place, so I shall reserve all I have to say about Washington till my
next, and shall fill up this page with a description of a real live
"Topsy" slave, with whom we have made acquaintance here. She is
fourteen, the property of an old Miss D. We noticed her yesterday
standing about in the passage, and asked her if she belonged to the
hotel, and she said no, that she belonged to Miss D. We said, quite
seriously, as we now always do to blacks and whites of the lower orders,
"Where were you raised?" The creature answered us quietly, "In
Virginny." She is a full, well grown girl, with a large bushy crop of
wool on her head; a pleasant, large, round intelligent face, that is
almost pretty. The young niggers have very little of the real negro cast
of countenance, and the little boys and girls about the streets are
really pretty, and almost loveable looking; while the elders, especially
the females, are hideous to behold, and are only to be tolerated, in
point of looks, when they wear coloured turbans. When I see one adorned
in a bonnet at the back of her head, with a profusion, inside, of the
brightest artificial flowers, a bright vulgar shawl and dress, and an
enormous hoop, with very narrow petticoats, I always wish to rush home,
light a large bonfire, and throw into the flames every article of
ornamental dress that I possess.
But to return to dear Topsy. We asked her if she were a slave, feeling
very backward to put so trying a question to her; but she answered with
the utmost simplicity, that she was, just as if we had asked her if she
were from France or Germany. In reply to our questions, she said that
her father and mother were slaves; that she has several younger brothers
and sisters; that Miss D. is very rich. "'Spect she has above a hundred
slaves;" and that she is very kind to them all. "Can you read?" "No;
Miss D. has often tried to teach me, but I never could learn. 'Spect I
am too large to learn now." We lectured her about this, and gave her Sir
Edward Parry's favourite advice, to "try again." I then asked her if she
went to church. "No, never." "Does Miss D.?" "Mighty seldom." "Do you
know who made you?" "Yes, God." "Do you ever pray?" "No, never; used to,
long ago; but," with a most sanctimonious drawl, "feel such a burden
like, when I try to kneel down, that I can't." This was such a
gratuitous imitation of what she must have heard the _goody_[6] niggers
say, that I felt sorely disposed to give her young black ears a sound
boxing, for supposing such a piece of acting could impose upon us.
However, leaving the dark ears alone, I urged the duty of prayer upon
her, as strongly and simply as I could, and made her promise to kneel
down every night and morning and pray. She had heard of Christ, and
repeated some text (again a quotation, no doubt, from the _goody_
niggers) about his death; but she did not know, on further examination,
who He is, nor what death He died. She said Miss D. read to them all,
every Sunday; but probably not in a very instructive manner. She said
her name was Almira. I gave her Miss Marsh's "Light for the Line," which
happened to be the only book I had by me which was at all suitable, and
told her to get it read to her, and that I was sorry I had nothing else
to give her; but I shall try this morning to get her an alphabet, in
order to encourage her to make another attempt to learn to read. At
parting last night, I spoke as solemnly as I could to her, and told her
we should probably never meet again in this world, but that we should be
sure to meet hereafter, at the judgment seat of God, and I entreated her
to remember the advice I had given her.
As we do not know Miss D., who is a very deaf old lady, staying here,
like ourselves, for a day or two, our conferences with young Topsy have
been necessarily very short, and constantly interrupted by Miss D.'s
coming past us, and wanting her; but we should like very much to buy
Almira, and bring her home to make a nursery maid of her, and teach her
all she ought to know, and "'spect" after all she is not "too large" to
learn, poor young slave! It was pleasant, in our first colloquy of the
kind, to talk to such an innocent specimen of a slave. I mean innocent,
as respects her ignorance of the horrors of slavery, of which she
evidently had not even the faintest idea. I asked her what she did for
Miss D.? "Dresses her, does her room, and _fixes her up_ altogether."
The real, original Topsy is no doubt a most correctly drawn character,
judging by this specimen. And now adieu; you shall have a further
chapter on Washington next time.
FOOTNOTE:
[6] I have tried, in vain, to alter this word, which is one coined at
home, and used by the family, but cannot find a substitute for it. Lest,
however, it be misunderstood, I must explain that it is applied in
reference to the truly good and pious among our friends; as the word
"saints," ought to be, had not that term been unhappily associated with
the ridiculous, and a false pretension to religion.
LETTER VIII.
WASHINGTON.--BAPTIST CLASS-MEETING.--PUBLIC BUILDINGS.--VENUS BY
DAYLIGHT.--BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILWAY.--WHEELING.--ARRIVAL AT
COLUMBUS.
Washington, 18th Oct. 1858.
I despatched my last to you the day before yesterday, and now must give
you an account of our employments yesterday (Sunday, 17th instant). The
morning was very hot, and very lovely, with a clear blue sky, and I
wished that impertinent young lady, Emily, could see what sort of
weather we have here, and how her good wishes for us are accomplished,
beyond anything she can suppose; for we can barely support the heat in
the middle of the day.
The weather being so lovely, we set off to a church in Georgetown, a
suburb of Washington, where many of the foreign ministers live, and a
very pretty suburb it is; but when we got there, papa's head began to
ache so much, that we thought it best to return to a church nearer the
hotel, so that if he became worse, he might leave the church, and walk
home. We were able, however, to sit out the service, and heard a very
dull sermon from a young missionary, who was to sail, two days
afterwards, with his wife, from Baltimore, for Africa; his sermon was
greatly taken from Livingstone's book, and he spoke more strongly
against slavery than we should have looked for in a slave state. After
the sermon, papa and I went to him, and we asked him a little about
where he was going, &c. &c. He scarcely seemed to know, acknowledged he
was but little acquainted with the work he had before him, and, finally,
when papa put a piece of gold into his hand, he looked at it, and asked
whether it was for himself or the Mission. We answered with some degree
of inward surprise, that it was for any useful object connected with it,
and we took leave of him, wishing him God-speed, but lamenting that a
more efficient man was not going out.
Papa became much more head-achy during the day. Mr. Erskine called to
see if we wanted anything, and strongly advised my going to a negro
chapel in the evening, and hearing one of the blacks preach. They are
mostly Methodists, that is Wesleyans, or Baptists. He said I should hear
them singing as I passed the doors, and could go in. Poor papa, by this
time, was fit for nothing except to remain quiet, so Thrower and I set
out in the evening, and found, not without some difficulty, an upper
room, brilliantly lighted, over a grocer's warehouse. We went up two
pairs of stairs, and I did so in fear and trembling, remembering what
the odour is when a large dining-room is filled with black waiters: a
sort of sickly, sour smell pervades the room, that makes one hate the
thought, either of dinner, or of the poor niggers themselves. It seems
it is inherent in their skin; to my surprise and satisfaction, however,
we found nothing of the kind in this room, the windows of which had been
well opened beforehand. It was a large, whitewashed apartment, half
filled with blacks.
We were the only whites present; there were benches across the room,
leaving a passage up the middle, the men and women occupying different
sides. A pulpit was at the further end of the room, and in front of it
stood a black preaching. He was in the middle of his sermon when we came
in, so we did not hear the text, and sat down quietly at some distance
from him, so as to be able to get out and go home to poor papa whenever
we wished; a nigger came forward, and invited us to go further up the
room, which we declined. The sermon went on for some time; it described
the happiness felt by God's true children: and how they would cling to
each other in persecution. The preacher encouraged them all in the path
of holiness, and explained the Gospel means of salvation with great
clearness, and really with admirably chosen words; there was a little
action but not too much; and there were no vulgarities. The discourse
was at least equal to the sermons of many of our dissenting ministers,
and appeared to come from the lips of an educated gentleman, although
with a black skin. He finished, and an old negro rose, and gave out the
text:--"And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain," &c. His
voice at first was faint, and I could not hear what were the various
jokes he cut which produced loud laughter, so we advanced a little. He
afterwards became more serious. His address was quite distinct from his
text, being an earnest and very well delivered exhortation to the
converted to grow in grace; at the end of every period he repeated his
text as a _refrain_.
At first, I observed among the dark ladies a few suppressed murmurs of
approbation, but as his discourse proceeded, these were turned into
groans; and when he quoted a text, or said anything more than usually
impressive, there was a regular rocking and swaying of the figure among
them, while one or two repeated aloud the last words of his text. While
he was preaching, a tall thin young woman, in deep mourning, came in,
and room was made for her to sit down next to a very fat negress, whom I
had observed at our own church in the morning. The latter passed her arm
round the shoulder of this young woman, as they sat together, and I
observed that at various solemn passages of the old man's address, they
began to rock their bodies, gently at first, but afterwards more and
more violently, till at last they got into a way of rocking themselves
quite forward off their seat, and then on it again, the fat woman
cuddling up the thin one more and more closely to her. There seemed a
sort of mesmeric influence between the two, occasioning in both similar
twistings and contortions of the body, shakings of the head, lookings
upward, lookings downward, and louder words of exclamation and
approbation. This was not continuous in its violence, though there was
generally _some_ movement between them; but the violence of it came on
in fits, and was the effect of the old man's words. It was very curious
that whenever he repeated the text (a far from exciting one, I thought),
the agitation became most violent. The other women continued to murmur
applause, and one woman in advance of the others (a very frightful one)
looked upwards, and frequently smiled a heavenly (?) smile. I sat rather
behind most of them, and on the side where the men were, so that unless
when the women turned round, I could scarcely see their faces. After a
time the old man commented upon the succeeding verses of the Chapter as
far as the words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," &c., and here he
ceased, almost abruptly; a hymn was immediately given out by the first
preacher, and was sung most loudly and vigorously by most of the
congregation. The men's voices were very loud, but they all sang true,
and with great spirit and energy. There were no musical instruments, and
they sat while singing. The hymns seemed very stirring, but I am sorry I
cannot give you the words of any of them, as there were no books, and
they sung at first from memory, though in some of the after hymns the
preacher gave them out by two lines at a time.
This being, as I was afterwards told, a Baptist class-meeting, the first
man invited any brother or sister to tell the others "how the Lord had
dealt with him," or "what He had done for his soul." (I quote his
words.) Whereupon a tall well-dressed young negro rose from his seat,
and standing up, told us that he had been a great sinner, and that he
had, through many difficulties, learnt to serve God. He spoke of
persecutions from within in the struggles of a sinful nature and of
great and bitter ones from without. He did not describe what these had
been: but told us that the victory had been his. His language, and
choice of expressions, were always good, though at times there was a
little of the peculiar negro pronunciation. At all descriptions of the
contest having been in his favour, the women swayed their bodies; and
when he, and others after him, asserted to those around that what he had
felt could not have been from Satan, and therefore must have been from
God, there was great agitation, especially in my two friends, and grins
and murmurs from the others. The men listened quietly, sometimes
grinning with delight, and sometimes leaning their heads forward on
their hands, as if meditating. A few of the men who sat at the upper end
of the room leant their heads against the wall, and _might_ have been
asleep.
After this young man's "experience" was ended, came another singing of
hymns, and then another invitation for more "experiences;" when a tall,
fat, important-looking man rose: his figure reminded one of a fat, burly
London butler; and his account of himself was somewhat extravagant.
"Heart was hard as stone; a great sinner; was standing in an orchard;
couldn't love God or pray; seemed as if a great light came from the sky;
got behind a tree; the light came nearer; seemed as if drawing me," &c.
&c.; ending in the happy circumstance of _his_ complete conversion; and
he sat down, his discourse producing the same agitating effects, and of
an increasing kind on all the women, specially on my fat and thin
friends. Then came another hymn, and another invitation; which was
followed by the preacher's going up to a young negress and speaking a
few words to her in a whisper; whereupon he told us, that a young
person, who had been wonderfully "dealt with by the Lord," was about to
give an account of herself. The young girl, of about twenty, black, but
pleasing-looking, advanced, and standing straight up before the
preacher, repeated to him her experience almost as if it were a lesson
she had learnt by heart. There was a cadence, or sort of chant, in her
delivery; but with the most perfect quietness of manner. She had been,
she said, a great sinner; and she then gave an account of herself at
much greater length than the others. In speaking of the difficulties
that had met her in her spiritual path, there was a very musical and
touching mournfulness in her voice that made her an object of great
interest. The men, at least, seemed to think so; for they all became
most lively, grinned gloriously, their splendid white teeth contrasting
with their dark skins; my two friends became nearly frantic, the one in
mourning especially, when shaken by the agitation of her fat friend,
writhed her body in all directions. They both began shouting, "Glory!
Glory!" with a loud voice; and finally the younger one fell forward on
her face, in a sort of trance. After a time she got back upon her seat;
but I never witnessed such a state of excitement, except once, years
ago, when I saw a young woman in an epileptic fit. All this was
evidently in a sort of small camp-meeting style. August is the month for
these meetings when out of doors; but this was a minor one. The woman in
front grinned, and even laughed outright, having great hollows or
dimples in her cheeks. The young girl was really interesting, so
perfectly calm and so modest; never looking to the right or left. She
said she felt ashamed to appear before them all, but that she should not
be ashamed to appear before God: and whenever interrupted, she resumed
the thread of her narrative with the utmost composure. She ended after a
time, but remained standing before the preacher, who was seated, and
who proceeded to examine her as to whether she thought she was _really_
converted to God. Her answers were faint, as if from fatigue and
exhaustion, her narrative having been a very long one; but still there
was a quiet, unfaltering decision in her replies, which were given with
much humility of manner. I could not help sometimes doubting whether the
whole thing was really unprepared and extemporaneous, or whether she
might not have learnt her lesson and repeated it by rote, or whether, in
short, it might not have been a piece of acting. This impression lasted
only for a moment, for there was such an artless and modest manner in
the young girl, that I could not fail on the whole to give her the
fullest credit for sincerity, and was angry only with her black male
friends for requiring from her such a display of herself and her
feelings in a public congregation; which made me feel much for the young
girl throughout. After various warnings that she would meet with
difficulties, that she was joining a "plain set of old Baptist saints,"
&c., she said she wished and desired to do so. The preacher then asked,
almost in the words of the Liturgy, "Wilt thou be baptized?" and she
answered, "I will." Whereupon he asked the congregation to show by their
hands if they approved of her being baptized; and there being a
sufficient show of hands, she was told she was duly elected as a
candidate for baptism; when another hymn being struck up in the same
vociferous style as before, we rose and left the assembly, not liking to
be longer absent from papa. We came out upon the lovely, calm, moonlight
night, so sweet, so exquisitely heavenly; and I felt how differently
nature looked without, to those distressing sights of bodily agitation
and contortion we had witnessed within. I thought of the poor young
negro girl's quiet testimony, and gentle voice and manner, and wondered
if _she_, too, would learn in time to become uproarious, and shout,
"Glory! Glory!" The probability is, that she will become like her
neighbours; for I can tell you later other stories about the necessity
these poor nigger women seem to be under to shout "Glory!" I was glad to
have seen this specimen of the camp-meeting style.
Although I have felt it scarcely possible to describe the scene without
a certain mixture of the ludicrous, no feeling of irreverence crossed my
mind at the time. On the contrary, my sympathies were greatly drawn out
towards these our poor fellow-creatures; and there was something most
instructive in the sight of them there assembled to enjoy those highest
blessings--blessings of which no man could rob them. Religion seemed to
be to them not a mere sentiment or feeling, but a real tangible
possession; and one could read, in their appreciation of it, a lesson to
one's own heart of its power to lift man above all earthly sorrow,
privation, and degradation into an upper world, as it were, even here
below, of "joy and peace in believing."
To-day, after posting our letters for England, papa went to General
Cass, Secretary of State for the United States, and delivered his letter
of introduction from Mr. Dallas, the American Minister in London. He had
a long and interesting interview with him.
We went afterwards to the Capitol, and all over it, under the guidance
of our coachman, a very intelligent and civil Irishman. We were quite
taken by surprise at what we saw; for not only is the building itself,
which is of white marble, a very fine one, but the internal fittings, or
"fixings," as they perpetually call them here, show a degree of taste
for which before leaving England we had not given the Americans credit.
Two wings are now being added to the original building, and are nearly
completed; and a new and higher dome than the original one is being
built over the centre. The wings are destined to be occupied, one by the
Senate, and the other by the House of Representatives: in fact, the
House of Representatives already make use of their wing; but the Senate
will still hold another session in the old Senate House, as the Senators
have not yet quite decided upon their "fixings." The new chamber is,
however, sufficiently advanced to enable us to form a judgment of what
it will be; and although, perhaps, inferior in beauty to that of the
House of Representatives, it is in very good taste: but the room where
the Representatives meet is really most beautiful. The seats are ranged
in semi-circles, with desks before each, in much the same manner as in
Paris; which gives a more dignified appearance than the arrangement of
the seats in our House of Commons. The floors throughout a great part of
the building are in very good tesselated work, made by Minton, in
England; as the tiles made in this country do not preserve their colour
like the English ones. The ceilings of some of the passages are
beautifully decorated; and one of the committee rooms, appropriated to
agricultural matters, is remarkably well painted in fresco; all the
subjects have allusion to agricultural pursuits. In the centre of the
building, round the circular part, under the dome, are some very
indifferent pictures, representing subjects connected with the history
of America, beginning with the landing of Columbus. Two out of the eight
represented incidents in the war of independence; one being the
surrender of Lord Cornwallis, who seemed very sorry for himself. The
view from the Capitol is fine; the gardens round it are kept in good
order, and there being a great deal of maple in the woods, the redness
of the leaf gave a brilliant effect to the scene.
From the Capitol we went to the Patent Office, in which are contained an
endless variety of models. It is immediately opposite the Post Office,
and both are splendid buildings of white marble. The Post Office is
still unfinished, but it will be of great size. The Patent-Office is an
enormous square building. The four sides, which are uniform, have large
flights of stairs on the outside, leading to porticos of Corinthian
pillars. We entered the building, and went into a large apartment, where
we were lost in contemplation of the numerous models, which we admired
exceedingly, though the shortness of the time we had to devote to them
prevented our examining them as minutely as they seemed to deserve.
Papa, indeed, was disposed to be off when we had gone through this room,
as we had still much to do, and he professed his belief that we must
have seen the whole. I, having my wits more about me, could not conceive
how this could well be the case, seeing we had only looked at one out of
four sides. There is no one in these places to show them to strangers,
so we asked a respectable-looking person if there were any more rooms,
when he replied, "Oh, yes! you have only been looking at the _rejected_
models." Whereupon we entered on the second side of the square; but, to
confess the truth, the rejected and accepted ones seemed to us much of a
piece, and we were not sorry, on arriving at the third side, to find it
shut up and apparently empty, so we beat a retreat. We were told at
Baltimore that the collection was a very fine one, and doubtless it may
be very interesting to a person competent to judge of the details; but
the models, besides being shut up in glass-cases, and consequently very
inaccessible, were generally on too small a scale to be comprehended by
ordinary observers, and in this respect, the collection was of much less
interest to us than the exhibition we had lately seen in the unfortunate
Crystal Palace at New York, where the models exhibited were of the full
size of the machines meant to be used, and consequently almost
intelligible to an unprofessional person. Besides what may be strictly
considered models, there were in the rooms some objects more suited to
an ordinary museum. Such were various autographs, and many relics of
Washington; and a case containing locks of the hair of all the
presidents, from the time of Washington downwards.
When mentioning our visit to General Cass, I omitted to state the
magnificence of the Treasury, which adjoins his official residence; an
enormous structure, also of white marble. We counted thirty pillars in
front, of the Ionic order, besides three more recently added on a wing,
these three pillars of great height being cut out of single blocks of
marble. We passed this building again in going from the Patent-Office to
Lord Napier's, where we had an appointment with Mr. Erskine.