156 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



cated, and is actuated by high principles and ideals. 

 He has turned his back upon the allurements of the 

 cities, and devoted his life to the elevation of his 

 people in this chance place, in the heart of the 

 "Black Belt." 



Mr. John J. Benson, his father, was fourteen 

 years old when emancipated on the advice given 

 generally by General Lee on his surrender. Mr. 

 Benson's father was his master. He had died 

 before the emancipation, and John and four full 

 brothers and sisters were divided up among the 

 heirs as slaves. His mother, still living, recovered 

 all her children but one, who was sold away on his 

 father's death, and could not be traced. Another 

 child, a little girl of six, was recovered by young 

 John. He found her painted over with tar, as she 

 was otherwise indistinguishable from a white child, 

 carried her the most of the way of fourteen miles at 

 night in his arms; but she soon died. John set 

 resolutely to work with one special resolve: never 

 to go in debt. He has succeeded so well that he 

 now owns three thousand acres of land, sixty head 

 of horses and mules, as many cows, a saw-mill and 

 a grist-mill, and sufficient farming utensils for his 

 plantations. Something over two hundred people 

 are supported on his property — tenants, or laborers 

 and their families. On returning from Howard 

 University three years ago, young Benson built and 

 set up a store at an investment of four thousand 

 dollars. The insurance underwriters would not 



