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259

This falling off in the Society's operations has been, of course, uncontrollable by me, and unavoidable, I am bound to suppose, by the Society. To make good this loss I have enlisted other agencies, as far as possible, both of a private and public character, and with considerable success. The appeal to the Northern Associations is of very little effect because each is exerting itself, to the utmost, to maintain its old list of schools, yet without being able fully to do so.

The organization of educational aid societies among the freedmen has been attended to, and in many cases with the most encouraging results. But in eastern Virginia, and particularly in such places as Yorktown and Williamsburg, where so much has been done, in the past, for the freedmen, without care or cost to them, where they have been pauperized by our kindness, which in the long run has not been kindness, — as the Friend's Society now freely acknowledge — it is almost impossible to pursuade the people to do anything for themselves.

This difficulty has been increased, the present year, by the well known fact that in whole of Va, there was less than half a crop of corn, and that the eastern and 

Transcription Notes:
"one's" or "this"? -- Beth