PARADISE
It was astonishing how quickly that winter of 1916 and '17 passed for
those sojourners in Valhalla in spite of the fact that they were at
times thoroughly uncomfortable. It is not an easy matter for persons,
brought up in a modern, steam-heated house with three bath rooms, every
form of convenience and plenty of trained servants, to adapt themselves
to the simplicity of country life and that in its most primitive state.
Hard as the life was it agreed with them, one and all. Douglas and Bobby
walked to school, rain or shine, but their road lay in the uplands where
the mud rarely got more than ankle deep. Nan and Lucy had to contend
with much more serious conditions, but thanks to their flamingo legs
they got by.
The weather wasn't always bad by any means. There were wonderful clear
sparkling days with the ground frozen hard, and then came the snow that
meant sleigh rides with the Suttons and grand coasting parties.
Mr. Carter was growing very robust from his labors of stopping up cracks
and cutting fire wood. He gradually mended the leaks in the roof;
puttied in the window panes; replaced the broken hinges and fastenings
to doors and shutters; propped up sagging porch floors; and patched the
cracked and fallen plastering.
The Misses Grant viewed his efforts with mingled satisfaction and
embarrassment.
"We have intended to do all this for you, Mr. Carter, but Ella was so
stubborn about the carpenter. She never would agree to having that new
man at Preston, who is really quite capable," Miss Louise would explain.
"Certainly not! We knew nothing about him and have always employed Dave
Trigg----"
"But you know perfectly well that Dave Trigg is doubled up with
rheumatism," snapped Miss Louise.
"Yes, and you know perfectly well, too, that that man at Preston has
moved away," retaliated her tall sister, and so on would they wrangle.
"I enjoy doing it," Mr. Carter would assure them. "My only fear is that
I will get the place in such good order that you will raise our rent."
Which sally would delight the souls of the ladies who were in danger of
agreeing about one more thing, and that was the altogether desirability
of the Carters and the especial desirability of Mr. Carter.
Accepting Mrs. Carter at the extremely high valuation of her patient
family, they were ever kind and considerate of her. Many were the dainty
little dishes they sent to Valhalla from the great house to tempt the
palate of their semi-invalid tenant, vying with each other in their
attentions.
"An' she jes' sets back an' takes it," Chloe would mutter. "Mis' Carter
done set back so much that settin' back come nachel ter her now.
"'My name is Jimmie
An' I take all yer gimme.'
"That's my ol' Mis'."
Chloe and Helen had continued the lessons in reading and writing. The
whitewashed kitchen walls bore evidence to much hard work on part of
both teacher and pupil. Chloe had learned to cook many simple dishes and
to write and spell all she cooked. By slow stages, so slow they were
almost imperceptible, the girl was becoming an efficient servant. Her
wages were raised to eight dollars a month in spite of the remonstrances
of her sister Tempy, who thought she must serve as long as she had
before she could make as much.
"Sis Tempy been a-goin' over ter night school at the count's ev'y time
she gits a chanst but she ain't ter say larned nothin'."
Helen and Chloe were engaged in the delectable task of making mince pies
for Christmas. Chloe had just electrified Helen by writing on the wall
of her own accord: "Reseat fer miCe Pize."
"What does she learn?" asked Helen, smiling as she deftly rolled the
pastry.
"She say they done started a kinder 'batin' siety an' ain't ter say
foolin' much with readin' an' writin' an' sich. The secondary ain't so
patient as what you is, an' he uster git kinder worked up whin the
niggers wint ter sleep in school."
"I fancy that would be trying."
"They's drillin' 'em now an' they likes that 'cause the secondary done
promised them from the count that some day he'll gib 'em uniforms.
Niggers is allus keen on begalia."
"Does Tempy drill, too?"
"Lawsamussy, no! Women folks jes' sets an' watches. Tempy say she
done march aroun' enough fer Miss Ellanlouise, an' as fer flingin'
broomsticks--she does enough of that 'thout no German gemmun a-showin'
her nothin' 'bout how ter do it."
"Do they drill with broomsticks?"
"Yassum, that's what they tell me, but they do say----"
"Say what?" asked Helen as the colored girl hesitated.
"They don't say nothin'!"
"You started to tell me something they say about broomsticks."
"I ain't started ter tell a thing!" and Chloe shut her mouth very tight
and rolled her eyes back in a way she had that made you think she was
going to turn herself inside out.
"What do they debate about?" asked Helen amused at Chloe's sudden
reserve.
"They 'spute 'bout the pros an' cons of racin'."
"Horse racing?"
"I ain't so sho', but from what Sis Tempy done tol' me it mought be an'
agin it moughtn't."
"Does Tempy debate?"
"Sis Tempy! Yi! Yi!" and Chloe went off in peals of laughter. "Sis Tempy
can't argyfy with nothin' but a rollin' pin. She done put up a right
good argymint only las' Sunday with her beau, that big slue-footed
nigger, Jeemes Hanks."
"What was the argument about?"
"Jeemes he done say he's jes' as good as any white folks an' some
better'n a heap er them. He say his vote don't count none an' he ain't
able ter buy no good lan' jes' 'cause de white folks won't sell him none
up clost ter they homes,--an' Sis Tempy ups an' tells him that his vote
ain't no count 'cause he ain't no count hisse'f. She tells him that
buzzards lays buzzard eggs an' buzzard eggs hatches out mo' buzzards;
an' that made him hoppin' mad 'cause that nigger Jeemes sho' do set
great sto' by hisse'f."
"Does James feel that white people ought to sell him land whether they
want to or not?"
"'Zactly! He been wantin' ter buy a strip from Miss Ellanlouise up
yander by the clarin', not so fur from the great house. They's glad
enough ter sell some er that rocky lan' off over by the gravel pit, but
they don't want no niggers fer clost neighbors."
"And what did Tempy say?"
"She never said nothin'. She jes' up'n driv him out'n the cabin with the
rollin' pin. She tells him while she's a-lickin' him, though, that he's
a-larnin' his a-b-c's upside down at the count's school an' fer her part
she ain't a-goin' back."
"Do you think the count is responsible for James's nonsense?" asked
Helen. "I can't see how he got such notions from a gentleman like the
count."
"I ain't a-sayin'! I ain't a-sayin'!" and once more Chloe's mouth went
shut with a determined click and she rolled her great eyes.
Helen thought no more about it. Darkies were funny creatures, anyhow. Of
course it was hard on James Hanks if he wanted to buy good ground and no
one would sell it to him, but on the other hand one could hardly expect
the Misses Grant to sell off their ancestral acres just to accommodate
the slue-footed beau of their cook.
Miss Ella and Louise were entirely unreconstructed as far as the colored
people were concerned. They were kind to them when they were ill and
helped them in many ways, but they never for an instant lost sight of
the fact that they were of an inferior race nor did they let the darkies
lose sight of the fact. They were not very popular with their negro
neighbors although they were mutually dependent. Grantly had to depend
on colored labor and many families among them got their entire living
from Grantly.
The medicine chest at the great house furnished castor oil and paregoric
for all the sick pickaninnies for miles around; Miss Louise had to make
up great jars of her wintergreen ointment so that the aching joints of
many an old aunty or uncle might find some ease; while Miss Ella's
willow bark and wild cherry tonic warded off chills and fevers from the
mosquito infested districts down in the settlement in the swamps.
The older members of the community of negroes appreciated the real
goodness and kindness of the two old ladies and overlooked their
overbearing ways, but the younger generation, who cared not for the
ointment or tonic, could see nothing but arrogance in the really
harmless old spinsters.
Most of the former slaves, who had at one time belonged to Grantly, had
passed away. The few who remained were old and feeble and these had
many arguments with the younger ones, trying to make them see the real
kindness and goodness of Miss Ellanlouise.
"You done got fat on castor ile out'n the chist at Grantly whin you was
a sickly baby," old Uncle Abe Hanks would say to his refractory grandson
Jeemes. "An' you an' yo' paw befo' you was pulled from the grabe by
parrygoric from dat same chist, an' now you set up here an' say: 'Down
with southe'n 'ristocrats!' Humph! You'd better be a-sayin': 'Down with
the castor ile an' parrygoric!' 'Down with the good strong soup an' fat
back Miss Ellanlouise done sent yo' ol' gran'pap las' winter whin there
warn't hide or har er his own flesh an' blood come nigh him!' Yes! They
went down all right--down the red lane. You free niggers is got the
notion you kin live 'thout the 'ristocrats. Why don't you go an' live
'thout 'em then? Nobody ain't a-holdin' you. As fer me--gib me
'ristocrats ev'y time!"
"The Count de Lestis is as 'ristocratical as those ol' tabbies," the
grandson would reply sullenly, "and he doesn't treat a colored gemman
like he was a houn' dog."
"'Ristocratical much! That furrener? You ain't got good sinse, boy. That
there pretty little count didn't even come from Virginny an' all the
'ristocrats done come from Virginny one time er anudder. I done hear Ol'
Marster say dat time an' time agin."
"The count say he gonter sell us all the lan' we want. An' he say he
gonter fetch over some nice, kind white folks ter live neighbors to us;
white folks what is jes' as good as these white folks 'roun' here but
who ain't a-gonter hol' theyselves so proudified like."
"Yes! I kin see him now tu'nnin' loose a lot er po' white Guinnies what
will take the bread out'n the mouth er the nigger. Them po' white
furreners kin live on buzzard meat, an' dey don' min' wuckin' day in an'
day out, an' if'n dey gits a holt in the lan' the nigger'll hab ter go.
As fer a-livin' long side er niggers,--I tell you now, son, that the
white folks what don't min' a-livin' long side er niggers is wuss'n
niggers, an' I can't say no mo' scurrilous thing about them than
that--wuss'n niggers!"
A strong discontent was certainly brewing among the younger generation
of negroes. Conversations similar to the one between Uncle Abe Hanks
and James were not uncommon in the settlement that lay midway between
Grantly and Weston. This settlement was known by the exceedingly
appropriate name of Paradise. There were about a dozen cabins there,
some of them quite comfortable and neat, others very poor and forlorn.
There was a church, the pride of their simple hearts because it was
built of brick; also a ramshackled old building known as "The Club."
This club had originally been a tobacco barn, built, of course, without
windows, for the curing of tobacco. In converting it into a club house,
windows had been cut in the sides but with no fixed plan. Wherever a
member decided it would be nice to have a window, a window was cut. No
two were the same size or on the same level. Most of them were more or
less on the slant, giving the building the appearance of having survived
an earthquake.
In this club house the secret societies met to hold their mysterious
rites. Here they had their festivals and bazaars and sometimes, when the
effects of protracted meetings had worn off and the ungodly were again
to the fore, they would have dances that threatened to bring down the
walls and roof of the rickety building. It was whispered through the
county that a blind tiger was also operated there but this was not
proven. Certainly there was much drunkenness at times in Paradise,
considering the state was dry.
Count de Lestis was very popular in Paradise. He always had a kind word
for old and young. Then, too, he had work for them and paid them well.
His fame spread and actually there was a boom in Paradise. Other negroes
in settlements near by were anxious to move to Paradise. Town lots were
in demand and the club had a waiting list for membership. The church was
full to overflowing when on Sunday Brother Si took his stand in the
little pulpit.
Night school at Weston was something new and something to do, so the
darkies flocked to it. Herz, the secretary, had his hands full trying to
teach the mob that congregated three times a week to sit at the feet of
learning. He did get angry occasionally when his pupils, tired out no
doubt after a hard day's work, would fall asleep with audible
attestations.