University of Virginia Library

17. Chapter Seventeenth.
Friendly White Citizens

No one who has any idea of the feeling
that existed between the people of the North
and South at the close of the Civil War
will be surprised that so very few of the
citizens of Charlottesville welcomed us
in anything like a friendly manner.
There were a few however, who accorded
us more or less recognition, and to such
I wish to give all due credit.

First, there were the trades people of
the town. In the late sixties money
was very scarce in the community, and
our trade was desirable because we always
paid in ready cash — so the market etc
men, grocers, dry goods merchants etc.
with whom we traded, usually gave us
a pleasant greeting when we met them on
the street. Of course their friendliness of

manner was based upon their interest
in us as good paying customers — and
nothing more. However, we had no
reason to complain of that, as our only
interest in them depended upon their
ability to furnish us with needed supplies

A Mr. Munday was teaching a pay school
for the colored people when Miss Gardner began
work for the Freedmen's Aid Society there. It was
for his interest to keep on good terms with
us, as in that way he would win favor with
those whose patronage he was seeking: but
aside from that his wife's sister had married
a Union soldier, and in consequence of this
connection the whole family were more
friendly with people from the North, than
perhaps they otherwise would have been.
Mr. Clark, the soldier above mentioned was
employed as a clerk in a grocery where we
did most of our trading and this was an
added inducement for the family for the
family to be on good terms with us.

Professors Miner and McGuffey of the University
of Va showed sufficient interest in our
work to visit our schools on a few occasions.

Judge Alexander Rives, who, I suppose,
might be considered the foremost citizen of
the place, accepted a position as one of the
trustees of the school, but never manifested
his interest in it by honoring us with a
visit, but he was very polite to Miss
Gardner when, one Sunday she attended
services in the Episcopal church of which
he was a member. When she entered the
church, no one came forward to show her
to a seat, so she quietly sat down in
a pew near the door which was marked
"Free." When Judge Rives saw who was
seated there, he went back and taking
her by the arm conducted her to his own
pew and seated her with his family. This
was the only mark of attention he ever paid
to any of the Northern teachers

Mr. Thompson, a printer, and formerly

a publisher of a small local paper, called to
see us when we had been there about a year
I think, bringing Mr. Munday to introduce
him. He made two or three others calls while
we were there, and confided to us the fact
that he was an old friend of Wm. Lloyd
Garrison, the noted abolitionist showing
us a book presented to him by Garrison with
the autograph of the donor on the fly leaf.
I doubt if the public generally were taken
into his confidence in this matter.

Mr. Thompson was one of the delegates
sent from Charlottesville to the Constitutional
Convention at Richmond in 1868, and
his friendliness toward us, and our work
had no small influence in winning for
him the votes of the colored men. I do
not think his friendly recognition of our
work there had any selfish motive back
of his action, but he was so fortunate as to
reap some benefit from it in the course
of a very few years.

But perhaps the one who showed real interest
in us and our work, with no possible axe
in the back shed that needed grinding,
was Mr. Abell the cashier of the Charlottesville
National Bank. He had always shown as
friendly an interest in the colored
people as the law allowed. He was a
very devout man, and had gathered
the colored children into a Sunday
School for religious instruction. This was
in ante-bellum days, and was all he could
do under the laws of Virginia. There is
every reason to believe that he performed
this duty faithfully according to his
own religious views. He not only
promptly visited our school, showing a
keen interest in our work, but he called
on us personally in a friendly way. He
regretted that he could not induce his
wife and daughter to meet us,
but they could not overcome the bitterness
caused by a great sorrow that had come
to them through the war. He said in
excuse of their unfriendly attitude. "I had
a son who served in the war, and he was
young and gentle, and he was killed."
Miss Gardner replied to the effect that
it was harder for women to overlook a
real or fancied wrong than for a man,
as they were truer to their principles.

When free schools were opened under
the new Constitution of Va, Mr. Abell
was appointed the first Superintendant. The
Society in Boston took immediate steps,
to co-operate with the local school board,
so we came more or less into business
relations with Mr. Abell as the head of the
Board. He was rigidly Orthodox in his
religious views, but I must do him the
justice to say that he never interfered with our
ideas of these subjects, until Miss Gardner
who was uncompromisingly radical,
and very outspoken at all times
sincerely believed that she would be

acting a lie if she failed to utter her
inmost thought, shocked him by openly
expressing opinions in regard to matters
held sacred in that community which
seemed to him not only irreverent but
positively blasphemous. And as the larger
part of the colored people shared Mr. Abells
feelings in this matter, as much as they
loved and respected Miss Gardner, she herself
felt that the episode had imperilled her
usefulness there. The Society accepted
her resignation from her position as
principal of the school, and transfered
her to another post of duty in Elizabeth
N.C.
It was well known that I held views
quite as heretical as those of Miss Gardner, but,
although I never concealed them, neither
did I think it wise to seek a controversy
in such matters as would cause unpleasant
feelings, so I remained as Principal in Miss
Gardners place, and Miss Holmes was sent to
take charge of the next grade. Mr. Abell
continued to show a friendly interest in
our work as long as we remained there,
and as he had nothing to gain by identifying
himself with an unpopular cause, we had
every reason to feel that he was the best friend
we had among the white people of the vicinity

A young German, who I think was in
charge of the grounds at the University and
whose name eludes my memory, made
some attempts to appear interested, by
bringing us plants and flowers a few
times, but these gifts lost something of
their value in our estimation when we
learned that he was working for the
position of Postmaster at the University. He
probably thought our influence greater than
it really was.

I have striven to give credit to every one
who gave us a word of encouragement in our
work. The list is not a long one. The list is
not a long one but it covers about everything
that could be construed as a friendly word or act.