Arkansas, but in Louisiana and Mississippi;
I will say the alluvial lands on the Mississippi River
between Memphis and Vicksburg.

Q. Are the negroes on those lands generally having the same
opportunities for education that they do on your plantation?
--A. Oh, yes, sir; there is a common school system.

Q. And it is as prevalent in Louisiana and Mississippi as
in Arkansas?
--A. I think it is.

Q. What is the nativity of those teachers, as a rule?
--A. They are generally colored people from either the East
or the Northwest. There are some white teachers, but very
few.

Q. Are any of the white teachers Southern in birth?
--A. There is not a white teacher on my own property; they
are all colored teachers on my own property. The proportion
of white teachers is very small.

Q. How much do these colored teachers themselves know?
--A. Some of them are remarkably well educated.

Q. And generally earnestly devoted to their work?
--A. Perfectly so.

Q. Or is it simply to get their money?
--A. No; I think some of them really have a desire to see
their scholars advance.

Q. Some pride in their race, to have them get on, I
suppose?
--A. I think there is a certain pride in that respect; and,
again, they want to gain a reputation as teachers.

Q. What compensation does a teacher get?
--A. I think about from $50 to $100 a month.

Q. Do they pay their own expenses, board and shelter?
--A. Yes, sir; but board is cheap, merely nominal.

Q. About what amount?
--A. I should say these teachers can get board for $10 a
month.

Q. Is the cost of clothing in your part of the country
about the same as here?
--A. This is our market.

Q. You buy the ready-made clothing largely for the
population in general, I suppose?
--A. We buy both ready-made clothing and cloth to make up.

Q. I suppose the colored population hardly buy custom
goods?
--A. A great many of them buy the cloth, and some of their
women are as good tailoresses as you would find anywhere.
They buy the cloth and make it up themselves.

Q. That must bring a suit of clothes pretty cheap in a
colored family; they really expend nothing but buy the cloth
themselves?
--A. They sell very good jeans cloth there at 35 or 40 cent