FRIENDLY COUNSELS
FOR FREEDMEN.
BY REV. J. B. WATERBURY, D. D.
PUBLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK.
FRIENDLY COUNSELS
FOR
FREEDMEN.
We welcome all who have come outof bondage to the privileges of freemen.Providence has unloosed your fetters.The war has been made use of by theAlmighty to bring about this greatchange in your condition. We hope youwill remember this; and when you pray,you must not forget to give him thanksfor your freedom.
Your condition is in some respectsmuch better, and in others somewhat[4]worse, than when you were slaves. Yourmaster, if he was kind, took good careof you. Now that you are free, youhave got to take care of yourselves. Atfirst this may be a hardship; but by andby you will see that it is a good thing.In slavery you had little or no care,except to see that your task was done.Now that you are your own men, youhave got to think and work both.
Thus freedom acts on the mind. Itobliges you to seek a livelihood—to lookup work such as you can do, that youmay support yourselves and your families.It sets you to thinking how youcan earn wages, and how you can bestspend them. Freedom, remember, hasits cares and anxieties as well as its benefits.
LABOR.
Don’t fall into the mistake of some,that freedom means idleness. No suchthing. Free people have to work, andsome of them have to work very hardeven to get their bread. Some of thefree colored people have by their ownlabor gained the means of a comfortablelivelihood, and made themselves respectable.You can do the same, if you willuse the same diligence. By industryyou will soon be able to support yourselvesand families, and lay up somethingperhaps for a rainy day. Thusyou may secure something to depend onwhen you are sick or old and can’t work.There will no doubt be penny savings-banks,where you can put some of yourmoney, and where it will not only be[6]safe, but will increase. We hope, ifthere are such banks, that you will takeadvantage of them.
At first, and before you get well agoing, the government, aided by goodpeople, is ready to lend you a helpinghand. This is done to give you a chanceto get used to your new situation. Butthe sooner you stop leaning on the governmentand on the help of the whites,the better for yourselves and for all concerned.
Don’t refuse to work then, even at lowwages. Work at low wages is betterthan idleness. The Bible says, he thatwill not work, neither shall he eat. Itsays also, “Be diligent in business.”
Bes