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1069

4

who when forced to ask alms of the Bureau is denounced as lazy and unwilling to work; under all these discouraging circumstances the freedmen are forced to labor, yet strange to say they bear up under such grievances and are fast becoming good and useful citizens to the Commonwealth in whose service they are a tower of strength wherever allowed to be wielded for the public good. Considerable interest is taken by the freedmen in many portions of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties to establish schools; since my last report two schools for colored persons have opened in Manchester with an attendance of near a hundred scholars. The work of temperance is progressing and being carried forward with a sort of determination on the part of the Freedpeople to make the organization what it should be in force and effect. The remarks of Hon. Henry Wilson upon this subject has caused quite a reaction in the minds of many freedmen who are beginning to realize the ruinous effect intemperance has upon the prosperity of the colored race: during the month several

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