The Effect the Proclamation of Secretary Seward produced in Kentucky.
CONFEDRIT × ROADS
(wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky),
December 20, 1865.
At last! The deed is dun! The tiranikle government which hez sway at
Washington hez finelly extinguished the last glimerin flicker uv
Liberty, by abolishin slavery! The sun didn't go down in gloom that
nite--the stars didn't fade in2 a sickly yeller, at wich obstinacy uv
nachur I wuz considably astonished.
I got the news at the Post Offis (near wich I am at present stayin, at
the house uv a venerable old planter, who accepts my improvin
conversation and a occasional promise, wich is cheap, ez equivalent for
board). Sadly I wendid my way to his peaceful home, dreadin to fling
over that house the pall uv despair. After supper I broke to em ez
gently ez I cood the intelligence that three-fourths uv the States hed
ratified the constooshnel amendment--that Seward had ishood his
proclamation, and that all the Niggers wuz free!
Never did I see sich sorrer depicted on human countenance--never wuz
there despair uv sich depth. All nite long the bereaved inmates uv that
wunst happy but now distracted home wept and waled in agony wich wuz
perfectly heart rendin.
"Wo is me," sobbed the old man, wringin his hands.
"John Brown's karkis hangs a danglin in the air, but his sole is marchin
on.
"It took posseshun of Seward, and thro his ugly mouth it spoke the words
'the nigger is free,' and there is no more a slave in all the land.
"Wunst I hed a hundred niggers, and the men were fat and healthy, and
the wenches wuz strong, and sum uv em wuz fair to look upon.
"They worked in my house, and my fields, from the rising uv the sun to
the goin down uv the same.
"Wuz they lazy? I catted them till they wuz cured thereof; for lo! they
wuz ez a child under my care.
"Did they run away? From Kentucky they run North, and lo! the Locofoco
Marshals caught them for me, and brought them back, and delivered them
into my hand, without cost, sayin, lo! here is thy nigger--do with him
ez thou wilt (wich I alluz did), wich is cheeper than keepin dogs, and
jest as good.
"Solomon wuz wise, for he hed uv konkebines a suffishensy, but we wuz
wiser in our day than him.
"For he hed to feed his children, and it kost him shekels uv gold and
shekels uv silver, and much corn and oil.
"We hed our konkebines with ez great a muchness ez Solomon, but we sold
their children for silver, and gold, and red-dog paper."
And all nite long the bereaved old patriarch, who hed alluz bin a father
to his servants (and a grandfather to menny uv em) poured out his
lamentations.
In the mornin the niggers wuz called up, and ez they all hed their koats
on, and hed bundles, I spect they must hev heard the news. The old
gentleman explained the situation to em.
"Yoo will," sed he, "stay in yoor happy homes--you will alluz continue
to live here, and work here, ez yoo hev alluz dun!"
The niggers all in korious, with a remarkable unanimity, remarkt that ef
they hed ever bin introdoost to theirselves, they thought they woodent.
In fact, they hed congregated at that time for the purpose uv startin
life on their own hook.
[Illustration: EFFECT OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION IN KENTUCKY.]
A paroxysm uv pain and anguish shot over the old man's face. Nearest to
him stood a octoroon, who, hed she not bin tainted with the accurst
blood uv Ham, wood hev bin considered beautiful. Fallin on her neck, the
old patriarch, with teers a streamin down his furrowd cheeks,
ejackilated,--
"Farewell, Looizer, my daughter, farewell! I loved yoor mother ez never
man loved nigger. She wuz the solace uv my leisure hours--the companion
uv my yooth. She I sold to pay orf a mortgage on the place--she and yoor
older sisters. Farewell! I hed hoped to hev sold yoo this winter (for
yoo are still young), and bought out Jinkins; but wo is me! Curses on
the tirent who thus severs all the tender ties uv nachur. Oh! it is hard
for father to part with child, even when the market's high; but, Oh God!
to part thus--"
And the old gentleman, in a excess uv greef, swoonded away genteely.
His son Tom hed bin caressin her two little children, who wuz a half
whiter than she wuz. Unable to restrain hisself, he fell on her neck,
and bemoaned his fate with tetchin pathos.
"Farewell, farewell, mother uv my children! Farewell faro, and hosses,
and shampane--a long farewell! Your increase wuz my perquisites, and I
sold em to supply my needs. Hed you died, I cood hev bin resigned; for
when dead you ain't wuth a copper; but to see yoo torn away livin, &
wuth $2,000 in enny market--it's too much, it's too much!"
And he fainted, fallin across the old man.
"Who'll do the work about the house?" shreekt the old lady, faintin and
fallin across Tom.
"Who'll dress us, and wash us, and wait on us?" shreekt the three
daughters, swoonding away, and fallin across the old woman.
My first impulse wuz to faint away myself, and fall across the three
daughters; but I restraned myself, and wuz contented with strikin a
attitood and organizin a tablo. Hustlin the niggers away with a burnin
cuss for their ingratitood, I spent the balance uv the forenoon in
bringin on em too. Wun by wun they became conshus; but they wuz not
theirselves. Their minds wuz evidently shattered; they wuz carryin a
heavy heart in their buzzums.
Wood, Oh! wood that Seward cood hev seen that groop! Sich misery does
Ablishinism bring in its trane--sich horrers follers a departure from
Dimikratic teechins. When will reason return to the people? Eko answers,
When?
PETROLEUM V. NASBY,
Lait Paster uv the Church uv the Noo Dispensashun.