Before he located, Louis concluded to visit the old homestead, and to
present his beautiful young bride to his grandmother and Camilla.
He knew his adopted sister too well to fear that Minnie would fail to
receive from her the warmest welcome, and so with eager heart he took
passage on one of the Mississippi boats to New Orleans, intending to
stop in the city a few days, and send word to Camilla; but just as he
was passing from the levee to the hotel, he caught a glimpse of Camilla
walking down the street, and stopping the carriage, he alighted, and
spoke to her. She immediately recognized him, although his handsome face
had become somewhat bronzed by exposure in camp and field.
"Do not go to the hotel," she said, "you are heartily welcome, come home
with me."
"But my wife is along."
"Never mind, she's just as welcome as you are."
"But, like myself, she is colored."
"It does not matter. I should not think of your going to a hotel, while
I have a home in the city."
Camilla following, wondering how she would like the young wife. She had
great kindness and compassion for the race, but as far as social
equality was concerned, though she had her strong personal likings, yet,
except with Louis, neither custom nor education had reconciled her to
the maintenance of any equal, social relations with them.
"My wife," said Louis, introducing Camilla to Minnie. Camilla
immediately reached out her hand to the young wife, and gave her a
cordial greeting, and they soon fell into a pleasant and animated
conversation. Mutually they were attracted to each other, and when they
reached their destination, Minnie had begun to feel quite at home with
Camilla.
"How is Aunt Miriam, or rather, my grandmother?" said Louis.
"She is well, and often wonders what has become of her poor boy; but she
always has persisted in believing that she would see you again, and I
know her dear old eyes will run over with gladness. But things have
changed very much since we parted. We have passed through the fire since
I saw you, and our troubles are not over yet; but we are hoping for
better days. But we are at home. Let us alight."
And Louis and Minnie were ushered into a home whose quiet and refined
beauty were very pleasant to the eye, for Camilla had inherited from her
father his aesthetic tastes; had made her home and its surroundings
models of loveliness. Half a dozen varieties of the sweetest and
brightest roses clambered up the walls and arrayed them with a garb of
rare beauty. Jessamines breathed their fragrance on the air; magnolias
reared their stately heads and gladdened the eye with the exquisite
beauty of their flowers.
"This is an unexpected pleasure," said Camilla, removing Minnie's
bonnet, and gazing with unfeigned admiration upon her girlish face, "but
really some one must enjoy this pleasure besides myself."
Camilla rang the bell; a bright, smiling girl of about ten years
appeared. "Tell Miriam," she said, "to come; that her boy Louis is
here."
Miriam appeared immediately, and throwing her arms around his neck, gave
vent to her feelings in a burst of joy. "I always said you'd come back.
I's prayed for you night and day, and I always believed I'd see you
afore I died, and now my word's come true. There's nothing like having
faith."
"Here's my wife," said Louis, turning to Minnie.
"Your wife; is you married, honey? Well I hopes you'll have a good
time."
Minnie came forward and gave her hand to Miriam, as Louis said, "This is
my grandmother."
A look of proud satisfaction passed over the old woman's face, and a
sudden joy lit up her eyes at these words of pleasant recognition.
"Ah, my child," said Miriam, "We's had a mighty heap of trouble since
you left. Them miserable secesh searched the house all over for you,
when you was gone, and they was mighty sassy; but we didn't mind that,
so they didn't ketch you. How did you get along? We was dreadfully
uneasy about you?"
Louis then told them of the kindness of the colored people, his
thrilling adventures, and hair-breadth escapes, and unfolded to them his
plans for the future.
Camilla listened with deep interest, and turning to Minnie, who had left
the peaceful sunshine of her mother's home to dwell in the midst of that
rough and rude state of society, she said, "I cannot help feeling sad to
see you exposing yourself to the dangers that lay around your path. The
few Southern women who have been faithful to the flag have had a sad
experience since the war. We have been ostracized and abused, and often
our husbands have been brutally murdered, in a number of instances when
they were faithful to the dear old flag. A friend of mine, who was an
angel of mercy to the Union prisoners, dressing their wounds and
carrying them relief, had a dear son, who always kept a Union flag at
home, which he regarded with almost religious devotion. This made him a
marked boy in the community, and during the war he was so cruelly
beaten, by some young rebels, that he never recovered, and colored women
who would wend their way under the darkness and cover of night to aid
our suffering soldiers, were in danger of being flogged, if detected,
and I understand that one did receive 75 lashes for such an offence, and
I heard of another who was shot down like a dog, for giving bread to a
prisoner, who said, 'Mammy, I am starving.' I think, (but I have no
right to dictate to you) had I been you, and my home in the North, that
I would have preferred staying there, where, to say the least, you could
have had pleasanter social relations. You and Louis are nearer the
white race than the colored. Why should you prefer the one to the
other?"
"Because," said Minnie, "the prejudices of society are so strong against
the people with whom I am connected on my mother's side, that I could
not associate with white people on equal terms, without concealing my
origin, and that I scorned to do. The first years of my life passed
without my knowing that I was connected with the colored race; but when
it was revealed to me by mother, who suddenly claimed me, at first I
shrank from the social ostracism to which that knowledge doomed me, and
it was some time before I was reconciled to the change. Oh, there are
lessons of life that we never learn in the bowers of ease. They must be
learned in the fire. For months life seemed to me a dull, sad thing, and
for a while I did not care whether I lived or died, the sunshine had
suddenly faded from my path, and the future looked so dark and
cheerless. But now, when I look back upon those days of gloom and
suffering, I think they were among the most fruitful of my life, for in
those days of pain and sorrow my resolution was formed to join the
fortunes of my mother's race, and I resolved to brighten her old age
with a joy, with a gladness she had never known in her youth. And how
could I have done that had I left her unrecognized and palmed myself
upon society as a white woman? And to tell you the truth, having passed
most of my life in white society, I did not feel that the advantages of
that society would have ever paid me for the loss of my self-respect, by
passing as white, when I knew that I was colored; when I knew that any
society, however cultivated, wealthy or refined, would not be a social
gain to me, if my color and not my character must be my passport of
admission. So, when I found out that I was colored, I made up my mind
that I would neither be pitied nor patronized by my former friends; but
that I would live out my own individuality and do for my race, as a
colored woman, what I never could accomplish as a white woman."
"I think I understand you," said Camilla; "and although I tremble for
you in the present state, yet you cannot do better than live out the
earnest purpose of your life. I feel that we owe a great debt to the
colored race, and I would aid and not hinder any hand that is ready to
help do the needed work. I have felt for many years that slavery was
wrong, and I am glad, from the bottom of my heart, that it has at last
been destroyed. And what are your plans, Louis?"
"We are going to open a school, and devote our lives to the upbuilding
of the future race. I intend entering into some plan to facilitate the
freedmen in obtaining homes of their own. I want to see this newly
enfranchised race adding its quota to the civilization of the land. I
believe there is power and capacity, only let it have room for exercise
and development. We demand no social equality, no supremacy of power.
All we ask is that the American people will take their Christless,
Godless prejudices out of the way, and give us a chance to grow, an
opportunity to accept life, not merely as a matter of ease and
indulgence, but of struggle, conquest, and achievement."
"Yes," said Camilla, "what you want and what the nation should be just
enough to grant you is fair play."
"Yes, that is what we want; to be known by our character, and not by our
color; to be permitted to take whatever position in society we are
fitted to fill. We do not want to be bolstered and propped up on the one
hand, nor to be crushed and trampled down on the other."
"Well, Louis, I think that we are coming to that. No, I cannot feel that
all this baptism of fire and blood through which we have passed has been
in vain. Slavery, as an institution, has been destroyed. Slavery, as an
idea, still lives, but I believe that we shall outgrow this spirit of
caste and proscription which still tarnishes our civilization, both
North and South."