out feelings of honor, reckless
in their habits, intemperate, unprincipled, and lawless, many of them
having fled from the Eastern States, as fraudulent bankrupts,
swindlers or committers of other crimes, which have subjected them to
the penitentiaries, miscreants, defying the climate, so that they can
defy the laws. Still this representation of the character of the
people, inhabiting these States, must from the chaotic state of
society in America be received with many exceptions. In the city of
New Orleans, for instance, and in Natchez and its vicinity, and also
among the planters, there are many honorable exceptions. I have said
the majority: for we must look to the mass--the exceptions do prove
the rule. It is evident that slaves under such masters can have but
little chance of good treatment, and stories are told of them at which
humanity shudders."[86]

The free people of color, however, kept on amassing wealth and
educating their children as ever in spite of opposition, for it is
difficult to enforce laws against a race when you cannot find that
race. Being well-to-do they could maintain their own institutions of
learning, and had access to parochial schools. Some of them like their
white neighbors, sent their sons to France and their daughters to the
convents to continue their education beyond the first communion. The
first free school ever opened for colored children in the United
States was the "Ecole Des Orphelins Indigents," a School for Indigent
Orphans opened in 1840. Mme. Couvent, a free woman of color, died,
leaving a fund in trust for the establishment and maintenance of this
institution. It has been in continuous operation ever since. Later, it
was aided by Aristide Mary, a well-to-do Creole of color, who left
$5,000 for its support, and by Thomy Lafon, also a colored Creole, one
of the noted benefactors of the city. Until now, the instruction is in
both English and French, and many children, not orphans, are willing
to pay a fee to obtain there the thorough education obtainable.[87]

In 1859 John F. Cook, afterwards of Washington, D. C., went to New
Orleans from St. Louis, Missouri, and organized a school for free
children of color. This was just at the time when discontent among
Southern States was rife, when there was much war-talk, and secession
was imminent. Mr. Cook had violated two laws, he was an immigrant, and
he opened a school for children of persons of color. He continued as
a successful i