Peninsula Enterprise, November 19, 1887

Conclusion of Ex-Teacher's Letter.

Infrastructure -- Public - Government : School administration

'C' says Ex T was instilling 'false doctrines' in the minds of the children. One of them is, so he says, "a feeling of reverence for old John Brown.' This is one of the most stupendous falsehoods that was ever concocted in the brain of an imbecile and circulated by a knave to injure Ex T. He never did and he never expected to teach such a sentiment. He was born and reared in the eastern part of Virginia, and from his childhood down to the present day, his sympathies have been southern, and a special devotion does he feel for Virginia. His father was a slave owner, holding between fifteen and twenty negroes. He was reared in contact with slavery, and he knows what it was. Is it reasonable that Ex T should teach 'a reverence for old John Brown,' when his avowed purpose was to liberate the slaves, even by the murder of their masters? It seems to Ex T that no one but a fool could believe such, if he knew the facts Ex T has given. And yet such is one of the claptrap complaints manufactured to injure Ex T before the school trustees. What 'gross injustice' is done here!

'C' complains that Ex T taught that 'the South fought for dollars and cents, and the North fought for principle.' He pronounces this an infamous falsehood, black as the heart of him that started it, and foul as the tongue of him that circulates it. Ex T never did and never expects to teach such a sentiment. He will now tell 'C' what the South fought for -- 'C' may not know: The South fought for the principle of secession, for slavery, for constitutional government for their altars and their firesides, to repel a ruthless invader from their soil. What a claptrap complaint that was to carry before a school board to injure Ex T! What 'gross injustice' was done here!

Ex T was a Confederate soldier from July, 1861, until the 8th of April. 1865, when he was captured by the enemy during Gen. R. E. Lee's retreat. He was hardly more than a boy when he volunteered in defense of the Lost Cause. When McClellan advanced upon Yorktown, Ex T was in the front, and fought the enemy around Richmond; he was in front, and fought the enemy at Fredericksburg. Where was 'C' then? was he a hostler or bootblack at Gen. Beauregard's headquarters? or was he sitting in a chimney corner? Ex T was in the front at the battle of Sharpsburg, he was in front at Chancellorsville and fought the enemy; he was in the front during Pickett's celebrated charge at Gettysburg, and fought the enemy -- here Ex T was severely wounded. Where was 'C' then? was he hostler or bootblack at Gen. Beauregard's headquarters? or was he sitting in a chimney corner? Ex T met and fought the enemy at Chattanooga and at Knoxville in Tennessee, he was in the front at Spottsylvania and fought the enemy, he fought the enemy on the south side of James river, he fought the enemy on Gen. Lee's retreat, and he was standing by his gun a piece of light artillery, ready and willing to fire when Gen. Custer's cavalry, with drawn swords and pistols, rode upon him and others and demanded surrender. Where was 'C' then? was he hostler or bootblack at Gen. Beauregard's headquarters, or was he sitting in a chimney corner?

Ex T mentions these facts incidentally to show his devotion, to what the South fought for -- and not 'dollars and cents.' Ex T saw rich fields wasted, happy homes made desolate, sacred altars torn down, and churches turned into horse stables. He knows what he was fighting for, and when he now hears the brave Confederate soldier tell of his hardships, his sufferings, and his dangers, the heart of Ex T beats in sympathy with him -- even unto tears. Ex T will mention just here that when he returned to his once happy home in April, 1865, he had to look upon the fresh, new clay that marked the last resting place of his father -- a ruined man by the war. 'C' may think these matters are foreign to his charge, but they show where Ex T was, what he is, and what he will always teach, if he ever teaches again.

But one or two more points in 'C's' article must not pass unnoticed. 'C' makes a mistake in saying every one that did sign was a patron of the school. There never have been patrons of the school. Some who did sign the petition which he represents, now say they did not understand the object of the petition, or they signed for a purpose not expressed in the petition. But one of the most astounding facts lies in the statement of the clerk of the board to the brother of the new principal that, 'all necessary for the change was to get five or six signers.' Just think what a mockery is made of a petition! The merest pretense, the flimsiest excuse for official action! Five or six signers to control a matter in which between forty or fifty patrons of a school are interested! Does not 'gross injustice' appear upon the very fact of such a petition? Ex T knew nothing of the so-called petition, and had no suspicion that such undermining trickery was going on until the morning on which the trustees met to determine the question.

The remonstrance was 'engineered' (C's term) by Ex T to whom 'gross injustice' had been done, and he was determined to give the patrons an opportunity to condemn a wrong put upon them without their knowledge and consent.

Ex T denies that it was his intention 'to get up a little neighborhood 'buncomb for political ends,' and 'C's weak and miserable falsehood should be written upon his mean face as plainly as it is impressed upon his deceitful heart. Ex T is no politician, no office seeker, and belongs to no political clique or ring to wrong and oppress others.

In conclusion, Ex T would say to the parent, if the teacher does wrong, or teaches 'false doctrines' to his children as he thinks, let the parent go to the teacher first and make his complaint, and give the teacher an opportunity to know his complaint that he may correct it, if wrong exists, and not go and whisper it in the ears of trustees to injure the teacher. A reasonable and sensible teacher is always willing and ready to hear complaints and correct wrongs in his school as far as he can. A star-chamber court is a mean thing even in the form of a school board. If teachers can find no protection in the school officers from the malicious darts of secret enemies, these teachers are indeed a pitiful set of public servants. Ex T submits what he has written to the impartial reader that loves justice, truth, and honor more than 'dollars and cents.'

EX-TEACHER.

Metompkin, Oct. 26, 1887.