Every plantation has its "bad fellow"--often more than one, but always
one who holds pre-eminence in evil. "Yellow Jake" was the fiend of
ours.
He was a young mulatto, in person not ill-looking, but of sullen habit
and morose disposition. On occasions he had shewn himself capable of
fierce resentment and cruelty.
Instances of such character are more common among mulattoes than
negroes. Pride of colour on the part of the yellow man--confidence in a
higher organism, both intellectual and physical, and consequently a
keener sense of the injustice of his degraded position, explain this
psychological difference.
As for the pure negro, he rarely enacts the unfeeling savage. In the
drama of human life, he is the victim, not the villain. No matter where
lies the scene--in his own land, or elsewhere--he has been used to play
the _role_ of the sufferer; yet his soul is still free from resentment
or ferocity. In all the world, there is no kinder heart than that which
beats within the bosom of the African black.
Yellow Jake was wicked without provocation. Cruelty was innate in his
disposition--no doubt inherited. He was a Spanish mulatto; that is,
paternally of Spanish blood--maternally, negro. His father had sold him
to mine!
A slave-mother, a slave-son. The father's freedom affects not the
offspring. Among the black and red races of America, the child fellows
the fortunes of the mother. Only she of Caucasian race can be the
mother of white men.
There was another "Jacob" upon the plantation--hence the distinctive
sobriquet of "Yellow Jake." This other was "Black Jake;" and only in
age and size was there any similarity between the two. In disposition
they differed even more than in complexion. If Yellow Jake had the
brighter skin, Black Jake had the lighter heart. Their countenances
exhibited a complete contrast--the contrast between a sullen frown and a
cheerful smile. The white teeth of the latter were ever set in smiles:
the former smiled only when under the influence of some malicious
prompting.
Black Jake was a Virginian. He was one of those belonging to the old
plantation--had "moved" along with his master; and felt those ties of
attachment which in many cases exist strongly between master and slave.
He regarded himself as one of our family, and gloried in bearing our
name. Like all negroes born in the "Old Dominion," he was proud of his
nativity. In caste, a "Vaginny nigger" takes precedence of all others.
Apart from his complexion, Black Jake was not ill-looking. His features
were as good as those of the mulatto. He had neither the thick lips,
flat nose, nor retreating forehead of his race--for these
characteristics are not universal. I have known negroes of pure African
blood with features perfectly regular, and such a one was Black Jake.
In form, he might have passed for the Ethiopian Apollo.
There was one who thought him handsome--handsomer than his yellow
namesake. This was the quadroon Viola, the belle of the plantation.
For Viola's hand, the two Jakes had long time been rival suitors. Both
had assiduously courted her smiles--somewhat capricious they were, for
Viola was not without coquetry--but she had at length exhibited a marked
preference for the black. I need not add that there was jealousy
between the negro and mulatto--on the part of the latter, rank hatred of
his rival--which Viola's preference had kindled into fierce resentment.
More than once had the two measured their strength, and on each occasion
had the black been victorious. Perhaps to this cause, more than to his
personal appearance, was he indebted for the smiles of Viola.
Throughout all the world, throughout all time, beauty has bowed down
before courage and strength.
Yellow Jake was our woodman; Black Jake, the curator of the horses, the
driver of "white massa's" barouche.
The story of the two Jakes--their loves and their jealousies--is but a
common affair in the _petite politique_ of plantation-life. I have
singled it out, not from any separate interest it may possess, but as
leading to a series of events that exercised an important influence on
my own subsequent history.
The first of these events was as follows; Yellow Jake, burning with
jealousy at the success of his rival, had grown spiteful with Viola.
Meeting her by some chance in the woods, and far from the house, he had
offered her a dire insult. Resentment had rendered him reckless. The
opportune arrival of my sister had prevented him from using violence,
but the intent could not be overlooked; and chiefly through my sister's
influence, the mulatto was brought to punishment.
It was the first time that Yellow Jake had received chastisement, though
not the first time he had deserved it. My father had been indulgent
with him; too indulgent, all said. He had often pardoned him when
guilty of faults--of crimes. My father was of an easy temper, and had
an exceeding dislike to proceed to the extremity of the lash; but in
this case my sister had urged, with some spirit, the necessity of the
punishment. Viola was her maid; and the wicked conduct of the mulatto
could not be overlooked.
The castigation did not cure him of his propensity to evil. An event
occurred shortly after, that proved he was vindictive. My sister's
pretty fawn was found dead by the shore of the lake. It could not have
died from any natural cause--for it was seen alive, and skipping over
the lawn but the hour before. No alligator could have done it, nor yet
a wolf. There was neither scratch nor tear upon it; no signs of blood!
It must have been strangled.
It _was_ strangled, as proved in the sequel. Yellow Jake had done it,
and Black Jake had seen him. From the orange grove, where the latter
chanced to be at work, he had been witness of the tragic scene; and his
testimony procured a second flogging for the mulatto.
A third event followed close upon the heels of this--a quarrel between
negro and mulatto, that came to blows. It had been sought by the latter
to revenge himself, at once upon his rival in love, and the witness of
his late crime.
The conflict did not end in mere blows. Yellow Jake, with an instinct
derived from his Spanish paternity, drew his knife, and inflicted a
severe wound upon his unarmed antagonist.
This time his punishment was more severe. I was myself enraged, for
Black Jake was my "body guard" and favourite. Though his skin was
black, and his intellect but little cultivated, his cheerful disposition
rendered him a pleasant companion; he was, in fact, the chosen associate
of my boyish days--my comrade upon the water, and in the woods.
Justice required satisfaction, and Yellow Jake caught it in earnest.
The punishment proved of no avail. He was incorrigible. The demon
spirit was too strong within him: it was part of his nature.