less than eleven per cent of the whole number, and only 70,000 more than was reported by the Freedman's Bureau in 1867, and 00,000 more than the number it reported the previous year, 1809. Prejudice was very stubborn, and the ignorance of 250 years of imbruting servitude was still an impervious crust. The brave men and women who opposed to this dreadful array the light of their love of humanity, the strength of a keen and alert intelligence, and their hope, looked about them, many of them with breaking hearts. No missionaries to China or Africa ever suffered as did these pioneers in the cause now fostered, encouraged, and supported by the States that at first rejected them. They were looked upon as part of the machinery by which negro rule was to be perpetuated, and they were shunned as intelligent aiders and abettors of mischief and ruin. Besides this, the Freedman's Bureau was regarded as obnoxious in its workings and its tendencies. Under these circumstances it was to be expected that very discouraging reports would be made, and we are not surprised, therefore, to learn that Delaware had in 1870 made no provision for the education of negro children; that in Maryland the negro children were utterly ignored, save in Baltimore; Kentucky practically ignored the colored children; West Virginia seemed to be contemplating the destruction of its common-school system; Virginia was struggling through ignorance of what free schools should be to the establishment of a system; North Carolina was still in a hopeless condition; and Tennessee, save in Memphis and Nashville, and the counties of Davidson, Greene, and Montgomery, had no schools for whites or blacks. This is a very black picture, but it was not without its relief. Missouri had a free-school system firmly established; Arkansas, encountering the obstacles common to the regions where slavery had been abolished, had secured a greater success than a majority of the Southern States; South Carolina, with the largest percentage of illiteracy, was confident of final success; Florida, in spite of some drawbacks, presented more reasons for anticipating the general prevalence of free schools; but Alabama, after giving the most flattering promises, was debating the question of advancing or retreating; Mississippi, although commencing late, was progressing steadily and efficiently in the establishment of a system of free schools, notwithstanding the great and bitter opposition, appointing county superintendents, collecting the school-tax, and building school-houses; Louisiana's report was most unsatisfactory; Georgia had just passed a school law, but must wait a year for funds before commencing operations; in Texas things looked hopeless, there was no school legislation, and the entire population was left to grow up in ignorance, save as private enterprise threw a ray of light upon the general darkness. The District of Columbia alone made an exhibit that was encouraging, and that was relatively as good as that made by the white children. In public and private schools there were 4,613 colored children out of a total school population of 10,494. This was
