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leadership. Whenever one was found with some knowledge of letters, he was nevertheless wholly ignorant of the methods of imparting instruction. System, which comes of continued and careful thought, could not originate with them, for they had not been educated to think. The life of a slave was a narrow thoughtless. His cares were few and only for the present, his solicitude extended not beyond the daily wants of a single family. When freed, he had but dim notions of his necessities as a member of a race. They could not act and think as a people. Time alone must change and harden separate families into a people. The result was a want, oftentimes, of cohesion among them, and an inability to work together for the general good of their race. They were lacking, therefore, in both men and means, men to originate, means to execute. Both, for the time being, must be sought and obtained elsewhere.
The previous condition and tractable spirit of the freedmen invited teaching among them. But no sooner did they appear than a new and serious obstacle presented itself. The freedmen, whom it was sought to benefit, were living among their former masters. They owned the land and buildings and controlled public opinion. They, too, exhibited a decided hostility to Northern teachers and Colored schools. In many instances not a