1 files changed, 4328 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/41709-0.txt b/41709-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e99afdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/41709-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4328 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41709 ***
+
+Transcriber's note:
+    Minor spelling inconsistencies, including hyphenated words, have been
+    harmonized. Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
+
+
+
+
+    A GIRL'S LIFE
+
+    IN VIRGINIA
+
+    BEFORE THE WAR
+
+
+[Illustration: "AN EVENING PARTY"--_Page 115._]
+
+
+
+
+    A GIRL'S LIFE
+
+    IN VIRGINIA
+
+    BEFORE THE WAR
+
+    BY
+
+    Letitia M. Burwell
+
+    _WITH SIXTEEN FULL-PAGE
+    ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
+
+    William A. McCullough AND Jules Turcas
+
+    _Second Edition_
+
+    New York
+
+    FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+
+    PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+    Copyright, 1895, by
+    Frederick A. Stokes Company.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION.
+
+
+_Dedicated to my nieces, who will find in English and American
+publications such expressions applied to their ancestors as: "cruel
+slave-owners"; "inhuman wretches"; "southern taskmasters"; "dealers in
+human souls," etc. From these they will naturally recoil with horror.
+My own life would have been embittered had I believed myself to be
+descended from such monsters; 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 merited praise may be
+awarded to noble men and virtuous women who have passed away._
+
+    _L. M. B._
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                PAGE
+
+    "AN EVENING PARTY"                _Frontispiece_
+
+    "CARPENTERS ALWAYS AT WORK FOR THE COMFORT
+    OF THE PLANTATION"                             2
+
+    "ACCOMPANIED BY ONE OF THESE SMILING
+      'INDISPENSABLES'"                            4
+
+    "I USE TO WATCH FOR DE CARRIAGE"              10
+
+    "I DON'T WANT TO BE FREE NO MO'"              12
+
+    "SHE ALWAYS RETURNED IN A CART"               18
+
+    "READING AND REPEATING VERSES TO HIM"         26
+
+    "MY GRANDMOTHER WOULD SHOW US THE STEP OF
+    THE MINUET"                                   32
+
+    "THERE WERE OLD GENTLEMEN VISITORS"           34
+
+    "NOW, MARSTER, YOU DONE FORGOT ALL 'BOUT
+    DAT"                                          36
+
+    "THREE WOMEN WOULD CLEAN UP ONE CHAMBER"      42
+
+    "LUNCH BY SOME COOL, SHADY SPRING"            66
+
+    "HIS MISSION ON EARTH SEEMED TO BE KEEPING
+    THE BRIGHTEST SILVER URNS"                    78
+
+    "HOW DEY DOES GROW!"                          86
+
+    "WHERE IS MY MUTTON?"                         98
+
+    "AUNT FANNY 'SPERSED DAT CROWD'"             160
+
+
+
+
+A GIRL'S LIFE IN VIRGINIA BEFORE THE WAR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+That my birthplace 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, housekeeping
+in the cabins; with negro children dancing, romping, singing, jumping,
+playing around the doors,--these 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,
+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.
+
+[Illustration: "CARPENTERS ALWAYS AT WORK FOR THE COMFORT OF THE
+PLANTATION"--_Page 2._]
+
+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, chestnuts, 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 create some
+literary thirst in the rising generation, whose members, 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 quickest 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, upstairs and downstairs, 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, etc.--that one had not the heart to refuse, although
+it would have been sometimes more agreeable to be left alone.
+
+[Illustration: "ACCOMPANIED BY ONE OF THESE SMILING
+'INDISPENSABLES'"--_Page 4._]
+
+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 this rite being regarded as 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,"--these being terms of respect.
+
+The atmosphere of our own home was one of 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 sweetmeat to
+the offended one.
+
+I remember that once, when my grandmother scolded nurse Kitty,
+saying: "Kitty, the butler tells me you disturb the breakfast cream
+every morning by dipping out milk to wash your face," I burst into
+tears, and thought it hard that, 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 at hand,
+and to 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, some candy, or sweet cakes.
+
+The negroes made pocket-money by selling their own vegetables,
+poultry, eggs, etc.,--produced 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 grandmother were almost always talking over the wants of
+the negroes,--what medicine should be sent, whom they should visit,
+who needed new shoes, clothes, or blankets,--the principal object of
+their lives seeming to be in 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 grandmother 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; she was very black and very portly; and her scepter 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, "aint I bin--long fo' dis yer
+little marster whar is was born--bakin' de bes' loaf bread, an' bes'
+beat biscuit and rice waffles, all de time in my ole marster time? An'
+I bin manage my own affa'rs, an' I gwine manage my own affa'rs long is
+I got breff. Kase I 'members 'way back yonder in my mammy time fo' de
+folks come fum de King's Mill plantation nigh Williamsbu'g. All our
+black folks done belonks to de Burl fambly uver sence dey come fum
+Afiky. My granmammy 'member dem times when black folks lan' here stark
+naked, an' white folks hab to show 'em how to war close. But we all
+done come fum all dat now, an' I gwine manage my own affa'rs."
+
+She was generally left to manage her "own affa'rs," and, being a
+pattern of neatness and industry, her fame went abroad from Botetourt
+even unto the remotest ends of Mecklenburg County.
+
+That this marvelous 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 nuver will
+forgit," to use her own words, "how I use to watch for de carriage to
+bring miss home, an' how I watch up de road an' run clappin' my han's
+an' hollerin': 'Miss done come! an' I aint gwine stay wid Aunt
+Chrishun no longer!'"
+
+[Illustration: "I USED TO WATCH FOR DE CARRIAGE"--_Page 9._]
+
+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 the liveliest demonstrations of
+pleasure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+It was a long time before it dawned upon my mind that there were
+places and people different from these. The plantations we visited
+seemed exactly like ours. The same hospitality was everywhere; the
+same kindliness existed 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 was haggard
+and thin.
+
+"Good-day, mistess," said he.
+
+"Who are you?" asked my mother.
+
+"Mistess, you don't know John whar use to belonks to Mars Edwin
+Burl--Mars Edwin, yo' husban' uncle, whar die on de ocean crossin' to
+Europe for he health. An' 'fo' he start he make he will an' sot me
+free, an' gie me money an' lan' near Petersbu'g, an' good house, too.
+But, mistess, I marry one free mulatto 'oman, an' she ruin me; she one
+widow 'oman, an' she was'e all my money tell I aint got nothin', an' I
+don't want be free no mo'. Please, mistess, take me on yo' plantation,
+an' don't let me be free. I done walk hund'ed mile to git yer. You
+know Mars Edwin think Miss Betsy gwine marry him, so he lef' her his
+lan' an' black folks. But we niggers knowed she done promis' twelve
+mo' gen'men to marry 'em. But she take de propity an' put on long
+black veil make like she grievin', an' dat's how de folks all git
+scattered, an' I aint got nowhar to go 'ceptin' hit's yer."
+
+[Illustration: "I DON'T WANT BE FREE NO MO."--_Page 12._]
+
+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 plenty to eat.
+
+Although there were already many 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 marster times," which
+he said were the "grandes' of all."
+
+By way of apology for certain knotty excrescences on his feet he used
+to say: "You see dese yer knots. Well, dey come fum my bein' a monsus
+proud young nigger, an' squeezin' my feet in de tightes' boots to
+drive my marster carriage 'bout Petersbu'g. I nuver was so happy as
+when I was drivin' my coach an' four, and crackin' de postilion over
+de head wid my whip."
+
+These pleasant reminiscences were generally concluded with: "Ah! young
+misses, _you'll_, nuver see sich times. No more postilions! No more
+coach an' four! And niggers drives _now_ widout 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 grandfather--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 stay wid your grandpa ten years in Congress,
+an' all de time he was secretary for President Jefferson. He nuver
+give me a cross word, an' I nuver saw your grandma de leas' out of
+temper nuther but once, an' dat was at a dinner party we give in
+Washington, when de French Minister said something disrespectful 'bout
+de United States."
+
+Often did he tell us: "De greates' pleasure I 'spect in heaven is
+seein' my old marster." And sometimes: "I dreams 'bout my marster an'
+mistess when I'se asleep, an' talks wid 'em an' sees 'em so plain it
+makes me so happy I laughs out right loud."
+
+This man was true and honest,--a good Christian. Important trusts had
+been confided to him. He frequently drove the carriage and horses to
+Washington and Baltimore,--a journey of two weeks,--and was sometimes
+sent to carry large sums 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, etc.
+
+Although my grandfather'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 marster was dead. A
+mighty wail went up from dis plantation, for we know'd we had los' 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 an' four hund'ed black folks, but sence de
+British debt had to be paid over by his old marster, an' de
+Macklenbu'g 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 Macklenbu'g."
+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, and 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 toward 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 daddy tell we chillun how he mammy liv' in hole in de groun' in
+Afiky, an' when a Englishmun come to buy him, she sell him fur a
+string o' beads. An' 'twas monsus hard when he fus' come here to war
+close; ev'y chance he git he pull off he close an' go naked, kase
+folks don't war no close in he country. When daddy git mad wid we
+chillun, mammy hide us, kase he kill us. Sometime he say he gwine sing
+he country, an' den he dance an' jump an' howl tell he skeer we
+chillun to deaf."
+
+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 grandfather's
+gardener, quarreled him to death in one year, and survived to quarrel
+forty years longer with the other negroes. She allowed no children
+about her cabin--not even a cat or dog could live with her. She had
+been offered her freedom, but refused to accept it. Several times she
+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
+wooden chest and surrounded by her goods and chattels. She was dressed
+in a high hat with a 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.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE ALWAYS RETURNED IN A CART."--_Page 18._]
+
+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!"
+
+"Ole 'oman, 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_
+dade!" 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
+generation long past.
+
+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 grandfather
+among them--had a wine party, and toward 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 McC.... 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, sometimes allowed their
+classic thoughts 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
+of the table and I at the other, each propped up 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 anyone 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 for twelve years,
+my father, the sole heir, having been away 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 that 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, often spreading
+a dinner 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 showed us some pictures entitled "London Labor
+and London Poor," when 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 to 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 sympathize 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 neighbors' plantations.
+
+Our negroes' religious instruction, I found, had not been more
+neglected than among the lower classes in England, Ireland, France,
+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 afternoons.
+Besides, they had their own ministers among themselves, and held 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 teaching and
+preaching to 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.
+
+[Illustration: "READING AND REPEATING VERSES TO HIM."--_Page 26._]
+
+On one occasion an English gentleman--a 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 occurred
+in England, and will scarcely be believed when I tell it on my
+return."
+
+The same gentleman expressed astonishment at one of our neighbors
+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," etc. He told us that he also observed 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," etc. 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 to 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 checkered human life, even these sometimes turned out
+best for the negroes, when by this means they exchanged unpleasant for
+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 ostracized 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, burned 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 marster fin' out how Uncle Joe treated me, he
+wouldn't let me work no mo' 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, and these usually remained
+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" being 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, becoming generally
+excited, speedily got them into their clean aprons, and ran to open
+gates and to remove parcels from carriages. 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 tarlatan 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 _crêpe
+lisse_ 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 as graceful as the minuet. Such jumping
+around as _you_ see would not have been regarded as dignified in _my_
+day!"
+
+[Illustration: "MY GRANDMOTHER WOULD SHOW US THE STEP OF THE
+MINUET."--_Page 32._]
+
+My mother's friends belonged to a later generation, and were types of
+women whom to have known I shall ever regard as a blessing and
+privilege. They combined intelligence with exquisite refinement; and
+their annual visits gave my mother the greatest happiness, which we
+soon learned to share and appreciate.
+
+As I look upon these ladies as models for our sex through all time, I
+enumerate some of their charms:
+
+Entire absence of pretense made them always attractive. 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 and 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 the latter
+never afterward became reconciled to any higher order of music.
+
+These model women also managed their household affairs admirably, and
+were uniformly kind to, 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 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 queues, wide-ruffled bosoms, short breeches, 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
+snuffboxes presented by some distinguished individual at some remote
+period.
+
+[Illustration: "THERE WERE OLD GENTLEMEN VISITORS."--_Page 34._]
+
+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, as a serious fault.
+
+Among our various visitors was a kinsman--of whom I often heard, but
+whom I 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 doorsill, every
+now and then correcting or reminding with: "Now, marster, dat warn't
+Colonel Taylor's horse dat won dat race dat day. You and me was dar."
+Or: "Now, marster, you done forgot all 'bout dat. Dat was in de year
+1779, an' _dis_ is de way it happened," etc., 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.
+
+[Illustration: "NOW, MARSTER, YOU DONE FORGOT ALL 'BOUT DAT."--_Page
+37._]
+
+The negroes often felt great pride in "_our_ white people," as they
+called their owners, and loved to brag about what "_our_ white people"
+did and what "_our_ 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 _dems my_ mistesses' Sunday bonnets? Umph! you _jes' ought_ to
+see what dey got up dar on top de stage in dar bandbox!" 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," etc.,
+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,
+sweetmeats, pickles, and condiments. So that in the matter of good
+living, both as to abundance and the manner of serving, a Virginia
+plantation could not be excelled.
+
+The first specialty 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, who, 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 lady's 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, the 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; as neither she 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 nuver see sich a way fur people to live! Folks goes to bed
+in Baltimore 'thout a single moufful in de house to eat. An' dey
+can't get nothin' neither 'thout dey gits up soon in de mornin' an'
+goes to market after it deyselves. Rain, hail, or shine, dey got to
+go. 'Twouldn't suit _our_ white folks to live dat way! An' I wouldn't
+live dar not for nothin' in dis worl'. In dat fine three-story
+house dar aint but bar' two servants, an' dey has to do all de work.
+'Twouldn't suit _me_, an' I wouldn't live dar not for nothin' in
+dis whole creation. I would git _dat_ lonesome I couldn't stan'
+it. Bar' two servants! an' dey calls deyselves rich, too! An' dey
+cooks in de cellar. I know mistess couldn't stan' dat--smellin'
+everyt'ing out de kitchen all over de house. Umph! _dem_ folks don't
+know nothin' _'tall_ 'bout good livin', wid dar cold bread an' dar
+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.
+
+[Illustration: "THREE WOMEN WOULD CLEAN UP ONE CHAMBER."--_Page 43._]
+
+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 cannot discern the impress
+of a long past generation!" So we were indebted for our agreeable
+surroundings to the heroism and sacrifices of past generations, which
+not to venerate and eulogize betrays the want of a truly noble soul.
+For what courage, what patience, what perseverance, 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 inefficient or disagreeable, but
+had to keep them through life. The only thing was to bear and forbear,
+and
+
+    Be to their virtues very kind,
+    Be to their faults a little 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.
+
+I have searched missionary records of all ages, but find no results in
+Africa or elsewhere at all comparing with the grand work accomplished
+for the African race in our Southern homes.
+
+Closing the last chapter of "Explorations in the Dark Continent," the
+thought came to me that it would be well if our African friends in
+America would set apart another anniversary to celebrate "the landing
+of their fathers on the shores of America," when they were bought and
+domiciled in American homes. This must have been God's own plan for
+helping them, although a severe ordeal for our ancestors.
+
+In God's own time and way the shackles have been removed from this
+people, who are now sufficiently civilized to take an independent
+position in the great family of man.
+
+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 to the bottom of the sea!" he replied.
+
+Fortunately for the poor negro this sentiment did not prevail 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
+handful of parched corn, the colonel of a Virginia regiment[1] by
+accident got some coffee, a small portion of which was daily
+distributed to each soldier. 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.
+
+    [1] Robert Logan, of Roanoke, Va.
+
+When he arrived at home on furlough, his mother wept to see his
+tattered clothes, his shoeless feet, and his 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 Jonson:
+
+    "This Figure, that 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 Print would then surpass
+    All that was ever writ in Brass.
+    But since he cannot, 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.
+
+When a small child, the perusal of the "Arabian Nights" 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. She rejoiced in her grandmother's laces and in her
+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 mantelpiece 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 regarded as 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 her "_début_,"
+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, a thorough musician, and a
+gentleman. He lived with us for 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
+we 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": in the land of water-pipes
+and dumb-waiters; the land of enterprise and money, and, at the same
+time, of 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 theirs to the South."
+
+All was strange to us,--even the tablecloths on the tea and breakfast
+tables, instead of napkins under the plates, such as we had at home,
+and which always looked so pretty on the mahogany.
+
+But the novelty having worn off after a while, 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 many "isms" also, 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
+upside-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
+bloodhounds in Virginia to chase negroes! I told him: Oh, 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 bloodhound 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: 'Bloodhounds 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 help."
+
+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."
+
+Among other discoveries during this visit we found how much more
+talent it requires to entertain company in the country than in 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 theatre, 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 would they
+not tell of mirth and song, eloquence and wit, whose flow made many an
+evening bright!
+
+
+As all delights must have an end, the time came for us to leave these
+metropolitan scenes, and, bidding adieu forever to the land of "modern
+appliances" and stale bread, we returned to the land of "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
+soldiers?[2]
+
+    [2] Rev. G. W. Leyburn.
+
+"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 judge that 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[3] negroes, who with their freedom
+received from their master a large section 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 hers and sent them to
+Liberia; but she told me the other day that 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."
+
+    [3] John Randolph of Roanoke.
+
+So it seemed our way was surrounded by walls of circumstances too
+thick and solid to be pulled down, and we said no more.
+
+Some weeks after this conversation we had a visit from a friend--Dr.
+Bagby--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! It is not even called 'home'
+there, but '_house_,' where they turn into bed at midnight, eat
+stale-bread breakfasts, have brilliant parties--where several hundred
+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 a marble door-front. 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 should 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."
+
+"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 to travel from Maine to the Gulf without 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 and needing no 'special protector.'"
+
+"This dependence upon your sex," we replied, "keeps you so vain."
+
+"We should 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.
+
+In those days we were not whirled over the iron track in a crowded
+car, with dirty, shrieking children and repulsive-looking people. We
+were not jammed against rough people, eating ill-smelling things out
+of ill-looking baskets and satchels, and throwing the remains of 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 a
+shady forest at mid-day.
+
+[Illustration: "LUNCH BY SOME COOL, SHADY SPRING."--_Page 66._]
+
+Our own ancient 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 lofty 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,--he regarded himself as 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 his course, 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,"--as in 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 a pleasant variety, and gave
+us an opportunity to enjoy fully the beautiful and picturesque scenery
+through which we were passing.
+
+Those 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 facsimiles 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, he shouted at the top of his voice: "Dar,
+now! I always knowed Miss Alice was a young 'oman of de mos' amiable
+courage!"--and over this feat he continued to chuckle for 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 from the servants who constituted part of the
+establishment.
+
+One of the most charming places 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.
+
+Without the least "variableness or shadow of turning," her excellences
+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 for all who had the privilege of knowing her. And no
+wonder that all who enjoyed her charming hospitality were spellbound,
+and loath to leave the spot where it was extended.
+
+In addition to the qualities I have attempted to describe, this lady
+inherited from her father, General Breckinridge, an executive talent
+which enabled her to order and arrange her domestic affairs perfectly;
+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: they were shared alike by the homeless and the
+friendless, and many a weary heart found sympathy and shelter there.
+
+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, a _gourmet_ of the first water,
+whom we often met there. His sole occupation was visiting his friends,
+and his only subjects of conversation were the best viands and the
+best manner of cooking them! When asked whether he remembered certain
+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 some time
+before, with saving eggs, butter, chickens, etc.; 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,
+tarlatan-smoothing, trunk-moving,--guests arriving, servants running,
+girls laughing!
+
+Imagine all this going on simultaneously for 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 for 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[4]
+of high 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 the wedding;
+herself a corpse in her bridal dress; her newly turfed grave with a
+bird singing in the tree above.
+
+    [4] Colonel Tom Preston.
+
+This vision produced such an impression that she awakened her sister
+and told her of it.
+
+For three successive nights the vision appeared, which so affected her
+spirits that she determined not to marry. But after some months,
+persuaded by her family to think no more of the dream which
+continually haunted her, she allowed the marriage to take 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 every day found 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 carries
+ever in his heart the image of his fair bride and the quiet grave at
+Oaklands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Another charming residence, not far from Oaklands,[5] which attracted
+visitors from various quarters, was Buena Vista, where we passed many
+happy hours of childhood.
+
+    [5] General Watts's place, Roanoke.
+
+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,[6] a gentleman of polished manners, kind and generous
+disposition, a sincere Christian and zealous churchman, was honored
+and beloved by all who knew him.
+
+    [6] George P. Tayloe, Esq.
+
+His daughters, a band of lovely young girls, presided over his house,
+dispensing its hospitality with grace and dignity. Their mother's
+death, which occurred 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 gray hair with a small,
+round, bald centerpiece; 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: "HIS MISSION ON EARTH SEEMED TO BE KEEPING THE
+BRIGHTEST SILVER URNS."--_Page 78._]
+
+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,[7] 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 roads and lofty heights we had glimpses of exquisite scenery
+in the valleys below.
+
+    [7] The old seat of the Breckinridges, Botetourt County.
+
+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!
+
+One was sure of meeting here pleasant people 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 costumes 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 talks 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. A characteristic conversation 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,--four thousand acres, two
+large, handsome residences, and three hundred negroes,--regarded as
+wealthy, and yet, to save our lives, we 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-handled 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[8] presiding over this establishment possessed a cultivated
+mind, bright conversational powers, and gentle temper, with a force of
+character which enabled her judiciously to direct the affairs of her
+household, as well as the training and education of her children.
+
+    [8] Mrs. Cary Breckinridge.
+
+She always employed an accomplished tutor, who added to the
+attractiveness 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, and
+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 looked
+upon--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 child'en!" she would say. "How dey does grow! Done
+grown up young ladies! Set down, honey. I mighty glad to see you. An'
+why didn't your ma[9] come? I would love to see Miss Fanny. She always
+was so good an' so pretty. Seems to me it aint been no time sence she
+and Miss Emma"--her own mistress--"use' to play dolls togedder, an' I
+use' to bake sweet cakes for dem, an' cut dem out wid de pepper-box
+top for dar doll parties; an' dey loved each other like sisters."
+
+    [9] "Miss Fanny."
+
+[Illustration: "HOW DEY DOES GROW!"--_Page 86._]
+
+"Well, Aunt Betsy," we would ask, "how is your rheumatism now?"
+
+"Lor', honey, I nuver spec's to git over dat. But some days I can
+hobble out an' feed de chickens; an' I can set at my window an' make
+the black child'en feed 'em, an' I love to think I'm some 'count to
+Miss Emma. An' Miss Emma's child'en can't do 'thout old 'Mammy
+Betsy,' for I takes care of all dar pet chickens. Me an' my ole man
+gittin' mighty ole now; but Miss Emma an' all her child'en 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's 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 the great sorrow
+more sincerely than hers.
+
+Another and still another of these noble youths fell after deeds of
+heroic valor, 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 that he saw in the distance the
+manly forms of his sons, returning home, mounted on their favorite
+horses, in the gray uniforms 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 cannot
+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 be alleviated if shared.
+
+
+
+
+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 was
+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, a clever and successful lawyer, one day discovering a
+negro boy in some mischief about his house, and determining forthwith
+to chastise him, took him into 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?"
+
+"Yas, sah!" quickly replied the boy. "Miss Charlotte, sah!"
+
+Throwing aside the switch, the gentleman ran into 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 for 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, the following stanza:
+
+    "Yes, it is slander to say you oppressed 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[10] was a widower, and no lady presided over his house.
+
+    [10] William M. Radford, of Greenfield, Botetourt County.
+
+His figure was of medium height and very corpulent. His features were
+regular and handsome, his eyes were soft brown, almost black, and 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 his 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, but I remember 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 marvels.
+
+The superabundance on the place enabled them not only to furnish
+their master's table with the choicest meats, vegetables, cakes,
+pastries, etc., but also to supply themselves bountifully, and to
+spread in their own cabins sumptuous feasts, and 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, etc., literally belonged to
+the negroes, who allowed 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
+niggah!"
+
+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 that 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 a
+fine piece of mutton I have here!"
+
+But on entering and looking around, no mutton was to be seen, and
+instead thereof were buckets of custard, cream, and blanc-mange. The
+old gentleman, greatly disconcerted, called to one of the servants:
+"Florinda! Where is my mutton that I had put here this morning?"
+
+[Illustration: "WHERE IS MY MUTTON?"--_Page 98._]
+
+Florinda replied: "Nancy took it out, sah, an' put it in de ole spring
+house. She say dat was cool enough place for mutton. An' she gwine
+have a big party to-night, an' want her jelly an' 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. Radford, I came to tell you that my cow you gave me has died."
+
+"What did you say, my good woman?" asked Mr. Radford, 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 inquire of them
+the cause, and was informed that they had lost all their money and
+their railroad tickets at the last station.
+
+He asked the gentleman where he lived, 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. Radford, pulling from his capacious pocket a large
+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 him 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.
+Radford mentioned this, when one of his nephews laughed and said:
+"Well, uncle, 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. Radford was another, equally
+attractive, owned by his brother-in-law, Mr. Bowyer. These places 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 facsimile of the other. At
+both were 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. Bowyer 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 past. With what circumstantiality could they recall old
+law cases, and 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 carriage were
+out of order at Mr. Radford's, which was often the case, the driver
+would go over for Mr. Bowyer'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. Radford succeeded so effectually in quizzing
+Mr. Bowyer that whenever he thought of it afterward 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 gentlemen that they determined he
+should not repeat his visit, although they liked his wife. One day Mr.
+Bowyer received a letter signed by this objectionable individual--it
+had really been written by Mr. Radford--informing Mr. Bowyer 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. Bowyer as soon as he read the
+letter. "He knows how Radford 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. Bowyer 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
+obnoxious visitor. He would not even make inquiries 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 halfway there, he
+met a young nephew of Mr. Radford's who happened to know all about
+the quiz, and, immediately suspecting the reason of Mr. Bowyer's exile
+from home, inquired where he was going, how long he had been from
+home, etc. 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. Bowyer, greatly relieved, turned back and
+went his way home rejoicing, but "determined to pay Radford," 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, 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 Indians' 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, and the white women and children took refuge in
+the fort, while the men prepared for battle. They wanted the
+proprietor of Smithfield to help them fight and to take command, for
+he was a brave man; but they 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.[11]
+
+    [11] John Preston, afterward Governor of Virginia.
+
+The Indians afterward told how, the whole day before the fight,
+several of their chiefs had been concealed near the Smithfield house
+under a large haystack, 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 arrived in this country.
+
+All who visited at the homesteads just described retained ever after a
+recollection of the perfectly cooked meats, bread, etc., 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
+culinary 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 velvet rolls exactly 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.[12]
+
+    [12] Colonel Burwell's.
+
+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, Mrs. Burwell, about ninety years of age, had in her
+youth been 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 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 always
+dressed and undressed her mistress at the same hour. The cook's gentle
+"tapping at the chamber door" called the mistress to an interview with
+that functionary at the same moment every morning,--an interview
+which, lasting half an hour, and never being repeated during the day,
+resulted in the choicest dinners, breakfasts, and suppers.
+
+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, postilion, 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!
+
+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.[13]
+
+    [13] 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, traveled many miles out of his way to avoid it.
+
+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 must add a few words to my previous mention of 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, and mountain streams and springs, form a
+prospect wondrously beautiful.
+
+This splendid estate descended to three brothers of the Preston
+family, 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
+mantelpieces reaching nearly to the ceiling, which was also high, and
+the high wainscoting, 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 first came 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 certainly an evidence 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, Colonel Robert Preston, had married a lovely
+lady from South Carolina, whose perfection of character and
+disposition endeared her to everyone who knew her. Everybody loved her
+at sight, and the better she was known the more she was beloved. 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 swerve an instant from the
+quiet path along which she directed others. 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.
+
+The eldest of the three brothers was William Ballard Preston, once
+Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President Taylor.
+
+
+
+
+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 there 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 Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs 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 so 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, that I found it hard to convince
+myself that 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 of Virginia known as Piedmont, and those who had kinsfolk or
+acquaintances there usually stopped to pay them a visit. Consequently
+the Piedmont Virginians were generally too busy entertaining summer
+guests to visit the Springs themselves. Indeed, why should they? 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 in the eastern part of the State had been sold 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; sending their
+sons to be educated in England, and receiving therefrom brocaded silks
+and powdered wigs; and dancing the minuet at the Williamsburg balls
+with the families of the noblemen sent over to govern the
+colony,--Piedmont 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 the 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 amusing and
+interesting tales have been handed down to us. Although the latter
+were in advance of the Piedmont Virginians in wealth and social
+advantages, they were not superior to them in honor, virtue, kindness,
+or 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 surfaces reflect 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!"[14]
+
+    [14] 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.
+
+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, Benjamin Donald, was a man of high character,--his
+accomplishments, manner and appearance marking 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 lofty character were so unmistakably stamped upon him that a
+day's acquaintance 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
+whole-souled generosity and hospitality.
+
+How many days and nights we passed at his house, and in childhood and
+youth how many hours were we entertained by his bright and instructive
+conversation! Especially delightful was it to hear his stories of
+Scotland, which brought vividly before us 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 arrived, 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 that Europeans must be very ignorant of our
+country and its inhabitants, and we have since learned that their
+children are purposely kept 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, I 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
+   Greenock 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 upstairs to their bedroom, and found
+    that unoccupied. I then concluded they had taken possession of my
+    bedroom 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 downstairs 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 toward 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 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 pocketbook and showed them the
+    date, '14th day of May,' written in pencil. They all rose from the
+    table and took me into the bedroom and showed me, written with
+    pencil on the white mantelpiece, '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 inquire if any vessel had arrived
+    from America, or if I had been seen by any of my friends."
+
+No one who visited Otterburn can forget 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 were going away always
+insisted on their remaining longer.
+
+One of these negro women was not only an efficient servant, but a
+valuable 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 family had been at
+home.
+
+No more sincere attachment could have existed than that between this
+lady and her 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 the 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 the James River. This residence--Howard's
+Neck[15]--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.
+
+    [15] Dr. Cunningham's.
+
+The negroes on these estates appeared lively and happy--that is, if
+singing and laughing indicate 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, cannot 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 of their number--usually the most original and
+amusing, and possessed of 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
+roasted 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 distinguished foreigners were often
+entertained, who, visiting Richmond, desired to see something of
+Virginia country life. Mr. Thackeray was once a guest at one of these
+places, but Dickens never visited them. Could he have passed a month
+at any one of the homes I have described, he would, I am sure, have
+written something more flattering of Americans and American life than
+is found in "Martin Chuzzlewit" and "American Notes." 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
+people have such a right as regards America, this country appearing to
+the English eye like a huge mushroom, 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. Although
+the right of a nation to its prejudices be admitted, no one has a
+right, without thorough examination and acquaintance with the subject,
+to publish as facts the exaggerated accounts of another nation, put
+forth by its enemies. 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 that 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 Mme. 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.
+
+Mme. 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's stays, and of putting on the
+hoop, gown, and neck-handkerchief. 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,
+Mme. Schwellenberg, a hateful old toadeater, as illiterate as a
+chambermaid, 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. Mme. 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 pretense 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 fell 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
+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, Mme. 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. Mme. 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 wildcat. 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 turn to
+another charming place on the 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
+chief!
+
+Looking out from the parlor window and imagining this savage scene,
+how strange a contrast 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 tranquillity; 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 _élite_ 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 nowadays, but remained
+quietly at home, enjoying the society of her family and friends.
+
+One 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 afterward 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 strange 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[16] 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.
+
+    [16] General Scott.
+
+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 afterward for 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 the 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, the residence of Richard Cunningham.
+
+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 forests into acres of broad-leaved corn;
+across pebble-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 iced
+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 bedtime 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 hers were no
+commonplace dinners; no hasty-puddings, no saleratus 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 that of Mrs. Harrison, 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 saleratus 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 inquired 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 lying down for the afternoon siesta, "in case,"
+she said, "someone 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.
+Philip Slaughter, 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 pretense."
+
+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. Slaughter, 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 that for so
+many years was the abode of hospitality and good cheer.
+
+In connection with Culpeper County, it is due here to state that it
+excelled all others in ancient and dilapidated buggies and carriages,
+seeming to be 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 for 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
+miraculous longevity.
+
+Many more sketches might be given of pleasant country homes--themes
+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, and so bewitchingly
+pretty, that they attracted a concourse of visitors, and were sure to
+be belles wherever they went.
+
+And many remember the owner of Vaucluse, Mr. Blair Dabney, 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 being neat rows of white
+cabins in the 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 that one could scarcely
+make one's way up or down stairs. Everything needed repair, from the
+bed upon which you slept 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 as if their curious juxtaposition had been the result
+of an 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, Charles Mosby, 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 unapproachable
+light-bread and conducted the affairs of the place with 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 sweetmeats of her own manufacture,
+with which to regale her friends and favorites. As we came under that
+head, we were often treated 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
+warn't 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 exciting 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 crowd 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, an' it's time for him to take his res'. He's been kep' 'wake
+long enough now, an' 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 if she "hadn't come forward an' 'spersed dat
+crowd, Mars' Charles would have been a dead man befo' mornin'."
+
+[Illustration: "AUNT FANNY 'SPERSED DAT CROWD'."--_Page 161._]
+
+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 that 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 with
+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 strode 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
+deathbed. 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 Saviour as he
+taught you." Then said I: "We are afraid the noise and dancing have
+made you worse."
+
+Speaking feebly, she replied: "Honey, dat kind o' 'ligion suit us
+black folks better 'en yo' kind. What suit Mars' Charles' mind karn'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 185--, 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 which could be
+gold, was gold, and so we called him "the gold-tipped man." He called
+for my mother, and when she went into the parlor, he 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, an' you an' all de fambly--you always
+been so good to me--but I want travel, an' dis gent'man say he give me
+plenty o' money an' treat me good, too."
+
+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-by," 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, we were one day
+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: "Mistess, I aint see no place pretty as yours,
+an' no lady look to me like you in all de finest places I bin see in
+Europ', an' no water tas'e good like de water in our ole well. An' I
+dream 'bout you all, an' 'bout ev'y ole chur an' table in dis house,
+an' wonder ef uvver I'd see 'um ag'in."
+
+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, and 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 awoke 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 toilet 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 of 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 kin, sir," said Robert, and, going into 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 hers!" 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. John Y. Mason'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 toilet
+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.
+
+Determined 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--afterward a general in the
+Southern army[17]--with whom he remained, and to whom he rendered
+valuable services during the war.
+
+    [17] General Robert Toombs.
+
+
+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 were 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 nuvver will leave dis plantation, an' go off to
+starve wid 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.
+
+Many of us remember this old man, Harrison Mitchell, who was an
+unusual character, high-toned and reliable. His father was an Indian
+and his mother a negress. He resembled the Indian, with straight
+black hair, brown skin, and high cheek-bones. His great pride was that
+he had "cum out de Patrick Henry estate an use to run a freight boat
+wid flour down de Jeemes Ruver fum Lynchbu'g to Richmon' long fo' dar
+was a sign o' town at Lynch's Ferry." But his great and consuming
+theme, especially after the war, was the impossibility of the negroes
+taking care of themselves "bedout no white man," and nothing ever
+reconciled him to his own freedom. Taking his seat in our back porch,
+where my mother usually entertained him, we would assemble to hear him
+talk. I would ask: "Well, Uncle Harrison, what do you think of freedom
+now after ten years?"
+
+"Lord, mistess, what I t'ink o' freedom? Why, mistess, dese niggers is
+no mo' kakalate to take kur o' deyselves dan 'possum. An' I tells 'em
+so. Kase what is a nigger bedout white man? He aint nuthin', an' he
+aint gwine be nuthin' no ways dey fix it. An' dey aint gwine stay
+free, kase de Lord nuvver 'tends 'um to be nuthin' bedout white folks.
+Kase ev'ybody know nigger aint got no hade. I nuvver want no nigger be
+takin' kur o' me. I looks to my white folks to take kur o' me. I
+'lonks to Mars' Robert an' aint gwine lef his plantation tell I die.
+What right Yankees got settin' me free, an' den karn't take kur o' me?
+No! niggers is niggers, an' gwine be niggers, an' white folks got to
+take kur on 'em tell end o' screeation. An' der Lord gwine put ev'y
+single one on 'em back in slavery jes' as sure as you born."
+
+True to his word, old Harrison refused to wear an article of clothing
+"ef de white folks didn't give it to him." And his daughter, wishing
+to give him a blanket, asked her former young mistress to let him
+think it was from _her_, or he would not take it.
+
+At last "Mars' Robert" was on his deathbed. Old Harrison went in to
+see him for the last time.
+
+"Mars' Robert," said he, "I got one reques' to make fo' you die."
+
+"What is it?" asked his master.
+
+"Mars' Robert, I want to be buried right outside de gate o' de garden
+lot where you an' Miss Lucy is buried, so I kin see you fus' on de
+mornin' o' de resurrection."
+
+"Harrison, you shall be buried _inside_ the lot with us," replied
+"Mars' Robert" distinctly, and a lady who heard it told me she never
+saw such radiant happiness as the old man's face expressed when these
+words fell on his ear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+O bright-winged peace! long didst thou rest o'er the homes of old
+Virginia; while cheerful wood fires blazed on hearth-stones in parlor
+and cabin, reflecting contented faces with hearts full of peace and
+good will toward 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 around these parlor
+firesides; and often would our grandmothers say:
+
+"Children, ours 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, to our minds, was contained in two
+pictures on the walls of our house: "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.
+
+In 1859 we had a visit from two old friends of our family--a
+distinguished Southern Senator and the Secretary of War[18]--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.
+
+    [18] General Toombs and General Floyd.
+
+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[19]--our oldest and best friend--who differed from
+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.
+
+    [19] Charles Mosby.
+
+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 fifty thousand 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
+battlefield. 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 we prayed, protected us 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 passed by these helpless women and
+children, 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
+heartsickness 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, amid 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 who was very ill with typhoid fever in a cabin
+not far off, and who became greatly alarmed when a brisk firing,
+across our house, commenced between the contending armies. 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 mistess, take
+kur o' me! Put me in yo' closet, and hide me from de Yankees!" He
+fell at the door exhausted. My mother had him brought in, and a bed
+was 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 came 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.
+
+
+Years have passed, and the old homes have been long deserted where the
+scenes I have attempted to describe were enacted. The heads of the
+families lie buried in the old graveyards, while their descendants are
+scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific, always holding sacred in
+memory the dear old homes in Virginia.
+
+The descendants of the negroes here portrayed,--where are they? It
+would take a long chapter, indeed, to tell of them. Many are crowded
+on the outskirts of the towns and villages North and South, in
+wretched thriftlessness and squalor, yet content and without ambition
+to alter their condition.
+
+On the other hand, a good proportion of the race seek to improve their
+opportunities in schools and colleges, provided partly by the aid of
+Northern friends, but principally from taxes paid by their former
+owners in spite of the impoverished condition of the South.
+
+Many have acquired independent homes, with the laudable purpose of
+becoming useful and respected citizens. The majority, however, are
+best pleased with itineracy.
+
+It is needless to say that those of the latter class can never become
+desirable domestics in a well-ordered, cleanly house. And those whose
+youth has been passed in schoolrooms, with no training in the habits
+of refined life, have not acquired sufficient education to avail much
+in the line of letters. Thus the problem of their race remains
+unsolved, even by those who know it most intimately.
+
+In the matter of classical education the question occurs: Will the
+literature of the one race meet the requirements of the other, or the
+heroes and heroines of one be acceptable to the other? Has not God
+given each country its distinct race and literature? The history of
+every country occupied by antagonistic races has been that the
+stronger has dominated or exterminated the other.
+
+Thinking of the superficial education at some of our schools, I am
+reminded of a colored boy's subject for a composition.
+
+Not long since a "colored scholar," seventeen years old, with very
+fair intelligence, who had never missed a day at the public school,
+was asked by a white gentleman who was much interested in the boy, and
+who often took the trouble to explain to him words in common use, the
+meaning of which the boy was wholly ignorant,--
+
+"Peter, what lessons have you to-night?"
+
+"Well, sir, I got a composition to write to-night."
+
+"A composition? What's your subject?"
+
+"Dey tell me, sir, to write a composition on de administration o' Mr.
+Pierce."
+
+"Administration of Mr. Pierce!" exclaimed the gentleman, himself an
+eminent journalist and statesman. "And what could you know about the
+administration of Mr. Pierce? Did you ever hear of Mr. Pierce?"
+
+"No, sir, I nuvver has."
+
+
+The tie which once bound the two races together is broken forever, and
+entire separation in churches and schools prevents mutual interest or
+intercourse.
+
+Our church schools are doing much to elevate and improve the negroes,
+and we have to thank many kind, warm friends in the North for timely
+aid in missionary boxes, books, and Bibles to carry on the colored
+Sunday-school work in which many Southern people are deeply
+interested, without the means of conducting them as they wish.
+
+The negroes 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 horseshoe 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 toward 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Reviewing these sketches of our early days, I feel that they are
+incomplete without a tribute to some of the teachers employed to
+instruct us. Even in colonial days our great-grandfathers had been
+sent to England to be educated, so that education was considered
+all-important in our family, especially with my father, who exerted
+his influence for public schools and advocated teaching the negroes to
+read and write, contending that this would increase their value as
+well as their intelligence.
+
+Determining that my sister and myself should have proper educational
+advantages, he engaged, while we were young children, a most
+extraordinary woman to teach us--a Danish lady, better versed in many
+other languages than in our own. Her name was Henriquez, and her
+masculine appearance, mind, and manners were such as to strike terror
+into the hearts of youthful pupils. Having attended lectures at a
+college in Copenhagen with several female friends alike ambitious to
+receive a scientific education, Mme. Henriquez scorned feminine
+acquirements and acquaintances, never possessing, to my knowledge, a
+needle or thimble. Her conversation was largely confined to scientific
+subjects, and was with men whenever possible, rarely descending to
+anything in common with her own sex. Sometimes in school our
+recitations would be interrupted by recollections of her early days in
+Copenhagen, and, instead of pursuing a lesson in geography or grammar,
+we would be entertained with some marvelous story about her father's
+palace, the marble stable for his cows, etc. In the midst of
+correcting a French or German exercise she would sometimes order a
+waiter of refreshments to be brought into the schoolroom and placed
+before her on a small table which had a history, being made, as she
+often related, from a tree in her father's palace grounds, around
+which the serfs danced on the day of their emancipation. She had a
+favorite dog named Odin which was allowed the privilege of the
+schoolroom, and any girl guilty of disrespect to Odin was in serious
+disgrace.
+
+This Danish lady was succeeded by one of a wholly different type, all
+grace and accomplishments, a Virginian, and the widow of Major Lomax of
+the United States Army.
+
+Mrs. Lomax had several accomplished daughters who assisted in her
+school, and the harp, piano, and guitar were household instruments.
+The eldest daughter contributed stories and verses, which were greatly
+admired, to periodicals of that day. One of these stories, published
+in a Northern journal, won for her a prize of one hundred dollars, and
+the school-girls were thrilled to hear that she spent it all for a
+royal purple velvet gown to wear to Miss Preston's wedding in
+Montgomery County.
+
+In this school Mrs. Lomax introduced a charming corps of teachers from
+Boston, most cultivated and refined women, whom it will always be a
+pleasure to remember. Among these were Mrs. Dana, with her
+accomplished daughter, Miss Matilda Dana, well known in the literary
+world then as a writer of finished verses.
+
+We had also a bright, sweet-natured little Frenchwoman, Mlle. Roget,
+who taught her native language.
+
+Besides these teachers we had a German gentleman, a finished pianist
+and linguist; and the recollections of those days are like the delicious
+music that floated around us then from those master-musicians.
+
+After such pleasant school-days at home we were sent away to a
+fashionable boarding-school in the city of Richmond, presided over by
+a lady of great dignity and gentleness of manner, combined with high
+attainments. She was first Mrs. Otis of Boston, and afterward Mrs.
+Meade of Virginia.
+
+At her school were collected many interesting teachers and pupils.
+Among the former were Miss Prescott of Boston and Miss Willis, sister
+of N. P. Willis, both lovable and attractive.
+
+Among the noted girls at Mrs. Meade's school was Amélie Rives[20] of
+Albemarle County, Va. She spoke French fluently, and seemed to know
+much about Paris and the French court, her father having been Minister
+to France.
+
+    [20] This interesting girl married Mr. Sigourney of Massachusetts, and
+    after the war, as she was crossing the ocean to Europe with her
+    husband and all her children (except one son) the ill-fated ship sank
+    with nearly all on board. We have heard that, as the ship was going
+    down, Amélie, her husband, and her children formed a circle, hand in
+    hand, and were thus buried in the deep.
+
+We looked upon Amélie with great admiration, and, as she wrote very
+pretty poetry, every girl in the school set her heart upon having some
+original verses in her album, a favor which Amélie never refused.
+
+Closing this chapter on schools suggests the great difference in the
+objects and methods of a Virginia girl's education then and now. At
+that period a girl was expected not only to be an ornament to the
+drawing-room, but to be also equipped for taking charge of an
+establishment and superintending every detail of domestic employment
+on a plantation--the weaving, knitting, sewing, etc.--for the comfort
+of the negro servants to be some day under her care. I have thus seen
+girls laboriously draw the threads of finest linen, and backstitch
+miles of stitching on their brothers' collars and shirt-bosoms. Having
+no brothers to sew for, I looked on in amazement at this dreary task,
+and I have since often wished that those persevering and devoted women
+could come back and live their lives over again in the days of
+sewing-machines.
+
+At that day the parents of a girl would have shuddered at the thought
+of her venturing for a day's journey without an escort on a railway
+car, being jostled in a public crowd, or exposed in any way to
+indiscriminate contact with the outside world, while the proposition
+of a collegiate course for a woman would have shocked every
+sensibility of the opposite sex.
+
+How the men of that time would stand aghast to see the girl of the
+present day elbowing her way through a crowd, buying her ticket at the
+railway station, interviewing baggage-agents, checking trunks, and
+seating herself in the train to make a long journey alone, perhaps to
+enter some strange community and make her living by the practice of
+law or medicine, lecturing, teaching, telegraphing, newspaper-reporting,
+typewriting, bookkeeping, or in some other of the various avenues
+now open to women!
+
+Whether the new system be any improvement upon the old remains open
+for discussion. It is certain that these widely opposed methods must
+result in wholly different types of feminine character.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+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, receives 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 pay 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 aint dressed
+clean enough to see you.'
+
+"With this they scampered off to a poor low 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 sunrise service.
+
+It is pleasant to recall all that 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.[21] This habit kept his table filled with
+guests, who received from him the most graceful courtesy.
+
+    [21] Here was seen the Mount Vernon silver, which had descended to
+    Mrs. General Washington's great-grandson, General Custis Lee, and
+    which was marvelously 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.
+
+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 continued
+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 everyone
+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 nor 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 sideboard. "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 lady had sent, only keeping for his own
+house the articles which could not possibly be 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 donor had particularly requested that only those
+articles which they did not need at their home 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 inquire after me, or offered to nurse me."
+
+These last years of Mrs. Lee's life were passed in much suffering, she
+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,--the results of 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 XX.
+
+
+All plantation reminiscences resemble a certain patchwork, 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 lofty 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 in Virginia, too, these existed; for
+prisons, penitentiaries, and courts of justice were here, as
+elsewhere, necessary; but it is my sincere belief that the majority of
+Southern people were true and good. And that they have accomplished
+more than any other nation toward 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 negroes find a people so kind and true to them as
+the Southerners have been.
+
+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."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Girl's Life in Virginia before the
+War, by Letitia M. Burwell
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41709 ***