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Show 306 TEACHING 1'ITE ::iLAVE 1'0 READ. never compromise; tbcy arc as the antagonistic poles of the m:~gnct. In the first place, Slavery blunts the mind, and rcn· dcrs lt, in its early ycars,.unsusccptiblc to those impressions which arc generally so lasting, when made upon youthful minds. Many who have tried to cdtl· cate colored children, have been led to accuse the race of natural inferiority in its capacity to gain knowledge. W c have no right to draw that inference ii·om the few attempts wltich have been made on a part of the race whose mental faculties have, through many genera· lions, been crippled by disuse. I had once under my charge, for a short time, a negro girl, born in Africa-" }.fargrn" of the "Armistad," with whose history most arc familiar. On he~· anccstory hung no clog of depression, except that of native wildness. 'l'hcrc was no lack of aptitude to learn in her case. She astonisl tcd all by the case with which she acquired knowledge, particularly in mathematical science. 'l'hat a native heathen should be a better recipient of knowledge than one brought up in the midst of American civil ization, speaks well for "the race," but ill for "the system," which bas trained the latter. TEAcnrxo THE Sr,AvE o•o READ. 307 Not only is this native dulness to be overcome, but timr for study is to be found-time cnongh for the faculties to unbend from the pressure of labor, and fix themselves upon the mental task. This is what few employers consider themselves able to afford. Once a week, in their opini0n, is quite often enough for the slave to repeat his lesson ; and through the week he may forget it. No wonder that both thcindulgcnt master and the teacher-yes, and the learner, too, often become cliscouragccl, and give up the task before the Word of God is unlocked to "the poor," for ·whom it was cxpre'Sly written I I speak as one who has felt these obstacles, having, with the approval of one of the class to whom I have alluded, taken charge of a Sunday school among his servants. More attentive and grateful pupils I never had, but it bas pained my heart to feel the difficulty of leading them even to the threshold of knowledge; and there lcavcing them! In an adjoining household, however, 'it was still worse. George, a light-colored "boy" of twenty-five, the "factotum" of biB mistress, was the husband of our cook, Letty. ~ had succeeded in taking Letty |
