y whites and blacks to be bad.

A great deal of the credit for the good conditions, relatively speaking,
which prevail on St. Helena is given to the Penn School which for years
has come into close touch with the lives of the people. The Negroes have
also been in touch with a good class of whites, who have encouraged all
efforts at improvement. Wherever the credit lies, the visitor is struck
by the difference between conditions here and on some other islands, for
instance, Lady's Island, which lies between St. Helena and Beaufort.
Even here it is claimed that the older generation is more industrious.

In the trucking industry, which is very profitable along the coast, the
Negroes have only been engaged as ordinary laborers. On the main land,
wherever fresh water can be obtained, is the seat of a considerable rice
industry. In recent years, owing to the cutting of the forests in the
hills, the planters are troubled by freshets in the spring and droughts
in the summer. The work is done by Negroes under direction of white
foremen. The men work harder on contract jobs, but work by the day is
better done. Women are in better repute as laborers than the men and it
is stated that more women support their husbands than formerly was the
case. Wages range from $.35 to $.50 per day, varying somewhat according
to the work done. They are paid in cash and the planters have given up
the plantation store in many cases. All work must be constantly
supervised and it is said to be harder and harder to get work done. A
planter found it almost impossible in the winter of 1901 to get fifty
cords of wood cut, the work being considered too heavy. When I left the
train at Beaufort and found twelve hacks waiting for about three
passengers it was evident where some of the labor force had gone.

In this county there is a great development of burial and sick benefit
societies. The "Morning Star", "Star of Hope", "Star of Bethlehem" are
typical names. The dues are from five to ten cents a week. Many of the
societies have good sized halls, rivaling ofttimes the churches, on the
various islands, which are used for lodge and social purposes.

Beaufort and the other towns offer the country people an opportunity to
dispose of fish and any garden produce they may raise, while it is not
uncommon to see a little ox dragging a two-wheeled cart and perhaps a
quarter of a cord of wood to be hawked about town. During part of the
summer a good many gather a spe