Musings of the South 157 



take the risk, and wisely, as it was soon fired by an 

 incendiary and proved a total loss. This was prob- 

 ably not so unfortunate, as it turned his attention 

 to benevolent work. A lady who was clearing a 

 plantation furnished the pine logs, Mr. Benson 

 sawed them, the people contributed their labor, and 

 the result is a large school-building, forty by sixty 

 feet, with rooms for one hundred and twenty stu- 

 dents. The attendance for the year amounts to 

 two hundred and fifty pupils. The training is in- 

 dustrial. Young Benson obtained a scholarship in a 

 technical school in Boston for a young white man 

 who is now there preparing himself to teach mechan- 

 ical industry in this school. One of his sisters is 

 teaching in the school, and one is at Tuskegee, 

 preparing for the same work. 



The purpose of the Bensons, father and son, is 

 to set up a model negro settlement, and demon- 

 strate the possibility of success for their people in 

 intelligent industry. As an example of what is 

 possible, one of Benson's tenants selected a patch 

 of three measured acres, from which last yeai he 

 harvested 137 bushels of oats, 52 bushels of corn, 

 25 bushels of potatoes, and 35 bushels of peas. 

 The oats were the first crop, and the other crops 

 followed. The total value at prices here was 

 $119.50. 



There are four traditional drags upon the 

 people, white and black. The first is the large 

 investment each year in commercial fertilizers. 



