it. Then if the places are leased by 
 January 1st, as is expected, the resident teachers will 
 be able to claim a home, but there would be a small 
 chance for absentees. Ellen will not be at "The Oaks," 
 nor well enough to attend to my interests. Still, 
 though I should like to keep this home, I would not 
 stop a day to do it, for there would surely be some place 
 for me near the school. A little while ago Mr. Phillips 
 spoke in a way that seemed to threaten our school. He 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 119 
 
 said the church building * belonged to private parties, 
 and he interfered with our school arrangements. Colo- 
 nel Higginson was here at the time and he afterwards 
 spoke to General Saxton about it. General S. said we 
 should be unmolested as long as he was in the depart- 
 ment, for that he had rather a hundred such churches 
 as Mr. Phillips' should' be closed than one such school 
 as ours. Harriet is going to open it as soon as we get 
 the stove up. I shall not teach again before I go home, 
 I think. Ellen is not well enough to leave, and I shall 
 rest here and make a business of it, since I cannot go 
 home to rest with you all; though I do not really need 
 any rest, but freedom from anxiety. I suppose the 
 school would add a little to that, and so I shall not 
 begin till I am easy in mind and eager for work once 
 more. We have been having a good deal of company, 
 but I am not housekeeper and don't care. Colonel 
 Higginson's nephew is here now, sick, and being cared 
 for by Mr. Tomlinson. He has just sent Ellen and me a 
 half pillowcase full of beautiful Spitzenberg apples from 
 a box he has just received. He occupies Mr. Tomlinson's 
 room with him. Mr. T. is the kindest of nurses to these 
 sick young officers. He talks of going to Morris Island 
 with good things for the soldiers there for Christmas. 
 
 Saturday evening. 
 
 It is storming so that I am afraid the ferry will not 
 cross to-morrow morning, and then this letter may be 
 too late for the steamer. This worries me dreadfully, 
 for I am sure that you all will fret if you do not hear 
 
 1 The brick church, in which Miss Towne and Miss Murray had 
 opened their school. 
 
120 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1863 
 
 from me. I can hardly bear your disappointment, and 
 I feel as if I cannot bear your anxiety on my account. 
 You need not worry about my health. It keeps good and 
 I shall take care of it, for I know how much it is worth. 
 I shall be glad to escape anxiety, but that I could not 
 do by going home now — it would be an incessant care 
 and fear and self-reproach. 
 
 I should really fear to leave in such a storm, or after 
 it, my recollection of the one I came through to get here 
 being still vivid. 
 
 I have read over my letter and see that it seems cold 
 and heartless and does not let you know at all how I 
 am grieved about disappointing you, and at being sepa- 
 rated on this day when we hoped our circle would be 
 complete once more. But I am troubled enough about 
 it, and do all I can not to think or feel too much till I 
 get to you once more. I am in a hard trial on my ac- 
 count and on yours. 
 
 Good night! A happy Christmas to you all, and a 
 bright New Year. You must be merry and make believe 
 I am there. 
 
 We shall have no Christmas for the school and no 
 school probably. I am so sorry for that. I cannot bear 
 to stop, but must, and so good-night again, and best 
 love to all from far away, L. 
 
 The Oaks, St. Helena, December 18, 1863. 
 I think I see you this Sunday evening all round the 
 stove in the back room upstairs talking over Christmas, 
 and whether I am setting out in the Arago that sails 
 to-morrow is perhaps one of the subjects you are dis- 
 cussing. If nothing detained me like the terrible ne- 
 
o 
 « 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 w 
 
1863] LAURA M. TOWNE 121 
 
 cessity that does detain me, I suppose I should now 
 have my trunk ready and be sleeping with one eye open 
 so as to watch the dawn and be up in time for the first 
 ferry. But it would be against your approval if I did 
 set out, for it is storming yet, with wind that shakes 
 the house, and lightning; and for several days the sea 
 will be so rough that if I tried it I feel sure I should 
 arrive in Philadelphia more dead than alive. Even after 
 the storm is over the sea will be high, for it is an east- 
 erly storm and has lasted now three or four days. 
 
1864 
 
 [Diary] January 1, 1864, Friday. 
 
 Nelly and Mr. Fairfield and Mr. Tomlinson went 
 to Beaufort to Camp Shaw to the grand celebration of 
 Emancipation Day. It was piercing cold. A sword was 
 presented to General Saxton by the colored people of 
 these islands, through Mr. Lynch, who made an elo- 
 quent speech. Colonel Higginson's regiment presented 
 one to him, and he replied. It was a complete surprise 
 to General Saxton and he is delighted. 
 
 [Diary] January 7. 
 
 We have no milk, and at times no wood. There is 
 nobody, not a single hand — not one man up and well 
 enough to get these things. All the boys are getting sick 
 also. It is a tight time. I am nearly ill too. Every even- 
 ing I fold powders and every afternoon I take my way 
 down street and stop at every house, giving medicine 
 at the door, but lately not going in as I used to, for they 
 keep their rooms so dark I cannot see the patients, 
 and if I order a window opened, I find it nailed up 
 the next time I come. The people are beginning to 
 follow a practice which I dislike. They will wash the 
 patients with strong pokeroot, and vinegar and salt. 
 
 [Diary] January 12. 
 
 As I rode to "The Oaks" I met John Driver, who is 
 lame, and told him he might get into the buggy. As 
 we rode along he asked me whether he was obliged by 
 
1864] LAUEA M. TOWNE 123 
 
 law to plant cotton on Mr. Fairfield's land, and was 
 forbidden by law to plant on the land he had purchased. 
 All of "The Oaks " is now divided into lots of from five 
 to ten acres, and our people have paid for them to the 
 Tax Commissioners, receiving deeds. John tells me that 
 Mr. Fairfield forbids the people's planting cotton on 
 their own land, upon pain of ejection from their houses, 
 which are not on their own land, but on the school- 
 farm. He says they must plant all the cotton for him 
 and he will hire them; that they must raise on their 
 own land only corn and potatoes enough for their own 
 subsistence. I told him the law did not compel him to 
 work for Mr. Fairfield, but that he had better do it for 
 the sake of the wages, but on no account to delay plant- 
 ing cotton on his own land too, for it would be profit- 
 able. He said Mr. Fairfield told him he could never 
 sell his cotton, for white men would not buy it of him, 
 or he might be cheated if they did. He said he had 
 asked Mr. Soule about this, and that Mr. Soule had 
 promised that Mr. Philbrick would buy all the cotton 
 he could raise for himself and had given him the same 
 advice I did. 
 
 The people welcomed me with great appearance of 
 gladness. 
 
 [Diary] February 2. 
 
 Our little house looks really pretty — as such a barn 
 of a place can. Rina brings out from her store one 
 pretty thing after another to furnish the table and 
 house. She will not sell these things, but lends them. 
 To-night Hastings brought oUr rations. Such a to-do 
 to get them put away. It is so pleasant to have the 
 
124 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 river just before us reflecting the stars, and to-night 
 reflecting the lightning which is incessant, and to hear 
 the bell, and the singing in church. 
 
 Aunt Rachel's Village, 
 St. Helena, February 7, 1804. 
 
 Your nice long letter reached me only to-day. That 
 is the worst of our living here, letters are very long 
 getting to us and come by very uncertain hands, and 
 we never know when a mail is going out. I have to 
 trust to chance for getting our mail to Beaufort. So do 
 not be alarmed if a vessel sails with no word from me, 
 the next one will probably bring double. 
 
 I see by your letter that you are quite dissatisfied 
 about my decision to stay till next summer, but I am 
 sure that if you were here you would think as I do and 
 advise my waiting. First place, the voyage. If I go 
 this spring, I cannot ask transportation again in the 
 fall, for our dear, good General is now having perpetual 
 trouble and annoyances by having his passes dis- 
 credited, or disapproved or complained of because they 
 are so numerous. Yet he is very careful to give fur- 
 loughs and passes only once a year except in cases of 
 necessity or urgency. Even if I asked and obtained the 
 two leaves of absence, I dread four sea voyages in six 
 months or so. I think I must go home during the next 
 unhealthy season. I cannot stand the trial of it here 
 another year. I am not afraid of being sick myself, but 
 of having to nurse and doctor those who are. I am 
 quite sure that if I go North this spring and am seasick, 
 as I cannot help being, it will make me run the risk of 
 the autumn rather than of the voyage, and so I want to 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 125 
 
 make sure of being away from this place through another 
 such season as the last was. Besides, if I go now, I must 
 run North in a hurry and come back before I have half 
 seen you, my whole time being taken up with prepara- 
 tions for coming back here. But in the summer I will 
 stay three months, have a thorough change and renova- 
 tion, and have some leisure with you. 
 
 I am really ashamed and sorry about writing home 
 for boxes and giving you all so much trouble, taking 
 your time which is so overcrowded. I shall need some 
 dresses in the spring, but there were very pretty things 
 in Beaufort last year, and Susannah can make them up. 
 If they are old-fashioned, no matter, for I shall only 
 see you in the mountains, and down here I shall prob- 
 ably see less company than we used to. I suppose you 
 thought me unconscionable in sending for carpets and 
 household things, but this is my home probably for the 
 rest of my days, and I want "to be comfortable in it. I 
 have lived now for two years in the midst of makeshift 
 and discomfort, and have often thought this winter 
 that even servants at home were more nicely provided 
 with domestic conveniences and things to save time 
 and trouble. So I sent for a few things of my own; that 
 is, I wanted them taken from our house, and in the sale 
 or division of our household goods, charged to my ac- 
 count — such as the carpet. Our room is nearly as ill- 
 built and open as a rough country stable. H. 's stable is 
 a palace to it, and, our only bit of carpet being on our 
 parlor floor, we have bare boards in our rooms with the 
 air rushing through every crack, and sunlight along 
 every board plainly visible where the sun shines under 
 the house. This is comfortless and cold as you cannot 
 
126 LETTEES AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 imagine, who have not had uncarpeted floors since you 
 can remember. When we first came here, and for a 
 time, these things were endurable, but year after year 
 it is hard to live so. Besides, now that things are taking 
 a more permanent form here, everybody's style of living 
 is improving and we must do as others do. You know 
 what South Carolina fare is. We are just in the oyster 
 hole again, and have nothing else till we are sick of the 
 sight of them. I was going to send home for butter, for 
 we have had neither butter nor milk for some time — 
 so much less than last year; but Mr. Iiugglcs says he 
 will supply us. We had a cow sent to us and were happy, 
 but she was a jumper — and our fence such as you 
 might expect — and she jumped and ran, after our feed- 
 ing her for three days and getting just one quart of 
 milk. Her feed, too, was a heartbreak — we are not 
 sure of it from day to day — none to be begged, bor- 
 rowed or bought, so her escape was a relief. 
 
 Living is frightfully high and difficult. Butter — as 
 rancid as possible, when it is to be had at all — is forty- 
 five cents a pound; chickens not to be bought at any 
 price generally, but now and then a tiny specimen for 
 fifty cents; eggs, fifty cents a dozen. But even our ra- 
 tions are hard to get now that we have no gentleman in 
 the house. As for safety, we do not need one. If you 
 remember the village at all, you know Dr. Lukins and 
 the church. Our house is the next one, and a call from 
 our house would be heard even with windows down, by 
 Mr. Lynch and Dr. Hunting. We never were so well 
 protected by neighbors and helpers as now. We have 
 an old man in the yard, to tend our horses and cow, cut 
 our wood, etc., for four dollars a month; then Rina to 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 127 
 
 do our cooking, washing, and housework for five dollars 
 a month, and a girl for scrubbing, waiting on table, 
 errands, fires, etc., for two dollars. This is much higher 
 than before, but low as wages are going. Cooks get 
 here enormous wages — from eight to forty dollars a 
 month. The place is growing fast, and I suppose we 
 shall soon come to Northern rates. It is amusing to see 
 how the able-bodied workers are being coaxed and 
 courted by the leasers of places, like Mr. Fairfield. 
 There are not enough to cultivate the leased places, for 
 it is to be hoped that every family will haveits own land 
 and find work enough on that. Except in Mr. Phil- 
 brick's case, 1 white ownership or large owners proved 
 unfortunate for the people last year. 
 
 We are getting very much interested in the villagers, 
 particularly in the minister, a certain black or brown 
 man who is certain to make his mark in the world. He 
 is very eloquent and ambitious and makes a great stir 
 in the department by his public speaking. He lives 
 near us and his sister teaches in the school here. He 
 often comes in of an evening, and the other day he 
 found out to his intense horror that I was a Unitarian. 
 But, though he says he expected better things of me, 
 and various other things like that, he is really wonder- 
 fully liberal, and, as he will probably fall in with the 
 right kind of people by reason of his eloquence and 
 genius, he will one day perhaps be a Unitarian himself. 
 There are a great many interesting people among these 
 
 1 Mr. Philbrick was at first charged with trying to make a fortune 
 out of the cotton raised by the freed negroes. The event proved that 
 his business ability was of great service to the negroes, 'and his in- 
 tentions philanthropic in the best sense. 
 
128 LETTERS AND DIARY OF 1864] 
 
 negroes, who are of a higher order than the plantation 
 people. 
 
 To-day I have attempted yeast ! We have had buck- 
 wheat cakes about three times this winter. Think of 
 that, you who eat Mrs. Furness' breakfasts, which 
 make my mouth and eyes water every time I think of 
 them. Buckwheat cakes spurred me on to the neces- 
 sary effort, and I have a pot of yeast by the fire, which 
 looks and smells as unlike Kitty's as possible. Do ask 
 her to tell me just how to make it. I have hops and can 
 get potatoes by paying enormously. Are they neces- 
 sary? — and does she put in molasses? I wish I had 
 muffin rings and knew how Mrs. Furness makes muffins. 
 How I want some of hers! You will think I am de- 
 mented about eating, but so is everybody who does not 
 know where to get the next meal. Pork and beans — 
 our ration meats, I do not like, and all other kinds are 
 very precarious. 
 
 I am sitting up past ten o'clock and so is Ellen — 
 wicked ones that we are! Good night. 
 
 ,! General Saxton is one of our best and truest-hearted 
 jjmen — great in his goodness. I am glad to get my 
 
 iGeneral back. 
 
 li 
 i 
 j[Diary] February 8. 
 
 A busy day baking. I find our flour so miserable that 
 the cakes, etc., were a failure. Sat up very late writing 
 home. Walked out in the afternoon and bought an old 
 lounge at the Smallpox Hospital. We gathered jon- 
 quils and saw the lovely view from the end of the village 
 point — the wide St. Helena Sound, Morgan Island 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 129 
 
 and Otter Island in the distance, and the Kingfisher 1 
 lying there. 
 
 We have very little fodder for our horses and do not 
 know where to look for more. That is going to be a 
 difficult question here. We hear that our poor, starving 
 Jimsebub was shot by some of the people for trespass 
 on the corn-patches. To-night Mr. Lynch came and 
 we had a talk over Mr. Phillips, who has out-generaled 
 everybody. He has come up here to see about the 
 Baptist parsonage. 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, February 13, 1864. 
 
 Mr. Lynch came in to-night with the dreadful news 
 that the privilege of exempting lands was not to be 
 given to the people, and that the Tax Commissioners 
 are to proceed with their former plan. This will create 
 great ill-feeling towards the Northerners and be a fear- 
 ful disappointment to the people. Elder Demas said to 
 Mrs. Murray that he wishes all the white people would 
 go to the white church and worship together and leave 
 the black alone in their own brick church. They will 
 wish for further isolation soon when the speculators 
 buy the lands. 
 
 [Diary] February 21. 
 
 Mr. French came up and preached. He told the 
 people to hold on to their preempted lands and all 
 might come out right yet, and when they wanted to 
 plant crop, to take what they needed and defend it 
 with their hoe handles. He said that Mr. Philbrick and 
 Mr. Thorpe were honest, but were getting rich by the 
 
 1 The blockader. 
 
130 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 labor of the blacks, and while they were lining their 
 pockets, their laborers were no richer at the end of the 
 year than they were at the beginning. He urged them 
 to plant for themselves rather than for others. Mr. 
 Barrows qualified. After church Mr. French stayed a 
 long time talking in the church with Ellen and me upon 
 the land question. We condemned parts of his speech. 
 He was patient and willing to heed our warnings. 
 
 St. Hblenaville, 1 S.C., February 25, 1864. 
 
 We had such a funny time in church to-day. There 
 was no white minister, and two elders preached and one 
 prayed. (We go to the village church now, of course.) 
 The one who prayed — Uncle Jimmy — said that he 
 asked the Lord to bless the brother "who had just 
 preached to them from such a shallow judgment and 
 untormenting understanding." Whether he played 
 upon the ignorance of the others or was ignorant him- 
 self we are inclined to question. In conclusion, he told 
 the Lord he was his unworthy brother. 
 
 Did I tell you that our little girl Clarissa came to 
 me to say, "De freeze tumble fas'," when it was snow- 
 ing? 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, February 27, 1861. 
 
 I was in the midst of baking to-day when Mr. Saxton 
 and Louise Kellogg came in. Mr. Saxton came to make 
 the welcome announcement that a homoeopathic 
 physician had come down and is to be established on 
 Ladies Island. I am too glad. No more such heavy 
 
 1 St. Helenaville, or St. Helena Village, was where Miss Towne and 
 Miss Murray lived after leaving " The Oaks." The village was situated 
 near St. Helena Sound, and had one of the finest sites on the island. 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 131 
 
 responsibility for me, no more looking around for help 
 and finding none, no more fear of getting poisoned if I 
 get ill. It is happiness and safety combined. 
 
 St. Helenavillb, S.C., Sunday Evening, 
 February 28, 1864. 
 
 Rina was telling me of how the Rachel who lived 
 in this house used to shelter her master here long after 
 we all came, even till late in last summer. He used to 
 sleep in the house every night and hide in the woods by 
 day. It was only when the pickets were sent up here 
 the last time that he got away. 
 
 In this dining-room there is a whipping-post and 
 pulley for stretching and whipping. Then there leads off 
 our fodder room and then Rina's kitchen. Behind our 
 north chamber there is a narrow slip of a room for a 
 guest chamber; upstairs, two garrets, one for boxes and 
 trunks, the other for our little Clarissa. To-night I 
 asked her whether the clock (which Mrs. Phillips or- 
 dered out of the church and which is in our kitchen) 
 was going. She said, "I dunno, ma'am, but I heardy 
 him knock he bell." She meant, strike. 
 
 We have two pomegranate [trees] and an apple tree, 
 and three housefuls of people and children in our yard. 
 We also have a lot for vegetable garden, and we give 
 half the land for the culture of the other half for our 
 table. We can be very comfortable, for whatever we 
 lack Rina supplies. Once we had not a single thing to 
 eat on the table which was not hers, and she furnishes 
 our rooms and our cupboard with a great many ar- 
 ticles we could neither get here nor do without. We 
 burn kerosene and have a nice large lamp of Ellen's. 
 
132 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 [Diary] March 5. 
 
 Set off with little Charley to go to the ferry with my 
 buggy, to leave it for Mr. Wilson to mend. At "The 
 Oaks" the people gave me the warmest kind of wel- 
 come, and would, as usual, have loaded me with eggs, 
 potatoes, etc., but I told them I was to return on horse- 
 back and could take none of these things. They began 
 to tell me how much they missed us all, and said that 
 Mr. Tomlinson was gone too — that Mr. Fairfield had 
 "chased every bit." They say the house looks too lonely, 
 that no buckra * come there now. 
 
 I left the buggy at the ferry and set out on Charley, 
 who is a splendid saddle horse, in a crowd of riders and 
 drivers who had just come over from Beaufort. Charley 
 grew gay and began to prance and rear a little. This 
 frightened me horribly, and I called to Mr. A. to let 
 me take his buggy, and to mount my horse, for Charley 
 would break my neck, — "And what about mine? 
 Won't he break that? " he said, and he did not come to 
 my rescue. Mr. Wells, who is a good rider, then offered, 
 and gave Mr. A. his steady riding-horse. He gave Char- 
 ley a good canter, I riding in the buggy and admiring 
 in safety, and when we came to the church road I 
 mounted Charley again, and rode, cantering the rest of 
 the way to the village, enjoying it hugely. 
 
 [Diary] March 6, 1864. 
 
 As Brister was away, Lame John saddled Charley 
 and I went down to Frogmore 2 for Harriet's buggy, 
 which I brought home. Charley was in fine spirits and 
 
 1 White people. 
 
 2 The plantation which Miss Towne later bought. 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 133 
 
 cantered well. I had a funny time getting him on when 
 Dr. Hunting, who was riding with me, turned down to 
 Dr. Pope's. He would canter after him, and when at 
 last I got him turned short off in a cornfield, he sounded 
 a call for the other horse every minute and kept looking 
 about eagerly. The woods on fire stopped me, and I had 
 to turn miles out of the way. It is too bad that such 
 large tracts are being burned over, and the trees killed 
 or injured. I saw several gigantic pines which had been 
 chipped into holes in the trunk by the people getting 
 "lighters," and the turpentine in these holes in the 
 trunk, when ignited, burned like fire in great fireplaces. 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, March 12. 
 
 A hard-working morning getting ready for our dinner 
 this evening. The dinner was not ready at the right 
 time, and I had to leave the guests — Captain Hooper, 
 Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Tomlinson, and Mr. Dyer — again 
 and again, to see about it. Rina had in the kitchen 
 Hastings, Brister, Lame John, and a boy helping her, 
 but when dinner was at last on the table we found 
 that the potatoes were forgotten entirely, and the fried 
 oysters appeared with the pudding. The Christmas 
 pudding sent me from home was quite cold. There was 
 the usual long time between each change of plates. 
 Hastings had requested the honor of waiting upon the 
 gentlemen, and did pretty well. We were to have had 
 our soup in a yellow bowl for want of a tureen. Hastings 
 told Rina he had a tureen at home and would like to lend 
 it, but if I saw it he was afraid I would want to buy it. 
 Rina told him I would not wish to buy what he did not 
 want to sell, and so, to my surprise, the soup appeared 
 
134 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 handsomely dished, but it was stone cold. So the din- 
 ner was a failure, but the gentlemen were merry. Cap- 
 tain Hooper stayed all night. He has just returned 
 from the North and brought me a pair of camp candle- 
 sticks and a box of candy. 
 
 [Diary] Monday, March 14, 1864. 
 
 Miss Howard tells us that a determined effort is to 
 be made to shut the church doors on us, so as to force 
 the children to go to the Indian Hill School. I think it 
 is done so as to prevent such a large school as ours 
 from being in the hands of such non-upholders of the 
 Baptist church. Mrs. P. says we need not think we are 
 to be left in peace to occupy the building; she will ap- 
 peal to the pockets of the people and then we shall see! 
 She says she tells them that we have damaged the 
 building and that they must raise $150 for repairs. 
 She also sends us word that the new commissioner or 
 agent to look after church property for the Baptists, 
 Dr. Parker, is going to turn us out. It seems to be op- 
 position from one quarter only. The Indian Hill School 
 has no books yet. 
 
 [Diary] March 18. 
 
 Mr. Parker, the preacher, whom we mistook for Dr. 
 Parker, the agent of the Baptists, came to see the school 
 to-day. He is a kind-looking old man. We mistaking 
 him, as I said, told him we heard he meant to put us 
 out of the church, but he assured us that in his private 
 opinion, we should not be disturbed. He stayed all the 
 morning and spoke to the children. He asked what 
 they had in their heads. They answered, "Sense;" 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 135 
 
 "Brains" he told them. "How did their knowledge 
 get into their heads?" "God put it there," they an- 
 swered. He pointed to his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and 
 explained how ideas got in, in so low a voice that my 
 class could not hear and could only see his motions, and 
 these seemed so comical that Fairy Jenkins burst into 
 a fit of laughing that nearly upset me and the whole 
 class. 
 
 He says he thought he should find peace and zeal 
 down here — a band of fellow workers living in har- 
 mony and working with combined effort, but that he 
 finds friction, friction in every quarter — military, re- 
 ligious, and political. 
 
 [Diary] March 25, 1864. 
 
 The Commission of Philadelphia wrote to General 
 Saxton to ask whether there was any necessity for 
 school-houses in the department. General S. sent word 
 that he wishes Mr. Tomlinson and me to put our 
 opinion into writing and send to him. I did this to-night, 
 saying I knew nothing of other schools, but that we need 
 a school-house for several reasons. We are liable to 
 expulsion. We cannot make the school convenient for 
 writing, blackboards, etc. We have the noise of three 
 large schools in one room, and it is trying to the voice 
 and strength, and not conducive to good order. 
 
 Sunday Evening, March 27, 1864. 
 
 One of the elders prayed that " the little white sisters 
 who came to give learning to the children" might be 
 blessed. . . . 
 
136 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 [Diary] Saturday, May 14, 1864. 
 
 A letter from Rosie showed me more plainly the state 
 of feeling at home about my staying longer here. It is 
 too bitter, but Captain Hooper has been alarming them 
 about my health. For a month past I have had rest, 
 comfort, peace, and a good school. I have never been 
 so well and hearty and rested since I have been in the 
 department. I think it would be better for me to wait 
 for the new school-houses, and get Mr. Wilson to put 
 them up at once. But I suppose I must go and not let 
 them fret any longer about me. 
 
 [Diary] Sunday, May 15. 
 
 Went down to church and made arrangements to go 
 home. Wrote to the girls to say that I shall leave here 
 May 30. Harriet Murray will not leave Frogmore. We 
 have invited her up here, now Mrs. M. has gone, but 
 she declines coming. She has got Lizzie Hunn to stay 
 with her at Frogmore. I saw Mr. Sumner, who has been 
 with an excursion party to Florida. We were invited, 
 but did not go. Miss Kellogg went. On the way the 
 Harriet Weed, or the Boston steamer, was following 
 them as nearly as possible when a torpedo exploded and 
 she went to the bottom before the eyes of the other 
 boat. Mr. S. says that Miss Kellogg is not well since 
 the fright. Ellen feels that she must go down to stay 
 with Harriet after I go, since H. will not come up. 
 
 Uncle Robert came to the school to borrow a dollar 
 "for buy tobacco." He says he has cotton to pay me 
 that and the other three he owes me; that he can get 
 no money at all, as he will not work for Mr. Fairfield. 
 In order to force the people to work for him, Mr. Fair- 
 
18C4] LAURA M. TOWNE 137 
 
 field threatens to turn them out of their houses, or to 
 make them pay four dollars a month for their rent. 
 They appealed to Dr. Brisbane, 1 who finally persuaded 
 them to consent to plant a task each of cotton for Mr. 
 F. This may pay his expenses. If the people had not 
 been induced to do this by a third party, Mr. F. would 
 have been ruined. 
 
 [Diary 1 May 21. 
 
 Charlie and Harriet Ware rowed us over to Hunting 
 Island, Ellen taking an oar. We saw the splendid new 
 lighthouse, blown up by rebels, the magnificent beach 
 with trees washed and standing on their roots high 
 above water, or lying, roots in the air. I tried to row 
 coming home, and persisted a long time so as to do my 
 share of the work, but it was rough and I grew frightened 
 so I gave the oar to Ellen. When we came under the 
 shores we had a lovely row home. 
 
 While we were away here, Morgan Island 2 was visited 
 by the rebels and all the people carried off! There is 
 great alarm here, the point is so exposed. The Winsors 
 rowed over to the blockading boat to give the alarm. 
 The captain replied that he was put there to blockade 
 and not to defend the coast, and he would do nothing. 
 They say he has not half force enough to work his boat. 
 It is not Captain Dutch. A month or so ago the King- 
 fisher went down! Captain Dutch had begged again 
 and again to be relieved, so that his ship might be re- 
 paired, but no permission came, and at last, in making 
 some necessary move, she struck a new sandbar, re- 
 
 1 One of the Tax Commissioners. 
 
 2 A small island lying north of St. Helena Island. 
 
138 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 cently formed in the channel, and went down so sud- 
 denly that the men lost their clothes. They say she had 
 been leaking so badly for some time that men had to be 
 kept at the pumps. Captain Dutch was energetic, hated 
 the enemy, was a good protector to the islands, and made 
 himself the terror of the rebels along the coast. We are 
 sorry to lose him, and this raid proves that his successor 
 is not feared. 
 
 [Miss Towne spent a part of the summer of 1864 
 visiting her family in the North. The following letter 
 was written from Pennsylvania.] 
 
 Wyndhurst, September 11, 1864. 
 
 . . . Our whole party is jubilant over the nomination 
 of McClellan jmd his letter, for it is the certain division 
 of his party. Two Democratic papers in New York — 
 one the Daily News and another a Catholic paper — 
 have come out against McClellan. The chances for 
 Lincoln are now great, everybody says, and the good 
 news from all sides makes everybody jubilant. But 
 Grant is terribly threatened. . . . 
 
 I have seen the members of the Committee, and the 
 whole of them in session several times. They sent Mr. 
 McKim to Washington to remonstrate about the trans- 
 portation, and he convinced Stanton that teachers 
 ought not to pay it, so we are to be sent free again. . . . 
 
 St. Helena, Sunday Evening, October 23, 1864. 
 Last night there came a knock at the door, which I 
 answered, and there, standing like an apparition, was 
 Mr. Sumner, who came in and stayed until after break- 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 139 
 
 fast to-day, evidently enjoying our Northern appear- 
 ance, but being as funny and as cynical by turns as he 
 always is. He is now a landed proprietor, or a planter, 
 as he calls himself, and he takes a planter's view of all 
 things. 
 
 For some unexplained reason all of Mr. Philbrick's 
 superintendents, except Mr. Ruggles and Mr. Wills, 
 are going away this winter. I shall probably find out 
 the reason when I see Mr. Tomlinson. Some say it is 
 because they disapprove of Mr. Philbrick's manage- 
 ment, others that he is not going to allow them a share 
 of crop, but only a salary, and this they will not stay 
 for. Some miserable "middle-men" overseers will 
 come, it is likely, to take their places and soon we shall 
 see this island in just such a state as Ireland is, with its 
 absentee owners and lessees or managers to grind down 
 the people. 
 
 To-day while we were at church General Saxton and 
 Tilly came to see us, and when they heard that we had 
 gone down to the Baptist church, they did not wait, 
 but went away without seeing us. I am too sorry. It 
 was very kind and very complimentary for General S. 
 to come all the way over here for a call. It takes a whole 
 day, and he has not so many leisure days that he can 
 afford to spend them visiting in this fashion. He never 
 does it, I may say, excepting this once or twice. 
 
 Rina is delighted at Tilly's sending me by her any 
 quantity of love and "respecks." Rina is just as much 
 of a jewel as ever, but she is very funny at times. Did 
 I tell you of the death of little Friday? Kit, the boy who 
 wears the blue roundabout and not another stitch, yet 
 is so fully apparelled in his own estimation, — a little 
 
140 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 fellow of three, — came home one day saying repeatedly 
 that "Fish carried Friday." No one noticed his words 
 till night, when Friday did not come home and it began 
 to be feared that he had got into the creek. His body 
 was found there after a few days. Kit had supposed 
 him carried off by a fish, but he was probably "bogged." 
 Rina was lamenting his death; she "missed him too 
 much. He was the bandy-leggedest little fellow most, 
 that lived to de village, and she did love and look *pon top 
 him." 
 
 We began school in the church again last Wednesday 
 and have had a full number of scholars, one hundred 
 and ninety-four last Friday. They are generally good, 
 and eager to come back, pretty quiet and inclined to 
 study, but a few have grown rebellious and riotous, 
 owing to peculiar surroundings. These I dismiss sum- 
 marily until they come in more subdued. I enjoy the 
 return to teaching highly and am quite returned to my 
 usual good health and vigor. I think we shall find Fanny 
 Murray a great assistance, for she comes steadily and 
 does regular work. We hope soon to get into our 
 new building, 1 which looks exceedingly pretty, but has 
 not half seats enough in it, and wants other improve- 
 ments. 
 
 Yesterday Uncle Robert and old Aunt Scilla, with 
 her two children, came up in a cart to see us, and to-day 
 at church all old friends and patients came up with 
 greetings that did me good. The eggs and vegetables 
 pour in in abundance and we live pretty well. We pay 
 now for our milk ten cents a pint and are thankful. 
 
 1 The school-house sent by the Freedmen's Aid Society of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
o 
 
 M 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 o 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 141 
 
 Thursday, November 17, 1864. 
 
 I am getting my South Carolina health back — eat 
 like a horse, sleep like a top, do any amount of work, 
 and read nothing; that last is too bad and greatly to my 
 regret. We have begun reading in the carriage on our 
 way to school. 
 
 The weather is exquisite, the school flourishing, house- 
 hold matters comfortable, living good, and all things 
 smooth at present. We are not yet in our new school- 
 house, for the Government carpenter, Mr. Wilson, has 
 to let his hands literally fish for themselves, as the 
 quartermaster has no money to pay for six months' 
 work back, and they need a subsistence. So we have to 
 wait for seats for our scholars, and other finishings. We 
 have a very large school and a charming time in it. Just 
 think, you poor, freezing, wind-pierced mortals! we 
 have summer weather. The fields are gay with white, 
 purple, and yellow flowers, and with the red leaves of 
 sumach and other shrubs. Our woods are always green, 
 and just now the gum trees make them beautiful with 
 red. You can't see a leaf! Chill November! I pity you. 
 But — but! — We are perfect recluses. 
 
 Ellen has gone to-night to Frogmore to see her 
 friends and family and I miss her terribly. I think I 
 get less and less used to doing without things — yet I 
 am resolved to stick just here to my work. . . . 
 
 We are just enjoying my darling little stove, being 
 able to eat our meals in comfort and without invol- 
 untary mastication from chattering teeth, for it has been 
 too cold until within two days to do without fires in the 
 dining-room, a luxury we never could have before. It, 
 the stove, draws well. Our curtains are not yet up, and 
 
142 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 I begin to fear they will not decorate our windows all 
 winter. 
 
 You do not know how snug and homelike our parlor 
 looks — just large enough for two. 
 
 I wonder whether you will see Mr. Tomlinson in 
 Philadelphia. He is still there and I hope you will meet 
 him. He is to speak at some Freedmen's Relief meeting, 
 and I suppose you will hear him. If you do, be sure to 
 tell me the drift of his remarks. 
 
 We are overjoyed at Lincoln's victory, which reaches 
 us in this fashion. He has all the states but three — 
 Kentucky 1 New Jersey, and Tennessee. Is it so? There 
 is beginning to be great talk here of leasing the school 
 farms, and the Murrays may have to leave Frogmore. 
 They have no idea where they will go. All is as uncer- 
 tain as ever, but I do not trouble myself. The uncer- 
 tainties down here all smooth themselves into very 
 good order in time, and so I do not fear any serious 
 vexations in the new school arrangements on the school 
 farms. 
 
 St. Helenaville, December 5, 1864. 
 
 The side-saddle was marked distinctly "Miss Ellen 
 Murray," and I never received any notification that 
 any one intended it for my use. I do use it, however, 
 as much as I want to, and have lately had a ride to 
 school. Ellen often rides. She tried Betty the other 
 day and found her an easy trotter. Our horse feed costs 
 us almost as much as our own, but yet we enjoy and 
 need the two horses, for neither can stand the work 
 alone. 
 
 I have been having a nice visit from Louise Kellogg. 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 143 
 
 She has settled down in Mr. Sumner's house and seems 
 very well content. Her companion is a Miss Lee, of 
 Boston. 
 
 I am more than ever in love with school-teaching, 
 and a solitary carpenter came to-day to take the measure- 
 ments for more seats in our new school-house, so we hope 
 some day to get into it. 
 
 An expedition has gone from here to Pocotaligo again, 
 and Grahamville has been taken, we hear. We see a 
 a great column of smoke to the north, and we know that 
 hundreds of wounded men are coming to Beaufort. We 
 met a pleasant gentleman at Coffin Point last Sunday 
 — a Captain Crane, 1 and to-day we hear he is dead. 
 Rina's Jack Brown died in hospital some time ago and 
 Rina feels it very much. Did I ever tell you how pleased 
 she was with your flounced dress? I gave Elizabeth a 
 bit of crape and one of Mr. Wright's shawls that was 
 black and purple, and it consoled her. She was so crazy 
 in the summer that she had to be put into the jail for 
 safety. Elizabeth, you remember, is Rina's daughter 
 and Jack Brown's wife. She is the only child Rina ever 
 had. 
 
 Sunday, December 11, 1864. 
 
 To-morrow I am going to "The Oaks." I hear that 
 Aunt Phyllis is dying and I shall go to see her and take 
 her some sugar. ... It is piping cold to-night — blow- 
 ing great guns, but Rina made us up a splendid fire and 
 we sit enjoying it and enjoying, too, writing home. . . . 
 
 1 Of the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers (colored). He was 
 killed in the engagement at Honey Hill, near Grahamville, South 
 Carolina, fought November 30, 18C4. 
 
144 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1864 
 
 The people come very often for us to write letters for 
 them and we have fun doing it. One woman for whom 
 Fanny Murray was writing requested her to end the 
 letter by saying, "Please excuse the writing, for my pen 
 is very bad." 
 
 The letters reach us very late and the papers and maga- 
 zines later still, but I hope to get them, and we gener- 
 ally do, in time. 
 
 December 18, 1864. 
 
 Merry Christmas to all. 
 
 Our new school-house is now being hurried forward 
 pretty fast, and we hope to get in by the first of the 
 year. How happy we shall be, nobody can tell who has 
 not taught in a school where he or she had to make her- 
 self heard over three other classes reciting in concert, 
 and to discover talkers and idlers among fifty scholars 
 while one hundred and fifty more are shouting lessons, 
 and three other teachers bawling admonitions, instruc- 
 tions, and reproofs. Generally two or more of the babies 
 are squalling from disinclination to remain five hours 
 foodless on very small and tippy laps — their nurses 
 being on benches too high for them and rather care- 
 less of infant comfort in their zeal for knowledge. . . . 
 Oh, dear, I am away off ! To think of being able to hear 
 directly all these good and stirring things! Phillips 
 Brooks is a fine war-horse, is n't he? He does n't seem 
 to be getting spoiled. 
 
 i I went to-day to see Maum Katie, an old African 
 woman, who remembers worshipping her own gods in 
 jAfrica, but who has been nearly a century in this coun- 
 try. She is very bright and talkative, and is a great 
 
1864] LAURA M. TOWNE 145 
 
 " spiritual mother," a fortune-teller, or rather prophetess, 
 and a woman of tremendous influence over her spiritual 
 children. I am going to cultivate her acquaintance. I 
 have been sending her medicine for a year nearly, and 
 she "hangs upon top me," refusing all medicine but 
 mine. I never saw her till to-day, and she lives not a 
 stone's throw off, so you may guess how hurried I am. 
 
 Christmas, 1864, Village, St. Helena, S.C. 
 
 I am not so homesick this year as I was last, but yet 
 how good it would be to look in awhile and see you all 
 well and happy together. It is a cold, dull day here. We 
 meant to go to church, but it rained just about the time 
 we should have set out, and so we are quietly resting 
 at home. 
 
 To-morrow we have the celebration for our school. 
 I present my pocketbooks. Ellen gives each girl of 
 her class a nice little workbox with needlebook, pin- 
 cushion, thread, buttons, scissors, and thimble. Each boy 
 she gives a comb and a knife. Harriet and Fanny have 
 a variety for their classes, and in all about two hundred 
 and fifty children will, we hope, have some pleasure in 
 the day. 
 
 I have not had much preparation to make here, Our 
 new school-house is not ready for the Xmas celebration, 
 but we hope we have taught for the last day in the 
 church, as we expect to begin school, after this week's 
 holiday, in the new building. Four classes going at 
 once at the pitch of their lungs made confusion worse 
 confounded. 
 
 Yesterday I baked a batch of gingercakes and to-day 
 we have given two or so to all the children in our "yard," 
 
146 LETTERS AND DIARY [1864 
 
 and to a few others. We made the old African woman's 
 heart glad by a little tea and sugar, and a warm shawl 
 from Mr. Wright's store. You do not know what a fine, 
 dignified old thing she can be. To-day her daughter 
 came in bringing two quarts of groundnuts and a dozen 
 big sweet potatoes — "Manners" on Christmas, the 
 daughter said. She is a strapping, middle-aged woman. 
 Mother Katie has a strange history and is over a hun- 
 dred years old, but bright mentally as if she were but 
 forty. She is blind and suffers horribly with her eyes. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 Miss Lynch and a colored teacher from the North, 
 Mr. Freeman, dined here and seemed well satisfied. 
 They have just gone. I suppose it would seem strange 
 
 j to you to sit down with two colored people, but to us it 
 is the most natural thing in the world. I actually forget 
 these people are black, and it is only when I see them at 
 
 f a distance and cannot recognize their features that I 
 remember it. The conversation at dinner flowed just as 
 naturally as if we were Northern whites. Both Mr. Free- 
 man and Miss Lynch have education and talk well. 
 General Sherman at Hilton Head received General 
 Saxton with flattering honor, and General Foster more 
 coolly. General Sherman is quartered in Savannah. 1 
 That evacuation is a blessing if it leaves the country as 
 this has been left, for freedmen under Northern influence. 
 I wish the Southerners would all evacuate their whole 
 territory. 
 
 x General Sherman had succeeded in reaching Savannah on Decem- 
 ber 22, 1864, after marching two hundred and fifty miles from 
 Atlanta to the sea. 
 
1865 
 
 St. Hel.enavii.le, January 8, 1865. 
 
 I have a great and troublesome commission for some 
 of you. When H. gave me the one hundred dollars last 
 fall, I instantly thought, "Now I can get my bell," but 
 afterwards I was afraid I might need funds to finish the 
 inside of our school-house and so I deferred getting the 
 bell. Now it is all finished nicely, everything we want 
 complete, and we have had two days of delightful com- 
 fort in it. While Mr. Tomlinson is here, I can get the 
 belfry put up free of charge, and properly attended to. 
 He talks of going away soon, and has said he wished the 
 bell, which I promised, had come. So I want you to buy 
 me one. 
 
 Miss Ware has bought a bell for her school-house, and 
 it came down in one of the Philbrick schooners. It rings 
 already all over the island. She has also presented her 
 school-house with an eight-day clock. Her bell is 
 smaller than mine must be, for she calls only one 
 plantation, and we five or six to school. They say it is 
 exquisite in tone. There is great choice in bells of the 
 same size and apparent quality; one will ring clearly 
 and be heard at a great distance, while another will be 
 soft and sweet and deep, but not resonant, and the 
 sound will not travel far. A dollar a pound is the price, 
 or was the price of Miss Ware's. It will take at least a 
 fifty-pound bell and may take a larger one. You had 
 better ask how far such a bell carries sound. Ours should 
 be heard three miles if possible. Miss Ware calculated 
 
148 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 that a twenty-five pound bell would be heard a mile 
 and a half. Our children come from five and six miles, 
 but I think no bell could be heard so far. I suppose 
 that the wheel for ringing it comes with it — that and 
 a rope would be necessary. Our building is one story 
 high and raised on piles. We should want a rope to go 
 through the floor and be pulled from beneath. 
 
 I think you can get a chance to send the bell by Mr. 
 Winsor's schooners, which are coming often for cotton. 
 I had rather have freight paid on it than have it come by 
 Mr. Philbrick's favor. If it cannot come by schooner, I 
 think the Philadelphia Committee would get the New 
 York Committee to forward it. 
 
 Another great crowd of negroes has come from Sher- 
 man's army. They are utterly wretched in circumstances 
 — clothes all torn to rags; in some cases children naked. 
 A steamboat load came to the village to-night, and they 
 are crowded in the church and into all the people's 
 houses. It is astonishing with what open-hearted char- 
 ity the people here — themselves refugees from Edisto 
 two years ago — have received these newcomers right 
 into their houses, and to that most jealously guarded 
 place — their " chimbly." A " chimbly " here is a man's 
 castle, and the privileges of this coveted convenience 
 are held sacred. To lend a "chimbly" to a neighbor is 
 to grant him a great favor, yet these people are wel- 
 comed to the "chimblys." I asked our Brister if he 
 found any friends among the refugees from Georgia. 
 "All friends to-night," he said, "but I hain't found no 
 family," which means relatives. 
 
 Pierce Butler's' slaves have just arrived among this 
 lot. We have no clothes to give these poor shivering 
 
18C5] LAURA M. TOWNE 149 
 
 creatures, and I never felt so helpless. Rina has on her 
 biggest pot and I have just been putting in some of Mr. 
 Wright's tea, and Ellen and I are going to sally out and 
 give each of the sick a cup of it to warm them up this 
 cold, raw night. Very many come sick: indeed, nearly 
 all are broken down with fatigue, privation of food, and 
 bad air at night. 
 
 To-day General Saxton at church announced his in- 
 tention to reoccupy Edisto pretty soon and fill it with 
 these refugees. . . . 
 
 10.45 p.m. 
 
 Just returned from giving out the tea to the sick.i 
 Such a weary, sick, coughing set! I wish our church 
 would send along some clothes. I have written to the 
 Commission for some, and contributions to their boxes 
 would do. 
 
 St. Helenaville, S.C., Saturday, January 21, 1865. 
 
 I have not had time to write even a word to you for 
 ever so long. Don't imagine that I have time to play 
 wolf, as I used to, either. It is one "demnition grind" 
 lately. It seems as if Rina, Brister, and Clarissa are all 
 possessed, and we have all sorts of household difficulties 
 arising daily. Besides our usual work we have now a little 
 care of the poor refugees from Georgia, who are fright- 
 fully destitute, sickly, and miserable. Most of them are 
 homesick too. They expected to stay and enjoy their 
 freedom in Savannah, or their back-country homes in 
 Georgia, and they pine in this uncomfortable and strange 
 place, where they die so fast. They are separated too. 
 Parents are looking for lost children and there are waifs 
 
150 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 of children without a friend, who have drifted here 
 somehow, and who are so forlorn and dejected and ema- 
 ciated that it is hard to see them. We have taken one 
 of them home here, but shall not keep her after she is 
 well, for she has a cousin willing to have her, as she is 
 old enough to "mind child." The child had typhoid 
 pneumonia when we took her from the hospital where 
 her mother and brother and one aunt died, and another 
 is just dying; so she is almost friendless, and too small 
 to be very useful to any one. The refugees are going to 
 Edisto soon. Thereby hangs great news. 
 
 Stanton 1 came down here to inquire into various mat- 
 ters, among others the abuses of the recruiting. A letter 
 that Harriet Murray wrote to a friend was published in 
 the Springfield Republican and copied from that into 
 other papers. It excited great indignation, as it told 
 just what we heard and saw the first night we arrived 
 — when two men in Frogmore had been shot down, one 
 killed, the other mortally wounded, by recruiting officers, 
 because they, having exemption papers in their pockets, 
 refused to come from their boat when they were fishing, 
 when the recruiting officers called them. This letter of 
 Harriet's was sent to General Foster 2 with a demand for 
 an explanation. Stanton made inquiries and found, 
 what we knew, that such things were not uncommon, 
 but that men were seized, their bounty appropriated, 
 and themselves sent to Morris Island, without being 
 allowed to return to tell their families where they were 
 going. Stanton also inquired into other matters, and 
 the result was that he or Sherman made General Sax- 
 
 1 Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 
 * Major-General John G. Foster. 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 151 
 
 ton a Brevet Major-General. So, direct your letters 
 accordingly, to the care of Major-General Saxton. He 
 has full power over Freedmen's affairs from Edisto to 
 Key West, thirty miles inland, and is going to take 
 home at once all the Edisto people. Mr. Tomlinson 
 is to be head man under Saxton, Mr. Williams to be 
 General Superintendent of St. Helena, and Mr. John 
 Alden, we hope, of Edisto. This will make great changes. 
 We shall lose many of our brightest scholars. 
 
 How we do enjoy our new school-house. It is so de- 
 lightful to have quiet, and the desks are wonderfully 
 convenient. General Howard i and General Saxton 
 came to see us and praised us much. 
 
 A steamer is just in and brings us news that Wil- 
 mington is ours, but with great loss. I have heard no 
 particulars. 
 
 You sent me Mr. Furness' sermon, and I enjoyed 
 with trembling the eulogy of teachers, though I believe 
 the praise was confined to those at Washington./By the 
 way, there will be an opening for Miss Bridport almost 
 certainly at Edisto, if not here, but I think I have se- 
 cured a charming place for her — if she does not mind 
 "messing" with a colored lady teacher from the North, 
 as of course she will not. /She will also have only a 
 primary department to begin with, but will be next 
 door to us, in the healthiest location on the island, and 
 have immediate and full employment. I wish she 
 were here now. Be sure to tell her to bring with her 
 bedroom and kitchen conveniences and comforts of all 
 kinds — bedding, sheets, blankets, pillow-cases, towels, 
 and a ticking for a straw bed, or, what is much better, 
 1 Major-General Oliver O. Howard succeeded General Foster. 
 
152 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 a thin, narrow mattress like mine, and a pillow. This 
 bedding is indispensable. She will find a good house 
 and some furniture here, and need not bring a bedstead. 
 If she should not come, some other nice teacher from 
 Philadelphia might take her place. 
 
 St. Helena ville, Thursday, January 26, 1865. 
 We are often put to it for forage, and being dis- 
 tressingly short, we got into the way of turning our 
 beasts out to pick brush. They often went to the marsh 
 for the salt grass, but we hoped for the best. One night 
 this week when it was pouring rain, it was discovered 
 that the horses had not come up. I sent a boy after 
 them. He went, and not finding them, went quietly 
 home, not letting me know. Brister had been away, but 
 after I knew he had been home a long time, I went to 
 his house and asked him if he had been for the horses. 
 "No." They never go for the animals in rainy weather. 
 I started Brister and the boy both after the horses, 
 charging them to look in the bog first, and tell me when 
 they found them. An hour or two after, I got uneasy 
 and went to Brister's house again. There he and the 
 boy sat, and informed me, or rather let me stormily 
 guess, that Betty was in the bog. The way they did it 
 was by assuring me that Charley and Saxby were not 
 "bogged." I had the nice kerosene lantern I bought 
 at the fair, and we all set out together, for I was sure 
 that at the least discouragement they would turn back, 
 and the tide coming up, Betty would be dead by 
 morning. I was equipped for the weather, but had rub- 
 ber shoes — if they had only been boots ! We found 
 poor Betty worn out with her struggles, and though we 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 153 
 
 got her twice to her feet, the first step forward she 
 sank to her shoulder again, or else a hind leg would go 
 down. I think Blister and Harry would have tried 
 "licking" her up, and letting her sink till the tide drove 
 them off and drowned her, but I insisted upon Bris- 
 ter's going for more men, which he did at last. Then 
 Betty was thrown on her side, her hind legs tied together 
 and she was hauled to firm ground. While Brister went 
 for the men we were doing our best — the two boys and 
 I — to get Betty up and out, but she only got up and 
 tumbled down again. The next day she was stiff, but 
 pretty well, and I went to school. 
 
 It was so cold this morning that there was ice made 
 while the bucket was being drawn up from the well. 
 Of course there was ice in our basins and pitchers. As 
 this is almost the first time I have had to stay away 
 from school since I have been down here, the school- 
 children went home with open-mouthed wonder, "Miss 
 Towne de sick," having given Fanny, who took my 
 class, all the trouble they could. I think I shall let it go 
 to-morrow (Friday) and I hope by Monday to have 
 hearing enough to go back to it. Fanny is spending a 
 week with us, her first visit. Great changes are taking 
 place. Edisto is to be reoccupied and that takes Mr. 
 John Alden, one of our best friends, away — he is to 
 be General Superintendent. Then Mr. Tomlinson is 
 made Inspector General of Freedmen's affairs and goes 
 to Beaufort. Mr. Williams * is to be our General Super- 
 intendent. So we are, as usual, in an upside-down state. 
 The poor negroes die as fast as ever. The children are 
 all emaciated to the last degree, and have such violent 
 1 C. F. Williams. 
 
154 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 Roughs and dysenteries that few survive. It is fright- 
 ful to see such suffering among children. Our little 
 waif is almost well, but is a sulky, lazy, vicious little 
 "piece. We shall not keep her any longer than we can 
 help. Her cousin is still in the hospital and will take 
 her, when she comes out, to "mind child." Most of 
 our good people and children are going back to Edisto. 
 We lose Hastings, our mainstay here, Brister, Clarissa, 
 and ever so many of our brightest scholars. 
 
 Sunday, February 19, 1805. 
 
 Two boxes of clothing have reached this house and 
 four more are at the ferry, so next week distributing 
 will begin again. I am going to give up my class for a 
 week, and do it up systematically. It can be done now 
 much better than at first, for then it was hard to tell 
 who were needy and who were not, but now we know 
 that all are alike in poverty, or nearly alike. Some have 
 already begun to work, but with all such the rations are 
 to be stopped next week, and while they have themselves 
 to feed at the present low rate of wages and high prices 
 of provisions, they will find it impossible to get clothes. 
 The terrible sickness and mortality among those in this 
 village is much less now that the severe cold weather 
 is over. Government gave each family a blanket or two, 
 but that was bed covering and all in one, so I really 
 think many actually died from cold and others have se- 
 vere coughs that I do not think they will ever recover 
 from. Nearly all who are ill take the dropsy as they get 
 better, and so go walking about as usual, till their 
 lungs fill, and then they take to the floor and die in a 
 day or so. Nearly all the children are dead, or a very 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 155 
 
 large proportion of them. Our Mary Ann would per- 
 sist in taking all sorts of things and eating while she had 
 severe diarrhoea, such wholesome cribbings as raw pea- 
 nuts, cracklings from salt pork, half-raw sweet potatoes, 
 etc., etc. So we asked her cousin — her sole remaining 
 relative — if she did not want the child back. We could 
 not watch her closely enough. The cousin said yes, so 
 we gave Mary Ann two suits of clothing and took her to 
 a comfortable house where her cousin was living, she 
 having lost her child, — a little boy two years old, — 
 and left the hospital. Mary Ann was much better 
 when she left — able to "pick chips," and to walk about 
 as she liked. 
 
 Some changes are taking place here among our friends. 
 Mr. Hunn is going to Edisto, and a Tax Commissioners' 
 teacher is to be put on Frogmore in Miss Hunn's school. 
 So the Murrays are going to move to " The Oaks." Mr. 
 Ruggles has leased that place for four years and has 
 given them the use of his half of the house. The other 
 half goes for school-farm teachers. Fanny declares she 
 will not go to that unhealthy place and is coming to stay 
 with us awhile. 
 
 We have grand rumors to-night — that Charleston 
 is evacuated, 1 but we can't believe it yet. I am astonished 
 at the gammon still prevailing at the North about our 
 Southern brethren, and their softened feelings and long- 
 ings to come back, etc., etc. They are hungry, and 
 long for loaves and fishes, but a gentleman who has just 
 come from Savannah says they are bitter and spiteful 
 and "cantankerous" as ever, and show extreme con- 
 
 1 General Sherman entered Charleston without resistance on Feb- 
 ruary 18, 1865. 
 
156 LETTERS AND DIARY OP [1865 
 
 tempt for the Northerners while they are accepting 
 their benefactions. This gentleman was the secretary 
 or president of the old pro-slavery Home Mission So- 
 ciety of Presbyterians, and he has always stood up for 
 our erring but darling Southern brothers. If he speaks 
 against them he speaks against himself, for the past 
 twenty years, and yet he does say that Northern sym- 
 pathy is wasted on them. 
 
 Old Pittsburg is doing well, is n't she? I do not know 
 how many boxes have come to me from there or from 
 their funds. They seem, by their letters, to recognize 
 that I am John Towne's daughter. 
 
 St. Helena Village, S.C., March 3, 1865. 
 I just scribble a note to thank you all, tell you I am 
 well, and that I am, as you suppose, busy distributing 
 to the refugees. We clothed about one hundred almost 
 naked and entirely filthy people, who had had no change 
 of clothing for months, and who had generally been very 
 ill. Then the supply stopped. There arrived just five 
 boxes and a barrel for me, and these we gave. But no 
 other boxes have come since, and the people come to our 
 yard and stand mute in their misery, not annoying me 
 with questions, but just watching me to see if I have any 
 news of the coming clothing for them. There some of 
 them stand nearly every morning when I go to school, 
 and there they are when we come home. I believe there 
 are some boxes for me and many for Mr. Tomlinson at 
 the Head, but the storm, we suppose, has cut off the 
 supply of coal, and the steamers cannot bring them up. 
 For the same reason no rations could be brought up 
 for them, and there has been something very like starv- 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 157 
 
 ation here. I have, fortunately, had some money of 
 Mr. Wright's, and I have bought rice from Mr. Ruggles, 
 and to avoid actually giving to beggars, have only sup- 
 plied such as Hastings designated as starving, except 
 in a few cases where we had personal knowledge of the 
 people. I think the little grits and rice we have given 
 have kept soul and body together more than once. 
 They have found out that we will buy moss from the 
 trees for our cow who, stupid beast, will not eat hay. 
 
 I am elected superintendent of the Philadelphia 
 schools and agent for the Pennsylvania Freedmen's 
 Relief Association down here. 
 
 My box has not come, nor the schooner been heard 
 of. This stormy weather has kept it out, I suspect. 
 Thank H. for both drafts. 
 
 What a pleasure my life is! 
 
 Village, St. Helena, March 12, 1865. 
 I am sorry to tell you that our island is going to lose 
 that good and useful man Mr. Tomlinson. He is to live 
 in Beaufort, 1 and many a want of ours will be unsupplied 
 after this. He offered to turn over to me " Big Charley " 
 the horse, instead of our little Charley, but I would n't 
 listen to it, for "Big Charley" is a large, fine-spirited 
 Northern horse, who has run away several times and 
 smashed several buggies. Mr. T. is indignant at our 
 little balking beast, who acted like a veritable ass the 
 other day when Fanny was riding him, and ended by 
 shaking her off his back. If she had known anything of 
 him, or of any horse, it would not have happened. She 
 
 1 Mr. Tomlinson took the place of Captain Hooper on General 
 Saxton's staff. He was also made State Superintendent of Education. 
 
158 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 was not hurt at all, and was well laughed at. Saxby and 
 the calf grow splendidly, and all our animals are in fine 
 condition, as we have been buying moss, marsh grass, 
 and hay, at frightful prices — the former to help the 
 people from Georgia, and the latter to save our 
 beasts' lives. It would make you groan to see what I call 
 "fine condition." You can count every rib in every 
 animal we have got, but they can keep on their feet 
 and go. 
 
 It has been the longest storm I ever knew down here 
 — nothing but rain, rain, till the island is almost sub- 
 merged. The Georgia people are smart, busy, and clean, 
 but they have been used to much better living than our 
 islanders, and being nearly reduced to starvation, for 
 the want of rations, which were stopped by want of the 
 means of transportation (coal for the steamers), they 
 have not resisted the temptation of stealing whatever 
 was eatable. Rina's chickens have suffered. She says, 
 "When der's no men-folks in de family, it's pure de- 
 struction." And I believe we should find it so in our 
 housekeeping, if it were not for Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Tom- 
 linson, and others. The Edisto people having gone from 
 the village and carried all their chickens, pigs, etc., 
 we were for a time reduced to salt food entirely. The 
 consequence was that Rina and Ellen both got the 
 scurvy in a slight degree. It was trying enough for a 
 week, — indeed, for three or four weeks, — but for one 
 week they were almost laid up. We resorted to canned 
 tomatoes and Irish potatoes, which Mr. Ruggles has 
 now for sale, and we are all better. 
 
 The delicious blackberry season is almost here — 
 they are in bloom. Peach trees are out, and plum trees. 
 
1865] LAUEA M. TOWNE 159 
 
 The gardens are gay with jonquils and "daffies," and 
 the jessamine is nearly in full bloom. 
 
 The bell — when will that come? A golden opportun- 
 ity will be gone if it does not come this week ! Our school- 
 house is being shingled now, and if the Government 
 carpenter goes we shall probably have to pay for it, or 
 I shall. It is my affair. 
 
 Charleston, S.C., April 14, 1865. 
 
 I have seen the same old flag raised on Sumter by 
 General Anderson himself, 1 Garrison, 2 George Thomp- 
 son, Tilton, Beecher, 3 and a host of abolitionists being 
 present. It was a most beautiful and glorious sight. . . . 
 
 Village, St. Helena, S.C., April 23, 1865. 
 We did go to Charleston to that great celebration, 
 and on the very day that vile assassin was doing his 
 work, or had accomplished it. 4 Such shouts and cheers 
 went up for Lincoln from the freed people of Charles- 
 ton, at the mention of his name by Garrison at the great 
 meeting in Zion Church, that it must have done him 
 good even in his death. I never saw such enthusiasm 
 as they showed every time he was mentioned. On the 
 island here they are inconsolable and will not believe 
 he is dead. In the church this morning they prayed for 
 him as wounded but still alive, and said that he was 
 their Saviour — that Christ saved them from sin, and 
 
 1 The United States flag was raised on Fort Sumter in Charleston 
 Harbor on April 14, 1865, by General Robert Anderson, who had 
 been compelled to surrender the same fort four years before. 
 
 1 William Lloyd Garrison. 
 
 " Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 4 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865. 
 
160 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 he from "Secesh," and as for the vile Judas who had 
 lifted his hand against him, they prayed the Lord the 
 whirlwind would carry him away, and that he would 
 melt as wax in the fervent heat, and be driven forever 
 from before the Lord. Was n't it the cunning of the 
 Devil that did the deed; and they are going to prove 
 him insane! When he was wise enough to strike the one 
 in whom all could trust, and whose death would in- 
 evitably throw confusion and doubt into the popular 
 mind of the North! And then to single out Seward 2 
 in hopes that the next Secretary might embroil us with 
 Europe and so give them another chance! It is so 
 hard to wait a week or two before we know what comes 
 next. 
 
 But I must tell you of our trip to Charleston. Gen- 
 eral Saxton gave us all passes, and a large party of 
 teachers went from this island with Mr. Ruggles — 
 good, kind, handsome fellow — to escort us. We stayed 
 at a house kept by the former servants or slaves of 
 Governor Aiken. 
 
 1 was dreadfully seasick going up, and the day after 
 I got there had to go to bed, and so I missed seeing many 
 things I should have liked to visit. It stood — the house 
 we stayed at — in the very heart of the shelled part of 
 the city, and had ever so many balls through it. The 
 burnt part of the town is the picture of desolation, and 
 the detested "old sugar-house," as the workhouse was 
 called, looks like a giant in his lair. It was where all the 
 slaves were whipped, and the whipping-room was made 
 with double walls filled in with sand so that the cries 
 could not be heard in the street. The treadmill and all 
 
 2 An attempt was also made to assassinate Secretary of State Seward. 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 161 
 
 kinds of tortures were inflicted there. I wanted to make 
 sure of the building and asked an old black woman if 
 that was the old sugar-house. "Dat's it," she said, 
 "but it's all played out now." On Friday we went to 
 Sumter, got good seats in the amphitheatre inside, near 
 the pavilion for the speakers, and had a good oppor- 
 tunity to see all. I think there was not that enthusiasm 
 in Anderson that I expected, and Henry Ward Beecher 
 addressed himself to the "citizens of Charleston," when 
 there were not a dozen there. He spoke very much by 
 note, and quite without fire. 
 
 At Sumter I bought several photographs, and send 
 you one of the face [of the fortress] farthest from Wag- 
 ner, Gregg, and our assailing forts, and consequently 
 pretty well preserved. The other side is a mass of ruins 
 and big balls. If you look closely you will see rows of 
 basket-work, filled with sand, repairing a break. The 
 whole inside of the fort is lined with them. 
 
 The next day was the grand day, however, when Wil- 
 son, Garrison, Thompson, Kelly, Tilton, and others 
 spoke. Redpath mentioned John Brown's name, and 
 asked the great congregation to sing his favorite hymn, 
 "Blow ye the Trumpet," or "Year of Jubilee." 
 
 I spoke to Judge Kelly afterwards and had a nice 
 promise from him that he would send me all his speeches. 
 We came home on Sunday and found all the missing 
 boxes arrived, — or nearly all, — among them, mine. 
 You do not know how intensely we all enjoy your pic- 
 ture — that exquisite sea- view. How could you spare 
 me such a picture ! I lie down on our sofa which faces 
 it, and do so heartily enter into the freshness of it that 
 it is refreshing in this hot weather. Many thanks to you. 
 
162 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 [The next letter refers to the death of President 
 Lincoln.] 
 
 Saturday, April 29. 1865. 
 
 ... It was a frightful blow at first. The people 
 have refused to believe he was dead. Last Sunday the 
 black minister of Frogmore said that if they knew the 
 President were dead they would mourn for him, but 
 they could not think that was the truth, and they would 
 wait and see. We are going to-morrow to hear what 
 further they say. One man came for clothing and seemed 
 very indifferent about them — different from most of 
 the people. I expressed some surprise. "Oh," he said, 
 "I have lost a friend. I don't care much now about 
 anything." "What friend?" I asked, not really think- 
 ing for a moment. "They call him Sam," he said; 
 "Uncle Sam, the best friend ever I had." Another 
 asked me in a whisper if it were true that the "Govern- 
 ment was dead." Rina says she can't sleep for thinking 
 how sorry she is to lose "Pa Linkum." You know they 
 call their elders in the church — or the particular one 
 who converted and received them in — their spiritual 
 father, and he has the most absolute power over them. 
 These fathers are addressed with fear and awe as "Pa 
 Marcus," "Pa Demas," etc. One man said to me, 
 "Lincoln died for we, Christ died for we, and me be- 
 lieve him de same mans," that is, they are the same 
 person. 
 
 We dressed our school-house in what black we could 
 get, and gave a shred of crape to some of our children, 
 who wear it sacredly. Fanny's bonnet supplied the 
 whole school. 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 163 
 
 June 13, 18G5. 
 My bell is safe at the school, and the carpenter has 
 begun the belfry, which will be of the simplest descrip- 
 tion, as I shall pay for it myself. It will not cost over 
 twenty-five dollars, all done and the bell hung. Mr. 
 Tomlinson did offer to have the work charged to the 
 Committee, but all their work was done and closed up, 
 and I do not care about having this charged separately, 
 as they might think it a useless appendage. We want 
 to petition for a fence to our playground. We have pro- 
 posed it once and been refused, as the estimate was too 
 high, but we will strike for a cheaper fence this time. 
 Our school does splendidly, though I say it. The chil- 
 dren have read through a history of the United States 
 and an easy physiology, and they know all the parts of 
 speech, and can make sentences, being told to use a 
 predicate, verb, and adverb, for instance. Ellen's class 
 is writing compositions. We are going to have a grand 
 school exhibition before we close, with dialogues, ex- 
 ercises in mathematics, in grammar, geography, spell- 
 ing, reading, etc., etc. We are cramming for it. Young 
 Gabriel Capus has come back to his place, which was 
 one reserved for the people. He warns them to buy no 
 more of his land, as he shall soon have possession of it 
 again ! He went to his people, told them he had no money 
 and nothing to eat, and begged them to let him stay 
 with them. Old Rina took him in, and he lives in her 
 house, but he begins already to show airs. Hastings 
 and Rina are greatly exercised upon this question of the 
 return of the old masters. Rina says that nothing 
 could tempt her to go to "The Oaks" for a single day. 
 There is no prospect of her going. She is very ill, scarcely 
 
164 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 able to walk across the floor, and I think there is little 
 doubt about her having a cancer and that pretty far 
 gone. But she still keeps up. We have to get our wash- 
 ing and ironing done by two women who come to the 
 house, and we have for housework a nice little girl, who 
 seems very honest and capable. Did I tell you that little 
 Katie, Hastings' daughter, stole ever so many of my 
 pretty precious stones? Took them to play with and lost 
 them ! She took also so many other things that we soon 
 got rid of her, though we hated to do it, for the grief 
 it would be to good faithful Hastings. He boards her 
 now near our school so that she can come daily, and she 
 promises to worry us well. We also have Harry's daugh- 
 ters. Our school is the high school already, and we mean 
 to make it more so. 
 
 Sunday, August 3, 1865. 
 
 I am very contented and too busy to have any time 
 for fretting. I teach four hours a day, and am busy 
 turning out sheets and putting a square patch into the 
 middle of all our pillow-cases. I shall have lots of sew- 
 ing for the winter, so if you hear of a nice woman in the 
 "special relief," engage her for about Christmas time. 
 I hope to go from here about the middle of December, 
 get home a week before Xmas, and stay till the end of 
 the first week in January, giving me three weeks at 
 home, and allowing two for the journey, one going and 
 one coming, and three days at each end for packing and 
 unpacking, making my stay away from school duties 
 just six weeks, and you must not tempt me to take more. 
 I am having holiday now, remember. 
 
 The island is very quiet just now. There was no truth 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 165 
 
 in the report of a military organization, rebellion, or 
 anything of the kind. A few men united into a com- 
 pany to defend their watermelon patches, and once 
 [when] they were going their rounds they met a young 
 captain who has made himself very unpopular since he 
 has lived on the island, and they refused to turn out for 
 his buggy, obliging him to drive around them instead 
 of standing aside for him to pass. He construed this 
 into armed rebellion, and reported to General Gillmore 
 just as the steamer was sailing for the North. There 
 was no time to contradict the report, or investigate. 
 Last Sunday Colonel Howard came over to tell the 
 people that General Gillmore had ordered him to take 
 away all their guns, but that he had just come into com- 
 mand of the post, and should not do it unless he saw 
 some reason for so doing. These guns the people had 
 bought themselves, and they have never done any ser- 
 ious mischief with them. Colonel H. told me that he 
 thought the way to make them rebel was to do this, 
 and he would not if he could help it. So the people do 
 not parade, I believe, and all is very quiet and orderly. 
 They all are very indignant at the supposition of their 
 taking up arms against the Yankees and they say it is a 
 "Secesh" trick to spread such a report and bring re- 
 proach upon them. Mr. Tomlinson came over and 
 made a speech showing up Delany on the same day. 
 Delany is the major who made that unwise speech a 
 few Sundays ago and got the people so excited against 
 Philbrick. 
 
 September 1. 1865. 
 I am just contemplating taking a salary. The Com- 
 
166 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1865 
 
 mittee have written to me about it again, and it will 
 end, I suppose, by my doing it, though it will alter the 
 aspect of things to me and drive me away, I think. 
 Besides, I have now got the credit for being a volun- 
 teer, all over the country, and to sneak in for a salary 
 seems too bad. I have had a very great deal of worry 
 over it. If I could only afford to live without, I am sure 
 it would be best policy, as well as best pleasure, to do 
 it. But can I? ... I suppose I must take for granted 
 my inability to do without it, and so take the salary, 
 for by all that I know of my means, this is the case. 
 
 Will * has had a very unpopular measure to carry — 
 having the roads mended by voluntary labor, but the 
 negroes turn out very well. He has most trouble with 
 the white proprietors, who refuse to help, though they 
 use the roads most. But through it all there is the best 
 of feeling between the people and Will, and the respect- 
 able whites, Mr. Soule, etc., think a great deal of Will. 
 
 We hear reports and rumors that make us quake. It 
 is that Beaufort and Hilton Head are to be closed as 
 Government depots; that General Gillmore and General 
 Saxton are going to live at Charleston; and this place 
 is to be left alone in its glory. Misery ! Already we have 
 to send to Hilton Head for all our commissary stores 
 — that is, for all we eat, except the little we can buy of 
 the people, for there is no abatement in prices yet here, 
 and we have to pay even at Ruggles' twenty-five cents 
 per pound for the coarsest of brown sugar, and the same 
 for brown washing-soap. We teachers were to have the 
 privilege of purchasing at the Commissary, and then 
 the Commissary is removed so far we can't get at it. 
 1 Miss Towne's brother. 
 
1865] LAURA M. TOWNE 167 
 
 "Secesh" are coming back thick. One — Dr. Clarence 
 Tripp — has half of Will's house, another takes Dr. 
 Hunting's place, and lives on Ladies Island, flourishing 
 on Government horses and saddles, for which he made 
 a requisition on Will that Will was obliged to answer. 
 They are crawlingly civil as yet, but will soon feel their 
 oats. 
 
 October 15, 18C5. 
 
 The people receive the rebels better than we expected, 
 but the reason is that they believe Johnson 1 is going 
 to put them in their old masters' power again, and they 
 feel that they must conciliate or be crushed. They no 
 longer pray for the President — our President, as they 
 used to call Lincoln — in the church. They keep an 
 ominous silence and are very sad and troubled. 
 
 However, one of the best and most powerful of the 
 old rebels returned awhile ago, and has been living in 
 his old home on sufferance. His people all went to tell 
 him "huddy," and he was convinced of their toleration. 
 So he told them he should get back his land and wanted 
 to know how many would be willing to work for him for 
 wages. They said none. "Why," he said, "had n't you 
 as lief work for me as for these Yankees?" "No, sir," 
 they answered through their foreman; "even if you 
 pay as well, sir, we had rather work for the Yankees 
 who have been our friends." 
 
 On the mainland it is so dangerous for a negro to go 
 
 about, especially with the United States Uniform on, 
 
 that orders are out that no more will be allowed to go 
 
 to recover their families and bring them here as they 
 
 1 President Andrew Johnson. 
 
168 LETTERS AND DIARY [1865 
 
 have been doing. Some of the happiest reunions have 
 come under our observation. But now people well-to- 
 do here have to leave wives, old mothers, and children 
 (sold away) to starve on the mainland, when they are 
 anxious to bring them here and provide for them. It is 
 not true that the negro soldiers do not behave well. 
 Here, at least, they have always been patterns, as every 
 commander of the post will testify. These stories about 
 them are manufactured for a purpose. 
 
1866 
 
 February 3, 1866. 
 
 We like our new domestic very much and are more 
 comfortable than we have been since Rina's death. 
 But I am dreadfully hurried and it makes me cross. The 
 school is getting under way again on the new tack — the 
 children getting used to me and I to them. The doll — 
 I reserved one, the one with the comb — gives the most 
 exquisite delight. I wish you could see the little girls 
 with it. It is as clean as when I gave it to them, nearly, 
 and yet it is kissed immeasurably. 
 
 General Saxton and Mrs. S. were to have come here 
 last night and spent the day to-day, but Tilly was too 
 sick to come. He is so pleasant now, and friendly, — 
 as gentlemanly and quiet in his troubles and reverses 
 as he can be. It shows all the nobleness of his nature. 
 Will proposed to-day in church that the people, white 
 and black, should get up a testimonial to General 
 Saxton, and it was heartily responded to. They talk 
 of a gold watch. 
 
 February 23, 1866. 
 
 I have another commission for you that I think you 
 will like to do. At any rate, I am well pleased to be able 
 to give it. The children of our school wanted to show 
 General Saxton that they were sorry he was going away, 
 and they have subscribed five and ten cents each, so 
 that we have or shall have — I think we have now — 
 about ten dollars. 
 
170 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1866 
 
 I want you to get a little silver vase at Bailey's or 
 Caldwell's at that price, and have inscribed on it as 
 follows : 
 
 To 
 
 Our Steadfast Friend 
 
 Brvt. Maj. Gen. R. Saxton 
 
 from 
 
 The Freed Children of 
 
 St. Helena Is. 
 
 S. C. 
 February, 1866. 
 
 Perhaps it will be impossible to get all this on. If so, 
 
 let it stand — 
 
 To 
 
 Our Friend 
 
 Brvt. Maj. Gen. Saxton 
 
 from 
 
 School No. 1. 
 
 St. Helena Is. 
 
 S. C. 
 
 Feb. 1866. 
 
 We all prefer the former very much, but I doubt the 
 possibility of getting it on. 
 
 When the vase is bought, send it here for the children 
 to see, by express, and by that time we shall know 
 where to send it to the General. The white people of 
 the island have subscribed over a hundred dollars for a 
 testimonial to be given by themselves and the blacks, 
 who are collecting, but have not yet handed in. 
 
 I had a letter from Dr. Parrish enclosing one hun- 
 dred dollars to be spent on food for the poor here. As I 
 have already on my hands several donations and funds 
 that I do not know what to do with, I shall write to 
 
18C6] LAURA M. TOWNE 171 
 
 that effect, and expect to return the money. Govern- 
 ment rations those who would starve otherwise, and 
 no others need beg. But the agents of Government are 
 so careless that very often the rations are a month late, 
 and folks can starve in half that time. So I expect to 
 keep Miss Clarke's money for such emergencies, and 
 shall have no need of this. 
 
 I put Elizabeth's money in bank yesterday. Rina's 
 earnings and Jack's soldier money since they were 
 made free amounted to $246, besides the ten acres of 
 land, household goods, and their living. 
 
 W. has written to General Saxton to say that there 
 is no one to whom he can hand over his duties and that 
 he is ready to go on with them if authorized. He has now 
 for nearly two months been doing the work of an agent 
 without the authority or the pay; but there is no pros- 
 pect of his being continued in his place, for the military 
 must have all such, and how they fill them! They are 
 often more pro-slavery than the rebels themselves, and 
 only care to make the blacks work — being quite un- 
 concerned about making the employers pay. Doing jus- 
 tice seems to mean, to them, seeing that the blacks don't 
 break a contract and compelling them to submit cheer- 
 fully if the whites do. 
 
 About the horses. Will had to turn in all he had, 
 even the village mule which was kept for carting wood 
 for the poor old folks of the village. Ellen had old Char- 
 ley — our most serviceable horse, I think. But, as he 
 had thrown her the week before, and left her to walk 
 five miles home after night, she had very naturally taken 
 a dislike to him, and so she turned him in, instead of 
 one of Will's horses called Mary Bell, a good match for 
 
172 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1866 
 
 my Betty, and considered one of the best horses on the 
 island. I think Ellen will repent it, for Charley was a 
 "tacky" and used to all kinds of hardships; Mary Bell 
 is not and may not stand them. 
 
 March 9, 1866. 
 
 I send the enclosed picture of me with three of my 
 pets. The big boy is Dick Washington, my right- 
 hand man, who is full of importance, but has travelled 
 and feels as if he had seen the world. He is incorrigibly 
 slow and stupid about learning, but reads bunglingly in 
 the Testament, does multiplication sums on the slate, 
 and can write a letter after a fashion. The little girl 
 with the handkerchief on her head is Amoretta — bright 
 and sharp as a needle. She reads fluently in the Testa- 
 ment, spells hard and easy words in four syllables, and 
 ciphers as far as nine times twelve on the slate. The other 
 child is Maria Wyne, who is very bright in arithmetic, but 
 very dull and slow in learning to read. My face is burnt 
 out so as to do justice to them. Amoretta's head ker- 
 chief is put on as the candidates for baptism wear them. 
 
 We have been so shocked and disgusted with John- 
 son's speech. Everybody seems ashamed of the Repub- 
 lican Party who put in such a man and left out the 
 true and staunch gentleman, Hamlin. To put in a 
 Democratic Vice-President under a Republican or Whig 
 President has always proved fatal to the unlucky Presi- 
 dents, and always will, as long as there is a Southern 
 party in Washington. 
 
 March 19, 1866. 
 
 I want you, when the vase for General Saxton comes 
 back, to buy a ten or fifteen dollar salver for it to stand 
 on and have engraved on it — 
 
1866] LAURA M. TOWNE 173 
 
 From 
 
 The Teachers of Penn. Freedmen's School No. One 
 
 St. Helena Is. 
 
 to 
 
 Their Protector and Friend 
 
 Gen. S., etc., etc. 
 
 Of course it must be of real solid silver. Unfortunately, 
 the general subscription of the island fell through, so the 
 money we have paid on that we transfer to this — 
 twenty dollars. 
 
 No rebels are here. We are under military protection, 
 and are as safe yet as ever we were. 
 
 April 15, 1866. 
 
 If you only had the splendid weather we are enjoying! 
 Thermometer eighty-six in the shade — flowers and 
 trees and radishes (!) in full glory. Our poor henpecked 
 garden is trying to look up, but our neighbors' chickens 
 don't give it much of a chance. Their gardens are glori- 
 ous with pease, turnips, etc., etc., — two or even three 
 feet high in green; — ours is yellow sand. But then we 
 buy of them, and so are supplied. 
 
1867 
 
 Village, St. Helena, February 10, 1867. 
 
 Spring is opening so nicely; or was yesterday morn- 
 ing, when it was a question which made most noise, our 
 school-children or the spring frogs in the swamp near 
 the school-house. But last night after a warm rain there 
 blew up the severest cold we have had this winter, which 
 froze everything in the house, and almost blew us out 
 of our bed. I never felt this house rock before. Ther- 
 mometer four degrees below freezing, and our oranges 
 killed for another year, I am afraid. The bulbs — the 
 white jonquils — were nearly done blooming, and the 
 frost has laid every plant down flat as if killed forever, 
 and yet they will lift up as brightly as ever in the next 
 warm spell. Not a jessamine blossom is to be seen, and 
 the robins and blue birds still abound, so I feel sure that 
 your snow has not yet subsided from off the face of the 
 earth. 
 
 I had time on Wednesday to write a long letter giving 
 an exact account of the purchase and lease of the place 
 Frogmore. 1 Certainly the house is well caredforand looks 
 like another place from when you saw it last. Oh, some 
 day you have got to come and see it again and try a win- 
 ter here. I think it would suit you very well. I have al- 
 most perfect exemption from my old rheumatism, except 
 when one of these cold snaps comes, and then I feel it in 
 my chest, but sitting before a roasting fire soon takes it 
 away. I think the snow and frost at the North keep 
 1 Miss Towne had purchased the house and plantation of Frogmore. 
 
1867] LAURA M. TOWNE 175 
 
 you rheumatic. ... I am sorry too that you are sew- 
 ing. I would n't touch a needle, You will find the world 
 wags on if you don't — if not so well, yet, after a while 
 you don't see the difference. I think fancy work and 
 all that an invention of the Devil to distract artists and 
 others from their true work — but pretty and useful 
 where there is really nothing else to do. Even give all 
 your mending a good letting alone for a while, and it is 
 surprising to see how it does itself somehow, or gets 
 along without needing it. 
 
 Tell W. that old Siah asked after him in church, 
 said that W. once said to him that he saw he was going 
 to do well because he was manuring his ground. "Now," 
 said Siah, "I want him to know that I have a swingeing 
 crop. I make four bales of cotton and plenty corn and 
 tater for carry me and me family through de year." 
 
 Hastings has not done so well. He planted cotton 
 mostly, and cannot sell at more than fifty cents a 
 pound, ginned. Then he bought a good deal of land of 
 Mr. Philbrick for himself and others, and before it 
 was paid for some of the others died, and some would not 
 take the land, having bought of Government at a much 
 lower rate, which left more on Hastings' hands than he 
 knows what to do with. His provision crop was short, 
 and he has no ready money, so I think this is the hard- 
 est winter he has known. His "gang of children" 
 increases rapidly. 
 
 We are to have General Scott here on Thursday " to 
 preach," the people say, " about contracts." They mean 
 to make a speech. I am so glad we shall have a chance 
 to see him and know what kind of a man he is. Every- 
 body speaks well of him, except the old grumblers like 
 
176 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1867 
 
 William Alden, who all want despotic power over their 
 workmen, or talk as if they did. There is on the island 
 and in Beaufort a "Planters' Club," which has sociables 
 at houses of the members every week. We never went 
 to one till last Monday, when we were asked to go to 
 Frogmore. It proved a rainy evening and there were few 
 there, but we went down directly from school and were 
 not out in the rain at all. It was pleasant and we saw 
 some funny people. The most amusing was a Mrs. 
 Hazeltine from New York. I should like to know more 
 of her. She lives entirely alone in Bayley's big store, 
 which has good rooms in the second story, and teaches 
 under the Tax Commissioners. That shows how safe 
 our island is, that every here and there one or two white 
 women will live entirely alone, and never think even of 
 danger. 
 
 Mr. Pope is not going to live at "The Oaks" for 
 some time. I doubt whether he gets anybody to work 
 for him. But as he offers money and rations perhaps he 
 may, for most of the planters seem indisposed to pay 
 out money this year. They prefer going on shares. 
 Speaking of rations puts me in mind of my old pen- 
 sioners who come every Saturday "to draw." I give 
 each four quarts of grits, about one pound of sugar, and 
 two or three of bacon of the cheapest kind to be good. 
 They are as satisfied and happy as if they lived upon 
 "the fat of the lamb." There are only ten left. One of 
 my old Africans is dead — Cupid. The other, Monday, 
 still brings his tattooed forehead and whip-scar-marked 
 breast here to get "his rations," but he is very, very 
 old and won't live long — a manly, long-suffering, pa- 
 tient, dumb brute he is, with the most simply sweet 
 
1867] LAURA M. TOWNE 177 
 
 expression of face when he is pleased; but generally a sul- 
 len, dogged countenance shows why he was so whipped. 
 He was brought from Africa to "Karlston," as he calls 
 Charleston, when he was a young man, and he remem- 
 bers all about the voyage. ... I was asked to "gie 
 name" to a baby here the other day and I named it 
 Matilda Saxton. I am going to give it a dress, and then 
 I dare say I shall be asked to "gie name" to the whole 
 of the next generation on this island. 
 
 March 3, 1867. 
 
 You seem to think all the flowers in our room were 
 growing. They were in water — vases, etc. — except 
 one little window with four plants in it — two hya- 
 cinths in glasses, and two tin meat cans with plants that 
 would n't stand frost. We don't take time, you may be 
 sure, to cultivate house flowers. Spring is here now in 
 real earnest — jessamine in full and profuse bloom, trees 
 all budding, — woods got their green baize veil on. 
 Our pear tree white — peach trees almost done — plum 
 bloom quite gone — second crop flowers coming in. 
 I hope no untimely frost will come to spoil all. On Satur- 
 day Ellen and I took up some young fig and pomegran- 
 ate trees to transplant to Frogmore. They are now in 
 sunk tubs to be ready for removal. I wish I could be 
 planting at Frogmore, but without fencing too there 
 would be little use, and that I cannot afford yet. 
 
 To-day the white folks of the island who, under 
 General Bennett's influence, are getting too uppish 
 (most of them being low sutlers and camp-followers) 
 to associate with blacks, even in church, have deter- 
 mined to have a white church of their own. We received 
 
178 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1867 
 
 an invitation to attend this afternoon, and went. We 
 had a good sermon from a Beaufort minister — 
 Northern — and a great turnout of the beauty and 
 fashion of the island — such as whiskey-selling Mr. S. 
 and his wife, etc., etc. There were some nice people 
 there, and altogether I did not know there were so 
 many white folks on the island. Two Southern teachers 
 were there, and I only fraternized enough to speak to 
 them — or but one person besides myself that I know 
 of. They were tawdrily dressed — one of them in a pink 
 silk — and were in the war undoubted rebels. Indeed, 
 we hear that they whip the children in their school and 
 make them call them "massa" and "missus," as in the 
 old time. But they are "nigger teachers," so I did my 
 duty by them as agreeably as I could. They send their 
 reports regularly, and so do their duty by me. I think 
 this whole church plan a snobbish affair, and that there 
 will probably be more rigid exclusion of blacks from all 
 equality and civility than in the most snobbish of North- 
 ern or Southern churches, for there is no hater of the 
 negro like these speculating planters, but I am going 
 to attend for a while and watch matters. Perhaps this 
 snap judgment is not a just one. We shall go to the 
 black church in the morning, where, of all the white 
 people here, the Buggies, Murrays, and I are the only 
 attendants, and to this white place in the afternoon. 
 The Murrays have Sunday School between, and I a 
 regular doctoring levee in my school-room. I wish Dr. 
 Hering would send some poor young practitioner down 
 here who would be content with moderate charges for 
 a while. He could gain a rich experience. I feel convinced 
 he could make a bare living at first, and after a while 
 
1867] LAURA M. TOWNE 179 
 
 a good fortune. But he ought to stick to his profession 
 and be proof against the cotton mania that seizes all 
 who come here. If Dr. H. knows of any one wanting 
 such a place and will write to me, I will give full informa- 
 tion upon all points on which he wants it, and be over- 
 joyed to give up my practice entirely. If I could only 
 escape from this part of my work here I should be very 
 glad, for I do it badly and very inefficiently. I never 
 visit, so you may know how uncertainly I must gener- 
 ally prescribe for all who are not able to come to me. 
 
 The long-lost Moses, who walked all the way from 
 Wilmington, North Carolina, to this village to find his 
 mother, is our little waiter. For stableman we have old 
 Enoch, — a just man, — whom we think we shall like. 
 Moses intended to remain in Wilmington and "take 
 his schooling" for a year, but the school was made a 
 pay school, and he had no money, so he came here. 
 So it will be if ever that false plan is pursued — the 
 best and brightest will be cut off, many of them, from 
 school privileges. 
 
 March 27, 1867. 
 
 . . . First place, I had rather sell than borrow, and 
 money is absolutely necessary, just now when the old 
 people must be fed, and my salary won't come in for a 
 while — not till May. 
 
 Sometime I want you to send me by mail " Wuther- 
 ing Heights." I will bring it back when I come home. 
 We are just reading C. Bronte's life, and I have a crav- 
 ing to see that book again. We have got to the end of 
 our books nearly. How we enjoyed V. Hugo's " Toilers ! ' ' 
 It is such a fresh, salt-sea book. 
 
180 LETTERS AND DIARY OP [1867 
 
 I enclose a few sprigs of jessamine. They will revive 
 when very dead, and I hope you can see what the flower 
 looks like (by putting them into water) that covers 
 trees and hedges with gold every spring. 
 
 April 13, 1867. 
 
 We are just in the midst of the rose season, and such 
 magnificent roses I never saw. The school-children 
 bring them by basins full, and school-rooms and parlor 
 are full of them. Pomegranate blossoms have come too. 
 Blackberries are the size of a thimble. We are enjoying 
 radishes, lettuce, and greens every day, and have been 
 doing so for two weeks. So much for our season. You, 
 I suppose, are yet banked up in snow. Such a winter 
 as you have had! I look forward so eagerly to that 
 winter you are all going to spend at Frogmore. You will 
 like it better than you think, and I shall be in the seventh 
 heaven. The weather is heavenly a great part of the year, 
 and the island is much more healthy than it was, since 
 the people burn over all the swamps and so cover them 
 with charcoal, and since every little stagnant pond is 
 cultivated with rice. 
 
 Last night we spent the evening at "The Oaks" and 
 had quite a pleasant time. . . . Ellen and I will go North 
 overland together. It is too bad we can't go by sea, for 
 the passage in the best steamers from Charleston to 
 New York only costs ten dollars now, while by land it 
 is about twenty-six. Both seem cheap when we think 
 of the war rates. Tell Mr. and Mrs. F. that I will write 
 exact directions if they think of coming. Of course I can 
 not say they will be comfortable, for I believe we have 
 forgotten in what comfort, according to Northern 
 
o 
 o 
 
 y, 
 
 h 
 
 Ph 
 
 K 
 H 
 
1807] LAURA M. TOWNE 181 
 
 ideas, consists. But we can show them new things, and 
 the trip is an interesting one. I shall be so glad to see 
 them, and though the inexorable school may prevent my 
 entire enjoyment of their company, at least I can have a 
 good deal of it. I am very expectant and hopeful that 
 they will come, and how happy I shall be if they do! 
 
 I had a letter from Lucy McKim Garrison the other 
 day. She and others are going to get up a volume of 
 Port Royal songs, and have sent to me for my collection. 
 They are going to publish words and music together, 
 perhaps with illustrations. 
 
 April 27, 1867. 
 
 . . . We often get letters now that are only five days 
 from the North, and one came in four days from date. 
 
 I was in Beaufort yesterday taking back the Hea- 
 cocks, who have been here spending two days, and I 
 brought back the St. Helena mail. Think of my having 
 at least a peck of letters and papers to bring over, and 
 only one little note among it all for myself, and that one 
 from Lucy McK. Garrison, who, with Charlie Ware and 
 others, is going to publish words and music of all the 
 freedmen's songs they can collect, and wants my collec- 
 tion to help out. 
 
 We had a pleasant little visit from the Heacocks, and 
 on Wednesday we all went, on Mr. Hunn's invitation, 
 to Caper's Island — one of the Hunting Islands — to 
 get sea shells, and we did get some beauties, besides hav- 
 ing the most delightful day there, and a pleasant sail 
 back and forth. These are our Easter holidays, which 
 accounts for our having time for all this frolicking. 
 Croquet is getting to be the fashion here, and yesterday 
 
182 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1867 
 
 all on the island that chose to go, met at the white church 
 and had some grand games. They are going hereafter to 
 meet on every Friday afternoon, but, as we shall be busy 
 in school, it will not matter much to us. They are mak- 
 ing desperate attempts to be sociable here, but distance 
 defeats them, or baffles them, a good deal. 
 
 I wish you could have the comfort the Heacocks have 
 in the little darkies they sent North. The two young 
 girls are large and strong and able to do pretty much all 
 the work of the house. They work without wages till 
 they are of age, but are to have the privilege of schooling. 
 The experiment has been a perfect success, and every 
 few weeks some one sends to them for another girl or 
 boy, and all have given satisfaction so far. 
 
 May 12, 1867. 
 
 We have had to take our holiday — Saturday — for 
 a mass meeting of Republican citizens! We had to be 
 there to marshal our children if Mr. Wilson should come, 
 which he did not. The speakers were all black men, ex- 
 cept Mr. Hunn. The white men did not attend — they 
 .ire going to have a white party, they say. One black 
 man said he wanted no white men on their platform, but 
 he was taken to task by all the other speakers, who dis- 
 claimed all such feelings. It was funny to hear the argu- 
 ments from the other side — such as, — 
 
 "What difference does skin make, my bredren. I 
 would stand side by side a white man if he acted right. 
 We must n't be prejuduid against their color." 
 
 "If dere skins is white, dey may have principle." 
 
 " Come, my friends, we must n't judge a man accord- 
 ing to his color, but according to his acts," etc., etc. 
 
1867] LAURA M. TOWNE 183 
 
 It was finally agreed by the blacks unanimously that 
 they would not refuse to coSperate with the whites, but 
 they invited all colors to another grand mass meeting 
 next Saturday. They had a grand parade of the "Home 
 Guards" — a volunteer regiment of returned soldiers — 
 and our school-boys (the large ones), many of whom 
 were in the army. It manoeuvred pretty well, but the odd 
 variety of uniforms was funny. One of my boys wore a 
 brass helmet, such as figures in "Norma" on the stage, 
 with a huge white horse-tail flowing from it — just as 
 you see in pictures of Roman warriors. 
 
 June 1, 1867. 
 The people are just now in a state of great excitement 
 over their right to vote, and are busy forming a Repub- 
 lican Party on the island. At their first meeting they 
 had an informal time; at the second there was some busi- 
 ness done. Our school was invited to sing at this one, 
 and it seemed the main attraction. But two or three 
 white men — one of them Mr. Wells — got up and said 
 women and children ought to stay at home on such occa- 
 sions. He afterwards sent us an apology, saying he had 
 no idea of including us or our school, but only outsiders 
 who were making some noise. Nevertheless, the idea 
 took. To-day in church Mr. Hunn announced another 
 meeting next Saturday. "The females must stay at 
 home?" asked Demas from the pulpit. "The females 
 can come or not as they choose," said Mr. Hunn, "but 
 the meeting is for men voters." Demas immediately 
 announced that "the womens will stay at home and cut 
 grass," that is, hoe the corn and cotton fields — clear 
 them of grass! It is too funny to see how much more 
 
184 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1867 
 
 jealous the men are of one kind of liberty they have 
 achieved than of the other! Political freedom they are 
 rather shy of, and ignorant of; but domestic freedom — 
 the right, just found, to have their own way in their fam- 
 ilies and rule their wives — that is an inestimable privi- 
 lege! In slavery the woman was far more important, 
 and was in every way held higher than the man. It was 
 the woman's house, the children were entirely hers, etc., 
 etc. Several speakers have been here who have advised 
 the people to get the women into their proper place — 
 never to tell them anything of their concerns, etc., etc.; 
 and the notion of being bigger than woman generally, 
 is just now inflating the conceit of the males to an amaz- 
 ing degree. When women get the vote, too, no people 
 will be more indignant than these, I suppose. 
 
 June 20, 1867. 
 
 On June 15th we got up about five and went across 
 the river to Old Fort Plantation, where the friends of 
 Sarah Clark (Miss Botume and Miss Sangford) live. 
 There we met a large party of ladies and gentlemen from 
 all the islands, and they had some fine games of croquet. 
 We stayed all night and the next day Miss B. and the 
 pretty Miss S. came home with us, spent the night, and 
 on Monday came to our school. Mr. Nichols and the 
 gentlemen there had a grand croquet party on Monday, 
 and we did not get home till almost morning. This dis- 
 sipation is quite new to us. 
 
 [Miss Towne spent part of the succeeding summer in 
 the North.] 
 
1867] LAURA M. TOWNE 185 
 
 Mills House, Chableston, S.C., October 30, 1867. 
 
 Arrived here to-day at half-past three — steamer 
 gone; we have got to wait till Friday, not get home per- 
 haps till Saturday night, and schools to open Monday ! 
 All because it is best to be safe and sure of it, for I do not 
 think we should have got into any trouble by going on 
 that night after the rain. But we did n't. We lay at 
 Weldon till the next morning's train came in, about 
 eleven o'clock, and then came along so as to get to 
 Florence after midnight. We had to wait there for the 
 regular morning 8.30 o'clock train, and we would n't one 
 of us consent to go into that hateful hotel there. You 
 know what a horror I have of the place from having paid 
 two or three times for burnt hominy, or bad food of some 
 kind, at the rate of a dollar a saucerful, and on account 
 of itsfilthiness. 
 
 All ten of our party of ladies refused to go into the 
 hotel at all, though there was no shelter in the street. 
 Mr. Corey (a gentleman who was in the cars) then took 
 us to a school-house where over a hundred colored chil- 
 dren are taught, and there we camped, sleeping soundly 
 on the benches till we got too cold. Then Mr. Corey told 
 us stories about war-times when he was here, and how 
 the prisoners and loyal men were treated. 
 
 After we were in the cars again we got warm, but first 
 we had a good breakfast that a colored man brought on a 
 tray, and charged just half what the hotel charges for a 
 breakfast. 
 
 We got to Mills House by three o'clock, and Mr. 
 Tomlinson has just been here having a long satisfactory 
 talk. We cannot leave till Friday, but the boat will be 
 the Pilot Boy, and it starts so early that we shall prob- 
 
186 LETTERS AND DIARY [1867 
 
 ably get home that night. Mr. T. is going to have our 
 trunks carted by the quartermaster's tram from the 
 depot to the Pilot Boy. To-morrow he is going to take 
 us to see the principal schools. 
 
 Village, Sunday afternoon, November 10, 1867. 
 One of my old women was nearly killed the other night 
 by a man who went to her house at dead of night and 
 beat her because she "hagged" him. He came as soon as 
 he heard I had arrived, to beg my pardon and say he 
 would do so no more. But I could not convince him that 
 "Mom Charlotte" did not go every night to his house 
 and "hag" him, or that he ought not to defend himself 
 by beating her to make her stay away. The poor thing 
 could not walk half the distance. 
 
1868 
 
 Village, St. Helena, January 10, 1868. 
 
 My splendid Christmas box is reminding me daily of 
 your kindness, one and all. The butter is delicious. I 
 never tasted any so good. The crackers, prunes, pre- 
 serves, all come in at odd times with a marvellously 
 cheering effect. The thick carriage rug "laps us warm" 
 every day, and is so beautiful that I don't look out of the 
 carriage any more, but keep my eyes on it. 
 
 General Gile came up here a day or so ago, and he is 
 now going at once to put up the Frogmore school-house. 
 I am to deed the two acres to trustees, of whom I am to 
 be one, Hastings the other, and Columbus the third. It 
 is to be a substantial building, and large enough, I hope, 
 for a large school. 
 
 The planters all intend to give up, and let their places 
 lie idle this year rather than lose as they did last year — 
 or they say so, possibly with a view to having money or 
 rations advanced to them from Government, a most 
 foolish and destructive plan if the Government consents. 
 It is folly itself, and will result in debt, ruin, discontent, 
 anarchy, everything bad. It is amazing such a plan 
 should be entertained for a moment, and I hope it will 
 not be by the higher powers. Better let the people suffer 
 a little and find their own level than try to prop them up 
 at Government expense and by increasing the public 
 debt. It is the old cry of beggary, — " Southern Relief " 
 is its fine name. It is not the colored people that this 
 plan is to aid, but the planters — a thriftless, greedy set 
 
188 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1868 
 
 of Southerners, and some Northerners who have been 
 unfortunate here. 
 
 I am now trying to get the people to support the 
 schools, and they are taking the matter up with a will, 
 but whether it will be a well-controlled and enlightened 
 will remains to be seen. What they can and will do will 
 soon be evident, but now it seems that with good will 
 enough, they can do little, for want of money, of which 
 they have none, as they were not paid in money this 
 year, and in previous years had put all their savings into 
 land, houses, horses, etc. 
 
 Bear in mind that neither this land — Frogmore — 
 nor any was ever confiscated. It was sold for taxes, and 
 has been resold too often to be in danger of return. The 
 old owner can and will claim indemnity, but that cannot 
 affect title deeds to the land. 
 
 January 24, 1868. 
 
 I suppose you are congratulating me on getting my 
 rent in full and my premises too; but I don't know what 
 to do with my elephant, now I have it! I can't afford to 
 move there, and don't want to live there as long as I can 
 get leave to live in this healthier place. 1 
 
 We have got in our winter's wood, our hay and blades, 
 our groceries, our corn for the horses, etc., etc. We could 
 not get teams enough to move us in a month of Sundays, 
 and we have no time, unless we give up school. I think 
 of getting a trusty man to live in the back part of the 
 house, and giving him some land to pay for his services. 
 The place cannot be leased for money, and I shall have 
 
 1 This refers to Miss Towne's purchase of Frogmore, and plan of 
 residing there instead of at St. Helena Village. 
 
1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 189 
 
 to collect my rent in cotton, which I shall have to sell. 
 I don't believe a white man would run the place for love 
 or what money he could make, because there are so few 
 white men, and so much unleased land. If I had nothing 
 to do but plant, I believe I could make it pay, but my 
 superintending no doubt pays better. 
 
 February 20, 1868. 
 
 Your letter, arriving after three silent mails, was a 
 real bath — a regular surf bath of pleasure, and I have 
 been braced up ever since. 
 
 We are going apparently to have lots of company. In 
 March Miss Julia Kellogg writes that she will visit us, 
 staying somewhere on the islands for two weeks. In 
 April Cornelia Hancock comes for Easter week. In May 
 Miss Harriet Ware is to come for some weeks, and so we 
 shall not be idle this spring. We do not expect to leave 
 school for a day even, and our guests will find means to 
 pass their time, while we are away, according to their 
 several fancies. It is well we did not conclude to move 
 to Frogmore. I think matters are pretty safely arranged 
 there for the summer. 
 
 Since I had the talk with the people not a tree-limb, 
 bush, nor briar has been disturbed. Long may it con- 
 tinue ! I have the reputation of being able to look after 
 my things pretty sharply, Mr. Gannett to the contrary 
 notwithstanding, and my security in the Village, and 
 the present awed state of Frogmore, bear sufficient 
 testimony to the fact. We have set out on Frogmore lots 
 of fig, peach, and other small trees, doing all one Satur- 
 day — or nearly all. These remain safe so far, and will 
 soon bear fruit. If Frogmore only had a decent well ! 
 
190 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1868 
 
 Tell me something about the prospects of the Penn- 
 sylvania Branch supporting school another year. 
 Does n't it look dark? Is interest dying out? I do want 
 some clothing for my "mudderless" if any is going, but 
 I won't beg it if I never get it. 
 
 April 8, 1808. 
 
 We have not been to Frogmore for a month, and are 
 still in doubt how the newly planted trees and the orange 
 grafts are doing. Romeo reports everything safe, but I 
 wanted very much to inspect a little. Miss Lydia 
 Schofield, who is soon going home, also wanted to see 
 Frogmore, so, as the weather was beautiful, we told the 
 school-children not to come to-day, but that we would 
 teach on Saturday instead. To-day it pours. Such a 
 plan is a rare occurrence, and the disappointment pro- 
 portionate, especially as for an indefinite number of 
 future Saturdays we have other engagements, and I 
 doubt whether we see Frogmore till the spring is over. 
 But I do not grumble much, for the rain was much 
 needed by the crop. Just think of our bliss ! Instead of 
 your furious snows and deep drifts, we have perfect beds 
 of flowers. Our school-children bring us so many roses, 
 azaleas, violets, flags (white and purple), etc., etc., that 
 we do not know where to put them all. We have at this 
 minute in this room nine glasses and dishes full. 
 
 I hear that there is a box for me in Beaufort — the one 
 you and Mrs. Furness sent, I suppose. I should have 
 sent for it to-day if it had not rained, for I do want the 
 clothing terribly. It is a pretty cold day, windy and wet, 
 and I have just sent away one of my "mudderless," 
 who came for a piece of soap to wash his clothes, having 
 
1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 191 
 
 nothing on but a thin pair of cotton pants, and a sack 
 that was meant for a baby, but which I squeezed on him, 
 as he had no covering for the upper half of his body. He 
 will probably pull off his pants and wash them in front 
 of the fire, while he stands "in puris naturalibus" till he 
 can dry them. He is about nine years old, and one of the 
 queerest and cutest specimens of humanity I ever saw. 
 He was taken from the Orphan House, Charleston, by a 
 man who wanted him to "mind child," but he was kept . 
 in a half-starved condition and would eat the baby's 
 food; so the man got a girl to " mind baby," and put the 
 boy, who is almost dwarfed, to hoe, and, as he could not 
 do enough to satisfy the hateful man, he beat the boy 
 till the neighbors interfered. Finally, the little fellow 
 ran away — was caught and carried back and unmerci- 
 fully beaten again. He ran away again immediately and 
 I found him on our doorsteps. He asked for something 
 to eat and told his story; showed me his stripes. His 
 back was literally one mass of bruise and slash — the 
 skin whipped off in several places. He was otherwise cut 
 and hurt. I took him in, gave him some grits and sugar, 
 and sent him to a very kind young woman to be taken 
 care of till I could investigate. Having ascertained that 
 the man who beat Fompcy was a wretch, I sent for him, 
 refused to let him have the boy ever again, threatened 
 him with jail, etc., or at least prosecution, and made him 
 promise to let the boy stay where he is. Meanwhile, 
 Pompey Jenkins, the boy, is proving himself an adroit 
 house-breaker. No bars will keep him out if he wants to 
 get in; and no locks will keep him in if he wants to get 
 out. He is silent, but when he has his own story to tell 
 or to give a reason for anything, he does it with remark- 
 
192 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1868 
 
 able clearness and power. He seems to be a boy of great 
 ability, who has been driven by starvation to live by his 
 wits; yet he never tells a lie, and has not exactly been 
 found stealing, though he enters houses as if to steal. 
 Meanwhile, I "ration" him with Mrs. Mott's fund, for 
 he is not old enough, or rather big enough, to earn his 
 own living. The woman who has taken him charges 
 nothing for giving him a home. I want clothes for him, 
 for he seems perished on such a day as this. He is a 
 comical little fellow to look at, and has one of the sweet- 
 est smiles I ever saw. What he will turn out it is hard to 
 predict. 
 
 In a short time will come our important election — 
 for state officers and for or against the constitution. 
 Perhaps we shall be a reinstated state soon. The con- 
 vention — half black, half white — has proved itself a 
 wise body, and made an excellent constitution, so say 
 the Northern papers; so I hope we shall get in under it. 
 The school laws I highly approve. 
 
 The school-house in Frogmore l is done and Miss 
 Hunn is now teaching in it. Is n't that nice? 
 
 April 12, 1868. 
 
 Miss Hancock and her friend were to come on Friday, 
 so I went to Beaufort for them, but after waiting till 
 dark, had to come back alone. Again on Saturday Ellen 
 and I set off, and spent a horrid day in Beaufort waiting 
 for the steamer, and then we heard that she had sprung 
 a leak, would not make the trip at all, and so I think all 
 the poor teachers who were expecting a holiday in this 
 
 1 The name of the house is often applied, as in this case, to the 
 plantation around it. 
 
1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 193 
 
 Easter week will be disappointed and have to stay at 
 home. Meanwhile it gives us a day or two by ourselves, 
 and we need it in garden and house, I can tell you. Our 
 gardens are one dense bed of phloxes in full bloom — or 
 Ellen's is; mine are a little later; but we want something 
 besides phloxes, and so we must clear out around our 
 pet plants. Lots of those I brought from home are com- 
 ing up finely — the lilies of the valley, etc., etc. To-day 
 — after we have roses and honeysuckle out, "till they 
 most gone," — the pie-plant first peeps up. The currant 
 bush is growing finely, and the white althea, weigelia, St. 
 Peter's crown, flags, yellow lily, day lilies, little roses, — 
 all the rose-bushes indeed, — thyme, etc., etc. We think 
 of little pleasure-taking, except in those same gardens. 
 Our fuchsias are a foot and more high, and the little 
 nasturtium slip is a big bushy vine, just going to flower; 
 
 I have been writing to Harriet Ware to-night. She 
 wrote to say that if we could find board for them, two 
 other ladies would come with her, and I had to tell her 
 that we had not room, and I knew of no place where they 
 could stay. So many people have gone away that homes 
 are scarce. 
 
 Our Caroline is a great comfort. We are getting her 
 things to sew up into her wedding clothes, or we get her 
 some, and she earns some. She is busy and happy, but 
 our neighbors, the Schofields (she goes to school to 
 Martha S.), think she is too young, and they try to 
 persuade her not to marry. We think her young, but we 
 like Jacob, and so we encourage it. 
 
 My little oaf, Pompey, gets into all sorts of scrapes, 
 and every one's hand is against him, because he ran 
 away from the hateful man who had him, and that man 
 
194 LETTERS AND DIARY OP [1868 
 
 has relatives and influence. I have written to Charleston 
 to see if he cannot be got into the Orphan's Home. But 
 he will only be put out again and go through more hard 
 treatment, I am afraid. Does n't Mr. Thompson want 
 such a little boy? Tell him this boy is about ten, is black 
 as a coal, hearty and strong. He is up to everything but 
 work, and yet I am sure a good boy could be made out of 
 him. He steals eatables whenever he is hungry and can't 
 get them otherwise, but has taken nothing else. Mrs. 
 Thompson asked me about bringing a child North, and 
 if you could see her about taking this boy, and if she 
 would, it would be such a blessing. I will bring him 
 North when I come, without expense to her. I think I 
 can get a pass and take him free. I shall want to know 
 soon, because I do not want to keep him here, where I 
 have to support him. 
 
 The box of clothing was splendid and I have "shared 
 out" a suit to each of the poorest of the "mudderless." 
 I suppose I was too late in speaking for the other box, 
 but I will be early enough next year, and perhaps it is 
 better not to have more to move to Frogmore. If the 
 bill for the sale of these lands passes Congress, the 
 Village will soon be sold, and we must either buy or go. 
 We can only buy in the name of an educational society, 
 so I suppose we must go. 
 
 [Miss Towne visited the North during the summer of 
 1868.] 
 
 Charleston, S.C., Sunday Evening, October 17, 1868. 
 Here we are at the Waverley House, safe and well, 
 with the box of plants in the entry below, all as fresh and 
 in as good preservation as when they started. 
 
18G8] LAURA M. TOWNE 1D5 
 
 I will go back to the beginning. I went on smoothly, 
 only bothered with my cold, till we got to Wilmington. 
 There I looked out for the Hunns, and just before we 
 started, Hannah came in, in great anxiety, and Lizzie 
 followed, having bought tickets, as Colonel Corson had 
 not sent their transportation. I had it. You remember 
 he gave it to me at the office. They did not use the 
 ticket they bought, as the conductor said they could get 
 back the money for it without trouble. 
 
 We got to Washington before 5 p.m. and waited at the 
 boat till Ellen and Fanny came at six. Then we waited 
 for the other train from Baltimore, and finally got off 
 for Acquia Creek about seven. Poor Hannah was suffer- 
 ing dreadfully from headache after a chill, and she had 
 high fever; and my cold was terrific. So we were pretty 
 miserable on the boat, and had to leave it after a good 
 nap, at 10.30 at night. As the cars had on them a de- 
 tachment of soldiers going to Georgia, with four officers, 
 they were pretty crowded, and we had not so comfort- 
 able a time as usual. 
 
 The Southern conductors and baggage men are all 
 civility and care, and we had no trouble about the 
 plants at all. 
 
 On Friday morning we were at Petersburg, and by 
 breakfast time we got to Weldon, where we had some of 
 the superlative biscuit we always get there, and some 
 good coffee. From that breakfast my cold began to 
 mend, and now it has almost entirely gone. That day 
 was a much pleasanter one. We were much amused with 
 our officers, and I think there were but two Southerners 
 on the whole train — a young lady and her father. She 
 said to me, as we sat together in the ferry boat, "Oh 
 
196 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1868 
 
 these Southern roads are so dreadful ! So different from 
 the roads between New York and Washington! But it is 
 because we are too poor to make them better. I am very 
 ultra, myself, in my feelings." (She meant ultra on the 
 Northern side.) "I am a Charlestonian by birth, but I 
 don't go with them in the war. I wish there had never 
 been a war. It is a shame to see the country so racked 
 and torn." Pretty well, was n't it? She was very pretty 
 and high-stepping, " aristocratic," — but tolerably sen- 
 sible; though whether she would have been sorry for the 
 war if the South had beaten the North is a question. 
 Last night we were in the cars and had a good time. My 
 cold was gone, I was used to the motion, felt rested and 
 slept on two seats till 3.30 a.m., when we were dumped 
 at Florence in the middle of the street, and the night was 
 exceedingly cold. No train was to come till 11 a.m., and 
 we had to go to the hotel of that hateful man who was 
 keeper of the Florence prison for our soldiers, where they 
 were starved worse than at Andersonville. We went in 
 and demanded of the clerk a seat in the public room. He 
 said there was no public room, we must take bedrooms. 
 I told him we did n't wish to pay a cent towards the 
 support of that house, and would not take bedrooms 
 if we could sit even in the hall till daylight. He said we 
 could leave the house then. I told him the law obliged 
 him to receive travellers, and that if we chose to stay he 
 could not make us go, but that if he could tell us any- 
 where to obtain shelter till morning, we would on no 
 account remain there, We refused to sign our names in 
 his book, as I said I should be ashamed to have my name 
 seen there; that I had several times before been there and 
 paid for what I never got, and that the treatment of our 
 
1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 197 
 
 soldiers at the hands of the proprietor was reason enough 
 why we did not wish to patronize the house. He looked 
 enraged. I then saw some of our fellow passengers com- 
 ing out of a lighted room, and going up to bedrooms; so I 
 said to the clerk, "Is n't that a sitting-room?" He had 
 to say "Yes," because the gentlemen who had been in it 
 were there. So we walked into the room and warmed 
 ourselves at the fire and were as comfortable as possible. 
 A gentleman sat there who proved to be a soldier — a 
 commander of a brigade (so a brigadier-general, I 
 suppose) during the war, but not now in the army. He 
 was a Philadelphian and a great McClellan man. He 
 kept up the fire and the conversation, and the daylight 
 came very soon. He told us that if we wanted to get 
 breakfast, without staying for it at the hotel, that we 
 could go to the house of a colored man, who entertained 
 a good many Northerners who would not enter that 
 hotel. So we all trudged off to "Mr. Jackson's" cabin, 
 waked him and his wife up, and sat an hour or two by a 
 blazing fire while they fried a chicken and eggs, cooked 
 Maryland biscuit and hominy. We had good coffee, too. 
 Then we went to the school-house, the colored men com- 
 ing with us to carry our bags, and treating us with high 
 distinction, for we had told our reason for coming to 
 their breakfast. We were escorted to the black minis- 
 ter's house, saw him and the Sunday School, and then 
 he escorted us to the cars, always carrying our bags and 
 bundles. From Florence to Charleston we had a lovely 
 ride, but at the depot I had another little fracas. The 
 cabmen rush at you, surround you and vociferate as in 
 the worst of the Philadelphia times. One detestable 
 white driver kept saying, "Give me your checks — 
 
198 LETTERS AND DIARY OP [1868 
 
 Charleston Hotel is the only hotel in the city — Charles- 
 ton Hotel coach ready — your checks!" I walked right 
 up to a policeman and asked, "Is the Waverly open?" 
 "Yes." "Is the Waverly coach here?" "I am Waverly 
 coach," a negro said. I liked his face and said, 
 "Where's your coach?" All this time ten whips were 
 stuck in my face, and twenty frantic men were hopping 
 and crowding around. I looked at the policeman to re- 
 mind him to keep the rabble off, and said, "Is this man 
 the Waverly coachman? " "Yes." Meanwhile the long- 
 nosed white "Charleston Hotel" man stuck his chin 
 fairly into my face and said, "Don't mind him. He's a 
 nigger and will tell you anything. He's only got a dirty 
 old coach." I was mad enough to slap his face, but I 
 just said, "I would believe him just as soon as you," and 
 every darky set up a guffaw. They all made way, and 
 we marched off with our colors flying, to a very good 
 coach, and came comfortably here at a moderate cost, 
 for the charges were not as exorbitant as we have always 
 before had to pay in Charleston. We have had a pretty 
 good supper, and the house seems quiet, clean, and 
 respectable. It is not a first-class hotel, but then we pay 
 accordingly, only three dollars a day instead of four or 
 four dollars and fifty cents. 
 
 The railroad is in horrible order. At times it is like 
 going over the roughest corduroy road. 
 
 Beaufort, S.C., Mission ITouse, October 20, 1808. 
 
 Here we are at last, having been ever since seven 
 
 o'clock a.m. on the boat — that hateful little Varmin. 
 
 We were eleven hours coming here from Charleston, but 
 
 it was very smooth and I was not sick at all. The flowers 
 
1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 199 
 
 came through safely, and I have paid nothing extra. We 
 found the Beaufort Hotel closed and so came here by 
 invitation, and we find ourselves very kindly treated by 
 the "Missionary Association," who now have in charge 
 all the schools in Beaufort. We are so glad to have a 
 comfortable roof over our heads and such a nice tea of 
 sliced and sugared oranges. 
 
 On the boat to-day were soldiers — to defend Beau- 
 fort. They got into a fuss and we [almost] had a mutiny 
 on board. They were caught — four of tbem — stealing 
 whiskey from a barrel, which was aboard as freight. 
 They would not leave when the purser told them to, 
 and the captain was called. He ordered them upstairs 
 and one refused to go. Then the order was given to load 
 the guns to shoot him down, but he thought better, and 
 obeyed. Tbe four were kept tied up. 
 
 Mr. Eustis was on board and was very chatty. He 
 proposes giving us some help with our baggage, taking 
 it as far as his yard. 
 
 I have heard from a friend of Hastings that our 
 oranges are safe, and that nothing has gone wrong in our 
 absence. To-morrow we shall be at home and I will 
 write more. 
 
 They say that fears are entertained of Mr. Tomlin- 
 son's safety — no one knows where he is. The colored 
 Senator from South Carolina was shot down a day or 
 
 two ago. 
 
 Village, October 22, 1868. 
 
 I wrote from Charleston and from Beaufort. This 
 makes the second night in our little house. We found 
 most of the plaster on the floor instead of the ceiling, 
 and such dirt, cobwebs, mice, and sooty rain all over 
 
200 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1868 
 
 everything, I never saw. We are obliged to have a regu- 
 lar housecleaning, and have been so busy to-day that all 
 ideas but of cleaning are out of our heads. We have kept 
 at work to-day five boys, one old woman, one old man, 
 and Caroline, who, by the way, is legally married by a 
 minister in Beaufort. It seems that Jacob could not live 
 without her, and so persuaded her, and went so often to 
 Beaufort after her, that she agreed to be married at last, 
 and then was afraid to tell us. We have taken her back 
 and she is better than ever. Rina and Enoch, with 
 Aleck, the boy, now form our household. 
 
 To-day the two cows and calves arrived — thin 
 starvelings; also Saxton [the colt], who is fat as a duck 
 and a beauty, but much whiter since his summer's 
 charge of coat. Mary Bell is more of a Megalosaurus 
 than ever, and my sketch was no caricature. On the way 
 up I went after Cash [the dog], leaving the carriage in 
 the road, and as I came up to Aunt Di's door, he sprang 
 from the heap of cotton he was lying on and was ready 
 to tear me to pieces if I had no right there. But he first 
 sniffed my dress, and I don't think he knew me till I 
 spoke to Di. Then he sprang up to my arms and was 
 wild with joy. As he saw me going, he sat down on the 
 doorstep with a most distressed face, but when Aunt Di 
 said, "Go, den," and pitched him out of the door, he 
 went off before me like a streak of lightning, and never 
 stopped till he got to the carriage, except at bends in the 
 wood, to see if I were coming. He did not seem to know 
 Ellen either, when he sniffed her dress, but as soon as 
 she spoke, he manifested delight. He is smaller than I 
 thought, but quite as pretty. Ellen's great monster Leo 
 is fat and hearty. 
 
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1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 201 
 
 The morning after I wrote, we sallied forth from the 
 Mission House and went all over Beaufort, finding that 
 we could do nothing about the various business we 
 wished to attend to, for everybody was away. Saw 
 General Gile, however, and he gave me, for the Frog- 
 more school, the bell he had promised Annie Heacock. 
 He goes to Florida before she comes. . . . We did not 
 get to "Village" till long after dark, and thus, by for- 
 getting to hang out the string to the front door latch 
 before we left in July, we found ourselves forced to 
 break open the door. But before nine o'clock we had a 
 comfortable supper and a roaring fire in our bedroom. 
 Our bed felt comfortable, indeed, but everything is 
 horribly musty and mouldy. So much rain leaked in 
 that it made every room damp. . . . Our gardens are 
 a wilderness and very ugly. Not a large crop of oranges, 
 but no one seems to have touched the trees. Our lemons 
 are more plentiful than the oranges. The old folks and 
 the school-children troop to see us, but do not bother 
 us; they do not come in, but wait in the yard till we 
 shake hands, and then go. We are living on chicken, 
 sweet potato, hominy, and good butter, — milk too. 
 
 November 1, 18C8. 
 
 To-morrow we begin school and we are snug in house 
 and school-house — ready and comfortable as we have 
 never been before. 
 
 By the way, Hastings named his baby, the "pleasant 
 little girl," after Ellen. So she is getting namesake upon 
 top of namesake. 
 
 I think, concerning the Frogmore house, that there is 
 plenty of room for two good chambers over the first 
 
202 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1868 
 
 story, and that the roof needs altering, but I suppose it 
 will take lots of money to do it, and I fear I cannot sell 
 land or many houses this winter. The ditching, which 
 was awfully needed, is all that is set a-going as yet. The 
 house is good, sound and solid, but defective in original 
 build as to the roof. That must have something done to 
 it; the well must be dug and the ditching must be done. 
 The rooms need not be made, but I had rather have 
 them. 
 
 December 13, 1868. 
 
 We are having furiously cold weather — the very 
 coldest I ever knew here — ice an eighth of an inch 
 thick in our wash-basins; milk and cream all frozen; 
 plants in the entry frozen stiff; the earth a hard ball of 
 frozen roots — no thawing for two days. It is bitter, and 
 coughs and colds prevail among the children. We all 
 keep well. You don't know the blessing your big stoves 
 are to you. We, who can't get them, can appreciate 
 their delight. 
 
 I am afraid I weary you all with talk of Frogmore, but 
 just now we have nothing else to interest us, except the 
 school. Ellen said to her boys who failed to draw the 
 map — which was well done by the girls — "There, you 
 let the girls do more than you can!" One spoke up — 
 "Miss Ellen, we ain't care for that not at all. It is the 
 boys that will rule the world after all." They are so nice 
 this winter. It is a real pleasure to teach them, and I 
 grow younger at it every day. 
 
 The Bureau Superintendent of Education at Wash- 
 ington has copied part of my history of our school into 
 his report, and praises it — or rather calls it "admir- 
 
1868] LAURA M. TOWNE 203 
 
 able" — but does not mention it as mine, which was 
 best policy, of course, as "self-praise," etc. 
 
 We begin our Normal practice to-morrow. The 
 school is our delight — but domestic and barnyard 
 affairs are trying. The calves — too young to meet the 
 winter — are a bother. One, my pet, died, and the other 
 looks puny. 
 
 What do folks say now of Grant? Are they as well 
 satisfied as before election? It is splendid that Johnson's 
 bubble was so disregarded by Congress. I am so glad 
 that Georgia is not going to get in, after the infamous 
 expulsion of the colored senator from her legislature. 
 
 Our neighbors — the Village teachers — have written 
 for another teacher. They have a splendid school. 
 
 December 27, 1868. 
 
 ... At school, after their Bible verses and hymns 
 and the separate class recitations, we gave them their 
 tin boxes and then followed candy and oranges. The 
 Benezet [Society] sent them a splendid Christmas box 
 and a lot of the candy toys. I never saw our children so 
 amused as they were with these. They were all content 
 and happy and as good as children could be. 
 
 After getting home it was so bitter cold and so late 
 that we deferred the Village Christmas celebration till 
 the next day. Yesterday the six old folks came and got 
 their grits, bacon, and sugar, and went on rejoicing. 
 The bacon was a present from Ellen and me, the other 
 things from Mrs. Lucretia Mott's money, or from 
 Henry's. Then came the thirty Village children and got 
 each an orange, a stick of candy, a little book, or some 
 little toy. All went away satisfied, and then there were 
 
204 LETTERS AND DIARY [1868 
 
 two sick ones to see at their homes. So ended the 
 "Second Day of Christmas." 
 
 To-morrow the boat comes for the first load of furni- 
 ture, etc., etc. In a week we hope to be established at 
 Frogmore. 
 
1869 
 
 [Miss Towne and Miss Murray moved to Frogmore 
 early in January, 1869.] 
 
 Frogmore, January 10, 1809. 
 
 I can't be expected to take a lively view of affairs 
 to-night, for it is a duplicate of last Sunday and is pour- 
 ing down rain upon our unprotected ceilings, which we 
 expect momentarily to come down upon our unpro- 
 tected heads. At night we sleep under canvas so as to be 
 safe. I have tacked a good, strong piece to the high 
 posters that we sleep under. 
 
 We have a good carpenter at work here who last year 
 built himself a nice new cabin — a splendid one, and 
 only this year had money enough to put in a chimney. 
 He had just moved in and the whole family were happy 
 as possible. He was working at Frogmore when bad 
 news came and Will had to go to him and say, "Jack, I 
 am sorry to say your house is burning down." Jack com- 
 posedly laid down his tools and turned to get his horse 
 to go home, saying, "It is God's will, then." Will was 
 more touched by the man's calm, sweet dignity than I 
 ever knew him to be. I should like to borrow a little of 
 the same spirit. I am not a whit downcast, but I am 
 afraid it 's flippancy, not resignation. By the way, it was 
 not Jack's house at all, but a neighbor's; but this is my 
 poor house in the rain. The rafters are up and the win- 
 dow frames set in. The second story looks very pretty 
 so far, but I shall not enjoy it till I see the roof on. 
 
206 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1869 
 
 March 21, 1869. 
 
 I want very much to get the house insured. Don't 
 you think I ought to have it done? To be sure, we do not 
 run much risk, for the servants sleep out of the house, 
 but yet fires are so common here from sparks from the 
 chimneys falling on the shingles, and in summer the 
 lightning is so sharp, that the house might go and I lose 
 what I could not replace. 
 
 I am given up to poultry raising. We have two mus- 
 covy ducks, a turkey sitting on thirteen eggs, — the 
 turkey a present from Mrs. Murray last year, — and 
 several broods out or coming. Having no meat, we eat 
 at the rate of two chickens a day, and will have to raise a 
 good deal to meet home demands. 
 
 I have had a great heart-break this week. You will 
 understand it — you who lost big Poll and little Flash. 
 My dear little doggie is dead. He died while I was at 
 school, too, and he missed me so much whenever I left 
 him. W. was as good and kind a nurse as Cashie could 
 have had, but I wish I had been with him. It was in- 
 flammation of the lungs. The weather was against him, 
 and we could not manage to regulate the heat and cold, 
 for he would be out of doors nearly all day. He was the 
 noblest, most manly little fellow that ever lived. I never 
 once saw him cringe, sneak, or fawn. I miss him every 
 minute of the day. . . . 
 
 April 11, 1869. 
 
 I am just in a little press of work. I have taken charge 
 of the Sunday School library, which is now composed of 
 three libraries — the Boston, Mrs. Phillips', and the 
 beautiful English library. The books have to be covered 
 and numbered, and we toil on from week to week doing 
 
1869] LAURA M. TOWNE 207 
 
 what we can in the evenings. The old library — the 
 Boston one — is in a sad condition and needs all sorts of 
 patching. 
 
 To-morrow in Beaufort there is a meeting of all who 
 bought land at the tax sales, to combine against the 
 rebels who are beginning to enter suits for the recovery 
 of their property. One or two test cases must be tried, 
 and it is thought best to get first-rate counsel and pay 
 for it by combined effort, so that the matter may be sat- 
 isfactorily settled at the first. There is no doubt of the 
 legality of the sales, but if this is not made clear at first, 
 the cases may go to the wrong "by default." And then, 
 too, there are some men so much in a hurry to be com- 
 fortable that they will compromise and so muddle 
 matters. A Mr. Duval, whose title was perfectly good, 
 but who was threatened with a suit, paid the rebel a few 
 hundred dollars not to bother him. The rebel gladly 
 enough agreed, and that has set some of the rest about 
 seeing if they cannot get a few hundred in the same way. 
 
 I don't know about writing an account of the smallpox 
 for the doctor, for he would not be over-pleased to hear 
 that vaccination seemed to be of no account at all and 
 that people had it (smallpox) over three times some- 
 times, and died of it at last; that I vaccinated children, 
 it took well, and in a month or two after they died of 
 smallpox. They say white folks cannot catch diseases 
 from blacks. Lottie Fortin was vaccinated and took it, 
 with not half the exposure I had to it. 
 
 Our postmaster, whom we suspected, is removed, and 
 a man put in who is a notorious thief. Protest is to be 
 made, I hear. 
 
208 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1869 
 
 July 4, 1869. 
 
 Well, our year's work is done. School is closed. A 
 pretty good school year, I think. We had a nice exhibi- 
 tion which was attended better than last year by the 
 parents. Only our school and the Frogmore school were 
 represented, as the Village teachers had to go home, as 
 one was not well. She never had the health to come and 
 will not return, I think. It was a very hot day, but a 
 happy one for all, I suppose, and satisfactory to us. 
 
 The hot, dry weather continues and the corn crop is 
 lost, except in low spots. The whole island is in alarm 
 for next winter, for the corn has failed, and unless rain 
 comes, they cannot get their main crop of potatoes — 
 the slips. So the veriest starvation stares them in the 
 face. The wells are all dry, and a man who came for 
 medicine says that everybody is down with diarrhoea 
 because, having no water, they have to "suck mud." 
 Our next neighbor, half a mile off, sends his horse here to 
 beg that we will give him a little water from our well. 
 He only comes once a day, poor fellow, and does without 
 at other times, I suppose. Our well gave out, but as it 
 never was deep enough, we were glad to be able to dig 
 it deeper. Now we have enough for ourselves and our 
 animals except on washing-day — when Rina has to 
 wash in mud, and our clothes look accordingly. Yet we 
 see showers all about us and we have all sorts of signs of 
 rain. The sun comes up and goes into clouds; it sets in 
 clouds; we have gray evenings and red mornings; haloes 
 around the moon, thunder and lightning, but generally 
 not a drop of rain. Yesterday we had a gentle little 
 shower that set us almost wild with joy, but it was very 
 little. The people say they do not expect rain, and in- 
 
I860] LAURA M. TOWNE 209 
 
 deed we are between the horns of a dilemma, for they 
 say that the cotton is so dry that if a cold rain should 
 come it would cast its pods. Now, these early pods are 
 the only ones secure from caterpillar, so that if these are 
 lost, there is no certainty of more hardening enough to 
 resist the worms, and the cotton crop is lost. Yet, if 
 rain does n't come, they can't plant slips, nor do without 
 water in the wells. Showers every day, they say, will 
 save all, so we watch the clouds, which are mackerel- 
 back and promising, but all sail over. The only things 
 that seem to thrive are the watermelons, and those we 
 do enjoy. Our poor gardens are powder. 
 
 We hear that it is decided positively that the railroad 
 is to come through St. H., but not very near us. It will 
 go through Ruggles' old place. You know where that is. 
 I am afraid the railroad is all moonshine, however. 
 
 September 30, 1869. 
 
 It is well we raise poultry and eggs, for there are so 
 many boats running to Savannah now that all the eggs, 
 etc., are sold there at enormous prices and we can get 
 none. I shall send eggs there myself if prices keep up. 
 
 I have just been interrupted by a little "domestic 
 episode." We have such a nice girl cleaning house for us 
 — almost a young woman, and such a hard worker! I 
 wanted her to stay all winter, for I could not bear to 
 return to little girls. Her stay depended upon the arrival 
 of an older sister from Savannah, and that "Sister 
 Becky" has just arrived, so I am delighted to think we 
 can keep Harriet Byles. Ellen will be glad, too, for we 
 both like her; so we are well fixed. We have had a time 
 getting Aleck into order, and just now he is pretty toler- 
 
210 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1869 
 
 able. Rina, Louisa, and Celia are jewels; Romeo, the 
 woodcutter, is steady; and that is our very contented 
 household at present. The cleaning is almost done, and 
 I am deep in upholstering, and find that I am such a 
 novice I take two steps back to one forward, and my 
 work seems wn-doing. 
 
 The garden is such a delight. I have a glorious zinnia, 
 the prettiest plant and the most beautiful blossom I ever 
 saw. It is low, bushy, and covered with deep crimson, 
 very double flowers. I will save seed if Kulny will leave 
 a blossom on long enough. She breaks them down jump- 
 ing at butterflies, which are so numerous and beautiful. 
 The mocking-birds and redbirds are rewarding us for our 
 care of them. W. and I walked about three or four miles 
 one Sunday after a small boy who was reported to us for 
 taking a nest of them from Katy Island — in front of 
 our house. We did n't get those birds but we scared 
 that boy and he scared others. . . . The vile caterpillar 
 is eating — but can't do much harm, for "what he can 
 get the frost would take," the people say, and they even 
 say he does the cotton good, makes the pods open, and 
 as the season is tardy, they, the people, will gather more 
 cotton in consequence of the "pests." ... It is good, 
 and it makes me laugh to see W. 1 poring over law-books 
 sitting in his magistrate's office, which is the room that 
 used to be your parlor or dining-room — his big book 
 before him and his elbows on the table, his hands holding 
 his head, to keep it from bursting with knowledge, I 
 suppose. Some days half a dozen cases are brought 
 before him, and one day in the week, Tuesday, he and 
 the two other selectmen have a meeting, and make out 
 ' Miss Towne's brother, William Edward Towne. 
 
1869] LAURA M. TOWNE 211 
 
 jury lists, and do all sorts of township business. No pay 
 as yet, but no doubt it will come. I think a constable or 
 two are here every day, to get orders or bring culprits, so 
 we feel very safe, and there is no more stealing of boards, 
 etc. Poor Bacchus, the boy who stole the check, died in 
 Charleston jail. I suppose he could not stand confine- 
 ment. . . . 
 
 I am glad that is a white ageratum. They are so 
 beautiful. The tall blue lobelia is out here in full bloom 
 — not near so pretty as the cardinal flowers — but still 
 lovely. The bulbs are just coming up. 
 
 Cotton is now selling for ten cents a pound, stone 
 cotton, that is, unginned and of the "middling" kind, 
 so his [W.'s] cotton-house holds what I call three hundred 
 dollars worth of cotton. Will says it shall bring much 
 more than that, for it is (part of it) not "middling," but 
 "fine" and "extra," and the purchasing now is done 
 entirely on safe prices, that is, factors are catching the 
 cotton of the thriftless who sell as soon as they get, for 
 bacon, molasses, and other temptations. No white folks 
 are selling yet; it is too early. The foreign purchasers, 
 who buy nearly all of it, have not yet come over. 
 
 October 3, 1869. 
 
 The price of cotton you say should be quoted in the 
 Southern papers. There are no quotations on Sea-Island 
 cotton yet. The season has not opened. Mr. Goodman, 
 a neighbor, sent two bales to Charleston, urging the 
 factors to sell immediately. The reply was that no 
 purchasers had arrived and nothing could be done yet. 
 A man cannot sell his own cotton. That is, the foreign 
 firms who buy nearly all this fine cotton have agents 
 
212 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1869 
 
 who will treat only with factors and professional judges 
 of cotton, so that individuals have no chance. Old, well- 
 known planters are generally addressed by circulars 
 inviting them to sell their cotton to such and such firms, 
 and I suppose the foreign agents may treat directly with 
 such, but it is not customary for planters to sell — fac- 
 tors do it all. Cotton sells here to the stores in small 
 parcels at ten cents a pound (seed) that is, forty cents 
 per pound, ginned. It is low, but may be no higher. 
 
 November 5, 1869. 
 
 I have been wanting "too much" to write home, but 
 school-work, though delightful, is very pressing, and I 
 could n't. We are done for the week and I seize the first 
 chance. I do enjoy the school so much — more than 
 ever before. It is very full and the children are eager for 
 lessons as yet. To-day I found out that a youngish 
 pretty yellow girl I admitted yesterday, is the wife of 
 George Wood, a white man whom we know quite well. 
 She is legally married and is very ambitious of learn- 
 ing. I treat her just as I do the other children, though 
 they call her "the lady," and show her some deference 
 in consideration of her rank. They live in Dr. Pope's 
 house and have that beautiful garden that Rosie will 
 remember as the one where the camellias grew. 
 
 Little Puss is at school, of course. She is fatter and 
 happier than I have seen her for years, and I am so glad 
 she has gone back to her mother. She was enchanted 
 with the beads "Miss Rosie" sent her, and is still lost in 
 amazement at such a treasure falling to her lot from such 
 an unexpected quarter. She did not get the "Mother 
 Goose" I bought for her, for she had not fulfilled the 
 
1869] LAURA M. TOWNE 213 
 
 conditions and taught her little sister her letters. She 
 behaves a great deal better in school now that she is 
 happier at home. 
 
 Who should walk in after school the other day, come 
 to see me, but the little Nannie whose back was broken. 
 Your little basket of candy I gave away to some one else 
 only a week or two ago, as I heard Nannie had goneaway, 
 no one knew where, and I never expected to see her again. 
 She had grown beyond all resemblance to her old self, 
 and, strange to say, her backbone had united itself and 
 grown together so firmly that she stands as straight as 
 most children. She looks healthier and happier. I sent 
 her to-day a pair of shoes, a skirt, and a flannel shirt. 
 She is going to Edisto to her father. Her mother is dead. 
 
 Susie, the child who ran away so many times and was 
 so ill-treated, has gone to her grandmother. She was 
 baptized last Sunday and comes regularly to school — 
 clean and fat. I am sorry to say that a little sister of hers 
 is in the clutches of the same aunt who treated Susie so 
 badly, but as she has a lovely, submissive disposition, 
 and is not refractory like Susie, she may not excite so 
 much anger and get so many blows. 
 
 Amanda Graham, who now works for us in Harriet's 
 
 place, is a jewel. She is slow and not half so capable as 
 
 Harriet, but she is to be depended upon, and has a turn 
 
 for cooking. She makes excellent bread, just as good as 
 
 you have. She goes to school and teaches her class of 
 
 infants, besides doing our work. We only pay her two 
 
 dollars a month and board. 
 
 November 12, 1869. 
 
 On Thanksgiving Day I am going to have all the 
 "mudderless" here. We are going to give them hominy 
 
214 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1869 
 
 and molasses for dinner, a gihgercake and orange for 
 dessert, and each a warm garment bought with Tadie's 
 and Nell's money. I can get a thick kind of linsey-wool- 
 sey at Mr. Nichols' for twenty-five cents a yard, and the 
 fifteen dollars will buy sixty yards, so that each child can 
 have some warm garment. The stuff is suitable for boys 
 and girls, too. There are about twenty of them, mostly 
 small children. We shall have a busy but jolly time. 
 
 "When first the market offers well, 
 At once your yearly product sell, 
 For if for better price you strain, 
 Nine times you lose where once you gain.'* 
 
 December 3, 1869. 
 To-day we were somewhat startled by a man's coming 
 with a paper for Will to read, but as he was in Beaufort, 
 I read it and found that it was an arrest of the man for 
 "trespass and injuring the crops" of the old rebel owner. 
 The damages were fixed at $10,000. On the bottom of 
 the summons was a notice that this suit was to test the 
 validity of the land titles as well as to get damages for 
 the injury done to the crops at the beginning of the war. 
 They have sued a poor old negro man who has no means 
 to defend himself, and I suppose they think they will get 
 judgment by default, and the Government be bound to 
 make good the claim, as of course old Sam Smashems, 
 the man sued, could prove that all he did was ordered by 
 Government. As the jury is composed mostly of colored 
 men who own land held by this same title, this court will 
 probably settle the case as we should wish, but then it 
 will undoubtedly be carried up by the usual steps to the 
 Supreme Court. That is a long way ahead, however. 
 This court meets in two weeks — short notice. But I 
 
1869] LAURA M. TOWNE 215 
 
 hear that similar suits have been commenced against 
 some of the large owners, — white men, — so it will not 
 be left to Sam Smashems' management. 
 
 I am getting very much attached to old Frogmore and 
 should hate to give it up; but there is no danger of that. 
 The Government sold it to me at a fair price, and though 
 Government may indemnify the owners, it cannot put 
 me out. As it was sold for non-payment of taxes, too, 
 there is nothing of confiscation about it, and the sale 
 was legal, so I do not suppose Government will indem- 
 nify. 1 Until the matter is settled we shall live here in 
 comfort and ease. 
 
 School flourishes beautifully. I never enjoyed it so 
 much. I am obliged to stop. It is late and, as we rise by 
 star and moonlight, — long before sunrise, — I must 
 deny myself to-night so as to get up betimes to-morrow. 
 
 December 26, 1869. 
 The box has arrived and been opened. Now I can't 
 begin to say all I have to say — not begin even to-night, 
 — and yet I must squeeze in just a few of my raptures, 
 for I am "too satisfy" — just the pleasedest old lady 
 ever was. The tidy! and the filter!! and the picture 
 frame which sets off the beautiful picture!!! and the 
 cuffs and shoe-soles and lovely warm jacket!!!! and the 
 medicine glass!!!!! the notebook and the presents from 
 Sophy!!!!!! and the apples too — they come in well, I 
 tell you. There was not a rotten one among them — 
 scarcely a speck, indeed, — and they are so delicious. 
 
 1 The original owners of plantations in the Port Eoyal District 
 were reimbursed by Congress for their loss of land, but the value of 
 their freed slaves was not included. The land on St. Helena owned by 
 a minor was returned to him after the war. 
 
1870 
 
 FnoGMOHE, January 2, 1870. 
 
 My dear Oakshade Folks, One and All: — 
 
 A Happy New Year to you all till it gets to be old, and 
 thus happy year to you to the end. We ought to be very 
 thankful to be so full and unbroken a band, and I am 
 most sincerely so. Love to you each. 
 
 January 9, 1870. 
 
 I am glad you find the lighters [of fat pine] useful. I 
 do not think all you had and the splitting up cost 
 twenty-five cents, but that is the outside, so do not 
 think I am ruining myself. The "bennie" is from Will, 
 not from me, and the artichokes were just saved from 
 the hogs — but, bless you ! they were to plant, not to 
 eat! You had not too many for seed, so eat no more, 
 d'y e hear! 
 
 Oh, those hogs, what a life they lead us? They have 
 piled our orchard up into mountains and mammoth 
 caves. They live here. The four pups of Venus' are too 
 young to do anything but sprawl. Oh, for Rolla! I am 
 so glad he is coming. 
 
 February 20, 1870. 
 I have often wanted to tell you of our temperance 
 society. We were afraid when we first started it that our 
 big boys would not join, for the whiskey-shop influence 
 was great; but now all have come in, — every one, I 
 think. We have regular meetings every fortnight. Ellen 
 
1870] LAURA M. TOWNE 217 
 
 is president, Mrs. Strong, Lizzie Hunn, and I, vice- 
 presidents, and Hannah Hunn, secretary. We have 
 taught the children lots of temperance songs, and now 
 we are beginning to have regular amusement — that is, 
 original compositions on Temperance read, and pieces 
 spoken; — some one, too, makes a speech. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hunn did last time. The children enjoy it highly, and 
 even the littlest want to join. We won't permit that, 
 though, as we only want such as can understand and 
 follow "Parliamentary rules." 
 
 April 17, 1870. 
 
 It has been nice and warm, but to-day it is showery, 
 windy, and cold as Greenland. Yesterday E. and I put 
 out all our house plants, and to-day they are getting well 
 whipped by the wind, and will be cold to-night. It is 
 better to feel that they are cold than that my eighty- 
 three poor little chicks are. All these have hatched this 
 spring and are still young. 
 
 I write now with the three ladies from the Village sit- 
 ting around the parlor. They have come down to go 
 with us to-morrow over to Caper's Island for shells. We 
 are to have a picnic and go for a day of it. The two 
 Hunns, L. and H., are to join us. But it looks windy. 
 
 Our Easter holidays have begun — those long looked- 
 for chances to get things done have arrived, and I have 
 begun upon the garden, and made jumbles already. 
 Miss Hancock is not coming till May, so, as we expect 
 no other visitors, we shall devote ourselves to hard work. 
 
 Monday night. 
 Had a splendid sail. Got a few shells and home safely. 
 
218 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1870 
 
 May 29, 1870. 
 
 We have had our little upset. A rabbit sprang across 
 the road just in front of Saxton's nose, and he shied. 
 We were in a no-top buggy that had no railing even, and 
 Ellen, who had the reins and was driving, was slung out 
 under the wheel, which went over her waist. When I 
 saw myself and the big, heavy old-fashioned wheel upon 
 top of her, I screamed; and her fall and the scream made 
 Saxton give two more great jumps into the woods. I had 
 not the reius, of course, and could not guide him, so the 
 second jump brought the wheel against the trunk of a 
 felled tree, and the buggy turned a complete summerset 
 with me under it. Saxton's old harness gave way and he 
 trotted a little way, and then came back, anxious to find 
 his " aunties." By that time Ellen and I were both up 
 again. I caught Saxton, who came at my call, and Ellen 
 picked up the ruins of our lunch-basket — her splendid 
 lunch-basket! — and various other things. Ellen had a 
 pain in her side that was so severe at first that I feared 
 internal injury, but it is almost well now. I was only 
 a little bruised here and there, and not hurt seriously 
 at all. 
 
 Saxton has gone like an angel ever since, but I should 
 fear another rabbit, for he would, I suppose, shy again. 
 The roads are so soft and safe that there is little danger 
 in a fall. The old rickety buggy was broken, and a man 
 and woman who were working in a field opposite came to 
 help right it. Our school-children, too, soon rallied to 
 the rescue, and carried all our things for us. James, our 
 first scholar, took Saxton back to Frogmore for our best 
 buggy, which Will had just painted, or coal-tarred, for 
 us, and which we were obliged to use wet; and after 
 
1870] LAURA M. TOWNE 219 
 
 school we drove home as if nothing had happened, and 
 have not had a moment's irritation since. 
 
 Something far more important has happened to us. 
 We have taken in a little child to live with us — perhaps 
 to bring up. She is Miss Puss — about the worst little 
 monkey that ever was. Topsy was nothing to her. She 
 wrote to Rosie a short time ago. That poor child has 
 been undergoing all sorts of ill treatment all winter from 
 her father. She is a dwarf already, and he starved and 
 beat her every day. She is one of the best scholars in my 
 class; as bright as a dollar; always noticed by strangers 
 for her intelligence, good reading, etc., but, under her 
 father's management and direction, just as smart at 
 lying and stealing. She often ran away to escape a beat- 
 ing, and almost lived in the woods. At last they locked 
 up her clothes and made her go almost naked to keep 
 her from coming to school, or going to some neighbors. 
 One day this week she did not do the field work her 
 father set her, so he told her to follow him home to be 
 tied up and beaten. She dodged into the woods and 
 came to me with a ragged little petticoat and an apron 
 tied over her back. I told her she must go home and face 
 the beating, and took her into the buggy, for she was 
 exhausted with crying and starvation. We left her near 
 home and she promised to go there, but she dodged 
 again, her heart failing her when she saw the family 
 searching for her. She spent that stormy night no one 
 knows where, and meantime Ellen and I concluded to 
 take her for poultry-minder at half a dollar a month and 
 food, but not clothing. The father did not feel willing to 
 let her come, but the mother would have it, so the next 
 day as we went to school and saw her in a field eating 
 
220 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1870 
 
 blackberries, we hailed her and told her she was to come 
 to Frogmore to live. You never saw such a delighted 
 little creature. So far she is good as gold, but the time 
 will come when we shall have our trials. She has been 
 my scholar for years. 
 
 We are so busy planning and preparing for our annual 
 exhibition. We close with this month. To-morrow, too, 
 will be a great day. We are to take all the Penn School 
 and go over to Beaufort with flowers and evergreens to 
 decorate the soldiers' graves in the United States Ceme- 
 tery there. I always shall make Edward Haven's my 
 special charge. The committee of arrangements pay our 
 fare over the ferry and dine us, but it is no small matter 
 to marshal our "four hundred," for we have so many, 
 though all will not be there. We are going to form a 
 procession first of our temperance society, called "The 
 St. Helena Band of Hope," with banner and badges; — 
 then the little ones. All the big ones belong to the Band 
 of Hope. 
 
 Our school exists on charity, and charity that is 
 weary. If turned over to the state, no Northern colored 
 person has a chance of being appointed teacher of a state 
 school. There are too many here who want the places 
 and the school trustees are not men capable of appoint- 
 ing by qualification. 
 
 November 27, 1870. 
 
 To-day a notice was read in church. The man came in 
 breathless and read out — 
 
 "Republican Meeting. To-morrow, November 28th, 
 a Republican meeting to consider settling a 'positioner' 
 on the island, will be held at the Baptist church." 
 
MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN TO MISS TOWNE 
 Erected l>y lier brother, William B. Towne 
 
 J 
 
1870] LAURA M. TOWNE 221 
 
 The man then went on to say that a doctor was much 
 needed and a committee had been elected to procure one, 
 and they now called the meeting to see whether the 
 island would sustain a "positioner" or not. We are in 
 doubt whether he meant to say "practitioner," or 
 "physician." The "Republican" was stuck in to attract 
 attention, I suppose. 
 
 The doctor who wants to come is Dr. Perry, a South- 
 erner, and each family wishing him to come is to "throw 
 up " two dollars to secure him. If he comes, my practice 
 will lessen, I hope. 
 
 To-morrow one of our Normal class begins as assistant 
 teacher to the Village school. The state has called upon 
 us for several teachers, in a very complimentary letter. 
 
1871 
 
 Fhogmobe, April 8, 1871. 
 
 The great white cranes stand on one leg on the cause- 
 way between us and the island, and raise and depress 
 their topknots as they see us looking at them. To-day 
 we saw pelicans standing all along Bull Point, and an 
 eagle was fishing — not a fish-hawk, mind, but a sea 
 eagle, black, with white head and tail. 
 
 May 7. 1871. 
 Just think, forty-six years of age! Almost half a cent- 
 ury and with so much history in it, too! United States 
 free; Italy free; France where she must be, and Prussia 
 where she ought to be. Russia free, too, from serfs. I 
 have seen a good deal in my half-century. 
 
 May 14, 1871. 
 I do never intend to leave this "heathen country." 
 I intend to end my days here and I wish to. 
 
 July 6, 1871. 
 
 We have just had some letters from Mary Jackson and 
 Colonel Corson. The Penn. F. R. A. 1 exists no longer, 
 except as represented by the Ladies Branch. The 
 Benezet, 2 however, continues staunch, and will keep up 
 our school another year, perhaps Lizzie Hunn's, too. 
 
 1 The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association. 
 1 The Benezet Society of Germantown, Philadelphia. 
 
LAURA M. TOWNE 223 
 
 No doubt you know all this. Colonel C. says shortly 
 that "the building will be turned over to you," meaning, 
 I suppose, to the teachers of the school. Next year is to 
 be positively the last, but I shall not give up teaching; I 
 could n't live without it now. 
 
1872 
 
 January 7, 1872. 
 
 YESTEBDATlwent tosee Mrs. Eustis. She seemed very 
 lively and very earnest about the school, and people — 
 that they should be as Mr. Eustis wished to have them. 
 She is going to Europe in May. Her daughter Ella is 
 staying at Germantown with May Wister, her sister. 
 Coming home I went to inspect Elizabeth's house, and 
 found her sitting in the cold. 
 
 Aunt Peg has been moved to "The Oaks." She saw us 
 pass to go to Elizabeth's, and when we returned we 
 found her by the roadside, waiting for us. "Oh, my 
 baby, my beloved!" she greeted me with; "has you come 
 to see Mom Peg? Oh, Lord, missus, I so glad." I got 
 out of the carriage and shook hands, and inquired 
 whether she liked it here. "Oh, yes — I with my own 
 darter, but my back is get away from me altogether. I 
 can't stand up no more. I bent just so." 
 
 Old Aunt Peg looked smarter and happier than when 
 here. She said, "And my blessed missus sent me stock- 
 ings for my old feet, Lord bless her ! " I had told her you 
 sent them, and reminded her of the pillow you gave her. 
 "I know, I know," she said; "I know dat, missus." She 
 talked with Ellen while I was gone to the house. She 
 said, "My old hands has done dere share of work in de 
 worl' — but, my dear missus, my ole head cold now. 
 Missus, when you is home, don't forget de ole woman's 
 head cold." So Ellen is to send her a warm woollen hood. 
 She is mother of a princely set. She had six sons, and no 
 overseer ever dared to order one a whipping. One time 
 
1872] LAURA M. TOWNE 225 
 
 when they were threatened with whipping, they all took 
 to the woods, and had to be treated with, and promised 
 that if they would come back they should not be 
 whipped. They returned, and the ringleader, our 
 Abram, was sold — the rest pardoned. They are all tall 
 and handsome and take high rank in church and council. 
 
 April 14, 1872. 
 
 I shall only scratch off a little note to-night, for I have 
 to write our formal monthly report letter to Mr. Haines, 
 of the Benezet. This is a miserable anniversary. Fort 
 Sumter taken, retaken, and Lincoln killed — so long 
 ago it seems. 
 
 Ten years ago to-morrow I landed in Beaufort, and 
 thought the place Heaven, for I left snow in New York 
 and here the birds and flowers made it seem paradise. 
 But as soon as I began to go out of the house (Mrs. 
 Forbes') again, I came to the conclusion it was hell — 
 especially for horses. 
 
 To-day we had Mrs. Maria Childs' niece, Miss Abby 
 Francis, and with her a charming Scotch girl, Miss Amy 
 Brown, and a teacher perhaps you met — Miss Noyes. 
 They made a delightful party, and we enjoyed their visit 
 highly. Then came Miss Mary Grew and three friends. 
 They all occupied one room, so gave little trouble, and 
 we enjoyed having them. Last came Lottie Fortin for 
 two nights and part of two days, and this was pleasant 
 too. 
 
 Miss Grew spoke to the people after church and made 
 a great impression. Indeed, all she said was like a beau- 
 tiful poem, and so exactly what the people wanted to 
 hear that all were in delight and enthusiasm. 
 
 J 
 
1873 
 
 New Year's Day, 1873. 
 
 The thermometer has not been below thirty since I 
 came. It has all seemed warm and delightful to me, 
 except at undressing time. I have had three slight chills 
 and fever, but to-day one was expected and has not 
 come, so I think I shall have no more. In spite of the 
 chills I look much better and have a great deal more 
 color. I am pretty strong, too, and do lots of odd jobs 
 when I feel like it, but I have taken no steady work yet, 
 neither housekeeping, nor poultry, nor school. Next 
 week I am going to try teaching for an hour or so daily. 
 Now we are having holiday. 
 
 On Christmas we were all at home. On Friday we 
 kept "School Christmas." It was a pleasant, warm day. 
 Ellen and Fanny went first, and prepared the fires, etc. 
 Miss W. and I followed, I driving Saxton in the covered 
 buggy. The children came pouring down the road be- 
 tween the two churches as soon as they caught sight of 
 Saxton, and such a cavalcade as I had to escort me to the 
 school-house — running, laughing, joking, etc., etc. — 
 about fifty children. 
 
 In the school-room, when all were quietly assembled, 
 they sang a song of welcome that almost upset me. 
 Ellen adapted it to the occasion, of course. They had a 
 royal good time with cakes, apples, and the candy toys, 
 of which there are plenty for our school and Miss 
 Landon's, with some over for Miss Winship. Harriet 
 Ruggles sent presents for her own class and for Miss 
 Winship's school. 
 
1873] LAURA M. TOWNE 227 
 
 My class were delighted with their mugs, which were 
 of real china and very pretty — twenty-two cents each. 
 Fanny's class had pencil boxes and Alice's dolls. I am 
 going to give Nell's markers as rewards for clean books. 
 
 Ellen's class had boxes of paper and envelopes. The 
 infants had little tin cups, from Ellen. 
 
 After very interesting exercises we all came home de- 
 lighted and refreshed. I wouldn't be without a school 
 for all the world ! 
 
 Only yesterday did the final lot of my goods come 
 from Philadelphia. The bureau had the two handles of 
 the middle drawer wrenched off, but the packing was 
 perfect — the clock, pictures, looking glass, in perfect 
 order — not even rubbed. The rug now shines in our 
 parlor, for it is so much cleaner than the carpet that it is 
 like a bright light on it. It is not to go before the fire so 
 long as Walter will drop coals. It is before the sofa and 
 looks lovely. 
 
 February 12, 1873. 
 
 The dower money comes in splendidly, and for the 
 share you have given us I thank you very much. 
 
 The porch roof is on and we do not look so ruinous in 
 house and home as we did, and all back household 
 arrears are paid. 
 
 I wish you could see the pretty hyacinths and daffodils 
 now on our table and gathered in the open garden. We 
 have read with wonder and horror of the state of the 
 thermometer at the North, and have looked in vain 
 expectation for that "Arctic wave" that was said to be 
 sweeping over the country. ... It is rather odd that, 
 though our horses have not had the "epizooty," our 
 
228 LETTERS AND DIAEY OF [1873 
 
 servants have had the same kind of severe influenza, and 
 we look for it in the family, but none of us have got it 
 yet. Very few of the island horses here have it, or had it. 
 It is a peculiar kind of cold in which the throat and head 
 are very much affected. 
 
 School prospers finely. The work is more and more 
 interesting and refreshing. The new roof is on my 
 school-room and the whole force of teachers is in active 
 play. 
 
 We keep up a very pleasant correspondence with Mr. 
 F. E.. Cope and Mrs. Haines. The Benezet now sends us 
 the Eclectic Magazine and the Nation, but when I shall 
 find time to read them I do not see. 
 
 March i, 1873. 
 
 Nim's unfortunate temper is his perpetual curse, and 
 he is not to blame for that, poor fellow. I wish your curs 
 were as good-natured as ours. They have not fought 
 since I wrote you. They are rolling in fat and it makes 
 them kind and lazy. They "hunt hog" beautifully, and 
 keep away all strange dogs from the chicken coops, so ' 
 that we have peace in the poultry yard and have only 
 hawks left of all our enemies. A healthier yard you could 
 not find. 
 
 We have had such a lovely winter, and now the garden 
 is full of bloom — beds of deep red and blue, and pale 
 red and blue, and white hyacinths; wall flowers, stocks, 
 snowdrops by the million, daffies of the pretty kind, 
 violets, jessamine, honeysuckle, etc., etc. 
 
 I am much better than last winter and feel stronger for 
 all kinds of work, but Ellen has not resigned in full yet. 
 Fanny is thriving and Miss W. too. She has had great 
 
1873] LAURA M. TOWNE 229 
 
 trouble with her school because she had too many schol- 
 ars. Now, she has limited herself to her right number, — 
 sixty, — and does better. I advised the large number so 
 as to keep up her average in working time, but it was too 
 much for her, or for any one. 
 
 April C, 1873. 
 
 I shall have to cram all I have to say into almost no 
 time, as we have lunch to get, and I go to bed at nine, as 
 we are up at six. 
 
 I am in perfect health and strength. Thanks for your 
 kind invitationNorth.oneand all. I hold myself ready to 
 go if I feel run down as I was last year in May and June. 
 I will go if weak and weary as I was then, even if I am 
 not sick and have no symptoms. But if I can and I am 
 well, I want to stay here till the time of real danger from 
 chills — the fall. The time for them this spring has gone 
 by — it is now settled warm or hot weather, no more of 
 that half and half which causes chills. I shall probably 
 keep well and strong as I am now till malaria time comes 
 again, when the chills may recur, and may not. But, 
 though I am not willing to sacrifice my worldly interests 
 for six months, I am willing to risk them through Sep- 
 tember and October, and those two months I shall be 
 happy to spend at Oakshade, for all I can see now. So 
 make your plans for going away for that time, and do 
 not expect me earlier. It is a great yielding to pleasure 
 to go at all, and an indulgence I ought not to give my- 
 self, with so much need of money here in repairs, etc. I 
 did not mean to budge an inch, but I see your fears are 
 rampant, and I will not be obstinate. As for being away 
 longer, it is too ruinous, and I must, I suppose, go at the 
 
230 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1873 
 
 time of most danger of a return of chills. Nobody could 
 be heartier than I am now, and I do not feel fatigue as I 
 did last year. 
 
 Mr. Cope wrote me last night that the Washington 
 house would soon be sold and asked what he and Mr. 
 Wright, trustees, were to do with the money. I shall 
 write to beg them to take charge of it, as they have of 
 the Benezet Fund, and let me draw upon them when I 
 need to pay off. The money comes very promptly 
 monthly now, but I always write to draw it. I have 
 taken one month's full salary, and two months twenty- 
 five dollars each, as I taught only half time. 
 
 To-day we all have on light dresses. I have my pink 
 dotted white linen and am too warm. The garden is 
 lovely. The little apple tree is in blossom and it is "a 
 sight for sair een" — just one little tuft at the top. The 
 little cherry and apricot trees from Pomania, South 
 Carolina, are all living and flourishing. Vick's seeds 
 have proved splendid in Will's garden, and he is de- 
 lighted with its growth. Peas are an inch long. 
 
 You have such horrid diseases in Pennsylvania — 
 smallpox, and spotted fever — I am afraid to go there. 
 So do not think danger lies only here; and, when we have 
 railroad accidents to weigh down the scale on the travel 
 side, it seems safest to stay here quietly. 
 
 October 28, 1873. 
 Our poultry yard is really beautiful with the creatures 
 in it. Ellen says we cannot eat them. They are all almost 
 white — turkeys snowy, ducks almost spotless, hens just 
 tipped with black or pencillings. It is really a peculiarly 
 pretty sight to see them at feeding-time. They are fine 
 
1873] LAURA M. TOWNE 231 
 
 large specimens too, except the ducks, which are of a 
 much smaller breed than yours. 
 
 Ellen arrived last Saturday and Miss Winship comes 
 to-morrow, so the whole family that I dare to expect will 
 be assembled. But if you come you will find your chim- 
 ney corner ready for you, and the kind of welcome any- 
 body must like, because it is a fair craving for you. 
 
 Tim is the most playful, active little rogue I ever saw 
 except Chris, and he beats Chris for mischief. To-day 
 we heard frightened yelping and a queer bumping noise. 
 It went on for some time — Tim evidently in some dire 
 extremity. Ellen thought a mink or dog had him and 
 would kill him before we could get to him. He was on 
 the porch and we in the garden. We all met on the porch 
 — Will from the parlor, Kina from the kitchen — Celia, 
 Grace, Ellen, and I. Tim had squeezed his head into the 
 small watering-pot and could n't get it out, and there he 
 was, rolling over, self and pot, yapping horribly. He was 
 almost terrified into fits, and it was now dog, now pot 
 uppermost, and going at such a rate that I could hardly 
 catch him. He was still the moment I had hold of him 
 and he could hear my voice. But I could n't get his head 
 out. Ellen suggested squeezing it in till loose, and then 
 turning the watering-pot on his neck, and this answered, 
 though the ears came through with a good squeeze. But 
 he did n't whimper a bit. 
 
1874 
 
 February 15, 1874. 
 
 As we Townes grow older we have a great propensity 
 to snuggle into retired, homey corners and forego the 
 world. R. speaks just as if I could afford a jaunt when- 
 ever I like. Indeed, I must stay at home and put the 
 journey money into roofs, for we are almost drowned out 
 occasionally, and as we have had a very rainy winter, 
 the inconvenience is considerable. It is the back roof 
 that Henry had plastered with cement for me. It must 
 be shingled, or something. 
 
 We have a new care — poor little Johnny. He was 
 given by his mother to a horrid woman, Bella Lester, 
 who has a horrider husband, Dr. Jacob, as the people 
 "call him. He is a man who has poisoned enough people 
 with his herbs and roots, and magic, for his chief remedy 
 with drugs is spells and incantations. He drinks and 
 gets quarrelsome when drunk, or rather fiendishly cruel, 
 and beats his wife within an inch of her life — ties her 
 up and whips her with a leather strap, rope, or anything, 
 till the floor is covered with blood. She drinks, too, and 
 this poor little boy was at their mercy. He was beaten, 
 starved, kept stark naked, and ill-treated in every way. 
 Two years ago he ran away, or rather he was brought 
 (from the woods where he had been hiding for four days 
 subsisting on blueberries) to our school by the children. 
 We brought him home, kept him for a while, but finally 
 gave him back, as we had Walter, and could hardly 
 manage two of the same age; but we made the Lesters 
 promise to treat him better and not to whip him for 
 running away. 
 
1874] LAURA M. TOWNE 233 
 
 Since then we bribed them to let him come to school 
 by giving him clothes, but this winter they did not let 
 him come, and the clothes we gave him Mrs. Lester 
 made into a jacket for herself. 
 
 Soon we began to hear of horrible whippings, and at 
 last, one night, James came to beg W. to interfere. W. 
 went to Beaufort to get him arrested, but could not get 
 near the court-house for the crowd of taxpayers waiting. 
 So we sent Johnny word by the school-children and by 
 old Uncle Csesar, James' father, that if he ran away and 
 came to us, we would not give him up again. Old Csesar 
 got a chance to tell the boy, but Bella heard him and 
 kept tight hold of the poor boy for more than a week. - 
 But he got a chance, and last Sunday made his appear- 
 ance in our kitchen in the midst of an awful storm. On 
 Monday Lester came after him and Rina hid the child 
 (we were at school) and told Lester we would never give 
 him up. Then both L. and Bella came to school and 
 claimed him. I threatened them with jail and gave them 
 to understand that the court alone could take him from 
 us. They departed, to "get the law," they said, but 
 instead got whiskey and had a most awful night of it. 
 Lester not only beat his wife and drove her away, but 
 tied up and beat a sick woman he had taken in to doctor, 
 and then ran to his neighbors and chased them out of 
 their house. I said to Johnny, "Jacob will try to catch 
 you, so don't go far from the house, and if he does get 
 you, run away again." "Yes, ma'am," he said, "I gwine 
 run away ebery time he catch me." So I think he will not 
 have much more comfort in Johnny. The boy is stunted 
 and ugly, but Rina says he is "an uncommon smart 
 boy." We expect to get him a home somewhere to 
 
234 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1874 
 
 " mind child," for Rina says he has been for years Bella's 
 only nurse in sickness, her cook, scourer, stableboy, and 
 everything; and I hope he will do well. I doubt his being 
 a good boy. He has seen nothing but thieving and 
 cruelty all his life. 
 
 About your boy. I can't get my choice, — Evans. 
 His aunt won't let him come for even ten dollars a year. 
 I am in some doubt about Solomon being useful. I fear 
 he has been a pet; but there is no hurry, and I am look- 
 ing round, and, as Solomon is in school every day, I am 
 judging of his capacity by little trials. 
 
 June 1, 1874. 
 
 Your letter found me on my way to Beaufort, with 
 the thermometer at 96° in the shade. Miss W. and I 
 were in our no-top buggy, sweltering along at a footpace, 
 for we had strapped on behind the wheels of our top- 
 buggy, and the new wheel of the one we were in flew to 
 pieces as we went over Eustis Bridge. I tied the tire on 
 at each spoke with twine, and so we jogged to the ferry. 
 
 In Beaufort I bought some copper wire and wired it 
 on. Then it brought us home swiftly just in the midst 
 of a windstorm and thunder, but no rain. 
 
 Beside me is Tim, again "hors de combat." Yester- 
 day he went in swimming with Walter, and either swam 
 too much, or took cold afterwards, and to-day he suffers 
 severely from his old enemy, rheumatism. 
 
 Bruno's scalds are skinned over; no hair yet. Of 
 course his scalds were deeper. It is more than a month 
 since the accident and he is barely well. The other dog, 
 Trim, that I bought out of charity to him and because 
 he was Poll's son, was a great hunter, and every night 
 
1874] LAUKA M. TOWNE 235 
 
 he and his comrade, Lucy's other dog, went hunting 
 possum, coon, and rabbit together. Well, one day poor 
 Trim was missing, and he was found the next dying in a 
 ditch from the bite of a snake, supposed to be a rattle- 
 snake. 
 
 June 7, 1874. 
 
 I never before thought it so necessary to be here and I 
 will not even think of going. 
 
 Those tide baths are delicious, but we can go in only 
 once a week during school, for the hours of high tide do 
 not suit. The weather is very warm and we are very 
 busy preparing for the closing exercises of school, so we 
 don't look at the tempting water much. 
 
 Yesterday and Friday I spent at the Village, getting 
 the furniture removed from the house Miss Landon 
 occupies, over to Leah's house at Tripp Point for stor- 
 age, till wanted by Mr. Gannett's new teacher. He has 
 requested me to appoint some one in her place. I am so 
 afraid I cannot find the right one. It is such a pity not 
 to get one whose heart is in the work. I shall be in no 
 hurry to decide. I found Miss L. in her most charming 
 mood, so pleasant and bright and funny. Everything 
 too was so nice and neat and orderly that it was quite 
 charming to see. I amglad she is going to a place, I hope, 
 she will like better. It is to be with Misses Clary and 
 Kildare on Ladies Island. 
 
 Miss W. and I are at home. Ellen at church. We have 
 not yet got our buggy wheels, and so still borrow or hire 
 Ben Scott's. Walter has gone to hold the umbrella over 
 Ellen, and between sun, wind, and umbrella points, and 
 hat, there will be great war. 
 
236 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1874 
 
 The abominable old cart has given out in one wheel, 
 too, so we are badly off. 
 
 The cotton is looking up again. We have had a hot, 
 dry spell that has made it, and melons, grow splendidly. 
 But it is very backward, and the people say will be in 
 danger from the worm. Still, it is better than I ventured 
 to hope it could be. 
 
 We had a splendid rain last week, and forehanded 
 people rushed in their slips. We have got a few rows in, 
 but the sweet potatoes seem to be failures this year. 
 Three whole rows that I planted never came up at all, 
 and slips are very scarce. 
 
 June 14, 1874. 
 
 How I wish I could pop in upon you all, just get a good 
 hug all around and back again to school ! We are in such 
 a state of preparation and drill that we feel we can't lose 
 a single day, and much as we want rain, we look jeal- 
 ously at every cloud. 
 
 I have another day ahead that I have to prepare for. 
 There is to be a meeting of the people to consider school 
 matters, and I shall have to mount the platform and 
 give some kind of account of my stewardship as clerk of 
 the board of school trustees, besides having to recom- 
 mend measures for next year, the amount of tax to be 
 voted for, and the proper division of the money raised. 
 
 Dr. Oliver is away and Pompey Coxem is of no ac- 
 count, so it all devolves upon me. This town-meeting 
 day is the last Saturday in June, and our exhibition is 
 the last day, Tuesday, June 30. Ellen has written some 
 nice patriotic words to the "Fra Diavolo" tune. Where 
 the "Damnation!" comes, we have "Our country! We 
 
1874] LAURA M. TOWNE 237 
 
 won't dishonor its name." This ends every verse, and 
 
 goes on — 
 
 "The name we love, and the land we praise, 
 Oh, sing for its grand old days ! " 
 
 Miss W. flouts Ellen for her want of English patriot- 
 ism in writing in praise of Lexington, Trenton, and 
 other battlefields when we beat the British, but likes 
 the verses that glorify Lincoln, Sumner, and others. 
 The children like it much. Then we have a beautiful 
 church anthem that gives scope to four parts, and the 
 children do it well, though but one part comes in at a 
 time, instead of the harmony of all. As it is arranged 
 for this, and the harmony only comes in in choruses, it 
 sounds very well. Ellen's big boys sing bass, my boys, 
 tenor. 
 
 September 27, 1874. 
 I think stormy times are always best near the sea — 
 for beauty. None of you bathe, I suppose. I go in sturd- 
 ily nearly every day with my dogs, and I find great in- 
 vigoration from it. My swimming improves a little, but 
 I tire very soon, and I am very careful not to do too 
 much and spoil my fun by getting to be afraid of doing 
 anything. It is my arms that get tired, and back. I can 
 swim with the tide a good distance, but against it cannot 
 hold my own. But the best swimmers, indeed the best 
 rowers, cannot contend with the strong currents we 
 have here. My Bruno and Tim are great company for 
 me and stick close by my side all day, of course, but I 
 never think of such a thing as being lonely, I am so busy. 
 For three weeks now, all day, and for a long time in the 
 evening too, I have been mending school-books. W. 
 
238 LETTEBS AND DIARY [1874 
 
 helped me, and indeed was so skilful at binding that he 
 did most of it for two weeks; but now he is away, and I 
 am patching torn leaves. Sometimes I put nearly a 
 hundred patches in one book, so you may know the 
 labor. I use thin paper and paste over the print. These 
 books have been put away as worn out, but now that the 
 fund is so nearly exhausted, we cannot afford new books, 
 and must have some, so I have undertaken a heavy, tire- 
 some job. It will take me another week of incessant 
 labor all day long to finish, and then I shall have secured 
 ten to twenty dollars' worth of — before — worthless 
 books. I like to do it, fortunately. There is a satisfac- 
 tion in turning out a neat, nicely bound, and patched 
 book from a horrid old pair of covers and many ragged 
 leaves. In some cases I put two half -worn books to- 
 gether, rejecting bad parts, and so make one as good as 
 new. 
 
 September 28, 1874. 
 We have to-day come through such a storm as I have 
 seldom seen — such wind and rain. The tide rose so as 
 to carry away all our road bridges, and to make us pris- 
 oners on our little isle of Frogmore, till low tide again. 
 But we are thankful to have escaped an inroad of the sea 
 itself, which did once break through one of the outlying 
 islands. To-day it came sweeping over an island which 
 lies just in front of our house, and it seemed likely to 
 swamp us too. Boughs of trees and pieces of moss cover 
 the ground. I hope our school-house has stood firm. 
 
1875 
 
 Frogmoiie, May 16, 1875. 
 
 I do not see how I could have gone North with- 
 out inconveniencing and disappointing so many (even 
 hundreds, you see, counting our school, Miss W.'s, and 
 Miss Dennis') that it did not seem right. Then the pub- 
 lic school business must be all done before June 30th. 
 Dr. Oliver has gone North. There is no one to do it 
 but me. 
 
 Yesterday we had a little fright. Thomas came and 
 asked me if it was true that we were to have a war. He 
 heard that the rebs were going to get their land back 
 and that there was to be a war in consequence, whether 
 between colored and white, or Yankee and Secesh he did 
 not know, but he said if there was another war "it 
 would carry all we boys that were too leetle before." 
 We supposed that the court had decided against the 
 legality of the tax sales and that the people here would 
 be ejected from their little homesteads, or else obliged to 
 hold them at the pleasure and on the terms of the South- 
 erners. I believe they would have a war if this thing 
 should be done. But Thomas, whom I sent to a meeting 
 Robert Small had called yesterday, to see what it was 
 about, came back joyfully saying that one Yankee 
 lawyer, Mr. Corbin, had got the better of eight rebel 
 lawyers, and that the lands were safe. The newspaper 
 confirmed the news in a telegram from Charleston. It 
 said, "The court refused to go back of the certificates — ■ 
 verdict for defendants." So, my dear W., you will re- 
 joice with us, I know, over our escaping such confusion, 
 
240 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1875 
 
 indignation, and dismay as an opposite verdict would 
 have caused. They say the rebs mean to carry the mat- 
 ter to the Supreme Court, but this decision will be 
 considered indicative of the way it would finally go 
 "almost to a dead certainty," Dr. Oliver said. 
 
 Part of the fleet is gone and I am rather glad, though 
 we miss the guns. The sailors seemed to have leave to 
 come ashore two at a time. They hired horses and went 
 riding about too much to suit me. Once two of them 
 hired a horse and began driving it like Jehu. The owner 
 of it was in the cart, and when he saw they were going to 
 abuse his horse in spite of him, he pretended something 
 was wrong in the harness and got out to fix it. When he 
 had made it right, he ran off, and the sailors struck up 
 the horse to have a jolly time, when the horse made one 
 spring out of the cart and harness and galloped back 
 home free. The sailors chased the laughing darky till 
 they were tired, threatened to shoot him, and then had 
 to put up with a walk instead of a drive. One or two 
 vessels still remain. 
 
 May 23, 1875. 
 
 How I wish I could see you all to-day. One hour with 
 you would be worth a week of life; there is so much I 
 want to know and see for myself. Instead of being with 
 you in reality I have been thinking and imagining you 
 all, but it is unsatisfactory — very. 
 
 I am going to send to W. the paper containing a report 
 of the trial of the case of the Southerners against Robert 
 Smalls for the recovery of the lands, but I want it saved 
 for future reference. It is too interesting to lose. It was 
 a test case. A little while ago Robert Smalls invited his 
 
PRESENTATION OF THE NEW INDUSTRIAL BUILDING 
 April, WIS 
 
1875] LAURA M. TOWNE 241 
 
 old mistress and her children to pay him a visit. They 
 live in Charleston. He paid their railroad fare to Beau- 
 fort and back and entertained them handsomely while 
 here. They accepted his hospitality without being will- 
 ing to eat with him or his, so, throughout their visit, he 
 had their meals served at a different table. 
 
 We are enjoying this rain so much! The garden was 
 parched. 
 
 June 17, 1875. 
 
 Your letter announcing the sending of your semi- 
 centennial present came just in time for me to send 
 York for the box, and to-day he brought it safely. 
 Did n't I have a good time opening it, and disclosing 
 the beauties! The clock is what I wanted badly and is so 
 pretty and suitable. It looks remarkably well on the 
 black mantelpiece and it is the delight of all our hearts, 
 for many a trip upstairs the want of it cost those two 
 girls about school-time. They wish they were fifty, I dare 
 Bay ! Rina headed the troop from the kitchen, and they 
 were all gazing at it in pleased amazement a few minutes 
 ago. Rina says I am fortunate. She kept looking at the 
 clock and saying, "Well, I assure you!" and "Well, you 
 is fortunate!" Walter, however, is specially delighted 
 with the spoons, and there again you have just hit it. 
 
 In two weeks now I shall have leisure enough, and our 
 great exhibition will be over. Just imagine the ferment 
 our young folks are in. When they go to "praise" l or 
 to parties the whole evening is taken up with going over 
 exhibition lessons and pieces — they seem to think and 
 dream of nothing else. We are, therefore, happy as we 
 1 To the "praise-house," used for religious services. 
 
242 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1875 
 
 are busy, and being all hearty, we are enjoying the rush. 
 It is pretty hot weather, though. 
 
 June 20, 1875. 
 
 The school-children are almost wild with excitement 
 over our approaching exhibition. Don't you think it 
 promises well for the people that at evening parties and 
 merry-makings the chief entertainment is the rehearsal 
 of school lessons by the youngsters? That darling school 
 is such a joy and pride ! 
 
 July 5, 1875. 
 
 We try to keep cool on melons and cucumbers, corn 
 and tomatoes, besides taking a swim in the tide. This 
 latter is only cooling when we come out of the water into 
 the wind, for the water is hot. 
 
 We found it so hot this June that we are going to 
 try beginning in the middle of October instead of 
 November 1st, as usual. 
 
 I have written to Mr. Cope l to say that as the Fund 
 is nearly at an end, and my brother has so liberally pro- 
 vided for me, I will not take a salary any longer, but 
 reserve it for the other teachers, so that the school may 
 go on as it is for one or two years longer. He answered, 
 saying he had no doubt I took great pleasure in this 
 arrangement, as I enjoyed before being a volunteer 
 teacher so much, and apparently he was very glad to 
 have the Fund spun out longer. Ellen is, of course, 
 pleased at the prospect of continuance, and I thank 
 Henry more for this than for any other thing I could get 
 
 1 Francis R. Cope, of Philadelphia, who acted as financial agent for 
 the Penn School. 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 243 
 
 with his money — that is, for being able to live here, 
 keep up this home, to feel sure of Ellen's staying, and of 
 the school not being turned over to some teacher I could 
 not agree with, or to some set of trustees who would 
 do with it exactly what we wouldn't like. 
 
 The South Carolina Commissioners have engaged 
 Miss Winship for six months next winter, the state will 
 certainly engage her for two months, and so her whole 
 term is secure. Our family thus promises to be the same 
 as last winter, and I hope it may. 
 
 I have been made trustee of public schools again, with 
 many thanks for past services. Dr. Oliver and the min- 
 ister, James S. Brown, Abram's brother, for co-trustees. 
 
 The other day, before Miss Winship left, by way of 
 resting after our exhibition, we took a day, sat on the 
 porch, and the two girls sewed, getting ready for their 
 journey, while I read them " Rokeby." Didn't we enjoy 
 the sudden transition from the noise and hurry of the 
 days before, to the deep, shady, breezy quiet, the rest, 
 and the reading of the poem! But I believe only school- 
 ma'ams could fully appreciate! 
 
 July 18, 1875. 
 
 The thermometer has been over 90° for two weeks, I 
 think, and on one day reached 99° on our porch. Mr. 
 Macdonald, who has just gone, says it has been 100° on 
 their porch day after day. We can keep perfectly and 
 delightfully cool sitting on our porch, but just to go 
 across the chicken-yard sends the perspiration from every 
 pore in streams. We are having, too, "a dry drought," 
 as the people call it. It has been a long time since there 
 has been enough rain here to make the grass even damp 
 
244 LETTERS AND DIARY [1875 
 
 underfoot, and in consequence the corn is burnt up, the 
 potatoes won't grow, and as soon as rain comes, the 
 cotton will cast its bolls. So there is great depression on 
 the island, and we had a sermon to-day full of calls for 
 repentance to avert this "burning judgment" and to 
 pray for "the first and the latter rain." Very few per- 
 sons ventured out and the roads were like blazing fire. 
 Our grass and bushes are burnt as I never saw them 
 before, and many plants are missing in the garden. The 
 nice little cantaloupes have all succumbed, and so have 
 the cucumbers, but the watermelons hold their own, and 
 are good, indeed. We have not suffered in the heat at all, 
 for the wind all day and night, and the dip or swim in 
 the tide in the afternoon, keep us in good temperature. 
 We sit with our windows all open, with the lamp burn- 
 ing, no nets and no mosquitoes or bugs of any kind to 
 trouble us. 
 
 October 3, 1875. 
 
 School matters are beginning to press — public 
 school, I mean, and ours, too, for we begin the winter 
 term the middle of this month. Miss W. writes that she 
 will set out for here this week by sea. I am sorry she is 
 coming that way. Miss Hancock went up by sea, and 
 she says she never would try it again if it were not for 
 the difference in cost. 
 
 Mr. Cope writes that the Benezet has sent off a box of 
 presents for our "School Christmas," but as a good 
 many of them are kites, which will not last our young- 
 sters an hour, I think Alice's contribution for my class 
 will be very acceptable, and if I have a few over to spare 
 for Miss Winship, I shall be glad. 
 
1876 
 
 Fbogmobb, January 23, 1876. 
 To-day was " Baptizing Sunday," and so warm that 
 it must have felt good to go into the water. Ellen and 
 Miss Winship went, but too late for anything but the 
 concluding services, which are of a lengthy description. 
 The minister told the people who were about to take 
 communion that they were not to take a long drink of 
 the wine, but a sip only — that he had been told that 
 "some of they said they meant to get their two cents' 
 worth." (That is the amount generally subscribed by 
 each to buy the wine.) He told them that was very 
 naughty conduct in church members. The elders used to 
 take the first filled cup, throw back their heads, and 
 drain it with gusto. That was their idea of partaking of 
 the Lord's Supper. Fortunately the wine is generally of 
 the weakest description. 
 
 May 11, 1876. 
 
 Jo Bird and his father, Bosen Bird, were drowned a 
 few days ago. He was in a crowded boat which met 
 rough water, and was swamped. One man who could 
 not swim clung to Bosen (the father) and prevented him 
 from saving himself. He said, "For God's sake, let me 
 go! I have a wife at home starving and waiting for the 
 money I have got here for her, and my little girls, too, 
 has got nothing to eat. For God's sake, don't drown 
 me!" But the other clung and Bosen wa3 drowned. 
 To-day — just now — his wife was here — a very nice- 
 
246 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1876 
 
 looking woman. She said their corn failed, and when 
 they had come to the last, Jo and his father went to get 
 money, to Charleston, I believe. She knew he had re- 
 turned to St. Helena and was to be in a boat that was 
 expected every hour. So she and her two little girls were 
 sitting down waiting, without a mouthful to eat. When 
 the news came she was dumb with dismay. She looked 
 grieved to the heart. She says she said, "Now, I ain't 
 know what to do." But after a time she thought, and 
 said to her daughter, "I'll get up and go beg Miss 
 Towne." "I will arise and go unto," etc., it put me in 
 mind of, as she told me. She accordingly came, and as I 
 had inquired about the circumstances of some of the 
 families of those drowned, and found she needed help, I 
 promised her two pecks of grits a week till potatoes come 
 in. This is to come out of N.'s donation, and she is to 
 return it if she prospers this year. She has land and a 
 good crop in. I also promised to pay Kit Green's fee for 
 marrying her oldest daughter, — about sixteen, — who 
 when the hard times came was engaged to a young man, 
 and only waiting to be married till they could afford a 
 wedding. When the father died and they were all starv- 
 ing, this young man took his betrothed home to provide 
 for, and the mother is in a predicament. She doesn't 
 want her to live with him till she is married, she can't 
 feed her, and they none of them can raise the fee. The 
 young man could go away and earn it, but probably he 
 is the most indifferent one of the party about having any 
 ceremony or very strict ties. She is a nice-looking girl. 
 I wrote a note to Kit Green, asking him to make them 
 man and wife, and saying I would pay the fee. 
 
 Lucy tells you "ober thankee" for the thread and 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 247 
 
 needles. The scissors I reserved for Cilia, who says she 
 did not come to see you so often as she would have liked, 
 because she saw the kitchen was so "clustered" she 
 thought she would not put one more in it. Now that 
 quiet times have come again, she is going to favor us 
 oftcncr. I told her you had left her the scissors, and her 
 "ows" and laughs were of the most energetic descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Yesterday I went to see Dr. Oliver about closing the 
 schools, and it is to be done at the last of May — the 
 public schools, I mean. I also examined Miss Dennis' 
 and Mrs. Fuller's schools. I had a splendid drive. 
 
 May 21, 1876. 
 
 Dear Old Folks at Home: — To-day you are hav- 
 ing a grand meeting surely. ... I feel with you to-day, 
 though so widely absent, and in the stillness of a Sunday 
 morning at Frogmore I can imagine you all talking over 
 family matters, united once more, but to fly apart again 
 soon like a drop of quicksilver spilled. 
 
 I am having such comfort in N.'s donations. For the 
 first time in my experience down here, I have had people 
 come to the back porch, and say (pitifully ashamed, too), 
 "Miss Towne, I hongry." Real nice people, who never 
 asked a thing before! I take only the very old, and 
 motherless, except in some cases where there are very 
 large families. The allowance is the same as in slavery 
 times — a peck of grits a week, no "fixings," sugar or 
 salt, etc. These they do without or find elsewhere. Mr. 
 Robinson lets me have the grits at $1.05 a bushel, and 
 this is lower than I could get it at Savannah, freight 
 paid. It makes Saturday a busy day. Indeed, what 
 
248 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1876 
 
 with altering pieces for exhibition, preparing lessons for 
 my two rooms, teaching the singing to our school and 
 Miss W.'s, paying the final visits of examination to the 
 public schools, which close May 31st, I have a great deal 
 to do just now. 
 
 June 11, 1876. 
 
 . . . But we all feel our duties paramount, and we 
 none of us recognize the duty of living. "II faut que 
 j'existe," does not seem to be among our necessities, or 
 we would make more account of the means to that 
 end. . . . 
 
 We are having a pour-down rainy day. I have not 
 seen its like for years. The people will all rejoice un- 
 speakably, for we have had a dry spell, and they were 
 fairly frightened at the prospect of a year like last, and 
 another failure of their corn. Now it will be beyond a 
 peradventure, for it is in silk in many places, and will fill 
 fast after this soak. There is a good deal of distress for 
 food, and they have organized a society, or something, 
 to get aid from the North or elsewhere. Mr. Elliott is 
 the person appointed to look out for Beaufort and the 
 islands. Meantime about fifty old, blind, lame, sick, 
 crippled grandmothers are subsisting on N.'s grits. 
 They come every Saturday and each get from four to 
 eight quarts, according to necessity. A few motherless 
 children get some, too. You should have seen the poor 
 wretches yesterday. It is understood that I am to give 
 only to the old and helpless, and all others have re- 
 frained from coming to ask for grits, except that hateful 
 Charlotte, Aunt Cilia's Quaker's old wife. Of course she 
 got nothing but a scolding. So I do not have the trouble 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 249 
 
 and vexation I used to have when everybody demanded 
 Government rations and clothing. I think more of our 
 St. H. people, from seeing their behavior in this time of 
 hard trial. 
 
 Next Friday is our exhibition. We are pretty well 
 prepared and have counted out our prizes. Hannah 
 Hunn is coming over on Thursday (Mr. Macdonald is to 
 bring her) and will stay till Sunday, when we are to get 
 her home again. Next week the Hunns, Miss Winship, 
 and Mr. Macdonald go. Ellen will follow in a few weeks. 
 I cannot leave before I buy the blades, and they will be 
 later this year than last. I do not think it possible, as I 
 have said all along, to leave before the middle of August. 
 
 We all keep remarkably well. Diana has possession of 
 her house, but I have not seen her this summer. It is 
 not all paid for yet. The house is $30; but the chimney 
 — $22.50 — is still to settle for — a nice brick chimney 
 and hearth. Judy's house gives intense satisfaction — 
 that is paid for. Diana's crop looks fine. 
 
 July 2, 1876. 
 Another of our great days passed this week — the 
 annual school district meeting. I read my report. It 
 was duly approved and all my suggestions carried out, 
 the three-mill tax voted, school-books provided for, and 
 all smooth for next year. The trustees were well be- 
 praised, which was, of course, satisfactory. After the 
 meeting we and the boys packed away the books and 
 locked up the old school-house till next fall — except for 
 Sunday School, which Ellen will have till she goes. So 
 we are fairly entered into vacation and summer. We 
 have melons, tomatoes, figs, cucumbers, etc., etc., in 
 
250 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1876 
 
 plenty — more than we want. Everything grows like 
 wildfire, for the ground is moist yet from the week of 
 rain; but we have not had too much wet, and the island 
 is very healthy. There are no complaints of fever except 
 with teething children. 
 
 Mr. Nichols has promised to take the store for Mr. 
 Macdonald, so that he will be our close neighbor next 
 winter, and backgammon will be in order every evening, 
 I fancy. To have a good store there will be very con- 
 venient for us. 
 
 The cotton is very backward this year, but looks thriv- 
 ing. It is not yet in full blossom, only one flower here 
 and there, but all the crops look splendidly. The people 
 are actually starving here and there, but the neighbors 
 share what they have — and sometimes it is one's turn 
 to be flush, sometimes another's. Nearly all the men are 
 now at the rock, so some money is coming back to the 
 island. 
 
 A woman sent me seven silver quarters this morning 
 and asked me to give her paper money for it, for she was 
 afraid "dem tings" would n't pass. I have spent nearly 
 all N.'s- money. I gave notice to the poor old folks last 
 7, Saturday that the money was out and there could be no 
 more grits next Saturday. There was a chorus of 
 "Tankee, missus, for what you bin done," and "You 
 ■, could n't do more dan you kin," "Great help," etc., etc. 
 — not one frown or murmur. The folks who have "early 
 peas " — a kind of bean — are now beginning to eat 
 them, but the potatoes are backward, and cannot be 
 used yet, so I am sorry I could not hold out another 
 week, but I have a little reserve for the worst cases. 
 Yesterday there was a crowd of blind, lame, palsied, and 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 251 
 
 feeble standing on the porch steps — such decrepit 
 things you never saw — when Bella [Miss Towne's 
 horse] chose to come up to the steps and marched right 
 into the midst of them. If it had been " the Pale Horse," 
 it could not have created more consternation. They 
 tumbled up and they tumbled down; they fell on the 
 steps and made a scramble for the top. It was distress- 
 ing to see their fright, but perfectly laughable to see 
 Bella's tranquil and stolid composure in the midst of it 
 all. Ellen had to run to the rescue and coax Bella away 
 from below, for threatening her from above did not 
 move her in the least. She is as fat as ever, though she 
 gets but one quart a day. 
 
 We go in swimming nearly every day. Tim never 
 leaves us, but Brunie just takes one run — not swim — 
 and is out again. The water is hot sometimes. 
 
 October 8, 1876. 
 
 It is pouring and the tide is very high and has been 
 so since early morning. There must be a great storm 
 outside to drive the water in so. 
 
 How good you all were while I was with you. I shall " 
 never forget this happy summer. This one, and the one 
 when I was sick, have made me love Oakshade ' more 
 than I ever expected to. 
 
 There is no sickness on the island. All the sick ones 
 are well again, and never were very sick. 
 
 Rain, rain, nothing but rain! 
 
 October 22, 1876. 
 Just think! Fields all one blaze with flowers, mocking- 
 birds crazy with singing, windows open, perspiration 
 1 Home of Miss Towne's sister, near Philadelphia. 
 
252 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1876 
 
 flowing, bees swarming, etc., etc., dogs standing in the 
 tide, not to be coaxed out, roses bursting into premature 
 bloom, white dresses all the go. That is what we are 
 having now. To-day is a fine day for the baptizing. 
 Ever so many of our school-children were baptized, and 
 Celia was readmitted to the church. Kit Green took her 
 severely to task, and asked what she came dressed out 
 in that way for. Celia was very gay and had a pink sash 
 on. Kit said, "Did she come to a ball and a dance that 
 she should be dressed in that style?" — and then he 
 lectured her for twenty minutes, she standing alone in 
 the aisle in front of the pulpit. It was quite a " Scarlet 
 Letter" scene. Rina was present, I suppose, for she 
 went to church, and I suppose, too, that she will now 
 
 forgive Celia. which she has refused to do before. 
 
 v 
 
 October 29, 1876. 
 The other day I met young R. in Beaufort and he 
 apologized for not calling at Frogmore long ago. He 
 could not get a horse. He seems a very pleasant youth, 
 yet I did not invite him to come, for our ways are not 
 their ways, and it is bothersome to know them. South- 
 erners think a lady cannot walk in the streets, by day 
 even, without an escort, so the other day when I was in 
 Beaufort, Dr. Hazel met me, seemed shocked at my 
 being alone, and bestowed his company upon me till he 
 saw me safe in the ferry-boat, to my great inconvenience 
 and annoyance. That day was the day of the "great 
 Democratic mass meeting" which Wade Hampton * 
 came to address. I did not know what day the meeting 
 was to be till I had made all my arrangements to go, 
 1 Democratic candidate for Governor of South Carolina. 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 253 
 
 last Thursday, and I would not let Wade Hampton 
 stand in my way. Very few St. Helena people went 
 over, though the Democratic Party paid the ferry for 
 all who went, so making it "free ferry" to the people. 
 
 The streets were no fuller than on ordinary Saturdays, 
 except of Southerners — they swarmed; the broad- 
 brimmed, long-haired, tall, sallow kind. I never in my 
 life saw so many of them together before. I knew a good 
 many of them, and in every store and on the street was 
 continually stopping to have short conferences on the 
 subject of schools; but to a mere observer I must have 
 seemed an active female Democratic emissary busy with 
 politics. They all seemed much excited and very 
 nervous, but there was no enthusiasm observable. 
 
 The meeting was held on Bay Street just in front of 
 the big yellow house with high steps, which is next to 
 the hotel. It is the "Club House," and it was decorated 
 with evergreens and state flags, but the United States 
 flag was stuck out in front of all the others. The ladies' 
 steps of the hotel were crowded with ladies — mixed 
 Northern and Southern. I took my place there for a 
 short time and could hear every word Wade Hampton 
 said. He stood on the steps of the Club House, and at 
 first spoke with his hat on, but after the first cheer he 
 received, when some of the ladies waved their handker- 
 chiefs, he saw them, removed his hat, bowed, and spoke 
 afterwards without it, looking much handsomer so. He 
 is a stout, good-looking man, with a good voice and 
 moderate manner — a cautious manner, I should say. 
 
 He addressed himself mostly to the negroes while I 
 heard him — told them not to regard any oaths they 
 might have taken, nor any pledges they might have 
 
254 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1876 
 
 made to act with the Republican Party — that they 
 were all void. He spoke as if he had absolving power. I 
 was told that he afterwards said to them they were a 
 small part of South Carolina — and if they were Repub- 
 licans to a man, they nevertheless saw before them their 
 future Governor — for that he was sure to be. While I 
 was there the people were quiet. There were only one or 
 two hundred there and those nearly all white Southern- 
 ers — very few negroes. It looked like a mere street 
 crowd assembled accidentally — a miserably small 
 meeting, but large enough for Republican Beaufort. 
 
 After I left, Langley spoke, and then a regular fire- 
 eater took the stand. Some negro in the crowd contra- 
 dicted something he said, and another negro "knocked" 
 him to make him be still, whereupon both were arrested 
 by the negro police, and so ended — or some time after 
 this ended — in peace, the Democratic meeting in 
 Beaufort. 
 
 I heard a negro talking about the speeches. He said, 
 "Dey says dem will do dis and dat. I ain't ax no man 
 what him ivill do — I ax him what him hab done." 
 Pretty hard on the Democrats, that, and it tells well for 
 the Republicans so far as the negro is concerned, above 
 all. 
 
 November 5, 1876. 
 There was a large Republican meeting here yesterday. 
 All was quiet. On Tuesday there will be excitement all 
 over the country except here, where all goes one way, 
 and after that some peace, I hope, even if there is bitter 
 disappointment among the good. But I don't believe it 
 possible that the Democrats will succeed. It will be ever 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 255 
 
 so long before we, in this out-of-the-way place, find out 
 what is the true state of the election, and who is over us 
 at Columbia and at Washington. Meanwhile, our school 
 goes on happily, and we are not too much disturbed in 
 our minds by anything out of it. 
 
 I went down to call on Mrs. Crippin last week and got 
 lots of cuttings of fine roses and shrubs, which I have in a 
 new hotbed in the vegetable garden, and I think they 
 will strike finely. We shall be rich in "cloth-of-gold" if 
 they do. Mrs. Crippin sent for me. She was sick, she 
 said, and so heartbroken over the sufferings and death 
 of her noble Newfoundland "Fanny" that she wanted 
 me to come and comfort her. She knew I could sympa- 
 thize. So I went, stayed to dine, and spent the day. 
 They are going to Michigan and are to sell all their 
 furniture. Among it is some that I want. 
 
 November 8, 1876. 
 
 The election yesterday passed off quietly and merrily 
 — but horrid nasty tricks were resorted to by the Demo- 
 crats to catch the unwary, such as circulating among 
 good tickets some headed "Union Republican" without 
 any President on it, and with Wade Hampton for Gover- 
 nor, but with the county names Republican. 
 
 People were told to look for the ticket with Hastings' 
 name on it, and his was on this ticket, of course, so many 
 voted for Wade, Hampton without knowing it, and for 
 no President, thus giving a negative for Hayes. Mr. 
 Judd was at our schoolhouse and confiscated over a 
 hundred of these tickets at this poll alone. What, what, 
 what is the fate of our country! It will be so long before 
 we know. 
 
256 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1876 
 
 November 26, 1876. 
 
 Just think! Here we are ignorant yet of the nature 
 and name of our rulers ! The School Commissioner has 
 not come either, so the public school affairs languish, 
 and I have more fret than work; but I take things easy 
 — so easy, that I begin to think I am neglecting some- 
 thing I might be doing, but I don't see what. Our school 
 is lively. We are teaching, or having taught out of 
 Moody and Sankey, "Pull for the Shore," which they 
 sing with real "vim," and we have begun "Sowing the 
 Seed," which has a fugue in it, so we expect difficulty. 
 
 We have just had a visit from Mrs. Crippin and Char- 
 lie, her youngest son. She came on Friday and stayed 
 till yesterday p.m. She is very gentle and ladylike. 
 She is still plunged in grief for her dog Fanny. She wants 
 me badly to buy her piano — the thing she loves next 
 best in the world. She is obliged to sell it, as they are 
 going to Michigan. It is very sweet-toned, new, and of a 
 New York make. It cost over four hundred and she will 
 sell it for two — but it is too big for our parlor, and 
 besides I can't afford pianos just now. I have promised 
 to take some beautiful claw-foot tables (two), an old 
 bureau, a wash-stand, and some remarkable fire-dogs, so 
 that I can't do more. The place is to be sold. If they 
 can stay, they will for this winter, but they may go in a 
 few weeks. Mrs. C. is demented over Bruno. That bad 
 dog and Tim, who is worse, have nearly killed a pig this 
 morning. The poor wretches had to be rescued and shut 
 up in the bathhouse till claimed. Pigs are just beginning 
 to run, though they have no right to. 
 
 We are at the beginning of our autumn, and the 
 weather is exquisite. Thermometer about seventy by 
 
1876] LAURA M. TOWNE 257 
 
 day and fifty-five every night. The Virginia creeper is in 
 its glory and the grapevines are all straw and amber 
 color, which with the creepers' crimson and scarlet, 
 make the roads most beautiful with bright wreaths on 
 dark green trees. Even the gum trees are still green 
 generally, but here and there one is brilliant, and the 
 swamp trees have all changed color. Our garden is full 
 of chrysanthemums. 
 
 Mr. Macdonald comes as usual one evening in the 
 week to play chess. He talks of resuming the horseback 
 rides. Mr. Tyler we see nothing of. 
 
 Last night our boys went to a party again, and to-day 
 they are sleeping it out. We have issued the edict, "No 
 more parties this winter," for there is arising among the 
 Frogmore young men a constant desire for gayety, — 
 suppers, etc., — that we intend to begin to frown upon. 
 They are flush just now, and are spending too much. 
 They are all temperance parties, which is one good 
 thing. 
 
 I have had no applications for help at all, except from 
 little Jo Mitchell for clothes, so I am not yet spending 
 any of Alice's money. With part of Sophy's I treated our 
 primary department to a new stove and fixings, which 
 is a great improvement over the old tumble-down one 
 which has been in use ever since our school began. 
 
1877 
 
 Frogmore, January 28, 1877. 
 
 I do not envy you the sleighing, not I. I never want 
 to see any snow again as long as I live. Just think how 
 much nicer our good, smooth, safe sand is, and our win- 
 ters, with the gardens blossoming right through, as they 
 have done even this hard winter. Old Mr. Hazel, who 
 thinks there never was such a winter here before, says 
 that if the cold had continued one more day, he should 
 have died of it. He seems to think so, confidently. 
 
 T have to go and pay our taxes soon. They are called 
 for by both Chamberlain and Hampton, but they say 
 we are quite safe to pay to our present treasurer, Dr. 
 Wilder, who was appointed to take Holmes' place before 
 the election. I suppose the old assessment holds good 
 as a basis of operations, and that all I have to do is to 
 pay for what is called for. 
 
 I saw lame-leg Diana yesterday. She has just re- 
 turned from Savannah and has brought her younger 
 sister to live with her to work the crop. 
 
 Ellen has just got home. An old woman was baptized 
 to-day who is a hundred and twenty years old, they say. 
 That of course they can't prove, but it is a fact that her 
 daughter's granddaughter has a granddaughter, so that 
 makes six generations living together. She has "tried to 
 pray" all her life, but was always "turned back," and 
 to-day she was triumphantly baptized, with all her 
 family about her. She sat up, but could not walk at all, 
 and it took two elders to take her to the water. 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 259 
 
 It is a pleasant, warm day. Hyacinths and violets out 
 in the garden, wallflowers in big bud, maples red in the 
 woods. 
 
 April 8, 1877. 
 
 More than once folks have told me they would like to 
 give me some money for the people here, and that is the 
 last I have heard of it, so I am not surprised now. There 
 are few as faithful friends to the freedmen as Mr. Gan- 
 nett has proved to be. He has paid over three hundred 
 and fifty dollars a year for six or eight years. Pretty 
 well for a young man's charity! The school will, of 
 course, be kept up, but not as steadily, I fear, and not 
 for such long terms. The teacher he has employed is 
 one of the regular missionary kind, and will cling to her 
 scholars through changing fortunes and all doubts, and 
 uncertainties. I wish Mrs. Cabot would or could main- 
 tain a teacher for Mr. Gannett's school, but of course 
 that is a wild dream, not likely to come to pass. If I am 
 turned out of the trusteeship, as is very likely next June, 
 there is no certainty of any school there at all, unless a 
 teacher is maintained by private means. Of course the 
 trustees of the township would not refuse any such bene- 
 faction, and, though the public funds might be misap- 
 propriated by them, this could not be if the teacher and 
 supporter alone had the handling of the pay. Mind — I 
 am expecting no such good luck for St. Helena, not even 
 actively hoping for it. I am just saying, "What if a kind 
 fairy should," etc., etc. 
 
 Perhaps I ought to tell you how I got through the 
 affair of appointing that old rebel, Mr. P., teacher here. 
 As I said, the people protested, after the contract was 
 
260 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 signed, so I would not "go back of my word," as they 
 call it here, but kept him during the two months over 
 which the district money was expected to extend (but 
 didn't). Then I notified him he must quit, but he 
 begged to stay and take the risk of pay some time in the 
 future. I was inexorable and he went, but I hear from 
 Beaufort that he is loud in my praise, and puts all the 
 blame of his going on the state of the funds. He never 
 kept a good school. He only tried to kill time, though he 
 was in the school-room the required number of hours. So 
 I told him I should never employ him again, for we must 
 have the best teachers for this rising generation, and he 
 knew as well as I that he didn't know how to keep 
 school, however much he might wish to do so f . He took 
 it good-humoredly, gave me a moss-rose bush, and we 
 parted friends. 
 
 April 15, 1877. 
 
 It is a fine day at last after so much rain and cold 
 that we have half believed spring was never coming. 
 
 I am having a tight time to get along, of course, with 
 our diminished income, and I am drawing mildly from 
 the Fidelity, upon the supposition that money must be 
 there, so that when statement time comes I shall find 
 my deposit very small. ... I have contracted, too, as 
 much as I can. No more olives and dainties from Savan- 
 nah ! We buy no butter, as we have cream to make our 
 own — no eggs, no poultry, no meat except pork, and 
 we can get but few hams. Mr. Macdonald has two 
 stores now — the corner one, from which Walter R.. has 
 departed, ostensibly for his health, but really because he 
 doesn't make enough, and the store that Edgell had, 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 261 
 
 where Mr. M. has been these two years. Mr. M. is very 
 nice, gets everything we want, either from Beaufort or 
 Savannah, charges very moderately, and every way 
 does all he can for us. I like him better and better. He 
 is a noble, splendid fellow. 
 
 I have been in raging indignation at Hayes. 1 I hope 
 we have not another Buchanan in the President's chair, 
 but I fear we have. He is too easy and ready to think 
 well of everybody. He won't believe in rebellion till he 
 sees it again, I suppose. Nobody seems to remember 
 that the South is only half -civilized, and that the negroes 
 are nearly as well informed and a great deal more loyal 
 than the whites. I think Chamberlain's 2 letter to the 
 people, about his retiring from further contest, is fine, 
 every word true, and nobly said. In Hampton's speech 
 at Columbia, he gave an ass's kick at the dead lion, 
 when he said he should not occupy the State House till 
 he had had the fire engines in, and the convicts scrub the 
 place out. I try to smother my rage, but I wish I could 
 speak out or write out what blazes inside. Ellen is as 
 indignant as I am. 
 
 April 29, 1877. 
 
 We are in the midst of an April thunderstorm, and I 
 have been all morning sauntering about the gardens, so 
 you may expect a little rhapsody, for I never saw such 
 splendor as this welcome rain is falling on. The phloxes 
 are in full glow, and the roses amazing. The rose from 
 Seaside, that the old man said came from the "Rock," 
 proves to be a cluster-rose, something like the little mul- 
 tiflora of the porch, only not so double, and bright 
 
 1 President Rutherford B.Hayes. 
 
 2 Republican candidate for Governor of South Carolina. 
 
262 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 crimson. It is a tremendous grower, and will have to be 
 moved. Several tea roses are of a very beautiful kind, 
 white, tinged with pale pink, fragile, large, and perfectly 
 exquisite as buds. Several are the yellow, or saffron- 
 tinted rose, like the one from Givins', and from Seaside. 
 My Lamark, with its thousands of clusters, spraying 
 from one porch pillar to the other, is too beautiful, 
 especially by moonlight. Both Ellen's moss-rose and 
 mine are covered with buds; my cloth-of-gold is just 
 opening its first bud — a beauty, and true to its kind. 
 The little eglantine is in blossom, and the tiny blue 
 convolvulus. A splendid bed of red poppies overtops 
 the phlox around the pampas grass. In the vegetable 
 garden there is a bed of the pure white phlox as large as 
 our dining-table, and two beautiful seedling verbenas — 
 a deep purple and a pink. If you want pure white phlox, 
 send; I can secure you any quantity of unmixed. . . . 
 The yellow bladderwort is out now in all the ponds, and 
 it has water enough to swim in, for this has been a rainy 
 spring, though the last week has been dry. Corn and 
 cotton are up finely, but the people are afraid to be glad, 
 they are so doubtful about Hampton. 1 So are we, too. 
 He takes things with a high hand, indeed. 
 
 Just think! in six or seven weeks school closes! There 
 is much that ought to be done to the house this vacation. 
 The woodwork is crumbling around the windows for 
 want of paint; the need of whitewash is frightful; there 
 is a new vegetable garden to be fenced and begun, for 
 the old fence is almost past propping; the roof should be 
 painted again; the front porch re-roofed. The porch 
 
 ' Wade Hampton, a Democrat, had been elected Governor of 
 South Carolina. 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 263 
 
 steps are so rotted that they are hardly safe, and when I 
 do have another set, I believe I will have them made of 
 brick like most of the Beaufort houses, for these wooden 
 ones have to be so often renewed. Now where is the 
 money to come from to do all this? — to say nothing of 
 going to Oakshade? 
 
 May 0, 1877. 
 
 L.'s letter set me such an example of rhapsodizing 
 over spring that I am not only not afraid to hold forth in 
 this letter, but I regret having felt ashamed of my for- 
 mer letters in which I could not help giving some voice 
 to my inward feelings by sending long lists of flowers in 
 bloom, etc., etc. Now I have courage to say that every 
 day grows more beautiful and delightful — that the 
 garden, ablaze with phloxes, is beyond compare. But 
 yet L.'s description of a Northern spring made me more 
 homesick than anything for a long time. I am fair crazy 
 to see your new surroundings, your magnolia, the grove, 
 and hillside wild flowers, and the crocuses in the garden. 
 Some day I must manage to go North in spring. ... I 
 do not think I shall see the North this year. I just can't. 
 When this month's statement comes I think like as 
 not it will say that I have overdrawn my money, and 
 have less than nothing to go upon until August. Yet 
 some things must be done to Frogmore. I shall do as 
 little as I can to live comfortably. 
 
 We are in the midst of blackberry-time, and this 
 morning I picked about a quart of strawberries from oUr 
 garden, also the two last cherries from the dear little 
 Mayduke. If I have a cent to spare, I shall certainly 
 invest in another Mayduke next fall. It costs twenty- 
 five cents. 
 
264 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 The crops look well, but the cold rains have made it 
 necessary to replant much of the cotton. The people ask 
 me for nothing. 
 
 Mrs. Cabot sent me Miss Martineau's life. I have 
 begun it, but it is a big book and my time scant. 
 
 May 13, 1877. 
 
 Provisions have gone up with a rush; flour two to four 
 dollars a barrel and grits from .90 to $1.10 per bushel. 
 Cotton, meanwhile, will be nowhere, they say. So our 
 island will pay out for food and lose on its own produc- 
 tion — its one staple. 
 
 Meanwhile the island was never more lovely — so 
 luxuriantly green. It is raining again, and, though 
 splendid for the garden, this constant rain disappoints 
 many a plan. 
 
 I pay lower wages than I ever did, and we do without 
 all we can, for times are tight. 
 
 Is there any hope of railroad troubles ending? Do tell 
 me some cheering financial news. As for politics; they 
 say Hampton is having a hard time restraining the fire- 
 eaters, and that they are worrying him well. One paper 
 says " he knows how it is himself " now. He will never be 
 able to keep his pledges about equal justice and all that, 
 and he might have known it — probably he did before 
 he made them. 
 
 May 27, 1877. 
 
 This week has brought us neither newspapers nor 
 
 letters, and I feel banished from the world. We have had 
 
 two hot days when the thermometer was between 80° 
 
 and 90°, but it is blowing cold again from the coast. It 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 265 
 
 is very unlike the first May down here when I thought 
 myself undergoing the fires of purgatory for the whole 
 month of May. Still, the fruits and vegetables like this 
 style of weather. We are now through blackberries, have 
 had one cucumber, and are coming into plum and peach 
 time. I have one peach almost ripe, the fig tree is loaded 
 with figs, and the grapes are the size of large peas — the 
 catawba grape. The wild grapes are only just in blos- 
 som, so the roadsides are sweet as we drive along. L.'s 
 berry-spoon has done noble service. How I have enjoyed 
 using it! I don't believe any table south of Mason and 
 Dixon's old forgotten line has so many elegant things 
 on it as mine, with its pickle and jelly jars, its various 
 spoons and knives and ladles. 
 
 I shall be much hurried till exhibition is over. Hannah 
 Hunn is to come on Wednesday, and she will probably 
 be our only white visitor, except Miss Dennis who is not 
 going North or West this summer. She will remain on 
 St. H. all summer, so I shall not be so much alone. 
 
 June 17, 1877. 
 I could get no time to write a word, because after 
 exhibition we had Hannah Hunn and Mr. Macdonald to 
 entertain after a late dinner. I was so tired, too, that I 
 could not think — just exist — till bedtime, and that 
 was all. It was a great success, though, — the best and 
 prettiest closing day we have ever had. The weather 
 was fine, the church crowded, the children eager and 
 merry — not a failure in the whole of it, and everybody 
 was happy. T.'s drum was a great feature. Scipio Gar- 
 rett played marches on his accordion, to which the drum 
 kept time, and "the band "was the delight of the day to 
 
266 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 many of the people. Hastings made his usual eulogistic 
 remarks, and told what "Lawyer Elliott" of Beaufort 
 said of "Miss Towne." Hannah got up and told the 
 people that I was teaching for nothing, and so was Ellen, 
 so we were duly glorified and abashed. Of course Miss 
 Winship's school was there, and did their part to per- 
 fection. Walter spoke remarkably well, and was much 
 approved. Tell Amy that one of the most taking little 
 pieces was when Victoria, holding a pretty white pup in 
 her arms, said Amy's verses about the dog. She patted 
 him, and the little fellow put up his face and pressed it 
 under her chin so lovingly that there was a stir and smile 
 all over the crowded church, at the little doggie's doing 
 his part so well. Two of my best readers read Whittier's 
 "St. John de Matha," and well, too. Ellen had a drama- 
 tic representation of Captain John Smith and Pocahon- 
 tas, with Julia Singleton for Pocahontas, Sam Hazel for 
 "that paleface" prisoner, and Thomas Chaplin for 
 Powhatan. Miss Winship had the "Examinations of a 
 Teacher by a School Committee," and the fun of it 
 brought down the house again and again. The singing 
 was the best we ever had. . . . 
 
 To return to the exhibition. Hannah, Mr. M., and 
 Miss Dennis were our only white visitors, but every 
 inch of room was filled by the people, and we never 
 before had such warm praises and thanks as were 
 showered upon us after we closed the exercises. The 
 people manifest their gratitude and affection more now 
 that they feel their friends are departing, and under a 
 cloud, too. Hannah is going North to teach. There 
 is no prospect of any schools worth calling so, after 
 this, and there will be an almost total retirement of all 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 267 
 
 Northern teachers. The time is approaching for our 
 annual School Meeting, but as we are forbidden to 
 raise any money for school purposes, — that is, to levy 
 the usual three-mill, or any school tax, — there will be 
 nothing to do but present my report and accounts. 
 1 shall have a busy two weeks to look forward to — my 
 correspondence is so in arrears, and I have the report 
 and speech to prepare. 
 
 Walter is to be baptized in a month or two, and is as 
 good as he can be, trying to forget no duty, and not 
 "to take a frown upon his face" at any requirement, 
 however inconvenient or distasteful, and not to answer 
 back at a reproof or quick word. So we are having a 
 good time. I intend, after Ellen goes, to get Candace 
 Baker, a nice strong young girl, to come and sleep in 
 the house upstairs, so that I shall have some one near 
 to send on errands, etc. 
 
 June 24, 1877. 
 
 Tim's turns have increased in frequency, and for 
 two days now he has refused food. He has a very dis- 
 tressing cough. Pets give us grief as well as comfort 
 and pleasure, but I think the latter greatly counter- 
 balances, and besides, I think we ought to take some 
 pets to our hearts and homes to ameliorate the condition 
 of something in the world. 
 
 I don't know how it is that I have so much better 
 health than any of you, except that I live in a healthy 
 climate on the seashore, and it suits me. I have been 
 alone these two days — that is, by day. At night 
 Candace comes and sleeps in the next room to mine, 
 so that I can call her at any moment. Walter and 
 
268 LAURA M. TOWNE [1877 
 
 Thomas are to run for the house at the sound of a big 
 bell, which is outside of Candace's window, and large 
 enough to alarm the neighborhood. So, please, all 
 friends, I have provided for every dangerous emergency, 
 in a place where we have forgotten what danger feels 
 like, we are so safe! Bruno sleeps beside my bed and 
 Tim at the foot of it — a place he has chosen for his 
 special corner. I leave my door open, and dogs and cats 
 walk in and out as they like. I never dream of having 
 anything to fear, in spite of all these precautions. 
 
 There is much to do in the house for the first week, 
 and after that I expect to begin regularly writing some- 
 thing every day, either to keep things in remembrance, 
 or to set them forth for others. I have just finished Miss 
 Martineau's "Autobiography," and it is enough to 
 inspire the stupidest person to use the pen; she did so 
 much good with hers. But I can't say that I am in- 
 spired by her example. I am only pushed to it by a 
 sense of duty; for the things going on here ought not 
 to be forgotten, nor lost, as a lesson. 
 
 July 1, 1877. 
 I am so afraid Ellen will not be able to come down 
 here to live without salary, now that the Benezet Fund 
 is exhausted, and then what shall I do? That is, how 
 can I live alone? I suppose E. and Mr. M. may do, for 
 the one winter they will probably stay, but how after 
 that? I have here now, nursing, a teacher — Miss 
 Dennis. She was taken with fever, or weakness, last 
 Sunday, was utterly destitute of care or help, and would 
 probably have died before long. The people brought 
 me word of her state, and yesterday I went to see her, 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 269 
 
 found the case one of great need, and, as I could not 
 possibly desert Mr. Gannett's teacher, nor go there to 
 nurse her, nor leave her in such a bake-oven of a house, 
 I brought her here, and here she will be for some time. 
 
 The school meeting came off yesterday, but there 
 were too few present to do much, so we adjourned, to 
 meet next Saturday. The reason was that the people 
 wanted to make more preparation and give a wider 
 notice, and asked us to adjourn. 
 
 Rina is sitting with Miss D. while I write, and I must 
 relieve her, for the good old woman's time for a smoke 
 has come. All the servants are comforts, especially 
 Candace, except Thomas, who is to be married in No- 
 vember, and "don't care," generally. 
 
 July 15, 1877. 
 Our little island has been expressing itself. We met 
 as usual on the legal day for the district school meeting, 
 June 30th, but we could not vote to levy any school 
 tax, because the Democratic legislature had forbidden 
 it. The meeting was small, and we adjourned till July 
 7th. Meeting small again, owing to baptizing arrange- 
 ments for the day after. Adjourned again till yesterday, 
 when we had a large meeting of the most influential 
 men among the blacks of the island, and Mr. Macdonald 
 and myself representing the whites. Sam Green, 
 senator of the assembly (from Ladies Island), Kit 
 Green's son, was there and made a long and pretty good 
 speech in favor of some resolutions which I wrote, and 
 advocated their adoption by the meeting. They were 
 to the effect that St. Helena might be excepted from 
 the operation of the new law which forbids district 
 
270 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 taxes, because the people here are the taxpayers, there 
 being on the island five thousand blacks and not fifty 
 whites, twelve hundred and eighty black children of 
 age to attend school, and only seven white children, 
 and because the few white people here are as anxious 
 for schools as the blacks, and as willing to pay the tax 
 voted at these meetings. This is to be published in the 
 newspapers, and will show not only the injustice done 
 in forbidding people's providing for the public schools 
 adequately, — and as handsomely as they please, — 
 but also that the St. Helena folks are awake to their 
 rights. If I can get a paper in which they are published, 
 I will send you one. The resolutions are mild as milk 
 and water. They were passed unanimously. My report 
 as clerk of the board of trustees was read and approved. 
 We had, during the two hours we waited for the assem- 
 bling of the people, some political talk. How bitterly 
 the poor fellows who stood out at the peril of their lives 
 for Chamberlain and Hayes denounced Hayes! They 
 wished heartily that Tilden had got in, for he could not 
 have done them so much harm. I protested against 
 this, but Hastings said, "If Tilden had put in Hampton, 
 every friend we have at the North would have cried out 
 against it, and we should have had our national pro- 
 tectors looking out for us; but now Hayes has not only 
 done all Tilden could have done here, but he has shut 
 the mouth of all our Northern friends, and turned them 
 to the counsel of our enemies, and we have no one to 
 speak for us." The general opinion seemed to be that 
 Hayes was a weak man, "a kind of backing-down 
 man." 
 
 You don't know how I enjoy the newspapers you, S., 
 
18771 LAURA M. TOWNE 271 
 
 and Mr. Wild send me, now that I have time to read 
 them. Fred Douglass disappoints me. The idea of 
 apologizing to his old master ! I liked better his laughing 
 at the Washingtonians, which set them in such a buzz, 
 but it was not exactly wise. These apologies by colored 
 men don't mean what they would from whites — a sur- 
 render. They only mean a little condescending courtesy 
 towards those whose weakness demands a little humor- 
 ing. 
 
 August 12, 1877. 
 
 The Philadelphia Ledger gave our school district 
 resolutions a nice long notice, and quoted them in full. 
 If you have that paper, or can get it, be sure to secure 
 it for me. I want to read it to the people, both to encour- 
 age them and to justify myself for making such a fuss 
 to have the resolutions passed. I want to keep it too. 
 No other paper that I have seen has taken any notice 
 except the Charleston Journal of Commerce, Rhett, 
 
 editor. 
 
 August 19, 1877. 
 
 How refreshing it was to get T's. letter last night, and 
 be made aware of a placid and happy world where folks 
 can "dash in palms and ducks, rushes and storks, in 
 India ink" on their window curtains, and paint tiles, 
 and sit in groves, and talk gardens, and watch roses — 
 utterly oblivious of the trouble and struggle all around, 
 and the brimstone smell of the social and political 
 atmosphere. What with strikes and riots and old 
 slavery reviving here, and base treachery at Washing- 
 ton, etc., etc., I am not in a frame for pretty work or 
 peaceful repose. I want to agitate, even as I am agi- 
 tated. I am glad to say that five newspapers have 
 
272 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 already noticed our St. H. resolutions. By the way, 
 not one of my own family, East or West, North or 
 South, has said one word about those resolutions — 
 not even that they were received. I sent papers to you 
 all, and hoped for your opinions, even if adverse. The 
 papers which have noticed them are the Ledger, the 
 Commonwealth, the Nation, and the Charleston Journal 
 of Commerce. All praise the action of St. H., which 
 pleases me, of course. If all would denounce the repeal 
 of the law which made such resolutions necessary, I 
 should be better pleased still. I wrote a letter to Dr. 
 Furness, who replied to it promptly. Such a cheering, 
 delightful letter as it was! It denounced exactly what 
 I wanted denounced. It rated the Southerners as I 
 wanted them rated. It advocated just what I wanted 
 advocated, and altogether it was intensely satisfactory 
 and consoling. It was so good to find one person with 
 the right views and to think there might be more of the 
 same mind. I wonder what view N. takes of the facts, 
 that for non-payment of the poll-tax, and of the fine 
 for not doing so, a man can be put into the penitentiary, 
 and sold out of it as a slave for the time of his sentence. 
 That is why Mr. Gleaves, Sally Fassitt's connection, 
 fled to Canada, because he would, without perhaps 
 even a show of trial or justice, have been condemned 
 to the penitentiary, and from that hired out on a nice 
 plantation, subject to rules made by three directors, 
 regarding "the quality of his food and clothing," the 
 time of his labor per day (ten hours unless in agricult- 
 ure, and then at the pleasure of the hirer), and "the 
 nature of his punishments." There was an item in the 
 Beaufort paper, too, which shows which way the wind 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 273 
 
 blows. It was to the effect that a man charged with hog- 
 stealing — not convicted nor taken in the act, but only 
 charged with it — was taken by a party and severely 
 whipped, "so saving the expense of a trial," the Beau- 
 fort Tribune said. If that doesn't look like slavery 
 times, what could? Ellen says she saw Mary Grew and 
 Mr. Burleigh, and had a long talk with them, and they 
 say that things are as bad as I think them with regard 
 to the South. Garrison and Wendell Phillips are of the 
 same mind. I wonder how Lucretia Mott feels. 
 
 How I am to get through till next November I don't 
 see. I suppose the Lehigh won't pay a cent, nor the 
 Reading, nor the Pennsylvania Railroad. What is 
 there, then? 
 
 I am going to contract still more here. Walter wants 
 to go to the "Rock," l and to earn his own living after 
 this, so I shall get a girl and dismiss Mrs. Ford. Walter 
 is to go for a week's trial, but I have little hope of his 
 ever settling quietly here again. He has been restless 
 all summer. The new phosphate mining just off Ed- 
 ding's Point is setting all the boys wild. 
 
 John Chaplin would n't touch the front porch. He 
 says it will hold up another year, and if touched now 
 would have to come down altogether. It looks badly, 
 but must do! I can do no more than must be done. 
 
 September 9, 1877. 
 
 My mind is a little more tranquil about politics, 
 
 because I see that the North is not quite dead asleep. 
 
 The letter I wrote Mr. Gannett he sent to Richard 
 
 Hallowell, who noticed it in his paper — then the 
 
 1 Phosphate work3 near Charleston, South Carolina. 
 
274 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 Nation took it up, and someone in Columbia replied 
 to it. This reply I did not see in time to answer. Then 
 the Boston Journal had some remarks to make on it, 
 and the Tribune (New York) gives its facts one small 
 paragraph. If the people were determined to acquiesce 
 in all things, the statements in that letter would have 
 been unregarded. I sent a communication to the New 
 York Tribune about the hiring-out-of-convicts plan. 
 It has not published it that I have seen. Mr. Macdon- 
 ald sends me all his Tribunes, but I may have over- 
 looked it. It is very possible, too, that it was too 
 "partisan" to be published by an ardent justifier of 
 Hayes, which the Tribune is. How I have enjoyed Gail 
 Hamilton's letters, though I do not agree with her in 
 all things, nor admire her way of saying some things. 
 But in the main she is admirable, and so sensible, and 
 so witty. 
 
 Now to get back to old Frogmore. It did look beauti- 
 ful this morning, with the tide so high and so white- 
 capped by the wind that we seemed on the edge of the 
 ocean. The causeway and even the waterline pasture 
 fence were under the water. There was a great float 
 of sedge, with about twenty white cranes on it, that 
 started by the Katy Island, and sailed away down 
 towards the point, without disturbing the birds. I 
 could n't resist the tide, so I took the doggies and went 
 in, and had a splendid swim. The water was just cool. 
 It is a splendid windy, cool day. Thermometer, 76° this 
 a.m. at 7 o'clock, the coolest we have had yet. 
 
 I have been planting cabbages, and having turnip, 
 cabbage, carrot, beet, and lettuce seed put into the 
 ground, so you can see I am preparing for winter, when 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 275 
 
 I hope to have lots of my own dear family to entertain. 
 I have to wait so for John Chaplin that the house is all 
 confusion yet. Mrs. Rice and Miss Hazel were here 
 sewing for a week, but have gone. I am having real 
 comfort in Candace and Julius. They are both good 
 children, and do "as near as they kin," as Rina says. 
 Walter wrote a letter to tell me of his adventures in 
 seeking work at the "Rock." He now has a place as 
 cook at five dollars a month, clothing and board. That 
 is better than I could do for him, so I suppose he will 
 not come back. I think he is too mannish to suit me 
 now, so I am content, and Ellen says she will miss him, 
 but thinks it best he has gone. 
 
 In a little more than a month school begins. I shall 
 be so glad if I am only ready, as I hope to be. 
 
 September 18, 1877. 
 
 I was so surprised yesterday by receiving from Alice 
 a nice letter, enclosing two hundred dollars for our 
 school. Hurrah! We are safe now for two years more, 
 with Mrs. Cabot's donation, Alice's, and the remains 
 of the Benezet. Ellen, you know, takes no salary, nor 
 do I, so we have only the five assistants to pay, and their 
 highest salary is ten dollars a month. I feel as rich as 
 Croesus. But yet, truly we have personally little cause 
 for a rich Reeling, with railroads cutting up so and cut- 
 ting us out of all our income. 
 
 The health of the island is good. There is yellow 
 fever in Florida, and Beaufort is a fussy little place, so 
 that steamers that usually put in at Port Royal are now 
 not allowed to stop. They worship health at Beaufort, 
 and take every precaution that can be thought of against 
 
276 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 every imaginable disease. It does me good to see it, 
 but I can't help laughing a little, for I thought I was 
 the most nervous and precautionary individual that 
 was about, but I am nothing to the Board of Health of 
 that town. It is rewarded, though, for Charleston, 
 Savannah, and all our neighbors may have epidemics, 
 but Beaufort never has any. There is a funny state of 
 things there in one respect. The children never have 
 measles, whooping-cough, scarlet fever, or any of the 
 things it is thought they ought to have. Whole families 
 grow up without anything of the kind. Diphtheria, 
 too, is almost unknown in this entire region. One 
 man had it, but I never heard of a child's having it. 
 None of the children (colored) on this island are vac- 
 cinated, so I fear there will some day be another ter- 
 rible smallpox scourge like the one we went through in 
 1863. 
 
 I never was better in health in my life than I have 
 been this summer. I could n't afford expensive improve- 
 ments, but with whitewash and paint I have made a 
 very telling change in outside appearances, and I have 
 kept alive a family of poor whites, doing it. 
 
 I have just re-read Olmsted's "Cotton Kingdom" 
 and found it true — true and exact. I wish Hayes had 
 read it before he adopted his policy. 
 
 Ellen and Elizabeth (Winship) come back in a week 
 or two. School begins October 15th. I am reappointed 
 trustee for two years more, but the public schools will 
 have no money. 
 
 Our boy Walter went away to seek his fortune at one 
 of the phosphate "mines," as they call them. He has 
 come back sick, crestfallen, and disappointed. 
 
1877] LAUBA M. TOWNE 277 
 
 September 30, 1877. 
 
 The S. C. N. S. Com'rs l (Mr. Gage and Company) 
 are going to employ Miss Winship and Mr. Davis' 
 niece, Mary Barber, for five months each. Our school 
 will go on swimmingly now, with Alice's donation and 
 Mrs. Cabot's to give it a shove. Messrs. Cope Brothers 
 write that they will gladly add Alice's two hundred 
 dollars to the fund in their hands, and that they "rejoice 
 with me in the 'cruse of oil' being so opportunely 
 replenished." The Benezet is going to send Christmas 
 gifts as usual, and early, too, so I shall not have that on 
 my mind. I have some of Alice's last year's money to 
 spend on the usual little treat. Our children seem wild 
 with joy that school is to begin again soon. Candace 
 is a nice little thing — bright and industrious, and funny. 
 She tells me all the children say. William Prichard has 
 put up a store close by Miss Winship's school lot, and 
 every evening the dogs are kept barking the whole time 
 by the shouting, laughing, and talking going on there. 
 ... I heartily enjoy the summer here. It is not so 
 warm as it often is at the North, for the sea breeze 
 keeps it cool. I think September is about the most 
 unpleasant month. There is apt to be less sea breeze, 
 more rain and dampness, and quite as hot a sun, 
 besides frequent storms. Watermelons and peaches 
 and figs have gone, and we have only the pomegran- 
 ates to take the place of better fruits. Oranges will 
 not come for two months yet. I have one apple 
 ripening. 
 
 This is my last Sunday alone. Ellen will be here on 
 Tuesday. I never had a healthier summer in my life. 
 1 South Carolina Negro School Commissioners. 
 
278 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 October 7, 1877. 
 
 The yellow fever broke out in Fernandina and was 
 brought in those steamers to Port Royal, or Battery 
 Point, and two of Apple's clerks, being scared, ran away 
 from Port Royal and walked up to Beaufort at night. 
 They were taken down with fever at Apple's old store 
 in Beaufort, and though Dr. Stewart says they have 
 not got yellow fever, yet several of the white people 
 have gone away, afraid of the fever's coming. 
 
 There is no sickness on this island. Not a case of 
 anything like yellow fever, or severe fever of any kind. 
 They say that yellow fever is a disease peculiar to cities, 
 and that scattered people never have it, unless they 
 have brought it from a city with them. So we feel per- 
 fectly safe, even if it should come to Beaufort, and we 
 are both perfectly well now. 
 
 Ellen came last Tuesday. They had a very rough 
 passage and she was sick the whole way. The Magnolia, 
 of Savannah, we hear went down off Hatteras the day 
 after Ellen passed it. I went to Beaufort for her Tues- 
 day, and it was a showery, windy day, so that I had 
 hesitated whether to leave her at Mrs. Hunn's till 
 Wednesday. If I had done so she could not have come 
 over for two days, for we had a fearful easterly storm. 
 As it is, we have had a good time gardening and setting 
 things to rights, so that we shall begin school next Mon- 
 day week, unencumbered. 
 
 The coldest weather we have yet had was about 
 sixty -two or three, and I felt perishing with it, in spite 
 of fire in the parlor. It is growing warm again. 
 
 We have been horribly plagued with mosquitoes and 
 "burr," or cockspur grass. The wet weather brought 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 279 
 
 them both, and I never before knew the extent of the 
 plague of them. 
 
 This morning I went to the Methodist church to a 
 funeral sermon which was a real treat. The man who 
 preached — Rev. Mr. Harris, colored — did it well. 
 The invitation to stay to communion was given so 
 heartily and in such a liberal fashion, that I could stay, 
 and did so. 
 
 Robert Smalls has been arrested. They have two 
 objects in this. One is to prevent his taking his seat in 
 the approaching Congress, and the other to bring 
 odium upon him and give his opponent in the contested 
 seat a better chance. They are keeping the facts against 
 the Democrats who were guilty, in the dark, till the 
 political aspect is settled, and then, for decency's sake, 
 they will bring them forward, for they are too notorious 
 and too much implicated to be let go. But see the cun- 
 ning of the examiners! They call up and expose all the 
 Republicans now, so as to affect the approaching extra 
 session of Congress, and when political action is taken 
 in their favor, they can afford to try their own guilty. 
 
 Hastings Gantt has not yet been arrested, or accused. 
 Indeed, I doubt if they have anything against him. He 
 refused to take Democratic bribes, and that may be his 
 ruin, for they will want him out of the way. 
 
 October 21, 1877. 
 To-day I have sacrificed some of my correspondents 
 to my dogs. It is a fine, windy autumn day, and the 
 rascals teased me so for a walk that I could not refuse, 
 so I went along the shore to the boat-landing, then up 
 across the field to the swamp and woods, and home 
 
280 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 through the "task-paths" through the long cotton- 
 field. How I did wish for you all, and how I bore in 
 mind the walks we took along there when you were 
 here. I got some flowers — blue lobelia, yellow sun- 
 flower, cotton bolls, red and white, with open cotton, 
 and a tuft of broom grass. The red, yellow, and blue 
 and white make our gayest bunch of the season. The 
 warm weather has kept the plants blossoming. The 
 people are getting a very fair crop, in spite of the worm, 
 but the staple may be injured for all I know. 
 
 My vegetable garden is fine; such growing I never 
 saw. We have green peas, lettuce, cocoas, lima beans, 
 eggplant, spinach, and onions in use, and coming on, a 
 splendid lot of cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots, beets, 
 salsify, turnips, and later peas. The dear little "Tom 
 Thumbs" were planted about the middle of September, 
 and are just now bearing nicely. I shall never fail to 
 have a plentiful supply. 
 
 Yesterday I picked our one apple, a Romanite, — a 
 beauty! I love them best of all apples. All the trees 
 look uncommonly healthy, and next year I think there 
 will be lots of fruit. 
 
 The hawks have begun their depredations, and Tim 
 and I are driven wild by the screams of the poor hens 
 and the cries of the chickens "carried." I have told 
 Reynolds that I will not "buy hawk" this winter, 
 because he was so industrious with his gun last year 
 that hawks cost me more than the poultry came to. 
 
 We hear no more of the yellow fever in Beaufort, 
 and the island surely is very healthy. The weather is 
 dry — windy; not either very warm nor very cool, and 
 I can't see any reason for anybody's getting sick, unless 
 
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282 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 when that is the case, and we can communicate, there is 
 no separation in its worst sense. These thoughts are 
 apropos of the death of poor old Aunt Cilia, of "The 
 Oaks," who died this morning after months of great 
 suffering. The old people here do not need our care 
 long. They seem to drop off very fast. She was very 
 old, but was not feeble until this last illness began. I am 
 sorry for poor old Uncle George, and for the tribe of 
 grandchildren whom she helped to provide for. 
 
 The sharp, brisk cold weather puts everybody into 
 a good humor. The thermometer was 42° last night, 
 and we all found it hard to keep warm at night under 
 piles of bedclothing, and to-day we have enjoyed the 
 fire. It has been sunny and delightful. 
 
 I had to go to church to tell the people about the 
 schools, and I walked home, leaving Saxton for the two 
 E's after Sunday School. I got a beautiful bunch of 
 autumn flowers. 
 
 December 16, 1877. 
 
 I have been busy as ever lately, and the worst of it is 
 that age begins to tell in one way — increased sleepi- 
 ness. I drop asleep so easily at all times, and in the 
 evening especially I cannot keep awake to read the 
 paper, nor write, nor do anything that requires thinking, 
 and at night how I do sleep ! To be sure, we get up at 
 six and I am pretty active all day, but yet I think it is 
 partly age — age. This loss of the evenings makes my 
 time for writing very scant, Sunday being all I have. 
 
 I have just had a fright that has unsteadied my 
 nerves, I can tell you. Tim, Bruno, and I took a short 
 walk and encountered a drove of pigs in the lot just 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 283 
 
 below the turkey-house. There were six smaller pigs 
 and two huge hogs, all black. Tim and Bru pitched into 
 them, and at first the swine ran every way, but the two 
 hogs rallied and charged at the dogs, and when the big- 
 gest one was just upon Tim with his mouth open and 
 tusks showing, the poor little dog fell in one of his fits. 
 This astonished the hog and he paused an instant. I 
 had been hurrying up and arrived just in time to seize 
 Tim by his hind legs and drag him from under the hog's 
 nose, and then lift him up in my arms and run, for those 
 big hogs will fight and are formidable. Bruno, mean- 
 time, was in the midst of the herd, and all turned upon 
 him. He had to defend himself on all sides, when sud- 
 denly he gave out, began to stagger, and barely kept his 
 feet. The hogs, seeing me coming at them again, but 
 too far off for them to turn in self-defence, began to trot 
 off, and finally ran down the road. If this should hap- 
 pen sometime when we are at school, it would be the 
 end of my poor Tim. It was a long time before Bruno 
 recovered, and neither of the dogs seems well after it, 
 but they lie about languid and inert. 
 
 This great herd of ferocious hogs is no joke, and they 
 will have to be encountered every day, I suppose, now 
 that they have found their way here. 
 
 Yesterday the Benezet box arrived. It was full of 
 such nice presents for the school, — aprons, housewives, 
 balls, knives, books, scholars' pencil-boxes, caps, hoods, 
 scarfs, toy sets, — a real satisfactory and abundant 
 supply. There were some nice books for Ellen and me, 
 and extra presents, such as collars and cuffs, for the 
 colored teachers. 
 
 The election here passed off quietly, and all through 
 
284 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1877 
 
 the county wherever the Republican vote was large, 
 there was perfect peace. The Democrats were not 
 molested, but voted as they pleased, but up-country, 
 where the Democrats were in a majority, the Republi- 
 cans were driven from the polls with knives and clubs. 
 Some of them were badly wounded and came down to 
 Beaufort for protection and legal redress. 
 
 December 18, 1877. 
 
 The box was obtained yesterday — after provoking 
 delay, because York wouldn't bring it on account of 
 its weight. Mr. Macdonald got a chance to send for it, 
 so thanks to him there was a great opening last night, 
 and such a chattering over it, and admiring and thank- 
 ing as you would have been amused to see. 
 
 The old linen is ever useful. The costumes and 
 handkerchiefs will come in in some of our temperance 
 pieces. We have quite a respectable stage property 
 now, with our tambourine, drum, flags, etc., etc. 
 
 The people, whose minds are much "confuse" just 
 now, with the fear of losing their lands, and with the 
 condemnation of Robert Smalls to field labor (and to 
 the whipping-post, which is almost an established fact, 
 the country papers are all howling for it so), are pining 
 for W. They say if Mr. Towne only "bin dedda" he 
 would see them all defended and righted and counselled 
 and led safely through. They think he could settle it 
 all as easily as he settled George Wood's land case. 
 Rina says the whole island would "heardee what he 
 say," and no doubt he would have talking enough to do. 
 How the people here do want a leader! 
 
1877] LAURA M. TOWNE 285 
 
 December 30, 1877. 
 
 Such a stormy end to the year! It is not very cold — 
 thermometer in the fifties, but it grows colder and 
 colder, and blows hard, with dark, gloomy clouds hang- 
 ing over. I should not care, as it is holiday, only that 
 we have so many young things to suffer — three young 
 calves, one sick yearling, and a colt born to-day — to 
 my great regret a little mare colt. It is to be my colt. 
 
 Our county is divided in two, thank goodness. It is 
 now the old Beaufort County, and the upper part is 
 Palmetto County. Though the election here went all 
 one way, they say it will be disputed in Columbia and 
 up at Sumter, where the majority of votes were Repub- 
 lican; the ballot boxes were stolen, opened, stuffed, 
 and everything done to make a new election necessary, 
 when intimidation could be brought to bear, so as to 
 get a different result. The News and Courier of Charles- 
 ton, a Hampton paper, says it is disgusting to hear of 
 Republican victories in these two places, but that as 
 they are undoubted victories, let the elected men take 
 their seats. 
 
1878 
 
 Frogmore, May 26, 1878. 
 
 The school is crammed, and in the hot weather it is 
 swingeing — the closely packed benches, small windows, 
 and sunned roofs accumulating heat. The trees have 
 grown up so as to keep off the stiff breezes that used to 
 moderate the heat. I am so glad we do not teach till 
 July, as we used to. 
 
 June 16, 1878. 
 
 Our exhibition was a success, as usual. The church 
 was packed, and I think a hundred or more people 
 could not get seats — many could not get in at all. I 
 think we have had more attractive days before, but the 
 people all seemed enthusiastic and well amused. We 
 had no white visitors but Mrs. Davis and her niece, 
 Miss Dennis, and Mr. Macdonald. It was a cloudy 
 day with constant threatening of rain, but cool, and so 
 pleasanter than usual. It is a great trouble, but, as it is 
 the great event of the year on the island, — the day 
 that brings back our old scholars, flocking from Savan- 
 nah, Charleston, Bull River, and all about, to witness 
 the exercises, — we ought not to feel it a trouble. We 
 are well tired when it is over. 
 
 September 22, 1878. 
 
 Here I sit at my desk, sole alone on the plantation, 
 and thinking what a contrast this is to every Sunday 
 since last July. 
 
 It is lucky I am here to look after things. Mrs. R. 
 has done as well as she could, but there is plenty of 
 
1878] LAURA M. TOWNE 287 
 
 room for the spending of money in fences, etc., and that 
 she had no right to do. General dilapidation stares me 
 in the face. I suppose I notice it more after seeing the 
 beauty and order and trigness of the North, but cer- 
 tainly it seems very forlorn. The mocking-birds, how- 
 ever, make all lively by their perpetual singing, in 
 every direction, and it is good to be back where you are 
 really needed. If you had seen the three little skeleton 
 babies that were brought to me to-day, and if you had 
 heard one poor mother, whose baby seemed dying, say, 
 "Me been-a-pray day and night for you to come and 
 save my baby," you would have been better than I am, 
 and have never given a look back to the flesh-pots of 
 Egypt, or even to the enjoyment of family, as I do. 
 I think that baby will die before the woman can get it 
 home, but the other two I have some hope of, now that 
 the mothers have advice and medicine. 
 
 September 29, 1878. 
 I found things in pretty good order, but the owner's 
 eye and the owner's energy are always necessary to 
 keep things as they should be. The vegetable garden, 
 that I left in perfect order and just planted, is now a 
 wilderness, and will cost a little fortune to put back 
 again as it should be. Other things, too, seem neglected 
 and dilapidated. At first I was shocked at the differ- 
 ence between what I had left and what I came to, but 
 I am getting used to it. There is always so much to 
 contend with here. For instance, the fox comes every 
 night to eat my little chicks, and I can't either catch, 
 shoot, or prevent him. My whole stock seems likely to 
 go. The people are all very busy picking cotton; the 
 
288 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1878 
 
 man who brings his trained fox-dogs is away, and all I 
 can do is to suffer the loss. Bruno runs the fellow off a 
 dozen times before we go to bed, and then gives it up. 
 Since I have been back it was excessively warm and 
 damp, the thermometer nearly ninety, or above it, all 
 day, and over eighty every night. It was foggy and 
 damp, too, without the wind we generally have, and 
 the mosquitoes were as thick as bees about a hive. It 
 was dreadful, but to-day we have a fine strong breeze. 
 
 October 20, 1878. 
 
 The school is enchanting, and I am happy as the day 
 is long. I did think things disgusting when I first got 
 back, coming as I did from the lap of luxury. I ought 
 to be ashamed of myself to have worried you about it, 
 but that letter was stung out of me by mosquitoes. We 
 have had another spell of that torment. 
 
 October 29, 1878. 
 
 The sun is just hazy and nothing could be more per- 
 fect than the temperature. Everybody is agog to-day, 
 for it is "baptizing Sunday," and there are to be about 
 six weddings among our old scholars. I have got to go 
 to the church to announce the opening of the public 
 schools on November 1st. 
 
 Political times are simply frightful. Men are shot at, 
 hounded down, trapped, and held till certain meetings 
 are over, and intimidated in every possible way. It gets 
 worse and worse as election approaches. Mr. French, 
 of the Beaufort Tribune, says, "In order to prevent our 
 county falling into such hands (Republican), any 
 measures that will accomplish the end will be justifia- 
 
1878] LAURA M. TOWNE 289 
 
 ble, however wicked they might be in other communi- 
 ties." Upon this plan is the whole campaign conducted. 
 
 November 6, 1878. 
 The election was a most quiet one. It was opposite 
 our school, but so still that we said it was impossible 
 to believe that hundreds of people were just outside. 
 The Democratic Commissioner of Elections appointed 
 none but Democratic managers throughout this whole 
 county. Our three were C, B., and one of the drunken 
 C.'s, — the one who used to be so cruel and burn the 
 people with pine tar dropped blazing on their backs. 
 They were all watched by the people, who appointed 
 a committee for the purpose, and numbers of them 
 stayed to see the votes counted at night. On Saturday 
 I went to a Republican meeting at the church. Robert 
 Smalls told of his mobbing at Gillisonville. He was 
 announced to speak there, and when ten o'clock — the 
 hour — came, he was on the spot and with him about 
 forty men. The stand was in front of a store in the 
 street, and men and women were coming up the street 
 to attend the meeting, when eight hundred red-shirt 
 men, led by colonels, generals, and many leading men 
 of the state, came dashing into the town, giving the 
 "real rebel yell," the newspaper said. Robert Smalls 
 called it "whooping like Indians." They drew up, and 
 as a body stood still, but every few minutes a squad of 
 three or four would scour down street on their horses, 
 and reaching out would "lick off the hats" of the col- 
 ored men or slap the faces of the colored women coming 
 to the meeting, whooping and yelling and scattering 
 the people on all sides. This made the colored men so 
 
290 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1878 
 
 mad that they wanted to pitch right into a fight with 
 the eight hundred, but Robert Smalls restrained them, 
 telling them what folly it was. Then the leader, Colonel 
 somebody, came up and demanded half-time. Robert 
 S. said there would be no meeting. Then they said he 
 should have a meeting and should speak. He refused to 
 say a word at a Democratic meeting, and as there was 
 no Republican one, he said he would not speak at all. 
 They gave him ten minutes to make up his mind. Then 
 he withdrew into the store with his forty men and drew 
 them all up around it behind the counters. They had 
 guns. He told them to aim at the door, and stand with 
 finger on trigger, but on no account to shoot unless the 
 red-shirts broke in. Meantime, when the ten minutes 
 were over, the outsiders began to try to break down the 
 door. They called Smalls and told him they would set 
 fire to the house and burn him up in it. They fired 
 repeatedly through the windows and walls. He showed 
 us two balls he had picked up inside. He would not come 
 out, and the leaders led off part of the red-shirts and 
 began to make speeches, leaving the store surrounded, 
 however, for fear Smalls should escape. 
 
 The people who had come to the meeting meanwhile 
 ran to raise the alarm in every direction, and in an in- 
 credibly short time the most distant parts of the county 
 heard that their truly beloved leader was trapped in a 
 house surrounded by red-shirts, and that his life was 
 in danger. Every colored man and woman seized what- 
 ever was at hand — guns, axes, hoes, etc., and ran to 
 the rescue. By six o'clock afternoon a thousand negroes 
 were approaching the town, and the red-shirts thought 
 best to gallop away. They left twenty armed men to 
 
1878] LAURA M. TOWNE 291 
 
 meet the train upon which Smalls was to return to 
 Beaufort and to "attend to him." He had to go away 
 ahead of the train and jump on the tender in the dark, 
 and so he got back safely. At every station they met 
 troops of negroes, one and two hundred together, all on 
 their way to Gillisonville to the rescue. Smalls thinks 
 this attack was caused by Hampton's saying in a public 
 speech that there was but one man he now thought 
 ought to be out of the way, and that man was Robert 
 Smalls, who, by giving the Republicans one more vote 
 in the House, would strengthen them in the choice of 
 the next President, which would probably take place in 
 the House of Representatives. I think if Robert S. does 
 meet with any violence there will be hot times between 
 blacks and rebs, but of course it is not likely they will 
 touch him, after election, — unless he is elected, — 
 when I do not think his life would be worth a button. 
 
 Our poor county was chuzzled out of one of its great- 
 est privileges last week by that rascally old turncoat, 
 Judge M. By a trick, Dr. White was put into the Board 
 of County Commissioners. That was the beginning of 
 the train. Then, Renty Greaves, chairman, and the 
 other county commissioners were all arrested for not 
 keeping the roads and bridges on SU. Helena in order, 
 and were held on $5000 bond for Renty, and $2000 for 
 the others, including even the clerk — our school com- 
 missioner, Wheeler. Besides this, they arrested them 
 late on Saturday night so that they should have to 
 spend Sunday in jail. But they found bondsmen, — Mr. 
 Waterhouse and Mr. Collins going bail for them, — 
 that is, for all but Dr. White, who was, of course, 
 bailed by his Democratic friends. Then the Judge 
 
292 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1878 
 
 bulldozed Renty Greaves — told him he would have a 
 term in jail, but that if he would resign his chairman- 
 ship to Dr. White, he should be set at liberty at once, 
 and his bondsmen released. Renty, by virtue of his 
 office, was one of the Board of Jury Commissioners, 
 and the only Republican on it. If he resigned to Dr. 
 White, all would be Democrats and the juries chosen 
 by them. He was scared into doing it, and so we have 
 three Democrats in that office, where the whole county 
 is Republican! I see danger to the lands in this move, 
 for one of the papers said last winter that now that they 
 had all Democratic judges on the bench, it was time to 
 bring the titles to these lands before "an intelligent 
 jury of the former residents of the island!" 
 
 The people at the election yesterday seemed much 
 impressed by the importance of this election, and there 
 was no sky-larking. They meant business. Only nine 
 Democratic voters here, and all but one of these white 
 men! 
 
 November 10, 1878. 
 
 Our election was quiet, of course. The people seemed 
 thoroughly in earnest, and voted steadily and silently 
 without the usual play and laughter. The four Demo- 
 cratic managers were well watched by various parties, 
 among others by a committee appointed for the purpose 
 by vote of the people. The count of the vote at night 
 was specially attended to. The result on this island 
 was nine hundred and eighteen votes, only nine of them 
 Democratic and only one of the nine a colored man's 
 vote. This is much fewer than at the election two 
 years ago, and shows that here Democracy does not 
 gain ground. Of course, Robert Smalls was defeated, 
 
1878] LAURA M. TOWNE 293 
 
 and the people are greatly grieved about it, and are not 
 reconciled to the result. 
 
 November 17, 1878. 
 We had another "chiel, takin' notes" on Friday, 
 but I do not know whether he intends to "prent 'em." 
 It was no less a personage than Sir George Campbell, 
 member of the English Parliament, who is here on a 
 "tour of inspection," the papers say. Robert Smalls 
 brought him over, and we had a good lunch together 
 — we three, Sir G. C, Robert S., and I. I had stayed 
 at home on account of the raw, damp day, and had a 
 cold in my head, which is now much better. Sir G. 
 stopped at the school, and made some remarks at the 
 church convention, which was being held at the brick 
 church opposite. He was a pleasing and very gentle- 
 manly person. What he came to inspect I do not know. 
 He questioned me chiefly about the people, and their 
 rate of progress. Robert S. is very cheerful, and says 
 the outrageous bulldozing and cheating in this last 
 election is the best thing that could have happened for 
 the Republican Party, for it has been so barefaced and 
 open that it cannot be denied, and so much depends 
 upon having Republicans in Congress now that he 
 thinks it will not be negligently passed over, as it has 
 been before. 
 
1879 
 
 Frogmore, May 11, 1879. 
 
 The concert is over. It was not the success the first 
 one was because Kit Green and Robert Smalls divided 
 the attention of the audience. The church was so 
 crammed that the children's voices were smothered (in 
 the pieces) but the singing went well. Robert Smalls 
 is going to Arizona to look at lands, with a view to emi- 
 gration — not of himself, but of such as will go some- 
 where. He has a free pass. 
 
 I had a singular letter yesterday from an old scholar, 
 Andrew Seabrook. He was the grandchild of old Don 
 Carlos, and when he left the island he gave me my first 
 hen pigeon. He writes from the studio of D. H. Hunting- 
 don, artist, and asks for a letter of recommendation to 
 aid him in getting admission to the New York Academy 
 of Design, as he wishes to be a landscape painter. I 
 never was more surprised. He is acting by Mr. Hunting- 
 don's advice, too. The curious part of it is that he is 
 nearly white, and belonged to the Allston family, of 
 which family Washington Allston came. Is it heredity? 
 He has been making a living as a waiter, and is just 
 twenty-one. I shall write what I know of him to Mr. 
 Huntingdon, and send him a letter for the Academy — 
 but I don't suppose I can do anything for him worth 
 speaking of. 
 
 June 1, 1879. 
 
 We are busy hunting out exhibition pieces, making 
 the usual reports, etc., and if I do not write much for a 
 
1879] LAURA M. TOWNE 295 
 
 week or two, or till after exhibition, do not be alarmed. 
 It is only hurry, and I will soon send a line or two. We 
 have all the merits and demerits for the year to count 
 out — no joke! 
 
 On Friday [Decoration Day] Ellen and I went to 
 Beaufort to the National Cemetery, carrying a quan- 
 tity of ivy, several wreaths of cedar and oleander, one 
 of the exquisite white myrtle, and a wreath banner 
 full of little bunches of all kinds of flowers. The myrtle 
 is so beautiful for cutting that we are always rich when 
 it is in bloom. There were not very many at the cere- 
 monies, but Mr. Crofut and the ladies of Beaufort had a 
 large wreath for every state, with a flag stamped with 
 the abbreviated name of the state in the centre of it, 
 and these made the ground look pretty well decorated. 
 Ellen took the Vermont boys, and I the Pennsylvania 
 boys, to do honor to, and I assure you their departments 
 were the best-dressed of all. Mrs. Bennet, as usual, 
 had the large cross for the monument. I like the inscrip- 
 tion on the granite obelisk very much. It is, "Immor- 
 tality to thousands of the brave defenders of our 
 Country from the Great Rebellion." It is out of fashion 
 now to use such plain words, but there they stand, in 
 granite. Mr. Judd was not there, but sent an ode. Mr. 
 Gage read the same poem that he read last year ; a colored 
 minister made the prayer, and Mr. Crofut was master of 
 
 ceremonies. 
 
 June 22, 1879. 
 
 Great events crowd so upon me for chronicling that 
 I hardly know where to begin. 
 
 Closing of school is the event of the year to hundreds 
 on the island as well as to ourselves. Our boys came 
 
296 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1879 
 
 back from Charleston, Savannah, and the "Rock" to 
 be present, and the church was so crowded that there 
 was no standing-room, and there were crowds outside. 
 Miss Botume and Miss Lord did not come, as there was 
 an easterly storm on Wednesday, but we had from 
 Beaufort, Mr. Collins, our senator, Mr. Wheeler, school 
 commissioner, and Mr. Thomas, editor. The latter 
 took notes, and I think we shall see an account in the 
 paper of the day's exercises. All expressed extreme 
 astonishment at the advancement of the scholars, and 
 Mr. Wheeler said he thought there was no such advanced 
 school in the state, outside of Charleston. Mr. Collins 
 said it was no wonder Beaufort County was going 
 ahead of any other in the state, when it had such a 
 school, etc., etc. — nuts, of course, to us! 
 
 We never had such perfect recitations, such prompt 
 movements, nor such nice singing. "Calm on" went 
 most beautifully — all four parts clear, distinct, and 
 true. 
 
 Ellen had for her amusement piece, Columbus, first 
 as petitioner at the court of Spain, then on the ship in 
 the mutiny, and subsequent discovery of land, — thus 
 showing how easy it is to find worlds, by the egg. It 
 was well acted and an entire success. 
 
 I had a temperance piece — a comic one — which 
 brought down the house in a series of laughs, and ended 
 the performance, except the giving of prizes. 
 
 The church was decorated outside by flags at the 
 windows, and inside by wreaths of oleanders, ivy, and 
 cedar, hung on the lamps and pillars. It was very pretty. 
 Ellen's oleander supplied not only enough for that, but 
 also to give every girl and boy a breastknot or a button- 
 
1879] LAURA M. TOWNE 297 
 
 hole flower, and yet you could n't miss one blossom from 
 the tree, which is like one big red ball in its cool, green 
 corner. It scents the air at all hours of day and night 
 Ellen's cape jessamine bloomed beautifully — flowers 
 nearly as large as camellias. The crape myrtles are now 
 just coming into bloom. 
 
 I determined that when school closed I would devote 
 myself for a month to my material property, with a zeal 
 worthy of a better cause, and I am doing it. I am hunt- 
 ing up turkey and guinea nests, attending to pickles, 
 preserves, and blankets, etc., diligently. 
 
 September 24, 1879. 
 
 I intended to pick out that down, but did not find 
 time. The laziest persons never find time. 
 
 I am in robust health. I never was better in my life, 
 to my knowledge. 
 
 The people have already spoken to me of sending a 
 young man to learn to doctor them, and they propose 
 to raise the money for his support, in the church. I will 
 stir in this matter next winter, when I see my way clear. 
 
 I am just now much interested in strawberry plants. 
 Only six of those I brought down survived the summer. 
 But from those I have suckers — runners, I mean — 
 to the number of twenty-five or so. I hope to have some 
 bouncing fruit next spring in the new garden. I am also 
 interested in "borers." They have attacked some of 
 my nicest peach trees. I went the day before yesterday 
 between showers, and soaped my trees all over, and stuck 
 bits of soap in the crotches. The rains afterwards made 
 the trees look as if whitewashed. Will this do the borers 
 any good — or harm, I mean? I did it to kill the moss 
 
298 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1879 
 
 on them. I have some fine fruit trees and they ought 
 to bear next year. I want a Concord grape, for mine is 
 dead, after a long struggle. The catawba bore well this 
 year, but has not grown at all. I fear that looks like 
 dying. 
 
 I am getting the house really beautifully cleaned. I 
 enjoy it, I assure you. We have a new calf and so a 
 promise of plenty of milk this winter. We have but one 
 milch cow now, all the others are coming in. We have 
 made butter all summer, and I have not bought six 
 
 pounds this whole year. 
 
 October 24, 1879. 
 
 Now for T.'s letter. I am so pleased to get her sug- 
 gestions about the library, for it is well said that two 
 heads are better than one, and especially is it so when 
 hers is such a good planner, and mine is so preoccupied 
 with other work. 
 
 Alice's plan of charging would cut them off from 
 books about half the time, for at some seasons of the 
 year they live without money. The use of this library 
 is to be not so much to furnish food for an appetite as 
 to create an appetite for the food, and the slightest 
 penalty attached to the use of books would greatly 
 discourage the appetite. But of course there must be 
 rules, and fines for infringement. I loan some books 
 now, and no one can keep one more than a week, and 
 must return it clean, or not get another. They have 
 been returned with scrupulous exactness, but only our 
 nicest boys have borrowed them. 
 
 October 26, 1879. 
 
 Don't take too much trouble about that library, for 
 it will be a long time before it gets going, and a few 
 
1879] LAURA M. TOWNE 299 
 
 books will do for a while. I have had a case made to go 
 up over the high shelf in my recitation room, so that I 
 can get the books down easily, and keep them locked 
 and under my own care. In time we shall no doubt 
 want a librarian, but now some one is needed to hunt 
 out and recommend the books wanted, and none of our 
 boys could do that yet. Great oaks from little acorns 
 will come, I hope, for our acorn will be very little at 
 first, — that is, our patronage. How good you are to 
 take so much trouble about these things! 
 
 I don't know what to do with the sewing-school. I 
 want to start it on November 1st. We have been 
 admitting new scholars, classifying, and making new 
 teachers acquainted with their duties, but when these 
 matters are settled, the sewing must begin, and who, 
 who will look after Mrs. Ford and the work? One of the 
 first bits of work will be to finish that quilt, and then it 
 shall warm some old woman's bones. 
 
 We are having a cold snap — thermometer, 44° at 
 
 6 A.M. 
 
 It is baptizing Sunday, and our Renty was baptized 
 early on this cold windy day. Poor Kit Green had six- 
 teen to "immerse" and was suffering from toothache. 
 That is martyrdom, indeed! Julia had on to-day my 
 little old brown corduroy jacket and a flannel petticoat. 
 I asked her if she were warm enough. "Oh, yes, ma'am. 
 If I ain't hear de wind, I ain't know he blow. I ain't 
 feel him at all, only on my face." 
 
 November 9, 1879. 
 
 Our school goes on as usual. The shaft that held the 
 bell broke in two, and let the bell topple over. It is a 
 wonder it did not come down and smash. The break, 
 
300 LETTERS AND DIARY [1879 
 
 which was clean and fresh on one side, revealed a flaw 
 in the casting of the other side, which might have 
 brought the bell down at any time — long ago. Joe 
 Savage put on riveted bands, which will make it 
 stronger than ever. The old belfry nearly came down, 
 too, and we have had to have it made over, with new 
 rafters and sills. So there has been some cost of repairs, 
 but Alice's money of last year and this will amply pay 
 for it. With the children's ten-cent money we put up 
 shelves (for the kettles and hats) that are a great 
 convenience. 
 
 I cannot well leave here till after our school festival, 
 which we shall hold in time for me to reach you on 
 Christmas Day. By that time I can sign the December 
 certificates and swear the teachers, for their month will 
 be out, Christmas week being a holiday. I can then 
 stay North till the last week in January, and be back by 
 February 1, to make out the pay and swear the teachers 
 for January. In this way I shall not neglect my public 
 duty. My own school will be under pretty efficient 
 teachers, so that I shall not worry about it. 
 
 November 10, 1879. 
 I am going to have a cistern some day, but now I 
 shall have several large barrels full of water from the 
 eaves ready. The kerosene barrels prevent mosquitoes 
 breeding, so that old objection is removed. I never 
 would have a water barrel about, till I found that a 
 teaspoonful of kerosene every few days on the top of 
 the water, kept it free from insects. 
 
kfeffiflviiA-J J?'~- _-^'^. . ■£< _ 
 
 TIIK SMALLEST f'HILDUEN AT PENN SCHOOL 
 Ready for the celebration 
 
1880 
 
 • Froomore, April 18, 1880. 
 We had a grand party on the island last week. The 
 "Round Table" met at Mrs. Ward's. The steamer 
 Pilot Boy brought over fifty people from Beaufort, and 
 everybody from the island was there, — nearly, — so 
 that the rooms were crammed. Music, recitations, 
 readings, etc., formed the amusements, and Mrs. Ward 
 had a grand supper. Ellen and I went with James to 
 drive us, so we were truly stylish. The Southerners, of 
 whom there were several, regaled us with fresh new 
 songs like the sexton's song in Dickens — "I gather 
 them in," and "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep." 
 That is as far on in the century as they have got. Every- 
 body was to go prepared with something, so I took 
 Bret Harte's cat story, and Ellen a piece about Paul 
 sailing across to help the Macedonians. I did not read 
 mine because the programme had to be shortened, but 
 Ellen said hers and was much commended. It was quite 
 an event on our humdrum little island. 
 
 May 23, 1880. 
 
 I have been this week distributing the Bibles (100) 
 that the good gentleman of the Benezet, Mr. Philip 
 Garrett, sent us. It is a great trouble, but the satisfac- 
 tion of supplying a great need pays for it. Any time 
 but just now, when every moment is precious, it would 
 be only a pleasure. We are much behindhand in plan- 
 ning out for our exhibition, and I have not yet selected 
 my amusement piece. Ellen has Tennyson's "Harold," 
 
302 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1880 
 
 abridged, for hers, and, as that is tragedy, I have to 
 provide comedy, and don't know what to have. If I 
 only had L. here now to suggest! It is some trouble 
 even to arrange the lessons, as all the questions have to 
 be written out for the teachers to ask, and we have so 
 many divisions and teachers now that the task is heavy. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 Rina and Ellen are all excitement about the sermon 
 of to-day. The young minister, who has been to Colum- 
 bia to a theological school, went to the penitentiary to 
 see some people he knew, and the description he gives 
 of the state of the convicts is too horrible to tell. He 
 says " the Democrats must think there is no hell for bad 
 people, for they make a hell of that prison." Men are 
 there chained with their necks in an iron collar and 
 joined to ankle chains. They never take these off. A 
 young boy of fourteen, sentenced to five years for only 
 being in a whiskey shop where a man was killed, wears 
 hand-cuffs, and the poor fellow says he prays night and 
 day that God will let him die. The irons have cut into 
 his wrists. The beds are rotten straw, full of vermin. 
 
 The keeper said to Ishmael Williams (the minister) 
 when he paid his entrance fee, "You have come, I sup- 
 pose, to see how we take niggers down. I'll show you." 
 Then he began with the treadmill, in which he said they 
 soon took the stiffness and strength out of the new- 
 comers. I can't tell you all, but the whole church broke 
 out with groans, and the elders cried and shook their 
 heads and wiped their faces as if every one had a friend 
 there. 
 
1880] LAURA M. TOWNE 303 
 
 If you could see how beautiful the tide is, and the 
 full moon through the oaks and over the water, you 
 would all flock here and stay. 
 
 July 13, 1880. 
 
 Our Fourth was a perfect success. I think that 
 literally thousands of people on St. Helena turned out, 
 and such a jolly day as everybody had! I will send you 
 the newspaper account. Beaufort will "cuss" the pro- 
 moters of this movement! It takes many a penny from 
 their whiskey tills and others. I did not compete for a 
 prize, but I exhibited watermelon and cantaloupe, 
 tomato, eggplant, butter, and biscuit. Ellen had the 
 horticultural department. There was a lovely show of 
 babies, and Caroline's nine are a charming set — really 
 beautiful. She took the prize over Dinah Caper's baby, 
 though Miss Dennis dressed that. It was too fussed-up 
 with sash and cap, shoes and stockings; so the prize 
 went to the most comfortable baby. 
 
1882 
 
 Fboqmobe, June 11, 1882. 
 
 We are so sorry that vacation is coming and our 
 delightful vocation ends. That it will give me a chance 
 to see you all, is my only consolation, but that is one 
 that suffices to make me welcome it. 
 
 June 16, 1882. 
 
 The school exhibition was a brilliant one and there 
 was no failure or mishap. The children's dresses were 
 really stunning; they were in such good taste and so 
 well made. Our pretty little Louisa wore white with a 
 blue sash, and a little blue bow, like a butterfly, on her 
 hair. Ellen had two charming pieces, one not original, 
 for her infants. The first piece was all for boys, — little 
 tots, — and they told how they would take care of 
 horses, oxen, cows, dogs, cats, and birds. It was a 
 splendid lesson for them and for all the island. Hastings 
 Gantt's little boy said, "I will feed and curry my horses 
 when I am a man, till they are as fat and shiny as Miss 
 Towne's," and this brought down the house. 
 
 The other piece was for the tots of girls. They all 
 had on — sixteen of them — white aprons and white 
 caps, like Jenny's. They sang a little piece of Mrs. 
 Slade's, about their getting supper, since their mother 
 was away, so that their father would be pleased when 
 he came home, and they actually set the table, beat up 
 cakes, and did various work, while singing, to the great 
 delight of the audience, white and black. Of course, our 
 Louisa, who is a pretty good waiter, was head and front 
 of this piece. 
 
1883 
 
 Frogmore, December 26, 1883. 
 
 The "School Christmas" went off well and the hall 
 was quite prettily decorated with those large palmetto 
 leaves only. I did not go to the decorating and I had a 
 heavy heart, as I sat as a stranger and spectator where 
 we were all so busy together last year. The pieces were 
 pretty and more distinctly spoken than usual, but my 
 thoughts were too busy for me to enjoy them. The 
 Benezet sent nice presents and some I got with Alice's 
 money. When it came time to distribute them, I went 
 to my class and gave each one his share. The teachers 
 (colored) handed round the cakes, candy, and apples 
 (oranges are too scarce to allow of them), and Ellen and 
 Miss Yetters attended to their classes, with pleasant 
 results to all. A general "thank you" to the donors 
 followed, and we got home pretty early. 
 
 Yesterday Ellen went to Beaufort to church, and 
 Miss Y. and I dressed the beautiful pine tree that we 
 had on the parlor table for the abounding children of 
 Caroline and James. It was perfectly charming when 
 the candles were lighted, and I never saw white children 
 more delighted. They jumped and laughed and shouted 
 and made a jolly noise. These children are generally 
 so unmoved apparently by any amount of astonishing 
 beauty, or decoration, or gifts, that we were quite 
 taken by surprise. When it was time for them to go, 
 and I suggested as much, they said they would sing for 
 us first, and so they sang three "spirituals," all new to 
 
306 LETTERS AND DIARY [1883 
 
 me and very pretty. Then they went out with a perfect 
 chorus of "Thank you, ma'am," even the little tiny 
 ones piping up that refrain. 
 
 To-day we are cleaning up the rooms after the hurry 
 and mess. Ellen gave most of the decorations for the 
 tree, candles, etc., since she could not be here to do 
 much of the dressing of it. 
 
 Next Sunday the Frogmore Sunday School is to have 
 its jubilee, and then all will be over for this occasion. 
 
1884 
 
 Fhogmoke, May 22, 1884. 
 
 The people all seem pleased to have a doctor of their 
 own, and all have paid Dr. Peters so far, but he charges 
 very little — fifteen cents for ten powders was one 
 charge. It will be a blessed thing if he and they agree, 
 and he makes a good enough living to remain. He has 
 not yet gone to see about his office, as he has no horse, 
 but to-morrow he goes to secure that, and he will then 
 be right in the way of all who want him. 
 
 The Sunday School to-day was not so large; only 
 about sixty-three there. The Quarterly Meeting of 
 Methodists interfered. The children are so nice and 
 orderly now. 
 
 We are in the midst of preparation for exhibition, 
 and I have begun to teach "Pinafore," but oh! what an 
 attempt! I am going to have "We Sail," and "I am the 
 Captain," with the salutations before it, — "I am 
 Monarch " and " Cousins and His Aunts " ; also " Butter- 
 cup." This will fill out my time. Another of my exer- 
 cises will be "Political Economy," — just a little of 
 what relates to capital, labor, and money, — the uses of 
 rich and poor men; and that piece will wind up with 
 Burns' "A man's a man for a' that." We have chosen 
 a beautiful anthem, which is not so difficult as our last 
 two. The Benezet books are so nice — just the things 
 wanted. Easy lives of great men, histories, etc. Not a 
 book will go to the big Pierce Library till I see how that 
 is managed. 
 
308 LETTERS AND DIARY OF [1884 
 
 Milfokd, 2 p.m., Monday, July 9. 
 
 Here we are, apparently fixed for the day, and why 
 we don't go on, I don't know. The conductor said, 
 "Ten minutes for lunch," and we have been here three 
 quarters of an hour! I am afraid there will be great 
 dashing along to make up time, by and by. We have 
 come so fast already, and so roughly, that I have been 
 just half sick south of Washington, but I doze away 
 the time, and am feeling more settled since my good 
 lunch, for which thanks to L. 
 
 I hear that we have had a slight accident to the 
 engine. I hope it won't be enough to detain me till 
 to-morrow. Oh, dear, how I groan over leaving you 
 and going so far away ! Though I will never live away 
 from "Old Frogmo'," to which I believe you will come 
 every winter, yet it seems as if I ought to be with you 
 more, now that we are growing old, and there is no way 
 to do it but for you to come to me, so tend your thoughts 
 that way steadily. 
 
 Ybmassee, Tuesday morning, 9 o'clock. 
 
 "McGregor is on his native heath again." Here I sit 
 a-waiting till six this evening, with a blazing sun above, 
 a cool breeze, a breakfast (bought of a fat old darky 
 woman) consisting of fried chicken, good Maryland 
 biscuit, and a watermelon . I have just finished the break- 
 fast, which cost thirty cents, and feel refreshed as only 
 watermelon can refresh you. There is a nice new sta- 
 tion-house here with comfortable ladies' room, and a 
 much more civilized look about everything. Even 
 South Carolina grows. I shall read the magazines, eat 
 watermelon for dinner, and pass a very comfortable 
 day, for I have learned to wait with utter submission. 
 
1884] LAURA M. TOWNE 309 
 
 I want to tell you what the last two months have 
 been to me — a most precious season of sisterly affec- 
 tion that I shall never forget. ... I blame myself for 
 not doing more to cheer you up, but I am one of those 
 disagreeable prophets that always see the dark side, 
 and I suppose I could n't help it. 
 
 12 noon. 
 It is wearisome to stay here when, if Ellen is to leave 
 to-morrow, every minute would be of value at Frog- 
 more, in consultation over the past and future. I have 
 read the magazine through, watered my little pot of 
 plants, which looks wonderfully well, and have watched 
 a shower come up the railroad, Savannah way, and go 
 over. Now what to do, I don't know. A freight train 
 or two has gone crawling about, a hungry dog has 
 been fed with my "remainder biscuit"; I have a flock 
 of goats and kids to watch, and so I must content my- 
 self till 3 o'clock, when a freight train and caboose will 
 get me to Beaufort by six. Too sunny to walk out. 
 
 Beatjfort, Tuesday evening. 
 I have just been out to the telegraph office to let 
 you know of my getting here all right. The telegram 
 I sent to Ellen came on Sunday night, and was sent 
 over by York on Monday, he says, so I have no doubt 
 James or Ellen will be over for me to-morrow. I got 
 here in plenty of time to go home to-night, but that was 
 unexpected. I had a very pleasant trip down, in the long 
 freight train, which was just as fast as the passenger 
 train, and two hours earlier. The lunch just held out, 
 for I did not go to a single eating-house on the way, 
 
310 LETTERS AND DIARY [1884 
 
 and lived on my basket, except the breakfast I got from 
 the stall. Didn't I enjoy the melon! That old plague, 
 the North Penn conductor, came and talked to me a 
 long time at Yemassee. He says the Reading has bought 
 the Newtown, and is going to make a connection be- 
 tween Fern Rock and Bethaires which .will cut off nine 
 miles of the distance to New York. He said the whole 
 race of niggers ought to be swept away, and I told him 
 my business was with that race and that they would 
 never be swept away, so he was disgusted and went 
 away, leaving me to read in peace. 
 
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