The antiquity of the furniture in our homes can scarcely be
described--every article appearing to have been purchased during the
reign of George III., since which period no new fixtures or household
utensils seemed to have been bought.
The books in our libraries had been brought from England almost two
hundred years before. In our own library there were Hogarth's pictures,
in old worm-eaten frames; and among the literary curiosities, one
of the earliest editions of Shakespeare--1685--containing under the
author's picture the lines by Ben Johnson:
"This Figure which thou here seest put
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut--
Wherein the Graver had a strife,
With Nature to outdo the Life.
O, could he but have drawn his Wit
As well in Brass, as he has hit
His Face; the Paint would then surpass
All that was ever writ in Brass.
But since he can not, Reader, look
Not on his Picture, but his Book."
This was a reprint of the first edition of Shakespeare's works
collected by John Heminge and Henry Condell, two of his friends in the
company of comedians.
The perusal of the Arabian Nights, when a small child, possessed
me with the idea that their dazzling pictures were to be realized
when we emerged from plantation life into the outside world, and the
disappointment at not finding Richmond paved with gems and gold like
those cities in Eastern story, is remembered to the present time.
Brought up amid antiquities, the Virginia girl disturbed herself not
about modern fashions, appearing happy in her mother's old silks
and satins made over; her grandmother's laces and brooch of untold
dimensions, with a weeping willow and tombstone on it--a constant
reminder of the past--which had descended from some remote ancestor.
She slept in a high bedstead--the bed of her ancestors; washed her
face on an old fashioned, spindle-legged washstand; mounted a high
chair to arrange her hair before the old fashioned mirror on the high
bureau; climbed to the top of a high mantle-piece to take down the old
fashioned high candlesticks; climbed a pair of steps to get into the
high-swung, old fashioned carriage; perched her feet upon the top of a
high brass fender if she wanted to get them warm; and, in short, had to
perform so many gymnastics that she felt convinced her ancestors must
have been a race of giants, or they could not have required such tall
and inaccessible furniture.
An occasional visit to Richmond or Petersburg, sometimes animated
her with a desire for some style of dress less antique than her own;
although she had as much admiration and attention as if she had just
received her wardrobe from Paris.
Her social outlook might have been considered limited and
circumscribed--her parents being unwilling that her acquaintance should
extend beyond the descendants of their own old friends.
She had never any occasion to make what the world calls a "debut;"
the constant flow of company at her father's house having rendered
her assistance necessary in entertaining guests, as soon as she could
converse and be companionable. So that her manners were early formed,
and she remembered not the time when it was anything but very easy and
agreeable, to be in the society of ladies and gentlemen.
* * * * *
In due time we were provided--my sister and myself--with the best
instructors--a lady all the way from Bordeaux to teach French, and a
German Professor for German and music. The latter opened to us a new
world of music. He was a fine linguist, thorough musician and perfect
gentleman. He lived with us five years, and remained our sincere and
truly valued friend through life.
After some years we were thought to have arrived at "sufficient age of
discretion" for a trip to New York city.
Fancy our feelings on arriving in that world of modern people and
modern things! Fancy two young girls suddenly transported from the time
of George III. to the largest hotel on Broadway in 1855!
All was as strange to us then as we are now to the Chinese. Never had
we seen white servants before; and on being attended by them at first
felt a sort of embarrassment, but soon found they were accustomed to
less consideration and more hard work than were our negro servants at
home.
Everything and everybody seemed in a mad whirl--the "march of material
progress," they told us. It seemed to us more the "perpetual motion
of progress." Everybody said that if "old fogy" Virginia did not make
haste to join this "march," she would be left a "wreck behind."
We found ourselves in the "advanced age;" the land of water-pipes and
dumb-waiters; the land of enterprise and money, and at the same time an
economy amounting to parsimony.
The manners of the people were strange to us, and different from ours.
The ladies seemed to have gone ahead of the men in the "march of
progress"--their manner being more pronounced. They did not hesitate to
"push about" through crowds and public places.
Still, we were young; and dazzled with the gloss and glitter, we
wondered why old Virginia couldn't join this "march of progress," and
have dumb-waiters, and elevators, and water-pipes, and gas fixtures,
and baby jumpers, and washing machines.
We asked a gentleman who was with us, why old Virginia had not all
these, and he replied: "Because, while the people here have been busy
working for themselves, old fogy Virginia has been working for negroes.
All the money Virginia makes is spent in feeding and clothing negroes.
And," he continued, "these people in the North were shrewd enough years
ago to sell all their's to the South."
All was strange to us; even the table-cloths on the tea and breakfast
tables instead of napkins under the plates as we had at home, and which
always looked so pretty on the mahogany.
But the novelty having worn off after awhile, we found out there was
a good deal of "imitation," after all, mixed up in everything. Things
did not seem to have been "fixed up" to last as long as our old things
at home, and we began to wonder if the "advanced age" really made the
people any better, or more agreeable, or more hospitable, or more
generous, or more brave, or more self-reliant, or more charitable, or
more true, or more pious, than in "old fogy Virginia?"
There was one thing most curious to us in New York. No one seemed to
do anything by himself or herself. No one had an individuality; all
existed in "clubs" or "societies." They had also many "isms" of which
we had never heard; some of the people sitting up all night, and going
around all day talking about "manifestations," and "spirits," and
"affinities," which they told us was "spiritualism."
All this impressed us slow, old fashioned Virginians, as a strangely
up-side-down, wrong-side-out condition of things.
Much of the conversation we heard was confined to asking questions of
strangers, and discussing the best means of making money.
We were surprised too to hear of "plantation customs" said to exist
among us which were entirely new to us; and one of the Magazines
published in the city informed us that "dipping" was one of the
"characteristics" of Southern women. What could the word "dipping"
mean? we wondered, for we had never heard it before. Upon inquiry we
found that it meant "rubbing the teeth with snuff on a small stick"--a
truly disgusting habit which could not have prevailed in Virginia,
or we would have had some tradition of it at least--our acquaintance
extending over the State, and our ancestors having settled there two
hundred years ago.
A young gentleman from Virginia--bright and overflowing with fun, also
visiting New York--coming into the parlor one day threw himself on a
sofa in a violent fit of laughter.
"What is the matter?" we asked.
"I am laughing," he replied, "at the absurd questions these people
can ask. What do you think? A man asked me just now if we didn't keep
blood-hounds in Virginia to chase negroes! I told him, O, yes, every
plantation keeps several dozen! And we often have a tender boiled negro
infant for breakfast!"
"Oh, how could you have told such a story?" we said.
"Well," said he, "you know we never saw a blood-hound in Virginia, and
I do not expect there is one in the State; but these people delight
in believing everything horrible about us, and I thought I might as
well gratify them with something marvelous. So the next book published
up here will have, I've no doubt, a chapter headed: 'Blood-hounds in
Virginia and boiled negroes for breakfast!'"
While we were purchasing some trifles to bring home to some of our
servants, a lady, who had entertained us most kindly at her house on
Fifth Avenue, expressing surprise, said: "_We_ never think of bringing
home presents to our 'helps.'"
This was the first time we had ever heard, instead of "servant," the
word "help," which seemed then--and still seems--misapplied. The
dictionaries define "help" to mean aid; assistance; remedy, while
"servant" means one who attends another, and acts at his command. When
a man pays another to "help" him, it implies he is to do part of the
work himself, and is dishonest if he leaves the whole to be performed
by his "help."
The word servant is an honest Bible word, and distinctly defines a
position. Noah did not say: "Cursed be Cain, a 'help' of 'helps' shall
he be to his brethren." Nor did Abraham call his eldest "servant,"
although ruling over all he had, his "help." Neither does the
Commandment say thy "man-help" or thy "maid-help."
The word "servant" seems, after the lapse of centuries, still applied
with the same meaning by St. Paul, who does not say, "Master, give
unto your 'helps' that which is equal;" or, "Let as many 'helps' as are
under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor."
The words "master and servant" thus lose their true significance.
Among other discoveries during this visit we found how much more talent
it requires to entertain company in the country than the city. In the
latter the guests and family form no "social circle round the blazing
hearth" at night, but disperse far and wide, to be entertained at the
concert, the opera, the theater or club; while in the country one
depends entirely upon native intellect and conversational talent.
And oh! the memory of our own fireside circles! The exquisite women;
the men of giant intellect, eloquence and wit at sundry times assembled
there! Could our andirons but utter speech what could they not tell
of mirth and song, eloquence and wit, whose flow made many an evening
bright.
Well, as all delights must have an end, the time came for us to leave
these "scenes enchanting." Bidding adieu forever to the land of "modern
appliances" and stale bread, we returned to the land flowing with "old
ham and corn cakes," and were soon surrounded by friends who came to
hear the marvels we had to relate.
How monotonous, how dull, prosy, inconvenient everything seemed after
our plunge into modern life!
We told old Virginia about all the enterprise we had seen; and how she
was left far behind everybody and everything, urging her to join at
once the "march of material progress."
But the mother of States persisted in sitting contentedly over her old
fashioned wood fire with brass andirons, and while thus musing these
words fell slowly and distinctly from her lips:
"They call me 'old fogy,' and tell me I must get out of my old ruts and
come into the 'advanced age.' But I don't care about their 'advanced
age;' their water-pipes and elevators. Give me the right sort of men
and women! God loving; God serving men and women. Men brave, courteous,
true. Women sensible, gentle and retiring.
"Have not my 'plantation homes' furnished warriors, statesmen and
orators, acknowledged great by the world? I make it a rule to 'keep on
hand' men equal to emergencies. Had I not Washington, Patrick Henry,
Light-horse Harry Lee, and others, ready for the first Revolution; and
if there comes another--which God forbid!--have I not plenty more just
like them?"
Here she laughed with delight, as she called over their names: "Robert
Lee, Jackson, Joe Johnstone, Stuart, Early, Floyd, Preston, the
Breckinridges, Scott, and others like them, brave and true as steel.
Ha! ha! I know of what stuff to make men! And if my old 'ruts and
grooves' produce men like these, should they be abandoned? Can any
'advanced age' produce better?
"Then there are my soldiers of the cross. Do I not yearly send out a
faithful band to be a 'shining light,' and spread the gospel North,
South, East, West, even into foreign lands? Is not the only Christian
paper in Athens, Greece, the result of the love and labor of one of
my[1] soldiers?
"And can I not send out men of science, as well as warriors, statesmen
and orators? There is Maury on the seas showing the world what a man
of science can do. If my 'old fogy' system has produced men like these
must it be abandoned?"
Here the old mother of States settled herself back in her chair, a
smile of satisfaction resting on her face, and she ceased to think of
_change_.
Telling our mother of all the wonders and pleasures of New York, she
said:
"You were so delighted, I expect you would like to sell out everything
here and move there!"
"It would be delightful!" we exclaimed.
"But you would miss many pleasures you have in our present home."
"We would have no time to miss anything," said my sister, "in that
whirl of excitement!"
"But," she continued. "I believe one might as well try to move the
Rocky Mountains to Fifth Avenue, as an old Virginian! They have such a
horror of selling out and moving."
"It is not so easy to sell out and move," replied our mother, "when you
remember all the negroes we have to take care of and support."
"Yes, the negroes," we said, "are the weight continually pulling us
down! Will the time _ever_ come for us to be free of them?"
"They were placed here," replied our mother, "by God, for us to
take care of, and it does not seem that we can change it. When we
emancipate them, it does not better their condition. Those left free
and with good farms given them by their masters, soon sink into
poverty and wretchedness, and become a nuisance to the community.
We see how miserable are Mr. Randolph's[2] negroes, who with their
freedom received from their master a large body of the best land in
Prince Edward county. My own grandfather also emancipated a large
number, having first had them taught lucrative trades that they might
support themselves, and giving them money and land. But they were not
prosperous or happy. We have also tried sending them to Liberia. You
know my old friend, Mrs. L----, emancipated all her's and sent them
to Liberia, but she told me the other day she was convinced it had
been no kindness to them, for she continually receives letters begging
assistance, and yearly supplies them with clothes and money."
So it seemed our way was "hedged about" and surrounded by walls of
circumstances too thick and solid to be pulled down, and we said no
more.
But some weeks after this conversation, we had a visit from a
friend--"Mozis Addums"--who having lived in New York and hearing us
express a wish to live there, said:
"What! exchange a home in old Virginia for one on Fifth Avenue? You
don't know what you are talking about! They are not even called 'homes'
there, but '_house_;' where they turn into bed at midnight; eat
stale-bread breakfasts; have brilliant parties--where several thousand
people meet who don't care anything about each other. They have no soul
life; but shut themselves up in themselves, live for themselves, and
never have any social enjoyment like ours."
"But," we said, "could not our friends come to see us there as well as
anywhere else?"
"No indeed!" he answered. "Your hearts would soon be as cold and dead
as your marble door-fronts. You wouldn't want to see anybody, and
nobody would want to see you."
"You are complimentary, certainly!"
"I know all about it; and," he continued, "I know you could not find on
Fifth Avenue such women as your mother and grandmother, who never think
of themselves, but are constantly planning and providing for others,
making their homes comfortable and pleasant, and attending to the wants
and welfare of so many negroes. And that is what the women all over the
South are doing and what the New York women cannot comprehend. How can
anybody know, except ourselves, the personal sacrifices of our women?"
"Well," said my sister, "you need not be so severe and eloquent because
we thought we would like to live in New York! If we should sell all we
possess, we could never afford to live there. Besides, you know our
mother would as soon think of selling her children as her servants--who
indeed are beginning to possess _her_, instead of her possessing them."
"But," he replied, "I can't help talking, for I hear our people abused,
and called indolent and self-indulgent, when I know they have valor and
endurance enough. And I believe so much 'material progress' leaves no
leisure for the highest development of heart and mind. Where the whole
energy of a people is applied to making money, the souls of men become
dwarfed."
"We do not feel," we said, "like abusing Northern people, in whose
thrift and enterprise we found much to admire; and especially the
self-reliance of their women, enabling them to take care of themselves
and travel from Maine to the Gulf without an escort, while we find it
impossible to travel a day's journey without a special protector."
"That is just what I don't like," said he, "to see a woman in a crowd
of strangers needing no 'special protector.'"
"This dependence upon your sex," we replied, "keeps you so vain."
"We would lose our gallantry altogether," said he, "if we found you
could get along without us."