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your children’s sake, suffer not a day to pass until you are lawfully mar-
ried. You can never attain that station in religious and civil society
which you should occupy, if you are regardless of the holy ordinance of
matrimony. We solemnly urge it upon you, as a religious duty, to
strengthen the bonds between husband and wife; for they are truly
sacred, and our lives of liberty know nothing of loosening these ties of
the family. r

We exhort you, dear Freed people, to be good citizens and kind neigh-
bors; avoid broils and contentions. Be just in your dealings, and
honest toward all men. Be truthful yourselves, and require the same
from your children: see that they are not absent from school, unless there
is sickness or absolute necessity. Be careful to send them clean and as
well clothed as you can, and see to it that their conduct towards their
teachers is good. Be firm and decided in your government; use kind-
ness and gentleness instead of the lash and the voice of angry reproof ;
be assured that all harshness and severity belong to the barbarities of
slavery, and should be forever excluded from your hearts and your homes.
Be good examples to your children, so that, when you are separated from
them, ‘they may rise up and call you blessed.”

We expect much good to result from the establishment of our schools
among you. We are sure that you are thankful to our Heavenly Father
for putting it into our hearts to help you in this way; but we want you
to look forward to the time, which we hope is not far distant, when you can
sustain them by your own exertions. One of the greatest blessings that
freedom gives to a man, is the right to support his family and educate
his children by his own earnings. We believe that you, who are fathers,
desire to do this, and we encourage you in all your efforts.

We want you to feel your pwn worth: every one who breathes, moves,
thinks or acts, has an influence, You are all precious in the sight of our
Heavenly Father, and can do very much for each other and for us. Do
not despond at the life-struggles ; accept them as tests of your strength ;
if you overcome them, you will rejoice: God will not put more upon you
than you can bear. And now to the dear childrén we write, that you be
kind and loving one to another, slow to be angry and quick to forgive.
Be obedient to your parents and teachers; speak the truth on all occa-
sions, and on no account take what is not your own.

We send to you all an affectionate greeting. That our Father in
heaven may have you allin His holy keeping, and that His spirit may so —
prevail in your hearts that you may be kept from all wrong-doing, and
find comfort and peace in His presence, is the earnest desire of your sin-

- cere friends,

The letter was warmly received in all the settlements —