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dare convey my summons to the defendant; the customary reply to a request to act as messenger is, "he shoot me [[?]] sure" After leaving the employ of any one of the whites, the freedman in many instances dare not return for his humble [[?]] or stock of houskeeping articles   The women are more courageous than the men     Many of the farmers pursue a suicidal policy in this intimidation, and ere long will be left without a single laborer, and then say the "nigger won't work"  There is quite a mania among the negroes of this region to hang around the oyster-beds and fisheries, and to cut wood and "maul" nails in the Dismal Swamp; consiquently on Saturday night and Sunday, Suffolk is full of them. I believe in proportion to the whites they are two to one    Here they are a helpless and selfish set; as a class they are like the man who often being aided to get out of the mire asks his deliverer to clean the mud from his clothes   I cannot induce them to make the least effort in the matter of schools, although anxious to send their children, provided they are not required to contribute a cent    I had great difficulty in finding one of them unselfish enough to board at any price a colored teacher recently arrived; they do not want the trouble.   In the matter of
 
3rd  Schools

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-20 10:45:46