ALMOST A WATERY GRAVE.
Before proceeding further I would say that the standard of virtue among
the negroes is very low, and that if any of their girls wander from the
paths of virtue they are not cast off as is the case with the whites.
It must be admitted, however, that there is an improvement among them
along this line. When Octavia was a year old she came very near being
drowned in the river. Elsie was fond of fishing, and carried Octavia
and a little negro nurse to watch the child. The nurse got careless
and let the child fall into the river, and would have drowned had not
Simon happened to be near and heard his sister's screams, and getting
there, jumped in just in time to rescue both mother and child, the
former having leaped in to save the child. Simon gave his sister a
good lecture and the nurse a switching for their carelessness. It
seemed that Simon's nearness was providential.
Simon always said, after the child was a few months old, that she had a
bright future before her; that, though a slave, the Lord would open up
a way for her.
In Colonel R.'s absence Simon was required to make frequent visits to
his mistress's home to report to her the progress he was making on the
farm. The war had been over half fought, and while the Confederacy had
gained many battles it suffered serious losses, and was daily getting
weaker, and it was only a question of time when it would collapse.
During his visits to his mistress Simon gained this intelligence in
regard to the progress of the war, and while he was sure of his
freedom, regardless of the way the war terminated, he could not but
wish for the success of the Union armies on account of his sister and
her child, who would thereby gain their freedom. He also had a broad,
sympathetic feeling for his race and wanted them liberated.
He was also broad enough in his philosophy and intelligence to accord
to his master and other Southern slaveholders the right to resort to
arms to fight for property which they had bought or inherited, and
which was recognized in the Constitution of the United States.
While he was legally a slave he enjoyed freedom as much so as his
master or other white men. He had all the comforts of a country home,
and while the large plantation over which he was foreman was not his,
he was in one respect "lord of all he surveyed." He had a buggy,
horse, saddle, whip, pack of hounds, and said to this, do so and so,
and it was done; or go and they came or went. When one of the slaves
transgressed he used the lash on him--in a word, he was as supreme in
authority as the Nabob of Cawnpore or the Sultan of Turkey. Enjoying
and having all these things at his command, why should he want them
terminated? It must be remembered that he was three-fourths white, and
one of the instincts of the Anglo-Saxon is freedom and liberty. Simon
was attached to his master and mistress, who were humane, kind and
thoughtful of their slaves. Still, with all this, there was a longing
in his heart that would not be satisfied. It is admitted on all sides
that had there not been cruel and heartless slaveholders, "Uncle Tom's
Cabin" would never have been written, sympathy in Northern pulpits and
Abolition societies would not have spread, and in all probability the
negro would yet have been a slave. Simon's reasoning was that he nor
his master were responsible for human slavery, which in some respects
had been a benefit and in others an injury to the negro, and that there
had been slavery in all ages of the world.
He knew that the mistake was made when slavery was recognized in the
Constitution of the United States; also that the mistake had brought
the negro from the wilds of Africa, and civilized, tamed and made a
good laborer and citizen of him. That was the entering wedge which had
caused all the contention, and finally precipitated the most gigantic
war in history.
Let the consequences be what they may, Simon did his duty in
successfully managing the affairs on his master's plantation.