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354

of toil on them by the light of blazing pine knots. Two things the people are looking for in these little primers - 1st, the ability to read for themselves the Word of God, and 2d the intelligence which they profoundly feel the  need [[strikethrough]] of [[/strikethrough]], to enable them to discharge properly their political duties. These wants are the basis of their conversation when the subject of education is mentioned among them. The primers are worn out in the hands of earnest seekers after light. Fully conceding the priceless value of missionary labor among these people, I have no hesitancy in saying that knowledge is a more pressing and present necessity. They are very generally church goers and are devout but they are perishing - and the country is in danger of perishing with and partly through them - because they lack the intelligence that is necessary to aid them in distinguishing between the Christian patriot and the loud-mouthed rotten hearted demagogue. Some of the first are here seeking the [[strikethrough]] changing [[/strikethrough]] salvation of the Republic and the elevation of the Freedmen; the land swarms with the latter class, seeking the elevation of them by the basest means. The freedmen so desire to know and do their duty, and the