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0433

3d Page

protection under its laws, and know thereby that they can receive their dues from the Whites without so much trouble & discomfiture I believe that they will put forth renewed efforts in their labor and be more saving of their substance and less improvident.
The Moral Condition
of the Freedmen is in an impure state, but the knowledge of the fact cannot excite surprise when we realize that the accursed institution from which they were so recently rescued not only failed to cultivate good morals, but tended to create & court immorality. Many of these early habits still cling to them; hence with many the marriage obligations are not considered as sacred or binding, but as a thing that can be broken whenever fancy or caprice may dictate. Superstition and excitement enter largely into their religious views, feelings & mode of worship. It will require a generation of moral & religious training to overcome these evils and to eradicate the vices entailed upon them by slavery.
Intemperance
is also an evil of a fearful character that exists among the Freedmen, from the fact that they do