A SLAVE HUNTING PARSON
"'Tis too much prov'd--that with devotion's visage,
And pious action, we do sugar o'er the devil himself."
--Shakespeare.
"You will, no doubt, be well pleased with neighbour Jones," said
Mr. Peck, as Carlton stepped into the chaise to pay his promised
visit to the "ungodly man." "Don't forget to have a religious
interview with the Negroes, remarked Georgiana, as she gave the
last nod to her young convert. "I will do my best," returned
Carlton, as the vehicle left the door. As might have been
expected, Carlton met with a cordial reception at the hands of
the proprietor of the Grove Farm. The servants in the "Great
House" were well dressed, and appeared as if they did not want
for food. Jones knew that Carlton was from the North, and a
non-slaveholder, and therefore did everything in his power to
make a favourable impression on his mind. "My Negroes are well
clothed, well fed, and not over worked," said the slaveholder to
his visitor, after the latter had been with him nearly a week.
"As far as I can see your slaves appear to good advantage,"
replied Carlton. "But," continued he, "if it is a fair question,
do you have preaching among your slaves on Sunday, Mr. Jones?"
"No, no," returned he, "I think that's all nonsense; my Negroes
do their own preaching." "So you do permit them to have
meetings." "Yes, when they wish. There's some very intelligent
and clever chaps among them." "As to-morrow is the Sabbath,"
said Carlton, "if you have no objection, I will attend meeting
with them." "Most certainly you shall, if you will do the
preaching," returned the planter. Here the young man was about
to decline, but he remembered the parting words of Georgiana, and
he took courage and said, "Oh, I have no objection to give the
Negroes a short talk." It was then understood that Carlton was to
have a religious interview with the blacks the next day, and the
young man waited with a degree of impatience for the time.
In no part of the South are slaves in a more ignorant and degraded
state than in the cotton, sugar, and rice districts.
If they are permitted to cease labour on the Sabbath, the time is
spent in hunting, fishing, or lying beneath the shade of a tree,
resting for the morrow. Religious instruction is unknown in the
far South, except among such men as the Rev. C. C. Jones, John
Peck, and some others who regard religious instruction, such as
they impart to their slaves, as calculated to make them more
trustworthy and valuable as property. Jones, aware that his
slaves would make rather a bad show of intelligence if questioned
by Carlton, resolved to have them ready for him, and therefore
gave his driver orders with regard to their preparation.
Consequently, after the day's labour was over, Dogget, the
driver, assembled the Negroes together and said, "Now, boys and
gals, your master is coming down to the quarters to-morrow with
his visitor, who is going to give you a preach, and I want you
should understand what he says to you. Now many of you who came
of Old Virginia and Kentuck, know what preaching is, and others
who have been raised in these parts do not. Preaching is to tell
you that you are mighty wicked and bad at heart. This, I suppose,
you all know. But if the gentleman should ask you who
made you, tell him the Lord; if he ask if you wish to go to
heaven, tell him yes. Remember that you are all Christians, all
love the Lord, all want to go to heaven, all love your masters,
and all love me. Now, boys and gals, I want you to show
yourselves smart to-morrow: be on your p's and q's, and, Monday
morning, I will give you all a glass of whiskey bright and
early." Agreeable to arrangement the slaves were assembled
together on Sunday morning under the large trees near the great
house, and after going through another drilling from the driver,
Jones and Carlton made their appearance. "You see," said Jones to
the Negroes, as he approached them, you see here's a gentleman
that's come to talk to you about your souls, and I hope you 'ill
all pay that attention that you ought." Jones then seated himself
in one of the two chairs placed there for him and the stranger.
Carlton had already selected a chapter in the Bible to read to
them, which he did, after first prefacing it with some remarks of
his own. Not being accustomed to speak in public, he determined,
after reading the Bible, to make it more of a conversational
meeting than otherwise. He therefore began asking them questions.
"Do you feel that you are a Christian?" asked he of a
full-blooded Negro that sat near him. "Yes, sir," was the
response. "You feel, then, that you shall go to heaven." "Yes,
sir." "Of course you know who made you?" The man put his hand to
his head and began to scratch his wool; and, after a little
hesitation, answered, "De overseer told us last night who made
us, but indeed I forgot the gentmun's name." This reply was
almost too much for Carlton, and his gravity was not a little
moved. However, he bit his tongue, and turned to another man,
who appeared, from his looks, to be more intelligent. "Do you
serve the Lord?" asked he. "No, sir, I don't serve anybody but
Mr. Jones. I neber belong to anybody else." To hide his feelings
at this juncture, Carlton turned and walked to another part of
the grounds, to where the women were seated, and said to a
mulatto woman who had rather an anxious countenance, "Did you
ever hear of John the Baptist?" "Oh yes, marser, John de Baptist;
I know dat nigger bery well indeed; he libs in Old Kentuck, where
I come from." Carlton's gravity here gave way, and he looked at
the planter and laughed right out. The old woman knew a slave
near her old master's farm in Kentucky, and was ignorant enough
to suppose that he was the John the Baptist inquired about.
Carlton occupied the remainder of the time in reading Scripture
and talking to them. "My niggers ain't shown off very well
to-day," said Jones, as he and his visitor left the grounds.
"No," replied Carlton. "You did not get hold of the bright ones,"
continued the planter. "So it seems," remarked Carlton. The
planter evidently felt that his neighbour, Parson Peck, would
have a nut to crack over the account that Carlton would give of
the ignorance of the slaves, and said and did all in his power to
remove the bad impression already made; but to no purpose. The
report made by Carlton, on his return, amused the parson very
much. It appeared to him the best reason why professed Christians
like himself should be slave-holders. Not so with Georgiana. She
did not even smile when Carlton was telling his story, but seemed
sore at heart that such ignorance should prevail in their midst.
The question turned upon the heathen of other lands, and the
parson began to expatiate upon his own efforts in foreign
missions, when his daughter, with a child-like simplicity, said,
"Send Bibles to the heathen;
On every distant shore,
From light that's beaming o'er us,
Let streams increasing pour
But keep it from the millions
Down-trodden at our door.
"Send Bibles to the heathen,
Their famished spirits feed;
Oh! haste, and join your efforts,
The priceless gift to speed;
Then flog the trembling Negro
If he should learn to read."
"I saw a curiosity while at Mr. Jones's that I shall not forget
soon," said Carlton. "What was it?" inquired the parson. "A
kennel of bloodhounds; and such dogs I never saw before. They
were of a species between the bloodhound and the foxhound, and
were ferocious, gaunt, and savage-looking animals. They were part
of a stock imported from Cuba, he informed me. They were kept in
an iron cage, and fed on Indian corn bread. This kind of food, he
said, made them eager for their business. Sometimes they would
give the dogs meat, but it was always after they had been chasing
a Negro." "Were those the dogs you had, papa, to hunt Harry?"
asked Georgiana. "No, my dear," was the short reply: and the
parson seemed anxious to change the conversation to something
else. When Mr. Peck had left the room, Carlton spoke more freely
of what he had seen, and spoke more pointedly against slavery;
for he well knew that Miss Peck sympathised with him in all he
felt and said.
"You mentioned about your father hunting a slave," said Carlton,
in an undertone. "Yes," replied she: "papa went with some
slave-catchers and a parcel of those nasty Negro-dogs, to hunt
poor Harry. He belonged to papa and lived on the farm. His wife
lives in town, and Harry had been to see her, and did not return
quite as early as he should; and Huckelby was flogging him, and
he got away and came here. I wanted papa to keep him in town, so
that he could see his wife more frequently; but he said they
could not spare him from the farm, and flogged him again, and
sent him back. The poor fellow knew that the overseer would
punish him over again, and instead of going back he went into the
woods." "Did they catch him?" asked Carlton. "Yes," replied she.
"In chasing him through the woods, he attempted to escape by
swimming across a river, and the dogs were sent in after him, and
soon caught him. But Harry had great courage and fought the dogs
with a big club; and papa seeing the Negro would escape from the
dogs, shot at him, as he says, only to wound him, that he might
be caught; but the poor fellow was killed." Overcome by relating
this incident, Georgiana burst into tears.
Although Mr. Peck fed and clothed his house servants well, and
treated them with a degree of kindness, he was, nevertheless, a
most cruel master. He encouraged his driver to work the
field-hands from early dawn till late at night; and the good
appearance of the house-servants, and the preaching of Snyder to
the field Negroes, was to cause himself to be regarded as a
Christian master. Being on a visit one day at the farm, and
having with him several persons from the Free States, and wishing
to make them believe that his slaves were happy, satisfied, and
contented, the parson got out the whiskey and gave each one a
dram, who in return had to drink the master's health, or give a
toast of some kind. The company were not a little amused at some
of the sentiments given, and Peck was delighted at every
indication of contentment on the part of the blacks. At last it
came to Jack's turn to drink, and the master expected something
good from him, because he was considered the cleverest and most
witty slave on the farm.
"Now," said the master, as he handed Jack the cup of whiskey;
"now, Jack, give us something rich. You know," continued he, "we
have raised the finest crop of cotton that's been seen in these
parts for many a day. Now give us a toast on cotton; come, Jack,
give us something to laugh at." The Negro felt not a little
elated at being made the hero of the occasion, and taking the
whiskey in his right hand, put his left to his head and began to
scratch his wool, and said,
"The big bee flies high,
The little bee make the honey;
The black folks makes the cotton,
And the white folks gets the money."