Since preparing this table the writer has received information showing that he should have assigned at least one generation more of freedom to several of the property holders. Several of those marked as of the first generation should be assigned to the second; still more of those assigned to the second should be in the third, and so on.

The last slave sold in Sandy Spring was a boy who was sold in 1857. By the will of a head of a family who died in 1853, some 10 or 12 slaves were left to the heirs, to be set free upon attaining a certain age. Several of the heirs freed their slaves at once, and bought from their

coheirs and freed the others in the fall of 1853, except this boy, who belonged to one of the younger members of the family. Upon settling up the estate of this younger member, who had died in the meantime, this Negro boy was bought from the estate at public auction for the purpose of being set free by those who had already in the same way set the others free. He was bought and freed in 1857.

The percentage of heads of families now in Sandy Spring who were freed in other parts of the State before 1865 is large-about 37.8— nearly 4 in 10 of the free families. This fact throws a strong light upon the rapidity with which slavery was being destroyed by economic forces in Maryland, as it was in Virginia, when the gradual process of emancipation was stopped by the antislavery agitation.

Three of the 4 born in Sandy Spring were of free parents; 3 of the 4 born outside of Sandy Spring were of slave parents.

Of the 92 property holders 84 are over 35 years of age; of these, 62 were freeborn or freed before 1865; 23 of them are immigrants, and 39 are natives of Sandy Spring-about 42 per cent of the whole number. Of these 39, again, a careful estimate shows that a third have inherited their homes or have acquired them by the gift or the aid of their free parents. If this estimated proportion be right, the number of elderly freeborn natives of Sandy Spring acquiring their homes is 26, approximately the same as that of the freeborn immigrants and of those who were slaves in 1865. Of the 8 younger home getters 4 were born of parents free before 1865 and 4 of parents who were slaves in 1865.

The other side of the question may be briefly stated without the formality of tabulation. Twenty-four native Sandy Spring Negroes, free before 1865, are not property holders-about the same number as of those natives who have themselves acquired their homes; 15 immigrants, free before 1865, are without homes-about three-fifths of the number of their class who have gotten homes; and 29 former slaves are without property, as against 22 who are owners. Of the population born since 1865, 30 natives of Sandy Spring and 15 immigrants have not acquired property, as against 4 of each class who have-a large excess of percentage against natives.

Recurring to the older generation, of a total of 101 of those freeborn before 1865, 62, or 61.4 per cent, own property; of a total of 51 of those who were slaves in 1865, 22, or 43.1 per cent, own property. If we deduct, as suggested, a third of the native freeborn Negroes of Sandy Spring owning their homes, then of 88 free in 1865, 49, or 55.7 per cent, have acquired property, as compared with 43.1 per cent of slaves in 1865. Does or does not this excess of 12.6 per cent constitute an argument in favor of the superior home-making power of the freeborn and free-descended Negroes? Or, in view of the equal division of property holders between free-descended and slavedescended in the younger generation, and of the 30 nonproperty

holding Sandy Spring Negroes, heads of families, as against 15 like outsiders who also do not hold property, is not the Scotch verdict of "not proven" the sound conclusion in this case? A suspension of judgment seems, to the writer at least, the wise mental attitude.

GROUP LIFE.

From an economic point of view, the general conclusion drawn from the investigation of this group would appear to be favorable. The Sandy Spring Negroes seem to be acquiring and holding property, and the agricultural element of labor among them gives a good account of itself. Beyond these statements, enough has been said incidentally during the course of this paper to make any extended remarks on the life of the Sandy Spring Negroes as a whole unnecessary. Several of the inferential conclusions arrived at for Sandy Spring would not, if elaborated, be found to coincide with the very interesting discussion of the group life for Farmville, to which the attention of the reader is particularly invited.

One hundred and forty-five males and 207 females over 18 years of age report themselves as members of some church.

The Methodist denomination is the strong one among the Negroes of Sandy Spring and of Maryland, as might be expected from the history of that church, and the leading religious organization among them is what is known as the Sharp Street Church, (a) which has about 500 members. The description of the chief Farmville Negro church as an organization is, in the main, the description of the Sandy Spring church. The meetings are frequent, various, and numerously attended. "The unifying and directing force is, however, religious exercises of some sort. The most marked exercise is the series of revival meetings which begins about September and is continued sometimes night after night, sometimes two or three nights a week, for months.

This church is the natural center for other organizations, social, political, and economic. Of the last class, the beneficial societies, several are almost a full generation old. The controlling idea in the case of most of them is to provide for burial and sometimes for help during sickness for their members. The dues are paid in quarterly, and periodically a division of the funds accumulated in excess of a certain amount takes place. The names of these societies are so characteristic that they are given, pretty much in the order of their organization: Young Men's Beneficial Society, of Sandy Spring (1871-72); Female Beneficial Society, of Sandy Spring; United Beneficial Society, of Sandy Spring; United Sons and Daughters of Wesley Society Number 6, of Sandy Spring; Little Gleaners of Sharp Street;

Sisters' Mutual Aid Society. These all belong in the congregation of Sharp Street Church, and they have $1,834 to their credit in the savings bank. Two other societies-Golden Link of Sisters and Brothers, of Oakwood, and Golden Beneficial Society, of Good Hope-belong, respectively, to the two other churches on the same circuit with Sharp Street, and the Beneficial Society of the Rising Star belongs to the congregation of the Baptist Church of the neighborhood. Their deposited funds amount, all told, to $3,265. The large majority of members are Sandy Spring Negroes. These societies are managed by committees, and are said to be well managed. This system is of great interest, both in itself and because of the curious resemblance it bears to the origin of the medieval guilds.

One of the concluding remarks in the Farmville report is as follows: Finally, it remains to be noted that the whole group life of Farmville Negroes is pervaded by a peculiar hopefulness on the part of the people themselves. No one of them doubts in the least but that one day black people will have all rights they are now striving for, and that the Negro will be recognized among the earth's great peoples. Perhaps this simple faith is, of all products of emancipation, the one of the greatest social and economic value.

Many of the Sandy Spring Negroes have been free for several generations, but the observation of the investigator does not warrant for them a similar statement. On the contrary, the light-hearted hopefulness or the absence of care which so agreeably characterized the race a couple of generations ago is largely gone. The struggle for existence in the midst of economically competitive and socially antagonistic surroundings has had its saddening-perhaps its hardening-effect upon these people. The talk of some of the older ones among them with the investigator showed a decided dissatisfaction with the general frame of mind of the younger generations of their race and a vague feeling of disquiet for the present and the future. The younger generations are not on as good terms with the whites as their elders, and they know it and show it. These two conditions of mind-or, rather, these two aspects of the same condition of mind-constitute a general condition certainly not to be described as one of "peculiar hopefulness," and this general condition seems to the writer a distinctive and definite fact, just as true of the Negroes of Sandy Spring as that their percentage of illiteracy is less than the percentage of illiteracy for the Negroes of Farmville. Whence this difference of reported impression for Farmville and for Sandy Spring? Is it that the contact of the two races is less close and is freer from irritation in Farmville than in Sandy Spring? Or is this important matter reducible, after all, to the comparatively unimportant matter of the personal equation of the investigators? Was the Farmville hopefulness due in part to the strong and hope-inspiring stimulus of personal contact with a highly

educated member of their own race in the person of the investigator, and is the Sandy Spring apparent lack of buoyancy due in part to the fact that the investigator is a member of the dominant race? This, too, "can only be determined by further study." The truth is what we want, and this divergence of impression emphasizes very strongly how much this whole subject, so vital to the well-being of the people of this country, needs comprehensive, systematic, and dispassionate examination.