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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Plantation Reminiscences, by Letitia M.
+Burwell
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Plantation Reminiscences
+
+
+Author: Letitia M. Burwell
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 8, 2014  [eBook #44626]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLANTATION REMINISCENCES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Paul Clark and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/plantationremini00burw
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      The author's name on the cover and in the copyright notice
+      seems to be a pseudonym. According to the catalog of the
+      Library of Congress, the author was Letitia M. Burwell.
+
+
+
+
+
+PLANTATION REMINISCENCES
+
+by
+
+PAGE THACKER.
+
+1878.
+
+
+
+
+Copyrighted in 1878 by Page Thacker.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION.
+
+
+Dedicated to my nieces, who will find in English and American
+publications such epithets applied to their ancestors as: "Cruel
+slave-owners;" "inhuman;" "Southern task masters;" "hard-hearted;"
+"dealers in human souls," &c. From these they will naturally recoil
+with horror. My own life would have been embittered had I believed
+myself descended from such; and that those who come after us may know
+the truth I wish to leave a record of plantation life as it was. The
+truth may thus be preserved among a few, and the praise they deserve
+awarded noble men and virtuous women who have passed away.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+For several years I have felt a desire to write these reminiscences,
+but did not conclude to do so until receiving, a few months ago,
+a letter from Mr. Martin F. Tupper--the English poet--in which he
+wrote: "Let me encourage you in the idea of writing 'Plantation
+Reminiscences.' It will be a good work; and it is time the world was
+learning the truth. I myself have learned it and shall not be slow in
+telling it to others."
+
+
+
+
+PLANTATION REMINISCENCES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+That my birth place should have been a Virginia plantation; my lot in
+life cast on a Virginia plantation; my ancestors, for nine generations,
+owners of Virginia plantations, remain facts mysterious and inexplicable
+but to Him who determined the bounds of our habitations, and said: "Be
+still, and know that I am God."
+
+Confined exclusively to a Virginia plantation, during my earliest
+childhood, I believed the world one vast plantation bounded by negro
+quarters. Rows of white cabins with gardens attached; negro men in the
+fields; negro women sewing, knitting, spinning, weaving, house-keeping
+in the cabins, with negro children dancing, romping, singing, jumping,
+playing around the doors, formed the only pictures familiar to my
+childhood.
+
+The master's residence--as the negroes called it, the "great
+house"--occupied a central position, and was handsome and attractive;
+the overseer's being a plainer house, about a mile from this.
+
+Each cabin had as much pine furniture as the occupants desired; pine
+and oak being abundant, and carpenters always at work for the comfort
+of the plantation.
+
+Bread, meat, milk, vegetables, fruit and fuel were as plentiful as
+water in the springs near the cabin doors.
+
+Among the negroes--one hundred--on our plantation, many had been taught
+different trades; and there were blacksmiths, carpenters, brick masons,
+millers, shoemakers, weavers, spinners, all working for themselves.
+No article of their handicraft ever being sold from the place, their
+industry resulted in nothing beyond feeding and clothing themselves.
+
+My sister and myself, when very small children, were often carried to
+visit these cabins, on which occasions no young princesses could have
+received from admiring subjects more adulation. Presents were laid at
+our feet--not glittering gems--but eggs, chesnuts, popcorn, walnuts,
+melons, apples, sweet potatoes, all their "cupboards" afforded, with a
+generosity unbounded. This made us as happy as queens; and filled our
+hearts with kindness and gratitude to our dusky admirers.
+
+Around the cabin doors the young negroes would quarrel as to who should
+be his or her mistress; some claiming me, and others my sister.
+
+All were merry-hearted, and among them I never saw a discontented face.
+Their amusements were dancing to the music of the banjo, quilting
+parties, opossum hunting, and, sometimes, weddings and parties.
+
+Many could read, and in almost every cabin was a Bible. In one was
+a Prayer-book, kept by one of the men--a preacher--from which he
+read the marriage ceremony at the weddings. This man opened a night
+school--charging twenty-five cents a week--hoping to inspire some
+literary thirst among the rising generation, who, however, preferred
+their nightly frolics to the school, so it had few patrons.
+
+Our house servants were numerous, polite and well trained. My mother
+selected those most obliging in disposition and quick at learning, who
+were brought to the house at ten or twelve years of age, and instructed
+in the branches of household employment.
+
+These small servants were always dressed in the cleanest, whitest
+long-sleeved aprons, with white or red turbans on their heads. No
+establishment being considered complete without a multiplicity of
+these; they might be seen constantly darting about on errands from the
+house to the kitchen and the cabins; up stairs and down stairs, being
+indeed omnipresent and indispensable.
+
+It was the custom for a lady visitor to be accompanied to her room at
+night by one of these black, smiling "indispensables," who insisted so
+good naturedly on performing all offices, combing her hair, pulling off
+her slippers, &c., that one had not the heart to refuse, although it
+would have been sometimes more agreeable to have been left alone.
+
+The negroes were generally pleased at the appearance of visitors,
+from whom they were accustomed to receive some present on arriving or
+departing, the neglect of which was considered a breach of politeness.
+
+The old negroes were quite patriarchal; loved to talk about "old
+times," and exacted great respect from the young negroes, and also from
+the younger members of the white family. We called the old men "Uncle,"
+and the old women "Aunt," cognomens of respect.
+
+The atmosphere of our own home was consideration and kindness. The mere
+recital of a tale of suffering would make my sister and myself weep
+with sorrow. And I believe the maltreatment of one of our servants--we
+had never heard the word "slave"--would have distressed us beyond
+endurance. We early learned that happiness consisted in dispensing
+it, and found no pleasure greater than saving our old dolls, toys,
+beads, bits of cake, or candy for the cabin children, whose delight at
+receiving them richly repaid us. If any of the older servants became
+displeased with us, we were miserable until we had restored the old
+smile by presenting some choice bit of sweet meat, cake or candy.
+
+I remember once, when my grand-mother scolded nurse Kitty, saying:
+"Kitty, the butler tells me you disturb the breakfast cream every
+morning, dipping out milk to wash your face," I burst in tears, and
+thought it hard when there were so many cows poor Kitty could not
+wash her face in milk. Kitty had been told that her dark skin would
+be improved by a milk bath, which she had not hesitated to dip every
+morning from the breakfast buckets.
+
+At such establishments one easily acquired a habit of being waited
+upon--there being so many servants with so little to do. It was natural
+to ask for a drink of water, when the water was right by you, and have
+things brought which you might easily have gotten yourself. But these
+domestics were so pleased at such errands one felt no hesitation in
+requiring them. A young lady would ask black Nancy or Dolly to fan her,
+whereupon Nancy or Dolly would laugh good naturedly, produce a large
+palm leaf and fall to fanning her young mistress vigorously, after
+which she would be rewarded with a bow of ribbon, candy or sweet cakes.
+
+The negroes made pocket money by selling their own vegetables, poultry,
+eggs, &c.--made at the master's expense, of course. I often saw my
+mother take out her purse and pay them liberally for fowls, eggs,
+melons, sweet potatoes, brooms, shuck mats and split baskets. The men
+made small crops of tobacco or potatoes for themselves on any piece of
+ground they chose to select.
+
+My mother and grand-mother were almost always talking over the wants
+of the negroes,--what medicine should be sent--who they should
+visit--who needed new shoes, clothes or blankets,--the principle
+object of their lives seeming to be providing these comforts. The
+carriage was often ordered for them to ride around to the cabins to
+distribute light-bread, tea and other necessaries among the sick. And
+besides employing the best doctor, my grand-mother always saw that they
+received the best nursing and attention.
+
+In this little plantation world of ours was one being--and only
+one--who inspired awe in every heart, being a special terror to small
+children. This was the Queen of the Kitchen--Aunt Christian--who
+reigned supreme. She wore the whitest cotton cap, with the broadest of
+ruffles; was very black and very portly, and her sceptre was a good
+sized stick, kept to chastise small dogs and children who invaded her
+territory. Her character, however, having been long established she had
+not often occasion to use this weapon, as these enemies kept out of her
+way.
+
+Her pride was great, for, said she: "Haven't I been, long before this
+here little master whar is was born, bakin' the best light-bread and
+waffles and biscuit; and in my old master's time managed my own affars!"
+
+She was generally left to manage "her own affars," and being a pattern
+of neatness and industry her fame went abroad from Botetourt, even unto
+the remotest ends of Mecklenburg county.
+
+That this marvellous cooking was all the work of her own hands I am,
+in later years, inclined to doubt, as she kept several assistants, a
+boy to chop wood, beat biscuit, scour tables, lift off pots and ovens;
+one woman to make the pastry and another to compound cakes and jellies.
+But her fame was great; her pride lofty, and I would not now pluck one
+laurel from her wreath.
+
+This honest woman was appreciated by my mother, but we had no affinity
+for her, in consequence of certain traditions on the plantation about
+her severity to children. Having no children of her own, a favorite
+orphan house-girl, whenever my mother went from home, was left to her
+care. This girl--now an elderly woman, and still our faithful and loved
+servant,--says she remembers to this day her joy at my mother's return
+home, and her release from Aunt Christian. "I will never forget," to
+use her own words, "how I watched the road every day, hoping that
+mistress would come back, and when I saw the carriage I would run a
+mile, shouting and clapping my hands."
+
+Smiling faces always welcomed us home as the carriage passed through
+the plantation, and on reaching the house we were received by the
+negroes about the yard with liveliest demonstrations of pleasure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+It was a long time before it dawned upon my mind there were places
+and people different from these. The plantations we visited seemed
+exactly like ours. The same hospitality everywhere, the same kindliness
+existing between the white family and the blacks.
+
+Confined exclusively to plantation scenes, the most trifling incidents
+impressed themselves indelibly upon me.
+
+One day while my mother was in the yard attending to the planting of
+some shrubbery, we saw approaching an old, feeble negro man, leaning
+upon his stick. His clothes were nearly worn out, and he, haggard and
+thin.
+
+"Good day, Mistess," said he.
+
+"Who are you?" asked my mother.
+
+"My name is John," he replied, "and I belonged to your husband's uncle.
+He died a long time ago. Before he died he set me free and gave me
+a good piece of land near Petersburg, and some money and stock. But
+all--my money and land--all gone, and I was starving. So I come one
+hundred miles to beg you and master please let me live and die on your
+plantation. I don't want to be free no longer. Please don't let me be
+free."
+
+I wondered what was meant by being "free," and supposed from his
+appearance it must be some very dreadful and unfortunate condition of
+humanity. My mother heard him very kindly, and directed him to the
+kitchen where "Aunt Christian" would give him a plenty to eat.
+
+Although there were already a number of old negroes to be supported,
+who no longer considered themselves young enough to work, this old man
+was added to the number, and a cabin built for him. To the day of his
+death he expressed gratitude to my mother for taking care of him, and
+often entertained us with accounts of _his_ "old master's times," which
+he said were the "grandest of all."
+
+By way of apology for certain knotty excrescences on his feet, he
+used to say: "You see these here knots. Well, they come from my being
+a monstrous proud young nigger, and squeezin' my feet in de tightest
+boots to drive my master's carriage 'bout Petersburg. I nuver was
+so happy as when I was drivin' my coach-an'-four, and crackin' de
+postillion over de head wid my whip."
+
+These pleasant reminiscences were generally concluded with: "Ah! young
+Misses, _you'll_ nuver see sich times. No more postillions! No more
+coach-an'-four! And niggers drives _now_ widout they white gloves. Ah!
+no, young Misses, _you'll_ nuver see nothin'! _Nuver_, in _your_ time."
+
+With these melancholy predictions would he shake his head, and sigh
+that the days of glory had departed.
+
+Each generation of blacks vied with the other in extolling the virtues
+of their particular mistress and master and "_their times_;" but
+notwithstanding this mournful contrast between the past and present,
+their reminiscences had a certain charm. Often by their cabin firesides
+would we listen to the tales of the olden days about our forefathers,
+of whom they could tell much, having belonged to our family since the
+landing of the African fathers on the English slave ships, from which
+their ancestors had been bought by ours. Among these traditions none
+pleased us so much as that an unkind mistress or master had never been
+known among our ancestors, which we have always considered a cause for
+greater pride than the armorial bearings left on their tombstones.
+
+We often listened with pleasure to the recollections of an old blind
+man--the former faithful attendant of our grand-father--whose mind
+was filled with vivid pictures of the past. He repeated verbatim
+conversations and speeches heard sixty years before--from Mr. Madison,
+Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Clay, and other statesmen, his master's special
+friends.
+
+"Yes," he used to say, "I staid with your grandpa ten years in
+Congress, and all the time he was Secretary for President Jefferson. He
+nuver give me a cross word, and I nuver saw your grandma the least out
+of temper neither, but once, and that was at a dinner party 'we' give
+in Washington, when the French Minister said something disrespectful
+about the United States."
+
+Often did he tell us: "The greatest pleasure I expect in heaven, is
+seeing my old master." And sometimes, "I dream about my master and
+mistress when I am sleep, and talk with them and see them so plain it
+makes me so happy that I laugh out right loud."
+
+This man was true and honest--a good Christian. Important trusts had
+been confided to him. He frequently carried the carriage and horses to
+Washington and Baltimore--a journey of two weeks--and sometimes sent to
+carry a large sum of money to a distant county.
+
+His wife, who had accompanied him in her youth to Washington, also
+entertained us with gossip about the people of that day, and could
+tell exactly the size and color of Mrs. Madison's slippers, how she
+was dressed on certain occasions, "what beautiful manners she had,"
+how Mr. Jefferson received master and mistress when "we" drove up to
+Monticello, what room they occupied, &c.
+
+Although my grand-father's death occurred thirty years before, the
+negroes still remembered it with sorrow; and one of them, speaking of
+it, said to me, "Ah, little mistess, 'twas a sorrowful day when de news
+come from Washington dat our good, kind master was dead. A mighty wail
+went up from dis plantation, for we know'd we had loss our bes friend."
+
+The only negro on the place who did not evince an interest in the white
+family was a man ninety years old, who, forty years before, announced
+his intention of not working any longer--although still strong and
+athletic--because, he said, "the estate had done come down so he hadn't
+no heart to work no longer." He remembered, he said, "when thar was
+three and four hundred black folks, but sence de British debt had to be
+paid over by his old master, and de Macklenbug estate had to be sold,
+he hadn't had no heart to do nothin' sence." And "he hadn't seen no
+_real_ fine white folks--what _he_ called real fine white folks--sence
+he come from Macklenbug." All his interest in life having expired with
+an anterior generation; we were in his eyes but a poor set, and he
+refused to have anything to do with us. Not being compelled to work,
+he passed his life principally in the woods, wore a rabbit-skin cap
+and a leather apron. Having lost interest in, and connection with the
+white family, he gradually relapsed into a state of barbarism, refusing
+towards the end of his life to sleep in his bed, preferring a hard
+bench in his cabin, upon which he died.
+
+Another very old man remembered something of his father, who had come
+from Africa; and when we asked him to tell us what he remembered of his
+father's narrations, would say:
+
+"My father told us that his mother lived in a hole in the ground,
+and when the English people come to Africa she sold him for a string
+of beads. He said ''twas mighty hard for him, when he fus come to
+dis country, to wear clothes.' Sometimes he would git so mad wid us
+chillun, my mammy would have to run and hide us to keep him from
+killin' us. Den sometimes at night he would say: 'He gwine sing he
+country,' den he would dance and jump and howl and skeer us to death."
+
+They spoke always of their forefathers as the "outlandish people."
+
+On some plantations it was a custom to buy the wife when a negro
+preferred to marry on another estate. And in this way we became
+possessed of a famous termagant, who had married our grand-father's
+gardener, quarrelled him to death in one year and survived to quarrel
+forty years longer with the other negroes. She had no children--not
+even a cat or dog could live with her. She had been offered her
+freedom, but refused to accept it. Several times had been given away;
+once to her son--a free man--and to others with whom she fancied
+she might live, but, like the bad penny, was always returned to
+us. She always returned in a cart, seated on top of her chest and
+surrounded by her goods and chattels, dressed in a high hat, long black
+plume--standing straight up--gay cloth spencer and short petticoat,
+the costume of a hundred years ago. Although her return was a sore
+affliction to the plantation, my sister and myself found much amusement
+in witnessing it. The cold welcome she received seemed not to affect
+her spirits, but re-establishing herself in her cabin she quickly
+resumed the turbulent course of her career.
+
+Finally one morning the news came that this woman, old Clara, was dead.
+Two women went to sweep her cabin and perform the last sad offices.
+They waited all day for the body to get cold. While sitting over the
+fire in the evening, one of them happening to glance at a small mirror
+inserted in the wall near the bed, exclaimed: "Old Clara's laughing!"
+They went nearer and there was a horrible grin on the face of the
+corpse! Old Clara sprang out of bed exclaiming, "Git me some meat and
+bread. I'm most perish'd!"
+
+"Old woman, what you mean by foolin' us so?" asked the nurses.
+
+"I jes want see what you all gwine do wid my _things_ when I _was_
+dead!" replied the old woman, whose "things" consisted of all sorts of
+old and curious spencers, hats, plumes, necklaces, caps and dresses,
+collected during her various wanderings and worn by a long past
+generation.
+
+Among these old cabin legends we sometimes collected bits of romance,
+and were often told how, by the coquetry of a certain Richmond belle,
+we had lost a handsome fortune, which impressed me even then with the
+fatal consequences of coquetry.
+
+This belle engaged herself to our great uncle--a handsome and
+accomplished gentleman--who, to improve his health, went to Europe; but
+before embarking made his will, leaving her his estate and negroes.
+He died abroad, and the lady accepted his property, although she was
+known to have been engaged to twelve others at the same time! The story
+in Richmond ran that these twelve gentlemen--my grand-father among
+them--had a wine party, and towards the close of the evening some of
+them becoming communicative, began taking each other out to tell a
+secret when it was discovered they all had the same secret--each was
+engaged to Miss Betsy M----. This lady's name is still seen on fly
+leaves of old books in our library--books used during her reign by
+students at William and Mary College--showing that the young gentlemen,
+even at that venerable Institution, allowed their classic thoughts
+sometimes to wander.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+As soon as my sister and myself had learned to read and cipher, we were
+inspired with a desire to teach the negroes who were about the house
+and kitchen; and my father promised to reward my sister with a handsome
+guitar if she would teach two boys--designed for mechanics--arithmetic.
+
+Our regular system was every night to place chairs around the dining
+table, ring a bell and open school; she presiding at one end and I at
+the other of the table, each propped on books to give us the necessary
+height and dignity for teachers.
+
+Our school proved successful. The boys learned arithmetic and the
+guitar was awarded. All who tried learned to read, and from that day we
+have never ceased to teach all who desired to learn.
+
+Thus my early life was passed amid scenes cheerful and agreeable, nor
+did any one seem to have any care except my mother. Her cares and
+responsibilities were great, with one hundred people continually upon
+her mind, who were constantly appealing to her in every strait, real or
+imaginary. But it had pleased God to place her here, and nobly did she
+perform the duties of her station. She often told us of her distress
+on realizing for the first time the responsibilities devolving upon
+the mistress of a large plantation, and the nights of sorrow and tears
+these thoughts had given her.
+
+On her arrival at the plantation after her marriage, the negroes
+received her with lively demonstrations of joy, clapping their hands
+and shouting: "Thank God, we got a mistess!" Some of them throwing
+themselves on the ground at her feet in their enthusiasm.
+
+The plantation had been without a master or mistress twelve years; my
+father--the sole heir--having been off at school and College. During
+this time the silver had been left in the house, and the servants had
+kept and used it, but _nothing had been stolen_.
+
+The books, too, had been undisturbed in the library, except a few
+volumes of the poets which had been carried to adorn some of the cabin
+shelves.
+
+It was known by the negroes that their old master's will set them free
+and gave them a large body of land in the event of my father's death;
+and some of his College friends suggested he might be killed while
+passing his vacations on his estate. But this only amused him, for he
+knew too well in what affection he was held by his negroes, and how
+each vied with the other in showing him attention--spreading a dinner
+often for him at their cabins when he returned from hunting or fishing.
+
+I think I have written enough to show the mutual affection existing
+between the white and black races--and the abundant provision generally
+made for the wants of those whom God had mysteriously placed under our
+care.
+
+The existence of extreme want and poverty had never entered my mind,
+until one day my mother showing us some pictures, entitled "London
+Labor and London Poor," we asked her if she believed there were such
+poor people in the world, and she replied: "Yes, children, there are
+many in this world who have nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat."
+
+Still we could not realize what she said, for we had never seen a
+beggar. But from that time it began to dawn upon us that all the world
+was not a plantation, with more than enough on it for people to eat.
+And when we were old enough to read and compare our surroundings with
+what we learned about other countries, we found that our laboring
+population was more bountifully supplied than that of any other land.
+We read about "myriads of poor, starving creatures, with pinched faces
+and tattered garments," in far off cities and countries. We read of
+hundreds who, from destitution and wretchedness, committed suicide. We
+read these things, but could not fully sympathise with such want and
+suffering; for it is necessary to witness these in order to feel the
+fullest sympathy, and we had never seen anything of the kind on our own
+or our neighbor's plantations.
+
+Their religious instruction, I found, had not been more neglected
+than among the lower classes in England, Ireland, France, Russia and
+elsewhere. Every church--there was one of some denomination near every
+plantation--had special seats reserved for the negroes. The minister
+always addressed a portion of his sermon particularly to them, and held
+service for them exclusively on Sabbath afternoon. Besides, they had
+their own ministers among themselves, and had night prayer meetings in
+their cabins whenever they chose.
+
+Many prayers ascended from earnest hearts for their conversion, and
+I knew no home at which some effort was not made for their religious
+instruction.
+
+One of our friends--a Presbyterian minister and earnest
+Christian--devoted the greater part of his time to preaching and
+teaching them. And many pious ministers, throughout the State,
+bestowed upon them time and labor.
+
+I once attended a gay party where the young lady of the house--the
+center of attraction--hearing that one of the negroes was suddenly very
+ill, excused herself from the company, carried her Prayer-book to the
+cabin, and passed the night by the bedside of the sick man, reading
+and repeating verses to him. I have also had young lady friends who
+declined attending a wedding or party when a favorite servant was ill.
+
+On one occasion an English gentleman--Surgeon in the Royal
+Artillery--visiting at our house, accompanied us to a wedding and
+hearing that two young ladies had not attended on account of the
+illness of a negro servant, said to me: "This would not have been in
+England, and will scarcely be believed when I tell it on my return."
+
+The same gentleman expressed astonishment at one of our neighbor's
+sitting up all night to nurse one of his negroes who was ill. He was
+amused at the manner of our servants' identifying themselves with the
+master and his possessions, always speaking of "our horses," "our
+cows," "our crop," "our mill," "our blacksmith's shop," "our carriage,"
+"our black folks," &c. He told us he observed also a difference between
+our menials and those of his own country, in that, while here they
+were individualized, there they were known by the names of "Boots,"
+"'Ostler," "Driver," "Footman," "Cook," "Waiter," "Scullion," &c.
+
+On our plantations the most insignificant stable boy felt himself of
+some importance.
+
+When I heard Mr. Dickens read scenes from Nicholas Nickleby, the tone
+of voice in which he personated Smike sent a chill through me, for I
+had never before heard the human voice express such hopeless despair.
+Can there be in England, thought I, human beings afraid of the sound of
+their own voices?
+
+There was a class of men in our State who made a business of buying
+negroes to sell again farther south. These we never met, and held in
+horror. But even they, when we reflect, could not have treated them
+with inhumanity; for what man would pay a thousand dollars for a
+piece of property, and fail to take the best possible care of it? The
+"traders" usually bought their negroes when an estate became involved,
+for the owners could not be induced to part with their negroes until
+the last extremity--when everything else had been seized by their
+creditors. Houses, lands, everything went first, before giving up the
+negroes; the owner preferring to impoverish himself in the effort to
+keep and provide for these--which was unwise, financially, and would
+not have been thought of by a mercenary people.
+
+But it was hard to part with one's "own people," and see them
+scattered. Still our debts had to be paid; often security debts after
+the death of the owner, when all had to be sold. And who of us but can
+remember the tears of anguish caused by this, and scenes of sorrow to
+which we can never revert without the keenest grief? Yet, like all
+events in this chequered human life, even these sometimes turned out
+best for the negroes, when by this means they exchanged unpleasant for
+more agreeable homes. Still it appeared to me a great evil, and often
+did I pray that God would make us a way of escape from it. But His ways
+are past finding out, and why He had been pleased to order it thus we
+shall never know.
+
+Instances of harsh or cruel treatment were rare. I never heard of
+more than two or three individuals who were "hard" or unkind to their
+negroes, and these were ostracised from respectable society, their very
+names bringing reproach and blight upon their descendants.
+
+We knew of but one instance of cruelty on our plantation, and that was
+when "Uncle Joe," the blacksmith, burnt his nephew's face with a hot
+iron. The man carries the scar to this day, and in speaking of it,
+always says: "Soon as my master found out how Uncle Joe treated me he
+wouldn't let me work no more in his shop."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The extent of these estates precluding the possibility of near
+neighbors, their isolation would have been intolerable but for the
+custom of visiting which prevailed among us. Many houses were filled
+with visitors the greater part of the year, usually remaining two or
+three weeks. Visiting tours were made in our private carriages--each
+family making at least one such tour a year. Nor was it necessary to
+announce these visits by message or letter, each house being considered
+always ready, and "entertaining company" the occupation of the people.
+Sometimes two or three carriages might be descried in the evening
+coming up to the door through the Lombardy poplar avenue--the usual
+approach to many old houses--whereupon ensued a lively flutter among
+small servants, who speedily got them into their clean aprons, and
+ran to open gates, and remove parcels from carriages, and becoming
+generally excited. Lady visitors were always accompanied by colored
+maids, although sure of finding a superfluity of these at each
+establishment. The mistress of the house always received her guests in
+the front porch, with a sincere and cordial greeting.
+
+These visiting friends at my own home made an impression upon me that
+no time can efface. I almost see them now--those dear, gentle faces--my
+mother's early friends; and those delightful old ladies in close
+bordered tarletan caps, who used to come to see my grandmother. These
+last would sit round the fire knitting and talking over their early
+memories; how they remembered the red coats of the British; how they
+had seen the Richmond theater burn down, with some of their family
+burned in it. How they used to wear such beautiful turbans of _crepe
+lise_ to the Cartersville balls, and how they used to dance the minuet.
+At mention of this, my grandmother would lay off her spectacles, put
+aside her knitting, rise with dignity--she was very tall--and show us
+the step of the minuet, gliding slowly and majestically around the
+room. Then she would say: "Ah, children, you will never see anything
+so graceful as the minuet. Such jumping around as _you_ see would not
+have been considered 'genteel' in _my_ day!"
+
+My mother's friends belonged to a later generation, and were types
+of women, whom to have known I shall ever consider a blessing and
+privilege. They combined intelligence with exquisite refinement and
+agreeability; and their annual visits gave my mother the greatest
+happiness, which we soon learned to share and appreciate.
+
+As I consider these ladies models for our sex through all time, I
+enumerate some of their attractions:
+
+Entire absence of pretense made them always agreeable. Having no
+"parlor" or "company" manners to assume, they preserved at all times a
+gentle, natural, easy demeanor and conversation. They had not dipped
+into the sciences, attempted by some of our sex at the present day; but
+the study of Latin and French, with general reading in their mother
+tongue rendered them intelligent companions for cultivated men. They
+also possessed the rare gift of reading well aloud, and wrote letters
+unsurpassed in penmanship, ease and agreeability of style.
+
+Italian and German professors being rare in that day, their musical
+acquirements did not extend beyond the simplest piano accompaniments
+to old English and Scotch airs, which they sang in a sweet, natural
+voice, and which so enchanted the beaux of their time that they--the
+beaux--never afterwards became reconciled to any higher order of music.
+
+These model women also managed their household affairs admirably; and
+were uniformly kind, but never familiar with their servants. They kept
+ever before them the Bible as their constant guide and rule in life,
+and were surely, as nearly as possible, holy in thought, word and deed.
+I have looked in vain for _exactly such_ women in other lands, but have
+failed to find them.
+
+Then there were old gentlemen visitors--beaux of my grandmother's
+day--still wearing cues, wide ruffled bosoms, short pants and knee
+buckles. These pronounced the _a_ very broad; sat a long time over
+their wine at dinner, and carried in their pockets gold or silver
+snuff-boxes presented by some distinguished individual at some remote
+period.
+
+Our visiting acquaintance extended from Botetourt county to Richmond,
+and among them were jolly old Virginia gentlemen and precise
+old Virginia gentlemen; eccentric old Virginia gentlemen and
+prosy old Virginia gentlemen; courtly old Virginia gentlemen and
+plain-mannered old Virginia gentlemen; charming old Virginia gentlemen
+and uninteresting old Virginia gentlemen. Many of them had graduated
+years and years ago at William and Mary College.
+
+Then we had another set, of a later day--those who graduated in the
+first graduating class at the University of Virginia, when that
+institution was first established. These happened--all that we knew--to
+have belonged to the same class, and often amused us--without intending
+it--by reverting to that fact in these words:
+
+"_That_ was a remarkable class! Every man in that class made his mark
+in law, letters or politics! Let me see: There was Toombs. There was
+Charles Mosby. There was Alexander Stuart. There was Burwell. There
+was R. M. T. Hunter;" and so on, calling each by name except himself,
+knowing that the others never failed to do that!
+
+Edgar Poe and Alexander Stephens, of Georgia, were also at the
+University with these gentlemen.
+
+Although presenting an infinite variety of mind, manner and temperament,
+all the gentlemen who visited us, young and old, possessed in
+common certain characteristics; one of which was a deference to
+ladies, which made us feel that we had been put in the world especially
+to be waited upon by them. Their standard for woman was high. They
+seemed to regard her as some rare and costly statue set in a niche to
+be admired and _never taken_ down.
+
+Another peculiarity they had in common, was a habit--which seemed
+irresistible--of tracing people back to the remotest generation, and
+appearing inconsolable if ever they failed to find out the pedigree of
+any given individual for at least four generations. This, however, was
+an innocent pastime, from which they seemed to derive much pleasure and
+satisfaction, and which should not be regarded, even in this advanced
+age, a serious fault.
+
+Among our various visitors, was a kinsman--of whom I often heard,
+but do not recollect--a bachelor of eighty years, always accompanied
+by his negro servant as old as himself. Both had the same name,
+Louis,--pronounced like the French--and this aged pair had been so
+long together they could not exist apart. Black Louis rarely left his
+master's side; assisting in the conversation if his master became
+perplexed or forgetful. When his master talked in the parlor, black
+Louis always planted his chair in the middle of the door-sill, every
+now and then correcting or reminding with: "Now, master, dat warnt Col.
+Taylor's horse dat won dat race dat day. You and me was thar." Or,
+"Now, master you done forgot all 'bout dat. Dat was in de year 1779,
+and _dis_ is de way it happened," &c., much to the amusement of the
+company assembled. All this was said, I am told, most respectfully,
+although the old negro in a manner _possessed_ his master, having
+entire charge and command of him.
+
+The negroes often felt great pride in "_their_ white people," as they
+called their owners, and loved to brag about what "_their_ white
+people" did and what "_their_ white people" had.
+
+On one occasion it became necessary for my sister and myself to ride
+a short distance in a public conveyance. A small colored boy, who
+helped in our dining-room, had to get in the same stage. Two old
+gentlemen--strangers to us--sitting opposite, supposing we had fallen
+asleep, when we closed our eyes to keep out the dust, commenced talking
+about us. Said one to the other: "Now those children will spoil their
+Sunday bonnets." Whereupon our colored boy spoke up quickly: "Umph!
+_you_ think _them's_ my mistesses' Sunday bonnets? Umph! you _jes
+ought_ to see what they got up thar on top the stage in thar band
+box!" At this we both laughed, for the boy had never seen our "Sunday
+bonnets," nor did he know that we possessed any.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+English books never fail to make honorable mention of a "roast of
+beef," "a leg of mutton," "a dish of potatoes," "a dish of tea," &c.,
+while with us the abundance of such things gave them, we thought, not
+enough importance to be particularized. Still my reminiscences extend
+to these.
+
+Every Virginia housewife knew how to compound all the various dishes
+in Mrs. Randolph's Cookery book, and our tables were filled with every
+species of meat and vegetable to be found on a plantation; with every
+kind of cakes, jellies and blanc-mange to be concocted out of eggs,
+butter and cream, besides an endless catalogue of preserves, sweet
+meats, pickles and condiments. So that in the matter of good living,
+both in abundance and the manner of serving, a Virginia plantation
+could not be excelled.
+
+The first speciality being good loaf bread, there was always a hot loaf
+for breakfast, hot corn bread for dinner and a hot loaf for supper.
+Every house was famed for its loaf bread, and, said a gentleman once to
+me: "Although at each place it is superb, yet each loaf differs from
+another loaf, preserving distinct characteristics which would enable me
+to distinguish, instantly, should there be a convention of loaves, the
+Oaklands loaf from the Greenfield loaf, and the Avenel loaf from the
+Rustic Lodge loaf."
+
+And apropos of this gentleman, whom, it is needless to add, was
+a celebrated connoisseur in this matter of loaf bread, it was a
+noticeable fact with our cook, that whenever he came to our house the
+bread in trying to do its best always did its worst!
+
+Speaking of bread, another gentleman expressed his belief that at the
+last great day, it will be found that more housewives will be punished
+on account of light bread than anything else; for he knew some who were
+never out of temper except when the light bread failed!
+
+Time would fail me to dwell, as I should, upon the incomparable
+rice waffles, and beat biscuit, and muffins, and laplands, and
+Marguerites, and flannel cakes, and French rolls, and velvet rolls, and
+ladies-fingers constantly brought by relays of small servants, during
+breakfast, hot and hotter from the kitchen. Then the tea waiters handed
+at night, with the beef tongue, the sliced ham, the grated cheese,
+the cold turkey, the dried venison, the loaf bread buttered hot, the
+batter-cakes, crackers, the quince marmalade, the wafers all pass in
+review before me.
+
+The first time I ever heard of a manner of living different from this,
+was when it became important for my mother to make a visit to a great
+aunt in Baltimore, and she went for the first time out of her native
+State--neither herself nor her mother had ever been out of Virginia. My
+mother was accompanied by her maid, Kitty, on this expedition, and when
+they returned both had many astounding things to relate. My grandmother
+threw up her hands in amazement on hearing that some of the first
+ladies in the city, who visited old aunt, confined the conversation of
+a morning call to the subject of the faults of their hired servants.
+"Is it possible?" exclaimed the old lady. "I never considered it well
+bred to mention servants or their faults in company."
+
+Indeed, in our part of the world, a mistress became offended if
+the faults of her servants were alluded to, just as persons become
+displeased when the faults of their children are discussed.
+
+Maid Kitty's account of this visit, I will give as well as I can
+remember in her own words, as she described it to her fellow-servants:
+"You never see sich a way for people to live! Folks goes to bed in
+Baltimore 'thout a single mouthful in thar house to eat. And they can't
+get nothin' neither 'thout they gits up soon in the mornin' and goes
+to the market after it themselves. Rain, hail or shine, they got to
+go. 'Twouldn't suit _our_ white folks to live that way! And I wouldn't
+live thar not for nothin' in this world. In that fine three story house
+thar ain't but bare two servants, an' they has to do all the work.
+'Twouldn't suit _me_, an' I wouldn't live thar not for nothin' in this
+whole creation. I would git _that_ lonesome I couldn't stan' it. Bare
+two servants! and they calls themselves rich, too! And they cooks in
+the cellar. I know mistess couldn't stand that--smellin' everything out
+the kitchen all over the house. Umph! _them_ folks don't know nothin'
+_tall_ 'bout good livin', with thar cold bread and thar rusks!"
+
+Maid Kitty spoke truly when she said she had never seen two women
+do all the housework. For, at home, often three women would clean
+up one chamber. One made the bed, while another swept the floor and
+a third dusted and put the chairs straight. Labor was divided and
+subdivided; and I remember one woman whose sole employment seemed to
+be throwing open the blinds in the morning and rubbing the posts of my
+grandmother's high bedstead. This rubbing business was carried quite
+to excess. Every inch of mahogany was waxed and rubbed to the highest
+state of polish, as were also the floors, the brass fenders, irons and
+candlesticks.
+
+When I reflect upon the degree of comfort arrived at in our homes, I
+think we should have felt grateful to our ancestors; for as Quincy has
+written: "In whatever mode of existence man finds himself, be it savage
+or civilized, he perceives that he is indebted for the greater part of
+his possessions to events over which he had no control; to individuals
+whose names, perhaps, never reached his ear; to sacrifices which he
+never shared. How few of all these blessings do we owe to our own power
+or prudence! How few on which we can not discern the impress of a long
+past generation!" So we were indebted for our agreeable surroundings to
+the heroism and sacrifices of past generations, and not to venerate and
+eulogize them betrays the want of a truly noble soul. For what courage;
+what patience; what perseverence; what long suffering; what Christian
+forbearance, must it have cost our great grandmothers to civilize,
+Christianize and elevate the naked, savage Africans to the condition
+of good cooks and respectable maids! They--our great grandmothers--did
+not enjoy the blessed privilege even of turning their servants off when
+ineffient or disagreeable, but had to keep them through life. The only
+thing was to bear and forbear, and
+
+      ----"be to their virtues very kind,
+    To their faults," a great deal "blind."
+
+If in Heaven there be one seat higher than another, it must be reserved
+for those true Southern matrons, who performed conscientiously their
+part assigned them by God--civilizing and instructing this race.
+
+To the children of Israel God said: "I will give thee the heathen for
+an inheritance." So He had given _us_ "the heathen for an inheritance,"
+and however bitterly some of us deplored it--as we did--we should have
+remembered that nothing happens by chance; but that God disposes all
+events for some purpose of his own. We were instruments in His hand,
+and if we or our forefathers were chosen by Him to elevate a race in
+the scale of comfort and intelligence we should not deplore it, but
+pray that what we have done for them may be a lasting benefit and that
+God's blessing may follow them in another condition of life.
+
+However we may differ in the opinion, there is no greater compliment to
+Southern slave owners than the idea prevailing in many places that the
+negro is already sufficiently elevated to hold the highest positions in
+the gift of our Government.
+
+I once met in traveling an English gentleman, who asked me: "How can
+you bear those miserable black negroes about your houses and about your
+persons? To me they are horribly repulsive, and I would not endure one
+about me."
+
+"Neither would they have been my choice," I replied. "But God sent them
+to us. I was born to this inheritance and could not avert it. What
+would _you_ English have done," I asked, "if God had sent them to you?"
+
+"Thrown them into the bottom of the sea!" he replied.
+
+Fortunately for the poor negro this sentiment had not prevailed among
+us. I believe God endowed our people with qualities peculiarly adapted
+to taking charge of this race and that no other nation could have kept
+them. Our people did not demand as much work as in other countries is
+required of servants; and I think had more affection for them than is
+elsewhere felt for menials.
+
+In this connection, I remember an incident during the war which
+deserves to be recorded as showing the affection entertained for negro
+dependents:
+
+When our soldiers were nearly starved, and only allowed daily a
+small handfull of parched corn, the Colonel of a Virginia regiment,
+by accident got some coffee, a small portion of which was daily
+distributed to each man. In the regiment was a cousin of mine--a young
+man endowed with the noblest attributes God can give--who, although
+famishing and needing it, denied himself his portion every day that
+he might bring it to his black mammy. He made a small bag in which he
+deposited and carefully saved it.
+
+When he arrived at home on furlough, his mother wept to see his
+tattered clothes, his shoeless feet and starved appearance.
+
+Soon producing the little bag of coffee, with a cheerful smile he said:
+"See what I've saved to bring black mammy!"
+
+"Oh! my son," said his mother, "you have needed it yourself. Why did
+you not use it?"
+
+"Well," he replied, "it has been so long since you all had any coffee,
+and I made out very well on water, when I thought how black mammy
+missed her coffee, and how glad she would be to get it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+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."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+After some months--ceasing to think and speak of New York--our lives
+glided back into the old channel, where the placid stream of life had
+many isles of simple pleasures.
+
+We were, in those days, not "whirled with glowing wheel over the
+iron track in a crowded car," with dirty, shrieking children and
+repulsive-looking people--on their way to the small pox hospital, for
+all we knew. We were not jammed against rough, dreadful-looking people,
+eating dreadful smelling things, out of dreadful-looking baskets and
+satchels, and throwing the remains of dreadful pies and sausages over
+the cushioned seats.
+
+Oh, no! our journeys were performed in venerable carriages, and our
+lunch was enjoyed by some cool, shady spring where we stopped in some
+shady forest at midday.
+
+Our own venerable carriage, my sister styled, "The old ship of Zion,"
+saying, "It had carried many thousands, and was likely to carry many
+more." And our driver we called the "Ancient Mariner." He presided on
+his seat--a high perch--in a very high hat and with great dignity.
+Having been driving the same carriage for nearly forty years--no driver
+being thought safe who had not been on the carriage box at least twenty
+years--considered himself an oracle, and in consequence of his years
+and experience kept us in much awe--my sister and myself never daring
+to ask him to quicken or retard his pace or change the direction of the
+road, however much we desired it. We will ever remember this thraldom,
+and how we often wished one of the younger negroes could be allowed to
+take his place, but my grandmother said "it would wound his feelings,
+and besides be very unsafe" for us.
+
+At every steep hill or bad place in the road it was an established
+custom to stop the carriage, unfold the high steps and "let us
+out"--like pictures of the animals coming down out of the ark! This
+custom had always prevailed in my mother's family, and there was a
+tradition that my great grandfather's horses being habituated to stop
+for this purpose, refused to pull up certain hills--even when the
+carriage was empty--until the driver had dismounted and slammed the
+door, after which they moved off without further hesitation.
+
+This custom of walking at intervals made an agreeable variety, and gave
+us an opportunity to enjoy fully the beautiful and picturesque scenery
+through which we were passing.
+
+These were the days of leisure and pleasure for travelers; and when
+we remember the charming summer jaunts annually made in this way, we
+almost regret the "steam horse," which takes us now to the same places
+in a few hours.
+
+We had two dear friends--Mary and Alice--who with their old carriages
+and drivers--the fac similes of our own--frequently accompanied us in
+these expeditions; and no generals ever exercised more entire command
+over their armies than did these three black coachmen over us. I smile
+now to think of their ever being called our "slaves."
+
+Yet, although they had this "domineering" spirit, they felt at the same
+time, a certain pride in us, too.
+
+On one occasion, when we were traveling together, our friend Alice
+concluded to dismount from her carriage and ride a few miles with a
+gentleman of the party in a buggy. She had not gone far before the
+alarm was given that the buggy horse was running away, whereupon
+our black generalissimos instantly stopped the three carriages and
+anxiously watched the result. Old Uncle Edmund--Alice's coachman--stood
+up in his seat highly excited, and when his young mistress, with
+admirable presence of mind, seized the reins and stopped the horse,
+turning him into a by-road, shouted at the top of his voice: "Thar,
+now! I always knowed Miss Alice was a young 'oman of the most amiable
+courage!" and over this feat continued to chuckle the rest of the day.
+
+The end of these pleasant journeys always brought us to some old
+plantation home, where we met a warm welcome not only from the white
+family, but the servants who constituted part of the establishment.
+
+One of the most charming to which we made a yearly visit was Oaklands,
+a lovely spot embowered in vines and shade trees.
+
+The attractions of this home and family brought so many visitors every
+summer, it was necessary to erect cottages about the grounds, although
+the house itself was quite large. And as the yard was usually filled
+with persons strolling about, or reading, or playing chess under
+the trees, it had every appearance--on first approach--of a small
+watering place. The mistress of this establishment was a woman of rare
+attraction--possessing all the gentleness of her sex with attributes of
+greatness enough for a hero. Tall and handsome, she looked a queen as
+she stood on the portico receiving her guests, and by the first words
+of greeting, from her warm, true heart, charmed even strangers. Nor in
+any department of life did she betray qualities other than these.
+
+Without the least "variableness or shadow of turning," her excellencies
+were a perfect continuity, and her deeds of charity a blessing to all
+in need within her reach. No undertaking seemed too great for her,
+and no details--affecting the comfort of her home, family, friends or
+servants--too small for her supervision.
+
+The church--a few miles distant, the object of her care and
+love--received at her hands constant and valuable aid, and its minister
+generally formed one of her family circle.
+
+No wonder then that the home of such a woman should have been a
+favorite resort with all who had the privilege of knowing her. And no
+wonder that all who enjoyed her charming hospitality were spell-bound,
+nor wished to leave the spot.
+
+In addition to the qualities I have attempted to describe, this lady
+inherited from her father--General B.--an executive talent which
+enabled her to order and arrange perfectly her domestic affairs, so
+that from the delicious viands upon her table to the highly polished
+oak of the floors, all gave evidence of her superior management, and
+the admirable training of her servants.
+
+Nor were the hospitalities of this establishment dispensed to the gay
+and great alone; but shared alike by the homeless, the friendless, and
+many a weary heart found sympathy and shelter there.
+
+Well! Oaklands was famous for many things: its fine light bread; its
+cinnamon cakes; its beat biscuit; its fricasseed chicken; its butter
+and cream; its wine sauces; its plum puddings; its fine horses; its
+beautiful meadows; its sloping green hills, and last, but not least,
+its refined and agreeable society collected from every part of our own
+State, and often from others.
+
+For an epicure no better place could have been desired. And this
+reminds me of a retired army officer--an epicure of the first water--we
+often met there, whose sole occupation was visiting his friends, and
+only subjects of conversation the best viands and the best manner of
+cooking them! When asked whether he remembered certain agreeable people
+at a certain place, he would reply: "Yes, I dined there ten years ago,
+and the turkey was very badly cooked--not quite done enough!" The
+turkey evidently having made a more lasting impression than the people.
+
+This gentleman lost an eye at the battle of Chapultepec, having been
+among the first of our gallant men who scaled the walls. But a young
+girl of his acquaintance always said she knew it was not bravery so
+much as "curiosity" which led him to "go peeping over the walls, first
+man!" This was a heartless speech, but everybody repeated it and
+laughed, for the Colonel _was_ a man of considerable "curiosity!"
+
+Like all old homes, Oaklands had its bright as well as its sorrowful
+days--its weddings and its funerals. Many yet remember the gay wedding
+of one there whose charms brought suitors by the score, and won hearts
+by the dozen. The brilliant career of this young lady, her conquests
+and wonderful fascinations, behold, are they not all written upon the
+hearts and memories of divers rejected suitors who still survive?
+
+And apropos of weddings. An old fashioned Virginia wedding was an
+event to be remembered. The preparations usually commenced several
+weeks before, with saving eggs, butter, chickens, &c., after which
+ensued the liveliest egg-beating; butter-creaming; raisin-stoning;
+sugar-pounding; cake-icing; salad-chopping; cocoanut-grating; lemon
+squeezing; egg-frothing; wafer-making; pastry-baking; jelly-straining;
+paper-cutting; silver-cleaning; floor-rubbing; dress making;
+hair-curling; lace-washing; ruffle-crimping; tarletan-smoothing;
+guests-arriving; servants-running; trunk-moving; girls laughing!
+
+Imagine all this going on simultaneously several successive days and
+nights, and you have an idea of "preparations" for an old fashioned
+Virginia wedding.
+
+The guests generally arrived in private carriages a day or two before,
+and stayed often a week after the affair, being accompanied by quite an
+army of negro servants, who enjoyed the festivities as much as their
+masters and mistresses.
+
+A great many years ago, after such a wedding as I describe, a dark
+shadow fell upon Oaklands.
+
+The eldest daughter--young and beautiful, soon to marry a gentleman of
+high-toned character, charming manners and large estate--one night,
+while the preparations were in progress for her nuptials, saw in a
+vision vivid pictures of what would befall her if she married. The
+vision showed her: a gay wedding--herself the bride--the marriage
+jaunt to her husband's home in a distant county; the incidents of the
+journey; her arrival at her new home; her sickness and death; the
+funeral procession back to Oaklands; the open grave; the bearers of her
+bier--those who a few weeks before had danced at her wedding;--herself
+a corpse in her bridal dress; her newly turfed grave with a bird
+singing in the tree above.
+
+This vision produced such an impression she awakened her sister, and
+told it.
+
+Three successive nights the vision appeared, which so affected her
+spirits she determined not to marry. But after some months, persuaded
+by her family to think no more of the dream which continually haunted
+her, the marriage took place.
+
+All was a realization of the vision; the wedding; the journey to her
+new home; every incident, however small, had been presented before her
+in the dream.
+
+As the bridal party approached the house of an old lady near
+Abingdon--who had made preparations for their entertainment,--servants
+were hurrying to and fro in great excitement, and one was galloping off
+for a doctor, as the old lady had been suddenly seized with a violent
+illness. Even this was another picture in the ill-omened vision of the
+bride, who found every day something occurring to remind her of it,
+until in six months her own death made the last sad scene of her dream.
+And the funeral procession back to Oaklands; the persons officiating;
+the grave, all proved a realization of her vision.
+
+After this her husband--a man of true Christian character--sought in
+foreign lands to disperse the gloom overshadowing his life. But whether
+on the summit of Mount Blanc or the lava-crusted Vesuvius; among the
+classic hills of Rome or the palaces of France; in the art galleries of
+Italy or the regions of the Holy Land, he carried ever in his heart,
+the image of his fair bride and the quiet grave at Oaklands.
+
+This gentleman still survives, and not long ago we heard him relate, in
+charming voice and style, the incidents of these travels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Another charming residence, not far from Oaklands, which attracted
+visitors from various quarters, was Buena Vista, where we passed many
+happy hours of childhood.
+
+This residence--large and handsome--was situated on an eminence,
+overlooking pastures and sunny slopes, with forests, and mountain views
+in the distance.
+
+The interior of the house accorded with the outside, every article
+being elegant and substantial.
+
+The owner--a gentleman of polished manners, kind and generous
+disposition, a sincere Christian and zealous churchman--was honored and
+beloved by all who knew him.
+
+His daughters--a band of lovely young girls--presided over his house,
+dispensing its hospitality with grace and dignity. Their mother's death
+occurring when they were very young had given them household cares,
+which would have been considerable, but for the assistance of Uncle
+Billy, the butler--an all-important character presiding with imposing
+dignity over domestic affairs.
+
+His jet black face was relieved by a head of grey hair with a small
+round bald centre piece; and the expression of his face was calm and
+serene, as he presided over the pantry, the table and the tea-waiters.
+
+His mission on earth seemed to be keeping the brightest silver urns,
+sugar-dishes, cream-jugs and spoons; flavoring the best ice creams;
+buttering the hottest rolls, muffins and waffles; chopping the best
+salads; folding the whitest napkins; handing the best tea and cakes in
+the parlor in the evenings, and cooling the best wine for the decanters
+at dinner. Indeed he was so essentially a part of the establishment,
+that in recalling those old days at Buena Vista, the form of "Uncle
+Billy" comes silently back from the past and takes its old place about
+the parlors, the halls and the dining-room, making the picture complete.
+
+And thus upon the canvas of every old home picture come to their
+accustomed places, the forms of dusky friends, who once shared our
+homes, our firesides, our affections--and who will share them, as in
+the past, never more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of all the Plantation Homes we loved and visited, the brightest,
+sweetest memories cluster around Grove Hill; a grand old place in the
+midst of scenery lovely and picturesque, to reach which, we made a
+journey across the Blue Ridge--those giant mountains from whose winding
+road and lofty heights we had glimpses of exquisite scenery in the
+valleys below.
+
+Thus winding slowly around these mountain heights and peeping down from
+our old carriage windows we beheld nature in its wildest luxuriance.
+The deep solitude; the glowing sunlight over rock, forest and glen; the
+green valleys deep down beneath, diversified by alternate light and
+shadow--all together photographed on our hearts pictures never to fade.
+
+Not all the towers, minarets, obelisks, palaces, gem-studded domes of
+"art and man's device" can reach the soul like one of these sun-tinted
+pictures in their convex frames of rock and vines!
+
+Arrived at Grove Hill, how enthusiastic the welcome from each member
+of the family assembled in the front porch to meet us! How joyous
+the laugh! How deliciously cool the wide halls, the spacious parlor,
+the dark polished walnut floors! How bright the flowers! How gay the
+spirits of all assembled there!
+
+One was sure of meeting here agreeable society from Virginia,
+Baltimore, Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky, with whom the house
+was filled from May 'till November.
+
+How delightfully passed the days, the weeks! What merry excursions;
+fishing parties; riding parties, to the Indian Spring, the Cave, the
+Natural Bridge! What pleasant music, and tableaux, and dancing in the
+evenings!
+
+For the tableaux, we had only to open an old chest in the garret and
+help ourselves to rich embroidered, white and scarlet dresses, with
+other costumery worn by the grandmother of the family nearly a hundred
+years before, when her husband was in public life and she one of the
+queens of society.
+
+What sprightly "conversazioni" in our rooms at night--young girls
+_will_ become confidential and eloquent with each other at night,
+however reserved and quiet during the day!
+
+Late in the night these "conversazioni" continued, with puns
+and laughter, until checked by a certain young gentleman--now a
+minister--who was wont to bring out his flute in the flower garden
+under our windows, and give himself up for an hour or more to the most
+sentimental and touching strains, thus breaking in upon sprightly
+remarks and repartees, some of which are remembered to this day,
+especially one which ran thus:
+
+"Girls!" said one. "Would it not be charming if we could all take a
+trip together to Niagara?"
+
+"Well, why could we not?" was the response.
+
+"Oh!" replied another, "the idea of us poor Virginia girls taking a
+trip!"
+
+"Indeed," said one of the Grove Hill girls, "it would be impossible.
+For here are we on this immense estate, 4,000 acres, two large,
+handsome residences--and three hundred negroes--_considered_ wealthy,
+and yet to save our lives could not raise money enough for a trip to
+New York!"
+
+"Nor get a silk velvet cloak!" said her sister, laughing.
+
+"Yes," replied the other. "Girls! I have been longing and longing for a
+silk velvet cloak, but never could get the money to buy one. But last
+Sunday, at the village church, what should I see but one of the Joneses
+sweeping in with a long velvet cloak almost touching the floor! And
+you could set her father's house in our back hall! But then she is so
+fortunate as to own no negroes."
+
+"What a happy girl she must be!" cried a chorus of voices. "No negroes
+to support! _We_ could go to New York and Niagara, and have velvet
+cloaks too, if we only had no negroes to support! But all _our_ money
+goes to provide for them as soon as the crops are sold!"
+
+"Yes," said one of the Grove Hill girls; "here is our large house
+without an article of modern furniture. The parlor curtains are one
+hundred years old. The old fashioned mirrors and recess tables one
+hundred years old, and we long in vain for money to buy something new."
+
+"Well!" said one of the sprightliest girls, "we can get up some of our
+old diamond rings or breastpins which some of us have inherited, and
+travel on appearances! We have no modern clothes, but the old rings
+will make us '_look_ rich!' And a party of _poor, rich Virginians_
+will attract the commiseration and consideration of the world when
+it is known that for generations we have not been able to leave our
+plantations!"
+
+After these conversations we would fall asleep and sleep profoundly,
+until aroused next morning by an army of servants polishing the hall
+floors, waxing and rubbing them with a long-handle brush, weighted by
+an oven lid. This made the floor like a "sea of glass," and dangerous
+to walk upon immediately after the polishing process, being especially
+disastrous to small children, who were continually slipping and falling
+before breakfast.
+
+The lady presiding over this establishment possessed a cultivated
+mind, bright conversational powers and gentle temper, with a force of
+character which enabled her to direct judiciously the affairs of her
+household, as well as the training and education of her children.
+
+She employed always an accomplished gentleman teacher, who added to the
+agreeability of her home circle.
+
+She helped the boys with their Latin and the girls with their
+compositions. In her quiet way she governed, controlled, suggested
+everything; so that her presence was required everywhere at once.
+
+While in the parlor entertaining her guests with bright, agreeable
+conversation, she was sure to be wanted by the cooks--there were
+six!--to "taste or flavor" something in the kitchen; or by the gardener
+to direct the planting of certain seeds or roots, and so with every
+department. Even the minister--there was always one living in her
+house--would call her out to consult over his text and sermon for the
+next Sunday, saying he could rely upon her judgment and discrimination.
+
+Never thinking of herself, her heart overflowing with sympathy and
+interest for others, she entered into the pleasures of the young as
+well as the sorrows of the old.
+
+If the boys came in from a fox or deer chase, their pleasure was
+incomplete until it had been described to her and enjoyed with her
+again.
+
+The flower vases were never entirely beautiful until her hand had
+helped to arrange the flowers.
+
+The girls' laces were never perfect until she had gathered and crimped
+them.
+
+Her sons were never so happy as when holding her hand and caressing
+her. And the summer twilight found her always in the vine-covered
+porch seated by her husband--a dear, kind old gentleman--her hand
+resting in his, while he quietly and happily smoked his pipe, after
+the day's riding over his plantation, interviewing overseers, millers,
+blacksmiths and settling up accounts.
+
+One more reminiscence and the Grove Hill picture will be done. No
+Virginia home being complete without some prominent negro character,
+the picture lacking this would be untrue to nature, and without the
+"finishing touch." And not to have "stepped in" to pay our respects
+to old "Aunt Betsy" during a visit to Grove Hill, would have been
+considered--as it should be to omit it here--a great breach of
+civility; for the old woman always received us at her door with a
+cordial welcome and a hearty shake of the hand.
+
+"Lor' bless de childen!" she would say. "How they does grow! Done
+grown up young ladies! Set down, honey. I mighty glad to see you. And
+why didn't your ma (Miss Fanny) come? I would love to see Miss Fanny.
+She always was so good and so pretty. Seems to me it ain't been no
+time sence she and Miss Emma"--her own mistress--"used to play dolls
+together, an' I used to bake sweet cakes for 'em, and cut 'em out wid
+de pepper-box top, for thar doll parties; an' they loved each other
+like sisters."
+
+"Well, Aunt Betsy," we would ask, "how is your rheumatism now?"
+
+"Lor', honey, I nuver specs to git over that. But some days I can
+hobble out and feed de chickens; and I can set at my window and make de
+black childen feed 'em, an' I love to think I'm some account to Miss
+Emma. And Miss Emma's childen can't do without old 'Mammy Betsy,' for
+I takes care of all thar pet chickens. Me and my old man (Phil) gittin
+mighty ole now; but Miss Emma and all her childen so good to us we has
+pleasure in livin' yet."
+
+At last the shadows began to fall dark and chill upon this once bright
+and happy home.
+
+Old Aunt Betsy lived to see the four boys--her mistress' brave and
+noble sons--buckle their armor on and go forth to battle for the home
+they loved so well; the youngest, still so young that he loved his pet
+chickens, which were left to "Mammy Betsy's" special care; and when the
+sad news, at length, came that this favorite young master was killed,
+amid all the agony of grief, no heart felt more sincerely, than her's,
+the great sorrow.
+
+Another, and still another of these noble youths fell, after deeds
+of valor unparalleled in the world's history--their graves the
+battlefield, a place of burial fit for men so brave. Only one--the
+youngest--was brought home to find a resting place beside the graves of
+his ancestors.
+
+The old man--their father, his mind shattered by grief--continued day
+after day, for several years, to sit in the vine-covered porch, gazing
+wistfully out, imagining sometimes he saw in the distance the manly
+forms of his noble sons, returning home, mounted on their favorite
+horses, in the gray uniforms and bright armor worn the day they went
+off.
+
+Then, he too followed, where the "din of war, the clash of arms" is
+heard no more.
+
+To recall these scenes so blinds my eyes with tears that I can not
+write of them. Some griefs leave the heart dumb. They have no
+language; and are given no language, because no other heart could
+understand, nor could they if shared, be alleviated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+It will have been observed from these reminiscences that the mistress
+of a Virginia plantation was more conspicuous--although not more
+important--than the master. In the house she was the mainspring, and to
+her came all the hundred, or three hundred negroes with their various
+wants, and constant applications for medicine and every conceivable
+requirement.
+
+Attending to these, with directing her household affairs and
+entertaining company, occupied busily every moment of her life. While
+all these devolved upon her, it sometimes seemed to me that the master
+had nothing to do, but ride around his estate--on the most delightful
+horse--receive reports from overseers, see that his pack of hounds were
+fed and order "repairs about the mill"--the mill seemed always needing
+repairs!
+
+This view of the subject, however, being entirely from a feminine
+standpoint, may have been wholly erroneous; for doubtless his mind
+was burdened with financial matters too weighty to be grasped and
+comprehended by our sex.
+
+Nevertheless, the mistress held complete sway in her own domain; and
+that this fact was recognized will be shown by the following incident:
+
+A gentleman--an intelligent and successful lawyer--one day discovering
+a negro boy in some mischief about his house, and determining forthwith
+to chastise him, took him in the yard for that purpose. Breaking a
+small switch, and in the act of "coming down with it" upon the boy, he
+asked: "Do you know, sir, who is master on my place?"
+
+"Yes, sir!" quickly replied the boy. "Miss Charlotte, sir!"
+
+Throwing aside the switch, the gentleman ran in the house, laughed a
+half hour, and thus ended his only experiment at interfering in his
+wife's domain.
+
+His wife, "Miss Charlotte," as the negroes called her, was gentle and
+indulgent to a fault, which made the incident more amusing.
+
+It may appear singular, yet it is true, that our women, although having
+sufficient self-possession at home, and accustomed there to command on
+a large scale, became painfully timid if ever they found themselves
+in a promiscuous or public assemblage--shrinking from everything like
+publicity.
+
+Still, these women, to whom a whole plantation looked up for guidance
+and instruction, could not fail to feel a certain consciousness of
+superiority, which, although never displayed or asserted in manner,
+became a part of themselves. They were distinguishable everywhere--for
+what reason, exactly, I have never been able to find out--for their
+manners were too quiet to attract attention. Yet a Captain on a
+Mississippi steamboat said to me: "I always know a Virginia lady as
+soon as she steps on my boat."
+
+"How do you know?" I asked, supposing he would say: "By their plain
+style of dress and antiquated breastpins."
+
+Said he: "I've been running a boat from Cincinnati to New Orleans for
+twenty-five years, and often have three hundred passengers from various
+parts of the world. But if there is a Virginia lady among them, I find
+it out in half an hour. They take things quietly, and don't complain.
+Do you see that English lady over there? Well, she has been complaining
+all the way up the Mississippi river. Nobody can please her. The
+cabin-maid and steward are worn out with trying to please her. She says
+it is because the mosquitoes bit her so badly coming through Louisiana.
+But we are almost at Cincinnati now; haven't seen a mosquito for a
+week, and she is still complaining!"
+
+"Then," he continued, "the Virginia ladies look as if they could not
+push about for themselves, and for this reason I always feel like
+giving them more attention than the other passengers."
+
+"We are inexperienced travelers," I replied.
+
+And these remarks of the Captain convinced me--I had thought it
+before--that Virginia women should never undertake to travel, but
+content themselves with staying at home. However, such restriction
+would have been unfair, unless they had felt like the Parisian who,
+when asked why the Parisians never traveled, replied: "Because all the
+world comes to Paris!"
+
+Indeed, a Virginian had an opportunity of seeing much choice society
+at home; for our watering places attracted the best people from other
+States, who often visited us at our houses.
+
+On the Mississippi boat to which I have alluded, it was remarked
+that the negro servants paid the Southerners more constant and
+deferential attention than the passengers from the non-slaveholding
+States--although some of the latter were very agreeable and intelligent,
+and conversed with the negroes on terms of easy familiarity--showing,
+what I had often observed, that the negro respects and admires those
+who make a "social distinction" more than those who make none.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+We were surprised to find in an "Ode to the South," by Mr. M. F.
+Tupper, published recently, the following stanza:
+
+    "Yes it is slander to say you oppress'd them
+    Does a man squander the prize of his pelf.
+    Was it not often that he who possessed them
+    Rather was owned by his servants himself?"
+
+This was true, but that it was known in the outside world we thought
+impossible, when all the newspaper and book accounts represented us
+as "miserable sinners" for whom there was no hope here or hereafter,
+and called upon all nations, Christian and civilized, to "revile,
+persecute and exterminate us." Such representations, however, differed
+so widely from the facts around us, that when we heard them they failed
+to produce a very serious impression, occasioning often only a smile,
+with the exclamation: "How little those people know about us!"
+
+We had not the vanity to think that the European nations cared or
+thought about us, and if the Americans believed these accounts, they
+defamed the memory of one held up by them as a model of Christian
+virtue,--George Washington--a Virginia slave-owner, whose kindness to
+his "people," as he called his slaves, entitled him to as much honor as
+did his deeds of prowess.
+
+But to return to the two last lines of the stanza:
+
+    "Was it not often that he who possessed them
+    Rather was owned by his servants himself?"
+
+I am reminded of some who were actually held in such bondage;
+especially an old gentleman who, together with his whole plantation,
+was literally "possessed by his slaves."
+
+This gentleman was a widower, and no lady presided over his house.
+
+His figure was of medium height, and very corpulent. His features were
+regular and handsome. His eyes were soft brown, almost black. His hair
+was slightly gray. The expression of his countenance was so full of
+goodness and sympathy, that a stranger meeting him in the road might
+have been convinced at a glance of his kindness and generosity.
+
+He was never very particular about his dress, yet never appeared shabby.
+
+Although a graduate in law at the University, an ample fortune made
+it unnecessary for him to practice this profession. Still his taste
+for literature made him a constant reader, and his conversation was
+instructive and agreeable.
+
+His house was old and rambling, and--I was going to say his servants
+kept the keys, when I remembered there were _no keys_ about the
+establishment. Even the front door had no lock upon it. Everybody
+retired at night in perfect confidence, however, that everything was
+secure enough, and it seemed not important to lock the doors.
+
+The negro servants who managed the house were very efficient; excelling
+especially in the culinary department, and serving up dinners which
+were simply "marvels."
+
+The superabundance on the place enabled them not only to furnish their
+master's table with the choicest meats, vegetables, cakes, pastries,
+&c., but also to supply themselves bountifully, and to spread in their
+own cabins sumptuous feasts, wedding and party suppers rich enough for
+a queen.
+
+To this their master did not object, for he told them "if they would
+supply his table always with an abundance of the best bread, meats,
+cream and butter, he cared not what became of the rest."
+
+Upon this principle the plantation was conducted. The well-filled
+barns; the stores of bacon, lard, flour, &c., literally belonged to the
+negroes, they allowing their master a certain share!
+
+Doubtless they entertained the sentiment of a negro boy, who on being
+reproved by his master for having stolen and eaten a turkey, replied:
+"Well, massa, you see you got less turkey, but you got dat much more
+nigger!"
+
+While we were once visiting at this plantation, the master of the house
+described to us a dairy just completed on a new plan, which for some
+weeks had been such a hobby with him, he had actually purchased a lock
+for it, saying he would keep the key himself--which he never did--and
+have the fresh mutton always put there.
+
+"Come," said he, as he finished describing it, "let us go down and look
+at it."
+
+"Bring me the key," he said to a small African, who soon brought it,
+and we proceeded to the dairy.
+
+Turning the key in the door, the old gentleman said: "Now see what an
+elegant piece of mutton I have here!"
+
+But on entering and looking around no mutton was to be seen, and
+instead thereof buckets of custard, cream and blanc-mange. The old
+gentleman greatly disconcerted, called to one of the servants,
+"Florinda! Where is my mutton I had put here this morning?"
+
+Florinda replied: "Nancy took it out, sir, and put it in de ole spring
+house. She say dat was cool enough place for mutton. And she gwine have
+a big party to-night, and want her jelly and custards to keep cool!"
+
+At this the old gentleman was rapidly becoming provoked, when we
+laughed so much at Nancy's "cool" proceeding, that his usual good
+nature was restored.
+
+On another occasion we were one evening sitting with this gentleman in
+his front porch, when a poor woman from the neighboring village came in
+the yard, and stopping before the door, said to him:
+
+"Mr. R. I came to tell you that my cow you gave me has died."
+
+"What did you say, my good woman?" asked Mr. R., who was quite deaf.
+
+The woman repeated in a louder voice, "The cow you gave me has died.
+And she died because I didn't have anything to feed her with."
+
+Turning to us, his countenance full of compassion, he said: "I ought to
+have thought about that, and should have sent the food for her cow."
+Then speaking to the woman: "Well, my good woman, I will give you
+another cow to-morrow, and send you plenty of provision for her." And
+the following day he fulfilled his promise.
+
+Another incident occurs to me, showing the generous heart of this truly
+good man. One day on the Virginia and Tennessee train observing a
+gentleman and lady in much trouble, he ventured to enquire of them the
+cause, and was informed they--the gentleman and his wife--had lost all
+their money and their railroad tickets at the last station.
+
+He asked the gentleman where he was from, and on "what side he was
+during the war."
+
+"I am from Georgia," replied the gentleman, "and was, of course, with
+the South."
+
+"Well," said Mr. R., pulling from his capacious pocket a capacious
+purse, which he handed the gentleman, "help yourself, sir, and take as
+much as will be necessary to carry you home."
+
+The astonished stranger thanked him sincerely, and handed his card,
+saying: "I will return the money as soon as I reach home."
+
+Returned to his own home, and relating the incidents of his trip, Mr.
+R. mentioned this, when one of his nephews laughed and said: "Well,
+Uncle R., we Virginia people are so easily imposed upon! You don't
+think that man will ever return your money _do_ you?"
+
+"My dear," replied his Uncle, looking at him reproachfully and sinking
+his voice, "I was fully repaid by the change which came over the man's
+countenance."
+
+It is due to the Georgian to add that on reaching home, he returned the
+money with a letter of thanks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In sight of the hospitable home of Mr. R. was another equally
+attractive owned by his brother-in-law, Mr. B. These had the same
+name--Greenfield--the property having descended to two sisters,
+the wives of these gentlemen. They might have been called twin
+establishments, as one was almost a fac simile of the other. At both
+was found the same hospitality; the same polished floors; the same
+style of loaf-bread and velvet rolls. The only difference between the
+two being that Mr. B. kept his doors locked at night; observed more
+system, and kept his buggies and carriages in better repair.
+
+These gentlemen were also perfectly congenial. Both had graduated
+in law; read the same books; were members of the same church; knew
+the same people; liked and disliked the same people; held the same
+political opinions; enjoyed the same old Scotch songs; repeated the
+same old English poetry; smoked the same kind of tobacco, in the same
+kind of pipes; abhorred alike intoxicating drinks, and deplored the
+increase of bar-rooms and drunkenness in our land.
+
+For forty years they passed together a part of every day or evening,
+smoking and talking over the same events and people. It was a picture
+to see them at night over a blazing wood fire, their faces bright with
+good nature; and a treat to hear all their reminiscences of people
+and events long passed. With what circumstantiality could they recall
+old law cases; describe old duels, old political animosities and
+excitements! What merry laughs they sometimes had!
+
+Everything on one of these plantations seemed to belong equally to the
+other. If the ice gave out at one place, the servants went to the other
+for it as a "matter of course;" or if the buggies or carriages were out
+of order at Mr. R.'s--which was often the case--the driver would go
+over for Mr. B.'s without even mentioning the circumstance, and so with
+everything. The families lived thus harmoniously with never the least
+interruption for forty years.
+
+Now and then the old gentlemen enjoyed a practical joke on each other,
+and on one occasion Mr R. succeeded so effectually in quizzing Mr B.
+that whenever he thought of it afterwards he fell into a dangerous fit
+of laughter.
+
+It happened that a man who had married a distant connection of the
+Greenfield family concluded to take his wife, children and servants to
+pass the summer there, dividing the time between the two houses. The
+manners, character and political proclivities of this visitor became
+so disagreeable to the old gentleman, they determined he should not
+repeat his visit, although they liked his wife. One day Mr. B. received
+a letter signed by this objectionable individual--it had really been
+written by Mr. R.--informing Mr. B. that, "as one of the children
+was sick, and the physician advised country air he would be there the
+following Thursday with his whole family to stay some months."
+
+"The impudent fellow!" exclaimed Mr. B. as soon as he read the letter.
+"He knows how R. and myself detest him! Still I am sorry for his wife.
+But I will not be dragooned and outgeneraled by that contemptible
+fellow. No! I will leave home to-day!"
+
+Going to the back door he called in a loud voice for his coachman, and
+ordered his carriage. "I am going" said he, "to Grove Hill for a week
+and from there to Lexington with my whole family, and don't know when I
+shall be at home again."
+
+"It is very inconvenient," said he to his wife, "but I must leave home."
+
+Hurrying up the carriage, and the family they were soon off on their
+unexpected trip.
+
+They stayed at Grove Hill, seven miles off, a week, during which time
+Mr. B. every morning mounted his horse and rode timidly around the
+outskirts of his own plantation, peeping over the hills at his house,
+but afraid to venture nearer, feeling assured it was occupied by the
+objectionable party. He would not even make enquiries of his negroes
+whom he met, as to the state and condition of things in his house.
+
+Concluding to pursue his journey to Lexington and half way there, he
+met a young nephew of Mr. R.'s, who happened to know all about the
+quiz, and immediately suspecting the reason of Mr. B.'s exile from home
+enquired where he was going, how long he had been from home, &c. Soon
+guessing the truth and thinking the "joke had been carried far enough,"
+he told the old gentleman he need not travel any further for it was all
+a quiz of his uncle's, and there was no one at his house. Thereupon,
+Mr. B. greatly relieved, turned back and went his way home rejoicing,
+but "determined to pay R." he said, "for such a practical joke, which
+had exiled him from home and given him such trouble." This caused many
+a good laugh whenever it was told, throughout the neighborhood.
+
+The two estates of which I am writing, were well named--Greenfield, for
+the fields and meadows were of the freshest green, and with majestic
+hills around and the fine cattle and horses grazing upon them, formed a
+noble landscape.
+
+This land had descended in the same family since the Indian camp fires
+ceased to burn there, and the same forests were still untouched, where
+once stood the Indian's wigwams.
+
+In this connection, I am reminded of a tradition in the Greenfield
+family, which showed the heroism of a Virginia boy:
+
+The first white proprietor of this place, the great grandfather of the
+present owners, had also a large estate in Montgomery county, called
+Smithfield, where his family lived, and where was a fort for the
+protection of the whites, when attacked by the Indians.
+
+Once, while the owner was at his Greenfield place, the Indians
+surrounded Smithfield, when the white women and children took refuge in
+the fort, and the men prepared for battle. They wanted the proprietor
+of Smithfield to help fight and take command, for he was a brave man,
+but could not spare a man to carry him the news. So they concluded
+to send one of his young sons, a lad thirteen years old, who did not
+hesitate but mounting a fleet horse set off after dark and rode all
+night through dense forests filled with hostile Indians, reaching
+Greenfield, a distance of forty miles next morning. He soon returned
+with his father, and the Indians were repulsed. And I always thought
+that boy was courageous enough for his name to live in history.[3]
+
+The Indians afterwards told that the whole day before the fight several
+of their chiefs had been concealed near the Smithfield house, under a
+large hay stack, upon which the white children had been sliding and
+playing all day, little suspecting the gleaming tomahawks and savage
+men beneath.
+
+From the Greenfield estate in Botetourt and the one adjacent went the
+ancestors of the Prestons and Breckinridges, who made these names
+distinguished in South Carolina and Kentucky. And on this place are the
+graves of the first Breckinridges who emigrated to this country.
+
+All who visited at the homesteads just described retained ever after a
+recollection of the superbly cooked meats, bread, &c., seen upon the
+tables at both houses--there being at each place five or six negro
+cooks, who had been taught by their mistresses the highest style of the
+art.
+
+During the summer season several of these cooks were hired at the
+different watering places, where they acquired great fame and made for
+themselves a considerable sum of money by selling recipes.
+
+A lady of the Greenfield family, who married and went to Georgia, told
+me she had often tried to make velvet rolls like those she had been
+accustomed to see at her own home, but never succeeded. Her mother and
+aunt who had taught these cooks, having died many years before, she had
+to apply to the negroes for information on such subjects, and they, she
+said, would never show her the right way to make them. Finally, while
+visiting at a house in Georgia, this lady was surprised to see the very
+velvet rolls, like those at her home.
+
+"Where did you get the recipe?" she soon asked the lady of the house,
+who replied, "I bought it from old Aunt Rose, a colored cook, at the
+Virginia Springs, and paid her five dollars."
+
+"One of our own cooks and my mother's recipe," exclaimed the other,
+"and I had to come all the way to Georgia to get it, for Aunt Rose
+never would show me exactly how to make them!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Not far from Greenfield was a place called "Rustic Lodge."
+
+This house surrounded by a forest of grand old oaks, was not large or
+handsome. But its inmates were ladies and gentlemen of the old English
+style.
+
+The grandmother, about ninety years of age, had been in her youth
+one of the belles at the Williamsburg Court in old colonial days. A
+daughter of Sir Dudley Digges, and descended from English nobility, she
+had been accustomed to the best society. Her manners and conversation
+were dignified and attractive.
+
+Among reminiscences of colonial times, she remembered Lord Botetourt,
+of whom she related interesting incidents.
+
+The son of this old lady, about sixty years of age, and the proprietor
+of the estate, was a true picture of the "old English gentleman." His
+manners, conversation, thread-cambric shirt frills, cuffs and long
+queue tied with a black ribbon, made the picture complete. His two
+daughters, young ladies of exquisite refinement, had been brought up by
+their aunt and grandmother to observe strictly all the proprieties of
+life.
+
+This establishment was proverbial for its order and method, the most
+systematic rules being in force everywhere. The meals were served
+punctually at the same instant every day. Old "Aunt Nelly" dressed and
+undressed her old mistress always at the same hour. A gentle "tapping
+at the chamber door"--not by the "raven," but the cook--called the
+mistress to an interview at the same moment every morning with that
+functionary, which resulted in the choicest dinners, breakfasts and
+suppers; this interview lasting half an hour and never repeated during
+the day.
+
+Exactly at the same hour every morning the old gentleman's horse was
+saddled, and he entered the neighboring village so promptly as to
+enable some of the inhabitants to set their clocks by him.
+
+This family had possessed great wealth in Eastern Virginia during the
+colonial government under which many of its members held high offices.
+
+But impoverished by high living, entertaining company and a heavy
+British debt, they had been reduced in their possessions to about fifty
+negroes, with only money enough to purchase this plantation upon which
+they had retired from the gay and charming society of Williamsburg.
+They carried with them, however, some remains of their former grandeur:
+old silver, old jewelry, old books, old and well-trained servants, and
+an old English coach, which was the curiosity of all other vehicular
+curiosities. How the family ever climbed into it, or got out of it, and
+how the driver ever reached the dizzy height upon which he sat, was the
+mystery of my childhood.
+
+But although egg-shaped and suspended in mid-air, this coach had
+doubtless, in its day, been one of considerable renown, drawn by four
+horses, with footman, postillion and driver in English livery.
+
+How sad must have been its reflections on finding itself shorn of
+these respectable surroundings, and after the revolution drawn by two
+Republican horses, with footman and driver dressed in Republican jeans!
+
+Strange that it could have lived on and on thus Republicanized!
+
+A great uncle of this family, unlike the coach never would become
+Republicanized, and his obstinate loyalty to the English crown, with
+his devotion to everything English gained for him the title "English
+Louis," by which name he is spoken of in the family to this day. An old
+lady told me not long ago that she remembered when a child the arrival
+of "English Louis" at "Rustic" one night, and his conversation as they
+sat around the fire, how he deplored a Republican form of government,
+and the misfortunes which would result from it saying:
+
+"All may go smoothly for about seventy years, when civil war will set
+in. First, it will be about these negro slaves we have around us, and
+after that it will be something else." And how true "English Louis'"
+prediction has proven.[4]
+
+Doubtless this gentleman was avoided and proscribed on account of his
+English proclivities. For at that day the spirit of Republicanism
+and hatred to England ran high; so that an old gentleman--one of our
+relatives whom I well remember--actually took from his parlor walls his
+coat of arms which had been brought by his grandfather from England,
+and carrying it out in his yard built a fire and collecting his
+children around it, to see it burn, said: "Thus let everything English
+perish!"
+
+Should I say what I think of this proceeding, I would not be considered
+perhaps a true Republican patriot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I cannot forget to mention in the catalogue of pleasant homes,
+Smithfield in Montgomery county, the county which flows with healing
+waters.
+
+Smithfield, like Greenfield, is owned by the descendants of the first
+white family who settled there after the Indians, and its verdant
+pastures, noble forests, mountain streams and springs, with the superb
+cattle on its hills form a prospect, wondrously beautiful.
+
+This splendid estate descended to three brothers, who equally divided
+it; the eldest keeping the homestead, and the others building
+attractive homes on their separate plantations.
+
+The old homestead was quite antique in appearance. Inside the high
+mantlepieces reaching nearly to the ceiling, which was also high, and
+the high wainscotting together with the old furniture made a picture of
+the olden time.
+
+When I first visited this place, the old grandmother, then eighty years
+of age, was living. She, like the old lady at "Rustic," had been a
+belle in Eastern Virginia in her youth. When she married the owner of
+Smithfield sixty years before, she made the "bridal jaunt" from Norfolk
+to this place on horseback, two hundred miles. Still exceedingly
+intelligent and interesting, she entertained us with various incidents
+of her early life, and wished to hear all the old songs which she had
+then heard and sung herself.
+
+"When I was married" said she, "and came first to Smithfield my
+husband's sisters met me in the porch, and were shocked at my pale and
+delicate appearance. One of them whispering to her brother, asked, 'Why
+did you bring that ghost up here?' And now," continued the old lady, "I
+have outlived all who were in the house that day, and all my own and my
+husband's family."
+
+This was an evidence certainly of the health restoring properties of
+the water and climate in this region.
+
+The houses of these three brothers were filled with company winter and
+summer, making within themselves a delightful society. The visitors at
+one house were equally visitors at the others, and the succession of
+dinner and evening parties from one to the other, made it difficult for
+a visitor to decide at whose particular house he was staying.
+
+One of these brothers had married a lovely lady from South Carolina,
+whose perfection of character and disposition endeared her to every
+one who knew her. Everybody felt like loving her the moment they saw
+her, and the more they knew her the more they loved her. Her warm heart
+was ever full of other people's troubles or joys, never thinking of
+herself. In her house many an invalid was cheered by her tender care;
+and many a drooping heart revived by her bright Christian spirit.
+She never omitted an opportunity of pointing the way to heaven; and
+although surrounded by all the allurements which gay society and wealth
+could bring, she did not depart an instant from the quiet path which
+leads to heaven. In the midst of bright and happy surroundings, her
+thoughts and hopes were constantly centered upon the life above; and
+her conversation--which was the reflex of her heart--reverted ever to
+this theme, which she made attractive to old and young.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+In the region of country just described and in the counties beyond
+abound the finest mineral springs, one or more being found on every
+plantation. At one place were seven different springs, and the servants
+had a habit of asking the guests and family whether they would
+have--before breakfast--a glass of White Sulphur, Yellow Sulphur, Black
+Sulphur, Alleghany, Alum, or Limestone water!
+
+The old Greenbriar White Sulphur was a favorite place of resort for
+Eastern Virginians and South Carolinians at a very early date, when
+it was accessible only by private conveyances, and all who passed
+the summer there went in private carriages. In this way, certain old
+Virginia and South Carolina families met every season, and these
+old people told us that society there was never as good, after the
+railroads and stages brought "all sorts of people, from all sorts of
+places." This, of course, we knew nothing about from experience, and
+it sounded rather egotistical in the old people to say so, but that is
+what they said.
+
+Indeed these "old folks" talked so much about what "used to be in their
+day" at the old White Sulphur, I found it hard to convince myself I had
+not been bodily present, seeing with my own eyes certain knee-buckled
+old gentlemen, with long queues, and certain Virginia and South
+Carolina belles attired in short-waisted, simple white cambrics, who
+passed the summers there. These white cambrics, we were told, had been
+carried in minute trunks behind the carriages; and were considered,
+with a few jewels and a long black or white lace veil thrown over the
+head and shoulders, a complete outfit for the reigning belles! Another
+curiosity was, that these white cambric dresses--our grandmothers told
+us--required very little "doing up;" one such having been worn by Mrs.
+General Washington--so her granddaughter told me--a whole week without
+requiring washing! It must have been an age of remarkable women, and
+remarkable cambrics! How little they dreamed then of an era when
+Saratoga trunks would be indispensable to ladies of much smaller means
+than Virginia and South Carolina belles!
+
+To reach these counties flowing with mineral waters the families from
+Eastern Virginia and from South Carolina passed through a beautiful
+region known as Piedmont, Va., and those who had "kinsfolk or
+acquaintance" here usually stopped to make them a visit. Consequently
+the Piedmont Virginians were generally too busy entertaining summer
+guests to visit the springs themselves. But indeed why should they?
+For no more salubrious climate could be found than their own; and
+no scenery more grand and beautiful. But it was necessary for the
+tide-water Virginians to leave their homes every summer on account of
+chills and fevers.
+
+In the lovely Piedmont region over which the "Peaks of Otter" rear
+their giant heads, and chains of blue mountains extend as far as eye
+can reach, were scattered many pleasant and picturesque homes. And in
+this section my grandfather bought a plantation, when the ancestral
+estates had been sold, in the Eastern part of the State, to repay the
+British debt, which estates, homesteads and tombstones with their
+quaint inscriptions are described in Bishop Meade's "Old Churches and
+Families of Virginia."
+
+While the tide water Virginians were already practicing all the arts
+and wiles known to the highest English civilization; were sending their
+sons to be educated in England; receiving brocaded silks and powdered
+wigs from England; and dancing the minuet at the Williamsburg balls
+with the families of the noblemen sent over to govern the Colony,
+Piedmont, Virginia, was still a dense forest, the abode of Indians and
+wild animals.
+
+It was not strange, then, that the Piedmont Virginians never arrived
+at the opulent manner of living adopted by those on James and York
+rivers, who, tradition tells us, went to such excess in high living, as
+to have "hams boiled in champagne," and of whom other traditions have
+been handed down amusing and interesting. Although the latter were in
+advance of the Piedmont Virginians in wealth and social advantages,
+they were not superior to them in honor, virtue, or kindness and
+hospitality.
+
+It has been remarked that, "when natural scenery is picturesque there
+is in the human character something to correspond; impressions made on
+the retina are really made on the soul, and the mind becomes what it
+contemplates."
+
+The same author continues: "A man is not only _like_ what he sees,
+but he _is_ what he sees. The noble old Highlander has mountains in
+his soul, whose towering peaks point heavenward; and lakes in his
+bosom, whose glassy surface reflects the skies; and foaming cataracts
+in his heart to beautify the mountain side and irrigate the vale; and
+evergreen firs and mountain pines that show life and verdure even under
+winter skies!"
+
+"On the other hand," he writes, "the wandering nomad has a desert in
+his heart; its dead level reflects heat and hate; a sullen, barren
+plain--no goodness, no beauty, no dancing wave of joy, no gushing
+rivulet of love, no verdant hope. And it is an interesting fact that
+those who live in countries where natural scenery inspires the soul,
+and where the necessities of life bind to a permanent home, are always
+patriotic and high minded; and those who dwell in the desert are always
+pusillanimous and groveling!"
+
+If what this author writes be true, and the character of the Piedmont
+Virginians accords with the scenery around them, how their hearts must
+be filled with gentleness and charity inspired by the landscape which
+stretches far and fades in softness against the sky! How must their
+minds be filled with noble aspirations suggested by the "everlasting
+mountains!" How their souls must be filled with thoughts of heaven,
+as they look upon the glorious sunsets bathing the mountains in
+"rose-colored light;" with the towering peaks ever pointing heavenward
+and seeming to say: "Behold the glory of a world beyond!"[5]
+
+Beneath the shadow of the "Peaks" were many happy homes and true
+hearts, and among these memory recalls none more vividly than
+"Otterburn" and its inmates.
+
+"Otterburn" was the residence of a gentleman and his wife, who, having
+no children, devoted themselves to making their home attractive to
+visitors, in which they succeeded so well that they were rarely without
+company; for all who went once to see them went again and again.
+
+This gentleman's mind, character, accomplishments, manner and
+appearance marked him "rare"--"one in a century." Above his fellow
+men in greatness of soul, he could comprehend nothing "mean." His
+stature was tall and erect; his features bold; his countenance open and
+impressive; his mind vigorous and cultivated; his bearing dignified,
+but not haughty; his manners simple and attractive; his conversation
+so agreeable and enlivening that the dullest company became animated
+as soon as he came into the room. Truth and high-toned character were
+so unmistakably stamped upon him, that knowing him a day convinced one
+he could be trusted forever. Brought up in Scotland--the home of his
+ancestors--in him were blended the best points of Scotch and Virginia
+character; strict integrity and accuracy, with whole-souled generosity
+and hospitality.
+
+How many days and nights we passed at his house, and in childhood and
+youth, how many hours were entertained by his bright and instructive
+conversation! Especially delightful was it to hear his stories about
+Scotland, which brought before us vividly pictures of its lakes and
+mountains and castles. How often did we listen to his account of the
+wedding tour to Scotland, when he carried his Virginia bride to the old
+home at Greenock! And how often we laughed about the Scotch children,
+his nieces and nephews, who on first seeing his wife, clapped their
+hands and shouted, "Oh! mother, are you not glad uncle did not marry a
+black woman?" Hearing he was to marry a Virginian, they expected to see
+a savage Indian or negro! And some of the family who went to Liverpool
+to meet them, and were looking through spy glasses when the vessel
+landed, said they "were sure the Virginia lady had not come, because
+they saw no one among the passengers dressed in a red shawl and gaudy
+bonnet like an Indian!"
+
+From this we thought the Europeans must be very ignorant of our country
+and its inhabitants--and have learned since that their children are
+kept purposely ignorant of facts in regard to America and its people.
+
+Among many other recollections of this dear old friend of "Otterburn,"
+I shall never forget a dream he told us one night, which so impressed
+us that before his death we asked him to write it out, which he did,
+and as the copy is before me in his own handwriting, will insert it
+here:
+
+"About the time I became of age, I returned to Virginia for the
+purpose of looking after and settling my father's estate. Three years
+thereafter I received a letter from my only sister, informing me that
+she was going to be married, and pressing me in the most urgent manner
+to return to Scotland to be present at her marriage, and to attend to
+the drawing of the marriage contract. The letter gave me a good deal of
+trouble, as it did not suit me to leave Virginia at that time. I went
+to bed one night thinking much on this subject, but soon fell asleep
+and dreamed that I landed in Greenoch in the night time, and pushed for
+home, thinking I would take my aunt and sister by surprise.
+
+"When I arrived at the door, I found all still and quiet, and the
+out door locked--I thought, however, that I had in my pocket my
+check key, with which I quietly opened the door and groped my way
+into the sitting-room, but finding no one there I concluded they had
+gone to bed. I then went up stairs to their bed-room, and found that
+unoccupied. I then concluded they had taken possession of my bed-room
+in my absence, but not finding them there became very uneasy about
+them. Then it struck me they might be in the guest's chamber, a room
+down stairs kept exclusively for company. Upon going there I found the
+door partially open; I saw my aunt removing the burning coals from the
+top of the grate preparatory to going to bed. My sister was sitting up
+in bed, and as I entered the room, she fixed her eyes upon me, but did
+not seem to recognize me. I approached towards her, and in the effort
+to make myself known, awoke, and found it all a dream. At breakfast
+next morning, I felt wearied and sick, and could not eat; and told the
+family of my (dream) journey the overnight.
+
+"I immediately commenced preparing, and in a very short time returned
+to Scotland. I saw my sister married, and she and her husband set off
+on their 'marriage jaunt.' About a month thereafter they returned, and
+at dinner I commenced telling them of my dream, but observing they had
+quit eating and were staring at me, I laughed, and asked what was the
+matter; whereupon my brother-in-law very seriously asked me to go on.
+When I finished they asked me if I remembered the exact time of my
+dream. I told them it distressed and impressed me so strongly, that I
+noted it down at the time. I pulled out my pocket-book and shewed them
+the date, '14th day of May,' written in pencil. They all rose from the
+table and took me into the bed-room and shewed me written with pencil
+on the white mantle piece '14th of May.'
+
+"I asked them what that meant, and was informed that on that very
+night--and _the only night_ they ever occupied that room during my
+absence--my aunt was taking the coals off of the fire, when my sister
+screamed out, 'brother has come!'
+
+"My aunt scolded her, and said she was dreaming; but she said she
+had not been to sleep, was sitting up in bed, and _saw me_ enter the
+room, and run out when she screamed. So confident was she that she had
+seen me, and that I had gone off and hidden, that the whole house was
+thoroughly searched for me, and as soon as day dawned a messenger was
+sent to enquire if any vessel had arrived from America, or if I had
+been seen by any of my friends."
+
+No one can forget, who visited Otterburn, the smiling faces of the
+negro servants about the house, who received the guests with as
+true cordiality as did their mistress, expressing their pleasure by
+widespread mouths showing white teeth--very white by contrast with
+their jet black skin--and when the guests went away always insisted on
+their remaining longer.
+
+One of these negro women was not only an efficient servant, but a
+valued friend to her mistress.
+
+In the absence of her master and mistress she kept the keys, often
+entertaining their friends, who in passing from distant plantations
+were accustomed to stop, and who received from her a cordial welcome,
+finding on the table as many delicacies as if the mistress had been at
+home.
+
+No more sincere attachment could have existed than between this
+mistress and servant. At last, when the latter was seized with a
+contagious fever which ended her life, she could not have had a more
+faithful friend and nurse than was her mistress.
+
+The same fever attacked all the negroes on this plantation, and
+none can describe the anxiety, care and distress of their owners,
+who watched by their beds day and night, administering medicine and
+relieving the sick and dying.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+Among other early recollections is a visit with my mother to the
+plantation of a favorite cousin, not far from Richmond, and one
+of the handsomest seats on James river. This residence--Howard's
+Neck--was a favorite resort for people from Richmond and the adjacent
+counties; and, like many others on the river, always full of guests--a
+round of visiting and dinner parties being kept up from one house
+to another,--so that the ladies presiding over these establishments
+had no time to attend to domestic duties, which were left to their
+housekeepers, while they were employed entertaining visitors.
+
+The negroes on the these estates appeared lively and happy; that is,
+if singing and laughing indicates happiness; for they went to their
+work in the fields singing, and returned in the evening singing, after
+which they often spent the whole night visiting from one plantation to
+another, or dancing until day to the music of the banjo or "fiddle."
+These dances were wild and boisterous, their evolutions being like
+those of the savage dances, described by travelers in Africa. Although
+the most perfect timists, their music with its wild, melancholy
+cadence, half savage, half civilized, can not be imitated or described.
+Many a midnight were we wakened by their wild choruses, sung as they
+returned from a frolic or "corn shucking," sounding at first like some
+hideous, savage yell, but dying away on the air, echoing a cadence
+melancholy and indescribable, with a peculiar pathos, and yet without
+melody or sweetness.
+
+"Corn shuckings" were occasions of great hilarity and good eating.
+The negroes from various plantations assembled at night around a huge
+pile of corn. Selecting one among them, the most original, amusing and
+having the loudest voice, they called him "Captain." The "Captain"
+seated himself on top of the pile--a large lightwood torch burning in
+front of him--and while he shucked improvised words and music to a
+wild "recitative," the chorus of which was "caught up" by the army of
+"shuckers" around. The glare of the torches on the black faces, with
+the wild music and impromptu words, made a scene curious even to us who
+were so accustomed to it.
+
+After the corn was shucked they assembled around a table laden with
+roast pigs, mutton, beef, hams, cakes, pies, coffee, and other
+substantials--many participating in the supper who had not in the work.
+The laughing and merriment continued until one or two o'clock in the
+morning.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On these James river plantations were entertained often distinguished
+foreigners, who visiting Richmond desired to see something of Virginia
+country life. Mr. Thackeray was once entertained at one of them. But
+Dickens never visited them. Could he have passed a month, at any one
+of the homes I have described, he would have written something more
+flattering, I am sure, of Americans and American life than is found
+in "Martin Chuzzlewit" and "Notes on America." However, with these we
+should not quarrel, as some of the sketches--especially the one on
+"tobacco chewers," we can recognize.
+
+Every nation has a right to its prejudices--certainly the English
+towards the American--America appearing to the English eye a huge
+mushroom affair, the growth of a night and unsubstantial. But it is
+surely wrong to censure a whole nation--as some have done the Southern
+people--for the faults of a few. For although every nation has a right
+to its prejudices, none has a right, without thorough examination and
+acquaintance with the subject, to seize a few exaggerated accounts, of
+another nation by its enemies, and publish them as facts. The world in
+this way receives very erroneous impressions.
+
+For instance, we have no right to suppose the Germans a cruel race
+because of the following paragraph clipped from a recent newspaper:
+
+"The cruelty of German officers is a matter of notoriety, but an
+officer in an artillery regiment has lately gone beyond precedent in
+ingenuity of cruelty. Some of his men being insubordinate, he punished
+them by means of a 'spurring process,' which consisted in jabbing spurs
+persistently and brutally into their legs. By this process his men were
+so severely injured they had to go to the hospital."
+
+Neither have we a right to pronounce all Pennsylvanians cruel to their
+"helps," as they call them, because a Pennsylvania lady told me "the
+only way she could manage her 'help'"--a white girl fourteen years
+old--"was by holding her head under the pump and pumping water upon it
+until she lost her breath;" a process I could not have conceived, and
+which filled me with horror.
+
+But sorrow and oppression, we suppose, may be found in some form in
+every clime; and in every phase of existence some hearts are "weary and
+heavy laden." Even Dickens, whose mind naturally sought, and fed upon,
+the comic, saw wrong and oppression in the "humane institutions" of his
+own land!
+
+And Macaulay gives a painful picture of Madam D'Arblay's life as
+waiting maid to Queen Charlotte--from which we are not to infer,
+however, that all Queens are cruel to their waiting maids.
+
+Madam D'Arblay--whose maiden name was Frances Burney--was the first
+female novelist in England, who deserved and received the applause
+of her countrymen. The most eminent men of London paid homage to her
+genius. Johnson, Burke, Windham, Gibbon, Reynolds, Sheridan, were
+her friends and ardent eulogists. In the midst of her literary fame,
+surrounded by congenial friends, herself a star in this select and
+brilliant coterie, she was offered the place of waiting maid in the
+palace. She accepted the position, and bade farewell to all congenial
+friends and pursuits. "And now began," says Macaulay, "a slavery of
+five years--of five years taken from the best part of her life, and
+wasted in menial drudgery. The history of an ordinary day was this:
+Miss Burney had to rise and dress herself early, that she might be
+ready to answer the royal bell, which rang at half after seven. Till
+about eight she attended in the Queen's dressing-room, and had the
+honor of lacing her august mistress' stays, and of putting on the
+hoop, gown and neckhandkerchief. The morning was chiefly spent in
+rummaging drawers and laying fine clothes in their proper places. Then
+the Queen was to be powdered and dressed for the day. Twice a week her
+Majesty's hair had to be curled and craped; and this operation added a
+full hour to the business of the toilet. It was generally three before
+Miss Burney was at liberty. At five she had to attend her colleague,
+Madame Schwellenberg, a hateful old toadeater, as illiterate as a
+chamber-maid, proud, rude, peevish, unable to bear solitude, unable to
+conduct herself with common decency in society. With this delightful
+associate Frances Burney had to dine and pass the evening. The pair
+generally remained together from five to eleven, and often had no other
+company the whole time. Between eleven and twelve the bell rang again.
+Miss Burney had to pass a half hour undressing the Queen, and was then
+at liberty to retire.
+
+"Now and then, indeed, events occurred which disturbed the wretched
+monotony of Frances Burney's life. The court moved from Kew to Windsor,
+and from Windsor back to Kew.
+
+"A more important occurrence was the King's visit to Oxford. Then Miss
+Burney had the honor of entering Oxford in the last of a long string
+of carriages, which formed the royal procession, of walking after the
+Queen all day through refectories and chapels, and of standing half
+dead with fatigue and hunger, while her august mistress was seated at
+an excellent cold collation. At Magdalen College, Frances was left for
+a moment in a parlor, where she sank down on a chair. A good natured
+equerry saw that she was exhausted, and shared with her some apricots
+and bread, which he had wisely put in his pockets. At that moment the
+door opened, the Queen entered, the wearied attendants sprang up, the
+bread and fruit were hastily concealed.
+
+"After this the King became very ill, and during more than two years
+after his recovery Frances dragged on a miserable existence at the
+palace. Madame Schwellenberg became more and more insolent and
+intolerable, and now the health of poor Frances began to give way; and
+all who saw her pale face, her emaciated figure and her feeble walk,
+predicted that her sufferings would soon be over.
+
+"The Queen seems to have been utterly regardless of the _comfort_, the
+_health_, the _life_ of her attendants. Weak, feverish, hardly able to
+stand, Frances had still to rise before seven, in order to dress the
+sweet Queen, and sit up 'till midnight, in order to undress the sweet
+Queen. The indisposition of the handmaid could not, and _did not escape
+the notice of_ her royal mistress. But the _established doctrine of the
+court was, that all sickness_ was to be _considered as a pretence until
+it proved fatal_. The only way in which the invalid could clear herself
+from the suspicion of malingering, as it is called in the army, was
+to go on lacing and unlacing, _'till she felt down dead at the royal
+feet_."
+
+Finally Miss Burney's father pays her a visit in this palace prison
+when "she told him that she was miserable, that she was worn with
+attendance and want of sleep, that she had no comfort in life, nothing
+to love, nothing to hope, that her family and friends were to her
+as though they were not, and were remembered by her as men remember
+the dead. From daybreak to midnight the same killing labor, the same
+recreation, more hateful than labor itself, followed each other without
+variety, without any interval of liberty or repose."
+
+Her father's veneration for royalty amounting to idolatry, he could not
+bear to remove her from the court--"and, between the dear father and
+the sweet Queen, there seemed to be little doubt that some day or other
+Frances _would drop down a corpse_. Six months had elapsed since the
+interview between the parent and the daughter. The resignation was not
+sent in. The sufferer grew worse and worse. She took bark, but it soon
+failed to produce a beneficial effect. She was stimulated with wine;
+she was soothed with opium, but in vain. Her breath began to fail. The
+whisper that she was in a decline spread through the court. The pains
+in her side became so severe that she was forced to crawl from the card
+table of the old fury, Madame Schwellenberg, to whom she was tethered,
+three or four times in an evening, for the purpose of taking hartshorn.
+Had she been a negro slave, a humane planter would have excused her
+from work. But her Majesty showed no mercy. Thrice a day the accursed
+bell still rang; the Queen was still to be dressed for the morning at
+seven, and to be dressed for the day at noon, and to be undressed at
+midnight."
+
+At last Miss Burney's father was moved to compassion and allowed her
+to write a letter of resignation. "Still I could not," writes Miss
+Burney in her diary, "summon courage to present my memorial from seeing
+the Queen's entire freedom from such an expectation. For though I was
+frequently so ill in her presence that I could hardly stand, I saw she
+concluded me, while life remained, inevitably hers."
+
+"At last, with a trembling hand, the paper was delivered. Then came the
+storm. Madame Schwellenberg raved like a maniac. The resignation was
+not accepted. The father's fears were aroused, and he declared, in a
+letter meant to be shown to the Queen, that his daughter must retire.
+The Schwellenberg raged like a wild cat. A scene almost horrible ensued.
+
+"The Queen then promised that, after the next birthday, Miss Burney
+should be set at liberty. But the promise was ill kept; and her Majesty
+showed displeasure at being reminded of it."
+
+At length, however, the prison door was opened, and Frances was free
+once more. Her health was restored by traveling, and she returned to
+London in health and spirits. Macaulay tells us that she went to visit
+the palace, "her _old dungeon, and found her successor already far
+on the way to the grave, and kept to strict duty, from morning till
+midnight, with a sprained ankle and a nervous fever_."
+
+An ignorant and unlettered woman would doubtless not have found this
+life in the palace tedious, and our sympathy would not have been
+aroused for her; for as long as the earth lasts there must be human
+beings fitted for every station, and it is supposed, till the end of
+all things, there must be cooks, housemaids and dining-room servants,
+which will make it never possible for the whole human family to stand
+entirely upon the same platform socially and intellectually. And Miss
+Burney's wretchedness, which calls forth our sympathy, was not because
+she had to perform the duties of waiting-maid, but because to a gifted
+and educated woman these duties were uncongenial; and congeniality
+means _happiness_; uncongeniality _unhappiness_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+From the sorrows of Miss Burney in the palace--a striking contrast
+with the menials described in our own country homes--I will return to
+another charming place on James river--Powhatan Seat--a mile below
+Richmond, which had descended in the Mayo family two hundred years.
+
+Here, it was said, the Indian chief Powhatan had lived, and here was
+shown the veritable stone supposed to have been the one upon which
+Captain Smith's head was laid, when the Indian princess Pocahontas
+rescued him.
+
+This historic stone, near the parlor window, was only an ugly, dark,
+broad, flat stone, but imagination pictured ever around it the Indian
+group; Smith's head upon it; the infuriated chief with uplifted club in
+the act of dealing the death blow; the grief and shriek of Pocahontas,
+as she threw herself upon Smith imploring her father to spare him--a
+piercing cry to have penetrated the heart of the savage king!
+
+Looking out from the parlor window and imagining this savage scene, how
+strange a contrast with the picture which met the eye within! Around
+the fireside assembled the loveliest family group, where kindness and
+affection beamed in every eye, and father, mother, brothers and sisters
+were linked together by tenderest devotion and sympathy.
+
+If natural scenery reflects itself upon the heart no wonder a "holy
+calm" rested upon this family, for far down the river the prospect was
+peace and tranquility; and many an evening in the summer house on the
+river bank, we drank in the beauty of soft blue skies, green isles and
+white sails floating in the distance.
+
+Many in Richmond remember the delightful weddings and parties at
+Powhatan Seat, where assembled the elite from Richmond, with an
+innumerable throng of cousins, aunts and uncles from Orange and
+Culpeper counties.
+
+On these occasions the house was illuminated by wax-lights issuing from
+bouquets of magnolia leaves placed around the walls near the ceiling,
+and looking prettier than any glass chandelier.
+
+We, from a distance, generally stayed a week after the wedding,
+becoming, as it were, a part of the family circle; and the bride did
+not rush off on a tour as is the fashion now-a-days, but remained
+quietly enjoying family, home and friends.
+
+Another feature I have omitted in describing our weddings and
+parties--invariably a part of the picture--was the sea of black faces
+surrounding the doors and windows to look on the dancing, hear the
+music and afterwards get a good share of the supper.
+
+Tourists often went to walk around the beautiful grounds at Powhatan--so
+neatly kept with sea shells around the flowers, and pleasant seats
+under the lindens and magnolias--and to see the historic stone; but
+I often thought they knew not what was missed in not knowing--as we
+did--the lovely family within.
+
+But, for us, those rare, beautiful days at Powhatan are gone forever;
+for since the war the property has passed into stranger hands, and the
+family who once owned it will own it no more.
+
+During the late war heavy guns were placed in the family burying
+ground on this plantation,--a point commanding the river--and here
+was interred the child of a distinguished General[6] in the Northern
+army--a Virginian, formerly in the United States army--who had married
+a member of the Powhatan family. He was expected to make an attack upon
+Richmond, and over his child's grave was placed a gun to fire upon
+him. Such are the unnatural incidents of civil war.
+
+About two miles from Powhatan Seat was another beautiful old
+place--Mount Erin--the plantation formerly of a family all of whom,
+except two sisters had died. The estate becoming involved had to be
+sold, which so grieved and distressed these sisters that they passed
+hours weeping, if accidentally the name of their old home was mentioned
+in their presence.
+
+Once when we were at Powhatan--and these ladies were among the
+guests--a member of the Powhatan family ordered the carriage, and took
+my sister and myself to Mount Erin, telling us to keep it a secret when
+we returned, for "the sisters," said she, "would neither eat nor sleep
+if reminded of their old home."
+
+A pleasant drive brought us to Mount Erin, and when we saw the box
+hedges, gravel-walks and linden trees we were no longer surprised at
+the grief of the sisters whose hearts entwined around their old home.
+The house was in charge of an old negro woman--the purchaser not
+having moved in--who showed us over the grounds; and every shrub and
+flower seemed to speak of days gone by. Even the ivy on the old bricks
+looked gloomy as if mourning the light, mirth and song departed from
+the house forever; and the walks gave back a deadened echo, as if they
+wished not to be disturbed by stranger tread. All seemed in a reverie,
+dreaming a long sweet dream of the past--and entering into the grief of
+the sisters, who lived afterwards many years in a pleasant home, on a
+pleasant street in Richmond, with warm friends to serve them, yet their
+tears never ceased to flow at mention of Mount Erin.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One more plantation picture, and enough will have been described to
+show the character of the homes and people on our plantations.
+
+The last place visited by my sister and myself before the war of 1861,
+was "Elkwood," a fine estate in Culpeper county, four miles from the
+railroad station.
+
+It was the last of June. The country was a scene of enchantment, as the
+carriage rolled us through dark, cool forests, green meadows, fields of
+waving grain; out of the forest into acres of broad leaved corn; across
+pebbly-bottomed streams, and along the margin of the Rapidan which
+flowed at the base of the hill leading up to the house.
+
+The house was square and white, and the blinds green as the grass lawn
+and trees in the yard. Inside the house, the polished "dry rubbed"
+floors clean and cool, refreshed one on entering like a glass of
+ice-lemonade on a midsummer's day. The old fashioned furniture against
+the walls looked as if it thought too much of itself to be set about
+promiscuously over the floor, like modern fauteuils and divans.
+
+About everything was an air of dignity and repose corresponding with
+the manners and appearance of the proprietors, who were called "Uncle
+Dick" and "Aunt Jenny"--the _a_ in aunt pronounced very broad.
+
+"Aunt Jenny" and "Uncle Dick" had no children, but took care of
+numerous nieces and nephews; kept their house filled to overflowing
+with friends, relatives and strangers, and were revered and beloved by
+all. They had no pleasure so great as taking care of other people. They
+lived for other people, and made everybody comfortable and happy around
+them. From the time "Uncle Dick" had prayers in the morning until
+family prayers at bed time they were busy bestowing some kindness.
+
+"Uncle Dick's" character and manners were of a type so high that one
+felt elevated in his presence; and a desire to reach his standard
+animated those who knew him. His precept and example were such that all
+who followed them might arrive at the highest perfection of Christian
+character.
+
+"Uncle Dick" had requested "Aunt Jenny" when they were married--forty
+years before--to have on his table every day, dinner enough for six
+more persons than were already in the house, "in case," he said, "he
+should meet friends or acquaintances while riding over his plantation
+or in the neighborhood, whom he wished to ask home with him to dinner."
+This having been always a rule, "Aunt Jenny" never sat at her table
+without dinner enough for six more, and her's were no commonplace
+dinners; no hasty puddings; no salaratus bread; no soda cakes; no
+frozen-starch-ice-cream; no modern shorthand recipes--but genuine old
+Virginia cooking. And all who want to know what that was, can find
+out all about it in "Aunt Jenny's" book of copied recipes--if it is
+extant--or in Mrs. Harrison's, of Brandon. But as neither of these
+books may ever be known to the public, their "sum and substance" may be
+given in a few words:
+
+"Have no shams. Procure an abundance of the freshest, richest, _real_
+cream, milk, eggs, butter, lard, best old Madeira wine, all the way
+from Madeira, and never use a particle of soda or salaratus about
+anything or under any pressure."
+
+These were the ingredients "Aunt Jenny" used--for "Uncle Dick" had
+rare old wine in his cellar which he had brought from Europe, thirty
+years before--and every day was a feast day at Elkwood. And the wedding
+breakfasts "Aunt Jenny" used to "get up" when one of her nieces married
+at her house--as they sometimes did--were beyond description.
+
+While at Elkwood, observing every day, that the carriage went to the
+depot empty, and returned empty, we enquired the reason, and were
+informed that "Uncle Dick," ever since the cars had been passing near
+his plantation, ordered his coachman to have the carriage every day at
+the station, "in case some of his friends might be on the train, and
+might like to stop and see him!"
+
+Another hospitable rule in "Uncle Dick's" house was, that company
+must never be kept "waiting" in his parlor, and so anxious was his
+young niece to meet his approbation in this as in every particular,
+that she had a habit of dressing herself carefully, arranging her
+hair beautifully--it was in the days too when smooth hair was
+fashionable--before laying down for the afternoon siesta, "in case,"
+she said, "some one might call, and 'Uncle Dick' had a horror of
+visitors waiting." This process of reposing in a fresh muslin dress
+and fashionably arranged hair, required a particular and uncomfortable
+position, which she seemed not to mind, but dozed in the most precise
+manner without rumpling her hair or her dress.
+
+Elkwood was a favorite place of resort for Episcopal ministers, whom
+"Aunt Jenny" and "Uncle Dick" loved to entertain. And here we met the
+Rev. Mr. S----, the learned divine, eloquent preacher and charming
+companion. He had just returned from a visit to England, where he had
+been entertained in palaces. Telling us the incidents of his visit, "I
+was much embarrassed at first," said he, "at the thought of attending
+a dinner party given in a palace to me,--a simple Virginian,--but on
+being announced at the drawing-room door, and entering the company I
+felt at once at ease, for they were all ladies and gentlemen--such as I
+had known at home, polite, pleasant and without pretence."
+
+This gentleman's conversational powers were not only bright and
+delightful, but also the means of turning many to righteousness; for
+religion was one of his chief themes.
+
+A proof of his genius and eloquence was given in the beautiful
+poem recited--without ever having been written--at the centennial
+anniversary of old Christ church in Alexandria. This was the church in
+which General Washington and his family had worshiped, and around it
+clustered many memories. Mr. S., with several others, had been invited
+to make an address on the occasion, and one night while thinking about
+it an exquisite poem passed through his mind, picturing scene after
+scene in the old church. General Washington with his head bowed in
+silent prayer; infants at the baptismal font; young men and maidens in
+bridal array at the altar, and funeral trains passing through the open
+gate.
+
+On the night of the celebration when his turn came, finding the hour
+too late, and the audience too sleepy for his prose address, he
+suddenly determined to "dash off" the poem, every word of which came
+back to him, although he had never written it. The audience roused up
+electrified, and as the recitation proceeded, their enthusiasm reached
+the highest pitch. Never had there been such a sensation in the old
+church before. And next morning the house at which he was stopping was
+besieged by reporters begging "copies" and offering good prices, but
+the poem remains unwritten to this day.
+
+Elkwood--like many other old homes--was burned by the Northern army in
+1862, and not a tree or flower remains to mark the spot, for so many
+years the abode of hospitality and good cheer.
+
+In connection with Culpeper it is due here to state that this
+county excelled all others in ancient and dilapidated buggies and
+carriages--seeming a regular infirmary for all the disabled vehicles
+of the Old Dominion. Here their age and infirmities received every
+care and consideration, being propped up, tied up and bandaged up in
+every conceivable manner; and strangest of all, rarely depositing their
+occupants in the road, which was prevented by cautious old gentlemen
+riding alongside, who watching out, and discovering the weakest points,
+stopped and securely tied up fractured parts with bits of twine, rope
+or chain, always carried in buggy or carriage boxes for that purpose.
+These surgical operations, although not ornamental, strengthened and
+sustained these venerable vehicles, and produced a longevity miraculous.
+
+Many more sketches might be given of pleasant country homes--worthy
+a better pen than mine--for Brandon, Westover, Shirley, Carter Hall,
+Lauderdale, Vaucluse, and others, linger in the memory of hundreds
+who once knew and loved them. Especially Vaucluse, which although
+far removed from railroads, stage coaches and public conveyances was
+overflowing with company throughout the year. For the Vaucluse girls
+were so bright, so fascinating, so bewitchingly pretty, they attracted
+a concourse of visitors, and were sure to be belles wherever they went.
+
+And many remember the owner of Vaucluse--that pure hearted Christian
+and cultivated gentleman, who, late in life, devoted himself to the
+Episcopal ministry, and labored faithfully in the Master's cause
+preaching in country churches, "without money, and without price."
+Surely his reward is in heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Besides these well ordered establishments, there were some others
+owned by inactive men, who smoked their pipes, read their books, left
+everything very much to the management of their negroes and seemed
+content to let things tumble down around them.
+
+One of these places we used to call "Topsy-Turvy Castle," and another
+"Haphazard."
+
+At such places the negro quarters--instead of neat rows of white
+cabins in rear of the house, as on other plantations--occupied a
+conspicuous place near the front, and consisted of a solid, long, ugly
+brick structure, with swarms of negroes around the windows and doors,
+appearing to have nothing in the world to do, and never to have done
+anything.
+
+Everything had a "shackling," lazy appearance. The master was
+always--it appeared to us--reading a newspaper in the front porch, and
+never observing anything that was going on. The house was so full of
+idle negroes standing about the halls and stairways, one could scarcely
+make one's way up or down stairs. Everything needed repair, from the
+bed you slept upon, to the family coach which took you to church.
+
+Few of the chairs had all their rounds and legs; and when completely
+disabled were sent to the garret, where they accumulated in great
+numbers, and remained until pressing necessity induced the master to
+raise his eyes from his paper long enough to order "Dick" to, "take the
+four-horse-wagon and carry the chairs to be mended."
+
+A multitude of "kinsfolk and acquaintance" usually congregated
+here. And at one place, in order to accommodate so many, there were
+four beds in a chamber. These high bedsteads presented a remarkable
+appearance--the head of one going into the side of another, the foot of
+one into the head of another, and so on, looking as if they had never
+been "placed," but their curious juxtaposition had been the result of
+some earthquake.
+
+[One of these houses is said to have been greatly improved in
+appearance during the war by the passage of a cannon ball through the
+upper story, where a window had been needed for many years.]
+
+But the owners of these places were so genuinely good, one could not
+complain of them even for such carelessness. For everybody was welcome
+to everything. You might stop the plows if you wanted a horse, or take
+the carriage and drive for a week's journey, and, in short, impose upon
+these good people in every conceivable way.
+
+Yet in spite of this topsy-turvy management--a strange fact connected
+with such places--they invariably had good light bread, good mutton,
+and the usual abundance on their tables.
+
+We suppose it must have been a recollection of such plantations which
+induced the negro to exclaim, on hearing another sing, "Ole Virginny
+nubber tire." "Umph! ole _Virginny_ nubber tire, kase she nubber done
+nuthin' fur to furtigue herself!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+Confining these reminiscences strictly to plantation life, no mention
+has been made of the families we knew and visited in some of our
+cities, whose kindness to their slaves was unmistakable, and who owning
+only a small number could better afford to indulge them.
+
+At one of these houses, this indulgence was such that the white family
+were very much under the control of their servants.
+
+The owner of this house--an eminent lawyer--was a man of taste and
+learning, whose legal ability attracted many admirers, and whose
+refinement, culture and generous nature won enthusiastic friends.
+
+Although considered the owner of his house, it was a mistake--if
+ownership means the right to govern one's own property--for beyond
+his law papers, library and the privilege of paying all the bills,
+this gentleman had no "rights" there whatever; his house, kitchen and
+premises being under the entire command of "Aunt Fanny," the cook--a
+huge mulatto woman whose word was law, and whose voice thundered abuse
+if any dared to disobey her.
+
+The master, mistress, family and visitors all stood in awe of
+"Aunt Fanny," and yet could not do without her, for she made such
+unapproachable light bread, and conducted the affairs of the place with
+such distinguished ability.
+
+Her own house was in the yard, and had been built especially for her
+convenience. Her furniture was polished mahogany, and she kept most
+delicious preserves, pickles and sweet meats of her own manufacture
+with which to regale her friends and favorites. As we came under that
+head, we were often treated to these when we went in to see her after
+her day's work was over, or on Sundays.
+
+Although she "raved and stormed" considerably--which she told us she
+"was obliged to do, _honey_, to keep things straight"--she had the
+tenderest regard for her master and mistress, and often said: "If it
+warnt for _me_, they'd have nuthin' in the world, and things here would
+go to destruction."
+
+So Aunt Fanny "kept up this family," as she said, for many years, and
+many amusing incidents might be related of her.
+
+On one occasion, her master after a long and excited political
+contest was elected to the Legislature. Before all the precincts had
+been heard from--believing himself defeated--he retired to rest, and
+being naturally feeble, was quite worn out. But at midnight a great
+cry arose at his gate, where a multitude assembled, screaming and
+hurrahing. At first he was uncertain whether they were friends to
+congratulate him on his victory, or the opposite party to hang him--as
+they had threatened--for voting an appropriation to the Danville
+railroad. It soon appeared they had come to congratulate him, when
+great excitement prevailed, loud cheers and cries for a speech. The
+doors were opened and the crowed rushed in. The hero soon appeared and
+delivered one of his graceful and satisfactory speeches.
+
+Still the crowd remained cheering and "storming" about the house, until
+Aunt Fanny, who had made her appearance in full dress, considering
+the excitement had been kept up long enough, and that the master's
+health was too delicate for any further demonstration, determined to
+disperse them. Rising to her full height, waving her hand and speaking
+majestically she said: "Gentlemen! Mars Charles is a feeble pusson, and
+it is time for him to take his res'. He's been kep' 'wake long enough
+now, and it's time for me to close up dese doors!"
+
+With this the crowd dispersed and "Aunt Fanny" remained mistress of the
+situation, declaring that, "ef she hadn't come forward and 'spersed dat
+crowd, Mars Charles would have been a dead man befo' mornin'!"
+
+"Aunt Fanny" kept herself liberally supplied with pocket money--one
+of her chief sources of revenue being soap, which she made in large
+quantities and sold at high prices; especially what she called her
+"butter soap," which was in great demand, and which was made from all
+the butter which she did not consider fresh enough for the delicate
+appetites of her mistress and master. She appropriated one of the
+largest basement rooms, had it shelved and filled it with soap. In
+order to carry on business so extensively huge logs were kept blazing
+on the kitchen hearth under the soap pot day and night. During the war,
+wood becoming scarce and expensive, "Mars Charles" found it drained his
+purse to keep the kitchen fire supplied.
+
+Thinking the matter over one day in his library, and concluding it
+would greatly lessen his expenses if Aunt Fanny could be prevailed
+upon to discontinue her soap trade, he sent for her, and said, _very
+mildly_: "Fanny, I have a proposition to make you."
+
+"What is it, Mars Charles?"
+
+"Well Fanny, as my expenses are very heavy now, if you will give up
+your soap boiling for this year, I will agree to pay you fifty dollars."
+
+With arms akimbo, and looking at him with astonishment, but firmness in
+her eye, she replied: "Couldn't possibly do it, Mars Charles. Because
+_soap_, sir, _soap's_ my _main_-tain-ance!"
+
+With this she strided majestically out of the room. "Mars Charles" said
+no more but continued paying fabulous sums for wood, while "Aunt Fanny"
+continued boiling her soap.
+
+This woman not only ordered, but kept all the family supplies, her
+mistress having no disposition to keep the keys or in any way interfere
+with her.
+
+But at last her giant strength gave way, and she sickened and died.
+Having no children she left her property to one of her fellow servants.
+
+Several days before her death, we were sitting with her mistress and
+master in a room overlooking her house. Her room was crowded with
+negroes who had come to perform their religious rites around the
+death bed. Joining hands they performed a savage dance, shouting
+wildly around her bed. This was horrible to hear and see, especially
+as in this family every effort had been made to instruct their negro
+dependents in the truths of religion; and one member of the family, who
+spent the greater part of her life in prayer, had for years prayed for
+"Aunt Fanny," and tried to instruct her in the true faith. But although
+an intelligent woman, she seemed to cling to the superstitions of her
+race.
+
+After the savage dance and rites were over, and while we sat talking
+about it, a gentleman--the friend and minister of the family--came in.
+We described to him what we had just witnessed, and he deplored it
+bitterly with us, saying he had read and prayed with "Aunt Fanny" and
+tried to make her see the truth in Jesus. He then marked some passages
+in the Bible, and asked me to go and read them to her. I went, and
+said to her: "Aunt Fanny, here are some verses Mr. Mitchell has marked
+for me to read to you, and he hopes you will pray to the Savior as he
+taught you." Then said I, "we are afraid the noise and dancing have
+made you worse."
+
+Speaking feebly, she replied: "Honey, that kind of religion suits us
+black folks better than your kind. What suits Mars Charles' mind, don't
+suit mine."
+
+And thus died the most intelligent of her race--one who had been
+surrounded by pious persons who had been praying for her, and
+endeavoring to instruct her. She had also enjoyed through life not only
+the comforts, but many of the luxuries of earth--and when she died, her
+mistress and master lost a sincere friend.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+This chapter will show how "Virginia beat-biscuit" procured for a man a
+home and friends in Paris.
+
+One morning in the spring of 18-- a singular looking man presented
+himself at our house. He was short of stature, and enveloped in furs
+although the weather was not cold. Everything about him was gold which
+could be gold, and so we called him "the gold-tipped-man." He called
+for my mother, and when she went in the parlor said to her:
+
+"Madam I have been stopping several weeks at the hotel in the town of
+L----, where I met a boy--Robert--who tells me he belongs to you. As
+I want such a servant, and he is anxious to travel, I come, at his
+request, to ask if you will let me buy him and take him to Europe. I
+will pay any price."
+
+"I could not think of it," she replied. "I have determined never to
+sell one of my servants."
+
+"But," continued the man, "he is anxious to go, and has sent me to beg
+you."
+
+"It is impossible," said she, "for he is a great favorite with us, and
+the only child his mother has."
+
+Finding her determined, the man took his leave, and went back to the
+town, twenty-five miles off; but returned next day accompanied by
+Robert, who entreated his mother and mistress to let him go.
+
+Said my mother to him: "Would you leave your mother and go with a
+stranger to a foreign land?"
+
+"Yes, madam. I love my mother, and you and all your family--you have
+always been so good to me--but I want to travel, and this gentleman
+says he will give me plenty of money and be very kind to me."
+
+Still she refused. But the boy's mother, finally yielding to his
+entreaty, consented, and persuaded her mistress, saying, "if he is
+willing to leave me, and so anxious to go I will give him up."
+
+Knowing how distressed we all would be at parting with him, he went off
+without coming to say "good bye," and wrote his mother from New York
+what day he would sail with his new master for Europe.
+
+At first his mother received from him presents and letters, telling her
+he was very much delighted, and "had as much money as he knew what to
+do with." But after a few months he ceased to write, and we could hear
+nothing from him.
+
+At length, when eighteen months had elapsed, one day we were astonished
+to see him return home, dressed in the best Parisian style. We were
+rejoiced to see him again, and his own joy at getting back cannot be
+described. He ran over the yard and house examining everything, and
+said: "Mistress, I have seen many fine places in Europe, but none to me
+as pretty as this, and I have seen no lady equal to you. And I have had
+no water to drink as good as this--and I have dreamed about every chair
+and table in this house, and wondered if I would ever get back here
+again."
+
+He then gave us a sketch of his life since the "gold-tipped" man had
+become his master. Arrived in Paris, his master and himself took
+lodgings at the Hotel de Ville. A teacher was employed to come every
+day and instruct Robert in French. His master kept him well supplied
+with money, never giving him less than fifty dollars at a time. His
+duties were light, and he had ample time to study and amuse himself.
+
+After enjoying such elegant ease for eight or nine months, he waked
+one morning and found himself deserted and penniless! His master had
+absconded in the night, leaving no vestige of himself except a gold
+dressing case and a few toilette articles of gold, which were seized by
+the proprietor of the hotel in payment of his bill.
+
+Poor Robert, without money and without a friend in this great city,
+knew not where to turn. In vain he wished himself back in his old home.
+
+"If I could only find some Virginian to whom I could appeal," said he
+to himself. And suddenly it occurred to him that the American Minister,
+Mr. Mason, was a Virginian. When he remembered this his heart was
+cheered, and he lost no time in finding Mr. Mason's house.
+
+Presenting himself before the American Minister, he related his story,
+which was not at first believed. "For," said Mr. Mason, "there are so
+many impostors in Paris, it is impossible to believe you."
+
+Robert protested he had been a slave in Virginia--had been deserted by
+his owner in Paris, and begged Mr. Mason to keep him at his house, and
+take care of him.
+
+Then Mr. M. asked many questions about people and places in Virginia,
+all which were accurately answered. Finally, he said: "I knew well the
+Virginia gentleman who was, you say, your master. What was the color of
+his hair?" This was also satisfactorily answered, and Robert began to
+hope he was believed, when Mr. Mason continued:
+
+"Now there is one thing, which if you can do, will convince me you
+came from Virginia. Go in my kitchen and make me some old Virginia
+beat-biscuit, and I will believe everything you have said!"
+
+"I think I can do that, sir," said Robert, and going in the kitchen,
+rolled up his sleeves and set to work.
+
+This was a desperate moment, for he had never made a biscuit in his
+life, although he had often watched the proceeding as "Black Mammy,"
+the cook at home, used to beat, roll and manipulate the dough on her
+biscuit box.
+
+"If I only could make them look like her's!" thought he, as he beat,
+and rolled, and worked and finally stuck the dough all over with a
+fork. Then cutting them out, and putting them to bake, he watched them
+with nervous anxiety until they resembled those he had often placed on
+the table at home.
+
+Astonished and delighted with his success, he carried them to the
+American Minister, who exclaimed: "Now I _know_ you came from old
+Virginia!"
+
+Robert was immediately installed in Mr. M.'s house, where he remained a
+faithful attendant until Mr. Mason's death, when he returned with the
+family to America.
+
+Arriving at New York he thought it impossible to get along by himself,
+and determined to find his master. For this purpose he employed
+a policeman, and together they succeeded in recovering "the lost
+master"--this being a singular instance of a "slave in pursuit of his
+fugitive master."
+
+The "gold-tipped" man expressed much pleasure at his servant's
+fidelity, and handing him a large sum of money desired him to return
+to Paris, pay his bill, bring back his gold dressing box and toilette
+articles, and, as a reward for his fidelity, take as much money as he
+wished and travel over the continent.
+
+Robert obeyed these commands, returned to Paris, paid the bills,
+traveled over the chief places in Europe and then came again to New
+York. Here he was appalled to learn that his master had been arrested
+for forgery, and imprisoned in Philadelphia. It was ascertained that
+the forger was an Englishman and connected with an underground forging
+establishment in Paris. Finding himself about to be detected in Paris
+he fled to New York, and other forgeries having been discovered in
+Philadelphia, he had been arrested.
+
+Robert lost no time in reporting himself at the prison, and was grieved
+to find his master in such a place.
+
+Determining to do what he could to relieve the man who had been a good
+friend to him, he went to a Philadelphia lawyer, and said to him: "Sir,
+the man who is in prison, bought me in Virginia, and has been a kind
+master to me; I have no money, but if you will do your best to have him
+acquitted, I will return to the South, sell myself and send you the
+money."
+
+"It is a bargain," replied the lawyer. "Send me the money, and I will
+save your master from the penitentiary."
+
+Robert returned to Baltimore, sold himself to a Jew in that city,
+and sent the money to the lawyer in Philadelphia. After this he was
+bought by a distinguished Southern Senator--afterwards a General in the
+Southern army--with whom he remained, and to whom he rendered valuable
+services during the war.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Other instances were known of negroes who preferred being sold into
+slavery rather than take care of themselves. There were some in our
+immediate neighborhood, who finding themselves emancipated by their
+master's will, begged the owners of neighboring plantations to buy
+them, saying they preferred having "white people to take care of them."
+On the "Wheatly" plantation--not far from us--there is still living an
+old negro who sold himself in this way, and cannot be persuaded _now_
+to accept his freedom. After the war, when all the negroes were freed
+by the Federal Government, and our people too much impoverished longer
+to clothe and feed them, this old man refused to leave the plantation,
+but clung to his cabin, although his wife and family moved off and
+begged him to accompany them.
+
+"No," said he, "I nuver will leave this plantation, and go off to
+starve with free niggers."
+
+Not even when his wife was very sick and dying could he be persuaded to
+go off and stay one night with her. He had long been too old to work,
+but his former owners indulged him by giving him his cabin, and taking
+care of him through all the poverty which has fallen upon our land
+since the war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+O, bright winged peace! Long did'st thou rest o'er the homes of old
+Virginia; while cheerful wood fires blazed on hearthstones in parlor
+and cabin, reflecting contented faces with hearts full of "peace and
+good will towards men!" No thought entered there of harm to others; no
+fear of evil to ourselves. Whatsoever things were honest; whatsoever
+things were pure; whatsoever things were gentle; whatsoever things
+were of good report, we were accustomed to hear 'round these parlor
+firesides; and often would our grandmothers say:
+
+"Children our's is a blessed country! There never will be another war!
+The Indians have long ago been driven out, and it has been nearly a
+hundred years since the English yoke was broken!"
+
+The history of our country was contained in two pictures: "The last
+battle with the Indians" and "The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at
+Yorktown."
+
+No enemies within or without our borders, and peace established among
+us forever! Such was our belief. And we wondered that men should get
+together and talk their dry politics, seeing that General Washington
+and Thomas Jefferson--two of our Virginia plantation men--had
+established a government to last as long as the earth, and which could
+not be improved. Yet they _would_ talk--these politicians--around
+our parlor fire, where often our patience was exhausted hearing
+discussions, in which we could not take interest, about the "Protective
+Tariff;" the "Bankrupt Law;" the "Distribution of Public Lands;" the
+"Resolutions of '98;" the "Missouri Compromise," and the "Monroe
+Doctrine." These topics seemed to afford them intense pleasure and
+satisfaction, for as the "sparks fly upward" the thoughts of men turn
+to politics.
+
+Feeling no ill will towards any tribe, people or nation on the globe,
+and believing that all felt a friendly regard for us, how could we
+believe, when we heard it, that a nation not far off--to whom we had
+yearly "carried up" a tithe of all we possessed, and whose coffers
+we helped to fill--were subscribing large sums of money to destroy
+us? We could not, would not believe it. Yet we were told that this
+nation--towards whom we felt no animosity--brought up their children to
+believe that they would do God service by reviling and persecuting us.
+Nay more--that their ministers of the gospel preached unto them thus:
+
+"Thou shalt carry fire and sword into the land that lieth South of you.
+Thou shalt make it a desolate waste. Thou shalt utterly root out and
+annihilate the people that they be no more a people. Thou shalt write
+books. Thou shalt form societies for the purpose of planning the best
+means of attacking secretly and destroying this people. Thou shalt send
+emissaries. Thou shalt stir up the nations abroad against them. Thou
+shalt prepare weapons of war, and in every way incite their negroes to
+rise at night and slay them."
+
+Around our firesides we asked: "Can this be true?"
+
+Alas! alas! it was true; and the first expedition sent against us was
+led by a man from the Adirondack Mountains in the North, who in 1859,
+with a small band armed with pikes, clubs and guns, attacked one of our
+villages at night.[7]
+
+The news of this blanched the cheeks of our maidens, and the children
+nestled closer round their mother's knee at evening twilight, for who
+could tell what might befall our plantation homes before morning! The
+hearts of women and children grew sick and faint. But the hearts of
+our men and boys grew brave and strong--and would they have been the
+countrymen of Washington had they not thought of war?
+
+About this time we had a visit from two old friends of our family--a
+distinguished Southern Senator and the Secretary of War--both
+accustomed to swaying multitudes by the power of their eloquence--which
+lost none of its force and charm in our little home circle. We listened
+with admiration as they discussed the political issues of the day--no
+longer a subject uninteresting or unintelligible to us, for every
+word was of vital importance. Their theme was, "the best means of
+protecting our plantation homes and firesides." Even the smallest
+children now comprehended the greatest politicians.
+
+Now came the full flow and tide of Southern eloquence--real,
+soul-inspiring eloquence!
+
+Many possessing this gift were in the habit of visiting us at that
+time; and all dwelt upon one theme--the secession of Virginia--with
+glowing words from hearts full of enthusiasm; all agreeing it was
+better for States, as well as individuals, to separate rather than
+quarrel or fight.
+
+But there was one--our oldest and best friend--who differed with these
+gentlemen; and his eloquence was gentle and effective. Unlike his
+friends whose words, earnest and electric, overwhelmed all around, this
+gentleman's power was in his composure of manner without vehemence. His
+words were well selected without seeming to have been studied; each
+sentence was short, but contained a gem, like a solitaire diamond.
+
+For several months this gentleman remained untouched by the fiery
+eloquence of his friends--like the Hebrew children in the burning
+furnace. Nothing affected him until one day, the President of the
+United States demanded by telegraph 50,000 Virginians to join an army
+against South Carolina. And then this gentleman felt convinced it was
+not the duty of Virginians to join an army against their friends.
+
+About this time we had some very interesting letters from the Hon.
+Edward Everett--who had been for several years a friend and agreeable
+correspondent--giving us his views on the subject, and very soon after
+this all communication between the North and South ceased, except
+through the blockade, for four long years.
+
+And then came the long dark days; the days when the sun seemed to shine
+no more; when the eyes of wives, mothers and sisters were heavy with
+weeping; when men sat up late in the night studying military tactics;
+when grief-burdened hearts turned to God in prayer.
+
+The intellectual gladiators who had discoursed eloquently of war around
+our fireside, buckled their armor on and went forth to battle.
+
+Band after band of brave-hearted, bright-faced youths from Southern
+plantation homes came to bleed and die on Virginia soil; and for four
+long years old Virginia was one great camping ground, hospital and
+battle field. The roar of cannon and the clash of arms resounded over
+the land. The groans of the wounded and dying went up from hillside and
+valley. The hearts of women and children were sad and careworn. But
+God, to whom they prayed, protected them in our plantation homes--where
+no white men or even boys remained--all having gone into the army.
+Only the negro slaves stayed with us, and these were encouraged by our
+enemies to rise and slay us; but God in His mercy willed otherwise.
+Although advised to burn our property and incited by the enemy to
+destroy their former owners, these negro slaves remained faithful,
+manifesting kindness, and in many instances protecting the white
+families and plantations during their masters' absence.
+
+Oh! the long terrible nights helpless women and children passed, in our
+plantation homes; the enemy encamped around them; the clash of swords
+heard against the doors and windows; the report of guns on the air
+which might be sending death to their loved ones.
+
+But why try to describe the horrors of such nights? Who that has not
+experienced them can know how we felt? Who can imagine the heart
+sickness, when stealing to an upper window at midnight we watched the
+fierce flames rising from some neighboring home, expecting our own to
+be destroyed by the enemy before daylight in the same way?
+
+Such pictures, dark and fearful, were the only ones familiar to us in
+old Virginia those four dreadful years.
+
+At last the end came--the end which seemed to us saddest of all. But
+God knoweth best. Though "through fiery trials" He had caused us to
+pass, He had not forsaken us. For was not His mercy signally shown in
+the failure of the enemy to incite our negro slaves to insurrection
+during the war? Through His mercy those who were expected to become
+our enemies, remained our friends. And in our own home, surrounded by
+the enemy those terrible nights, our only guard was a faithful negro
+servant who slept in the house, and went out every hour to see if we
+were in immediate danger; while his mother--the kind old nurse--sat all
+night in a rocking chair in our room, ready to help us. Had we not then
+amidst all our sorrows much to be thankful for?
+
+Among such scenes one of the last pictures photographed on my memory,
+was that of a negro boy very ill with typhoid fever in a cabin not
+far off, and who became greatly alarmed when a brisk firing commenced
+between the contending armies across our house. His first impulse--as
+it always had been in trouble--was to fly to his mistress for
+protection; and jumping from his bed--his head bandaged with a white
+cloth, and looking like one just from the grave--he passed through the
+firing as fast as he could, screaming: "O, mistress, take care of me!
+Put me in your closet, and hide me from the Yankees!" He fell at the
+door exhausted. My mother had him brought in and a bed made for him in
+the library. She nursed him carefully, but he died in a day or two from
+fright and exhaustion.
+
+Soon after this was the surrender at Appomattox, and negro slavery
+ended forever.
+
+All was ruin around us; tobacco factories burned down, sugar and
+cotton plantations destroyed. The negroes fled from these desolated
+places, crowded together in wretched shanties on the outskirts of
+towns and villages, and found themselves, for the first time in their
+lives, without enough to eat, and with no class of people particularly
+interested about their food, health or comfort. Rations were furnished
+them a short time by the United States Government, with promises of
+money and land, which were never fulfilled. Impoverished by the war, it
+was a relief to us no longer to have the responsibility of supporting
+them. This would indeed have been impossible in our starving condition.
+
+Twelve years have passed since they became free, but they have not,
+during this time, advanced in intelligence or comfort. Wanting the care
+of their owners, they die more frequently; and, it is thought,--by
+those who have studied the subject--that abandoned to themselves, they
+are returning to the superstitions of their forefathers. A missionary
+recently returned from Africa, and witnessing here their religious
+rites, says they are the same he saw practiced before the idols in
+Africa.
+
+They still have a strange belief in what they call "tricking," and
+often the most intelligent, when sick, will say they have been
+"tricked," for which they have a regular treatment and "trick doctors"
+among themselves. This "tricking" we cannot explain, and only know that
+when one negro became angry with another, he would bury in front of his
+enemy's cabin door a bottle filled with pieces of snakes, spiders, bits
+of tadpole, and other curious substances; and the party expecting to be
+"tricked," would hang up an old horse shoe outside of his door to ward
+off the "evil spirits."
+
+Since alienated from their former owners they are, as a general thing,
+more idle and improvident; and, unfortunately, the tendency of their
+political teaching has been to make them antagonistic to the better
+class of white people, which renders it difficult for them to be
+properly instructed. That such animosity should exist towards those who
+could best understand and help them, is to be deplored. For the true
+negro character cannot be fully comprehended or described, but by those
+who--like ourselves--have always lived with them.
+
+At present their lives are devoted to a religious excitement which
+demoralizes them, there seeming to be no connection between their
+religion and morals. In one of their Sabbath schools is a teacher, who
+although often arrested for stealing, continues to hold a high position
+in the church.
+
+Their improvidence has passed into a proverb--many being truly objects
+of charity; and whoever would now write a true tale of poverty and
+wretchedness, may take for the hero "Old Uncle Tom without a cabin."
+For "Uncle Tom" of the olden time in his cabin with a blazing log fire
+and plenty of corn bread, and the Uncle Tom of to-day, are pictures of
+very different individuals.
+
+And this chapter ends my reminiscences of an era soon to be forgotten,
+and which will perish under the heel of modern progress. It is a
+faithful memorial. Would that it might rescue from oblivion some of the
+characters worthy to be remembered!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+The scenes connected with the late war will recall to the mind of
+every Southern man and woman the name of Robert E. Lee--a name which
+will be loved and revered as long as home or fireside remains in old
+Virginia--and which sets the crowning glory on the list of illustrious
+men from plantation homes. Admiration and enthusiasm naturally belong
+to victory; but the man must be rare indeed, who in defeat, like
+General Lee, received the applause of his countrymen.
+
+It was not alone his valor, his handsome appearance, his commanding
+presence, his perfect manner, which won the admiration of his
+fellow-men. There was something above and beyond all these--his true
+Christian character. Trust in God ennobled his every word and action.
+Among the grandest of human conquerors was he, for early enlisting as
+a soldier of the cross--to fight against the world, the flesh and the
+devil--he fought the "good fight" and the victor's crown awaited him in
+the "kingdom not made with hands."
+
+Trust in God kept him calm in victory as in defeat. When I remember
+General Lee during the war, in his family circle at Richmond--then at
+the height of his renown--his manner, voice and conversation were the
+same as when, a year after the surrender, he came to make my mother a
+visit from his Lexington home.
+
+His circumstances and surroundings were now changed--no longer the
+stars and epaulets adorned his manly form; but dressed in a simple suit
+of pure white linen, he looked a king, and adversity had wrought no
+change in his character, manner, or conversation.
+
+To reach our house he made a journey--on his old war horse,
+"Traveler"--forty miles across the mountains, describing which, on the
+night of his arrival, he said:
+
+"To-day an incident occurred which gratified me more than anything that
+has happened for a long time. As I was riding over the most desolate
+mountain region, where not even a cabin could be seen, I was surprised
+to find, on a sudden turn in the road, two little girls playing on a
+large rock. They were very poorly clad, and after looking a moment at
+me, began to run away. 'Children,' said I, 'don't run away. If you
+could know _who_ I am, you would know that I am the last man in the
+world for anybody to run from now.'
+
+"'But we do know you,' they replied.
+
+"'You never saw me before,' I said, 'for I never passed along here.'
+
+"'But we do know you,' they said, 'And we've got your picture up yonder
+in the house, and you are General Lee! And we ain't dressed clean
+enough to see you.'
+
+"With this they scampered off to a poor log hut on the mountain side."
+
+It was gratifying to him to find that even in this lonely mountain hut
+the children had been taught to know and revere him.
+
+He told us, too, of a man he met the same day in a dense forest who
+recognized him, and throwing up his hat in the air, said: "General,
+_please_ let me cheer you," and fell to cheering with all his lungs!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My last recollections of General Lee, when making a visit of several
+weeks at his house, the year before his death--although not coming
+properly under the head of "plantation reminiscences"--may not be
+inappropriate here.
+
+It has been said that a man is never a "hero to his valet;" but this
+could not have been said of General Lee, for those most intimately
+connected with him could not fail to see continually in his bearing and
+character something above the ordinary level, something of the hero.
+
+At the time of my visit the commencement exercises of the College, of
+which he was President, were going on. His duties were necessarily
+onerous. Sitting up late at night with the board of visitors, and
+attending to every detail with his conscientious particularity, there
+was little time for him to rest. Yet every morning of that busy week
+he was ready, with his prayer-book under his arm, when the church bell
+called its members to sun-rise service.
+
+It is pleasant to recall all he said at the breakfast, dinner and tea
+table, where in his hospitality he always insisted upon bringing all
+who chanced to be at his house at those hours--on business or on social
+call.[8]
+
+This habit kept his table filled with guests, who received from him
+elegant courtesy.
+
+Only once did I hear him speak regretfully of the past. It was one
+night when sitting by him on the porch in the moonlight, he said to me,
+his thoughts turning to his early childhood:
+
+"It was not my mother's wish that I should receive a military
+education, and I ought to have taken her advice, for," he said very
+sadly, "my education did not fit me for this civil life."
+
+In this no one could agree with him, for it seemed to all that he
+adorned and satisfactorily filled every position in life, civil or
+military.
+
+There was something in his manner which naturally pleased every one
+without his making an effort; at the same time a dignity and reserve
+which commanded respect and precluded anything like undue familiarity.
+All desirable qualities seemed united in him to render him popular.
+
+It was wonderful to observe--in the evenings when his parlors were
+overflowing with people young and old, from every conceivable
+place--how by a word, a smile, a shake of the hand he managed to give
+_all_ pleasure and satisfaction, each going away charmed with him.
+
+The applause of men excited in him no vanity; for those around soon
+learned that the slightest allusion or compliment, in his presence, to
+his valor or renown, instead of pleasing, rather offended him. Without
+vanity, he was equally without selfishness.
+
+One day, observing several quaint articles of furniture about his
+house, and asking Mrs. Lee where they came from, she told me that an
+old lady in New York city--of whom neither herself nor the General had
+ever before heard--concluded to break up housekeeping. Having no family
+and not wishing to sell or remove her furniture to a boarding house,
+she determined to give it to "the _greatest living man_," and that man
+was General Lee.
+
+She wrote a letter asking his acceptance of the present, requesting
+that, if his house was already furnished and he had no room, he would
+use the articles about his College.
+
+The boxes arrived. But--such was his reluctance at receiving
+gifts--weeks passed and he neither had them opened or brought to his
+house from the express office.
+
+Finally, as their house was quite bare of furniture, Mrs. Lee begged
+him to allow her to have them opened, and he consented.
+
+First there was among the contents a beautiful carpet large enough
+for two rooms, at which she was delighted, as they had none. But the
+General, seeing it, quickly said: "That is the very thing for the floor
+of the new chapel! It must be put there."
+
+Next were two sofas and a set of chairs. "The very things we want,"
+again exclaimed the General, "for the platform of the new chapel!"
+
+Then they unpacked a side-board. "This will do _very well_," said
+the General, "to be placed in the basement of the chapel to hold the
+College papers!"
+
+And so with everything the old lady sent, only keeping for his own
+house the articles which could not be possibly used for the College or
+chapel--a quaint work-table, an ornamental clock and some old fashioned
+preserve dishes--although his own house was then bare enough, and the
+old lady had particularly requested that only those articles which they
+did not need should go to the College.
+
+The recollection of this visit, although reviving many pleasant hours,
+is very sad, for it was the last time I saw the dear, kind face of Mrs.
+Lee; of whom the General once said when one of us, alluding to him,
+used the word "hero:" "My dear, _Mrs._ Lee is the hero. For although
+deprived of the use of her limbs, by suffering, and unable for ten
+years to walk I have never heard her murmur or utter one complaint."
+
+And the General spoke truly, Mrs. Lee was a heroine. With gentleness,
+kindness and true feminine delicacy, she had strength of mind and
+character a man might have envied. Her mind well stored and cultivated
+made her interesting in conversation; and a simple cordiality of manner
+made her beloved by all who met her.
+
+During this last visit she loved to tell about her early days at
+Arlington--her own and her ancestors' plantation home--and in one of
+these conversations gave me such a beautiful sketch of her mother--Mrs.
+Custis--that I wish her every word could be remembered that I might
+write it here.
+
+Mrs. Custis was a woman of saintly piety, her devotion to good works
+having long been a theme with all in that part of Virginia. She had
+only one child--Mrs. Lee--and possessed a very large fortune. In early
+life she felt that God had given her a special mission, which was to
+take care of and teach the three hundred negroes she had inherited.
+
+"Believing this," said Mrs. Lee to me, "my mother devoted the best
+years of her life to teaching these negroes, for which purpose she had
+a school house built in the yard, and gave her life up to this work;
+and I think it an evidence of the ingratitude of their race, that
+although I have long been afflicted, only one of those negroes has
+written to enquire after me, or offered to nurse me."
+
+These last years of Mrs. Lee's life were passed in much suffering,
+being unable to move any part of her body except her hands and head.
+Yet her time was devoted to working for her church. Her fingers were
+always busy with fancy work, painting or drawing--she was quite an
+accomplished artist--which were sold for the purpose of repairing and
+beautifying the church in sight of her window, and as much an object
+of zeal and affection with her, as the chapel was with the General.
+
+Indeed the whole family entered into the General's enthusiasm about
+this chapel--just then completed--especially his daughter Agnes, with
+whom I often went there, little thinking it was so soon to be her place
+of burial.
+
+In a few short years all three--General Lee, his wife and daughter--were
+laid here to rest, and this chapel they had loved so well became their
+tomb.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+All plantation reminiscences resemble a certain patch-work, made when
+we were children, of bright pieces joined with black squares. The black
+squares were not pretty, but if left out, the character of the quilt
+was lost. And so with the black faces, if left out of our home pictures
+of the past, the character of the picture is destroyed.
+
+What I have written is a simple record of facts in my experience
+without an imaginary scene or character; intended for the descendants
+of those who owned slaves in the South, and who may in future wish
+to know something of the high-toned character and virtues of their
+ancestors.
+
+The pictures are strictly true, and should it be thought by any that
+the brightest have alone been selected, I can only say, I knew no
+others.
+
+It would not be possible for any country to be entirely exempt from
+crime and wickedness; and here, too, these existed; for prisons,
+penitentiaries and courts of justice were, as elsewhere, important; but
+it is a sincere belief that the majority of Southern people were true
+and good. And that they have accomplished more than any other nation
+towards civilizing and elevating the negro race, may be shown from the
+following paragraph in a late magazine:
+
+"From a very early date the French had their establishment on the
+Western coast of Africa. In 1364 their ships visited that portion of
+the world. But with all this long intercourse with the white man the
+natives have profited little. _Five centuries_ have not civilized them,
+so as to be able to build up institutions of their own. Yet the French
+have always succeeded better than the English with the negro and Indian
+element."
+
+Civilization and education are slow; for, says a modern writer:
+
+"After the death of Roman intellectual activity, the seventh and eighth
+centuries were justly called dark. If Christianity was to be one of
+the factors in producing the present splendid enlightenment, she had
+no time to lose, and she lost no time. She was the only power at that
+day that could begin the work of enlightenment. And starting at the
+very bottom, she wrought for _nine hundred years_ alone. The materials
+she had to work upon, were stubborn and unmalleable. _For one must be
+somewhat civilized to have a taste for knowledge at all; and one must
+know something to be civilized at all._ She had to carry on the double
+work of civilizing and educating. Her progress was necessarily slow at
+first. _But after some centuries_ it began to increase in arithmetical
+progression until the sixteenth century."
+
+Then our ancestors performed a great work--the work allotted them
+by God, civilizing and elevating an inferior race in the scale of
+intelligence and comfort. That this race may continue to improve, and
+finally be the means of carrying the gospel into their native Africa,
+should be the prayer of every earnest Christian.
+
+Never again will the negro race find a people so kind and true to them
+as the Southerners have been. For, said a gentleman the other day, who
+lives in New York, "In the Northern cities white labor is preferred,
+and the negroes are to be found on the outskirts, poor, wretched and
+friendless."
+
+There is much in our lives not intended for us to comprehend or
+explain; but believing that nothing happens by chance, and that our
+forefathers have done their duty in the "place it had pleased God to
+call them," let us cherish their memory, and remember that the Lord God
+Omnipotent reigneth.
+
+    For He who rules each wondrous star,
+      And marks the feeble sparrow's fall
+    Controls the destiny of man,
+      And guides events however small.
+
+    Man's place of birth; his home; his friends,
+      Are planned and fixed by God alone--
+    "Life's lot is cast"--e'en death He sends
+      For some wise purpose of His own.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[1] Rev. G. W. Leyburn.
+
+[2] John Randolph, of Roanoke.
+
+[3] John Preston, afterwards Governor of Virginia.
+
+[4] On the route to "Rustic" was a small village called "Liberty,"
+approaching which, and hearing the name, "English Louis" swore he would
+not pass through any such "---- little Republican town," and turning
+his horses travelled many miles out of his way to avoid it.
+
+[5] From this vicinity went nine ministers, who were eminent in their
+several churches; two Episcopal Bishops, one Methodist Bishop, three
+distinguished Presbyterian and three Baptist divines of talent and fame.
+
+[6] General Scott.
+
+[7] Harpers Ferry.
+
+[8] Here was seen the Mount Vernon silver, which had descended to Mrs.
+General Washington's great-grandson, General Custis Lee, and which
+was miraculously preserved during the war, having been concealed in
+different places--and once was buried near Lexington in a barn, which
+was occupied by the enemy several days.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
+    possible, including inconsistent hyphenation.
+
+    The following is a list of changes made to the original.
+    The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
+
+    Page 12:
+
+    small servants, who speedily gat them into their clean aprons,
+    small servants, who speedily got them into their clean aprons,
+
+    Page 16:
+
+    Every inch of mahogony was waxed and rubbed to the highest state
+    Every inch of mahogany was waxed and rubbed to the highest state
+
+    Page 20:
+
+    and which always looked so pretty on the mahogony.
+    and which always looked so pretty on the mahogany.
+
+    Page 29:
+
+    "Oh!" replied another, the idea of us poor Virginia girls taking
+    "Oh!" replied another, "the idea of us poor Virginia girls taking
+
+    Page 30:
+
+    or by the gardener to direct the plauting of certain seeds or roots
+    or by the gardener to direct the planting of certain seeds or roots
+
+    Page 34:
+
+    not only to furnish their masters table with the choicest meats,
+    not only to furnish their master's table with the choicest meats,
+
+    Page 39:
+
+    four horses, with footman, postilion and driver in English livery.
+    four horses, with footman, postillion and driver in English livery.
+
+    Page 42:
+
+    of much smaller means than Virginia and South Corolina belles!
+    of much smaller means than Virginia and South Carolina belles!
+
+    Page 43:
+
+    who dwell in the desert are always pusilanimous and groveling!"
+    who dwell in the desert are always pusillanimous and groveling!"
+
+    Page 45:
+
+    At last, when the latter was seized with a contageous fever
+    At last, when the latter was seized with a contagious fever
+
+    Page 46:
+
+    Mr. Thackaray was once entertained at one of them.
+    Mr. Thackeray was once entertained at one of them.
+
+    Page 48:
+
+    At Magdalene College, Frances was left for a moment in a parlor,
+    At Magdalen College, Frances was left for a moment in a parlor,
+
+    Page 49:
+
+    A scene almost horrible ensued."
+    A scene almost horrible ensued.
+
+    Page 53:
+
+    the house at which he was stopping was beseiged by reporters
+    the house at which he was stopping was besieged by reporters
+
+    Page 54:
+
+    by the passage of a canon ball through the upper story,
+    by the passage of a cannon ball through the upper story,
+
+    Page 55:
+
+    paying all the bills, this genteman had no "rights" there whatever;
+    paying all the bills, this gentleman had no "rights" there whatever;
+
+    Her furniture was polished mahogony, and she kept most delicious
+    Her furniture was polished mahogany, and she kept most delicious
+
+    Page 62:
+
+    of Southern eloquence--real, soul-inspiring eloquence?
+    of Southern eloquence--real, soul-inspiring eloquence!
+
+    Page 63
+
+    Soon after this was the surrender at Appomatox, and negro slavery
+    Soon after this was the surrender at Appomattox, and negro slavery
+
+    Page 65:
+
+    To-day an incident occurred which gratified me more than anything
+    "To-day an incident occurred which gratified me more than anything
+
+    Page 67:
+
+    that athough I have long been afflicted, only one of those
+    that although I have long been afflicted, only one of those
+
+
+
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