Southern Christian Advocate

GEORGIA CONFERENCE MANUAL-LABOR SCHOOL

Superintendent's Report for the last term of 1837.

Two years and four months have now elapsed since the halls of this institution were first opened for the reception of students, during which time several official reports of its condition and progress have been presented to the public.

Since, however, the original plan is now nearly filled out, a sufficient quantity of valuable lands have been obtained, and a steady and uniform course of operation adopted upon the manual labor system, it has been deemed advisable, for the satisfaction of its friends and patrons abroad, to exhibit a condensed view of its progress and facilities up to the close of the present term.

Suffice it to say, then, that from a variety of prudential reasons it was considered inexpedient to receive more than twenty-six pupils for the first term, and sixty for the second. By this precautionary measure we were enabled to organize successfully, and to accommodate the several parts of a complicated and otherwise unwieldy system, to easy and harmonious action, so readily to admit of subsequent extension and enlargement.

About three hundred and fifty barrels of Indian corn, fifty thousand pounds of oats, and a large crop of peas and potatoes was the result of our first year's experiment upon the farm; while a readiness to perform the duties assigned them in the agricultural department, and a satisfactory proficiency in their respective studies, marked the character of the students generally.

During the past year the average number of ninety-five were accommodated with places in the institution. Throughout the year the conduct of the young men, as a body, seemed voluntarily regulated by a high sense of duty, and a manifest and respectful regard for the authorities of the school ever characterized their deportment.

No circumstance of moment transpired to interrupt the harmony and success of our movements until the last of June, when the Indian depredations upon our western border induced about twenty-six of our number to abandon for a time their literary pursuits, and tender their voluntary services to the defence of the bleeding frontier. The loss of so large a number of our most efficient field hands at so important a season, was, however, compensated by the skill and energy of our farmer in directing the labor of those who remained, so that a large and valuable crop was secured, consisting of about five hundred barrels of Indian corn, twenty-five thousand pounds of oats, including the amount devoted to our stock in the fields, several hundred bushels of potatoes, all of which were preserved in a healthy condition throughout the winter; two thousand eight hundred and seven pounds net of cotton sold at fifteen and a half cents per lb.; and a crop of peas, estimated at one hundred and fifty dollars, with a large amount of the usual forage for cattle, such as fodder, shucks, &c. A very few stock hogs, with which we were furnished in the outset, had, by careful management so rapidly increased as to supply the steward's hall with eleven thousand five hundred and ninety-six pounds of pork necessary for the present year, an article which during the past winter commanded here eight and a half cents per pound.

Two or three young men who devoted their working hours to mechanical employments, rendered important services in the erection of some out buildings for the use of the farm, estimated at one hundred dollars; they also made entire five large gates, furnishing and dressing their own timbers, valued by competent workmen at five dollars each, together with a neat garden, two hundred feet square, completing the whole enclosure with chestnut posts and heart pine pallings, got out and dressed by themselves, worth at least seventy-five dollars. A variety of smaller jobs were executed at intermediate times.

The most of those who had entered the campaign against the Creeks, as soon as discharged returned forthwith to their places in the institution, and resumed their accustomed duties at the opening of the second term in July. In the month of September following, at a four days meeting, appointed for the village of Covington, a gracious and extensive revival commenced among the young men of the school, and progressed with rapidity and striking effect, until very few over the age of fifteen were left without the solemn sense of their religious accountability. The usual exercises were almost entirely suspended for ten successive days and nights, to give place to the work of God. About seventeen professed conversion, and twenty-five became members of the M. E. Church.

And, although the love of some has since waxed cold, there are still among us some bright and cheering trophies of the power of Divine grace displayed on that occasion.

The season just closed, and for which this report is mainly intended, opened on the last Monday in January last. A large accession having been made to our farm during the past winter by the purchase of some valuable lands adjoining us, the board were enabled to extend the benefits of the institution to a large number, in accommodation to the numerous and repeated applications for admission presented from all quarters. Seventy-six were therefore received into the boarding department, and forty permitted to take lodgings in private families in the vicinity, making an aggregate of 115. Out of this number about seventy-five are between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, among whom the most affectionate and harmonious intercourse has been preserved, interrupted only by one brief but unpleasant altercation, which, however, resulted in a speedy adjustment, and in the restoration of the most friendly relations. Those of earlier age, and whose acts are more generally the result of boyish freak and undisciplined passion than of sober reason and mature judgment, and who have not yet learned to submit the guidance of their conduct to the influence of moral suasion and a sense of propriety, have occasionally subjected themselves to the correction of the rod, but never, until repeated and affectionate appeals to their moral sensibilities have failed to effect a reformation. In this event, the paternal prerogative has been exercised in the chastisement of the offender; and retirement has ever been preferred as the best place for its infliction, both to secure the exclusive attention of the youth to his reproof and correction, and to prevent that mortification of feeling which often leads to desperate results.

Constant and respectful attention to the prayer room, and to the forms of Christianity, has perhaps been equalled in any similar establishment. Of whom are many of the most talented young men, are members of the Church, and hold class meetings night in the institution. A happy spirit pervades our whole membership; aristocracy, based upon the relative circumstances, is either claimed or declared; and as soon as the duties of the school room are exchanged for those of the field, the rich and the poor, the titled and the untitled, are seen to muster with equal readiness the implements of agriculture, and proceed without choice to the discharge of the duties assigned them.

Among so large a collection, however, of all ages and characters, many of whom had never been accustomed to the active duties and fatigues of the field, occasional instances of delinquency were to be apprehended. Some such occurred, but not sufficient to deprive the great body of our students of an honorable character for industry and perseverance. One fact has been strikingly developed in the experience of this institution, viz: that those young men who are noted for their promptness and industry in performing the duties of the farm, are perhaps, without a single exception, distinguished for their application and success in the literary department.

The institution and community have been favoured with fine health, and there is now no instance of disease in all our large family, consisting of nearly one hundred and fifty persons.

In the literary department there are about twenty-six classes, embracing an extensive range of study, and committed to the charge of the superintendent and three other instructors. The first named officer, in addition to the duties of an instructor, is expected to take the general supervision of the whole interests of the institution in its several departments, conduct its correspondence, administer its discipline, direct its religious services, &c. &c.

The facilities of instruction in the physical sciences are perhaps not surpassed in any institution of similar grade south of the Potomac. An extensive philosophical apparatus, of London manufacture and first rate finish, the prime cost of which was two thousand dollars, has been furnished by the board, together with recent additions from New York and Boston, to the amount of four hundred dollars more. Among them may be enumerated a large double barrelled air pump, with full sized mahogany frame, double transferrer with plates, and an extensive set of appendages for illustrating the principles of pneumatics, &c. The London cost of this instrument alone was something more than three hundred dollars.

A splendid brazen Orrery, including a Planetarium, Lunarium, and Tellurian, all of which are put in motion by the same wheel-work, and capable of being removed at pleasure, affording the most ample and satisfactory means of illustrating the respective positions, revolutions, and relative velocities of the heavenly bodies.

A mahogany whirling table, of large size, and furnished with a large supply of suitable appendages for exemplifying some of the most complicated laws of planetary motion, e. g. the centripetal and centrifugal forces, the reason of the oblate spheroidal figure of the earth, Jupiter, and other planets, together with the causes of the tides, &c. A highly finished and powerful microscope, with a variety of lenses of different sizes and adaptations, moveable stages, specula, &c., as also two smaller instruments for the examination of botanical and entomological subjects. In connection with the above, a large solar microscope, magnifying about four millions of times; a galvanic battery of fifty plates, six inches square; an electric machine of strong powers, with a battery of six half gallon jars and a variety of other attendant pieces, costing £30 sterling, ($33.33) and a copper condenser, for the purpose of exhibiting the rainbow, the action of condensed air upon fluids, &c.

The instruments for illustrating mechanics, optics, hydrostatics and hydraulics, are numerous and well executed. The last which it may be proper to mention, is the new London Phantasmagoria, an important improvement upon the old magic lantern, with an extensive, beautifully executed, and colored set of sliders, for illustrating in the most impressive and interesting manner, the science of astronomy and natural history. Only one other instrument, perhaps, is needed to make the set equal, if not superior, to any in the Southern States, viz. a large telescope, of ample powers for astronomical observations. The propriety of purchasing one at as early a day as may be deemed expedient, is respectfully recommended to the consideration of the board. The set of chemical apparatus is yet small and incomplete, and requires that additions be made to them as soon as practicable.

The site of the institution is upon a fine elevation, in the midst of a beautiful grove of forest trees, overlooking the village of Covington, half a mile distant. A square area of about two and a half acres is enclosed by fourteen buildings, arranged at equal distances, with an interval of thirty-three feet between, twelve of them designed as lodging rooms for students, one story high, and divided into two apartments, separated by a passage of four feet wide; and two others, each two stories high, situated on the northern lines of the square, and at opposite corners, the one occupied by the family of the superintendent, and the other by the steward and farmer.

A neat chapel, 45 by 30 feet, is now ready for use, and a principal building, two stories high, and containing six apartments, intended for recitation rooms and officers' rooms, is nearly completed. The steward's hall is a commodious edifice, sixty feet by twenty-five, to which is attached a large and well constructed kitchen. The whole of the above mentioned buildings are painted white, and give an air of interest and beauty to the rich canopy of native green which overhangs them. A dairy, pantry, large cooking stove, and a sufficient number of servants, afford the means of accommodating, comfortably, our numerous boarders, while a barn of ample dimensions, granary, stable, and a variety of out houses, are provided to meet the wants of the farm.

To our farmer, who discharges the duties of steward also, is confided the entire management of the agricultural department. He is constituted an officer of the institution, directs the labor of the young men, and keeps a regular record of every hour employed in labor, for which they are remunerated in cash at the end of each term, at from one and a half to five cents per hour, the assessment being made by the officers according to age, skill, industry, &c.

Our farm consists of about seven hundred and ninety-one acres, three hundred and forty of which are under active cultivation the present year, the remainder being mostly wood land, and covered with a heavy forest growth. The soil is free, productive, and based upon a fine clay bottom, and the surface generally well suited to easy and thorough cultivation.

The whole plantation is under good enclosure, and the next year's crop may be safely made without any repairs. Our present crop is in a flourishing condition, but being yet on hand, we can only present what is believed to be a moderate estimate of the products to be expected when the whole is secured, viz. one hundred and forty acres in Indian corn and peas, likely, without disaster, to yield two thousand five hundred bushels corn and five hundred bushels peas; thirty-five acres in cotton, do. do. do. six thousand lbs. net; six acres in potatoes, do. do. do. fifteen hundred bushels; thirty acres in wheat, now cut and secured, two hundred and fifty bushels; one hundred and twenty-five acres in oats, do. do. one hundred thousand pounds.

Our stock of hogs, after having supplied the steward's hall with forty shoats for table use during the term just closed; now consists of two hundred and six head, so arranged, in point of age and size, as to promise rapid increase, and from which from twelve to fourteen thousand pounds of the pork necessary for the ensuing year is expected. We have fifteen valuable milch cows, two yoke of oxen and twenty-five stock cattle, making an aggregate of forty-four head; seven farm horses are now on hand, two having died during the present year. One round wagon, one two-horse wagon, and an ox cart belong to the institution, and are found almost indispensable for conducting expeditiously the business of the farm.

Two young men, whose hours of labor through the past term have been devoted to mechanical employments, have made an entire set of plough stocks, and seven pair of draw bars, beside a wagon, shed, cradles, carry logs, axe, hoe, and mattock helves, &c. &c.

For the results of the examination just closed, the public are respectfully referred to the report of the board of visitors present on that occasion. Suffice it to say, the young men generally are believed to have done honor to themselves and the institution with which they stand connected.

Upon the whole we may be permitted to congratulate the board of trustees, and the friends and patrons of the institution, upon the success which has hitherto crowned their laudable efforts in this important enterprise—an enterprise destined to test more extensively than any heretofore attempted, the practicability of the system under the peculiar economy of the south,* and the favorable results of which may, we trust, tend to remove the popular odium which has too long unjustly rested upon the character of our population, viz. that our domestic institutions cherish a spirit of arrogance and indolence which will never submit to the action and laborious duties of life.

In conclusion, suffer us to hope that their generous toil and liberal contributions will "provoke others to good works," until scores of kindred institutions, based upon the immutable laws of our moral, intellectual, and physical natures, and amply endowed for efficient and extensive operation, shall be established throughout the continent, and active thousands of virtuous and enlightened minds and sound constitutions shall be annually fitted for the responsible trusts in the gift of the nation as well as for the honorable and important avocations of more retired life.

Covington, July 14.
A. MEANS, Sup.

* We would not omit to mention the success which has attended one or two other institutions in this State, conducted upon a similar plan and under the patronage of other denominations.