_Boston, May 18._ I have already written expressing my assent to the
rise of wages at any time when you shall all agree, and also write C.
P. W. to-day that I should at any time assent to any change in the
management, sustained by the unanimous approval of the corps upon the
spot, without waiting to hear from me. You can avail yourself of the
change to get rid of the corn in cotton-fields. I hope you will not
pull it up yourself. I think such a step would lose more in dignity
than you would gain in consistency of purpose. We must expect these
people will take any undue advantage of us they think they can do with
impunity, but I think such cases can be more readily reached through
their pocket nerves than their moral sensibilities. Moreover, it is
always better to do nothing in which we should not be sustained by the
authorities, whose tender sympathies are not always judicious, as you
know. I would not allow a hill of corn in the cotton-field, _i. e._, I
would not pay the extra price till it is pulled up.
The next letter shows that the freedmen were waking up to
their rights in more ways than one.