answer that he could not read, made me ask him why his father had never
taught any of his sons to read; old Jacob, I know, can read. What followed
I shall never forget. He began by giving all sorts of childish unmeaning
excuses and reasons for never having tried to learn--became confused and
quite incoherent,--and then, suddenly stopping, and pulling up his horse,
said, with a look and manner that went to my very heart; 'Missis, what for
me learn to read? me have no prospect!' I rode on without venturing to
speak to him again for a little while. When I had recovered from that
remark of his, I explained to him that, though indeed 'without prospect'
in some respects, yet reading might avail him much to better his
condition, moral, mental, and physical. He listened very attentively, and
was silent for a minute; after which he said:--'All you say very true,
missis, and me sorry now me let de time pass; but you know what de white
man dat goberns de estate him seem to like and favour, dat de people find
out bery soon and do it; now, Massa K----, him neber favour our reading,
him not like it; likely as not he lick you if he find you reading, or if
you wish to teach your children, him always say, "Pooh, teach 'em to
read--teach 'em to work." According to dat, we neber paid much attention
to it, but now it will be different; it was different in former times. De
old folks of my father and mother's time could read more than we can, and
I expect de people will dare to give some thought to it again now.'
There's a precious sample of what one man's influence may do in his own
sphere, dear E----! This man Israel is a remarkably fine fellow in every
way, with a frank, open, and most intelligent countenance, which rises
before me with its look of quiet sadness whenever I think of those words
(and they haunt me), 'I have no prospect.'
On my arrival at home, I found that a number of the people, not knowing I
had gone to church, had come up to the house, hoping that I would read
prayers to them, and had not gone back to their homes, but waited to see
me. I could not bear to disappoint them, for many of them had come from
the farthest settlements on the estate; and so, though my hot ride had
tired me a good deal, and my talk with Israel troubled me profoundly, I
took off my habit, and had them all in, and read the afternoon service to
them. When it was over, two of the women--Venus and Trussa--asked if they
might be permitted to go to the nursery and see the children. Their
account of the former condition of the estate was a corroboration of
Israel's. They said that the older slaves on the plantation had been far
better off than the younger ones of the present day; that Major ---- was
considerate and humane to his people; and that the women were especially
carefully treated. But they said Mr. K---- had ruined all the young women
with working them too soon after their confinements; and as for the elder
ones, he would kick them, curse them, turn their clothes over their heads,
flog them unmercifully himself, and abuse them shamefully, no matter what
condition they were in. They both ended with fervent thanks to God that he
had left the estate, and rejoicing that we had come, and, above all, that
we 'had made young missis for them.' Venus went down on her knees,
exclaiming, 'Oh, missis, I glad now; and when I am dead, I glad in my
grave that you come to us and bring us little missis.'
* * * * *
Dear E----. I still go on exploring, or rather surveying, the estate, the
aspect of which is changing every day with the unfolding of the leaves and
the wonderful profusion of wild flowers. The cleared ground all round the
new building is one sheet of blooming blue of various tints; it is
perfectly exquisite. But in the midst of my delight at these new blossoms,
I am most sorrowfully bidding adieu to that paragon of parasites, the
yellow jasmine; I think I must have gathered the very last blossoms of it
to-day. Nothing can be more lovely, nothing so exquisitely fragrant. I was
surprised to recognise by their foliage, to-day, some fine mulberry
trees, by Jones's Creek; perhaps they are the remains of the silk-worm
experiment that Mr. C---- persuaded Major ---- to try so ineffectually.
While I was looking at some wild plum and cherry trees that were already
swarming with blight in the shape of multitudinous caterpillars' nests, an
ingenuous darkie, by name Cudgie, asked me if I could explain to him why
the trees blossomed out so fair, and then all 'went off into a kind of
dying.' Having directed his vision and attention to the horrid white
glistening webs, all lined with their brood of black devourers, I left him
to draw his own conclusions.
The afternoon was rainy, in spite of which I drove to Busson Hill, and had
a talk with Bran about the vile caterpillar blights on the wild plum
trees, and asked him if it would not be possible to get some sweet grafts
from Mr. C---- for some of the wild fruit trees, of which there are such
quantities. Perhaps, however, they are not worth grafting. Bran promised
me that the people should not be allowed to encumber the paths and the
front of their houses with unsightly and untidy heaps of oyster shells. He
promised all sorts of things. I wonder how soon after I am gone they will
all return into the condition of brutal filth and disorder in which I
found them.
The men and women had done their work here by half-past three. The chief
labour in the cotton fields, however, is both earlier and later in the
season. At present they have little to do but let the crop grow. In the
evening I had a visit from the son of a very remarkable man, who had been
one of the chief drivers on the estate in Major ----'s time, and his son
brought me a silver cup which Major ---- had given his father as a
testimonial of approbation, with an inscription on it recording his
fidelity and trustworthiness at the time of the invasion of the coast of
Georgia by the English troops. Was not that a curious reward for a slave
who was supposed not to be able to read his own praises? And yet, from the
honourable pride with which his son regarded this relic, I am sure the
master did well so to reward his servant, though it seemed hard that the
son of such a man should be a slave. Maurice himself came with his
father's precious silver cup in his hand, to beg for a small pittance of
sugar, and for a prayer-book, and also to know if the privilege of a milch
cow for the support of his family, which was among the favours Major ----
allowed his father, might not be continued to him. He told me he had ten
children 'working for massa,' and I promised to mention his petition to
Mr. ----.
On Sunday last, I rode round the woods near St. Annie's and met with a
monstrous snake, which Jack called a chicken snake; but whether because it
particularly affected poultry as its diet, or for what other reason, he
could not tell me. Nearer home, I encountered another gliding creature,
that stopped a moment just in front of my horse's feet, as if it was too
much afraid of being trampled upon to get out of the way; it was the only
snake animal I ever saw that I did not think hideous. It was of a
perfectly pure apple green colour, with a delicate line of black like a
collar round its throat; it really was an exquisite worm, and Jack said it
was harmless. I did not, however, think it expedient to bring it home in
my bosom, though if ever I have a pet snake, it shall be such an one.
In the afternoon, I drove to Jones's with several supplies of flannel for
the rheumatic women and old men. We have ridden over to Hamilton again, to
pay another visit to the F----s, and on our way passed an enormous
rattlesnake, hanging dead on the bough of a tree. Dead as it was, it
turned me perfectly sick with horror, and I wished very much to come back
to the north immediately, where these are not the sort of blackberries
that grow on every bush. The evening air now, after the heat of the day,
is exquisitely mild, and the nights dry and wholesome, the whole
atmosphere indescribably fragrant with the perfume of flowers; and as I
stood, before going to bed last night, watching the slow revolving light
on Sapelo Island, that warns the ships from the dangerous bar at the
river's mouth, and heard the measured pulse of the great Atlantic waters
on the beach, I thought no more of rattlesnakes--no more, for one short
while, of slavery. How still, and sweet, and solemn, it was!
We have been paying more friendly and neighbourly visits, or rather
returning them; and the recipients of these civilised courtesies on our
last calling expedition were the family one member of which was a party
concerned in that barbarous challenge I wrote you word about. Hitherto
that very brutal and bloodthirsty cartel appears to have had no result.
You must not on that account imagine that it will have none. At the north,
were it possible for a duel intended to be conducted on such savage terms
to be matter of notoriety, the very horror of the thing would create a
feeling of grotesqueness, and the antagonists in such a proposed encounter
would simply incur an immense amount of ridicule and obloquy. But here
nobody is astonished and nobody ashamed of such preliminaries to a mortal
combat between two gentlemen, who propose firing at marks over each
other's hearts, and cutting off each other's heads; and though this
agreeable party of pleasure has not come off yet, there seems to be no
reason why it should not at the first convenient season. Reflecting upon
all which, I rode not without trepidation through Colonel H----'s grounds,
and up to his house. Mr. W----'s head was not stuck upon a pole anywhere
within sight, however, and as soon as I became pretty sure of this, I
began to look about me, and saw instead a trellis tapestried with the most
beautiful roses I ever beheld, another of these exquisite southern
flowers--the Cherokee rose. The blossom is very large, composed of four
or five pure white petals, as white and as large as those of the finest
Camellia with a bright golden eye for a focus; the buds and leaves are
long and elegantly slender, like those of some tea roses, and the green of
the foliage is dark and at the same time vivid and lustrous; it grew in
masses so as to form almost a hedge, all starred with these wonderful
white blossoms, which, unfortunately, have no perfume.
We rode home through the pine land to Jones's, looked at the new house
which is coming on hideously, saw two beautiful kinds of trumpet
honeysuckle already lighting up the woods in every direction with gleams
of scarlet, and when we reached home found a splendid donation of
vegetables, flowers, and mutton from our kind neighbour Mrs. F----, who is
a perfect Lady Bountiful to us. This same mutton, however--my heart bleeds
to say it--disappeared the day after it was sent to us. Abraham the cook
declares that he locked the door of the safe upon it, which I think may be
true, but I also think he unlocked it again. I am sorry; but, after all,
it is very natural these people should steal a little of our meat from us
occasionally, who steal almost all their bread from them habitually.
I rode yesterday to St. Annie's with Mr. ----. We found a whole tract of
marsh had been set on fire by the facetious negro called Pun, who had
helped me out of it some time ago. As he was set to work in it, perhaps it
was with a view of making it less damp; at any rate, it was crackling,
blazing, and smoking cheerily, and I should think would be insupportable
for the snakes. While stopping to look at the conflagration, Mr. ---- was
accosted by a three parts naked and one part tattered little she
slave--black as ebony, where her skin was discoverable through its perfect
incrustation of dirt--with a thick mat of frizzly wool upon her skull,
which made the sole request she preferred to him irresistibly
ludicrous:--'Massa, massa, you please to buy me a comb to tick in my
head?' Mr. ---- promised her this necessary of life, and I promised myself
to give her the luxury of one whole garment. Mrs. ---- has sent me the
best possible consolation for the lost mutton, some lovely flowers, and
these will not be stolen.
* * * * *
_Saturday, the 13th._--Dear E----, I rode to-day through all my woodpaths
for the last time with Jack, and I think I should have felt quite
melancholy at taking leave of them and him, but for the apparition of a
large black snake, which filled me with disgust and nipped my other
sentiments in the bud. Not a day passes now that I do not encounter one or
more of these hateful reptiles; it is curious how much more odious they
are to me than the alligators that haunt the mud banks of the river round
the rice plantation. It is true that there is something very dreadful in
the thick shapeless mass, uniform in colour almost to the black slime on
which it lies basking, and which you hardly detect till it begins to
move. But even those ungainly crocodiles never sickened me as those rapid,
lithe, and sinuous serpents do. Did I ever tell you that the people at the
rice plantation caught a young alligator and brought it to the house, and
it was kept for some time in a tub of water? It was an ill-tempered little
monster; it used to set up its back like a cat when it was angry, and open
its long jaws in a most vicious manner.
After looking at my new path in the pine land, I crossed Pike Bluff, and
breaking my way all through the burnt district, returned home by Jones's.
In the afternoon, we paid a long visit to Mr. C----. It is extremely
interesting to me to talk with him about the negroes; he has spent so much
of his life among them, has managed them so humanely, and apparently so
successfully, that his experience is worthy of all attention. And yet it
seems to me that it is impossible, or rather, perhaps, for those very
reasons it is impossible, for him ever to contemplate them in any
condition but that of slavery. He thinks them very like the Irish, and
instanced their subserviency, their flattering, their lying, and
pilfering, as traits common to the character of both peoples. But I cannot
persuade myself that in both cases, and certainly in that of the negroes,
these qualities are not in great measure the result of their condition. He
says that he considers the extremely low diet of the negroes one reason
for the absence of crimes of a savage nature among them; most of them do
not touch meat the year round. But in this respect they certainly do not
resemble the Irish, who contrive upon about as low a national diet as
civilisation is acquainted with, to commit the bloodiest and most frequent
outrages with which civilisation has to deal. His statement that it is
impossible to bribe the negroes to work on their own account with any
steadiness may be generally true, but admits of quite exceptions enough to
throw doubt upon its being natural supineness in the race rather than the
inevitable consequence of denying them the entire right to labour for
their own profit. Their laziness seems to me the necessary result of their
primary wants being supplied, and all progress denied them. Of course, if
the natural spur to exertion, necessity, is removed, you do away with the
will to work of a vast proportion of all who do work in the world. It is
the law of progress that a man's necessities grow with his exertions to
satisfy them, and labour and improvement thus continually act and react
upon each other to raise the scale of desire and achievement; and I do not
believe that, in the majority of instances among any people on the face of
the earth, the will to labour for small indulgences would survive the loss
of freedom and the security of food enough to exist upon. Mr. ---- said
that he had offered a bribe of twenty dollars apiece, and the use of a
pair of oxen, for the clearing of a certain piece of land, to the men on
his estate, and found the offer quite ineffectual to procure the desired
result; the land was subsequently cleared as usual task work under the
lash. Now, certainly, we have among Mr. ----'s people instances of men who
have made very considerable sums of money by boat-building in their
leisure hours, and the instances of almost life-long persevering stringent
labour by which slaves have at length purchased their own freedom and that
of their wives and children, are on record in numbers sufficient to prove
that they are capable of severe sustained effort of the most patient and
heroic kind for that great object, liberty. For my own part, I know no
people who doat upon labour for its own sake; and it seems to me quite
natural to any absolutely ignorant and nearly brutish man, if you say to
him, 'No effort of your own can make you free, but no absence of effort
shall starve you,' to decline to work for anything less than mastery over
his whole life, and to take up with his mess of porridge as the
alternative. One thing that Mr. ---- said seemed to me to prove rather too
much. He declared that his son, objecting to the folks on his plantation
going about bare-headed, had at one time offered a reward of a dollar to
those who should habitually wear hats without being able to induce them to
do so, which he attributed to sheer careless indolence; but I think it was
merely the force of the habit of going uncovered rather than absolute
laziness. The universal testimony of all present at this conversation was
in favour of the sweetness of temper and natural gentleness of
disposition of the negroes; but these characteristics they seemed to think
less inherent than the result of diet and the other lowering influences of
their condition; and it must not be forgotten that on the estate of this
wise and kind master a formidable conspiracy was organised among his
slaves.
We rowed home through a world of stars, the stedfast ones set in the still
blue sky, and the flashing swathes of phosphoric light turned up by our
oars and keel in the smooth blue water. It was lovely.
* * * * *
_Sunday, 14th._--My dear E----. That horrid tragedy with which we have
been threatened, and of which I was writing to you almost jestingly a few
days ago, has been accomplished, and apparently without exciting anything
but the most passing and superficial sensation in this community. The duel
between Dr. H---- and Mr. W---- did not take place, but an accidental
encounter in the hotel at Brunswick did, and the former shot the latter
dead on the spot. He has been brought home and buried here by the little
church close to his mother's plantation; and the murderer, if he is even
prosecuted, runs no risk of finding a jury in the whole length and breadth
of Georgia who could convict him of anything. It is horrible.
I drove to church to-day in the wood wagon, with Jack and Aleck, Hector
being our charioteer, in a gilt guard-chain and pair of slippers to match
as the Sabbatic part of his attire. The love of dirty finery is not a
trait of the Irish in Ireland, but I think it crops out strongly when they
come out here; and the proportion of their high wages put upon their backs
by the young Irish maid-servants in the north, indicates a strong
addiction to the female passion for dress. Here the tendency seems to
exist in men and women alike; but I think all savage men rejoice, even
more than their women, in personal ornamentation. The negroes certainly
show the same strong predilection for finery with their womenkind.
I stopped before going into church to look at the new grave that has taken
its place among the defaced stones, all overgrown with briers, that lie
round it. Poor young W----! poor widowed mother, of whom he was the only
son! What a savage horror! And no one seems to think anything of it, more
than of a matter of course. My devotions were anything but satisfactory or
refreshing to me. My mind was dwelling incessantly upon the new grave
under the great oaks outside, and the miserable mother in her home. The
air of the church was perfectly thick with sand-flies; and the disgraceful
carelessness of the congregation in responding and singing the hymns, and
their entire neglect of the prayer-book regulations for kneeling,
disturbed and displeased me even more than the last time I was at church;
but I think that was because of the total absence of excitement or
feeling among the whole population of St. Simon's upon the subject of the
bloody outrage with which my mind was full, which has given me a sensation
of horror towards the whole community. Just imagine--only it is impossible
to imagine--such a thing taking place in a New England village; the
dismay, the grief, the shame, the indignation, that would fill the hearts
of the whole population. I thought we should surely have some reference to
the event from the pulpit, some lesson of Christian command over furious
passions. Nothing--nobody looked or spoke as if anything unusual had
occurred; and I left the church, rejoicing to think that I was going away
from such a dreadful state of society. Mr. B---- remained to preach a
second sermon to the negroes--the duty of submission to masters who
intermurder each other.
I had service at home in the afternoon, and my congregation was much more
crowded than usual; for I believe there is no doubt at last that we shall
leave Georgia this week. Having given way so much before when I thought I
was praying with these poor people for the last time, I suppose I had, so
to speak, expended my emotion; and I was much more composed and quiet than
when I took leave of them before. But, to tell you the truth, this
dreadful act of slaughter done in our neighbourhood by one man of our
acquaintance upon another, impresses me to such a degree that I can hardly
turn my mind from it, and Mrs. W---- and her poor young murdered son have
taken almost complete possession of my thoughts.
After prayers I gave my poor people a parting admonition, and many charges
to remember me and all I had tried to teach them during my stay. They
promised with one voice to mind and do all that 'missis tell we;' and with
many a parting benediction, and entreaties to me to return, they went
their way. I think I have done what I could for them--I think I have done
as well as I could by them; but when the time comes for ending any human
relation, who can be without their misgivings? who can be bold to say, I
could have done no more, I could have done no better?
In the afternoon I walked out, and passed many of the people, who are now
beginning, whenever they see me, to say, 'Good bye, missis!' which is
rather trying. Many of them were clean and tidy, and decent in their
appearance to a degree that certainly bore strong witness to the temporary
efficacy of my influence in this respect. There is, however, of course
much individual difference even with reference to this, and some take much
more kindly and readily to cleanliness, no doubt to godliness too, than
some others. I met Abraham, and thought that, in a quiet tête-à-tête, and
with the pathetic consideration of my near departure to assist me, I could
get him to confess the truth about the disappearance of the mutton; but he
persisted in the legend of its departure through the locked door; and as
I was only heaping sins on his soul with every lie I caused him to add to
the previous ones, I desisted from my enquiries. Dirt and lying are the
natural tendencies of humanity, which are especially fostered by slavery.
Slaves may be infinitely wrong, and yet it is very hard to blame them.
I returned home, finding the heat quite oppressive. Late in the evening,
when the sun had gone down a long time, I thought I would try and breathe
the fresh sea air, but the atmosphere was thick with sand-flies, which
drove me in at last from standing listening to the roar of the Atlantic on
Little St. Simon's Island, the wooded belt that fends off the ocean surges
from the north side of Great St. Simon's. It is a wild little sand-heap,
covered with thick forest growth, and belongs to Mr. ----. I have long had
a great desire to visit it. I hope yet to be able to do so before our
departure.
I have just finished reading, with the utmost interest and admiration,
J---- C----'s narrative of his escape from the wreck of the Poolaski: what
a brave, and gallant, and unselfish soul he must be! You never read
anything more thrilling, in spite of the perfect modesty of this account
of his. If I can obtain his permission, and squeeze out the time, I will
surely copy it for you. The quiet unassuming character of his usual
manners and deportment adds greatly to his prestige as a hero. What a fine
thing it must be to be such a man!
* * * * *
Dear E----. We shall leave this place next Thursday or Friday, and there
will be an end to this record; meantime I am fulfilling all sorts of last
duties, and especially those of taking leave of my neighbours, by whom the
neglect of a farewell visit would be taken much amiss.
On Sunday, I rode to a place called Frederica to call on a Mrs. A----, who
came to see me some time ago. I rode straight through the island by the
main road that leads to the little church.