_Beulah's Journey to New Orleans--Rescues Her Mother From Slavery, and
Mother and Daughter Return to Buffalo on the Good Boat Columbia, by Way
of Havana, in the Island of Cuba, West Indies and New York City._
The present was a great time among all classes of the abolition party,
the "Underground Railroad," and all that sort of thing. There were the
border ruffians in Kansas, where John Brown, that hero of fame, led on
the fray, and fugitive slaves escaped over the lines into the free
States, whence their owners were unable to get them back. The Fugitive
Slave Law was a dead letter, for the great gospel guns over all the
North had denounced it as a shame and a disgrace to a Christian nation;
and when the South found that fugitive slaves would resist their
pursuers unto death, and that their messengers were likely to be shot
down, they ceased to send them, at the same time making the slave laws
worse than ever before. However, the tighter and more oppressive they
made them, in greater numbers did the slaves escape from the house of
bondage, for who can stem the spirit of the brave? Slavery is an
abomination before the Lord!
We had at this time all the anti-slavery leaders coming round the
country--the greatest speakers I ever heard. I never had a more
wonderful experience than turning out with Tom at night to the halls and
churches to listen to such arguments and eloquence as I had never
dreamed had any existence in this or any other country. William Lloyd
Garrison came to Buffalo, and Fred. Douglass, and all the rest were
there. We listened to men and women who had seen slavery in all parts of
the South, people who had been in Kansas, and almost everywhere else,
and such tales of truth and horror I never heard before in all my life.
It is true that even slavery had its backers in the North, and too many
of them at that, but the entire Christian portion of the population was
determined that slavery should come no further, although the South
seemed to demand, with the most unblushing impudence, that they should
carry their slaves into every State and territory under the stars and
stripes. The South acted like a violent, high-strung woman, whose
husband tries to reason with her in vain. She seemed to say, "I shall
have my own way, or I will fight with you, Sam! I'll be no submissive
wife! I'll be master and mistress, too! I'll fight and have my own way!"
At this time, freemen from Europe were pouring into the United States in
legions. They had no slavery in those countries from which they came,
and coming here while the tidal wave of anti-slavery sentiment was at
its height, they were ready not only to attempt to stem the
encroachments of slavery, but to resist them by force, if the worst came
to the worst. The Quakers were also in the field, and they gave Congress
no rest. The Southern senators and representatives resisted them at
Washington, and demanded that the whole subject be laid upon the shelf.
Here they were opposed by such men as Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens,
and a host of others. Thus things went on from bad to worse in the halls
of Congress, and all over the free North. The heavens grew darker and
darker as the months rolled by, and the South prepared to leave the
Union unless she had her own way.
There was very little sign, indeed, of her ever getting it, for how
could freedom and slavery ever be dominant in the United States at one
and the same time? It is very true that slavery was a legacy left the
thirteen original States by England, but we had gone ahead and spread
the iniquity ourselves, after the disposal of it was left entirely in
our hands; whereas England had long since abolished both slavery and the
slave trade throughout her dominions. She had even paid the owners full
indemnity for the loss of their slaves.
I dwell the more fully on these things because they led up to the war of
secession, and actually brought it on in the year 1861.
[Illustration: _SCENES IN NEW ORLEANS._]
How did the South treat the oppressed African? She bought, she sold, she
stole, she killed for gold. She hurled all revealed religion to the
winds, and set the Almighty at open defiance. Thus millions of backs had
to bend and labor over the cotton plant, the sugar cane and the rice
stalks of the South. Families were torn asunder, and every human feeling
violently dealt with in men and women born in the image of God, that
silver and gold might be extracted through their blood and tears from
the cotton fields, from the sugar plantations, and from the rice swamps
of the Sunny South. With such crimes as these and a thousand nameless
ones besides that high heaven had to avenge, was it any wonder that the
coming tempest was heralded by rising winds, by darkening skies, by
colder weather, and violent flurries of snow, hail and sleet?
It was one of the curses of slavery that the slave-holder often had a
colored wife in the kitchen, and a white one in the parlor. This was
very bad, indeed. It was just Hagar and Sarah over again, and not only
did the iniquitous system bring the two women into conflict, but the
poor, guileless children were brought into conflict also. It was a shame
and a disgrace all the way through. If white American parents had never
taught their innocent babes that the color of the skin made a
difference, "American prejudice" would never have been known in the
world.
My own beloved and charming mother was the first in the field. If my
father had done the right thing by her, he would have married her out
and out, and made her his wife de jure, as she certainly was de facto.
Thus it always was in those days of slavery.
The grand, chivalric white planter had a splendid octaroon or quadroon
for his "house keeper," a woman whom he loved supremely till Southern
pride took alarm, and he took unto himself a white wife--to be like his
neighbor! Alas! Alas! Such a crooked, dual system as that never worked,
and it never will! Sarah and Hagar could not get along; neither could
Rachel and Leah, and so on to the end of the chapter. Turkish women in
the same harem fight among themselves like dogs and cats, and the poor
miserable Turk sometimes has to provide a separate establishment for
every wife.
At last my father brought Mrs. Jackson to the house, and my mother,
Harriet Jackson, as she was called, was pushed to the wall. I am glad
that I was my father's only child by his first wife, for had there been
more of us, the mischief would have been the greater. As the reader
already knows, a day came when I was up the river at Louisville, when,
in some way only known to the devil and herself, Mrs. Jackson caused my
beloved mamma to be spirited away, and as we all subsequently learned,
to be sold down the river to New Orleans. Mr. Jackson seemed very sorry,
indeed, but he said nothing about it at the time, as he knew that he
himself was to blame for the whole matter. But I made up my mind at once
to endeavor to find out her exact place of abode, and to trust in God to
bring us together again.
Alas! my dear reader, how shall I ever make you understand the dreadful
gap that was now created in my sensitive heart, when dear mother and I
were torn apart? You can imagine how grieved I was, but how much worse
must mother have felt? It was a shame to separate us, but Mrs. Jackson
was fond of making grand, ostentatious shows, and she determined to keep
me to grace her grand festal occasions. Still, I missed my dear mother
for many a day. Clouds and thick darkness would gather round my heart. I
was in great heaviness every now and then, and often would I retire to
my bed-room, where I used to get into bed, cover myself up, and there
lie and weep, and pray to God to bring mother and me together once more.
Now, one would imagine that this feeling would have worn off in the
course of time, but it never did. Two whole years had passed away before
I made my escape. I must admit the truth, that my newly-found freedom,
marriage and acquaintance with the glorious people of the North brought
me immense relief all the summer, but one day, about the beginning of
the fall, I was once more completely overshadowed by grief. It was the
self-same "old trouble"--a trouble that no doctor could cure. I locked
up the house, and went to bed as I used to do at Riverside Hall, and
wept and prayed until I fell asleep. The first thing I knew I was
awakened by a very loud knocking at the door; Tom had come for his tea,
so I arose and let him in, and he was greatly surprised to find me all
in tears, and in such a bad way generally.
"Why, Beulah," said he, "what is the matter with you to-day? You have
been crying, and you seem as though you have lost your reason
altogether."
"Well, Tom, I have had such a heavy day on account of my mother. It is
one of those 'spells' come back again, the same as I used to have at
Riverside Hall. I declare I hate to feel in this uncomfortable way, but
it just came on me, and I could not help it."
"I am afraid, Beulah," replied Tom, "there are bad times in store for us
both if you are going to be subject to those spells of crying and sorrow
as came over you now and then before we left Riverside. I wonder if
anything can be done to put an end to this state of affairs once for
all? I would give a good deal to put an end to such a very mournful
state of affairs. Can you suggest no remedy, my own dear Beulah?"
"I am not aware, Tom," said I, "that there can be any remedy in the
world, unless it be to bring my mother and me together again. I think
one of the greatest horrors of slavery is to tear a family in pieces. I
firmly believe that Almighty God is driving the South into a terrible
war that she may receive her well-merited punishment for her blood-red
crimes like these. Even one of her preachers once preached a sermon in
defence of slavery, and he took for his text these words of Holy Writ,
'These are the Lord's doings, and they are wondrous in our eyes!'
Indeed, Tom, they are truly wondrous!"
On the morning after this conversation, I went to work at an early hour
and packed my trunk. It was now the fall of the year, and glorious
weather for me to travel. All nature's face was gay, and I myself was
blessed with health and strength and vigorous life. At all events, I
felt a hundred times better than I had twenty-four hours before! The sun
of righteousness had risen upon me with healing in his wings. "Arise,
shine forth, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen
upon thee."
Once more I found myself at one of the railway stations, and took my
departure for Cincinnati, by way of Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. It was
most delightful traveling to speed over the rails along the shore of
Lake Erie, to see once more the lovely foliage of the forests of the
beautiful state of Ohio, and then at last to skim away, and away down
the smooth and level banks of the Little Miami river, where I could
hardly hear or feel the train in motion at all. At last the "beautiful
river," as the French called the Ohio, hove in sight once more, with the
delightful hills of Kentucky and Ohio, on opposite sides, running up
from the water's edge, all clad with forest trees.
I next came to Cincinnati, and the "Public Landing" was crowded with
passengers and traffic going up and down the river, and as neither Tom
nor myself were millionaires, and I was desirous of cheapening things as
much as I could, I went aboard one of these floating palaces of the
Mississippi, and engaged myself as a waitress for the voyage down the
Mississippi. The "Natchez" was to leave at 4 P. M. the same day, so I
got my trunk on board, and reported myself for duty.
I gave a shout for joy as we left the Public Landing and floated out on
the mighty and splendid Ohio. Owing to the recent heavy rains all along
the head branches of this beautiful river, the stream was swollen from
bank to bank, and presented a grand appearance as we plunged into the
high-rolling waves and surges in the centre of the river. The glorious
sun danced upon the silvery tide, and covered all the forests, the hills
and dales on each side of the great and rushing flood. Huge barges were
floating down from Pittsburg, and the far North, and large and small
craft of every description were dancing and whirling away, whistling and
screaming and advancing towards us, or retreating around the bends.
So far as my duties on the boat permitted, my eyes were never off the
river, the hills, woods and forests, and the wild, fast-flowing traffic
that was going up and down, and which seemed to have no end. The red and
fiery sun went down in the wild waters of the beautiful river that
looked like heaving, molten gold; then up came the silver moon, and
turned all things visible into silver sheen.
The great Creator, indeed, was on the waves, and the Natchez drove on at
a rapid rate. We had now the Indiana shore on our right hand, having
passed the Ohio state line at Lawrenceburg, Indiana. In the early
morning we came to Louisville, Ky., where we remained for a few hours.
Here we passed through the Portland canal, and soon went by Riverside
Hall, and the little cabin on the opposite side of the river. It stands
two or three miles below New Albany, and I could see some of our dear
friends standing before the door. It was here that Tom and I had crossed
the Ohio.
The "beautiful river" still continued to increase and to swell, and we
plunged along at a glorious rate. All on board seemed to be in a
laughing mood, for the weather was superb, and that floating palace,
"The Natchez," swept along at a furious speed. You can talk as much as
you please about a light heart, but during this most delightful voyage
mine did seem "as light as any feather." I had such joyful dreams every
night, and hailed each coming morning with delight. Indeed I dressed
myself every morning while my mouth was full of laughter.
"What are you laughing at?" "I think you must be in love." "You always
appear in such tip-top humor." Such remarks were addressed to me by my
companions in the waiting department, as we made our toilets before the
looking-glass. To which I would reply, "I am laughing for the self-same
reason that the bird sings in the forest, because the sun shines. As the
children say, I am laughing at nothing!"
By this time the beautiful hills on both sides of the Ohio had fallen
away. We had the state of Illinois in front of us at last, when we
passed the mouth of the Wabash; and lower down on our left, the
Cumberland and Tennessee rivers poured all their flood into the Ohio,
after they had drained the mountain lands of Virginia, North Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. "The beautiful river" was
beautiful no more, but on both sides the lands were flat and fertile.
Ho for the Mississippi! What a rush there was among our passengers to
behold the great "Father of Waters" absorbing our smaller Ohio at Cairo,
in the state of Illinois. The city of Cairo lies right in the fork of
these two rivers--the Mississippi and the Ohio. "Whew! What a river!
Why, to be sure, this is, indeed, something like a river! It is more
like a flowing sea of fresh waters than a river," were the remarks of a
gentleman on board, and the sight was one that I am sure I never shall
or can forget, either.
Our arrival upon the Mississippi seemed to add to my good humor, and
then I was drawing nearer and nearer to my devoted and beloved mother
every hour, and I seemed to have a firm presentiment from high heaven
that my adventurous mission would turn out a success.
On, on, on, we rushed night and day, passing the mouths of the St.
Francis, the White, the Arkansas and Red rivers on our right hand, and
the Yazoo and other smaller ones on our left. It grew much warmer as we
advanced farther south. We were now coming into the lands famed for the
cultivation of the sugar cane, the cotton plant, and the rice. The only
thing that dampened my spirits was to behold from the deck of the
swift-flying Natchez, hundreds and thousands of oppressed colored people
toiling and sweating in the sun, whilst their overbearing overseers
stood over them, whip in hand, to make them work on, or receive the lash
on their backs. How even Southern people could look upon such barbarity
as that, and call themselves Christians, I could not understand. But as
sure as there is a God in heaven, there is a terrible "judgment day" in
store for all this, and I firmly believe that we shall all see it very
soon.
What was to hinder Mrs. Jackson from selling me down South here, and
forcing me to work till I died, in these very fields that I can see from
the deck of the Natchez? Wherein am I better than these full-blooded
Africans before my eyes, who were murderously torn away from their
beautiful homes in Africa, brought over in "floating hells," and sold
like cattle in the markets of the South? Shall not these who criminally
carry on the slave-trade, and slavery, soon atone for all this? As
surely as God lives, the "judgment day," even in this world, cannot be
far off! The Southern people, like the doomed inhabitants of wicked
Jerusalem, know not the approaching day of their visitation.
Musing in this way, we passed the cities of Memphis, Helena, Vicksburg,
Natchez, Baton-Rouge and Donaldsonville, and, at last, amidst a great
deal of noise and excitement, came to the wharf at New Orleans.
During all this glorious and enchanting travel from Buffalo by rail and
steamboat, like a good and faithful wife, I never forgot to write every
second day to my brave and beloved Tom, and I knew well that he would be
greatly interested in hearing of my progress down the Ohio and the
Mississippi. He afterwards told me that he used to read these letters of
mine over, and over, and over again, and sometimes before he went to
sleep, he would again light the lamp and read the last "arrival" from
end to end once more.
Here, then, at last, the good boat Natchez has brought us all safe and
sound to New Orleans, in the Sunny South. There is no snow here, and
fruits and flowers are to be found all the year round. The climate is
almost tropical, and everything out of doors breathes of orange blossoms
and all those exotics found in the warm climates. The whole scene had an
irresistible charm for me, and I felt a pleasure in being in the state
of Louisiana that I felt quite unable to describe.
But even the charms of nature and the strange French air of the people
did not produce the greatest impression on me here. That which produced
the greatest impression of all, was the mighty river Mississippi itself,
and the immense traffic carried over its irresistible waters. It is true
that its banks are quite plain and homely when compared with the
beautiful Ohio in its upper and middle courses. But then the Mississippi
is so big, that it is always majestic, solemn and grand. You are never
tired of looking at the immense and gigantic "creature," and especially
where it has constructed for itself a high embankment, cast up by the
silt and overflow of its muddy waters, in the lofty bosom of which the
mighty river flows as in an elevated canal.
And thus the Natchez was high up above the level of the plains on our
right and left hand, and we could look down on the valley of the
Mississippi from the deck of our palatial steamboat. Oh, the Mississippi
is a glorious sight to behold, always immense, solemn and grand!
The next thing that attracted me so much was the immense traffic that
came rolling down from the North, and that ascended the stream. When I
came off its mighty waters, I felt as if I was coming up from a wild,
riotous and troubled sea. And though forty-six years have now fled and
gone, the tremendous impression made upon my heart and soul by the
Father of Waters remains. I therefore cried, Ho for the Mississippi! as
I walked the gang-plank into the city.
My dear and beloved mother, Harriet Jackson, was one of those religious
women who would go to church if she went nowhere else. She went to the
A. M. E. Church whenever she could get there, and I had ascertained
before I left Riverside Hall, that she attended the services of that
congregation that lay nearest the mansion of the family to whom she had
been sold. I cannot say that she belonged to that family, for slavery
was nothing but a system of robbery in its best estate. She had been
sold down the river to an ancient French family--Roman Catholics--but,
in their indifferent, careless way, they allowed mother to go to her own
A. M. E. Church. She was so steady and devoted in her ways, and so very
remote from Kentucky, that they regarded it as an impossibility that she
would ever even dream of making her escape; and never, never, that any
one would ever come after her in this far-away part of the great world.
First and foremost, then, I made inquiries from those who could speak
English, for the name of the pastor, and found it with no great
difficulty. (As my complexion was so light and fair, I passed for one of
the whites of the city. There are many thousands of "whites" in the
South like me). I informed the reverend gentleman, when I first met him,
that I wished to have a private, confidential talk with him. I felt that
I was indeed conversing with a father, and there was not the slightest
fear. He informed me at once that my dear mother attended his church,
and was a warm-hearted and enthusiastic member of the same. He said she
would be at the prayer-meeting that very night, and named the hour when
it began; but while he should be glad to see her obtain her freedom, it
was the part of prudence that it should not even be known that he knew
anything about it, as they might murder him outright for even holding
his tongue! To this I replied that no doubt I could manage very well
myself, and that mother would perhaps have some amendments to put to my
own schemes after we met. In the meantime, I engaged a room with a nice
family, being fully resolved to stay there till such time as mother
could make her escape. I depended upon a well-laid plan, and to carry
out that plan with boldness. When I got myself settled in my temporary
home, and had written another letter to Tom, I walked out to see the
far-famed city of New Orleans, and indeed I obtained a pretty good idea
of it before my return in the evening. New Orleans is indeed a wonderful
place. But I need not take up the reader's time in describing this
quaint French city in America. The kind reader knows all about it
already. What I am most of all interested in at this time is the meeting
with my beloved mother, and getting her away from slavery into a land
where she shall be free to come and go, and do as she pleases, just as I
am doing!
Many thousands of slaves obtained their freedom by running away from
their owners; some of them encountered great difficulties on the way,
while others seemed to meet with no difficulties at all. I am also safe
in saying that many a hundred more might have gained their liberty, but
they were simply afraid to venture--they were too timid to take the
first step, or they were deterred from going by being unable to make up
their minds to leave parents, wives and children behind them. The latter
step was proven over and over again by their running away, obtaining
their freedom, but afterwards becoming so homesick that they actually
returned and surrendered themselves again to slavery, being unable to
stay away from those they loved most upon earth.
The African is both pleased and cursed by being possessed of a very warm
heart, and tender and loving affections. This is indeed a blessing and a
curse at one and the same time. We need not go far for the proof, for I
myself am a living witness to the same, and here I was at New Orleans
after my dearly-beloved and tender-hearted mother, whom I was unable to
live without; and then behold what I have suffered for the want of her
for more than two years--wrenched from me by the diabolical ways of
slavery, and the malice and spite of Mrs. Jackson! If my pinings and
regrets have been so great, longing day and night after my dear mother,
how much worse must that dear mother have felt for the loss of me? I
dare not even look at the picture! But our prayers have been heard by
the Lord; for He always hears those who love Him, and the hour for the
prayer-meeting is drawing nigh; the shades of night are at last falling
upon the long autumn day, and I find myself in the dusk in the
neighborhood of the A. M. E. Church, watching for the approach of my
mother, as maiden never waited for the coming of her lover advancing
among the trees to the well-known trysting-place.
All things come to those who wait, and here she comes at last! She is as
sweet and graceful as ever, and her step as light as the greyhound's! I
advanced to meet her, first looking cautiously around into the
increasing darkness, that no other was too near. The over-hanging trees
favored our meeting as I came up to her, and whispered softly in her
ear, "Mother!" We took each other by the hand, and kissed one another,
when she hurriedly drew me round into a side entrance to the basement
and rear of the church, where, entering a small classroom which would
not be used for the night, we sat down together, had one very long and
close embrace, and the happiness of that blessed and speechless half
hour seemed to me to equal all that which might be called out of an
ordinary lifetime. "Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, which within
thy courts I spend!" The remaining hour was passed in conversation,
during which we gave and received a complete history of the time that
had elapsed since the time mother was sold down the river.
"There will be no difficulty whatever about my getting away. They are
old people, and have not the remotest idea that I would ever make the
attempt. The best time for us to leave will be at this hour a week
to-night, and, my dear daughter, there is a big leather trunk that is
called mine, and which stands in my little bed-room upstairs, in an
out-of-the-way wing of the house, which I will manage to send empty to
your lodgings, whither I will send or bring my entire wardrobe myself. I
must not go without clothes, as they will be both necessary and useful
for me for years to come, if God my life shall spare. In the meantime
write Tom and give him all my love, and tell him when he may expect us
at home."
To all of this I most heartily agreed, and I was more happy and
lightsome than a butterfly. We came out before the congregation, and
another warm kiss and embrace under the trees, then mother steered away
homewards for the old French mansion, and I took my way to my lodgings,
where the people received me with great affection. I had told them that
I was married, and wore a gold ring to that effect, because without
giving them that needful piece of information, young beaux are bad for
coming around seventeen-year-old girls, and I did not wish any of the
kind New Orleans flunkeys to be coming around me with any of their sweet
kind of foolishness. When I got into my bed-room, I found the flowers of
the Sunny South perfuming the whole place like cologne, and I slept like
the angels there. Seven days and nights came and went. Mother and I met
one another as often as it was discreet and prudent for us to do. There
was not the remotest suspicion of her approaching departure--much less
of the direction which we meant to take. Like Tom and myself leaving
Riverside Hall, our plans were well-laid and matured, our hearts were
stout and brave within us, and we carried things out with a bold front.
As the New York passenger boat Columbia lay at her pier with steam up in
readiness for her departure on the following Wednesday night, while the
streets were full of horses, wagons, porters, passengers, and all the
rest of it; while late passengers were hurrying into the office to get
their tickets for New York, and boys were shouting the latest edition of
the city papers, two ladies in half mourning and heavily veiled, drove
up in a carriage, alighted in haste, had a heavy leather trunk carried
on board, and the elder of the two (a lady seemingly about thirty-six or
thirty-seven years of age) made for the ticket office and procured
tickets for two, and a corresponding cabin for New York. These two
ladies, the reader will understand, were my own dear mother and myself.
No notice was taken of us in any way. All was noise, bustle and
confusion about the Columbia. We were shown to our cabin like the rest,
and felt at home at once. It was growing dusk, the last bell was rung,
and with anxious hearts and high-beating hopes we cut loose from the
shore, and plunged out into the great river. The night being warm and
balmy, as is usual in the Sunny South, mother and I went on deck to see
our own departure, and to watch the passing vessels coming to and going
from the port of New Orleans. Here, in taking leave of the "Queen City
of the South," as the metropolis of Louisiana is called, I must say that
I was most delightfully impressed. I had been so very kindly treated on
all hands, and there was so much to charm the senses about this famous
French city. As for mother, the depth of the ocean was as nothing
compared with the depth of her contentment at getting away with her
beloved Beulah, the separation from whom had given her so much sorrow.
We were only sorry that we could not see the usual sights along the
Mississippi river to the same extent, as if we had left in the morning.
But that was impossible, and I think mother and I had great reason to
thank God that all things fitted in so well at the hour of our
departure. It was the night and hour for the prayer-meeting at the A. M.
E. Church--Wednesday night--with the good boat Columbia leaving at the
same hour. In this crooked world it is a difficult thing to make all
things work together just as we want them. We did indeed want to see our
poor, oppressed race at work among the sugar-canes, the cotton and the
rice, and the orange and fig-trees, and all the rest, which could only
be done rightly by day. We did indeed see plenty of their humble
quarters and cabins along the shores, and some little way back into the
country, and knew them well by the lights in the windows. Alas, alas!
for these poor, dear, miserable creatures! There they lay, no doubt,
sound asleep--sleeping in the sleep of the oppressed--poor old men and
women, laboring and toiling their lives away under a Southern sun, that
oppressors may feast and riot at their expense. But there is a God in
heaven, and we snuffled both war and freedom in the wind. Even a child
could foresee all that.
We retired early to bed. When were two women ever so happy on a New York
boat on the Lower Mississippi? It was enough to make the angels laugh
for joy, to think of it! Our departure was another installment in
swelling the volume of Southern wrath to break up the Union, as the
Fugitive Slave Bill would not work in their favor. Mother and
I--murmuring our thanks to Almighty God--soon fell into a happy sleep,
while the Columbia was ploughing her way down the Mississippi, and
moving out at the mouth of one of the passes, as they are called, into
the Gulf of Mexico. When we came back on deck next morning, the weather
was most delightful. The water was intensely clear--indeed it was as
clear as crystal! All things smacked of the Southern seas--of Southern
people, and all things Southern. In due course of time the west end of
the Isle of Cuba hove in sight, and soon the Columbia tied up in the
harbor of Havana.
As the Columbia was to remain a few hours at Havana, we were permitted
to go ashore to see the most famous city in the West Indies. The
tropical vegetation was all that the heart could wish, but what
interested mother and me the most was the quaint old city of the
Spaniards, and the different races of people who inhabited the "Ever
Faithful Isle," as it is called. Here we found Spaniards from old Spain,
Spanish creoles, free colored people and slaves. I hated the very sight
of slavery here in the Spanish island, though I have always understood
that slavery was less cruel here than in the Southern States. But all
the same it is slavery, and not freedom. Almighty God certainly never
meant that one man should own another. Besides, these odious Spaniards,
a lying, thieving nation, have promised the civilized nations of the
world a hundred times to abolish slavery, but they have always broken
their promises, and they will continue to break them until they are
compelled to give their slaves up by force. Spain is a dark, suspicious
nation, reduced to the last stages of poverty, but swollen with
ignorance and pride. But this present time of writing is 1897. We may
next take a retrospect, as it is forty-two years since mother and I were
at Havana. Poor Spain has already lost all her slaves, because she could
keep them no longer; and the Cuban war has now lasted for over two
years, during which the patriots have gained possession of the whole
island, except a few fortified towns like Havana. I will not here
narrate the sights, sounds and scenes that came under our observation in
the metropolitan city of Cuba. I will just mention that I was infinitely
amused at the system of courtship that was in vogue in their parts. The
young men went to see their fair lovers, and conversed with them through
grated windows, the young ladies being inside the bars, and the young
gentlemen standing outside on the street. I never think of these funny
scenes without laughter!
The Columbia got up steam once more, and we got out of the harbor of
Havana, passed through the Florida Straight, and in a few days were off
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. All these places were new to us, and as
the fall weather was of the most delightful description, my dear mother
and I spent a great deal of time on deck. At last Sandy Hook was passed,
and we shortly after landed in New York.