A black girl with youthful spirits was playing with a lad in the town
street, when the wheelwright, with whom I was talking while he mended
the carriage, said, "if it were not for fear of the {52} law one would
be inclined to put an end to that black----; they ought to be taught the
difference between a black and a white, and to pay more respect than to
think of associating with them!"--The man spoke really in earnest, and
would have thought little of putting the girl to death.
Immediately afterwards I met a white little boy who followed a tall
mulatto woman, and with all his little strength was beating her with a
stick; at length the woman could bear it no longer, and told him, if she
should be _whipped_ the next moment for it, she would pull his ears if
he continued to do so. The same day, in my hearing a mulatto woman was
threatened by her master with the application of the "cowhide" for not
bringing the Independent his umbrella quick enough!