Prejudice--Its former and present character--An act of
resentment--The "Prejudice Bell"--Exclusion of persons of
colour from offices of trust and polished society--The dawn of
better days--The assertions of some authors contradicted--
Domestic character of the coloured gentry--Hospitality--A day
at a coloured gentleman's country-house--Dwellings--Marriages--
Great suppression of illicit connexions within these last few
years--Funerals--A scene of riot in former days--
Provincialisms.
Before continuing my sketches of colour, it is necessary to say
something about _prejudice_. I mentioned in a former chapter,
that possibly it would be better to bury such a subject in the
gulf of oblivion; but upon mature consideration, I think it
advisable to portray a few of its many instances as well in times
past, as now.
A candid mind cannot but allow the illiberality, not to call it
by a harsher name, of despising or underrating persons, because
it has pleased their Creator to give them less fair skins. Yet
that these feelings have existed from time immemorial to the
present day is a well-known fact; and the West Indies in
particular has been the place where Prejudice has erected her
stronghold.
Although, as before remarked, the negroes were only considered as
beasts of burden, their polished and urbane white masters had no
objection to making them the partners of their illicit
intercourse; and then, casting aside all natural affections,
doomed their unoffending children, the issue of such unions, to a
state of degradation.
In former years, the cruelty of such an act was not, perhaps, so
keenly felt by them. Without any knowledge of religion or share
of education, they grew up devoid of the finer feelings. The
girls, as they approached womanhood, became themselves the
mistresses of white men, or, in the West Indian term,
_housekeepers_, while the males were content to drag on their
existence much in the same way as a tolerated spaniel, which at
one moment is noticed by a gracious nod, and allowed to lick the
feet of its master, while at the next it is kicked out of the
apartment, or spurned from the pathway.
As time wore on, and knowledge slowly progressed, the fathers of
these poor children were led to send them to some place of
instruction, where, besides acquiring the mere rudiments of
reading and writing, they became grounded in plain, but solid
learning. Having thus passed through the early stages of life,
the males followed mercantile or agricultural pursuits; and as,
perhaps, wealth poured in upon them, and they felt in their own
bosoms their superiority to many of the white inhabitants, their
eyes became more and more opened, and they more and more felt
their degraded state.
They were debarred from holding any office of trust--were not
allowed to act as jurors--and were prevented from serving in the
militia, until the year 1793, when, as a great concession, or
else because the "great folks" thought it for the public good,
they were allowed to serve as pioneers, or drag the heavy
artillery. The very churchyard was denied them, and their mortal
remains were deposited by the roadside, where only the suicide or
the murderer found a grave; while, should a white man be seen to
take one of them, even the most respectable among the class, by
the hand, in the way of social intimacy, that white man would be
scouted from all ranks of society for his indecorous behaviour.
In 1798, Mr. Gilbert, (a relation to the Mr. Gilbert, the founder
of Methodism in Antigua,) for many years the superintendent of
his majesty's dockyard at English Harbour, was united in the
bands of wedlock to a highly respectable and accomplished
coloured lady of Antigua. The _iniquity!_ of this action, as they
deemed it, was resented by his brother whites; himself and his
lady were openly insulted; and some wag of the island, who, with
the brains of a calf, fancied himself an Ulysses in wisdom, gave
to the world an example of his would-be wit, by painting Mr.
Gilbert's office-door half _black_ and half _white_.[46]
Not only were the coloured people refused interment in the
churchyard, but so fearful were the whites of profanation, that
the very _bell_ which tolled out _their demise_ was prohibited
from being used to perform that service for those degraded ones
through whose veins flowed the least drop of Afric's tarnished
blood. Accordingly, a smaller bell (which still hangs in the
belfry) was obtained from an estate in the island, called "Golden
Grove," and which was regularly kept for the sole use of persons
of colour, until within these last few years, when their rights
as fellow-creatures have been allowed, and those mean and pitiful
distinctions of caste, in great measure, done away with.
The first coloured person who was buried in the churchyard at St.
John's was a merchant's clerk, (whose own blood was tainted, it
is said, but who passed as a white man,) the favourite of his
master. The merchant ordered the funeral to proceed to the
churchyard, and upon the clergyman making his appearance, and no
doubt expressing his surprise at such an unprecedented
circumstance, he (the merchant) insisted upon his performing the
burial service, and dared him to prevent the interment taking
place. The rector thought it prudent to comply, and accordingly
the coloured man reposed by the side of some white person, who
(following the idea of Pollock in his "Course of Time") will,
indeed, feel surprised at the last day, when each one takes again
his own body, to find how long his ashes have been polluted by
mingling in one common dust with him who perhaps was the
offspring of one of his own despised negroes.[47]
How the coloured people bore all these accumulated indignities,
which were heaped upon them for so many years, would astonish any
sensitive mind; nor if they had joined the negroes in one common
cause against their tyrants would it have produced much surprise.
But they did bear it, and with magnanimity, until time and
circumstance worked the cure, and delivered them from that
thraldom of the mind more galling than any servitude of the body.
It was not only the soreness of spirit which this state of
affairs inflicted upon the coloured man, but as Prejudice was the
offspring of Slavery, it was consequently the ground-work of that
horrible system of licentiousness which rendered Antigua among
the other West India Islands famous, or rather _infamous_, for so
many years. The coloured women participated in the _prejudice_ of
their masters, and as they became the mothers of female children,
they reared them up in the same spirit, and inculcated into their
minds that it was more honourable and praiseworthy to inhabit the
harem of a white man, than to be the lawful wife of a man of
colour. This conduct was, of course, the grave of all domestic
peace, the destroyer of connubial love; and by its dire, its
_demoniacal_ influences, caused the fairest island in the world
to become, in a moral point of view, a dreary marsh, exhaling the
poisonous miasma.
Brighter days have, however, at length dawned; the unhallowed
custom of concubinage has greatly decreased; and, indeed, except
among some of the old white planters or merchants, who have
retained the sins of their youth, and some of the low coloured
people, such alliances are generally reprobated.
The assertion, however, that prejudice is entirely done away
with, is incorrect. It still exists, and that, perhaps, very
strongly; but policy forbids, in great measure, its outward show.
It is true, that white and coloured gentlemen walk, and talk, and
dine together--drink sangaree at one another's houses, sit in the
same juror's box, and are invited, _sans distinction_, at
"Government House;" yet, at the same time, there is a lurking
dislike to them on account of colour, which ever steps in as a
barrier to social intercourse. It is said, that the white ladies
are the strongest upholders of prejudice; but that their refusal
to mix with this class of persons is not occasioned from any
shade of colour, but on account of their general illegitimacy.
This, however, is not the sole cause; for there are illegitimate
white people, whom they are in the constant habit of meeting
without any aversion; while, at the same time, many of the people
of colour, particularly the younger ones, are the offspring of
parents who have been legally united within the sacred walls of
the temple of God, and whose intellectual attainments fit them
for any society.
It has also been said, that the coloured classes are not of a
sufficient respectability to move among the white inhabitants;
and some few years ago, the question was asked, (in excuse for
excluding them from society,) by one who then filled the highest
station in Antigua--"Would you wish to ask your tailor or your
shoemaker to dine with you?" To this query a most unequivocal
negative might have been given. Differences of rank ought to be
observed; and no one can be blamed for preserving a certain
degree of _etiquette_ in the arrangement of their parties. But,
at the same time--"Are all coloured people tailors and
shoemakers?" "No!" as before remarked, among them are some of the
most respectable merchants and planters; and the whites
themselves, with but few exceptions, follow no higher
occupations.
Let the lower class of coloured people know and keep their proper
distance, the same as the lower classes do in the mother country;
but allow the upper ones to hold that place in society which
their worth, respectability, wealth, and general deportment,
entitles them to.
I have already spoken of the extreme familiarity of some of the
low persons of colour, who rest all their pretensions to
gentility upon their smart clothes, or their ability to keep a
horse or a horse and gig. It could not be expected or wished that
such persons should be received into good society, any more than
the low and ignorant of my own countrymen. There is also another
class of coloured people which, although, perhaps, equally
talented and prosperous, from the nature of the business they
follow, are excluded from the tables of the great. Such
distinctions as these are but equitable, and consequently, cannot
be called prejudice; but to debar the whole caste from polished
society on account of _colour_, is an illiberality unworthy of
the "age we live in."
From a glance at prejudice, and its attendant evils, I will
proceed in my remarks upon the domestic character of the coloured
Creoles. I have already spoken of their hospitality, which is a
virtue apparently indigenous in the island; for white, brown, and
black, rich and poor, seem, as far as lies in their power,
equally open to its influence. The country, as any part of the
island beyond the precincts of the capital is termed, is divided
into small towns, (described in the previous pages;) a few
settlements, which have sprung up since emancipation, and
sugar-estates, or grazing-farms, which, with their "great
houses," managers' and overseers' dwellings, and negro huts, form
themselves complete villages. There are no hotels or places of
public entertainment, where the _sun_-worn traveller can obtain
"rest and refuge;" but if only acquainted by name, you can take
the liberty of driving to any of these country residences, where
you are sure of meeting with a polite and cordial reception.
Most of these dwellings are very pleasantly situated, generally
upon a gentle slope, and every breeze that blows finds a ready
entrance at the open windows. Some of them are built in the
cottage style, with only one floor, elevated a few feet from the
ground; just affording sufficient room for a snug and cool
cellar, where the good inmates store their generous wines. These
houses contain a spacious hall, (the principal room in a West
Indian house, occupying about two-thirds of the whole dwelling,
and where meals are taken,) a parlour, or drawing-room, generally
opening with folding-doors into the first-named apartment, a
small morning room, four or five bedrooms, and the remainder of
the building is divided into butler's pantry, larders, and a kind
of lobby, where the numerous domestics assemble, and when not
actually engaged in waiting at table, or ministering to their own
ungovernable appetites, stretch themselves along the floor in all
the luxuriance of idleness. The kitchens are detached from the
house, for the purpose of evading the heat and smoke from the
wood fires; and contiguous to them are a long line of "negro
rooms," (as they term the apartments in this country intended for
the use of the domestics,) stables, and coach-houses,
interspersed with "stock" houses for poultry, and pens for the
accommodation of those unseemly animals vulgarly called hogs.
These country residences are seldom devoid of company, who, in
parties of three or four, leave the confinement of the town for
the advantage of the purer air. The days are spent much after the
same fashion. Between the hours of five and six in the morning, a
tap comes at your chamber-door, and a black-visaged smiling
damsel enters with shoeless feet, and grinning lips shewing their
two rows of ivory, and with the accustomed "mornin', missis,"
presents you with a cup of delicious coffee. The morning's
costume arranged with due precision, you quit your chamber, and
passing through the "hall," where two or three black servant boys
are spreading the snowy damask, and otherwise preparing for the
plentiful breakfast, you gain the drawing-room. Stepping through
its open windows or doors, you find yourself in a covered
gallery, amid, perhaps, a group of children and their nurses,
busily employed in various little infantile amusements. Upon the
appearance of "the lady" these, however, are immediately
postponed, as each miniature man or woman comes forward with
native courtesy and outstretched hand, and offers the usual
compliments.
A grateful breeze greets your cheek with its bland whisperings;
and the early sunbeams, devoid of their intense meridian heat,
glisten on the dew-besprinkled leaves, or dance in the ripples of
the neighbouring ponds. If the property should be a sugar estate,
and it is the season of harvest when you visit it, many a jocund
laugh comes from the mill-door, where, under direction of the
manager or overseer, the sails are unfurled and given to the
wind; and with shout and creak, and cracking of whip, the sober
oxen are dragging home cartloads of golden sugar-canes. Thus the
time wears on;--at one moment watching the busy group at the
mill-door, at another holding converse with the lovely skies, or
following with dazzled glance, the rapid flittings of the
honey-seeking fly-bird;[48] and anon poring over the pages of
some spirit-stirring volume, or in occasional snatches of
conversation with the hospitable hostess.
At length the master of the domain, in his snow-white dress, and
broad-brimmed hat, returns from his morning ride around the
property, and the other guests assemble; and as the bell rings
for nine o'clock,[49] a black boy, with napkin on his arm,
announces "_breck-fus_ (breakfast) ready, ma'am," and a general
movement takes place. The lady of the house, in her simple
morning dress, presides at the head of her well-stocked table
with a quiet gracefulness of manners, and amid a little racy talk
and pleasant jest the meal proceeds. Tea and coffee, the light
roll-like bread, roasted yams or potatoes, cutlets, ham, tongue,
eggs, _caveached_ fish,[50] and potted meats, are among the lists
of excellences found at a West Indian breakfast, while fresh
butter, (which is reckoned a rarity, and is very troublesome to
procure, being churned in a bottle, by continually shaking it,
and which is served up without the addition of any salt,) and
tempting fruits, fresh gathered from the tree, with the purple
bloom upon them, form the lighter delicacies of the repast.
The meal over, and finger-glasses handed round, the company quit
the table, and assemble in the drawing-room in order to pass the
morning. The gentlemen leave, on various cares intent--some ride
to town, to pursue their customary avocations, while the master
inspects the labours of his people, settles some magistracy
business, or visits some other estates under his management. The
ladies in the meantime settle themselves to various little
womanly employments. There is the piano, the paint-box, and the
embroidery-frame; a selection of periodicals, new works, (most of
the genteel people are subscribers to the "Library Society,") or
a _porte-feuille_ of prints to look over; lively conversations of
"home and home scenes," (all West Indians call England home,)
promenades in the galleries or verandahs, or romps with the
children to while away the hours.
About two o'clock the lunch-table is spread, when some of the
gentlemen find time to be present, and more good things are
partaken of. Pepper punch is brewed for "the lords of the
creation;" Hock and Seltzer water introduced, and the delicious
lemonade, made from the limes that moment gathered; and sparkling
water from the peculiar porous jars, which keep it as cool as if
drawn from the bottom of some gelid grot.
The flies are very troublesome in Antigua, particularly at those
moments when meals are going forward, flying into the plates and
dishes, and almost upon the very portions of food you are
conveying to your mouth; indeed, in one instance, I observed one
of these intruding little insects actually fly into a gentleman's
mouth upon his opening it to utter some witty saying. To guard
against these disagreeable associates in your repast, it is
customary to have a black boy stand behind your chair, with a
large green bough in his hand, with which he brushes backwards
and forwards, in order to drive the intruders away. If the bough
made use of be gathered from any aromatic shrub, it is
particularly agreeable, as it throws a pleasing fragrance around,
at the same time it raises a gentle breeze.
After lunch, your former amusements are resumed, until the sun
loses a little of its intensity, when bonnets and shawls are
called into requisition, and you stroll to the "boiling-house" to
see the preparation of sugar-boiling going on, and taste the
"sling," (the name given to the sugar when in its liquid state,)
canter over the short turf on the back of some "Bucephalus," or
wander through scenes of sylvan beauty, until the time arrives
when it is necessary to repair to the house to dress for dinner.
Seven o'clock is the usual time appointed for "this momentous
meal," a time better fitted for this warm climate than an earlier
hour. The dinner generally consists of fish and soup, with the
accompanying Champagne, followed by flesh and fowl, and concluded
by pastry, game, (when in season,) butter, cheese, and
shell-fish. Madeira and Sauterne are the wines generally used at
dinner; and port, claret, cherry-brandy, and other liqueurs, with
luscious Malmsey, are introduced with the dessert, which of
course embraces the choicest of the West Indian fruits. Most of
the higher families possess a good stock of silver and glass, and
the table linen would please the most fastidious.
The gentlemen do not sit long at their wine, but join the ladies
in the drawing-room, where tea and coffee soon make their
appearance, and the evening is spent in music and conversation
until the ornamental clock points to a late hour, when, family
prayers over, you retire to your chamber, and under cover of a
single sheet, repose in quietness, unless disturbed by an
officious mosquito, which, _sans ceremonie_, has entered by a
peep-hole in the "net" which surrounds the bed.
The houses of the coloured gentry are neatly and tastefully
furnished. The hall contains its complement of dining-tables,
side-boards, with their glittering burdens, butler's trays and
stands, chairs, and sofas; wall-shades, hand-shades,
suspension-lamps, and china tables--sometimes a book-case and
writing-table, and a few prints in gilt frames. The drawing-room
has its couches, lounging-chairs, and ottomans; its pianofortes,
chiffoniers, and "what-nots;" loo and sofa tables; and all its
little fancy embellishments of ornamental china, albums, and
or-molu clocks. The floors are generally covered with oil-cloths
of various patterns, which are found to answer better in this
warm climate than carpeting; but the days when _mahogany floors_
were rubbed with _orange juice_ are long since passed, if they
ever existed. I have never seen floors of more costly materials
than "pitch pine," which certainly takes a good polish if rubbed,
but which in that case are very disagreeable to walk over.
The marriages of the coloured people are more private than they
used to be formerly--that is, among the genteel classes; the
common people still drive about in borrowed gigs and phaetons,
after the fashion already spoken of in the negro chapters. Some
years ago, it was customary to marry by special licence, the
ceremony being performed in the evening at their own dwellings.
This practice has become extinct, and they are now married in
their parish church. The favourite wedding-dress is blonde and
white satin.
A great reformation has also taken place in their funerals. In
former days, a wake used to be held by all classes on the night
the demise took place; and on the following day, (the day of the
funeral,) immense quanties of "dyer bread" and "biscuit cakes"
(species of pastry) were made, enveloped in white paper, sealed
with black wax, and handed round to the assembled guests, who
often amounted to two or three hundred. Mulled wines, Port and
Madeira sangaree, "mixed porter," (specified quantums of porter,
water, sugar, and spice,) and different kinds of spirituous
liquors, were also provided, sufficient to satisfy the thirst of
Baron Munchausen's whale. If accounts be true, many of these
funeral guests paid such particular attention to these several
preparations from the vine and the hop, that they became greatly
elated thereby, and not unfrequently left the _house of mourning_
in a state of inebriety.
Every article of furniture in the house was covered with white,
and many other fatiguing ceremonies observed; but these have long
ago fallen into disuse, only the chamber of death shewing its
white drapery. The corpse, if a male, is attired in his usual
dress, with the exception of coat and shoes; over which is placed
what is termed a _scarf_, made of the finest white muslin or
lawn, crimped round the edges, and fastened round the waist by a
broad band. The ends of this scarf are brought in folds to the
feet, and terminated with bows and rosettes of the same material.
A cambric muslin shroud, also crimped in a deep border, is first
placed in the coffin; which, before the last sad office of
screwing down the lid takes place, is carefully covered over the
corpse, and shuts out from the glance of friends, the features
which they have so often gazed on with pleasure. If the deceased
is a female, an elegant white dress is chosen, with a white satin
band around the waist, white silk gloves and stockings, and a
blonde cap ornamented with white satin.
If the deceased were unmarried, the coffin is covered with fine
white broad cloth, and elaborately ornamented with silver lace,
nails, plates, and "little angels," (as the negroes term them;)
if married, it is covered with black cloth and black ornaments.
Crape hat-bands and scarfs are now given to the bearers, and
hat-bands to the intimate acquaintance only, for if the deceased
is much respected, three or four hundred persons of all colours
attend the funeral. In the arrangement of the procession, (which
is always a walking one,) an eye is kept to prejudice. Formerly
all coloured persons had coloured bearers, then came a change;
and two white and four coloured men officiated in those
characters; then it came to be three white and three coloured,
and in a late instance, four white and two coloured persons
formed the complement.[51]
The common coloured people still keep "a wake" upon the death of
their friends; and on such occasions, while one part of the
company are engaged in singing psalms, the others are filling the
women's hats with water, putting pepper into wine, pulling off
their shoes, and playing other vulgar practical jokes, most
irreverent and disgusting at such a season.
The Antiguans have a peculiar mode of calling articles by
particular names:--thus, potatoes are invariably called _Irish
potatoes_, come they from what part of the world they may; the
common Prussian-blue pea, and wheat-flour, are always termed
_English_ peas, and _English_ flour, although such articles may
come from France or America; ducks are English ducks; _negus_ is
denominated _sangaree_, and spirits and water, _swizzle_.
This practice is illustrated by the following anecdote, related
of a West Indian, who upon arriving for the first time at a
London hotel, rang the bell for the waiter. Upon that necessary
appendage to such an establishment making his appearance, the
West Indian saluted him in the following Creole manner: "Boy!
d'ye hear? give me a glass of _sangaree;_ and let me have for
dinner English ducks and Irish potatoes."
The waiter, not used to this specification of articles, was
astounded; he passed his fingers musingly through his lanky
locks, looked up to the ceiling, and down to his Warrenized
shoes, minutely inspected the movement of a fly upon the gilded
mirror, in hopes, no doubt, of deriving information from it,
smoothed the _un_rumpled table-cover, and then being still
utterly unable to comprehend the order, exclaimed, in a very
lamentable tone, "I ham werry sorry, sir, but we have not got no
ducks or potatoes but the _common ones_, and has for the _other
thing_ you _hordered_, we have none in the house just now."
There are several other peculiar modes of dialect observable
among the Creoles. For instance: If an order is given to open or
shut a window, it is, "Heave up that glass sash," or, "Haul down
that glass sash;" when speaking of east and west, they invariably
say _windward_ and _leeward;_ to throw a stone, is to _fire_ a
stone; if a person is fortunate enough to procure a good
situation, it is immediately said, "He has got a _capital
berth;_" and their men-servants, of every age, are always termed
_boys_.[52]
Soon after my arrival in this island, I happened to be present,
one evening, when a gentleman was deploring an accident which had
lately occurred. With my mind running upon "wounds and bruises,"
I inquired into the circumstances. "Why, that good-for-nothing
_boy_ of mine," was the rejoinder, "went to the pond this
morning, and on bis way back, he _knocked down my horse_." I was
certainly surprised at such an herculean feat, and began to think
of Maximin, the Roman emperor, who, with one blow of his fist,
could knock out a horse's tooth, or break its leg with a kick;
but my wonder was considerably increased upon the entrance of the
_boy_ in question, for instead of his exhibiting any appearance
of great strength, I found him to be, in reality, a decrepit old
man. How this pilgrim of sixty summers could knock down an animal
of such vast strength as a horse, I could not imagine--the
mystery was more and more intricate--but at length, an
elucidation was afforded, and I found out that instead of _the
boy_ knocking down the animal, the animal had knocked down him;
or, in other words, the horse had fallen down with the poor old
man upon his back.
My sketches of colour are completed. True it is, there are many
other little peculiarities which might be noticed; but for the
present I will bid the coloured classes "farewell," and turning
over the page, mention a few of the "traits and trials" of the
white inhabitants.
------
[46] This was not the only indignity offered. Mr. Gilbert was at
that period the notary public, and when the news of his intended
marriage got abroad, "the acting governor of Antigua wrote to the
acting general governor of the Leeward Islands, resident at St.
Christopher's, representing that _he_ (Mr. G.) had so basely
degraded himself as to be unworthy of that office." The
governor-general thought so too; so the public whipper was sent
to demand his notarial commission, and some unknown patriot
removed the painted board, placed over his office, bearing the
words, "John Gilbert, Notary Public," and threw it into the sea.
Mr. Gilbert also held a commission in the militia; but so
horrified were the officers of the corps to which he belonged,
that one of them, in the name of the rest, waited upon Mr.
Gilbert with the pleasing intelligence, "that they were
determined to have no intercourse with him, and would apply for a
court-martial to try him, _for acting in a manner inconsistent
with his rank and station, and the character of an officer, if he
proceeded with this marriage._" For peace' sake, Mr. Gilbert
resigned his commission. When, according to "the universal
practice in these islands," he applied for his marriage licence,
he was refused; the "bans were therefore published in the
church." It is almost needless to remark, that had he made the
lady the object of an illicit intercourse, his conduct would have
been thought nothing but proper by the white inhabitants of
Antigua in those days!
[47] This circumstance occurred at a period when the clergymen
officiating in Antigua were not of that exemplary character which
distinguishes the generality of the present divines.
[48] The humming bird, or colibri.
[49] A bell is rang, a conch shell blown, or an old copper struck
with a piece of stick, to notify the hour when the negroes leave
their work, for the purpose of getting their morning meal; and
this is the usual hour for partaking of that repast among all
classes.
[50] Fish stewed with vinegar, limes, mace, pepper, onions, &c.,
and eaten cold.
[51] How often trifling matters like these speak a mighty change
in the "spirit of the times!"
[52] Although these _provincialisms_ happen to occur in this
chapter, it is necessary to remark, that they are made use of by
Creoles of every colour.