g the war was
perhaps the best that could be provided at that time. But it was far
from being conducive to good morals, and was not, in a moral sense, an
improvement upon the plantation life prior to the war, when almost all
the slaves were huddled by families in one room cabins of what was
known as "the quarters." It was fortunate for the race and the fathers
that the contraband life was of short duration, and the heads of
families among the Negroes, as fast as they could get their loved ones
together, began to settle in families all over the Southland. The
privilege of being a free man, to come and go at will, had its evil
effect upon the fathers for a few years, but they soon became
enveloped with the desire that their children become educated and
otherwise cultured, as were the children of their white neighbors.

The desire to educate and accumulate for the good of the children
became the restraining point in the lives of the fathers, and a very
appreciable change for better morals was noticeable in the latter
sixties and early seventies.

Immediately following the close of the war, a great many missionary
agencies set to work among the Negroes for the purpose of improving
them morally and intellectually. These agencies operated among the old
and young alike, but not with the same results; for it soon became
known that very little change could be wrought among the aged ones
whose superstitious notions of religious worship and peculiar ideas
about "white folks' religion" made it a difficult task to teach them.
Notwithstanding their superstition, the aged Negroes were singularly
kind and respectful to their white neighbors and permitted the white
teachers--for nearly all teachers were white at that time--to have
absolute control of their children both as to home and school life.

One of the attributes of morality is a happy conscience, or happiness,
for there can be no true happiness where there is no morality. Hence,
there existed an appreciable element of morality among the fathers,
for, as a rule, no happier or more contented people could be found
anywhere. I speak of the whole race. One may be a good servant, or a
good neighbor, and yet not a good man. Opportunities have much to do
with developing the attributes of the soul. Many of those noble
qualities which go to make a good man were latent in the fathers, for
there had been no opportunity for the development of these qualities.

The home is the foundation