T. E. R. to C. P. W.
May 21, 1867. I don’t suppose we shall be able to make any new additions to your collection of negro songs.202 They sing but very little nowadays to what they used to. Do you remember those good old days when the Methodists used to sing up in that cotton-house at Fuller’s? Wasn’t it good? They never sing any of them at the church, and very few in their praise-meeting.
Crops on the island are looking worse than I ever saw them at this season before.
We are all American citizens now, and there has been an effort to form a Republican party, but it has not succeeded very well yet. They are too suspicious to be led by the whites, and there is not sense enough in themselves to go ahead.
The last extract in the series is from a letter written by H. W. exactly one year later, when she made a trip to Port Royal, staying with Miss Towne and Miss Murray at St. Helena Village. The tardy tribute of the negroes to Mr. Philbrick makes the story complete.