STEPHEN Bo WEEKS 
 
 CLASS OF1886;PH.D. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 roFNunn 
 
 THE WEEKS COLffiOTON 
 
 C917 
 G79r 
 
This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/recollectionsofigree 
 
'/ 
 
RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 INHABITANTS, LOCALITIES, SUPERSTITIONS, 
 
 KUKLUX OUTRAGES 
 
 OP THE CAROLINAS. 
 
 CARPET-BAGGER'' 
 
 TVHO WAS BORN AND 
 LIVED THERE. 
 
 1880. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, in the office of the 
 Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TO THE 
 
 CAKPET-BAGGEES OF THE SOUTH: 
 
 those unswerving republicans 
 
 to whose fidelity and sagacity the people of the united 
 
 states aee indebted fop the successful 
 
 consummation of the 
 
 reconstruction of the south, 
 
 this unpretentious volume is respectfully 
 dedicated, by 
 
 The Author. 
 
TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The following work possesses the merit of truthfulness, what- 
 ever else may be said ! of it. We make no apology for its appear- 
 ance or its contents. We believe some things pertaining to the 
 people of the South and its peculiar customs and prejudices, not 
 to be found in any other work, are to be found in this. If it 
 shall add to the general stock of information, our highest hopes 
 and expectations shall have been realized. 
 
 The Author. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 General Introduction. — Description of a Southern Village. — 
 Our Beasts of Burden and Vehicles. — "First Mondays." — A 
 Humorous Incident. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Prosecuting the Journey. — Beauties of Nature Strewn Around 
 Us. — The Guide Post. — The Irishman's Mistake. — Brown goes 
 "To See a Man."— The Old Mill Pond.— Just the Place for Dark 
 Deeds. — Legends connected with it. — Union Soldiers. — Murdered 
 Victims. — Story of Henry Woods. — His Guilty Love and its 
 Fatal Determination. — Matrimony among the Plantation Hands 
 of the South. — Wasted Power. — Mistaken Policy of Southern Pro- 
 ducers. — What Judge — — - said. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Old Church and School House.— Reflections on their Style 
 of Architecture. — The Forgotten Dead. — Superstitious Dread of 
 Ghosts on the part of the Inhabitants. — Witchcraft and Conjura- 
 tion — Peculiar Antics of a Pretended Conjurer. — His Legal Com- 
 plications and Happy Deliverance. — Despondency and Gloom 
 occasioned by a Belief in the same. — Ignorance the Cause of these 
 Superstitious Beliefs. — Its Existence in Germany, England, and 
 New England in the Past. — Day beginning to Dawn in the South. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Oriole. — Its Appearance, Population, etc. — Edward Hill, our 
 Host. — Some Account of his Early Life and Subsequent Career. — 
 Labor and Perseverance Conquers All. — Sacrifice of Principle 
 Essential to Success in the South Then as Now. — Our Repast. — 
 
6 
 
 The Menu. — "Collards." — Moral Status of the Denizens of Oriole. 
 — Brown's Opinion : " It is Worse than New York." — Reminis- 
 cence of a Former Visit to This Place. — Reflections on the Treat- 
 ment of Colored People in all parts of the South. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Lowlands of the Carolinas. — Spring Freshets. — Famine Threat- 
 ened. — Mail Carrier Up a Tree, — Unhealthy Localities. — Rice 
 Culture. — Sufferings of Hands. — The Great Dismal Swamp. — 
 Appearance and Extent. — The Rohber's Stronghold. — Henry Berry 
 Lowrie. — He Defies the Militia of a Whole State. — His Audacious 
 Bearing. — A Confrere Hung. — Lowrie is Wounded and finally 
 Killed. — The Fugitive's Retreat — Uncle Pompey's Experience. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Bell Homestead. — Accommodations for the Night. — The 
 Black Cat. — My Wife Alarmed. — An Unfortunate Throw, and 
 Alarm of the Family. — Mine Host Jones and the Writer Adjourn 
 to the Yard. — Snake Stories. — Snakes in the House; in the Bed; 
 in the Mill. — Snake Bites and Whiskey Treatment. — "Coachwhip 
 Snake." — Snakes for Food. — Medicine and Music. — Reminiscences 
 of the Slaveholding Era, by Jones. — The Men and Women who 
 Cleared and Cultivated these Lands. — The Whip. — The Auction 
 Block. — The Stocks. — Insufficient Food. — Dawn of Day. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Incidents of the Route. — Post Boxes. — Mineral Springs. — 
 Floral College. — The Duello. — Reminiscences of School Life in 
 the South Before the War. — An Oasis. — A Foraging Expedition. 
 — Difference between Southern and Northern Hospitality. — Win- 
 ning our Fodder by a Stratagem. — Our Repast and Departure. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "Fannie" on her metal. — First Mishap of the Road. — "All's 
 Well that End's Well."— The Deserted Cotton Plantation.— Then 
 and Now. — Contributing Causes. — "Carpet-Bag" Rule in the 
 South, — Both Sides of the Question. — What the Writer saw in 
 
South Carolina. — How Property-Holdera Felt.— Characteristic 
 Letter. — -Where did the Blame Lie? — Admission of the Writer of 
 the Letter. — Land Commission. — Rail Road Bonds. — Private 
 Operations. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Camp-Meeting Ground. — General Appearance of the 
 Place. — Jones Pleased. — Religious Tendencies of the Colored Race. 
 Are they Peculiarities of the Colored Race, or are they Begotten 
 of their Weak and Oppressed Condition ? — The Writer's Views on 
 this Subject. — Reminiscences of a Camp-Meeting. — Sudden Pros- 
 tration and Narrow Escape. — The Philadelphia "Mourner." — 
 Quotations from a Sermon. — First Lines of some of the Hymns. — 
 A Woman on Fire. — Disadvantage of Wearing a Hoop Skirt. — 
 Hearing Civilization. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Ku-Klux-Klan. — Its Origin. — Its Name. — Objects and 
 Deeds of Violence.- — Recollections of its Early Days. — Proofs of its 
 Existence. — What Hon. Reverdy Johnson thought of its Members. 
 — The Origin of the Exodus, and Probable Result. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Poor Whites of the South. — Contributing Causes of their 
 Present Condition.— Their Social Status ; Habits of Life ; Meane 
 of Support. — Dislike of them by the Colored People of the South. 
 — Struggles on the Part of Some of Them to Better their Condi- 
 tion. — Remarkable Instances of Success. — Their Future in This 
 Country. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Products of the Carolinas. — Cotton. — Turpentine. — Peanuts. — 
 Sweet Potatoes* etc. — Forest Fruits. — " Chincapins." — Hickory- 
 nuts. — Persimmons. — -Grape Culture. — Fishes, Oysters, etc. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Colored People of the South.— Different Classes.— The 
 Plantation Hands. — Their Habits and Modes of Life. — Corn- 
 
shucking and Log-rolling Bees. — Their Love of "'Possum and 
 Sweet-en-tater."— Will they Steal ?— The Colored People of the 
 Cities and Towns. — General Intelligence among them, and Causes 
 Contributing Thereto. — Churches and Schools among them. — 
 Efforts of Bad Men to Create Prejudice between Different Classes 
 of them. — Education and Wealth will Dispel All. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 Past and Present of " Magnolia." — Sherman's Boys and Har- 
 dee. — " No Law to Compel One Man to ' Mister ' Another." — The 
 Results of the Trip. — Returning North. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 General Introduction. — Description of a Southern Village. — 
 Our Beasts of Burden and Vehicles. — "First Mondays." — A 
 Humorous Incident. 
 
 The early days of the Summer of 1872 found three 
 fathers, three mothers and five children residing in the 
 quiet little village of Hudsonyille, South Carolina. 
 Driven by fate and the results of the recent great rebel- 
 lion, the effects of which were still agitating all that 
 section of the Southern country, we had changed our 
 places of abode in other States and pitched our humble 
 tents in this section of the United States, with the 
 avowed intent of commencing life anew, and "making 
 up by sober, industrious effort, so far as the ability lay 
 in us, for lost time." We were all members of that 
 much abused, but exceedingly patient class, known in 
 this country as " colored people," a term which embraces 
 all who have within their veins a single drop of African 
 blood, from the sable brother who traces his lineal 
 ancestors, on both sides, directly from the banks of the 
 Congo and the Nubian plains, and boasts of his 
 unadulterated blood, to the flaxen -haired octoroon, who 
 leads captive the heart of her unwary Anglo-Saxon 
 
10 
 
 admirer, that never associates her in his mind with any 
 member of the " despised race." 
 
 Jones, the eldest of the three, was a native South- 
 erner, "to the manor born," (a favorite phrase, by the 
 way, in that section,) and had left the home of his 
 nativity, only sixty miles to the northeast of our present 
 place of abode; in fact, having passed the greater part 
 of his manhood as an intinerant carpenter, he was well 
 acquainted not only with every town and hamlet of any 
 note in all that region of country, but he was deeply 
 versed in the avenues of travel leading to them; which 
 was a very important acquisition in a section of country 
 where there were no railroads, and where the tourist 
 was relegated to the usages in vogue before the advent 
 of the Christian era. He knew the names and places 
 of residence of every property-holder of any note as 
 well, and, had the records and maps of the country 
 been lost, I verily believe he could have located more 
 than one half the farms, and given them " metes and 
 bounds " from his retentive memory, for stakes and 
 stones and "blazed" trees were as familiar to him as 
 the ordinary thoroughfares of business are to the 
 metropolitan merchant. He could no more part with 
 the services of his friendly pipe than he could with his 
 "better half," and when comfortably ensconced by the 
 side of a glowing hickory fire on a winter's night, with 
 his pipe well filled, he could " spin yarns" by the hour. 
 
11 
 
 Brown was the junior of Jones, and, while he had 
 not the same degree of experience concerning country 
 life, yet he made it his boast that he knew " a thing or 
 two," because he had spent several years as a resident 
 of that great hive of industry, New York — a name, the 
 veiy mention of which to the average rustic of the 
 South, causes his eyes to dilate like miniature saucers 
 and animates his curiosity. Brown was impulsive; he 
 preferred fighting to eating; he carried his revolver and 
 bowie knife, and bore the reputation in all that section 
 of being " a bad man," of which epithet, as applied to 
 him, he was very proud. 
 
 Of the writer hereof but little need be said, since he 
 is to take a very unimportant part in the events which 
 shall be related — scarcely more than that of a faithiul 
 scribe, who will undertake to note down a truthful 
 account of the events in their regular order. Suffice it 
 to say then, that, while he acknowledged the " Old 
 North State' 1 (North Carolina) as the home of his 
 nativity, yet, having escaped thence during his tender 
 childhood, shunning the baleful effects of that social 
 ulcer, slavery, and seeking a health} 7 atmosphere, where 
 he could grow to the full stuture of manhood, he had 
 found that garden spot of the whole earth, the noble 
 Western Reserve of the great State of Ohio, where, 
 surrounded by kind friends, loving hearts and institu- 
 tions of learning, he had succeeded in acquiring a 
 
12 
 
 sufficient store of knowledge to partially appreciate his 
 own infirmities and the necessities of his race, and he 
 had now returned to the Sunny South with a burning 
 zeal to do something in his day for the common good, 
 and build up for himself ancf famil}' an honorable name 
 among the sons of men. 
 
 We had not tarried long in Hudsonville before we 
 began to think that we had made a mistake in locating; 
 for, while this village was quite noteworthy in some 
 respects, yet, for men without capital, having aspirations 
 socially and financially, it was as barren as a desert. A 
 court-house, jail, post-office, three churches, four large 
 warehouses, five stores and about fifty dwellings, 
 scattered at irregular intervals along half a dozen 
 streets and accommodating from two hundred and fifty 
 to three hundred souls, comprised the village. The 
 inhabitants of this little place were composed almost 
 exclusively of the owners of the large cotton planta- 
 tions, which lay on three sides of it, and their families 
 and dependents, if we except two or three storekeepers, 
 who supplied the wants of this small community. 
 Socially, they formed a little literary coterie, or mutual 
 admiration society among themselves, at whose doors 
 no "foreigner" (as they significantly termed all persons 
 from the North) need knock. They sent to Charleston 
 for their extra provisions, drew their latest fashions 
 from Charleston, and derived their newspapers and 
 
13 
 
 general inspiration from the same source. They had 
 heard of Calhoun, Rhett, Hayne, Pinckney, and other 
 states' rights champions, and worshipped their names, 
 but cared little for aught else; and, aside from attending 
 church and rendering an occasional parlor theatrical, 
 they had little amusement. For a colored person, 
 possessing any of those finer qualities of soul or 
 intellect, such as distinguish one from the " ignoble 
 herd," there was no affiliation, no inspiration, no life, 
 save such as could be found among the plantation 
 hands, who, though frequently pure-hearted and inno- 
 cent in their dealings, were, nevertheless, covered by 
 such a dark pall of ignorance and superstition, 
 bequeathed to them by their former taskmasters, as 
 rendered them unfit for the ordinary demands of 
 society. There was no business there for a man without 
 a trade, or capital with which to undertake some specu- 
 lative enterprise; and as for the learned prolessions, 
 such as medicine and law, no one thought of embarking 
 in the practice of either, unless his acquaintance was 
 coextensive with the county and his reserve fund consid- 
 erable. 
 
 There were at least twelve da} r s in the year, however, 
 that would have been considered as exceptions to the 
 rule in Hudsonville; when monotony gave place to 
 variety, and the appearance of the public square was 
 altogether changed. These were the " First Mondays " 
 
14 
 
 of each and every month; clays made famous in the 
 State of South Carolina by reason of the fact that the 
 sheriffs of the different counties were accustomed to 
 offer for sale at the county seats such property as fell to 
 their lot to sell, by virtue of their official capactiy. 
 There were a class of hardy men who made it their 
 business to drive wagons over the territory of that and 
 adjacent states, bartering and selling goods, especially 
 tobacco, horses and mules. They came, generally, from 
 the western section of the State of North Carolina, 
 where there are numerous tobacco manufactories and 
 some live stock worthy of note. As they progressed 
 along their route they were in the habit of selling to 
 persons remote from commercial centers, and when they 
 could not obtain money for their wares they would 
 barter them away for such produce as they could dispose 
 of in the large towns, such as hides, corn, bacon, flour and 
 the like. These " wagoners " kept well posted regarding 
 " First Mondays," and they became in the course of 
 time to be one of the most prominent features of the 
 clay. They began to arrive early in the day, with dogs 
 and other animals hitched on behind, and as they 
 ranged themselves in semicircular form on the public 
 square they presented quite a picturesque appearance. 
 They were generally men of much experience, and not 
 unfrequently included among their number persons of 
 desperate character, especially when excited from the 
 
15 
 
 effect of strong drink. Hence these days became noted 
 far and wide as occasions of strife, and sometimes 
 bloodshed. On such occasions knives were freely used, 
 and the revolver was an indispensable means of protec- 
 tion. 
 
 As these lines are being penned the writer recollects 
 an occasion when about a dozen men, veterans of the 
 Confederate army, were seated on the side of a hill in 
 close proximity to his place of abode. They had 
 numerous bottles of brandy peaches and cherries (the 
 sale of whisky and brandy in any other form being for- 
 bidden by law on those days), all of which they greedily 
 devoured, and speedily became intoxicated. They then 
 recounted their deeds of valor upon the field of battle 
 during the great rebellion; told how many "Yanks" 
 they had killed, and exhibited, in one or two instances, 
 trinkets manufactured from the bones of our poor Union 
 soldiers. After that they boasted of the "niggers" they 
 had owned before the war, and told how much they 
 regretted the loss of them. It happened that among 
 these men there was one whose race was not well 
 defined. He was a peculiar looking man — not exactly 
 white, nor yet was he sufficiently dark to be classed 
 with the colored people by one not well acquainted with 
 him. He was familiarly known as "Colonel." In his 
 day Colonel had owned a few slaves, and to a certain 
 extent he had affiliated with the white portion of the 
 
16 
 
 community. During this maudlin performance on the 
 part of the men referred to, the conversation turned on 
 the pedigree of the various members of the party, and 
 each in turn gave his, so far as he could. Smith said 
 his ancestors came over direct from England and landed 
 at Jamestown; Scott said he could trace his pedigree to 
 the Scottish bard of the same name, and he was not 
 certain but that some of the Burns family were distantly 
 related to some of his ancestors; O'Neil referred the 
 gentleman to his illustrious Irish ancfstry, of which he 
 seemed to be very proud; but, when it came to the 
 Colonel's turn to speak, he was as silent as the tomb, 
 and opened not his mouth. " Come, Colonel," said 
 Smith, " none of that now ; show up ; no dodging." 
 " That's so," they all rhymed in chorus. " Tell us 
 where you came from." "Well, gentlemen," said the 
 Colonel, hesitating," " if I must tell you, I believe I am 
 Portugese." " Portugese Nigger !" exclaimed Smith 
 with much emphasis, and then there was a general 
 laugh, and all took a drink at the expense of the blush- 
 ing Colonel. Later in the evening these men mounted 
 their horses and rode violently through the streets of 
 the village, yelling like wild Indians, terrifying the 
 souls of timid women and children, and concluding the 
 performance by cutting one of their own number 
 severely with a knife. During the early part of this 
 same afternoon an incident of a rather humorous nature 
 
17 
 
 took place, which was characteristic of the men and 
 customs. 
 
 A young man who had imbibed rather freely, and 
 was confident respecting his physical ability, said he 
 was a tinker and "spoiling for a fight;" he had chal- 
 lenged several persons to a fight at fisticuffs, and in one 
 or two instances he had even shaken his fist in the faces 
 of men. He continued to run around the square, daring 
 some one to knock a chip off of his shoulder, without 
 meeting with the slightest success. Brown, one of our 
 party, was at that time keeping a grocery facing the 
 public square. The building occupied by him was built 
 on the side of a hill, and the intervening depression in 
 front had been filled with sawdust; just the place for 
 throwing somersaults. Brown was very busy with his 
 customers, when the young man "spoiling for a fight" 
 entered his store and said "I'm a tinker;" receiving no 
 attention from an}- one, he repeated the assertion, "Tru 
 a tinker, [ am!" At that instant Brown turned, seized 
 the youth by the collar of his coat and the waistband of 
 his pantaloons, and threw him. Some said the misguided 
 " tinker" turned a triple somersault; that I cannot vouch 
 for, but this much can truly be said: when he came 
 down he struck on his head, and the last that was seen 
 of him he was sitting beneath a tree, mopping his brow 
 and wiping the blood from his nose, while he perchance 
 ruminated in his mind over the uncertainties of life. 
 
18 
 
 These days, however, were few and far between, and 
 could not be relied upon. Under these circumstances, 
 the aforesaid trio were not long in concluding to visit a 
 neighboring town of some commercial pretensions, for 
 the purpose of prosecuting an investigation with a view 
 to an ultimate change of our place of residence. In this 
 section of the country, those avenues of thrift and prog- 
 ress, rail roads, were then, as now, little in use, and as a 
 means of conveyance our choice lay between walking 
 and buggy riding; but as the proposed route la} 7 thi'ough 
 sands and rough lands, we were not long in selecting the 
 latter. Our stock were not such as to attract the eye of 
 a connoisseur, or even to reflect credit upon the equine 
 species in that vicinity, as a slight description of them 
 will readily prove. Jones had a little bay mare, of ner- 
 vous temperament, slightly over-fed, and anxious to 
 exhibit her vivacity to the average observer. In short, 
 she would run away whenever opportunity offered. But 
 Jones was very proud of her, called her Fannie, and 
 made a regular pet of her. Brown had a large sorrel 
 horse, of very angular appearance, whose hip bones 
 were so very prominent as to be suggestive of hat pins, 
 while his spinal column and heavy ribs, visible through 
 his losely fitting hide, betokened a frame of uncommon 
 strength and powers of endurance; and notwithstanding 
 the evident fact that he had seen better days, he yet 
 retained a sufficient degree of his pristine vitality and 
 
19 
 
 fire to paw the earth and neigh for new scenes and fresh 
 exploits; of which, I may add, he was ere long to have 
 an ample allowance. Brown purchased this horse and 
 gave as consideration, five dollars in money, one barrel 
 of flour, and two sides of salt dried bacon. " Gentle 
 reader," you may smile if 3 T ou choose when I tell you 
 this, but it is a fact, nevertheless; this unpretentious 
 horse, under his master's judicious care, frequently 
 traveled twenty miles, to the nearest rail road station, 
 and returned with fifteen hundred pounds of merchan- 
 dise, between sunrise and sunset of the same clay; and 
 was at times pitted against comparatively fast horses 
 for a race. The writer's horse was a borrowed one. He 
 was jet black, witn a piece of his tail cut off; he was not 
 what might be called a fast horse — on the contrary he 
 was quite slow in his movements, and needed constant 
 prodding to keep him in motion; and had such a care- 
 worn, discouraged, heart-broken look about his counten- 
 ance, as would almost melt a heart of stone, and cause 
 an over anxious driver to relent. Such, then, were our 
 horses; and our vehicles were scarcely more pretentious. 
 They were not models of beauty nor yet even fair speci- 
 mens of art; since they were minus tops, had low backs, 
 and the one in which the writer and his family traveled 
 would not " track "' with the others by several inches. 
 However, they were the best that could be obtained in 
 that section for love or money ; and, making a virtue of 
 
20 
 
 necessit}', we refrained from grumbling and faultfinding, 
 and began to prepare for our journey. The first thing 
 provided was provender for the horses, an article quite 
 scarce in that village and hence very highly prized. We 
 filled sacks with corn, placed them under the seats, and 
 tied on numerous bundles of fodder behind; rilled our 
 baskets with food and our flasks with liquids for the 
 compan_y; the little ones were stowed away in safe 
 places, and our positions taken on the seats. Thus 
 equipped and mounted, we turned our backs for the time 
 upon old Hudson ville, jubilant at the thought that for a 
 short space at least we should be relieved of the fatigu- 
 ing monotony which seemed to be crushing out all our 
 former vigor, — that we should escape from the scornful 
 glances, the sneers and intolerable oppressions which 
 inevitably go hand in hand with caste proscription; 
 albeit, those who champion the system are self-consti- 
 tuted autocrats, and in any well-regulated community, 
 having merit as its standard of distinction, would not 
 attain to mediocrity. While such thoughts as the fore- 
 going flit through the mind, we cross the corporate lim- 
 its, descend a slight knoll into a pleasant little valley, 
 lose sight of the spires of the churches, and are well 
 started on our journey. 
 
CHAPTER If. 
 
 Prosecuting the Journey. — Beauties of Nature Strewn Around 
 Us. — The Guide Post. — The Irishman's Mistake. — Brown goes 
 " To See a Man."— The Old Mill Pond.— Just the Place for Dark 
 Deeds. — Legends connected with it. — Union Soldiers. — Murdered 
 Victims. — Story of Henry Woods. — His Guilty Love and its 
 Fatal Determination. — Matrimony among the Plantation Hands 
 of the South. — Wasted Power. — Mistaken Policy of Southern Pro- 
 ducers. — What Judge said. 
 
 Once relieved from the restraints imposed upon us 
 by municipal regulations, and stimulated by the cheer- 
 ing surroundings, our little party gave itself up to the 
 pleasures of Hie hour; the elder ones of us sang and 
 cheered, while the little ones made the welkin ring with 
 shouts of merry laughter, and sustained their reputation 
 of being " little chatterboxes." And well might we 
 rejoice; for a scene was spread out around and before 
 us almost surpassing belief; a scene from the laboratory 
 of nature; such as no pen can depict or pencil sketch. 
 The forests clothed in their newest garments and be- 
 decked with vernal flowers, were more inviting than 
 ever; primroses blushed back at May flowers, while 
 violets drooped their modest heads and each vied with 
 the other in scattering sweet fragrance on the balmy 
 air. The feathered songsters, resplendent in their 
 
22 
 
 recent plumage, drew inspiration from the scene and 
 piped forth their melodious lays of gratitude and 
 thanksgiving; while the frisky little squirrels, leaping 
 from limb to limb, glanced sidewise at us and ran 
 athwart our track as if to challenge us to a little game 
 of hide-and-go seek, in which they were sure to be the 
 victors. Little Johnnie was desirous of having a bouquet 
 of " boo lowers," as he termed pretty flowers, and his 
 wish was gratified: Alice, Jones' eldest daughter, 
 thought if she had one of those little squirrels, she 
 would have attained to the acme of her ambition : while 
 Lulu was informed that the only practical way to gain 
 possession of one of those little red birds was to drop a 
 little salt on its tail. And thus we held our course 
 onward as rapidly as we could under the circumstances, 
 the male portion of the family walking in the meantime 
 to assist the horses through the accumulating sands, 
 when suddenly we came to where the road forked, and 
 there very demurely stood a guide (?) post, with one 
 solitary hand, pointing in an equivocal direction. 
 "What's that, cousin Henry?" said my better half. 
 "That, cousin, is a guide post," he replied. "A guide 
 post! guide to what? it has only one index, and that is 
 apparently pointing to the woods over there." "Well," 
 said cousin Henry, " for that matter, it would have been 
 just as well if it never had any, for at the time it was 
 put up there were only few in this part of tlie country 
 
23 
 
 who could read the inscription on it. The colored peo- 
 ple were prohibited by law from learning to read, the 
 poor class of white people had no provision made for 
 them, and the rich ones very seldom needed a guide 
 post." The writer suggested that it was put there to 
 commemorate some important event in the history of 
 the neighborhood; and this suggestion drew forth the 
 well-known story, related by our ancestors, of the Irish- 
 man, fresh from the mother country, who, while travel- 
 ing in the Granite State, approached a guide post which 
 bore the inscription "40 miles to Manchester." It is 
 said that Patrick was greatly perplexed to fathom the 
 meaning of the inscription: he took off his hat and 
 scratched his head, and finally, after intently gazing 
 upon it for a brief space with an expression of counte- 
 nance indicative of great anxiety, he audibly solilo- 
 quized: "Fahrty miles the man chased her! be me sowl 
 I cud av ketched her in tin." Brown, however, who 
 during the relation of the foregoing anecdote had been 
 scrutinizing a little clump of trees in the direction indi- 
 cated by the index on the guide post, just then surprised 
 us all by exclaiming: "Ladies and gentlemen, please 
 excuse me tor a moment while I go to j r on shanty and 
 see a man." And without further parley he took leave 
 of us, not even awaiting our answer or interrogatory as 
 to whether he would have company. Another moment 
 exposed to full view a little groggery here in this 
 
24 
 
 isolated place, to entrap the unwary traveler and 
 contribute toward his fail. The lone index on the 
 post pointing to the grove was explained; all was plain 
 now. We were mistaken in supposing it to be a guide 
 post; it was the dram seller's signal to the road to per- 
 dition. Brown shortly overtook the remainder of the 
 party; he was a changed man, for whereas before he left 
 us he was stupidly dull, his eyes now sparkled with 
 merriment, and instead of being demure and solemn he 
 was now garrulous, and had even began to compare the 
 old rail fence on the side of the road to a rustic struc- 
 ture which he had seen in Central Park, New York, 
 when his narrative was fortunately cut short by "Cousin 
 Henry" (as we familiarly called Jones) exclaiming, 
 "Cousin John," (meaning the writer) "do you see that 
 mill-pond over there?" I assured him in most positive 
 terms that I did. "Well, that is Hunt's mill pond, that 
 you have heard me talk so much about. I want you to 
 take a good look at it as we go by, because there are a 
 good many hard stories told about it, and most of them 
 are true, too." 
 
 In truth I scarcely needed the injunction to " take a 
 good look at it," for it was such a place as was well 
 calculated to challenge the attention of any traveler, 
 and even as he spoke we approached the rude bridge 
 over the race, which gave forth deep intonations beneath 
 the horses' hoofs and wagon wheels in perfect keeping 
 
2o 
 
 with the surrounding scenery. Overhanging the margin 
 of one segment of this pond were gloomy cypress trees, 
 and beneath these an almost impenetrable jungle of 
 whortleberry bushes, reeds and rushes, fit abode for 
 beasts of pre}' and poisonous reptiles. Added to this 
 was the deafening roar of the waters, rushing wildly 
 through the race, and reverberating through the for- 
 est; all of which made up a scene well suited for deeds 
 of violence and bloodshed. " During the war, cousin 
 John," spake Jones, " there were more than one poor 
 union soldier killed and thrown into this pond, and if the 
 bottom could be raked, }-ou would find man}' a human 
 skeleton buried in the mud.'' " Why do you say that, 
 cousin Henry? did you take any part in the transactions?" 
 I asked. " No, but these things were talked about and 
 general^ understood; and the people hereabouts don't 
 hesitate to admit it. I remember hearing old Colonel 
 Hull tell of a union soldier that escaped from his com- 
 mand one night; he was sick and could not go very fast, 
 and so, when the alarm was given that a man had escaped, 
 and they put bloodhounds on his track, he was easily 
 captured. One of the part}' asked the Colonel what was 
 done with the soldier; but he got for an answer only a 
 smile and a wink as the Colonel pointed over his shoul- 
 der in the direction of Hunt's mill-pond. 
 
 "About three years ago," he continued, "a peddler's 
 pack was found in that thicket over there," — pointing 
 
26 
 
 to a suggestive looking jungle on the margin of the 
 pond. "It had been rifled of its contents; near it lay 
 an old leathern wallet, containing nothing of value, and 
 only a few feet further off was found a heavy, club- 
 shaped piece of wood, blood-stained, with a few hairs 
 sticking to it. What became of the body no one has 
 ever answered, but if that old mill-pond could talk, I 
 think it could tell something about it. 
 
 " But the strangest transactisn that ever took place 
 in connection with this pond, so far as I have any 
 knowledge, was the murder of a woman by one Henry 
 Woods, who was hung in Hudsonville last summer." 
 
 " What was that ? " I asked. 
 
 "Well, to give you a full understanding of the occur- 
 rence, I must go back a little. 
 
 " You see," he continued, " during the days of slavery 
 it was not considered a very serious offence for a slave 
 to have more than one wife; and while a few of the more 
 conscientious owners, in some instances seemed to dis- 
 courage it, by far the greater number not only winked 
 at it, but actually encouraged what might have been 
 mistaken for one phaze of the religion of the ' latter day 
 saints.' The result was a polygamous state of society 
 in existence among the slaves; and on many of the most 
 populous plantations, husbandless wives and fatherless 
 children. In fact, even those who went through the 
 form of a marriage ceremony were told that it was not 
 
27 
 
 binding on them, and so thoroughly convinced were they 
 of the truth of this statement that after freedom came 
 they were remarried by hundreds and thousands; indeed 
 Rev. Mr. Moore, of Darlington, did nothing else for 
 several weeks than go around and marry these emanci- 
 pated people. And a strange sight it was too, cousin 
 John, to see parents who had grown-up children, some 
 of them grand-children, old gray haired men and women 
 who had climbed the hill together for more than half a 
 century in some instances, where their owners were kind 
 and would not separate them, come to the matrimonial 
 altar, renew their vows, clasp each other in their free 
 arms, and shout glory hallelujah to the Lord who had 
 delivered them out of bondage and permitted them to 
 see the glorious light of liberty. 
 
 "Owing to the early training that these people had 
 received, 1 ' he continued, "there were a great many who 
 after they gained their liberty refused to fall in with the 
 new order of things, and continued to follow the old 
 fashion of having more than one wife. Such a man was 
 Henry Woods. He had a very nice woman for a wife, 
 who was intelligent, industrious and kind; she was the 
 mother of a bright-eyed little child which he acknowl- 
 edged as his own, and Henry really loved them both. 
 But, for some inexplicable cause, he could not make up 
 his mind to forsake another woman with whom he had 
 been more than intimate for several years, notwithstand- 
 
23 
 
 ing his seeming desire to do so. His wife chided him; 
 the neighbors upbraided; his own conscience told him it 
 was wrong, but still he persisted in his course. Finally 
 his wife told him she would not live with him any 
 longer unless he quit Lucy, his paramour. Then Henry 
 became desperate; he went to Luc3^ and tried to per- 
 suade her to let him alone, but as she would not consent 
 he let the matter drop and said no more on the subject. 
 And so the matter rested, and had almost escaped the 
 attention of every one, until one day a man ploughing 
 on the other side of this pond, smelled an obnoxious 
 odor, and upon investigation lound the partially decom- 
 posed remains of a colored woman. The corpse was 
 identified as the body of Lucy, who had previously been 
 missed, but as the process of decomposition was far 
 advanced and the stench was almost intolerable, it was 
 difficult to persuade any one to handle it, and it was 
 finally placed in a rude box and buried without examin- 
 ation. 
 
 "The affair had been nearly forgotten, when, the 
 attention of the coroner being called to it, he caused 
 the body to be disinterred and examined. It was 
 found, upon examination, that the woman was the 
 victim of foul pla}', and had been inhumanly murdered 
 by some unknown felon, who, for aught that was known, 
 was even then at large in their very midst. Suspicion 
 pointed at once toward Henry Woods, her former 
 
29 
 
 "friend," as being the guilty party; and, as is generally 
 the case, the discovery of one fact led to others. It was 
 ascertained that about ten days- previous to the discovery 
 of the body a loud shriek had startled several persons 
 residing in the vicinity of the pond, but as no adequate 
 cause therefor was discovered the matter was dismissed 
 from their minds and shortly forgotten. One of the 
 neighbors also recalled the fact that at or about the 
 same time, when traveling along the road near the pond, 
 he saw Henry standing in a suspicious manner amongst 
 the under brush, and that he, when accosted, answered 
 evasively. And then every one remembered that Henry 
 had worn a downcast, guilty look upon his countenance 
 for a week or more, and had not borne himself in his 
 usual manner. All these things contributed to produce 
 in the mind of every one the conviction that Henry 
 Woods had indeed murdered Lucy Hall, his mistress. 
 The result was the arrest and incarceration of Henry, 
 who firmly and persistently protested his innocence, and 
 denied all knowledge of the circumstances surrounding 
 the tragedy. The body of Lucy, when examined, pre- 
 sented not only several contused wounds and abrasions 
 of the skin, but, in addition to all these, there were 
 numerous little gashes covering the scalp, wearing the 
 appearance of having been made by the corner of a 
 hatchet, or some tool having a blunt edge, while there 
 was a total absence of one arm, for which no one could 
 
30 
 
 account. The bruises and cuts were easily accounted 
 for upon general principles, but the absence of the arm 
 was a matter that excited the curiosity of all. 
 
 "The jail in which Henry was confined was a typical 
 Southern jail, contracted in its dimensions, poorly ven- 
 tilated, and filthy beyond all reason. The atmosphere 
 of this institution was impregnated with foul odors, 
 which emanated from the stagnant fluids contained in 
 slop-pails, that stood around lacking attention, and of 
 vermin there was no limit. The walls of his cell were 
 covered with sheet iron, while a bundle of rags in one 
 corner of the room answered the purpose of a bed. His 
 food was the proverbial corn bread and fat bacon. 
 When occasional deliveries of this jail took place, the 
 prisoners had only to escape to a swamp in the rear of 
 the building and their freedom was secured, for the old 
 sheriff made no effort to pursue them be} 7 ond the mar- 
 gin, where he would discharge his fowling-piece and beat 
 a hast}' retreat. At length the trial of Henry took 
 place, and his innocent wife, who had in the meantime 
 been arrested also, as particeps criminis, and lodged in 
 jail with him, was compelled to bear a portion of his 
 disgrace and sufferings. Henry was convicted of mur- 
 der, but his wife was set free without day. Alter he 
 had received the sentence of death, he dismissed all 
 hope of pardon on this side of the grave, made a com- 
 plete confession of the crime, and sought the services of 
 
31 
 
 a minister of the gospel. He never did, however, 
 account for the missing arm, concerning which there 
 were two theories in vogue; one of which was that when 
 the woman was pushed into the water and drowned, as 
 Henry had confessed, the arm was chopped off b} T her 
 murderer while clinging to the log upon which he stood; 
 but the other theory, which was the favorite one among 
 the colored people, was that after being cast into the 
 pond, an alligator, or some other monstrous reptile, had 
 torn the limb from the body, as the mangled stump 
 seemed to indicate. 
 
 " Hangman's day was a gala da} 7 in the South then 
 as now," he continued ; " and the day on which Henry 
 Woods was executed was no exception to the rule. 
 Long before the hour appointed for the execution, people 
 of all colors, ages and conditions began to flock to the 
 scene of the sad event, which was the Public Square of 
 Hudsonville. Young and old, large and small, rich and 
 poor, the vigorous and decrepit all came — in wagons and 
 buggies, on horseback and afoot, they crowded the roads 
 leading to the village. It seemed as though all the 
 plantations and hamlets within a radius of twenty miles 
 had poured out their inhabitants and sent them forth 
 on one grand holiday excursion. They filled all the 
 vacant space within the bounds of the Public Square, 
 they crowded the stores and dwelling-houses, and even 
 the neighboring house and tree-tops were made to do 
 
82 
 
 service on this occasion. Those inseperable attendants 
 of holiday assemblages, circusses and camp meetings in 
 the South — the gingerbread, beer and peanut-venders — 
 were on the scene, ministering to the wants of the 
 hungry; while the effects of corn whisky were plainly 
 discernable in the flushed cheeks, unsteady gait and 
 heated discussions of those who had imbibed it, so slight 
 was the moral effect of the public execution which was 
 within an hour to be consummated in their very 
 presence. 
 
 "At precisely twelve o'clock the gloomy procession 
 appeared, with the doomed man in their midst. The 
 victim wore an ordinary suit of black clothing, kindly 
 donated for the occasion, had his arms firmly bound at 
 the elbows and wrists, a black cap on his head and a 
 halter around his neck. During the mournful march 
 from the jail to the scaffold, his wife, who was in a 
 neighboring house, gave forth a series of most heart- 
 rending shrieks, and the whole combined furnished such 
 a scene as brought tears from the eyes of the strongest 
 man present. The victim mounted the fatal drop with 
 placid composure, in strange contrast with the agitation 
 observable on the part of the rest. He submitted with- 
 out a murmur to having his knees and ankles bound, 
 and then he addressed the crowd. He acknowledged 
 his guilt; denied that he mutilated the body by cutting 
 off the arm referred to: warned those in his presence 
 
33 
 
 against the evils of bad company and kindred evils, and 
 concluded by asserting his willingness to die and com- 
 mending his soul to the Savior. A hymn was then 
 "lined out" by the minister present, in the singing of 
 which the doomed man took the lead. The good sisters 
 present shouted and prayed by turns, and in the midst 
 of all this confusion the trap was sprung which launched 
 the soul of Henry Woods into eternity. The drop was 
 too long, and the result was the feet of the victim rested 
 upon the earth. Several strong men rushed to assist the 
 sheriff, and raised up the body until the rope could 
 be shortened. The body was even then motionless and 
 void of any evidence of animation to the casual observer, 
 although there might have been a perceptible motion of 
 the pulse to the medical expert. After hanging there 
 for the space of an hour, it was lowered into a 
 rough pine box and turned over to the relations of the 
 deceased for burial." 
 
 When Cousin William had concluded this interesting 
 narration it was noticed that the children had succumbed 
 to the influence of the springing motion of the buggies 
 and fallen asleep, while the old pond had been left far in 
 the rear. 
 
 In this connection it may not be considered out of 
 place to remark that the supply of water power by the 
 pond referred to was sufficient to have run spindles and 
 looms enough to spin and weave all the cotton fibre 
 
34 
 
 produced in that vicinity, yet it was utterly disregarded, 
 subjected to no practical use, and permitted to waste. 
 Perhaps the future will bring forth some Southern 
 political economist who will undertake to explain the 
 reason why the producers of the South continue to persist 
 in their lavish wastefulness: why they ignore all the 
 teachings of the past and the rules and maxims of 
 economy, and cling to their ante helium habits. At 
 present no adequate excuse presents itself so far as the 
 writer is aware of. They plant their cotton and garner 
 it; they press it into bales and sell it to foreign man - 
 ufacturers for a small price, and then buy it back 
 again, manufactured into fabrics of various kinds, at a 
 greatly increased figure. They harvest their sugar-cane; 
 press out the juice and reduce it to sugar, syrup and 
 molasses, and in many instances leave the clarifying and 
 renovating process to be done by Northern labor and 
 enterprise. Very poor land, which will scarcely produce 
 the tithe of a crop of cotton, is still subjected to the 
 culture of the fibre, while the same land, if given to the 
 production of corn, sweet potatoes, peas, and other like 
 produce, would repay the laborer's toil and render it 
 possible for one to obtain articles of ordinary diet for the 
 table in some sections where now scarcely the invalid is 
 able to subsist, so completely is the whole territory 
 given to the culture of cotton. The writer has an 
 acquaintance who once walked more than eight miles in 
 
35 
 
 scouring the country thereabouts in the almost vain 
 effort to procure a tender chicken for an invalid wife. 
 And it is a matter of no very unfrequent occurrence that 
 when at times the boats are delayed by drouth, or other- 
 wise, a whole town or district is deprived of such com- 
 mon articles of food as flour and bacon, coffee and sugar; 
 and, surprising as it may seem, there was a time during 
 the writer's residence in Hudsonville, when corn for the 
 live stock was held at a premium because of its scarcity; 
 and this, too, when the village was literally surrounded 
 with well cultivated plantations. 
 
 This ruinous policy on the part of the South was very 
 
 aptly illustrated by Judge a few weeks ago when, 
 
 in the course of a public address on the occasion of a 
 reception which had been tendered one of our prominent 
 citizens by the people of Columbia, South Carolina, he 
 said in substance as follows: "We sell our raw hides at 
 eight and ten cents a pound, and ship them to the North; 
 we furnish the red oak bark to tan them with; after- 
 wards we buy back the tanned leather and pay you 
 thirty-five and forty cents per pound for it." Nor are 
 the many inconveniences attending such a policy the 
 least objectionable feature attending this policy; for we 
 must not lose sight of the additional fact that, while the 
 producers fail to realize the increased profit accruing 
 from the manufacturing of the raw materials into their 
 ultimate forms; while their cities and towns languish for 
 
36 
 
 the want of remunerative employment for the men and 
 the young women who might become to be of assistance 
 in providing the necessaries of life for large and needy 
 families, and the tide of immigi'ation is stayed from its 
 onward tendency in that direction; all of which causes 
 have their force in seriously discouraging and retarding 
 the growth of that whole section of country: while all 
 these facts exist, I say, the additional fact remains to be 
 written that the people of the South are actually paying 
 out of their meagre surplus, representing the profits on 
 their crops, the price of twice handling the goods and 
 conve3 T ing them to and from places remote from the 
 sections where they are consumed. The South expe- 
 rienced the folly of this policy to her sorrow during the 
 recent rebellion, when she was a dependent upon her 
 enemies for the sinews of war, and her sons and daugh- 
 ters, in many instances, walked the streets of her 
 commercial centers clothed almost literally in sackcloth ; 
 for it is related, on good authority, that in some 
 instances carpeting was utilized as a covering for the 
 person, and boots and shoes were ranked as the greatest 
 luxuries. In those days parched corn husks took the 
 place of coffee, and butternut cotton goods were substi- 
 tuted for broad -cloth. 
 
 But we have digressed from our original topic. We 
 have passed the fifteen-mile post, just five miles from the 
 village of Oriole, the first on, our route, and as we are 
 
37 
 
 desirous of reaching that point before three o'clock we 
 must urge on our horses. Once there, we shall unhitch 
 and feed them, while we partake of a slight repast 
 ourselves. 
 
 But, stay; we are approaching objects of importance. 
 "What are those moss covered buildings just in advance 
 of us, cousin Henry?" 
 
 "They are an old church and school-house, cousin 
 John; and that lonely-looking space just in the rear is a 
 cemetery, or 'grave-yard,' as they are called here," he 
 answered. 
 
 Kind reader, excuse us for a moment while we hold 
 the baby, so that our patient wife can change her posi- 
 tion, far she vows that the low brace attached to our 
 buggy, called a back, is torturing her, and a change must 
 be made, and that without delay; afterwards we shall 
 return to the church, the school-house and the deserted 
 cemetery. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Old Church and School House. — Reflections on their Style 
 of Architecture. — The Forgotten Dead. — Superstitious Dread of 
 Ghosts on the part of the Inhabitants. — Witchcraft and Conjura- 
 tion — Peculiar Antics of a Pretended Conjurer. — His Legal Com- 
 plications and Happy Deliverance. — Despondency and Gloom 
 occasioned by a Belief in the same. — Ignorance the Cause of these 
 Superstitious Beliefs. — Its Existence in Germany, England, and 
 New England in the Past. — Day beginning to Dawn in the South. 
 
 " When I am dead and gone from you darling, 
 
 When I'm laid low in my grave, 
 And my spirit has gone to Heaven above, 
 
 To Him who my soul has saved ; 
 When you are happy and gay once more, 
 
 Thinking of days that have been ; 
 This one little favor I ask of you, 
 
 See that my grave is kept green." 
 
 It is not the intention of the writer to refer so partic- 
 ularly to the church and school house in this connection, 
 as to the forlorn cemetery beyond, for aside from the dila- 
 pidated appearance of these relics of the past, and the 
 memories of days that have now become historical, which 
 are recalled by their presence, there was nothing con- 
 nected with them worthy of especial mention. It is true, 
 the old well beneath the spreading oak over there, with 
 
39 
 
 ancient sweep and detached pole and moss covered buck- 
 et, carried us back in imagination to the time when the 
 lads and lassies of that section mounted upon their 
 frisking steeds, who after accomplishing their sabbath 
 days journey to the house of the Lord, dismounted b}- its 
 side, and quenched their thirst from its refreshing con- 
 tents; to say nothing of the little ones, (children of the 
 favored few) who found in its crystal draught an ever- 
 ready excuse to escape the vigilant eye of the school 
 master, on the sultry summer's day. 
 
 And who that has read the story of the afflictions 
 and persecutions of the colored race in the south, could 
 even casually glance at the shattered panes, broken 
 doors, dust- covered pulpit and uncushioned seats with 
 backs so erect and unyielding as to reflect to some de- 
 gree the cruel dispositions of those who were wont to 
 occupy them, while beneath the ministrations of some 
 sedate divine they searched the Scriptures in the vain 
 endeavor to discover some maxim or command that 
 would justify or even extenuate the sin of human slavery 
 indulged in by them. But there was nothing connected 
 with these time honored ruins that carried the mind 
 back to an era of thrift and advancement, when the in- 
 tellect was unclouded and the ambition soared to sub- 
 lime conceptions: nothing in the architectural design of 
 these, suggestive of the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Com- 
 posite, Gothic or any other school known to the artist; 
 
40 
 
 but everything was flat, and unpretentious, in perfect 
 keeping with a generation that courted ease and exemp- 
 tion from toil, at the expense of the sweat, the blood and 
 lives of a whole race of people; and who preferred 
 rather to devote their time to forging fetters for their 
 limbs and training blood-hounds for the inhuman chase, 
 than to unfolding the god-like qualities of mind and 
 soul, and contributing toward the amelioration of human 
 woes. 
 
 But let us look at this little cemetery — this last rest- 
 ing place of the forgotten dead. I say forgotten ; and I 
 think rightly so; for who could look upon that lonely 
 deserted space all covered with rank weeds and inhabited 
 by serpents, and come to any other conclusion. Here 
 were no marble slab or monument, bearing an inscription 
 of love and kind remembrance; not even a stake, in 
 some instances, remained to mark the grave of one who 
 formerly graced the board ; it might have been a fond 
 parent, or perhaps a kind and loving brother or sister. 
 
 Who knows but that beneath those very weeds and 
 rubbish, lay the remains of one who once was the joy 
 and light of the household, such an one as could have led 
 captive the heart of wealth and virtue; one whose merry 
 voice resounded through these very groves, fit company 
 for the little song birds, that acknowledged her coming 
 with songs of delight; whose flaxen tresses floated lightly 
 on the summer breezes, disclosing to view a bust of ala- 
 
41 
 
 baster and form angelic; and it may be that those little 
 feet once capered nimbi}' o'er the well scrubbed floor to 
 the "lascivious pleasing" of a stringed instrument in 
 the hands of a native musician. But now all is for- 
 gotten; no loving soul, fondly cherishing her memory, 
 bends the knee beside her lonety grave, to plant a rose 
 bush or ivy vine; no one drops a tear,silently saying — 
 " Gone but not forgotten." 
 
 Under the circumstances is it to be wondered at that 
 a general feeling of superstitious dread of ghosts pervad- 
 ed the community in that section of country? and that 
 even persons who would not have hesitated to beard 
 the lion in his den or face the enemy on the field of 
 battle, could not have been hired, coaxed or scared into 
 visiting that cemetery, or any other cemetery indeed, 
 after night fall '? To have undertaken to persuade some 
 of the people in that localit} T that there were no such 
 existences in fact as ghosts, and convince them that 
 what they mistook for these ethereal substances were 
 only results of a distorted imagination, would have been 
 a futile task ; for it was a belief not only inculcated from 
 their childhood, until it had become to be a part of their 
 religious belief, but they had even imbibed it from their 
 mother's breast. The writer can recall instances in his 
 childhood da} T s when one of his daily chores was to go to 
 the residence of Judge , a wealthy old slave hold- 
 er, and fetch back our daily allowance of milk, and 
 
42 
 
 since this duty was frequently performed after night 
 fall, no little embarrassment was experienced on his part 
 by reason of the ghost stories with which he was regaled 
 by those with whom he came in contact on the judge's 
 premises. " Aunt Hannah " would tell of the dead 
 groaning in their graves, when certain passages of 
 scripture were read over them, on certain nights of the 
 year at the hour of "low twelve;" " LittleAunty," would 
 tell of a haunted house on the writer's way to his home, 
 where lights were blown out and strange noises heard 
 at all hours of night, in which no one could be induced 
 to reside for love nor money; while Augustus would 
 relate that a real ghost had been seen a few days prior, 
 walking in the village cemetery, and vow that not for 
 his libert}" (he was a slave) could he be induced to enter 
 that cemetery after dark. And often on a winter's night 
 after sitting and hearing these ghost stories repeated 
 around the family circle, one's heart would leap within 
 him at the rustling of a garment or the movement of a 
 mouse, and in imagination he was even then in the pre- 
 sence of a veritable " Spirit of health or goblin damned;" 
 and as for sleep, it was a stranger to his eyelids for 
 weary hours, and when at last it came, it brought with 
 it dreams such as were better calculated to disturb than 
 refresh the mind. And while considering this subject, 
 we are tempted to refer also to another superstitious 
 belief which has become firmly seated in the minds of 
 
43 
 
 many persons of both colors in the South. I refer to 
 the belief in witchcraft and conjuration, the latter of 
 which so far as I am informed is only a modification of 
 the former, according to their teachings and belief. 
 They not only refer to the traditions of their ancestors 
 as the basis of this silly belief, but even go so far as to 
 point with pride to certain passages of the Scriptures, to 
 be found in the Old Testament, in justification of it; 
 and with a look of triumph ask you whether you are 
 wiser than the inspired writers. Gray haired matrons 
 and sires, "with one foot in the grave," who rest 
 their future happiness on a firm belief in the teachings 
 of the meek and lowly Savior, will prate for hours of 
 witches, that enter dwellings through key holes, and 
 can only be killed by being shot with silver balls; while 
 they are as completely enslaved by their superstitious 
 fears, maxims, lucky and unlucky days, and as much 
 subjected by the force of the same, as though they were 
 " I' the stocks," or il fettered to the soil." Diseases 
 that under other circumstances would be attributed 
 to ordinary causes, are laid at the door of witches 
 and conjurers, and the only practical and reasonable 
 treatments are ignored, while enchantments of various 
 kinds, amulets, and charms are resorted to as a means of 
 relief. Cups are turned, roots of various kinds are dug 
 from the earth and treasured up, horse shoes and bones 
 of animals are suspended in the house or nailed over the 
 
44 
 
 doors, cards are shuffled and their dread portents read 
 with alarm ; children are taught to religiously avoid step- 
 ping in the " fresh tracks " of those who have preceded 
 them on the road; to enter a house at one door and depart 
 by the same, they consider an ill omen; to turn back is a 
 sign of bad luck, because Lot's wife looked back and was 
 turned into a pillar of salt; an old shoe is cast after a 
 newly married couple, and the life and death of the 
 contracting parties to every marriage are influenced 
 by the state of the weather at the time of its consumma- 
 tion. All the foregoing signs are l'egarded with religious 
 scrupulousness, to say nothing of the pbazes of the moon 
 and lucky and unlucky stars; a few marks upon the 
 earth or a crooked stick in the way, excites as much 
 curiosity, more indeed, than a venomous reptile would. 
 
 The writer recalls an incident in this connection, 
 which occurred during his so] urn in the South, that goes 
 far toward illustrating the subject under consideration. 
 Not far from the village of Hudsonville there was situated 
 a large cotton plantation, the property of a Mr. Sackett, 
 of Charleston. There were extensive quarters upon this 
 land for the accommodation of the hands, of whom there 
 were a goodly number. The overseer, together with his 
 wife and children, composed the white portion ot the 
 inhabitants, while the colored hands constituted the 
 remainder. They were of the average intelligence 
 found in that section of the country. During the spring 
 
45 
 
 of the year 1S72, a peculiar-looking genius, tall of 
 stature, dark of complexion, wearing knee breeches, a 
 red flannel shirt and a very broad-brimmed straw hat, 
 made his appearance upon the plantation aforesaid, 
 carrying in his hand a small satchel, containing numerous 
 vials filled with liquid substances of various colors. He 
 announced himself as being a votary at the shrine of his 
 Satanic majesty, with whom he was in league, and by 
 whose aid and assistance he possessed power not only 
 over all the various diseases and ills to which humanity 
 is heir, but even succeeded in convincing some of the 
 members of the little community that he held in his 
 power the destinies of all who came within reach of his 
 magic arts. He could unfold the secrets of the past and 
 present, and prognosticate the future. His bearing and 
 attire were so very peculiar that he experienced little 
 difficulty in securing free access to the rude cabins, 
 where he gratuitously obtained his dinner and supper. 
 During the interval between these meals he improved 
 the opportunity of telling the fortunes of several of the 
 heads of families and their wives. To some husbands 
 he unfolded the infidelity of their wives, and then he, in 
 turn, revealed to the grief-stricken wives all the myste- 
 ries of their husbands 1 guilty loves. The result of all 
 this treachery was that there were few cabins on that 
 plantation during the following night where peace and 
 quiet prevailed. Mutual accusations were made; mutual 
 
46 
 
 explanations and protestations followed; then curses 
 and hissing epithets were showered down freely upon 
 the head of the presumptuous wretch — the vice-gerent of 
 " Old Nick" — who was the cause of all the trouble. At 
 last the impostor was ferreted out, bound hand and foot 
 and, after having been ridden on the " ragged edge" of a 
 rail through the quarters, he was turned over to the 
 tender mercies of the minions of the law. The trial 
 justice's office was crowded on the following morning 
 with witnesses and anxious spectators, determined to 
 see that right and justice prevailed. 
 
 The justice's office was situated on an isolated town 
 lot, flanked on either side with small " patches " of corn. 
 The corn was now sufficiently advanced to be about five 
 feet in height, which in that locality was not more than 
 half height. The case was called " The State of South 
 Carolina against John Doe." The now thoroughly 
 frightened victim was led to the bar of justice; the win- 
 dows and the door were open, and yet the heat was 
 oppressive and the atmosphere stifling. 
 
 When the defendant had patiently listened to the 
 reading of the charge preferred against him, he mur- 
 mured not, but entered a plea of " guilty." Then, as if 
 to seek relief, he exclaimed, " Sheriff, for goodness sake 
 give me a little water, or I shall faint;" at the same 
 instant reaching forward toward the water bucket, 
 which stood on a shelf near the door. The crowd, now 
 
47 
 
 partially reconciled, stood apart to give the fainting 
 man a chance, when, with a leap and a bound, the bird 
 escaped, and in another moment, as he sped through the 
 corn, the rows actually parted to receive him, so great 
 was his speed. Talk of pursuing him ! one had as well 
 have undertaken to pursue the frightened stag or to 
 chase the bird on the wing, so rapid were his movements. 
 He never smiled on us again, and the last word that was 
 heard of him was brought by a wagoner, who had 
 encountered him in an adjoining countj T , where b}' means 
 of a black cord stretched across the road and his vials 
 of liquids, he had frightened some of the ignorant 
 ones, and was actually demanding and receiving from 
 them small sums of money as an indemnity against 
 evil. 
 
 This is a strange recital, but true nevertheless. I do 
 not hesitate to assert that death itself were preferable to 
 a condition of mind such as enslaves those who are 
 the victims of that cruel superstitious belief known as 
 conjuration, when from the very nature of its teachings 
 they are cut off from all hope, and relegated to gloomy 
 forebodings and despair. Let us hope that a brighter 
 day is dawning for the deluded souls in the Sunny 
 South, when intelligence and reason shall prevail, and 
 ignorance shall be dispelled. Then all these supersti- 
 tious beliefs will be banished. The time was when in 
 some of the most enlightened portions of the earth 
 
similar beliefs prevailed to an alarming extent; for we 
 are told by Macaulejr that in the beginning of the six- 
 teenth century death was first pronounced against all 
 who should be convicted of witchcraft; also that about 
 the year 1515, five hundred witches were executed in 
 Genoa in the space of three months; and that about one 
 hundred thousand persons were executed in Germany 
 from the publication of the bull of Innocent VIII., in 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century, up to the sup- 
 pression of the evil: in some instances children not 
 more than nine years of age being the victims. And, mi- 
 rabile dicta, we are informed that even in " Old England," 
 in the year 1716, a Mrs. Hix and her little daughter, 
 aged nine years, were hanged at Huntington for selling 
 their souls to the devil and raising a storm by pulling 
 off their stockings and making a lather of soap; and 
 that no less than thirty thousand were executed in 
 England for witchcraft. And when, in addition to the 
 foregoing, we recall the fact that even in our own 
 beloved country bitter persecutions have taken place on 
 this same account, we need not marvel that it exists in 
 the South among those who have not enjoyed the 
 elevating influence of education and modern teachings. 
 But, stay; I have detained the reader so long with my 
 musings and anecdotes that we are now in sight of the 
 village of Oriole. 
 
 The children are awake again and waking the echoes, 
 
49 
 
 rejoiced at the idea of pressing mother earth once more 
 with their little feet; and even our fatigued horses have 
 quickened their pace, full}' cognizant of the fact that 
 the}- are nearing the end of the first stage. We shall 
 meet again in the village. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Oriole. — Its Appearance, Population, etc. — Edward Hill, our 
 Host. — Some Account of his Early Life and Subsequent Career. — 
 Labor and Perseverance Conquers All. — Sacrifice of Principle 
 Essential to Success in the South Then as Now. — Our Repast. — 
 The Menu. — " Collards." — Moral Status of the Denizens of Oriole. 
 — Brown's Opinion : " It is Worse than New York." — Reminis- 
 cence of a Former Visit to This Place.— Reflections on the Treat- 
 ment of Colored People in all parts of the South. 
 
 The village of Oriole would never have existed unless 
 the W. & R. Rail Road had been constructed; and as it 
 owes its origin to that rail road, to a similar degree it 
 was dependent upon it for its means of support. The 
 " shops " were located here, together with a round house 
 for the accommodation of locomotives, and these supplied 
 employment for the heads of the greater number of fam- 
 ilies in the place. A ware house, three varieties stores, 
 and four groggeries for the accommodation of the inhab- 
 itants and "stranger guests," who flocked in at stated 
 intervals from the surrounding territory, completed the 
 list of business establishments, if we except a dingy 
 looking excuse for an hotel, of which, more further on. 
 As the afternoon was far advanced, and both tourists 
 and beasts of burden were sadly in need of refreshments 
 we did not tany to make an inspection of the "town," or 
 
51 
 
 even to gratify the idiotic stare of the lonesome looking 
 inhabitants, but urged our steeds forward to the suburbs 
 where resided an old acquaintance, in the person of Mr. 
 Edward Hill, a gentleman of color, the head and chief 
 support of a large and growing family. Mr. Hill was 
 the personification of a self made man, viewed from one 
 aspect, and furnished a fair illustration of what a man, 
 devoid of intellectual training beyond such as he 
 could acquire under adverse circumstances, proscribed 
 by a wicked and embarrassing caste prejudice, can ac- 
 complish, if he only possesses a sober, industrious char- 
 acter, coupled with a will to overcome. Edward Hill was 
 more than the foregoing; he was a fair type of a large 
 class of colored men who were then as now struggling 
 against adverse fate in the South, in the laudable etfort 
 to vindicate the good name of the so called freedmen of 
 that section. Edward was born a slave in the state of 
 " Old Virginia; 7 ' he had no remembrance of his mother 
 or father, because he was separated from them in his in- 
 fancy, they having been sold to a ' ; speculator," who 
 carried them to one of the gulf states, as was supposed, 
 and disposed of them to the producers of sugar and cot- 
 ton. When quite a lad, he was purchased by Colonel 
 Hill, one of the former residents of that county, and 
 given employment as a plantation hand on his land, in 
 which capacity he soon became to be a favorite, by 
 reason of his industrious habits and pleasing disposition. 
 
52 
 
 When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, 
 Edward, like the remainder of the hands, became to be 
 a free man, and without a month's delay, set about earn- 
 ing a livelihood for his family ; for he had already taken 
 unto himself a wife, after the plantation fashion then 
 prevailing, and was even then the father of several 
 promising little children. 
 
 Colonel Hill, his former master, furnished him a 
 piece of land, containing about twenty-five acres, upon 
 the condition that Edward should give him a portion 
 of the net proceeds, after defraying the expenses of 
 producing the crop; which was supposed to be a very fair 
 transaction on the part of the Colonel for the time and 
 locality in which he resided. In order to procure the 
 necessary implements of agriculture, as well as means of 
 sustenance while the process of cultivating the crop was 
 taking place, our friend was compelled to execute a lien 
 upon the whole crop and his personal effects to a grocer 
 in the town, as was the universal custom in all that 
 region of country. His power consisted of an old horse, 
 which he had purchased for a trifle, and a small steer, 
 hardly tractable, but yet under the vigorous and skillful 
 handling of his master capable of doing good service. 
 In the midst of the season, at a time when his crop most 
 needed attention, Edward had the misfortune to lose his 
 horse, and then there was to be seen an. example of 
 
53 
 
 pluck and energy scarcely equaled, certainly not excelled, 
 by the fabled heroes of ancient mythology; for this 
 determined man did not sit in despondency and gloom 
 and bewail his loss; but, shall I tell it, while his eldest 
 son guided the plow behind the little steer, his loving 
 wife stood in the same capacity to him, for he actually 
 drew the plow which she guided. No member of that 
 family was permitted to be idle, even the little ones 
 assisting in various ways. The result of all this heroic 
 effort was that at the end of the season Edward had a 
 surplus, after paying all his debts, and the next spring 
 found him entering upon his preparations for another 
 crop with a good horse and wagon, which he could call 
 his own. And so he had continued to labor, year after 
 year, until now, after the lapse of nine }'ears, we found 
 him the owner of a large tract of well-improved land, 
 completely stocked, and capable of producing, even in 
 an average season, twenty-five bales of cotton, which was 
 at that time worth in the aggregate about eighteen 
 hundred dollars. This is the class of colored men so 
 often referred to by members of Congress and others 
 from the South in vindication of the " wise and humane " 
 policy adopted by them toward those who were formerly 
 their slaves. They say: "Behold Edward Hill, only 
 nine years a free man, and yet the owner of a large farm 
 and its appurtenances, with a net income of at least a 
 
54 
 
 thousand dollars per year. Where is your colored 
 citizen in the North that is doing as well." By way of 
 answer to all such we have simply to say that, while 
 Edward throve and accumulated property, he did it at a 
 fabulous cost, namely: the utter sacrifice of his man- 
 hood; the subjection of all his civil and political 
 convictions to the dictates of those whom he dared not 
 deny as his superiors. He did it by eschewing all 
 political discussions, and even the ballot-box, except 
 when, for the sake of satisfying his neighbors, he voted 
 the Democratic ticket, against which his soul and con- 
 victions rebelled within him. But, hearken! they are 
 calling us to dinner or supper, which ever you please, 
 for it is rather late for dinner and somewhat early for 
 supper; and, while we have been following our friend 
 over his farm, viewing his possessions and listening to a 
 recital of his struggles to obtain it, the ladies, " God 
 bless them," have prepared our frugal repast, and now 
 T\e must partake of it. Mrs. Hill had very kindly 
 prepared us some hot coffee, while our good wives had 
 pooled the contents of their several baskets for the com- 
 mon repast. The menu was not such an one as would 
 have been apt to stimulate the appetite of a fastidious 
 person, accustomed to an elaborate bill of fare, but the 
 viands were relished nevertheless, as the appearance of 
 the dishes, after we had finished, showed. We had as a 
 
55 
 
 BILL OF FARE, 
 
 the following: 
 
 No Soup : No Fish : 
 
 Boiled Bacon, very fat and cold, with Collards : 
 Stewed Chicken, with Dumplings : 
 Sweet Potatoes : 
 Fried Chicken : 
 More Collards: 
 Corn Bread : Pickles : 
 
 Apple Pie : 
 Coffee : 
 A few more Collards. 
 The uninitiated ma} T be curious to know what col- 
 lards are; and since you have the profoundest sympa- 
 thies of the writer, patient reader, if you have never 
 eaten any of them, he will undertake to enlighten 
 you a little on that subject. 
 
 Collards are a species of the cabbage plant, of a dark 
 green color; they are cultivated like cabbages, and have 
 almost the exact appearance of cabbages until the3* 
 become advanced in age. The cabbage heads; the col- 
 lard does not head. But the collard does begin to head, 
 and forms a closed lump in the center about the size of 
 an orange, which turns white after being touched by 
 frost, while the surrounding leaves are only streaked 
 with white. To the inhabitants of the country districts 
 of the South, where there are no markets, and the daily 
 allowance consists of salt meat, rice, potatoes and the 
 
56 
 
 like, and where fresh beef is scarcely ever tasted by the 
 poor people, the collard is a very great blessing; because 
 when boiled in a pot with a piece of fat meat and balls 
 of corn meal dough, having the size and appearance of 
 ordinary white turnips, called dumplings, it makes pal- 
 atable a diet which would otherwise be all but intolera- 
 ble. And they are very dearly liked by nearly every 
 one who has been raised on Southern soil, including 
 even some of her most dignified statesmen. 
 
 After dinner we improved the opportunity of taking 
 a stroll through the principal street of the village, where 
 a fair opportunity was offered of studying the moral 
 and intellectual status of the inhabitants. In front of 
 the stores and groggeries benches were invariably to be 
 seen, upon which lounged numerous inferior specimens 
 of humanity, smoking clay pipes with long reed stems, 
 squirting tobacco juice, whittling pine sticks, and "spin- 
 ning yarns.'" It was a scene such as was repeated 
 seventy-five times out of a hundred to the vision of the 
 southern tourists at that period of the South's history. 
 Invariably one could see hitched near by one or more 
 horses, saddled and bridled — a favorite mode of travel- 
 ing in that country. Of oaths of a most blasphemous 
 nature there was no limit, and to the mind of the 
 average Northener the suggestion forced itself that there 
 was a suitable field for the faithful missionary desirous 
 of doing something in the service of the Master. 
 
57 
 
 A year previous to this time, Brown, with his 
 fighting proclivities, had gone to this village and opened 
 a small grocery store, in which he also retailed a little 
 of " the ardent. 11 He had not been there three months 
 before he had received as many challenges to fight at 
 fisticuffs, all of which he had to accept or else wear the 
 brand of coward, which would not only have subjected 
 him to every conceivable anno}^ance from even his 
 ph} T sical inferiors, but also jeopardized his success in 
 business there. On one occasion he was compelled to 
 bar his doors and windows for several hours, until 
 assistance arrived; and, on another, he was shot in the 
 leg, and confined to his bed for several weeks. Brown 
 finalh T , after a brave struggle, lost courage, sold his 
 place and moved to Hudsonville, vowing that he would 
 not live in Oriole if any one should give him the best 
 place in the town, exclaiming: "Why, upon my word 
 of honor, it is worse than New York," which in his 
 opinion was no compliment, for he was in New York 
 City during the hanging of colored men and burning of 
 the Colored Orphan Asylum by Democrats in 1863. 
 
 The writer now recalls an incident of a trip to 
 this village, a few months prior to the time referred 
 to. His family, consisting of his wife and little boy, 
 not two years of age, together with himself, were suffer- 
 ing from the effects of a protracted spell of fever and 
 ague, as well as the hurtful results of enormous doses of 
 
58 
 
 quinine and calomel, thathad been administered to them 
 by the physicians employed. We were hardly convales- 
 cent, very weak, and it was thought that the life of the 
 little one hung b}' a thread almost. As a last resort, it 
 was decided to try the effects of a colder climate, and a 
 visit to our kind relatives and friends in Northern Ohio 
 was undertaken. Our first stage lay over the same 
 rough road that we have just described, and in order 
 that we might be at the station in time to take the earl} r 
 morning train it was necessary to travel all night. 
 When we arrived at Oriole on the following morning, 
 cold, weary and almost heart-broken, we keenly felt the 
 need of some nourishing food, and the writer imme- 
 diately applied at the only hotel in the place for accom- 
 modation. We were flatly refused; receiving as an 
 answer from the landlord — " We don't feed niggers 
 here; our boarders will not allow it. If you choose you 
 can go in the kitchen and eat." We looked around. 
 There sat several sickly-looking men, who appeared as if 
 their only mission on earth was to eat clay and spit 
 tobacco juice, and the} r leered at us as though we had 
 committed the unpardonable sin. Why are we so dis- 
 gracefully treated? the writer asked himself. We are 
 clean, our deportment is good, and we are fully prepared 
 to liquidate all bills. Ah, alas! I forgot; it is because 
 our complexions are less fair than theirs. The da}' will 
 come when the rights of men shall be respected in this 
 
59 
 
 South regardless of color, birth or previous condition. 
 " Eat in the kitchen !" Why, indulgent reader, the 
 kitchen was a filth hole, dark and repelling, the noisome 
 odors of which would have attracted the attention of the 
 health officers in any well-regulated Northern city with- 
 out delay. And so we were compelled to grope around 
 in a strange place, among strangers, until coming in 
 contact with a large-hearted black man, a Good Samari- 
 tan in the full acceptance of the term, our wants were 
 supplied, and we went on our way rejoicing. This is 
 only one instance of the kind from hundreds that 
 might be mentioned, showing that while colored men in 
 the South are acceptable as farm hands ; while they are 
 sought after as house servants, and permitted to almost 
 monopolize all classes of menial employment, and the 
 women in some instances serve as wet nurses, yet they are 
 not good enough in the estimation of very ordinary white 
 Southerners to hold places of official trust, or sit at the 
 same table with them. 
 
 In fact, occurrences on a par with the one just 
 referred to, took place in several instances during the 
 remainder of our journey to Ohio. Even in the city of 
 Baltimore we were threatened with ejection from the 
 parlor or waiting room of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
 Road depot, and it was only by the most persistent 
 effort, and positive threats of a civil action against the 
 company for damages, that we prevented the action from 
 
60 
 
 being taken. And again, in our passage from Baltimore 
 to another locality, on the Chesapeake Bay, we were re- 
 fused such reasonable and ordinary accommodation as 
 was accorded to the average white traveler, who was able 
 to pay for it. It is a sore affliction for men in any 
 station in life, however ignorant and humble soever they 
 may be to be debarred of the common courtesies and 
 necessaries of life; but when a class of persons who have 
 spent a portion of their clays among civilized and mag- 
 nanimous people, such as are to be found in many sec- 
 tions of the North, and who have gained such a degree 
 of information, and culture as to know and appreciate 
 the rights and duties of citizens to one another, are 
 denied them in plain violation of all law, it is downright 
 persecution and torture. There is no city in the South 
 at the present time, where a colored gentleman can obtain 
 first class fare at an ordinary hotel; and indeed, it 
 would be almost at the cost of his life that even the at- 
 tempt would be made in many instances. Nor is this 
 all; in some parts of the South they not only have sep- 
 arate apartments provided for colored people in their rail 
 road cars, but they have gone so far as to put benches in 
 dilapidated box cars for their accommodation, which are 
 at times suffered to become most intolerably filthy for 
 the want of a little attention. And this practice is even 
 carried to street cars in some cities, where the anxious 
 patron is compelled to await the arrival of one bearing 
 
61 
 
 the legend "Colored People's Car," or else walk to his 
 place of destination. But all the objects of interest are 
 now examined. Let us return to the house and assist 
 the women and children in their preparations for the 
 prosecution of our journey; for there are fifteen miles 
 before us yet to be traveled before we seek repose. The 
 children must be well wrapped too, for we are in the 
 vicinity of the Great Dismal Swamp, and when the sun 
 has set the atmosphere will be impregnated with noisome 
 vapors freighted with miasma whence spring so many of 
 the destructive diseases, of which the South is so prolific. 
 In the meantime, cousin Henry, let me insist that you do 
 slacken } r our speed in the future for it will not be at all 
 agreeable to be left behind in this lonesome neighborhood. 
 On our way hither you left us so far behind that we 
 came near losing ourselves, but, thanks to a pair of vig- 
 orous lungs we were enabled to attract your attention 
 and arrest your speed. 
 
 Once more we are safely mounted, and away. Good 
 bye Mr. Hill and family! Good bye Oriole! May you 
 both prosper and live long. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 Lowlands of the Carolinas. — Spring Freshets. — Famine Threat 
 ened. — Mail Carrier Up a Tree, — Unhealthy Localities. — Rice 
 Culture. — Sufferings of Hands. — The Great Dismal Swamp. — 
 Appearance and Extent. — The Robber's Stronghold. — Henry Berry 
 Lowrie. — He Defies the Militia of a Whole State. — -His Audacious 
 Bearing. — A Confrere Hung. — Lowrie is Wounded and finally 
 Killed. — The Fugitive's Retreat. — Uncle Pompey's Experience. 
 
 In some sections of the South, in the vicinity of the 
 Atlantic Ocean and the large rivers tributary thereto, 
 are to be seen many of those dark, gloomy and forbid- 
 ding places commonly known as swamps. This is 
 especially true of the eastern half of the territory form- 
 ing the States of North and South Carolina, through 
 which flow the Neuse, Cape Fear, Peclee, and Wateree 
 Rivers; places which are not surpassed for wild scenery 
 and natural ferocity, so to speak, by any of those 
 African jungles with which the writings of Livingstone, 
 Stanley, Cameron, and other explorers, have made us 
 familiar. Nor is it necessary to depart from the ordi- 
 nary avenues of travel in order to experience the truth- 
 fulness of the foregoing statement. Many of the -most 
 frequented highways, and even railroads, lead through 
 these districts, affording a most excellent opportunity of 
 
63 
 
 observation to the tourist and traveler. In man}' in- 
 stances the difficulties encountered in constructing rail- 
 roads are enormous, and to people not possessing 
 genuine pluck, skill and endurance, they would be 
 insurmountable. Passengers who have traveled over 
 the road running from Wilmington North Carolina, to 
 Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, will readily 
 recall to mind a high trestle work, several miles in 
 extent, over which trains are borne while passing 
 through one ot these inhospitable localities. The sud- 
 den change from the pines and sands encountered on 
 the eastern coast of North Carolina, and the comforts 
 and luxuries of cit} T life, to the bogs and fens of the 
 swamp districts, must be seen and experienced in order 
 to be properly appreciated. However, to see them in all 
 their prodigality, one should visit these sections in the 
 springtime of the year, during the falling of the March 
 and April showers. Then the rivers and their tribu- 
 taries occasionally rise to such an extent as to overflow 
 their banks and inundate all the neighboring land. On 
 such occasions ordinary business is almost completeby 
 suspended, and the attention of all is turned not only to 
 the protection of their property, but of even human 
 life; and it is not an uncommon occurrence for all the 
 live stock contained on large plantations, such as horses, 
 cows and pigs, to be swept away during the course of a 
 single night. All travel is suspended, means of com- 
 
64 
 
 rnunication with the outer world being cut off until the 
 waters subside; and in one instance, at least, the writer 
 is reminded, there was an actual scarcity of the neces- 
 saries of life in the little village of Hudsonville for the 
 reason last stated. One of the amusing incidents of the 
 last freshet that we were witness to (and they are 
 characterized Irv amusing as well as sad scenes) was 
 connected with the postal service of the village. Hobbs 
 was the mail agent; he had been prior to the war a 
 slave; hence he was poor and had not the most approved 
 facilities for conveying the mail from the nearest rail 
 road station to the post office, a distance of fourteen 
 miles. At the accustomed hour, on the occasion referred 
 to, the greater portion of the male inhabitants of the 
 place went to the post office, as was their custom, to 
 await the arrival and distribution of the mail; but as 
 time wore on and the mail did not arrive, they betook 
 them to their homes in a disappointed frame of mind. 
 On the following morning a courier arrived direct from 
 Hobbs, bearing the information that he had started with 
 his mail bag on the previous evening, but the freshet 
 overtaking him he was obliged to seek safety in a tree, 
 leaving his horse to escape as best he could, and that he 
 was still up in the tree, where he had guarded the mail 
 bag all the live-long night. The courier closed his 
 statement with a most earnest request from Mr. Hobbs 
 that relief be immediately sent to him. However, before 
 
65 
 
 assistance could be sent, Hobbs was descried in the 
 distance, trudging faithfully along the road, with the 
 precious burden on his shoulder, to the joy and delight 
 of all. He had availed himself of the kind assistance of 
 people in the vicinity, until he reached dry land, when 
 he bid defiance to distance or the weight of his load, 
 and started for home afoot. But he was not always so 
 fortunate, for on another occasion he was shut out from 
 us, and we were deprived of the benefits of the mail for 
 nearly a whole week, without intermission. 
 
 It may seem strange to many persons living at dis- 
 tances remote from these swamps, upon high and well 
 drained land, that an intelligent class of persons could 
 be induced to locate in close proximity to them, when 
 there is so much land better adapted to the wants of 
 man; especially since the atmosphere in this vicinity 
 during certain seasons of the year is so thoroughly im- 
 pregnated with miasm as to breed diseases of various 
 kinds which bring in their train suffering and death. 
 This action on their part may be attributed to various 
 influences, such as the well known influences of nativity 
 and pecuniary interest, inability to dispose of one's 
 possessions at what he considers a reasonable value 
 of them, the extra fertility of the river lands, and 
 especially the fact that, in many cases, the owners 
 of the swamp lands were originally engaged in the 
 cultivation of rice; a product very profitable as an 
 
66 
 
 article of commerce and at the same time requiring a 
 low, wet soil for its production. In the now historical 
 days of slavery in this country, these very swamps were 
 the embodiments of hell upon earth, and more than one 
 poor man and woman, who was compelled to labor in 
 them up to their knees in mud and water, if they were 
 alive, could by their broken constitutions, scarred backs 
 and debased intellects, bear witness to the veracity of 
 this statement. Kind reader if your humanity has been 
 spared the shock of beholding the poorly fed bodies of 
 these human chattels clad in filthy rags grubbing in 
 these rice swamps, with their wives and little ones beside 
 them, while the suckling babe at the quarters moaned 
 for its mother that came not to minister its scant}' needs, 
 thank God that your lot has been cast in other times and 
 a more genial clime. 
 
 Such a district as we have been describing we were 
 to traverse, and even while these thoughts have been 
 revolving in our mind, we have neared the " Great 
 Dismal Swamp." The writer has never consulted any 
 authoritative record with reference to the dimensions 
 of this swamp, but judging from the statements of the 
 inhabitants in that locality, it covers an area of more 
 than ten square miles. The waters of this swamp are 
 for the greater part covered with a rich green scum, 
 suggestive of fevers and agues ; the cypress trees which 
 are indigenous to it are curtained and fringed with a 
 
67 
 
 heavy drapery of gray moss, which depends like a heavy 
 pall from the limbs that shoot out horizontally from the 
 bodies thereof; and no man has yet fathomed all the 
 mysteries of its dark and forbidding fastnesses, which 
 are said to be the haunts of all that is vile and hurtful 
 either of beasts, birds, reptiles, or even humanity, peculiar 
 to that part of the South. Within its recesses the wild 
 boar and black bear fraternize with each other; the 
 moccasin and the poisonous rattlesnake intertwine in 
 deadly embrace; while the highway robber and liber- 
 tine, secure within its haunts, hold high carnival 
 together. It makes one shudder to recall the gloomy 
 place to mind and the terrible legends connected with 
 it. But to appreciate this feeling, heightened and 
 intensified in the bosom until it becomes to be a veritable 
 horror, one must pass through this section after night- 
 fall ; when the light of the moon and stars is veiled by 
 the thick fogs and mists that overhang it, and almost 
 Egyptian darkness pervades the atmosphere; and the 
 hootings of the night owl and the harsh croakings of 
 the multitudinous amphibious creatures are heard, and 
 a certain damp chill possesses the blood, causing one to 
 involuntarily draw his cloak more tightly around him, 
 and clutch his bridle and revolver, as he anxiously spurs 
 forward his excited horse to a less dismal locality. It 
 was in this swamp that the Lowrie brothers, championed 
 by the redoubtable Henry Berry Lowrie made their place 
 
68 
 
 of resort; from whence he issued his commands to the 
 inhabitants of the surrounding country, which were 
 almost implicitly obeyed, and filled all with consterna- 
 tion by reason of his frequent incursions; and it was in 
 the interior of this very swamp where he bad his den 
 established when visited by a representative of the New 
 York Herald, in the year 1S70, for the purpose of 
 obtaining an interview, an achievement never attempted 
 nor even thought of by any of the provincial papers in 
 " Dixie's Land." 
 
 It appears that during the Southern rebellion various 
 and sundry acts of ill-treatment had been visited upon 
 different members of the Lowrie family, which extended 
 to the murdering of one or more of them by persons 
 connected with the Confederate service. To avenge 
 these wrongs and compensate their injured feelings, the 
 brothers Lowrie took the held, or swamp, where ere long 
 they were joined by other kindred spirits in that locality, 
 to the number of a dozen or more. They were thoroughly 
 armed, and fully resolved on mischief. After night-fall 
 they were in the habit of scouring the neighborhood, 
 plundering hen-roosts, burning barns and dwellings, and 
 in some instances murdering men. They lugged off 
 their booty into the swamp and devoured it, when they 
 were ready to engage in other enterprises. One of 
 their gang was captured, tried, convicted and hung. 
 Dire were the threats thrown out against every man of 
 
69 
 
 any standing in that community by Lowrie and his 
 confreres, conditioned upon the execution of their 
 brother robber; loud were their curses; but they availed 
 not; he was hung at the appointed time, and the majesty 
 of the law vindicated. The chief and his gang became 
 finally to be so audacious that at times they would 
 actually present themselves at the railroad stations, 
 armed cap-a-pie, to the great embarrassment of every 
 one. On such occasions they would demand, and gen- 
 erally received the latest newspapers, containing in some 
 instances full accounts of their diabolical doings; they 
 cracked jokes and laughed heartily over them, and then 
 departed for parts unknown. So great was the appre- 
 hension on the part of the substantial residents in that 
 vicinity that they not only offered a large reward for the 
 body of the ringleader, dead or alive, but also procured 
 a much larger reward to be offered by the State officials; 
 and as a last resort, by command of the Governor, all the 
 available troops of the State of North Carolina, num- 
 bering several thousands, under capable officers, were 
 marched to the margin of the swamp and encamped. 
 Here they remained for a lengthy period of time, expe- 
 riencing all the incidents, save physical wounds, 
 incidental to actual warfare. They stretched a cordon 
 of troops for a long distance on the margin of the 
 swamp, in the vain endeavor to entrap him; and sent 
 out scouts and spies to ferret him out of his hiding 
 
70 
 
 place. Vain hope! All these efforts were destined to 
 prove abortive; and the uniformed militia, after indulg- 
 ing their vanity and rubbing up their tactics for as long 
 a time as the State would endure the expense, marched 
 their troops back again and disbanded them, to be 
 referred to by future historians and placed by the side 
 of the illustrious individual of whom the poet sings: 
 
 " The King of the French, with sixty thousand men, 
 Marched up the hill, and then marched down again." 
 
 There is an end to all things terrestrial however, and the 
 career of Henry Berry Lowrie was no exception to the 
 rule. He was finally surprised and shot while seeking 
 shelter and medical care in the house of a relative, and 
 thus ended the career of a man who in a just cause could 
 have earned undying honors, but b^ the force of 
 circumstances was led to pursue a course which 
 both stamped his name with infamy and brought deso- 
 lation and grief into many households. After his death 
 the band dispersed and so far as the writer knows ceased 
 their organized depredations. 
 
 There is just one other association connected with 
 this dismal swamp, which the writer will glance at 
 before closing this chapter: We refer to the fact that, 
 in the reign of the slave driver and blood hound in the 
 sunny South, many a poor panting fugitive dragged 
 his lacerated limbs within its dark recesses, where for 
 months, subsisting upon such animal and vegetable food 
 
71 
 as he could gather, with a gnarled root for his pillow, 
 and the broad canopy of Heaven spread out over him, 
 he found that freedom and respite from his woes which 
 the laws of his native land refused him. 
 
 Of these, scores might be mentioned by name; but 
 suffice it to speak of just one, at this place. He was an 
 aged man; he said his name was Pompey; we met him 
 on a "First Monday," on the Public Square, in Hudson 
 ville, where he had wandered in search of a little assist- 
 ance in the evening of his eventful life. 
 
 "Hone} 7 ," he said, "vvhar did you come from? You 
 is from de Norf, ain't you?" 
 
 "Why do you ask me that question, uncle? do I look 
 like a Yankee?" 
 
 " Well no, you looks like our people, but den dare is 
 somefin bout yer way of talkin dat souns like de Norf." 
 
 " Well, to be truthful with you, uncle, I was born in 
 the South, but raised in the North." 
 
 "Jest as T spected. Den you don't know nuffln bout 
 de hard trials of de callud people in dis part of de 
 country, does yer?" 
 
 " Well no, uncle, except what I have read, and heard 
 from the lips of the old folks. I suppose you know a 
 good deal about them." 
 
 " Well, does you see dat scar ober dat eye? Dat was 
 made by a rawhide in de hans ob de oberseer; an dat 
 
72 
 
 mark on my neck dar was made by one of Mars George's 
 nouns; dey had me buried in de groun up to my arms, 
 and de dog he got loose an bit me, an ef dey hadn't 
 took him offen me as soon as dey did, he would er killed 
 me. But that's nothin; ef you cud see my back, honey, 
 yer wouldn't ask me any more ef I no ennything bout 
 ole slave days. Once I run away, an lived in de big 
 swamp fer more'n three months. I staid in dat swamp 
 tell I didn't have nuff close hardly to cover a skeeter, 
 (an de skeeters was mighty big down dar) an 1 guess I 
 would er died thar ef Mars George hadn't sent one ob 
 de hans an promised me dat ef I wud come back, de 
 oberseer shouldn't whip me enny more; an he kep his 
 word an I neber got anodder whippin after dat. An to 
 tell you de troof, chile, I was glad nuff to git out ob dat 
 swamp an git some more close on agin, fer it was almos' 
 as bad as deth to live in dar wid de snakes an varmints. 
 At fust it made me sick, but arter I hed lived in dar 
 about a monf, I wus as hard as a litewood not, an nuffln 
 cud hurt me." 
 
 Poor old man; he was scarred, and crippled, and 
 bent with age, but he had lived to see the dawn of glo- 
 rious liberty, and like a good old christian that he was, 
 he thanked God and took courage. 
 
 But where are we now? We have left the Dismal 
 Swamp far behind, we have passed the thirty-five mile 
 post, and already Brown, who has from the beginning 
 
73 
 
 of the journey taken the lead, has driven up to the gate 
 in front of a rude log house and lowered the bars. It is 
 the house of an acquaintance, we suppose, where we are 
 to seek repose during the remainder of the night; and 
 we are all rejoiced, for we are weary with the excite- 
 ment and turmoil of the day, and sadly in need of rest. 
 
 TV 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 The Bell Homestead. — Accommodations for the Night. — The 
 Black Cat. — My Wife Alarmed. — An Unfortunate Throw, and 
 Alarm of the Family.— Mine Host Jones, and the Writer Adjourn 
 to the Yard. — Snake Stories. — Snakes in the House ; in the Bed ; 
 in the Mill. — Snake Bites and Whiskey Treatment. — "Coachwhip 
 Snake." — Snakes for Food. — Medicine and Music. — Reminiscences 
 of the Slaveholding Era, by Jones. — The Men and Women who 
 Cleared and Cultivated these Lands. — The Whip. — The Auction 
 Block. — The Stocks. — Insufficient Food. — Dawn of Day. 
 
 The Bell homestead was a typical one in that portion of 
 the South, and presuming that a majority of our readers 
 have never visited that interesting section, we shall es- 
 say a description of it. The lot of land on which the 
 house was built was enclosed by a fence made of slats, 
 which were wattled instead of being nailed on. The 
 house was constructed of logs; the crevices or chinks 
 between which were filled with clay, by which means the 
 inclement elements were kept out. The chimney to this 
 house was constructed of short poles so piled as to lap 
 each other at the corners, until they reached a sufficient 
 height: the whole was then plastered over with clay 
 both within and without. Instead of sash containing 
 panes of glass, the windows, which were merely square 
 apertures, were provided with " shutters," hung with strap 
 
75 
 
 hinges and having hooks and staples for fastenings; the 
 roof was covered with slats similar to those of which the 
 fence was constructed and the whole presented a very 
 unique appearance; carrying the mind back to the 
 advent of the early settlers in this country. On the 
 outside of this house, between each window and the door 
 in the center, was hung a stretched coon skin in course 
 of bring "cured" for the market. The interior of this 
 primitive house was scarcely less romantic in appearance. 
 The fire place was capacious, sufficiently so to allow of 
 a whole log of wood being put on the large iron andirons 
 at one time, while the soot}' trammels suspended in the 
 center, seemed to await the advent of the big pot in the 
 corner, containing its accustomed supply of fat meat, 
 collards and dumplings for the daily dinner. In one 
 corner of the house was a large blue chest, the counter- 
 part, I imagine, of the one that tradition tells us a fair 
 damsel in that locality, ''upon a time," hid her greatly 
 embarrassed beau in, upon the sudden coming of her 
 austere sire. This chest served a triple purpose; it 
 contained all the spare bed clothing and wearing ap- 
 parrel of the family, furnished seating for at least three 
 persons during the day, and answered the purpose of a 
 bedstead upon which one of the younger members of 
 the family was accustomed to sleep at night. 
 
 There was only one bedstead in the house, and this 
 was very considerately placed at the disposal of Mrs. 
 
76 
 
 Brown, who had the care of an infant not exceeding 
 three months in age. Brown himself had left the 
 remainder of the company, in quest of recreation as well 
 as to try to " see a man " in that neighborhood who had 
 a brother in New York that had been to him a boon 
 companion during his sojurn there, prior to locating in 
 Hudsonville. Mr. and Mrs. Jones and m} r own clear 
 better half were given pallets on the floor, upon which to 
 fight mosquitoes and seek repose, and, the night being 
 warm and sultry, the absence of ordinary bed clothing 
 was not regretted. Urrder the influence of the fatigue 
 that was oppressing the writer, not many moments 
 elapsed before he was within the kindly embrace of 
 Morpheus, enjoying the sweets of nature's balmy 
 restorer; in other words, asleep. I had not slept more 
 than thirty seconds, as it seemed to me, though in 
 reality about two hours, when I was awakened from my 
 slumber and again confronted with the realities of this 
 practical life by hearing my wife exclaim " scat!" I 
 sprang to my feet and demanded of her the cause of her 
 alarm, when, gasping, she whispered: "See that cat 
 over there! See how his eyeballs flash!" 
 
 " Where?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. 
 
 "Over there; don't you see him?" 
 
 " What is it, my dear?" I said. " I don't see any- 
 thing; it's too dark to see." 
 
 " Well, I guess you can see that cat's big eyes 
 
77 
 
 flashing over in the direction of your left hand, can't 
 you? } r ou old sleepy-head, you," she fairly shouted. 
 " Anything could carry Johnnie away for aught that 
 you care for him. You have been sleeping here just 
 like a log, while I have been trying to keep that miser- 
 able old cat from sucking his breath or eating his nose 
 off." 
 
 " There, there, my love," I said; "don't fret now, and 
 just see how I shall punish that feline. I will let him 
 know that there be powers upon earth competent to 
 pursue, overtake and punish evildoers; and if he don't 
 spot me as his Nemesis from this night onward then I 
 ain't worth a cent for a throw." So saying, I sum- 
 moned all the powers within me, and hurled one of my 
 boots in the direction of the " flashing eyes." Jones 
 sprang to his feet and, at the top of his voice, inquired 
 whether the lightning had struck any one else. The 
 whole family was now thoroughl}" aroused ; a tallow dip 
 was lit; an explanation followed, and it was definitely 
 ascertained that the injury sustained Ixy Jones was not 
 of a serious nature. 
 
 After this occurrence, the most earnest persuasion 
 failed to induce our injured companion to lie down upon 
 his pallet again ; and as the night was already far spent, 
 it was unanimously concluded by the three that we 
 should adjourn to the bench under the tree in the front 
 yard, where we could improve the balance of the night 
 
78 
 
 while the women and children were sleeping. Once 
 there, I asked Mr. Bell why he kept such a big cat 
 around the house, inasmuch as her practices were of a 
 character most dangerous to little children, of which he 
 had several. " Oh," said Mr. Bell, " I don't know what's 
 the matter with that cat to-night. He never did act so 
 before, and we've raised 'im from a little kitten. He 
 never dreamed of troubling any of my children. 
 Mebbe it's because your baby is a strange one. Have 
 yer got any 'backer, stranger?" he said, digressing, as 
 he turned to Jones. He was answered in the affirmative. 
 "I wish yer would gimme a chaw; mine's in the house, 
 an I don't like to worry the wimmin enny more tonight. 
 Another thing," he continued, "that cat's one of the 
 best mousers in the world; and as fer ketchin' snakes 
 and lizai'ds, he can't be beat. Why, partner, he handles 
 a snake jest like enny dog, ef yer can call it handlin' 
 when a critter ain't got enny hands; an I wish yer could 
 jest see him once. Last fall, jest afore cold weather, my 
 little Tomm}% the red headed one that Brown took sick 
 a shine to this evenin', was playin' behint the shed door, 
 an' the ole ooman went ter see what mischief he was in, 
 cause he kep so still, (an' that's a shore sign of mischief 
 among children) when lo an' behold, rite in a box that 
 sot behint the door, quiled up thar la}- a snake! an' the 
 3 T oung un he stood thar with a stick in his little han\ 
 jest in the act of strikin' uv it. The ole ooman didn't 
 
79 
 
 say a single word; she jest took the chile by his han' 
 an' led him away, then she got ' Old Sam/ that's the cat. 
 an' put him on that varmint; an 1 pardner you kin believe 
 what I tell you or not, jest as you please, but its the 
 Lord's truth howsumever, the cat took that snake by the 
 back of the head with his mouth an' give it one jerk, 
 an' made it crack like a whip; he jerked every bone in 
 its body loose; an' when he put it down it had no more 
 life in it than a wooden snake.'' 
 
 Great surprise was expressed, by us at the wonder- 
 ful familiarity of the snake, in entering the house so 
 unceremoniously. "Pshaw," said Bell, ''that's not -a 
 sarcumstance! Why last summer, in August, I think, 
 Jim Cross, who lives on Uncle Sandy Glover's planta- 
 tion, woke up one mornin' feelin' somethin 1 crawlin' over 
 him; he did'nt tech it; he jest raised up his head a 
 leetle bit and seed it was a rattle snake about four feet 
 long; then he -lay down agin an let it pass over him. 
 Cause yer see, he was afeerd that ef he tried to git away, 
 the snake would take the hint and bite him — see?" We 
 answered that we did see very plainly indeed. 
 
 "Well my friend," I said, ''snakes must be no 
 strangers to you people around here, at that rate." 
 
 "No siree," said Mr. Bell, "they aint; an what's 
 more'n that, we uses them: in some cases, we makes 
 them arn ther livin." 
 
80 
 
 "Earn their living! why what do you mean, my 
 friend?" I said. 
 
 " I mean what I say," he replied, " Ole Mr. Jenkins, 
 over thar that runs the grist mill, has got two white 
 moccasins, that he has trained to ketch rats an mice, an 
 you can't find a rat or a mouse about his mill fer money, 
 but afore he got them snaix, he could' nt git rid uv sich 
 critters. Them snaix goes into every hole and crack 
 about the mill, whar dogs an' cats can't go; an' wharever 
 they go, the varmints leave." 
 
 "How is it," we inquired, " that some of you don't 
 get bit, seeing that snakes are crawling around so 
 promiscuously? " 
 
 " Lawful sakes, man, we does. It ain't been a month 
 sence a ooman was bit near the big swamp by a rattle- 
 snake, an' she turned as black as that cat they say, (I 
 didn't see her) ; an' all that the doctors could do for her 
 didn't save her; she died." 
 
 " Do the bites of snakes always prove so fatal?" we 
 asked. 
 
 "Well, no; not ef yer begins in time. Thar was a 
 boy bit around here a year or two ago by a rattlesnake, 
 an' he didn't die. His mother follered the docter's 
 directions to a T, an' he got over it. The docter told 
 her not ter give him enny water for nine days — nothin' 
 but tea; an' she didn't. Some mothers I know would ef 
 given it to him, fer the boy cried an' begged for water 
 
81 
 
 untel it almost broke the poor mother's heart, but nary 
 a drop did she give 'im. Birnebj? - the boy got well; an 1 
 he's runnin' around now as lively as ennybody. 
 But there's other ways uvtreatin' uv 'em. Some docters 
 foller the whiskey treatment; that is ter say they giv' 
 'em nothin' but whiskey; keep 'em filled up with it tell 
 the danger is over; an' they say it's the shorest an' 
 easiest way uv doctorin' for snake bites uv 'em all. A 
 feller by the name uvBill Bedford got bit over at Kane's 
 Mill-pond last spring. He had some whiske} T in his 
 pocket in a bottle, an' without waitin' fer docter or enny 
 body else he up an' drunk the hull uv it. Then he went 
 home an' sent fer the docter, an' the docter give him 
 more an kep' him under the influence uv it fer more'n 
 nine days, an' he got well." 
 
 During the narration of the last incident, Brown had 
 come upon the scene, and stood apparentl} T deeply 
 absorbed in thought while the mysteries of the whiskey 
 treatment were being unfolded by our host. At its con- 
 clusion he desired to know whether that school of 
 medicine was still in vogue there, and, on being answered 
 in the affirmative, exclaimed, " Well, then, fetch along 
 3 T our snakes, gentlemen ! " 
 
 " Where on earth have you been, Brown ! " exclaimed 
 Jones. " Here the children has been crying, and cousin 
 John has tried to knock my brains out throwing at the 
 cat, and nowhere could you be found." 
 
84 
 
 "Yes," said Bell, "he died last January; an' thar 
 was'nt enny uv his old slaves at his funeral; in lac', 
 nofapdy seemed to have a good word to say for him." 
 
 "Indeed!' 1 said Brown, "that reminds me of an old 
 fellow who died in New York, when I was there; and 
 when he was buried, no one of all who stood around his 
 grave had £*;good word to say for him, because he had 
 lived such a^miserly life; finally, as the clods began 
 to fall upon hi-SKbox, and make a hollow sound, one Mr. 
 Schneider who stood by, sighed deeply and exclaimed — 
 " veil, he vass a g'oot schmoker any vay ! " 
 
 " Oh, Brown, do go along!" exclaimed cousin Henry, 
 " you are always putting in a lot of nonsense. I believe 
 if you were at the funeral of your best friend you would 
 crack a joke at his expense, even if it killed you/' 
 
 "Colonel Huckleby," said Jones, "was one of the 
 most cruel slave-owners I ever knew, and I have known 
 some pretty hard cases in my time. It was a common 
 saying all through this country that you could tell one 
 of Huckleby's slaves at sight, from his scared appear- 
 ance and disheartened look. He was the only man in 
 this part of the South that branded his slaves with a 
 hot iron, to mark them. He had a slave by the name of 
 Mose, whom he had bought of a speculator. Well, 
 Mose had been raised by a different kind of man from 
 what old Huckleby was, and when he began to whip 
 him and brand him, Mose took to the swamp and stayed 
 
81 
 
 imtel it almost broke the poor mother's heart, but nary 
 a drop did she give 'im. Bimeby the boy got well; an' 
 he's runnin' around now as lively as ennybody. 
 But there's other waj~s uv treatin' uv 'em. Some docters 
 foller the whiskey treatment; that is ter say they giv' 
 'em nothin' but whiskey; keep 'em filled up with it tell 
 the danger is over; an' they sa} T it's the shorest an' 
 easiest way uv doctorin" for snake bites uv 'em all. A 
 feller by the name uvBill Bedford got bit over at Kane's 
 Mill-pond last spring. He had some whiskey in his 
 pocket in a bottle, an' without waitin' fer doctor or enny 
 body else he up an' drunk the hull uv it. Then he went 
 home an' sent fer the doctor, an' the doctor give him 
 more an kep' him under the influence uv it fer more'n 
 nine days, an' he got well." 
 
 During the narration of the last incident, Brown had 
 come upon the scene, and stood apparently deeply 
 absorbed in thought while the mysteries of the whiskey 
 treatment were being unfolded by our host. At its con- 
 clusion he desired to know whether that school of 
 medicine was still in vogue there, and, on being answered 
 in the affirmative, exclaimed, " Well, then, fetch along 
 your snakes, gentlemen ! *' 
 
 " Where on earth have you been, Brown! " exclaimed 
 Jones. " Here the children has been crying, and cousin 
 John has tried to knock my brains out throwing at the 
 cat, and nowhere could you be found." 
 
84 
 
 "Yes," said Bell, "he died last January; an' thar 
 was'nt enny uv his old slaves at his funeral; in fac', 
 nobody seemed to have a good word to say for him." 
 
 "Indeed! " said Brown, "that reminds me of an old 
 fellow who died in New York, when I was there; and 
 when he was buried, no one of all who stood around his 
 grave had a good word to say for him, because he had 
 lived such a miserly life; finally, as the clods began 
 to fall upon his box, and make a hollow sound, one Mr. 
 Schneider who stood by, sighed deeply and exclaimed — 
 " veil, he vass a goot schmoker any vayl " 
 
 " Oh, Brown, do go along!" exclaimed cousin Henry, 
 " you are alwaj^s putting in a lot of nonsense. I believe 
 if you were at the funeral of your best friend you would 
 crack a joke at his expense, even if it killed you."' 
 
 "Colonel Huckleby," said Jones, "was one of the 
 most cruel slave-owners I ever knew, and I have known 
 some pretty hard cases in my time. It was a common 
 saying all through this country that you could tell one 
 of Huckleby's slaves at sight, from his scared appear- 
 ance and disheartened look. He was the only man in 
 this part of the South that branded his slaves with a 
 hot iron, to mark them. He had a slave by the name of 
 Mose, whom he had bought of a speculator. Well, 
 Mose had been raised by a different kind of man from 
 what old Huckleby was, and when he began to whip 
 him and brand him, Mose took to the swamp and stayed 
 
85 
 
 there until he had to come out to keep from starving, 
 when the hounds tracked him and he was captured. 
 Then Huckleby took him and whipped him until he 
 fainted, when he washed the wounds with brine and 
 locked him up until he was able to work again. Then 
 he took him to the blacksmith shop at the quarters and 
 had an iron hoop riveted around him, with an upright 
 piece that reached about ten inches above his head, to 
 which he fastened a bell, so that if Mose ran away 
 again he could track him by the sound of the bell, just 
 as we do cows." 
 
 "Was he successful? " we asked. 
 "No indeed! for Mose ran awa} T again the first chance 
 he got, and when he came to the first mud hole he plunged 
 the bell into it and got it so full it wouldn't ring 
 any more, and old Huckleby never did find him again 
 until after the Emancipation Proclamation, when he did 
 n't dare to touch him. Why, cousin," continued Jones, 
 "the very men, women and children who cultivated 
 these lands for him, were not properly fed ! I know it 
 was hard for the poor slaves to be bought and sold at 
 auction, and separated from their parents and children 
 and husbands and wives, and it was awfulby cruel to 
 whip them so, but do you know, cousin, I always con- 
 sidered it a greater hardship for them to be overworked 
 and poorby fed, than either of the others." 
 " Indeed ! " I said. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Incidents of the Route. — Post Boxes. — Mineral Springs. — 
 Floral College. — The Duello. — Reminiscences of School Life in 
 the South Before the War. — An Oasis. — A Foraging Expedition. 
 — Difference between Southern and Northern Hospitality. — Win- 
 ning our Fodder by a Stratagem. — Our Repast and Departure. 
 
 The refreshment afforded to the weaker portion of 
 our families had produced its desired effect, and once 
 again the little ones appeared in all that mirthfulness 
 and vivacity which is wont to characterize and mark 
 the contrast between them and " children of an older 
 growth;' 1 and when we say that it made the heart leap 
 but to witness their joy, I only re-echo the sentiment 
 of every one of our party on that occcasion. The 
 female portion of our little party also wore a more 
 cheerful look upon their countenances than the} 7 had 
 during the last half of the day previous, and in truth it 
 was not to be wondered at, for the very presence of the 
 great swamp, along the margin of which the greater 
 part of our road lay during that time, was sufficient to 
 chill the blood within us and repress every sentiment of 
 joy and mirth. But we had now arrived at a portion of 
 the journey where our route lay through a more hospit- 
 able region ; where waters gave place to white sands ; 
 
there until lie had to come out to keep from starving, 
 when the hounds tracked him and he was captured. 
 Then Huckleby took him and whipped him until he 
 fainted, when he washed the wounds with brine and 
 locked him op until he was able to work again. Then 
 he took him to the blacksmith shop at the quarters and 
 had an iron hoop riveted around him, with an upright 
 piece that reached about ten inches above his head, to 
 which he fastened a bell, so that if Mose ran away 
 again he could track him by the sound of the bell, just 
 as we do cows.'" 
 
 "Was he successful?" we asked. 
 "No indeed! for Mose ran away again the first chance 
 he got, and when he came to the first mud hole he plunged 
 the bell into it and got it so full it wouldn't ring 
 an}' more, and old Huckleby never did find him again 
 until after the Emancipation Proclamation, when he did 
 n't dare to touch him. Why, cousin,"* continued Jones, 
 "the very men. women and children who cultivated 
 these lands for him, were not properly fed! I know it 
 was hard for the poor slaves to be bought and sold at 
 auction, and separated from their parents and children 
 and husbands and wives, and it was awfully cruel to 
 whip them so, but do you know, cousin, I always con- 
 sidered it a greater hardship for them to be overworked 
 and poorly fed, than either of the others/' 
 " Indeed! " I said. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Incidents of the Route. — Post Boxes. — Mineral Springs. — 
 Floral College. — The Duello. — Reminiscences of School Life in 
 the South Before the War. — An Oasis. — A Foraging Expedition. 
 — Difference between Southern and Northern Hospitality. — Win- 
 ning our Fodder by a Stratagem. — Our Repast and Departure. 
 
 The refreshment afforded to the weaker portion of 
 our families had produced its desired effect, and once 
 again the little ones appeared in all that mirthfulness 
 and vivacity which is wont to characterize and mark 
 the contrast between them and " children of an older 
 growth; 1 ' and when we say that it made the heart leap 
 but to witness their joy, I only re-echo the sentiment 
 of every one of our party on that occcasion. The 
 female portion of our little party also wore a more 
 cheerful look upon their countenances than they had 
 during the last half of the day previous, and in truth it 
 was not to be wondered at, for the very presence of the 
 great swamp, along the margin of which the greater 
 part of our road lay during that time, was sufficient to 
 chill the blood within us and repress every sentiment of 
 joy and mirth. But we had now arrived at a portion of 
 the journey where our route lay through a more hospit- 
 able region; where waters gave place to white sands; 
 
89 
 
 where dismal cypress trees, with funereal cast, gave 
 place to the healthful pine, with here and there a dog- 
 wood tree, in full bloom, and clambering hone} T suckle : 
 where the rich green scum of the swamp was supplanted 
 by nourishing vegetation, and the carolings of mocking 
 birds banished from the mind the hootings of owls and 
 harsh croakings of amphibious creatures. It was, in 
 truth, a most pleasing contrast, well calculated to lead 
 one up out of the deep darkness and desolation of 
 despair to the light of God's countenance, and beget 
 reflections on the universal fitness of all things, and 
 their adaptation to the uses for which He hath created 
 them. But in the midst of all these natural beauties the 
 universal absence of artificial attractions was only made 
 more apparent. For miles and miles one could travel 
 without encountering any work of art bearing upon it 
 the stamp of man's genuis. There was to be seen not 
 even the ruins of what had once been a human habita- 
 tion of pretentious dimensions or design ; and when we 
 recalled the fact that we were then traversing a state 
 upon which the foot of the white man trod many long 
 years before a foothold was gained in some of our middle 
 and western states, that are now crowded with hives of 
 industry and even vieing with the old world in the 
 extent and richness of their architectural monuments, 
 we could not forbear contrasting the difference between 
 the results of labor free, untrammeled by ignorance 
 
 T2 
 
90 
 
 and caste prejudice, and labor despised and enslaved. 
 The one leaves the mind free and filled with lofty am- 
 bitions; while the other, seeing nothing in the present 
 or future upon which it can build its hopes, grovels, 
 rebels and saps the very foundations of society. Every 
 thing we see carries the mind back to the most ancient 
 of times, when the force of steam and electricity was 
 neither known nor appreciated. 
 
 "Cousin Henry," I said, addressing Jones; "what 
 are those little pigeon-hole boxes placed upon the tops of 
 those posts for. I have noticed several of them at 
 intervals of three or four miles since we left the 
 swamp." 
 
 " Why, cousin," he replied, " those are post boxes." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Post boxes, in which the mail along this road is 
 deposited. Whenever any person has a letter or news- 
 paper (if he be so fortunate as to get one) that he wishes 
 to send off by the mail, if he does not feel disposed to 
 travel twenty or thirty miles to the nearest postoffice, he 
 deposits it one of these boxes, from which the mail-boy 
 takes it when he comes along, if it is not stolen out 
 beforehand." 
 
 "Well!" exclaimed Brown; "that beats my time! 
 I have seen in New York letter-boxes fastened to lamp- 
 posts on almost every corner for the accommodation of 
 such as did not wish to go to the postoffice. They were 
 
91 
 
 strong iron boxes, with patent lock and key; but these 
 little wooden boxes, open at one end, and nailed to the 
 tops of posts away ont here in the woods, are ridiculous 
 in the extreme. 1 ' 
 
 I am not sure but that Brown was more than half 
 right, once in his life; for these boxes were just such as 
 Robin, who quotes from the early writers, tells us King 
 Cyrus established in Persia at least six hundred years 
 before the Christian era. 
 
 Among the objects of natural interest also to be seen 
 in various parts of the country through which we were 
 now passing were refreshing little mineral springs. We 
 were no chemists, and, even had we been, we had no 
 appliances by means of which a satisfactory analysis 
 could have been effected, therefore we are denied the 
 pleasure of laying before our readers either a quantita- 
 tive or qualitative analysis of the constituent elements 
 of the waters flowing from them; but Brown, who was 
 the first to approach and drink from them, pronounced 
 them sulphur springs, from the similarity of the well- 
 defined odor escaping from them to that which always 
 accompanies boiled eggs. 
 
 Yankee capital and enterprise ma}' some day in the 
 not distant future convert this wilderness into a blush- 
 ing garden, and utilize the medicinal virtues of these 
 flowing mineral fountains for the healing of diseases of 
 various kinds to which human flesh is heir; but for the 
 
92 
 
 present, at least, like the wild flowers that cluster near 
 their margins, they must "waste their sweetness (?) on 
 the desert air." 
 
 "But see, cousin Henry! what are those deserted 
 buildings in advance of us that stand in the midst of 
 that spacious grove ? The}* are the first visible 
 evidences of civilization we have met since leaving the 
 Bell residence, where we rested during the last night." 
 
 " That, cousin," he answered, "is Floral College." 
 
 "Floral College!" I repeated after him; "a pretty 
 name indeed, and most appropriate too, when we con- 
 sider the surroundings. When was it established? 
 Where are the professors, the students and other acces- 
 sories of the college? " I asked, in rapid succession. 
 
 " You ask me so many questions," he replied, -- that 
 I hardly know where or how to begin to answer them; 
 but I shall do the best I can. As to the time when it was 
 established, I am not well informed, and I can only say, 
 it was before } T our time and mine, during the most flour- 
 ishing period of American slavery; when the young 
 gentlemen of the South had little else to do than attend 
 school, practice the code of honor, study the manual of 
 arms and assist in keeping their parents' human chattels 
 in subjection. Those were the times when 'Mars George' 
 or k Mars Henry,' was accustomed to while away his 
 days in idleness, at the expense of the blood and toil of 
 others more worthy than himself, while he was being 
 
93 
 
 taught to decline mensa, or conjugate Xuu>, and con the 
 classic pages of Greek and Roman literature for examples 
 upon which to build a justification of their peculiar insti- 
 tution. In that thicket to the right, tradition has it, 
 two young men, becoming needlessly offended at each 
 other by reason of something that had been said or done, 
 fought in deadly combat, in imitation of their sires, and 
 the result was, that while one was borne to a premature 
 grave, the other was doomed to a life of seclusion and 
 regret. Thanks to an enlightened and christian senti- 
 ment, this barbarous practice is now nearly extinct in 
 all civilized communities. As for the professors and 
 students, they left at the first alarm to try their fortunes 
 amidst war's stern conflicts. Some of them fell at Bull 
 Run, others at Petersburgh and Richmond, while a few 
 of the fortunate ones who lived to return to their homes, 
 their wealth being swept away, found neither opportun- 
 ity nor inclination of attending school or prosecuting 
 their studies. Those little buildings clustered around 
 the larger ones were occupied by families of the profes- 
 sors or else by those who either took their residence 
 there pending the instruction of their children, or sought 
 a livelihood in boarding pupils who were attending the 
 college." 
 
 "ButwhjV I asked, "did they locate this institu- 
 tion away out here in the woods, so remote from the 
 centers of civilization?" 
 
94 
 
 " Oh," he answered, " I suppose that was to afford 
 the young gentlemen the advantages accruing from a 
 quiet retreat in which to prosecute their studies, and at 
 the same time relieve them of the fatigue and expense 
 of a trip to the woods in search of logs from which to 
 practice their declamations, in course of preparation for 
 commencement day. And then the romantic surround- 
 ings undoubtedly did not escape the notice of its foun- 
 ders, who were desirous of turning every circumstance 
 to the advantage of the future student. 1 ' 
 
 We had now reached a stage in our journey where 
 the sand was so deep as to almost impede our further 
 progress. The poor horses, which, while answering the 
 purposes of ordinary domestic use, were totally unfit for 
 a journey of this kind, were greatly distressed; and as 
 for the patient brute to whose lot it had fallen to draw 
 the buggy (?) in which the writer and his family were 
 packed, every moment threatened to put an end to his 
 demonstrative efforts. Covered with perspiration, with 
 outstreched neck and dilated nostrils he tugged away 
 with most persistent energy, while the remaining stump 
 of what had formerly been a tail stood out on a level with 
 his back bone. Desirous of consummating our journey 
 before the close of the day, and fearing the worst, the 
 male portion of our party were willing to make great 
 sacrifices, and suffer somewhat in the cause of humanity; 
 we therefore considerately alighted from our perches and 
 
95 
 
 essayed feats of pedestrianism scarcely equaled in the 
 sawdust arena, even in this day of wonderful pedestrian 
 achievements. For the reader must constantly hear in 
 mind the fact that we were traveling in loose sands 
 which were almost ankle deep and our grade was upward ; 
 to say nothing of the sun, which at almost meridian 
 height, raised the temperature to about one hundred de- 
 grees Fahrenheit, in the shade. But the toil and monot- 
 ony of the route even under these conditions were greatly 
 modified by the merry prattle of the little ones, together 
 with the jokes and puns indulged in at the expense of 
 each other. 
 
 It was along here, too, that we encountered the first 
 snake of the season — a small, striped fellow, glittering 
 in his recent coat, as he lay and enjoyed the life-impart- 
 ing raj's of the vernal sun. One blow on the head from 
 a club in the hand of the vivacious Brown was sufficient 
 to end his earthly career; but, for the novelty and ex- 
 citement of the experience, all three of us felt called 
 upon to assist in the execution, while the ladies turned 
 pale from fear and the children laughed and cried by 
 turn. And so we " devoured space," not a murmur 
 escaping our lips, until we conquered the sands and 
 high grade, and were relegated to what might have been 
 termed an oasis, just beyond the desert, instead of in it — 
 a gentle declivity, laved at its base by a babbling brook, 
 whose sparkling waters were to our parched throats as 
 
96 
 
 pleasing as any nectar, distilled by fabled gods, and 
 whose mossy banks no lover yet pressed without sub- 
 mitting to the spell of Cupid's magic charm. 
 
 Here we dismounted and unhitched; the horses were 
 released from their galling gearings and thoroughly 
 groomed; and while they were chewing their provender, 
 the children, now permitted to run at random, disported 
 themselves in their innocent ways upon the shaded 
 slope. Some embarrassment was occasioned here on our 
 part in securing an additional supply of fodder. Hay 
 or oats were out of the question altogether; and since 
 the weather was hot, as stated above, corn, the onty 
 means of subsistence now at our command for feeding 
 purposes, was too heating in its nature, and endangered 
 the health of the stock. Our only recourse then was to 
 go on a foraging expedition, with the hope of securing a 
 little fodder by money or persuasion. I speak in that 
 doubtful strain because it was a matter of no little 
 difficulty to secure fodder in that isolated vicinity; and 
 the thrice blessed traveler in the eastern or middle 
 states, who has only to halt at the first cross-roads and 
 pay his money and take his choice of all the luxuries 
 known to modern art and skill, little appreciates the 
 almost heart-rending entreaties it often requires on the 
 part of the exhausted traveler to draw forth from the 
 average Southern rustic the coveted boon. And should 
 the petitioner be a colored man, he considers himself 
 
97 
 
 only too fortunate to be let alone to pursue his journe}' 
 in peace, to say nothing ot being granted any little acts 
 of kindness by the way. 
 
 The magnanimity and hospitality of the South has 
 been lauded to the skies, aye, even sung by inspired 
 poets in the past, while the great souled North has been 
 charged with inhospitality and selfishness, but " truth is 
 great and will prevail," and "though crushed to earth," 
 this 3 r ear, it will rise again next year and vindicate itself. 
 We grant that, during the period of the South's history 
 when she gloated over her possessions of lands and 
 slaves, and proclaimed cotton king of commerce, there 
 was more than a semblance of truth in her boast that 
 she was the friend and exemplar of hospitality; for it 
 often happened that strangers visiting that section, who 
 would wink at her inconsistencies and attempt to palliate 
 them with sophistical arguments, were caught up, passed 
 around, and entertained in a princely manner, for long 
 periods of time; and when they departed their praises 
 were loud and multiplied concerning the hospitable 
 South; but has the reader ever considered that the 
 South could well afford to be generous at that particular 
 period? because, while they and their guests were junket- 
 ing around the neighborhood, living upon the " fat of 
 the land," the real bone and sinews of the land were 
 even then delving on the cotton plantation or wading in 
 the rice swamp, without renumeration, to sustain such 
 
98 
 
 prodigality. With the North the case was altogether 
 different. The people of the North knew where their 
 means came from ; they worked for their living, and by 
 the sweat of their brow obtained their daily bread. 
 With less than eight months of pleasant weather during 
 the course of a whole year, they were compelled to uti- 
 lize eveiy moment of time: nor did the frosts, snows and 
 bleak winds of winter deter them from their labors; but, 
 pressing forward with daring hardihood, the}' turned 
 what to a less thrifty and hardy race would have seemed 
 a misfortune, into advantage, and plucked success from 
 seeming adversity. Hence, while they were not nig- 
 gardly in their dealings, they laid no claim to the 
 reputation of being a race of spendthrifts. If rumor 
 may be relied on, the South does not now sustain the 
 same reputation in this respect that she did in ante 
 helium days, and the reasons are too obvious to be 
 mentioned. 
 
 However, returning to our foraging expedition, we 
 finally succeeded in discovering a man who had a little 
 fodder. Knowing full well the obstacles in the way of 
 our success in obtaining a few bundles of it, we ap- 
 proached the subject very cautiously and with much 
 prudence. A general in the arnry, in approaching the 
 outworks of the enemy, could not be more cautious in 
 his tactics than was Jones in this instance; for, relying 
 
99 
 
 upon his great experience and suavity of manners, we 
 had shoved him to the front as our spokesman. 
 
 Walking up to the bars, we saw a lean, lank specimen 
 of the native Southerner in the yard, drawing a bucket 
 of water from a deep, deep well, such as are common in 
 that high country. 
 
 " Howdy!" said Jones. 
 
 "Howdy do," answered the man of the fodder. We 
 knew he had it, because we had espied some of it in the 
 rear of the barn. 
 
 "Buddy, that's an awfully fine horse you've got 
 there," said Jones. 
 
 " Well, yaas it is.'" 
 
 "Guess she's a fast un, ain't she?"' 
 
 " Well, sorter, I reckon. She runs in two minnits." 
 
 " Golly, that's fast!" said Jones. "We've got some 
 poor creeters over there in the grove that are almost 
 worn out. Come forty-five miles since }~esterday, and 
 ain't got a mouthful of fodder for them." 
 
 " Do tell ! whar are yer gwine"? " 
 
 "Well, we are going up home to see the old folks. 
 We haven't seen them for many a day, and it will do 
 their poor old hearts so much good to see us once more 
 before they die." Here Jones' voice became tremulous 
 with emotion, and a tear was visible in one e}*e. 
 
 " 01e> boss," broke in Brown ; " do you ever tetch any 
 of the old bug-juice? " 
 
100 
 
 " Well, I reckon I do, partner," said the man of the 
 fodder. " Is yer got eriny?" 
 
 " I never goes without it, I don't," said Brown. 
 Here he produced a little flask partly filled with corn 
 whiskey, obtained on the road, which looked for the 
 world like clear water. 
 
 The health of the fodder man and his family was 
 drank, amidst much hilarity, and then Jones suggested: 
 " Buddy, I spose j^ou couldn't let us have about a dozen 
 bundles of your fodder for our creeters, could you?" 
 
 "Well, I would jest as live give } t ou my horse almost 
 as to give you her fodder; but, seein' that you uns are a 
 purty nice set ef fellers, ef you can get along with half a 
 dozen bundles I guess I kin let yoxa have that much." 
 
 "Thankee, buddy, thankee! " said Jones, assuming 
 the manner and speech of the locality as much as possi- 
 ble; " I'll do as much for 3^011 some time, when you come 
 along my way." 
 
 "Whar might be } r our home?" queried our bene- 
 factor." 
 
 "Hudsonville, South Carolina," we all answered at 
 once. 
 
 " Oh, I have been thar; it's a purty nice little place, 
 too, but awful dry." 
 
 " Yes," answered Brown ; " nothin' but brandy 
 peaches and cherries, and they are fifty and seventy-five 
 cents a bottle. But we often send across the river to 
 
101 
 
 Goochville and buy a gallon or so, which lasts us for 
 quite a little while." 
 
 During the latter part of the conversation we had 
 reached the stack and secured our coveted prize, and 
 when Brown finished his last observation we politely bid 
 our new formed acquaintance " good-b3 T e," and went in 
 search of our respective families. 
 
 A little blaze, kindled beneath a broad-spreading 
 tree, was crackling under the coffee-pot, and the lunch 
 was spread. The collards b} T this time were slightly 
 soured; the coffee had neither cream, milk nor sugar in 
 it to make it palatable; but, for all these seeming dis- 
 advantages, not a murmur was heard, because we knew 
 that the darkest hour is just before the break of day, 
 and the nearer we approached the goal of our ambition 
 the less we regarded the slight inconveniences of the 
 journe}-. Once at our destination, surrounded by kind 
 friends and the good things of this life, our present 
 afflictions would but heighten the pleasures attending 
 them. 
 
 Our dinner disposed of, we were not long in preparing 
 to resume our journey. The horses, by means of that 
 strange power possessed by them, which we call instinct, 
 perceiving that they were gradually nearing the end of 
 their journey, quickened their pace, and all was life and 
 animation once more. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "Fannie" on her metal. — First Mishap of the Road. — "All's 
 Well that End's Well."— The Deserted Cotton Plantation.— Then 
 and Now. — Contributing Causes. — "Carpet-Bag" Rule in the 
 South. — Both Sides of the Question. — What the Writer saw in 
 South Carolina. — How Property-Holders Felt. — Characteristic 
 Letter. — Where did the Blame Lie? — Admission of the Writer of 
 the Letter. — Land Commission. — Rail Road Bonds. — Private 
 Operations. 
 
 Up to this point, nothing had occured to mar the 
 pleasure of our trip, if we except the slight mishap, dur- 
 ing the night before, of which the writer was the unfor- 
 tunate cause; and the ordinary incidents characteristic 
 of every journey through a thinly populated territory, 
 devoid of the commonest conveniences of every day life. 
 But at last we were to have a genuine sensation; a real 
 traged}', we might say, were it not for the melo-drama- 
 tic termination of it. Our readers will remember that 
 mention was made, in the latter part of the previous 
 chapter, of a little brook which laved the base of the 
 declivity on which we camped. This stream, in the 
 course of its tortuous meanderings, crossed our road 
 about one mile further down, and by reason thereof a 
 bridge was necessitated, This bridge being of an un- 
 substantial character, jarred greatly beneath the tramp- 
 
103 
 
 ling of the horses, and gave forth sounds that were well 
 calculated to excite animals of a nervous and fiery dis- 
 position. Now, as we have stated before, in another 
 portion of this volume, Fannie, cousin Henry's mare, was 
 a nervous little thing and just like some human beings, 
 was exceedingly anxious to display her agility, appar- 
 ently for the entertainment of the remainder of the party. 
 Nor was our dear cousin ignorant of the fact that she 
 required constant watching in order to repress her ebu- 
 litions of spirit and keep her within due bounds; for, on 
 more occasions than one, during the course of our present 
 journe}-, she had shied at seeing the meerest trifles, and 
 endeavored to break loose from restraint. But despite 
 these timely warnings on her part, Jones persisted in 
 testing her speed, whenever a suitable opportunity pre- 
 sented itself. At such such times he would leave the 
 rest of the party far in the rear, until he was checked b} r 
 our shoutings and hallooings, when he would kindly 
 condescend to await our arrival, at the same time, in a 
 taunting way, reproaching us for the slothfulness of our 
 movements. It was not surprising to us then, that when 
 we arrived at the summit of the gentle slope leading to 
 the bridge referred to, we saw him lash Fannie and tell 
 her to " go." Nor did she need a second command, for 
 with a snort and a bound, she went. It soon became 
 evident that Jones had lost control of the animal; for 
 had she been borne on the wings of the wind, she would 
 
104 
 
 scarcely have exceeded her speed. " Turn her into the 
 ditch!" shouted Brown, but his advice was either 
 unheard or unheeded; for she contined to rush straight 
 forward. In another moment she had struck the bridge; 
 and amidst the almost deafening thunderings which it 
 gave forth, passed over in safety; and then! — Oh look!! 
 For mercy's sake ! ! ! — The buggy turns over into the 
 ditch ! ! ! A scream! and Henry's heels are seen to fly 
 upward into the air, as his body disappeared over the 
 dash board, closely followed by his wife, who hugging 
 her little one to her bosom, turned a complete somer- 
 sault. 
 
 The mare, as if conscious of the fact that she had 
 done all the mischief she could, now stopped and looked 
 complacently upon the wreck. As soon as our feet could 
 cany us, we rushed to the rescue; but by the time we 
 reached them our cousin was upon his feet, extricating 
 his wife and child. A few seconds sufficed to reveal 
 the fact that be3^ond the scare and a liberal bedaub- 
 ing of mud, no damage had been done; and as for 
 the buggy, when it was once more placed in its 
 proper position, it was ascertained that with the assis- 
 tance of a single strap it would answer his purpose 
 during the remainder of the journey. From that time 
 forth until we reached our destination, adopting the 
 maxim — "in medio tutissimus ibis" Jones surrendered 
 
105 
 
 the lead to the vivacious Brown, while he took a position 
 in the middle. 
 
 This accident furnished the theme of conversation at 
 odd intervals during the remainder of the journey, and 
 poor Henry was made the butt of many rude jokes even 
 after our arrival in Magnolia, our objective point. 
 
 But occasionally, when an object of unusual interest 
 was encountered, we would drop that subject long enough 
 to discuss its characteristics. Such an object was a 
 large mansion house, built of wood with four large Doric 
 columns and friese to correspond, situated in the center 
 of a spacious inclosure, which even then in its deserted 
 condition gave token of having been at a time not far 
 removed, the homestead of some man of exceptional taste 
 and wealth. There stood the proud old mansion, the 
 substantial construction and classic style of which made 
 it a wonder in that forsaken land. What brain conceived 
 the plan of its construction? What hands executed the 
 design? No one of all that dwelt within its walls 
 remained to speak and only tradition could unfold the 
 story of its origin. Once those hollow walls resounded 
 with the stentorian tones of the pater familias, returning 
 from the chase or the sober pursuits of life; the manty 
 voice of the father brought good cheer and joy to the 
 loving wife and dependent; once the soft sweet lullaby 
 was sung by a young mother as she lovingly caressed her 
 darling babe and hushed it to sweet slumbers; and the 
 
106 
 
 innocent prattle of infancy was audible, while Cupid 
 plied his art among those who were just blooming into 
 man and womanhood; and when music's soft cadences 
 fell upon the ear, then might have been seen the 
 chivalric youth leading forth the idol of his ambition to 
 try the mysteries of the mazy dance or circle around in 
 the dizzy waltz. But now, all is hushed. and silent; and 
 naught but the bat, the owl, and creeping vines guard 
 its portals, while the spider silently weaving his web 
 spreads a gloomy pall over all, and conceals in part the 
 ravages of time, which slowly but surely carries on the 
 work of destruction and saps its foundations. The four 
 great sycamore trees in front of the yard sacred to Jove 
 — grim sentinels over all — only add to the romance of the 
 scene and increase our curiosity. 
 
 " Now cousin Henr}*," I said, " here is the only 
 really noteworthy building I have seen during our ride 
 of fifty miles; who owns it? " 
 
 "This is the Mumford place," he said. "It is 
 deserted now — all run down; but the time was, cousin, 
 when this place was a perfect hive of industry. This 
 plantation comprises more than a thousand acres and 
 before the war produced more cotton than } r ou could 
 shake a stick at. Over there by those woods are what 
 are left of the quarters, but in Mumford's time they were 
 more numerous and the hands were just as thick as 
 black birds." 
 
107 
 
 " But," I asked, " what has become of the owner? 
 why aint he here attending to his property? " 
 
 " The owner is dead, cousin — got killed in the war, I 
 believe, and his heirs have never cultivated the land 
 since he died. They wont sell any of it to the freedraen 
 for love nor money, and they offer such small wages to 
 hands that they will not work on it; most of them have 
 gone off' to work on the rail road; and some of them 
 followed the army to the uorth. Besides that, the land 
 has become so completely overrun with weeds that it 
 aint worth much now, and it would take a small fortune 
 to put it in shape again." 
 
 This remark was too trne; and what made it sadder 
 still was the additional fact that all through that part of 
 the State and the adjoining State of South Carolina were 
 to be seen extensive tracts of land of which the one just 
 referred to was a fair illustration. Much has been 
 written and more spoken regarding the causes that 
 have contributed toward the decline and ultimate ruin 
 of such valuable property, but nothing so far that the 
 writer has seen has fully met his approval. Some, 
 presumabl3 T biased in behalf of the South, have attrib- 
 uted it all to " carpet bag rule " and " negro domination ;" 
 while others, with contraiy tendencies, find no difficulty 
 in ascribing every evil to the unrepentant South. The 
 trouble, I opine, lies between the two, as the writer will 
 in the sequel undertake to unfold. 
 
108 
 
 When the writer first located in the Palmetto State, 
 during the 3 r ear 1870, he found the following condition 
 of affairs as near as he remembers. The government of 
 the State — legislative, judicial and executive — was in 
 the hands of the Republican part}'; which, at that time, 
 cast about eighty-five thousand votes. Of these, about 
 sixty thousand were cast by the freed men, and the 
 remainder by white people. The white voters were 
 composed partly of those whom adventure and the 
 results of the war had thrown into the State, and were 
 all known and designated as "carpet-baggers," but who, 
 in fact, furnished at that time three-fourths of the brain 
 employed in the whole party; and partly of such of the 
 lower and middle classes of the native white population 
 as, rejoicing at the opportunity of gaining for themselves 
 a political influence such as they had never before even 
 aspired to covet, and desiring to avail themselves of the 
 opportunity of adding to their wordly possessions, had 
 laid aside their prejudices and joined their cause with 
 that of the Republican party. 
 
 A majority of the members of both branches of the 
 Legislature were persons of African descent. Among 
 these were to be found a number who possessed such a 
 degree of natural sagacity and intellectual culture as 
 would have shown to advantage if placed by the side of 
 some of the most brilliant intellects to be found in the 
 legislative bodies of our Northern States — men, indeed, 
 
109 
 
 who had enjoyed, the advantages of some of our older 
 institutions of learning, and who had even brought with 
 them from European schools ripe experience and scholas- 
 tic acquirements. Did prudence permit, the writer 
 could mention the names of some of these men, who 
 have since become well known to the community at large 
 by reason of their prominence in national politics. 
 
 It is to be regretted, however, that as much could not 
 be said of the remainder of them, since they, in many 
 instances, were not only lacking in respect of such ordi- 
 nary and reasonable essentials as common intelligence 
 and moral integrity, but lost no opportunity of impress- 
 ing this fact upon the minds of the people of the State 
 and the country at large. It will surprise no one, 
 therefore, when we state that the property-holders of the 
 State, who were in general ex-rebels of the State, were 
 highly disgusted when men, who a few years prior 
 (months, in some instances,) had scarcely a lodging 
 place, were seen boasting themselves among their former 
 associates, clothed in the finest raiment, their wives and 
 children wearing rich silks and jewels, and riding in 
 carriages and phaetons. A general desire seemed to 
 possess every one to become a member of the Legislature, 
 from the minister in the pulpit to the plantation hand: 
 
 and in the fall of 1872 there were in county no 
 
 less than twenty-two aspirants to legislative " honors," 
 
110 
 
 of whom only two could read and write, notwithstanding 
 the fact that were only two vacancies to be filled. 
 
 To such an extent was the mania for holding office 
 permitted to go, and so completely were the ignorant 
 masses possessed of a desire to participate in the bene- 
 fits accruing therefrom, that in one instance, at least, a 
 well formed, healthy farm hand who had been so fortunate, 
 or unfortunate, as to be elected to the lower branch of 
 the Legislature, wept over a subsequent defeat, and, 
 by reason of his determination to return to the State 
 capital in some capacity, actually accepted the position 
 of janitor, and was seen upon the curb cleaning spittoons. 
 
 It fell to the lot of the writer, upon a visit to the 
 State capital in the year 1871, to pass a night in the 
 dormitoiy occupied by a large number of the members 
 of the Legislature. The impressions made on his mind 
 by the events of that eventful occasion will never be 
 fully obliterated by the lapse of time nor change of 
 locality; for, amidst the fumes of strong drink, the 
 clouds of smoke, the shuttling of feet and maudlin jesting 
 of the " grave and reverend seigniors, 11 sleep was an im- 
 possibility, and he contented himself with lieing there, 
 a quiet observer of transpiring events, and philosophizing 
 as to their probable issue. 
 
 It would be manifesty unjust however and foreign to 
 the truth, for any one to ascribe to the ignorance of this 
 august body all the moral turpitude which was even 
 
Ill 
 
 then drawing forth the severest criticisms from some of 
 the most ardent advocates of the Southern Reconstruc- 
 tion policy: for these poor men were in reality but the 
 dupes of their more wily and sophisticated brethren of 
 both colors, who used them as mere cat's paws with 
 which to pull the nutritious chestnuts out of the fire; 
 and who, while these deluded people were easily pur- 
 chased with a few hundred dollars, were accumulating 
 bank, rail road and mining stocks, as well as pocketing 
 a liberal proportion of the bonds of the State of South 
 Carolina. Nor did this condition of affairs end at the 
 state capital; but becoming contagious, it spread all 
 over the state, and found a lodging in every countj', 
 
 town and hamlet. In the county of which was a 
 
 model one for that state, the sheriff, (who was a white 
 man,) could neither read nor write, and depended al- 
 together upon his clerk and memory for the transaction 
 of his complicated duties; the school commissioner was 
 a man incapable of discharging his duties according to 
 the requirements of his position; the probate judge was 
 ignorant of the rudiments of law; and some of the 
 trial justices were men who dishonored their positions 
 in every respect. And j T et when the writer during the 
 delivery of a public harangue, took occasion to suggest 
 the propriety of selecting the more intelligent class of 
 republicans for these positions, rather than such as have 
 been referred to, he was branded with disfavor by all 
 
112 
 
 who were of that class, (and they comprised the greater 
 portion of the inhabitants) was stigmatized as a college 
 bred man who was in favor of having only educated 
 people hold office, and relegated to the seclusion of his 
 grocery and law office. It is no wonder then, that under 
 the circumstances, there was a feeling of hatred and 
 disgust, deep and bitter, pervading the breasts of the 
 property holding class throughout the State, which was 
 destined to ultimately break forth in such deeds of vio- 
 lence and bloodshed as have brought dishonor upon the 
 fame of the State and stained the reputation of some 
 of her leading men. 
 
 The writer has no recollection of having ever seen 
 any more direct exposition of the sentiment then 
 pervading the latter class of the inhabitants of that 
 State than that furnished by a letter now in his posses- 
 sion, written and addressed to him, subsequent to his 
 return to the State of Ohio, by one of her oldest inhabi- 
 tants; a man who for twelve consecutive years repre- 
 sented his county in the Legislature; a former slave- 
 holder, and at that time the owner of more than one 
 thousand acres of arable land. 
 
 For the benefit of such readers as may be desirous 
 of obtaining both sides of this important question, 
 we will insert the letter entire, subject to such com- 
 ments thereon as we may feel constrained to submit. 
 
113 
 
 The following is the letter verbatim. The italics are 
 
 our own : 
 
 Hudson ville, S. C, May 13th, 1873. 
 , Esq. 
 
 I have received your letter, bearing date , Ohio, 
 
 and was somewhat surprised to find that you had left the South 
 entirely. You lived here long enough to find out that it was no 
 place for one politically who had honest aims. The gang of 
 thieves who call themselves the State Government, want no spies 
 
 about them, and therefore was not wanted. If you had 
 
 been a dexterous rogue you might have stolen a good deal, and 
 have been highly promoted ; or if you had let the white people 
 
 take you up and fought as well as yon could with the 
 
 colored people, you might have achieved something valuable for 
 yourself as well as for the public interest. I think the whites 
 would have stood by you just as long as you had strength to fight 
 the robbers, and would have been of great service to you. They 
 wanted an advocate from your race ; some one the freedmen would 
 believe, and who would tell them boldly what is going on. For 
 rottenness sits in all the high places, and the white people feel 
 that they are made mere fish-bait of, and that they have no civil 
 rights under the domination of corn-field darkies, and army sut- 
 lers at the head of the State Government. 
 
 Do you think the white people of South Carolina will ever 
 tolerate this state of things? Prudence may keep all things quiet 
 for a time, but ivhen the dam breaks the rush of water will overwhelm 
 everything in its way. We don't intend to submit to the existing 
 
 state of things for the benefit of and such as he. I say 
 
 this to you who belong to another race, but who knows enough of 
 a country where he could not live himself without stealing or 
 winking at the stealing of others, and who must understand that 
 
 IT 
 
114 
 
 the respectable people who live here, and can't get away to Ohio, 
 intend to assert their rights when they can, and throw off the mill- 
 stones that are crushing out their very lives. 
 
 You know all about what I am writing, and well understand 
 me when I tell you that " time " only increases the deep indigna- 
 tion we all feel at what we have to suffer, and can never make it 
 tolerable. We are altogether willing that human rights should 
 be acknowledged, and all races and conditions shall have equal 
 rights under the law. But you know the white man has no political 
 rights here, and that be is at the mercy of mere bummers. All 
 the concessions we make only draw our own chains tighter. I do 
 not just now see the end of these things, but it must come. When 
 such men as Governor Orr and Sawyer are driven from the State 
 because they tried to reform the Republican party, and when 
 
 could see no resting-place for his feet here, well may all 
 
 others, more sensitive to the violence done to all their preconceived 
 opinions and prejudices, feel restless and disgusted, and look beyond 
 the dead line for the possibility of an escape. It seems hard that 
 after the white people, who pay all the taxes, have been so 
 reduced as to accept with sincerity such terms as shock every fibre 
 in their systems, yet still they are denied the privilege of making 
 their own laws, and have no rights except what cornfield darkies 
 and army sutlers are willing to concede to them, at their own 
 expense. Therefore we complain. 
 
 As to money matters, the people are rich, even with their 
 heavy taxes. The small planters are richer than they ever were. 
 I never saw money so plentiful in South Carolina as last winter 
 (1872). With cotton at seventeen and eighteen cents, even the 
 freedmen are looking up, and buying largely of everything they 
 want. One lives near me who has bought and paid for two tracts 
 of land and five horses since the war. If cotton only keeps up 
 
115 
 
 we are obliged to be full of money. A one-horse farm is good for 
 ten bales and provisions. Any one can make it who is willing to 
 work, and therefore we make no complaints about money. It is 
 the best place to make money in the civilized world. And there 
 are thousands of opportunities yet to be seized upon by smart men 
 in mechanical and manufacturing employments that would be 
 sui'e to bring ricb harvests to those who will seek them. We 
 want Northern men to come amongst us. The old prejudices are 
 crushed out, and we will hail them as friends if they will come 
 amongst and settle down to live by their industry (and vote the 
 Democratic ticket, he ought to have added). There is any quan- 
 tity of land to rent. I have a field myself of five hundred acres 
 which I will rent for two dollars an acre, or will sell for twelve 
 dollars an acre the whole tract of nine hundred and fifty acres. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 The writer of the foregoing remarkable letter said in 
 the presence and hearing of the author and a large con- 
 course of citizens of both colors, upon the occasion ot a 
 political demonstration, in substance as follows: "We 
 have made a mistake in the policy adopted and pursued 
 by us toward our colored citizens and the republican 
 party in general, and I fear it is now too late to repair 
 the damage done. We should have fraternized with } r ou, 
 and inspired you with confidence in us, Had we adopted 
 that plan, we could have gained a place in your affec- 
 tions and enjo^yed the opportunity of contributing of our 
 superior knowledge and greater experience toward the 
 reconstruction and government of our State. But 
 instead of this, we have held aloof, and treated you with 
 
116 
 
 studied scorn; instead of A T oting with you and assisting 
 in the selection of the best men of our own county and 
 State, we have either kept away from the polls altogether 
 or else wasted our strength in futile efforts to elect men 
 to office who differed radically from yon, while strangers 
 have come in from abroad and usurped the reins of 
 government and now oppress us beyond endurance." 
 How truthfully and fitly spoken ! for in those few words 
 rested the whole truth of the case. It is true that from 
 the force of circumstances some of the largest property 
 holders of the State were disfranchised by law, but this 
 class included no very considerable portion of the voting 
 population, and had any disposition discovered itself on 
 their part to fall in with the new order of things and 
 yield obedience to the laws of the land, no difficulty 
 would have been experienced in adjusting affairs, to 
 meet the requirements of their case. There is also 
 another view to be taken of this question, namely: If it 
 were true that rottenness was sitting in all the high 
 places, it was equally true that many of the ''respectable 
 people of the South " winked at it and even encouraged 
 it. For instance the Land Commission of the State of 
 South Carolina was formed by law, and had placed at its 
 disposal more than half a million dollars, for the avowed 
 purpose of purchasing large tracts of land within the 
 State, to be parcelled out to such of the ambitious freed - 
 men as were able and willing to buy land, but who 
 
117 
 
 owing to the indisposition on the part of the Southern 
 land owners to sell to them, had not the opportunity. 
 It was a laudable design, conceived in justice and mag- 
 nanimity, but by reason of the connivance of these same 
 landed grumblers, permitted to become abortive of any 
 good results, and disgraceful to the administration. A 
 land owner having a piece of worn out or swamp land 
 unfit for ordinary agricultural purposes and worth in 
 fact not more than from a dollar and fifty cents to three 
 dollars per acre, would palm the same off upon the Land 
 Commissioners, who were State officers, for an exorbitant 
 price; just where the whole of the money paid went to I 
 cannot say. And it was noticed that by some peculiar 
 hocus pocus the choicest parcels of this land, especially 
 if there happened to be improvements on them, were apt 
 to get into the hands of influential members of the 
 legislature. And in almost every instance where private 
 corporations were formed by legislative enactments, (and 
 the volumes containing session laws were full of them) 
 for the purpose of carrying on mining or other opera- 
 tions within the State, or for the purpose of removing 
 rich phosphatic deposits from the beds of rivers, (an 
 article very valuable in the cultivating of cotton and 
 other products) the name of one or more of these same 
 " respectable people of the State," appeared conspicu- 
 ous as incorporators. But aside from all this, whatever 
 may be said against the honesty or fitness of individuals 
 
118 
 
 participating in the State and local governments, it 
 must be admitted that they furnished the only element 
 in the State from which the United States Government 
 could select agents for the transaction of her behests. 
 Say of the colored people of the South that they were in 
 some instances ignorant; that in connection with their 
 white brethren and with the connivance of the property 
 holding element there, they sometimes abused their 
 respective trusts; say all this and more if possible, it 
 must still be admitted by everyone who knows them that 
 they were then as now, loyal to the core and would 
 rather die of starvation and the lash in the hands of their 
 white oppressors than cast a ballot for the Democratic 
 party or betray their country into the hands of traitors. 
 There has not been a time since the surrender of Lee at 
 Appomattox, when it was not in the power of the Con- 
 federate element of the South to assist in governing 
 themselves, had they felt disposed to accept the proffered 
 concessions of the Central Government; but they would 
 not. And as for the " carpet baggers," so called, I 
 cannot understand how the reconstruction of the South- 
 ern States could have taken place in accordance with 
 legal requirements without their assistance; and the 
 South is to this day indebted to these same men for 
 some of her most substantial improvement, and much of 
 the energy and business vitality enjoyed by her. 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 The Carnp^Meeting Ground. — General Appearance of the 
 Place. — Jones Pleased. — Eeligious Tendencies of the Colored Eace. 
 Are they Peculiarities of the Colored Eace, or are they Begotten 
 of their Weak and Oppressed Condition ? — The Writer's Views on 
 this Subject. — Eeminiscences of a Camp-Meeting.— Sudden Pros- 
 tration and Narrow Escape.— The Philadelphia "Mourner." — 
 Quotations from a Sermon. — First Lines of some of the Hymns. — 
 A Woman on Fire. — Disadvantage of Wearing a Hoop Skirt. — 
 Nearing Civilization. 
 
 For one to undertake a description of the manners 
 and customs of the South without including a camp 
 meeting, would be as futile as for the continental tourist 
 to essay a description of Rome with St. Peter's left out: 
 for as St. Peter's is a fair type of the predominating 
 religious sentiment of the inhabitants of that city, to an 
 ecpual degree does the camp meeting of the South serve 
 as an exponent of the moral and religious tendencies of 
 the colored people there; and since in many sections of 
 the South the colored people constitute not only the 
 bone and sinew of the land, but also give to it whatever 
 of soul and vitalit}' it ma}' possess, it follows that what- 
 ever interests them pertains to all. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at then that when our part}', 
 having left the deserted mansion and plantation in the 
 
120 
 
 rear, approached the site where during the previous fall 
 the residents of the surrounding country had held a 
 great camp meeting, we were inspired with feelings akin 
 to awe and made to audibly soliloquize, as we dismounted 
 and closely scrutinized every object of interest connected 
 with it — like the reverential son of the Emerald Isle on a 
 former occasion — " tread lightly, for its on howly groun' 
 that ye are." There was the vast auditorium just as it 
 was left at the close of the previous season of religious 
 excitement. Its construction was the acme of simplicity 
 and economy. Posts, forked at the top, were planted in 
 the ground; upon these, poles were laid in a longitudinal 
 direction; resting upon them, transversely, other poles 
 were placed to form a roof, and the whole was then 
 covered over with branches and twigs, thus affording an 
 excellent protection against the force of the sun's ra3 T s 
 or the dews of the evening. At one end of this pavilion 
 was a rude perch, which served the purpose of a pulpit; 
 split logs, with the flat side up and holes bored in the 
 rounded side for the accommodation of legs, answered 
 the purpose of seats; while without, surrounding all, at 
 irregular intervals, were little arbors or booths, furnished 
 with rustic tables and seats, which answered every pur- 
 pose of domestic use to the weary pilgrim who had per- 
 formed his hegira to this Mecca of his ambition. 
 
 Such were the appointments of this rustic fane; and 
 as Jones drank in the scene and descanted on his former 
 
121 
 
 experiences at similar places, his religious enthusiasm 
 was with difficulty repressed. For be it remembered, 
 like other members of the colored race, especially in the 
 sunny South, his religious tendencies were strong and 
 required but little of exhortation or song to fan them to 
 a glowing flame. On more occasions than one has the 
 writer been awakened from a profound slumber at the 
 dead hour of night by the loud and earnest supplications 
 of cousin Henry. Those occasions generally immediately 
 preceeded or attended a season of physical suffering or 
 business embarrassment, but rarely followed them; and, 
 being blessed with a pair of healthy lungs, they were 
 matters of common notoriety among the neighbors, and 
 frequently cost him much embarrassment when in his 
 more prosperous seasons he became so recreant as to 
 indulge in profanity. 
 
 Much has been attributed to the colored people on 
 the score of religious sentiment, while their prayers and 
 melodious songs, ascending from the cane-brakes and 
 cabins of the South, have found a place in works of fact 
 as well as fiction, and many a tear of genuine sym- 
 pathy has started to the eyes of humane persons on 
 hearing the mournful wail, as imitated by the now 
 ubiquitous jubilee singer of the stage. 
 
 The questions have often been asked whether this 
 religious enthusiasm, exhibited in so many and vigorous 
 ways, is a peculiar characteristic of the African race, or 
 
122 
 
 is it begotten by the weak and oppressed condition in 
 which they are placed in this country? Were their con- 
 dition reversed and if, instead of having been enslaved 
 and persecuted the}' had been free and favored, instead 
 of being poor and subject to caste proscription they 
 were rich and preferred, would that same religious fer- 
 vency and zeal be conspicuous? 
 
 Nor is the writer prepared to conscientiously answer 
 these questions in an unequivocal manner. A well- 
 known writer, speaker and agitator in the anti- 
 slaveiy cause of this country, once said, in substance, 
 from the rostrum that were it not for the vivacity of the 
 African disposition, and the great fund of religious sen- 
 timent which characterizes him, he never could have 
 survived his afflictions in this country in his present 
 condition. Instead of multiplying, he would have 
 decreased numericall}"; instead of maintaining his 
 pristine physical and intellectual force, he would have 
 degenerated, and the imbecile and insane asjdums of the 
 land, as well as the infirmaries, would to-day be full to 
 overflowing. 
 
 I raise no issue with the gentleman, for he may be 
 correct in his conclusions, but by no means do I desire 
 to claim for the race with which I am identified any 
 greater degree or different quality of intellect or morality 
 than is possessed by the average races of the human 
 family on the face of the earth. And I think I speak 
 
123 
 
 the sentiments of a majority of the more thoughtful 
 members of our race when I say. if we have only accorded 
 to us the credit of possessing such ordinary and reason- 
 able qualities of mind and soul as are the mead of men 
 in general, together with a fair opportunity in the race 
 of life of proving them, we shall be satisfied therewith. 
 Other races have been oppressed, and severely, too, and 
 their oppressions followed seasons of prosperity, which 
 made it all the more unendurable; and yet they lived 
 through it and prospered. Such was the case with the 
 Helots of Greece, and such the condition of the Saxons 
 after the advent of William the Conqueror, not to men- 
 tion instances of less note in other countries at different 
 times. 
 
 I have noticed that afflictions in any form have a 
 tendency to soften the hearts and quicken the consciences 
 of persons of all colors and conditions; and, in the 
 course of the writer's legal experience, he has borne 
 witness to the marvellous conversion of some very 
 hardened criminals — men who to all appearances were 
 incorrigible, and had previously been given up as lost. 
 
 Who that has been present on the occasion of a storm 
 at sea, railroad accident, or other threatened or actual 
 calamity, when hardened sinners, (old men, in some 
 instances, who had not thought of supplicating the 
 Throne of Grace since their mothers taught them around 
 the family altar to lisp their infant prayers,) upon bended 
 
124 
 
 knees, with their countenances bathed in tears of peni- 
 tance, were pouring forth their souls in earnest suppli- 
 cations, has not experienced the truth of the observation? 
 
 Is it to be wondered at, in view of the fact of our 
 sufferings and afflictions in this land, that the past and 
 present generations of colored men have betokened, by 
 their prayers and songs, a deep sense of their dependence 
 upon the God of nations, and trust in Him for a happy 
 issue of their cause? I think not. We are led to believe 
 from the accounts of African travelers that when 
 in his native land, surrounded by the incidents pertain- 
 ing to his barbarous condition, he is brave and daring, 
 and that his actions betray no greater degree of religious 
 enthusiasm than is to be seen among nations of a lighter 
 hue. Witness the struggles of the savage Zulus during 
 their recent war with the English. 
 
 But to return to the camp meeting. The writer 
 recalls in a very vivid manner an evening passed at a 
 place similar to the one now before us, less than a year 
 ago, when it seemed as though the whole region was 
 seized with a religious mania, little short of absolute 
 insanity. For weeks previous, the camp meeting was 
 the only subject worthy of discussion and it over- 
 shadowed everything else, except the one practical 
 matter of obtaining daily bread. Small bits of money 
 were treasured up, new gowns and turbans, flashing in 
 their ruddy hues were bought and prepared; chickens, 
 
125 
 
 ducks and suckling pigs were fattened ; all in anticipation 
 of the great event. And when the time came, such a 
 gathering of the neighboring clans as took place beggars 
 description. To say that the preaching, singing or pray- 
 ing was artistic would not be true, and to say it was earnest 
 would be less than truth, for it was something more; it 
 was violent, it was emotional, it was comical. The ser- 
 mon, as near as we can remember, was a strange mix- 
 ture of eloquence and humor, and some of the observa- 
 tions made by the preacher were absolutely startling in 
 their nature. In referring to the expulsion of the 
 money-changers and those that sold doves from the 
 Temple by the Savior, he represented the Savior as 
 "going in" with his sleeves rolled up; and, again, in 
 accounting for the ascension of the Savior into heaven 
 after the resurrection, he swept away all theories and 
 speculations with a single motion of the hand, and in 
 his imagination pictured a windlass in heaven with a 
 golden cord attached thereto, to one end of which, be- 
 ing lowered, the Savior was clinging, while beautiful 
 angels, robed in white, labored at cranks to wind him 
 up. The singing was peculiar, defying all attempts on 
 the part of the average novice at imitation; but for the 
 purpose of conveying onl}- a faint idea of its character 
 to the uninitiated we will quote the first lines of a few 
 of them. One which was suns: with great earnestness 
 commenced as follows; 
 
126 
 
 " Look out dar, sinner, how you trample on de cross, 
 If your foot should slip you are shoah to get los', 
 I'm gvvine ter jine de b-a-n', I'm gwine to jine de ban'." 
 
 Another less solemn but more suggestive ran as fol- 
 follows: 
 
 " I wish ole Satan would be still, 
 Gwine ter git a home bimeby ; 
 An' let me do my marster's will, 
 Gwine ter git a home bimeby." 
 
 Still another expression of the trials and tribulations 
 of this life ran as follows: 
 
 " Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down, 
 Sometimes I'm almos' on de groun'." 
 
 These are but a drop in the bucket as compared with 
 the oceans of poetry and music indulged in on that 
 occasion, under the inspiration of which the brothers 
 and sisters would not onty pat their feet and clap their 
 hands together, but shout, jumping about, pulling at 
 imaginary ropes, as if in the very act of climbing up 
 into heaven, and in some instances actually fainting and 
 being carried out and laid in a cool place. I blush to 
 say it, but it is nevertheless true, it sometimes happened 
 that a sister who possessed a bonnet or dress a little 
 newer in style, or more brilliant in colors, suffered the 
 mortification of having it partly torn from her by some 
 jealous sister while under the influence of the spirit and 
 engaged in one of these demonstrations. 
 
127 
 
 For such l'easons as the one just related, the writer 
 has often feared that much of the apparent religious 
 enthusiasm on the part of some of these people is 
 feigned; on the other hand, some are sincere. 
 
 It happened upon an occasion similar to the one 
 spoken of, when the writer was a silent observer, that a 
 burly man, who sat next to him, suddenly, and without 
 any warning, fell over and kicked out with his feet, one 
 of them coming in close proximity to our nasal pro- 
 tuberance. Now it happens that if there is one member 
 of the writer's body that he is more jealous of than any 
 other it is his nose, hence he has not, up to the present 
 time, ceased congratulating himself upon his fortunate 
 escape, for there is no room for a reasonable doubt that, 
 had he been struck in the face with the heavy brogan 
 worn by the stricken brother, his countenance would 
 have been spoiled for all time to come. The ''mourner" 
 had reason to be offended at the writer, because of the 
 very active part he had taken against him in a law suit a 
 short time previous to this occurrence, and whether he 
 had adopted that mode of repairing his injured feelings, 
 does not plainly appear. 
 
 At another time when we were present, the chandelier, 
 which consisted of a coal oil lamp, lashed to a joist 
 over head, fell with a crash in the middle of the minis- 
 ter's discourse, and the oil, immediately igniting, set fire 
 to the clothes of a lad} 7 sitting near by. Vain were the 
 
128 
 
 frantic efforts of the young gentlemen present to extin- 
 guish the flames, for, despite their efforts to smother 
 them, a metallic hoopskirt, worn by the damsel, persisted 
 in expanding her burning clothing and burning their 
 hands. The heat increasing, and the life of the victim 
 being threatened, it became essential that something 
 should be done, and that quickly. In such an emer- 
 gency, a plain-looking old gentleman, wearing a white 
 fur hat of the style prevalent in the days of our revolu- 
 tionary sires, came forward, bearing in his hand a 
 hickory cane, with one end crooked : 
 
 " Not the least obeisance made he ; 
 Not a moment stopped or stayed he ; " 
 
 but, with a look of placid confidence on his countenance, 
 he raised the cane aloft, with the crooked end thrust for- 
 ward, and without uttering a word hooked it into the skirt 
 and relieved the embarrassed wearer, but left her in a 
 costume which carried the mind of the observer back to 
 the da} r s of our first parents in the garden of Eden. Not- 
 withstanding the fact that enthusiasm ran high before the 
 accident, it now disappeared; the exhorter was gone, and 
 those who were loudest in their demonstrations were 
 rushing wildl} T around, like sheep without a shepherd. 
 
 The following anecdote is related upon the authorit} T 
 of a gentleman who was present, and vouches for the 
 truthfulness of it. During the winter of 1870 or 1871, 
 a "protracted" meeting was in progress in one of the 
 
129 
 
 most notorious of the colored churches of the city of 
 Philadelphia. For more than three weeks excitement ran 
 high, and many were converted — some bona fide, others 
 not. Complaints, numerous and emphatic, had been 
 lodged with the authorities concerning disturbances 
 created b} r irresponsible persons, who had attended these 
 meetings and who, in passing through the streets at 
 unseemly hours, made disturbance by reason of their 
 cries and groans. On the occasion referred to, a group of 
 eight or ten persons were passing along a thickly popu- 
 lated street, having in charge a pretended mourner of 
 rather demonstrative tendencies. The} 7 had labored 
 over her all the evening, and now that the night was far 
 spent, having failed in accomplishing any perceptible 
 result, they were considerately conducting, aye, even 
 carrying her home; for the influence under which she 
 was laboring was so powerful as to deprive her of the 
 use of her limbs, but not of her tongue. Onward they 
 bore the sister as she, erstwhile, gave forth a series of 
 shrieks and groans that were truly heart-rending; while 
 her comforters addressed themselves to her somewhat 
 after the following manner: "Give up yo' hart to de 
 Lo'd, chile, rite now;'''' "Let go dem flesh-pots ob Egyp', 
 sinner, an' cum eat milk an' honey." At that juncture a 
 minion of the law, wearing a uniform, appeared upon the 
 scene of action. "What have you got there?" he said, 
 addressing the leading comforter. "A m-o-u-r-n-e-r," 
 
 TT 
 
130 
 
 she answered. "A what!" exclaimed the policeman. 
 "A m-o-u-r-n-e-r, sir," was again answered. ''Well!" 
 exclaimed the officer, " that's a pretty row to be raising 
 on the streets at this hour of the night. If you don't 
 get to your houses in a hurry I shall lock you up." At 
 the mention of the lock-up the mourner was dropped and 
 left to shift for herself, and, though the remainder of the 
 party were rapid in their flight, she distanced them all, 
 and led the inglorious retreat. 
 
 I hope no one will gain the impression from what has 
 been written that the writer would cast an}' - reflection of 
 an improper character upon the Christian religion, or 
 ridicule the efforts of the humblest worker in the vine- 
 yard of the Lord ; for he recognizes the vastness of the 
 responsibility any one must necessarily incur who has 
 the effrontery to do such a thing. If there is one thing, 
 however, that we hate and detest upon earth more than 
 another, that thing is hypocrisy. Hence we have no 
 scruples in mimicing or ridiculing whatever savors of 
 duplicity in religion, believing that he who steals the 
 livery of heaven to serve the devil in is just as much a 
 thief and a robber as he who cracks a safe or robs a 
 bank; and more contemptible, because he cowardly 
 uses the means provided for the accomplishment of 
 noble ends as a blind to the dishonorable aims in view 
 on his part. 
 
 But we linger around this old camping ground too 
 
131 
 
 long; we must go. Again we are mounted and pur- 
 suing our journey. Our distance is growing beautifully 
 less, and expectation runs high, predicated upon our 
 arrival in the town. Only ten miles further, and our 
 journey will have ended. 
 
CHAPTEK X. 
 
 The Ku Klux-Klan. — Its Origin. — Its Name. — Objects and 
 Deeds of Violence.— Recollections of its Early Days. — Proofs of its 
 Existence. — What Hon. Reverdy Johnson thought of its Members. 
 — The Origin of the Exodus, and Probable Result. 
 
 We bad only proceeded a short distance further on 
 our way, when we were confronted by the charred re- 
 mains of what had been a dwelling house. 
 
 " What's that?" 1 asked for the hundredth time, ad- 
 dressing Jones. 
 
 "That," said he, "is the work of the Ku-Klux-Klan. 
 The man who lived there was nominated for an office of 
 inconsiderable importance; but being a "Yankee" and for 
 that reason displeasing to his Democratic neighbors, he 
 was warned to leave the country; and failing to heed 
 the notice, he was taken from his house one night by a 
 body of masked men, given a coat of tar and feathers, 
 and twenty-four hours in which to make his escape. 
 After that treatment he hesitated no longer, but left for 
 parts unknown, glad enough to be spared his life. On 
 the following night his house, with all its contents, were 
 burned to the ground, and left in the condition you now 
 see it." 
 
133 
 
 Further inquiry only tended to strengthen the truth 
 of Jones' statement; not only this but the additional 
 fact that throughout the region we were then traversing, 
 there was a thoroughly organized association of men 
 under the name given above. The Ku-Klux Klan was 
 an organization conceived in sin, and born in iniquity; 
 based not so much upon any wrongs or oppression that 
 its members were actually suffering at the hands of 
 the members of the newly organized government of 
 the State, as upon an imagined violence done to "all 
 their preconceived opinions and prejudices," in the lan- 
 guage of our Southern correspondent, whose letter we 
 have given in a previous chapter. One of those opinions 
 was that the South ought to have been left alone to 
 secede from the Union of these States, and not re- 
 strained bj r the vigorous North; hence a violence had 
 been done the South in restraining her. Another opin- 
 ion was that, after having been scourged back into the 
 line of States, South Carolina ought to have been given 
 loose reins to reconstruct herself, and make her own 
 laws; even though their tendency were such as to 
 crush out every spark of civil life from the freedmen, 
 deprive them of their newly acquired political privileges, 
 and relegate them to the condition of "corn-field dar- 
 kies," with overseers to crack their whips over their 
 heads, and not even a master to say them nay. Vio- 
 lence had been done to their " preconceived opinions" 
 
134 
 
 by denying them this privilege, and to cap the climax, 
 their ''preconceived prejudices" had been violated by per 
 mitting "corn-field darkies and army sutlers'' to hold 
 offices of emolument and trust, notwithstanding the fact 
 they utterl}' refused to fraternize with them even politi- 
 cally, and reap a portion of the benefits accruing there- 
 from. There was no reasonable cause of complaint 
 existing on the part of the people of that State 
 that could not have been adjusted by lawful means 
 entirely within their power and under their control; 
 and that, in any one of our more considerate States 
 of the North would have been modified without resort 
 to violence and incendiarism. Not so with these im- 
 pulsive people, however. " Their preconceived opinions 
 and prejudices" had been violated, and now, just as 
 when the Republican party of the North had violated 
 them by electing Abraham Lincoln to the Presidential 
 chair, nothing short of blood would wipe out the stain. 
 
 The}- regarded the !f carpet-bagger " as the common 
 foe, and, as a consequence, all arguments that could be 
 lavished upon him, having in view his conversion to 
 their doctrines, would be worse than wasted. Hence 
 they let him severely alone, and in his state of ostracism 
 he was left to fraternize with " corn-field darkies " or 
 else live the life of a hermit. He chose the former. 
 
 But to the colored men they poured forth their souls 
 in all the eloquence at their command, in the vain effort 
 
135 
 
 to lure them back again to all their former felicities (?). 
 In this attempt as well they were doomed to disappoint- 
 ment, for their colored brethren had lived among them 
 long enough to understand the difference between free- 
 dom and slaver}', and took no heed of their prayers and 
 entreaties. The colored men were then, as now, true to 
 the cause of the Union. They had prayed for it; they 
 had fought for it; and now the} T would vote for it, and not 
 all the fair promises of their former masters, nor even 
 the reputed wealth of the Indies could swerve them one 
 inch from their recognized path of duty. I have known 
 freedmen to walk twenty miles, in a thinly populated 
 region, to the nearest voting precinct to cast their ballots, 
 even when they knew that such action on their part 
 widened the breach between them and their employers 
 and jeopardized their dearest interests, so true were they 
 to the principles which they had espoused. Being foiled 
 in their efforts to coax or scare their former slaves into a 
 support of their "preconceived opinions and prejudices," 
 and being fully determined to yield no jot or tittle to the 
 policy pursued b\* the Republican party, as a last resort, 
 and one more in consonance with their tastes, inclina- 
 tions and early training, thep adopted the policy now 
 known as ku-klux-ism — a policy of cowardice, perjury, 
 rapine and murder; one ill-suited to any people other 
 than such as are found in the South among her half 
 civilized white population. 
 
136 
 
 The "klan" was thoroughly organized, having a 
 ritual, signs, grips and passwords, They wore masks to 
 conceal their cowardly faces, and bound each other with 
 a solemn oath not to reveal the name of any member, 
 nor divulge any secret of the order. 
 
 Their name, " Ku-Klux-Klan," is said to have been 
 suggested to them by the sound made in the act of 
 cocking and discharging the rifles and shot-guns carried 
 by them — the first two syllables being repeated in a 
 subdued tone of voice, as Ku Klux, represented the 
 cocking of the piece; while the last sjdlable, Klan, being 
 repeated with emphasis, betokened its discharge. 
 
 The objects of the Klan, as have been already hinted 
 at, were to banish the so-called " carpet-baggers " from 
 the State, restore the freeclmen to positions of serfdom 
 under their former masters, and regain control of the 
 government of the State. They carried a knife in one 
 hand and a torch in the other, while in their belt they 
 wore a revolver. The bull-whip and raw-hide were also 
 instruments of their torture, and made to produce 
 arguments which none dared refute. In their expedi- 
 tions they spared neither age, sex nor color, and the 
 reputation of being a " black republican " was all that 
 was needed to place one under the ban of their con- 
 demnation. 
 
 To note the progress of the sentiment which culmin- 
 ated in the organization of this "Klan," was a matter of 
 
137 
 
 much curiosity; and since the writer was located in one 
 portion of the Sate of South Carolina, from its inception 
 until its discovery and prosecution under the adminis- 
 tration of President Grant, he enjoyed man}- facilities in 
 this connection not within reach of persons at a dis- 
 tance from the scene of their diabolism. 
 
 As early as the gubernatorial contest in 1870, while 
 the writer, with others, were assisting in the canvass of 
 the State in behalf of the Republican party, frequent 
 paroxysms of rage were noted on the part of the " re- 
 spectable people" of the State, which on more occasions 
 than one, well nigh resulted in blood shed. In one 
 instance this was so manifestly true that ever afterward 
 our party went out " upon the stump" prepared for the 
 worst. On the occasion referred to, while one of us, 
 mounted upon a rustic rostrum, was descanting on 
 the evils of Democratic rule, and lauding to the skies the 
 magnanimous policy of the Republican party, a coarse 
 looking man with his pants tucked into the legs of a 
 pair of cow-hide boots, and wearing a broad-brimmed 
 straw hat, who had been standing under a tree near by 
 with a few others of similar stamp, paring a sweet 
 potato with a dangerous looking knife which he held in 
 his hand, becoming incensed at something which the 
 speaker said, dropped his potato, and brandishing his 
 knife, rushed toward him. In an instant a dozen sable 
 sons of our party stood between the speaker and his 
 
 T5 
 
138 
 
 assailant,"and with drawn blades defied the assassin to 
 touch a hair of his head. His violence soon subsided 
 without harm being done. 
 
 On another occasion, when the orator of the day, 
 during the delivery of a Fourth of July oration, was 
 drawing a very striking contrast between the times 
 that had been and those that were, a former nominee of 
 the Democratic party for Congressman who was present, 
 took umbrage at something that was said, and catching 
 the speaker by one leg attempted to pull him from the 
 stand. He came well nigh being paid for his temerity 
 by a thrust from a sword in the hands of one of the 
 audience, who was a captain of militia. And thus on 
 nearly eveiy occasion that offered these offended people 
 would betoken their active hostility to every thing of a 
 political nature not in full harmony with " all their pre- 
 conceived opinions and prejudices." 
 
 As time wore on apace their opposition increased in 
 virulence, and assumed a more open form. About six 
 months later direct opposition in the nature of Ku-Klux 
 outrages began to be felt and heard from. In the 
 adjoining county a white Republican w r as summoned to 
 his door one night by the usual alarm; he went accom- 
 panied by his wife and daughter, and instead of 
 welcoming a neighbor or friend who had come to per- 
 form a friendly errand, the} 7 were confronted by a band 
 of Ku-Klux, who, without any word of warning or even 
 
139 
 
 opportunity of making his peace with his God, shot him 
 down like a dog. 
 
 In another section of the State a loving husband and 
 kind father was bound and flogged in the presence of 
 his family, because he heeded not their warning to desist 
 from taking an active part in the campaign then inau- 
 gurated; houses and well-tilled barns were burned and a 
 perfect reign of terror inaugurated. Their deeds of 
 violence being heralded abroad, alarm seized upon all 
 Republicans who inhabited sparsely- settled counties, 
 having their places of abode, in some instances, sepa- 
 rated by miles of intervening forest, and their cries for 
 help were such as to attract the attention of the General 
 Government, who sent its ministers of justice to the 
 scene, where a full investigation of the transactions of 
 the infamous " Klan " was had. of which more anon. 
 
 It was at about this time that numerous suspicious 
 looking " dodgers.'' written in an unknown hand, were 
 scattered promiscuously through the streets and stores 
 of Hudsonvilie. some of them even having been posted 
 to the trees of the Public Square during the night time. 
 These dodgers and placards bore threats of vengeance 
 swift and dire to all who belonged to the " black Repub- 
 lican part}-, 1 ' unless they severed their connection with 
 it, and prophesied that the day of retribution was near 
 at hand. To the State senator representing our own 
 county they said, " Beware, oh, beware ! Your doom is 
 
140 
 
 sealed!" Under the circumstances, we were alarmed. 
 It is true that a matter of a similar nature in the well- 
 regulated North would have excited only derision at the 
 expense of the originators of the scheme; but in that 
 disturbed locality, with many recent murders staring us 
 in the face, and a knowledge of the fact that in other 
 sections of the State much violence had been committed 
 by this same organization. I think our perturbation was 
 excusable. Accordingly, during the following night and 
 several others thereafter, every able-bodied man in the 
 village, of both colors, who had at heart the welfare of 
 the party and its threatened representatives, was sum- 
 moned to do guard duty at the house of our senator, as 
 well as to patrol the streets, in anticipation of any out- 
 burst of violence. 
 
 The first night was dark and dismal; the rain fell in 
 torrents, drenching everything exposed to its action; 
 and the darkness was so intense as to be almost felt, 
 save when an occasional flash of lightning exposed all 
 nature to view, and filled the imagination with weird 
 forms. On such a night as the foregoing the writer was 
 summoned to do guard duty. He had just retired for 
 the night, and his wife and little infant, snugly ensconced, 
 were protected from the fury of the elements. It was a 
 sore affliction to arise and go forth into that pelting 
 storm, but when duty called we had to obey. My wife 
 suggested that, owing to the inclemency of the weather, 
 
141 
 
 the clanger migkt not be great on that occasion, for 
 surely, she said, the Ku-Klux would not venture forth in 
 such weather; however, remembering the old maxim, 
 "The darker the night, the darker the deed," we trusted 
 them as to nothing, and obeyed the summons. Why 
 were we thus deprived of our needed and dearly-bought 
 rest? What had we done contrary to our country's weal? 
 What law had been broken or set at defiance that we, 
 like fugitives from justice, were driven from pillar to 
 post without finding rest for our feet or place to lay our 
 heads? Not one of these trespasses had we been guilty 
 of, and yet we were the objects of their relentless perse- 
 cutions. 
 
 Whether it was owing to our continued vigilance, or 
 to some stroke of policy on their part, I cannot say; but, 
 nevertheless, the Ku Klux did not visit us on that occa- 
 sion, and before another season we had changed our 
 place of abode. 
 
 Many persons in both sections of the United States 
 have affected a certain incredulity with reference to 
 recitals of the outrages perpetrated on the Republicans 
 of the South Ivy this infamous band, and have gone so 
 far as to ridicule the very idea as being preposterous, 
 and stamp it as a trick of political demagogues to 
 create sympathy on the part of the people of the North 
 in behalf of a government of " corn-field darkies and 
 army sutlers." We not only hurl the insinuation back at 
 
142 
 
 them, but challenge all such to a careftil perusal of some 
 of the admissions of their most able men and public 
 journals, as well as other convincing proofs that are at our 
 command. It is a well-known fact thai, upon the arrest 
 and prosecution of some of the leaders of the' - klan '" in 
 the State of South Carolina, during the winter of 1S71, 
 with a great show of indignation and not a little expense, 
 Hon. Reverdy Johnson was procured to go from his 
 pleasant home in the North to that forsaken country, for 
 the purpose of making a defense of their interests. It 
 was a matter for congratulation on the part of many 
 well-disposed persons in the North, whose minds had 
 become somewhat biased, because of the unfortunate 
 reports of misrule and political corruption which were 
 constantly coming up from the South, as well as the 
 loud protestations of innocence that were constantly 
 being made on the part of the accused, that such a man 
 as Mr: Johnson had been selected to defend these cases; 
 for, knowing his^politicai^predilections. but withal hav- 
 ing the utmost confidence in his integrity as a lawyer 
 and citizen, they felt assured that the truth, pure and 
 simple, would be disclosed. Imagine their feelings of sur- 
 prise then. when, after a protracted trial, guarded by all 
 the ingenuity of so distinguished an attorney as he, with 
 full and free access to every means of defense, Mr. 
 Johnson, in the course of his speech in one of these cases, 
 on the olst day of December, 1871, in the presence of 
 
113 
 
 the accused and their friends, delivered himself of the 
 following sentiments: 
 
 "I have listened with unmixed horror to some of the 
 testimony which has been brought before you. The 
 outrages proved are shocking to humanity; they admit 
 of neither excuse nor justification; they violate every 
 obligation which law and nature impose upon men; 
 they show that the parties engaged were brutes, insen- 
 sible to the obligations of humanity and religion. The 
 . day will come, however, if it has not already arrived, 
 when they will deeply lament it. Even if justice shall 
 not overtake them, there is one tribunal from which 
 there is no hope. It is their own judgment" — that tribu- 
 nal which sits in the breast of every living man — that 
 small, still voice that thrills through the heart — the soul 
 of the mind, and as it 'speaks, gives happiness or torture 
 — the voice of conscience, the voice of God. If it has 
 not already spoken to them in tones which have startled 
 them to the enormity of their conduct, I trust in the 
 mercy of heaven, that, that voice will speak before they 
 shall be called above to account for the transactions of 
 this world. That it will so speak as to make them peni- 
 tent, and that trusting- in the dispensation of Heaven, 
 whose justice is dispensed with mercy, when the}' shall 
 be brought before the bar of their great tribunal, so to 
 speak, that incomprehensible tribunal, there will be found 
 
144 
 
 in the fact of their penitence, or in their previous lives, 
 some grounds upon which God maj' say, 'Pardon.'" 
 
 Such sentiments, coming from the lips of their own 
 paid counsel, together with the fact that the accused 
 were convicted by a jury of their peers, ought most 
 assuredly to carry conviction with them to the mind of 
 every fair thinking man. But if anything further were 
 needed, let the following from a Georgia newspaper — 
 the Oglethorpe Echo, a "Conservative" paper of that 
 section — speak : " Anthony Thurster, the negro preacher 
 who was so severely whipped by a partj r of disguised men 
 near Maxlej^'s lately, asks that we announce to his white 
 friends that from this time forward he will prove himself 
 a better man ; will never again make a political speech, 
 deliver a sermon, or vote a Republican ticket ; from 
 henceforth he is an unswerving Democrat. We are glad 
 that Anthony's eyes are at last opened to a proper course 
 for him to pursue, but sorry that such stringent measures 
 had to be adopted ere he would, as it were, be ' born 
 again.' " 
 
 Again, we have the statement of H. M. Dixon, who 
 was not long since murdered in Mississippi because he 
 dared to run on an independent ticket, supported by men 
 of all political tendencies, as follows: " Owing to certain 
 reports that Patterson, a member of the Republican 
 Legislature who was hanged in the eventful campaign of 
 1875, had a considerable sum of money on his person, 
 
145 
 
 and that said money was used for my own benefit, I feel 
 in honor bound to vindicate myself, although I deplore 
 to refer to the past as it will bring before the public 
 many of our best citizens. I will briefly state that said 
 money, and larger sums, was raised to defray the current 
 expenses of the campaign and to stuff the ballot-boxes 
 if necessary ; to purchase certificates of election for two 
 officers now holding offices of trust and emolument in 
 our county. I have in my possession the necessary 
 proof, and if called upon will furnish it. Signed: H. M. 
 Dixon." 
 
 These proofs, together with the voluminous reports 
 of committees appointed by Congress to investigate this 
 subject, ought to leave no candid man in doubt. But in 
 addition to all that has been said and written on this 
 subject, if more were needed, we have a condition of well- 
 established circumstances more patent than all. Wit- 
 nesses will sometimes falsify; even men who are disposed 
 to deal fairly in their testimony, at times become biased 
 by reason of their interest in the issue at stake, or, per- 
 haps, their peculiar surroundings; but circumstances, 
 when admitted, never lie. What shall we say then of 
 the sudden and precipitate flight of the men of the North 
 who went to the South and invested their capital and 
 labor, intending, in good faith, to become residents of 
 that section? Surely it was no trivial cause that pro- 
 
146 
 
 ducecl that result. The Goldsboro, North Carolina, State, 
 commenting on this action on the part of this class of 
 citizens in the South, uses the following suggestive 
 language: 
 
 " It is a sad fact for this worn-out and famished 
 State, that of the thousands of men who came hither, 
 invested their means, and attempted to make homes 
 under Republican rule, to-day but few remain. At the 
 loss of their all they have wandered away to seek a home 
 where they can speak their sentiments and vote as they 
 deem best, without subjection to insult, abuse and villifi- 
 cation from such men as Governor Vance. Immigrants 
 from all countries and all states pass us by, the " carpet- 
 baggers " lose their all rather than remain, and many of 
 her own sons seek in states where schools, polls and 
 speech are free — a new home." 
 
 These citations are in part from sources outside of 
 the State of South Carolina, but notwithstanding, they 
 show a common purpose and unity of action on the part 
 of the Democratic party of the South, to usurp by unfair 
 means that power they cannot justly obtain at the ballot 
 box, and trample the rights of others under their feet. 
 
 The question is sometimes asked: " Why don't the 
 freedmen fight?" If our readers will for a moment con- 
 sider that these men were, from their infancj 7 , taught to 
 fear and obe} 7 white men; that they are uneducated and 
 
147 
 
 unsophisticated, while their former masters are educated 
 and shrewd; that while the white men of the South were 
 educated to the use of the rifle and the shot-gun, the 
 freedmen were kept in ignorance of their use; and 
 further, that in many instances the freedmen are without 
 leaders, they will appreciate the condition of these poor 
 men with their unfortunate surroundings. 
 
 In our humble opinion the solution of the problem of 
 the future of the South is involved in the outcome of 
 the present movement of the colored farm hands of the 
 South to Northern and Western States. If it shall con- 
 tinue until the laboring element of that section is 
 materially weakened, a change of policy on the part of 
 the intolerant faction there will, of necessit}', be adopted; 
 and this change will be of such a character as shall 
 admit to equal terms of civil and political fraternity the 
 sable freedmen then remainina; anions; them ; or else 
 invite as participants in the profits of their estates, a 
 foreign element who will be willing to cultivate them 
 and preserve them from ruin. Time alone can unfold 
 the result. 
 
 Of one thing there can be no reasonable doubt — the 
 colored men of the South, having been robbed and mur- 
 dered, their wives and daughters having been subjected 
 to the insults and outrages of a brutalized populace, 
 have long since become disgusted, and now having their 
 
148 
 
 eyes opened to a proper sense of their degradation and 
 abuse, are rapidly seeking homes in the free Northwest, 
 where they can serve God and their country according 
 to the dictates of tbeir own conscience, and reap a rich 
 reward as the result of honest labor. 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 The Poor Whites of the South. — Contributing Causes of their 
 Present Condition. — Their Social Status; Habits of Life; Means 
 of Support, — Dislike of them hy the Colored People of the South. 
 — Struggles on the Part of Some of Them to Better their Condi- 
 tion. — Eemarkable Instances of Success. — Their Future in This 
 Country. 
 
 We were now nenring our journey's end, and as we 
 graduall} T approached this center of civilization in the 
 " Old North State," an increased degree of animation 
 was plainly perceptible. The roads became more nu- 
 merous ; the antiquated log huts of the route gave place 
 to houses a little more modern and pretentious in 
 appearance, having frames and being covered with clap- 
 boards. Nor is this all. The inhabitants of the country 
 became more numerous — to whom our little procession, 
 as we journej^ed along, was a source of much curiosity 
 and more speculation. In some instances a woman's 
 head would be thrust out of a window to gain a view of 
 us; in others, the door would be partly opened and the 
 end of a nose could be seen protruding; and, then, again 
 the whole family would come out, and, with countenances 
 full of blank amazement, stare at us as though we were 
 the first living specimens of humanity they had enjoyed 
 the privilege of beholding for many days, 
 
150 
 
 It was during our passage through this part of the 
 country that we enjoyed an excellent opportunity of 
 observing the condition and social habits of that large 
 and, I may say, unfortunate class of people who inhabit 
 eveiy portion of the South, known and designated as 
 "poor whites," who must not be confounded with the 
 honest laborers of the North, known in the South by the 
 Southern chivalry as " Northern mud-sills." I say un- 
 fortunate because, while I acknowledge the truth of the 
 old maxim — " Eveiy man is the architect of his own 
 fortune," — I believe it to be equally true that we are all 
 the creatures of circumstances, and, to some extent, " it 
 is better to be born lucky than rich." Many a person 
 has lived his allotted span and gone hence, leaving 
 behind him a reputation, among his fellows, pure and 
 unspotted, who had he been surrounded by a different 
 state of circumstances during his lifetime would have 
 made shipwreck of his most favorable opportunities. 
 The possession of means in abundance, and the absence 
 of penury and want, often prevents a man from exhibit- 
 ing a thieving disposition. The lack of an occasion 
 prevents, in some instances, a dormant mendacity from 
 asserting itself; while the absence of an emergency, 
 beyond doubt, relieves the world of a murderer in many 
 instances. And, vice versa, men are sometimes reduced 
 to an unfortunate condition of life, and led to commit 
 
151 
 
 acts at war with their best judgment and natural incli- 
 nations, from the sheer force of circumstances. 
 
 For these reasons, I refer to the " poor whites " of 
 the South as an unfortunate class; for, in my opinion, 
 the} T are the unfortunate victims of a number of contrib- 
 uting causes, such as would sink any people on the face 
 of the earth to a similar depth of physical, intellectual 
 and moral degradation, anything short of a miracle 
 intervening. 
 
 To begin, then ! There seems to be little room for 
 doubt that climatic influences have contributed toward 
 the present condition of these people, for their emaciated 
 bodies and sallow complexions are just such as one 
 would naturally expect to encounter under the debilita- 
 ting influences of a semi-tropical clime, in the absence 
 of such hygienic influences as may be artificially applied 
 toward the preservation of health. It is a well-known 
 fact that climate does exert an influence over men as 
 well as the lower animals, and that in the course of a 
 protracted time, with diet and habits of life changed, 
 men and animals have been known to undergo radical 
 changes of a physical and intellectual character. The 
 hair of horses has become to closeh* resemble wool after 
 their removal from a temperate to a tropical clime. The 
 wool of sheep, on the contrary, has taken the appear- 
 ance of hair; colors have changed, and, in short, the 
 course of nature apparently reversed. (See Narrative 
 
152 
 
 of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India; 
 second edition : London, 1828; vol. ii., p. 219; also see 
 Wiseman's Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion; 
 new edition, 1866, lecture third.) 
 
 Cardinal Wiseman, in his lectures on Science and 
 Revealed Religion, Lecture Third, page 135, refers to the 
 statement of a recent traveler who explored the Hauran, 
 or district beyond the Jordan, wherein he speaks of a 
 family residing at Abu-el-Beady, in charge of the sanc- 
 tuary, as being remarkable for having negro features, a 
 deep black color and crisped hair; the male and female 
 progenitors of whom were of pure Arabian blood, both of 
 the past and present generations. He further says that 
 the Arabs who inhabit the valle\ r of the Jordan have 
 flatter features, darker skins and coarser hair than any 
 other tribes. Our own countryman, Dr. Draper, in a 
 work written by him on physiolog3", argues at some 
 length and with much earnestness, and not a little show 
 of reasonableness to our mind, that not only may changes 
 be produced in the size and form of the features, and 
 color and feeling of the skin by climatic conditions, but 
 he goes so far as to assert that domestic and social differ- 
 ences, when no change of climate takes place, often 
 produce marked differences of a physical and moral 
 nature. 
 
 We are constrained to admit, then, that the great 
 change from an invigorating, temperate climate on the 
 
153 
 
 part of these people, to a warm and sluggish one, has 
 had its effect in transforming them from men of energy 
 and ambitious aims to the inanimate specimens of 
 humanit}' that we find them now. The prevalence of 
 bilious and malarial fevers, accompanied with agues, 
 throughout the greater portion of the South, caused in 
 part by the too rapid generation of the bile in the sys 
 tern, and, to a greater extent, by miasma escaping from 
 the swamp lands referred to in another portion of this 
 volume, has a very enervating effect, and the man who 
 has the moral courage or physical endurance to raise 
 himself up from beneath the weight of inertia which 
 presses so heavily upon all in that climate, is indeed a 
 hero in the true signification of the term. 
 
 But we are asked, " Why is not the force of this iner- 
 tia perceptible in the cases of the wealthy white and 
 colored people of the South?" To this question we 
 reply, the wealthy whites are enervated, and were it 
 not that they are able, by means of their wealth, to sur- 
 round themselves with the aids and luxuries of life, and 
 make frequent journeys to higher latitudes and more 
 healtlr^ sections of the country, they would rapidly sink 
 to a level with the class referred to. And as for the col- 
 ored population, they are differently constituted from 
 the white people and better adapted to that climate. I 
 infer the latter statement from the fact that the colored 
 people are not subject, to an equal degree, to some of the 
 
154 
 
 malarial diseases pievalent there, which, in times past, 
 have proved fatal to so many thousands of the fair race. 
 
 The unproductiveness of the soil in some of the flat 
 and sandy parts, especially in the Carolinas, is another 
 cause tending to discourage and demoralize the " poor 
 whites " of the South. There are sections where it would 
 require the undivided time and attention of an expert 
 farmer to eke out the most ordinary subsistence, of 
 
 which county, South Carolina, is a fair example. 
 
 Where swamps do not prevail in that forsaken county, 
 sands predominate; and the wonder is, not that the 
 people residing there are dejected and poor, but that they 
 exist at all. 
 
 The appearance of one of these farmers on his arrival 
 upon the " market" with a load of wood, is unique and 
 amusing in the extreme, and many anecdotes of an 
 interesting nature are related at their expense. Imagine 
 two wheels, about four feet in diameter, with two poles 
 attached longitudinally to the axle, holes bored in the 
 poles from the rear ends to a point even with the circum- 
 ference of the wheels, in which upright stakes are driven; 
 then glance at the little scrawny steer between these 
 poles, with bits of leather, some rope and more cloth 
 strings for harness, and the arm full of wood constitut- 
 ing the load, together with the little brown jug, and 
 yellow cur attached to the vehicle underneath, and 
 nothing further, save the long, lank, hairy creature, with 
 
155 
 
 butternut clothes and a cracked voice, exclaiming, 
 " Whoa!" will be required to complete the picture. 
 
 It is said that upon a time, a gentleman traveling 
 through county met one of these cadaverous- 
 looking specimens proceeding slowl}* along the road with 
 a rather suspicious-looking load, when the following 
 colloquy ensued: Gentleman — "Where are you from?" 
 Countryman — " O-r-i." " Gentleman — " What's your 
 load?"'' Countryman — "Timber an' fruit." Gentleman 
 — " What's your timber?" Countryman — " Hoop-poles." 
 Gentleman — "What's your fruit?" Countryman— "Per- 
 simmons." 
 
 Another anecdote is related of the people of this 
 county, for the truthfulness of which the writer is not 
 willing to vouch. It is to the effect that, while proceed- 
 ing on his way after leaving the countryman just referred 
 to, he encountered still another man standing beneath a 
 persimmon tree, holding in his hands a pole raised aloft 
 with a little pig attached to the end, which was feasting 
 upon the persimmons on the tree. The gentleman 
 approached the countryman, when the following conver- 
 sation took place: Gentleman — "What are you doing 
 there?" Countryman — " Sister Sal is goin' ter git 
 married an' I'm fattenin' this pig for the weddin'." 
 
 In addition to the foregoing influences which we 
 have mentioned as exerting an influence over these poor 
 people must be remembered that which the institution 
 
156 
 
 of slavery, and its direct tendency to debase labor, had 
 in this respect; for it is a fact, that cannot be gainsayed, 
 that the baleful effects of that social ulcer made them- 
 selves felt upon all colors and classes of society; and, 
 while it reduced the slave to the condition of a mere 
 chattel, it debased all labor and cursed the very people 
 that it was intended to bless. The poor white man 
 shunned labor because it was considered as the province 
 of the slave to toil; and to have condescended to till the 
 soil or wield the sledge hammer would have subjected 
 him to the same imbecile scorn and proscription that 
 the slave was made to feel. The ladies of the slave- 
 holding order reclined at ease, not even exerting them- 
 selves, in some instances, to dress themselves; and when 
 the} 7 went to promenade, or into the flower garden, they 
 wore sun bonnets and long gauntlets to protect their fair 
 complexions. Hence the ladies of the poor class, who 
 aspired to be like them, refrained as much as possible 
 from coming in contact with anything calculated to soil 
 the hands or bronze the complexion. And in this way 
 the impression gained among these people that no one 
 could be a gentleman or a lad} r and at the same time 
 " work like a nigger." The result was seen in their lean 
 bodies, impoverished condition and mental imbecility. 
 
 In addition to all that has been written, it remains to 
 be said that to the failure of the wealthy white people 
 of the South to provide educational facilities for these 
 
157 
 
 poor people, much of their present degradation must be 
 attributed. It was no uncommon thing to find commu- 
 nities in the South where the fact of a man being able to 
 read and write gave him a prominent position among 
 these people, and even surrounded him with such an air 
 of superiority as made him a kind of petty sovereign in 
 their midst, so great was their deficiency in this respect. 
 As a means of obtaining a livelihood they sought posi- 
 tions which gave them a little authority over the enslaved 
 colored people, such as policemen in cities, patrols in 
 the country, and overseers on plantations. In these 
 positions they were noted for their acts of cruelty and 
 oppression toward the colored people, and it frequently 
 became necessary for the outraged slave to seek the 
 intervention of his master to protect him from their 
 fur}-. The colored people of the South, both free and 
 slave, heartily detested these " poor bucras," as they 
 called them; their hatred going to such an extent that 
 they could not endure anything owned by them, even 
 the slaves who sometimes were so unfortunate as to fall 
 into the hands of one of them who had "made a start 1 ' 
 in life, coming in for a share of their contempt. Such 
 as had no definite means of support resorted to such 
 methods of making a living as would hardly answer the 
 purpose in any other section in the United States. In 
 fact the very lavishness of nature in some respects 
 seemed to lend to their dissolute habits, Some of them 
 
158 
 
 who had succeeded in acquiring possession of an old 
 shot-gun would scour the forests in quest of game, and 
 generally succeeded in obtaining a racoon, a squirrel or 
 rabbit, which would bring good cheer to the family for 
 several days. Others would fish in the ponds and 
 streams abounding there, and find in the finny tribe 
 their surest means of support; while still others would 
 cultivate a little garden spot, well stocked with collards, 
 raise a pig, which had a head as long as the remain- 
 der of the body, and also keep a few chickens, that 
 subsisted on the dunghill. Beriying time was a great 
 season among them, when they could be seen in crowds 
 going to the fields and woods to pick berries — black- 
 berries and whortleberries — from the proceeds of which 
 they generally succeeded in realizing a sufficient sum of 
 money to buy a little clothing. The writer, during his 
 stay in the South, was acquainted with a poor fellow, 
 crippled as to one foot, who during the fall and winter 
 seasons had to be assisted by the authorities, but who 
 during the berrying season was so elated and independ- 
 ent over his successes that he would scarcely recognize 
 a colored man upon the streets. It mattered not, how- 
 ever, how poor they were, even though the wolf stuck at 
 their very doors, they each and every one managed to 
 keep by them a cur dog to share with them their joys 
 and sorrows; which sometimes became so greatly 
 reduced by hunger that the hens' nests in the neigh- 
 
159 
 
 borhood were robbed of their eggs, and other depre- 
 dations of even a more serious nature committed. 
 
 Among the peculiar habits of these people may be 
 mentioned those of clay eating, rubbing snuff and chew- 
 ing tobacco by the women, and of drinking whiskey by 
 both classes. As to clay eating, I cannot account for 
 the origin and prevalence of the habit, unless it be that 
 owing to their peculiar diet an unusual amount of acidity 
 is produced in the stomach, by reason of which a certain 
 craving is caused for something to neutralize its effect, 
 upon the same principle that we eat magnesia for 
 dyspepsia; or it may be that their stomachs need a 
 foreign substance to assist their digestive powers, on the 
 same principle that a chicken takes gravel into its crop; 
 or, perhaps, the cravings of hunger suggest it. 
 
 As to the force of these suggestions I leave the reader 
 to judge for himself, as the writer lays no claim to being 
 an expert in dirt-eating. It is nevertheless true that 
 vast quantities of red, white and blue clay are eaten by 
 the poor whites of the South, of ail ages, but principally 
 by the young. The writer has seen children sitting on 
 an old-fashioned hearth before a large fireplace, pick- 
 ing out the clay or mortar between the bricks and 
 eating it. 
 
 The snuff-rubbing propensity is indulged by the 
 women. They purchase the strongest Scotch snuff 
 within their reach, and with a stick chewed at one end, 
 
160 
 
 dip it out of a tin box and eat it, or rub it, as it is called, 
 the idea being that of rubbing or cleaning the teeth with 
 it, which is only another name for eating it. They pre- 
 fer a stick about ten inches in length, from a birch or 
 black-jack tree, whose fibres are fine and tough, capable 
 of being chewed into a little, brush at one end, and with 
 these sticking out of their mouths, the}^ will gad the 
 streets and gossip by the hour. 
 
 The men will have their whiskey, and rather than be 
 deprived of it, they scour the country in search of 
 it, and part with everything except their dog and gun in 
 exchange for it; the pipe and plug tobacco are necessary 
 accessories, of course. 
 
 No adequate conception can be formed by a stranger 
 to their condition, of the vast gulf that separates this 
 class of people from their wealthy brethren, and to 
 observe the scorn and disdain visited upon them by the 
 rich, one not informed with regard to all the circum- 
 stances would mistake them for a species of serfs, rather 
 than American citizens of "pure white blood," clothed 
 in all their constitutional rights. For this reason any 
 effort on the part of one of them to arise from his humil- 
 iated station of life and assert his manhood is attended 
 with such embarrassments and obstacles at every step as 
 would dishearten any but the most determined. 
 
 Then the avenues leading to wealth and preferment 
 are difficult of access, especially to a boy or man whose 
 
161 
 
 education has been neglected from his birth. His first 
 move towards bettering his condition was generally to 
 get a small piece of land, an undertaking attended with 
 peculiar hardships to him, because in that section of the 
 South most of the land that was of any value was 
 owned in large tracts by men of wealth, who often exact- 
 ed the last farthing before they would part with it; and 
 then, being ignorant, the poor white, like his freedman 
 brother, was at the mercy of the crafty vendor, who fre- 
 quently defrauded him of his hard-earned means and 
 left him in a worse condition than at first. However, 
 having obtained a small piece of land, his next move was 
 to get a substantial house, which he did by reducing the 
 allowance of food and other essentials at home. It was 
 a hard lot, but necessity, stern and unyielding, demanded 
 the sacrifice and it had to be made, or else an entire life 
 of want and disgrace stared him in the face. Having 
 once obtained a piece of land and a house, his ambition 
 generally led him to aspire to the possession of a slave; 
 if this point could be attained, then indeed would his 
 success in his undertaking be assured. For several 
 years, however, he contented himself with hiring a man 
 to assist him, whom he generally managed to make earn 
 all that was paid for him, until his fund being increased 
 by the sale of a few bales of cotton each year, he reached 
 the goal of his ambition, made the bold venture and pur- 
 chased him, generally a woman or old man, but a slave 
 
162 
 
 none the less. He then bore a very close relation to the 
 man of whom it is said : 
 
 " He had one male attendant, thin and lean, 
 
 Like Romeo's Mantuan apothecary; 
 Who daily swept his dusty office clean, 
 
 And summed up his accounts with caution wary ; 
 In short, was this factotum every way 
 Burdened with labor and but little pay." 
 
 He then began to put on airs. At times he would say : 
 " Boy, look at me! I'm your master!" At others, meeting 
 some of his former companions on the road, his attention 
 would be absorbed in considering something in another 
 direction. But the greater portion of his time would be 
 spent in aping the manners and style of his wealthy 
 neighbors, and trying to gain from them one smile of 
 recognition. He would hire a pew in church and have 
 his family attend regularly, with the vain hope that 
 those aristocratic grandees would deign to notice them; 
 but, alas, how often were, their hearts made to bleed 
 within them by reason of the cold, heartless treat- 
 ment they received. Nothing daunted, however, if he 
 were composed of the proper material, he persevered, and 
 continued to add to his landed possessions and increase 
 the number of his slaves, until finally success attended 
 his efforts and he found himself a wealthy man in full 
 fellowship with his neighbors, disdaining to associate 
 with the "poor white trash " from whom he sprung. 
 
163 
 
 Some very illustrious men, whose names have graced 
 the highest positions within the gift of the people, have 
 sprung from that unfortunate class of people. Abraham 
 Lincoln was a poor white of the South; but his parents 
 had the good sense and moral courage to leave Kentucky 
 and go to the great Northwest; had they not, in all prob- 
 ability a bright intellect and great soul would have been 
 buried in obscurity. Andrew Johnson was one of these 
 poor whites, uneducated up to manhood, but by some 
 fortuitous circumstances he gained political preferment 
 and lived to be President of the United States. Henry 
 Clay was a poor mill boy of the South, but ascended to 
 a senatorial position, where he won undj-ing fame. 
 Besides these, many others could be mentioned who 
 conquered all opposition and fought their way to 
 wealth and honor, thereby proving to every one that is 
 oppressed and degraded by caste and poverty, " Where 
 there is a will there is a way.* 1 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 Products of the Carolinas. — Cotton. — Turpentine. — Peanuts. — 
 Sweet Potatoes, etc. — Forest Fruits. — " Chincapins." — Hickory- 
 nuts. — Persimmons. — Grape Culture. — Fishes, Oysters, etc. 
 
 As in commercial and social pursuits the South is 
 more than two generations behind the other sections of 
 the United States, so in respect to her agricultural tools 
 and modes of procedure she is, as compared with them, 
 in a state of darkness such as carries the mind far back 
 into the era of the wooden plow, and other instruments 
 of medieval farming. 
 
 The people cultivating the soil throughout the region 
 spoken of by us do not seem to appreciate the value of 
 land, judging from the immense waste that is permitted 
 in this respect, and the lack of interest displayed by 
 them in improving what they have under cultivation, or 
 in appropriating to their use the hidden treasures con- 
 tained therein; for instead of keeping down the rank 
 weeds that are apt to grow around the margin and in 
 the corners of their fields, and plowing deep into the 
 soil in order to turn up the treasures in the shape of 
 rich loam, they content themselves with skimming upon 
 the surface, merely breaking the crust, and gleaning 
 
165 
 
 therefrom half a crop instead of a bounteous harvest. 
 Why the husbandmen there persist in this unprofitable 
 mode of agriculture is difficult to be determined, unless it 
 arises from the force of habit, being one of the rich 
 legacies bequeathed to the South by the institution of 
 slavery, which she has not as yet been able to dispose 
 of. 
 
 The foregoing remarks do not apply, however, so 
 much to the production of the cotton plant as to cereals 
 and other species of produce, since, cotton being their 
 staple product, upon which all their hopes, ambitions 
 and means of support are based, they have brought into 
 requisition in the cultivation of it more than ordinary 
 skill and energj-; and, besides, the cotton plant does not 
 require the same amount or quality of cultivation that 
 is demanded by other products. 
 
 The cotton yield of the Southern States at the 
 present time is enormous, and it odIv requires a glance 
 at a few figures for one to appreciate the fact that under 
 any economical and liberal policy on the part of the 
 South it could be made a source of great wealth to that 
 section, and, as king of commerce, caused to demand 
 the homage of the civilized nations of the earth. 
 It is estimated b} r competent judges that the yield for 
 the pa'St season was not far from the gross amount of 
 five millions of bales, which at a fair valuation of fifty 
 dollars a bale would reach the enormous sum of two 
 
166 
 
 hundred and fifty millions of dollars — an amount which 
 in ten years time would be sufficient to have paid off the 
 whole national debt, incurred by reason of the Southern 
 Rebellion. 
 
 Cotton was not originally the staple article of the 
 South, for its cultivation and preparation for the spindle 
 and loom was fraught with so much expense as to pre- 
 clude the idea of making it an article of much profit to 
 the planter. The territory comprised in the original 
 thirteen States suitable for its cultivation was meagre, 
 comparatively speaking, and the modern appliances for 
 separating the seeds from the fibre not having been 
 invented, the operation had to be performed by hand, 
 which was both slow and expensive. Under these cir- 
 cumstances it is not to be wondered at that it occupied 
 a place secondary to other products which have since 
 given place to its culture. But the invention of the 
 cotton-gin by Whitney, and the spinning-jenny by 
 Hargreaves; the application of steam to the operation 
 of machinery by Watt, and the cession to the United 
 States of the Florida territory, together with the acqui- 
 sition of all that vast extent of land known as the 
 Louisiana purchase, and the Texas territory, the fruit of 
 the Mexican war, made the production of cotton not 
 only easy but profitable, and at once gave it a prominence 
 in the commercial world that time has only tended to 
 increase. 
 
167 
 
 The process of its cultivation as followed by the 
 Southern planter is very eas}*, and entails no consider- 
 able expense; any one having a few acres of land and a 
 sufficient amount of money to purchase a small shovel- 
 plow and a few bags of guano for manure, being compe- 
 tent to engage in it, provided he possesses the physical 
 ability to handle a hoe about ten inches in width. Of 
 course it is always better to possess a horse, mule, 
 steer, or beast of some kind to draw the plow and assist 
 in the ordinary routine work, but I have known several 
 instances where determined men of great muscular abil- 
 ity and powers of endurance have succeeded in raising a 
 small crop without anything of the kind mentioned, 
 beyond the hiring of an animal for a few days to do the 
 original breaking of the ground. In several instances 
 the writer has seen freedmen harnessed to the little plow, 
 breaking the soil between the rows after the plants had 
 gained a few weeks' growth. The ground being broken 
 and the shallow drills being formed, the next step 
 towards raising a crop of cotton is to scatter a little 
 guano along them, a thing which none but the very 
 poorest class of planters will fail to do unless their land 
 is phenomenal for richness, in the localities referred to. 
 This is done by the plantation hands, who for that pur- 
 pose don a suit made of bagging, or some other very 
 cheap material, and cover their heads, since the dust 
 escaping from this greatly esteemed fertilizer possesses 
 
168 
 
 a most nauseating, pungent odor, and can be smelt at 
 remote distances from where it is stored when the wind 
 is favorable or unfavorable therefor. The guano is 
 carried in a haversack, hung around the neck, and dis- 
 tributed through long trumpet-shaped tin tubes, held in 
 one hand of the planter, who grabs it out of the bag 
 with the other. The greatest economy is practised in 
 the use of guano, for its cost is considerable and its 
 virtues are great, a teaspoonful of it being a liberal 
 allowance for a hill of corn, and a slight sprinkling of 
 the dust along a drill — just enough to be seen — sufficing 
 for cotton. Should too much be used there would be 
 great danger of losing the crop from an excess of heat 
 caused thereby, unless the season were a wet one. 
 
 Cotton seed is also considered a most excellent fertil- 
 izer, standing in this respect next to guano; hence they 
 are treasured up and highly prized by those who possess 
 them. Following the act of scattering the fertilizer comes 
 that of sowing the seed (for the seed is literally sowed, 
 not planted in Kills as corn and sweet potatoes are), and 
 when the}^ are up and about an inch in height, the pro 
 cess of "chopping out" begins, which consists in chop- 
 ping out with a broad hoe the growing plants, so as to 
 leave spaces between them of from ten to twelve inches, 
 according to the strength of the soil and the judgment of 
 the planter. When this act is performed nothing more 
 remains to be done except to keep the plants free from 
 
169 
 
 weeds until they are large and strong enough to over- 
 power them, when they are supported by having earth 
 drawn up to them so as to form a little hill, which is 
 called " laying by." 
 
 The planter then takes a rest, sees that his gin and 
 press are in good condition, attends camp-meetings, pic- 
 nics and political demonstrations, where he fraternizes 
 with his neighbors over the jovial " watermillion" 
 
 The plant bears beautiful pink blossoms, which give 
 place to the boll containing the cotton. To appreciate 
 the appearance of a cotton field filled with plants, the 
 bursting bolls of which invite the agile pickers, one 
 must be present upon the spot. The scene may be com- 
 pared, but not fairly described, and even the imagination 
 of the most poetic mind must fail to do it justice. 
 
 After picking, the cotton is ginned, a process by 
 means of which the seeds are separated from the fibre 
 without injury to it. Pressing and baling complete the 
 process, and it is then ready to be sent to the North or 
 the continent of Europe, to be manufactured into fabrics, 
 which the South repurchases at a greatly enhanced value 
 to clothe her people with. 
 
 Another article of commerce produced in the Caro- 
 linas is turpentine, and, in fact, in some sections of those 
 states it almost monopolizes the attention of a large 
 portion of the inhabitants, and furnishes the principal 
 means of support. 
 
170 
 
 Turpentine is, as our readers are aware, the product 
 of the pine tree, of which there are large forests in both 
 North and South Carolina. In fact, the pine tree is to 
 the states in which it abounds to any considerable 
 extent, indirectly what the palm tree is to some oriental 
 peoples — food, clothing, bedding, dwellings and firewood. 
 It furnishes food and clothing through the revenue 
 derived from the sale of turpentine; bedding from the 
 pine " straw " which it annually casts off; lumber from 
 which the houses are built from the bodies, and firewood 
 from its small limbs and crooked stems. 
 
 The process by which the turpentine is obtained 
 from the tree is unique and of interest. Converging 
 grooves are cut on the surface of each tree by an instru- 
 ment shaped for that purpose, generally on the side 
 facing in the direction of the sun. At first only a few of 
 these grooves are cut, in order that there may be no 
 waste of the flowing turpentine and that the trees may 
 not suffer materially and lose all their vitality during a 
 single season ; by observing this course, a good, healthy 
 tree can be made to do service for many years, until it is 
 skinned and scraped almost to the limbs. Beneath these 
 converging grooves is cut a " box," which is nothing 
 more than a small, pocket-shaped opening cut into the 
 body of the tree for the purpose of receiving the flowing 
 turpentine, something after the principle that is followed 
 in making maple sugar, except, in the latter case, we 
 
171 
 
 believe, a bole is bored in the tree and a tube inserted, 
 instead of grooving the surface and cutting a box. The 
 action of the sun upon the exposed surface causes the 
 turpentine to flow and fill the box, which is then dipped 
 and put into barrels. The portion dipped from the 
 boxes in an unadulterated state is " virgin pure," and 
 much more desirable in the market than the "scrapings," 
 which are filled with small chips and pine straw, and 
 thereby depreciated in value. 
 
 The turpentine is then placed into a still for distilla- 
 tion, which is done by heating it to a suitable tempera- 
 ture. During this process the vapors arising from the 
 contents of the still are passed through a submerged 
 "worm," and collected in a vessel containing water, from 
 which it is drained; this constitutes the spirits of tur- 
 pentine. The chips and straw floating upon the molten 
 turpentine is then skimmed off with a strainer and 
 thrown into a pool of water, around which, in the 
 writer's boyhood, a small army of urchins generally 
 stood, with little black trays under their arms or upon 
 their heads, awaiting their " turn " of " dross," as the 
 refuse matter was designated. 
 
 This dross, when ignited, burns with a fierce and 
 ardent glow, and is the means of protecting many a poor 
 family in the South from the rigors of a harsh winter 
 season, such as frequently is known in the Carolinas, 
 
172 
 
 when ice is formed of sufficient thickness to support the 
 weight of a man. 
 
 Another product of these interesting States is their 
 peanuts. Let Egypt assert her antiquity, as exhibited 
 in her pyramids, obelisks, sphinxes, monster ruins and 
 mummies; Greece may boast of her Parthenons and 
 treasures of art; Rome display her Coliseum, great 
 cathedral and carved pillars — Carolina still rejoices in 
 being the chief source of the "festive peanut." These 
 nuts are known in the parts where they are produced by 
 the various euphonious names of ground-peas, pea-nuts, 
 ground-nuts, pinders and gubers. They grow on the 
 ground (not on trees, as some suppose,) and are attached 
 to a running vine, which bears a small blossom of a deep 
 j^ellow color, about the size of an ordinaiy English pea- 
 blossom. When dug they hang in great clusters, closely 
 connected with the roots of the plant, from which they 
 are gathered and spread in the sun to dry; after which 
 they are put in bags, when they are ready for the market. 
 The parching or roasting process is done in various 
 ways, some being done in great ovens, where large quan- 
 tities are handled at one roasting; while others are 
 roasted by peanut vendors, who stand on the corners 
 and at the intersection of streets, to the great delight of 
 the small boy and the embarrassed lover. What this 
 country would do without the peanut it startles us to 
 imagine, since the advent of a circus, county fair or 
 
173 
 
 Fourth of July celebration without the presence of the 
 peanut would be a "barren ideality." 
 
 Sweet potatoes also come in for their share of pat- 
 ronage in the Carolinas. Not " Jersey Sweets," nor 
 such as are raised in the North, but real sweet potatoes, 
 as the Spanish, the Bermuda and the vara potatoes 
 — such potatoes as, when subjected to the heat of a 
 hot oven, crack open and permit some of the liquid 
 hone}' to escape from them, while the hungry little ones, 
 who sit by, scarcely repress the flow of saliva until their 
 anxiety for one can be relieved. And such large pota- 
 toes! Why, the writer has seen sweet potatoes in the 
 "Old North State" as large as an ordinary infant's 
 head, weighing several pounds each. The}' are raised in 
 great abundance, and stand in the same relation to the 
 poor people down there that the Irish potato does to the 
 inhabitants of the Emerald Isle. 
 
 Indian corn is also cultivated, but almost exclusively 
 for domestic use. The white variety is preferred, which 
 is ground into meal and used with a little salt and water 
 for making bread; flour bread among the poorer classes 
 being considered a luxury. At times, especially in 
 " hog-killing time," the character of the corn bread is 
 varied by putting into the dough " cracklings," which 
 are the browned portions of meat out of which the lard 
 has been tried. This "crackling bread" is considered 
 by some of these poor people a great delicacy, of which 
 
174 
 
 they are very fond. At other times they put apples, 
 chopped fine, into the dough, and treat the boarders to 
 " apple bread," thus in various and sundry simple 
 modes varying their scanty supplies. 
 
 With proper attention and experience the Carolinas 
 could be made the seat of extensive and profitable grape 
 culture, of which there are several very fine varieties. 
 The Scuppernong grows, even in its wild state, to a pro- 
 digious size, as large, in some instances, as crab apples, 
 and possesses a flavor which for delicacy is difficult to 
 be surpassed. The people there, however, do not seem 
 to appreciate the value of their rich possession in this 
 vine, and, with a few exceptions, it is neglected and 
 allowed to run to waste; just as many other of their 
 most valuable natural resources of wealth and happi- 
 ness are. 
 
 It would not be the part of justice to close this 
 chapter without saying a word about the rivers, abound- 
 ing in their wealth of fishes, oysters, clams and crabs, 
 especially near the coast of the Atlantic. 
 
 About the time that the free colored people of the 
 State of North Carolina were seized with a desire of 
 leaving that portion of the country and casting their 
 lot in the free North, because of the proscriptions and 
 constant menaces that afflicted them in their native 
 State, the writer's father was asked whether he would 
 not accompany some emigrants to the new home in the 
 
175 
 
 Northwest. He answered them by saying, " When you 
 can transfer the Neuse and Trent rivers, with their con- 
 tents, to Ohio, I will go with you; not before." 
 
 The fishes to be found in these rivers consist in part of 
 shad (which is the king of fish for the breakfast table), 
 the trout, perch, mullet, drum, pike, herring, sturgeon 
 and many others too numerous to be mentioned in a 
 paper of this size. Hard-shell and soft shell crabs, 
 and lobsters also abound, while just be}'ond, in the 
 sounds, some of the largest, fattest and most delicately 
 flavored 03 7 sters and clams are to be found that the 
 waters upon the face of the earth can afford. We have 
 not attempted in the foregoing to give anything purport- 
 ing to be a detailed list of all the products of these 
 favored states, for their name is legion, and would 
 require a book exceeding the size of the one now under 
 contemplation to contain even their names. 
 
 In addition to those mentioned, however, as consti- 
 tuting a portion of the staple articles, may be mentioned 
 some of the forest nuts and fruits, such as the chincapin, 
 which is a small nut of the chestnut family, only smaller, 
 sweeter and having the shape of a top. The people of 
 these states gather them and boil or roast them, when, 
 in many instances, they are strung on threads and worn 
 around the necks of children, after the manner of beads; 
 but like the man who covered himself with a large flap- 
 
176 
 
 jack upon going to bed, the children sometimes dream 
 they are hungry, and eat their beads. 
 
 The hickory nut of North Carolina, especially in 
 eastern and central portions, to which my attention has 
 been principally directed, has a thick, hard shell and 
 small kernel, hence it can bear no comparison to the 
 nutritious nut of the scaly bark variety to be found in 
 the Northwest. The walnut, however, flourishes in 
 great abundance, and is of a fine quality. 
 
 Among the fruits found growing in a state of nature 
 may be mentioned the red plum, the yellow plum, the 
 cranberry and the persimmon. The three former are 
 not strangers to the people of the North, but the latter, 
 the persimmon, is not well known. When the persim- 
 mon is green its astringent qualities must be tested in 
 order to be appreciated, since they set at naught alum 
 and other such articles in use among us ; but when ripe 
 and mellowed by the frost, they are very sweet and 
 pleasant to the taste. They are of the size of an ordi- 
 nary plum, perhaps a little larger, and contain a kernel 
 within them of the same size and shape as the plum. 
 The good matron of the South makes from the persim- 
 mon a kind of beer, which, when read} r for us, laughs to 
 scorn cider, small beer and lager, and is not half so 
 injurious in its effects. 
 
 We are now entering the suburbs of Magnolia, our 
 place of destination; we see little of interest to the gen- 
 
177 
 
 eral reader to be described, hence we will drive directly 
 to the home of our relatives, and after resting and 
 refreshing ourselves, acquaint our readers more minutely 
 with the colored people of the South, and other objects 
 of interest. 
 
 TJ 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 The Colored People of the South. — Different Classes. — The 
 Plantation Hands.- — Their Habits and Modes of Life. — Corn- 
 shucking and Log-rolling Bees. — Their Love of "'Possum and 
 Sweet-en-tater."— Will they Steal?— The Colored People of the 
 Cities and Towns. — General Intelligence among them, and Causes 
 Contributing Thereto. — Churches and Schools among them. — 
 Efforts of Bad Men to Create Prejudice between Different Classes 
 of them. — Education and Wealth will Dispel All. 
 
 Thus far in Hie course of our narrative we have only- 
 spoken of the colored element of the South in a general 
 way, as it was necessary or convenient to do in order to 
 illustrate some of the customs and habits of the whole 
 people of that section ; but having at length completed 
 our journey, and the process of hand-shaking and con- 
 gratulations in general being ended, an opportunity is 
 now afforded of studying the condition and habits of 
 these people in a minuter way, since they are to be seen 
 in every Southern city in all the various phases pre- 
 sented by them — the residents at their homes and places 
 of avocation, and the non-residents as they stroll in from 
 the neighboring plantations for the purposes of trade or 
 recreation. 
 
 Taken as a whole, the colored people of the South 
 
179 
 
 are a remarkable people, and in some respects, the most 
 versatile of habits and disposition of an}' people with 
 which it is the good fortune of the writer to be 
 acquainted. They are pervaded with a certain fund of 
 good humor and mirthfulness that follows them from the 
 cradle to the grave, and like the little girl in an Eastern 
 cit}- who was expelled from a school because she inces- 
 santly laughed, it seems to be a physical impossibility 
 for them to repress their laughter, songs, dancing and 
 merry-making. Many of them seem to never reach old 
 age, if judged by their innocent ways, and we not infre- 
 quently find old " Aunties"' and "Uncles " who are just 
 as supple and playful as in their youthful days. Nor did 
 the bitter oppression incidental to the estate of slavery 
 change the fact, for despite it all they managed to snatch 
 from their limited hours of rest and refreshment time 
 sufficient to sing a song, dance a shuffie or crack a joke, 
 to the great merriment and satisfaction of all who beheld 
 them. Add to this fact the disposition on their part to 
 indulge in exercises of a religious character, interspersed 
 with much that was diverting to the mind, and it is not 
 difficult to account for the fact that, notwithstanding 
 their ill-treatment and debasement by their task-masters, 
 they grew from a handful, landed in this country in 
 1812, to a vast multitude of nearly four millions of souls 
 at the time when the immortal Emancipation Proclama- 
 tion was issued by the martyr Abraham Lincoln. 
 
180 
 
 To travelers along the routes of our great rivers, they 
 furnished a continuous fund of amusement and recrea- 
 tion, and they were not only willing to give liberally of 
 their means for the purpose of eliciting the inimitable 
 song, dance or gesture, but some even essayed to mimic 
 them, as the basis of many an hour of public divertise- 
 ment in places of amusement in distant lands. 
 
 It must not be inferred from the foregoing, however, 
 that these people carried their innocent traits to such an 
 extent as to deprive them of the sterling qualities of 
 man or womanhood — far from it; on the contrary, their 
 achievements in the mechanics, agriculture, literature 
 and upon the battle field, as recorded by the historian of 
 to-day, set at defiance any such conclusion which may 
 have been formed and entertained in the mind of any 
 one. 
 
 The colored people of the South may be divided into 
 two general classes — the plantation hands and the in- 
 habitants of commercial centers. We mention the 
 plantation hands first because they are the most numer- 
 ous body by far, and contitute the physical force of that 
 class in the Southern States. These plantation hands 
 are, for the greater part, quite dark of complexion (the 
 proportion of mixed-blooded colored people being 
 infinitely smaller than in the cities) ; they are strong 
 and healthy as to their bodies, and industrious to a 
 fault. They have been known to work, during the busy 
 
181 
 
 season, seven clays in the week, (though not from 
 choice), and the rising sun seldom finds them in bed. 
 The}' have been accustomed from infancy to the plainest 
 diet, such as corn bread, fat bacon or pork, cow peas, 
 rice and molasses, together with such fruits as could be 
 gathered from the fields and woods, upon which they 
 have thriven, being strangers to many of the evils that 
 alfiict the flesh in our luxurious centers, and sometimes 
 living to ages far beyond the allotted span — a centena- 
 rian being no curiosity in their midst. Their diet, 
 however, is sometimes varied b} T the addition of a chicken 
 or opossum, of which they are passionately fond. This 
 passion on their part for chicken and "'possum' 1 arises 
 not so much from any constitutional partiality on their 
 part, or difference in their tastes and inclinations 
 respecting articles of food from the rest of the human 
 family, as from the absence of fresh meat of all kinds, 
 the very sight of which is at times sufficient to excite a 
 whole neighborhood. 
 
 The writer recalls an incident in the little village of 
 Hudsonville, during his sojourn there, when, upon the 
 arrival of a countryman on the Public Square with _a 
 small carcass of doubtful looking meat, covered over 
 with boughs of trees as a protection against the attacks 
 of the large blue flies, which were numerous, the 
 mania on the part of the villagers to "obtain a piece of 
 
182 
 
 the coveted flesh was so great that one lady, who was 
 unable to get any, actually shed tears of sorrow. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, then, that these people 
 are elated over the possession of something to vary the 
 monotony of their harsh and unpalatable diet. " 'Pos- 
 sum and sweet-en-tater " reach the acme of the planta- 
 tion hand's gustatory ambition. Chicken is good; 
 squirrel, racoon and rabbit are good; roast pig is very 
 good ; but " possum and sweet-en-tater " admit of no 
 comparison in the imagination of the poor hungry 
 hand. 
 
 "Honey," they will say, " jes' take dat 'possum an' 
 strip off de skin ; hang him outdoors 'til de fros' strikes 
 him ; den bring him in de house, put him in de pot an' 
 parbile him; after dat stuff him, lay him in de oven, put 
 little pieces of fat meat over him, an' lay sweet-en-taters 
 all roun' him; den let him lie dar 'til he gits rite brown; 
 take him out; put him on de table! an' L-o-d, h-o-n-e-y! 
 DonH say dem greasy tvords no more!'''' 
 
 It's no wonder that, at intervals of recreation, they 
 will all join in and sing with great enthusiasm that 
 remarkable song, commencing with the suggestive lines, 
 
 " Dat 'possum meat am good an' sweet, 
 Kearve him to de hart." 
 
 Among the amusements incidental to plantation life 
 the corn-shucking and log-rolling bees stand pre-emi- 
 nent. On the former occasions the neighbors all turn 
 
183 
 
 out and assist each other in shucking their corn. In 
 this way large quantities of corn are disposed of at a 
 single gathering, without the monotony attending the 
 private performance of an equal amount of labor. 
 Whiskey, which is the product of corn in that section, 
 is freely passed around on such occasions, and is not 
 unfrequently the cause of illfeoling and disturbance. 
 After the work is completed a general good time is 
 indulged in, concluding, as a rule, with a dance to the 
 notes of a squeaky fiddle, in the hands of one of their 
 number, and the patting of such others as are unable to 
 restrain their flowing spirits. But the log-rolling par- 
 ties carry off the palm for real vigor and romantic effect. 
 At these meetings were to be found the vigorous youths 
 of all the surrounding region, who assembled, like the 
 athletes of ancient Greece at the Olympian games, to 
 test their physical prowess and win for themselves repu- 
 tations of which they were no less proud. These 
 contests occurred at a space upon which lay the logs 
 chopped from trees, which had been felled in the process 
 of clearing land. The participants generally separated 
 themselves into two factions, at the head of each was a 
 champion, and the feats of strength and endurance were 
 as a rule exhibited in their attempts to out-vie each 
 other in lifting at the bar placed under one end of a heavy 
 log; when it sometimes happened that the mate of the 
 successful party was unable to raise his end or endure 
 
184 
 
 to bear it to the pile, which covered him with the dis- 
 grace of defeat, while the other was correspondingly 
 elated and considered a wonderful man. It was very 
 amusing to hear the opposite champions challenge each 
 other from the tops of their respective piles, using the 
 most exaggerated and ridiculous expressions imagi- 
 nable. Such expressions as the following were generally 
 indulged in on such occasions, being shouted at their 
 utmost pitch of voice : 
 
 First champion — " Oh, you can't rule me!". 
 Second champion — "You can't knock a chip off my 
 shoulder !" 
 
 First champion — " I'm yer lion tamer!" 
 Second champion — " Here's yer alligater eater !" 
 First champion — "Woman never had me!" 
 Second champion — " Man, he never got me !" 
 First champion — "I come in gold molds!" 
 And thus they would proceed until, their mission 
 being accomplished they, like the corn-shuckers, would 
 finish the night with music, feasting and dancing. 
 
 At times, however, the utmost good-will did not pre- 
 vail to the close, and fighting and bloodshed would take 
 the place of music and feasting, owing to the too free 
 use of strong drink. 
 
 Efforts have been made from time to time by those 
 who have been more industrious in exposing the weak- 
 nesses of the colored race than in exalting their virtues, 
 
185 
 
 to impress the belief upon tlie popular mind that the 
 average plantation hand will engage in little acts of 
 peculation ; that is to say, steal. 
 
 The writer has enjoyed unusually favorable facilities 
 of acquainting himself with every phase of character 
 pertaining to this class of people, and after careful ob- 
 servation, extending over a long period of time, he feels 
 authorized in repelling the accusation as a base slander 
 upon the fair fame of one of the most patient, indus- 
 trious and honorable classes of people that is to be found 
 upon the American continent. It is true the colored 
 people spoken of have within their number men who, 
 like their white brethren, will commit acts of violence 
 against the property of their neighbors, sometimes 
 indulging in peculations the very insignificance of which 
 are well calculated to call down upon them the scorn and 
 ridicule of the community in which they reside, such as 
 the taking of pigs, chickens, seed cotton and the like; 
 but these acts are no more frequent than may be found 
 among some classes of the white people of both sections, 
 with this mitigating feature — that, when the plantation 
 hand of the" South relieves a planter of a fat pullet, pig, 
 or even a few pounds of seed cotton, he merely indulges 
 his disposition to obtain a pittance of what they have 
 robbed him and his ancestors of, and generally for the 
 purpose of satisfying the cravings of hunger. 
 
 The colored men of the Southern plantations have 
 
186 
 
 made the South what it is, have produced four-fifths of 
 the cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco which for many years 
 constituted the chief articles of commerce, and for all 
 this they have received no compensation; they have to 
 this day an equitable claim on every foot of land, 
 every horse, cow, pig or chicken to be found on Southern 
 soil, owned by ex -slaveholders, and for them to occa- 
 sionalty assert their right of redemption is not steal- 
 ing. 
 
 The colored people of the cities and towns are a 
 heterogeneous mass. They are to be found of all shades 
 of color known among the races of men — black, yellow, 
 cream colored, white, and all the intermediate shades 
 Some of them boast that they are of pure African 
 extraction — not mongrels; while others rejoice in the 
 possession of a very liberal allowance of " pure white 
 blood," and use every means in their power to gain 
 recognition by their white brethren. There are those, 
 indeed, who make it their boast that they have de- 
 scended, on their father's side, from some of the first 
 white families of the South, and claim recognition on 
 the ground of consanguinity, referring to the well- 
 known family resemblance as a proof of the cor- 
 rectness of their assertion. Nor must it be con- 
 cluded, as is supposed by some, that the fact of a 
 colored person having his blood mixed is necessar- 
 ily a proof of illegitimacy, for, on the contrary, the 
 
187 
 
 greater portion of the mixed-blooded colored people of 
 the South are the fruits of legitimate matrimonial 
 alliances formed among the different shades of the race 
 during the past and present generations. Much refine- 
 ment of manners and real intellectual culture is also 
 discernable among the colored people who inhabit the 
 cities and towns of the South, since they were in times 
 past not only more favored with respect to opportunities 
 of gaining information than the poor plantation hands, 
 but the relations the}- bore the wealthy whites — as 
 domestics and servants in other capacities — were to them 
 a source of great profit in increasing their knowledge. 
 Besides this, the free colored people, who were in the 
 State of North Carolina permitted to acquire property 
 and send their children to school, to a limited extent, em- 
 ulating the example of the intelligent white people, edu- 
 cated their children somewhat,collected libraries and read 
 such newspapers of the day as they could get possession of, 
 thereby becoming, in some instances, the equals and even 
 superiors of many of the white citizens. Being great 
 imitators and thoroughly Americanized in their ideas 
 and ambitions, they vied with the more wealthy portion 
 of society in clothing themselves in the latest styles 
 and furnishing their houses with modern improvements. 
 The barbers of the South were also a prolific source of 
 information to the rest of colored society; since, by vir- 
 tue of their calling, they were brought into the presence 
 
188 
 
 of the leading statesmen, lawyers and politicians of that 
 section, who frequently did not hesitate to discuss 
 questions of State and National polity in their pres- 
 ence. 
 
 The mechanics, as well as the domestics of the South, 
 were also composed of this class of people; in fact, the 
 colored people were the intimate attendants and supports 
 of the property-holding element in every department of 
 life. They were indispensable at the birth, depended 
 upon at the wedding, and in the hour of death the 
 prayers and groans of some trusted "Aunty" or 
 "Uncle" furnished a safe escort for them to "that 
 bourne from which no traveler returns." 
 
 In some cities, during the slave-holding era, there 
 were no distinct churches for the colored people, and 
 they were provided for in the galleries of the various 
 white congregations, where the pious eye of the master 
 could note their movements. 
 
 The writer attended one of these churches during the 
 first Sabbath of his sojourn in Hudsonville, to acommo- 
 date a friend, but the visit was not repeated. The 
 entrance in this instance was made at the rear end of the 
 structure, and after being seated in the filthy gallery, we 
 were denied even a glance from the preacher's eyes. 
 
 In the large cities, however, the colored people are 
 provided with churches and ministers of their own selec- 
 tion, where they worship God according to the dictates 
 
189 
 
 of their own consciences ; this is especially true of them 
 since the war. 
 
 I regret to say that on various and sundry occasions 
 in the past, short-sighted men of the demagogue stamp, 
 for the satisfaction of their own personal ambition, 
 have endeavored to create a feeling of prejudice on the 
 part of the dark against the light-colored people 
 in some parts of the South, by representing to them that 
 their interests were of a conflicting nature, and endeav- 
 oring to lead innocent persons of a darker hue to 
 believe that their light-colored brethren were aspiring 
 to monopolize all the chief places of honor and emolu- 
 ment. Be it said to the honor of the masses of the dark- 
 colored people of the Sfmth, that their good judgment 
 has restrained them from falling in with these wicked 
 men in their dangerous designs, and led them to ignore 
 all such propositions made to them. 
 
 Before the abolition of slavery in the South there was 
 an element of society to be found there which has since 
 lost its identity by being absorbed or merged into 
 the one general class recognized as the colored people of 
 the South. I refer to the body known before the war as 
 "free negroes," or in their vernacular, "free niggers." 
 This was the most hopelessly forlorn class, in some 
 respects, of any we have mentioned, if a people hated 
 and despised, slighted and scorned, neglected and 
 abused, may be referred to as being forlorn, 
 
190 
 
 for the foregoing adjectives but faintly describe their 
 unenviable condition in that inhospitable Southern 
 land. These people were of all colors, sexes and condi- 
 tions, and their origin was various. It was a maxim of 
 the common law, which was strictly adhered to in nearly 
 all the slaveholding states, that the condition of the off- 
 spring followed that of the mother; hence, in all cases 
 where the condition of the mother was that of a free 
 woman the offspring was born free; it mattered not how 
 her freedom was obtained, provided it was in accordance 
 with the provisions of the law. If a woman of " pure 
 white blood" cohabited with a person having a "visible 
 admixture of African blood," the offspring resulting from 
 that union was born and remained free, because the 
 mother, being a white person, was, ipso facto, free in 
 the South, and the condition of her child followed that 
 of herself; and, strange as it may seem, such unions were 
 not unknown, even in the palmiest days of the " peculiar 
 institution," nor, indeed, were they sufficiently rare of 
 occurrence to attract especial interest or occasion 
 unusual remark. 
 
 The writer is conversant with a case where a planta- 
 tion hand, of the darkest hue and most uncouth 
 appearance begat offspring by each of the two daughters 
 of his master; and these two mulatto children, being 
 children of one father and of sisters, were thereby half 
 sisters and cousins (a very strange relationship), were 
 
191 
 
 reared under the same roof as the rest of the family — 
 living to be almost centenarians, and to look back upon 
 a numerous progeny of free colored people. 
 
 In other instances, good and faithful maidservants, 
 who had given the better portion of their life in the 
 service of their owners, rendering services of peculiar 
 merit — such, for instance, as rearing a family of children 
 from infancy to years of discretion, and nursing the 
 sick — were manumitted, together with their children, 
 who, with their progeny, thereafter were free. And 
 some who were so fortunate as to be married to free 
 men, who were of industrious, frugal and ambitious 
 dispositions, were purchased by their husbands, which 
 made them and their children, born thereafter, free. 
 
 In the foregoing, and other ways, which we will not 
 now weary the patience of the reader by relating, a very 
 numerous population of free colored people came into 
 existence, and remained up to the era of general emanci- 
 pation in the South. Having a visible admixture of 
 African blood in their veins, the} r were of course rele- 
 gated to the same social status as the slaves, except 
 that of bondage. They were ignored by the whites as 
 associates, however intelligent or refined they might be; 
 and although in a few instances (very rare) slight modifi- 
 cations of this rigid rule took place, still the writer has 
 yet to be informed of a case where it was wholly abolished. 
 
 They inhabited commercial centers chiefly for the 
 
192 
 
 reason that being, as a rule, not the owners of land for 
 agricultural purposes, they resorted to mechanical pur- 
 suits for a livelihood; in which they became expert as 
 time progressed, and furnished the architectural skill of 
 that whole section in the constructing of buildings and 
 bridges of various kinds, and even some of the fleetest 
 ships that ploughed the waters. Another reason that 
 may be assigned for their tendency towards cities and 
 towns is the fact that they were the objects of suspicion 
 and distrust in the rural districts on the part of the 
 slaveholders, who feared that their proximity to and 
 association with their slaves would contaminate them 
 (the slaves), by creating in their minds a feeling of 
 jealousy and restlessness under their oppressed condi- 
 tion. 
 
 Being deprived of the right of sitting on juries and 
 giving their sworn testimony in all litigation where their 
 interests conflicted with those of white men, they were 
 at the mercy of the most unprincipled rogues and liber- 
 tines; and unless they secured the friendly aid of some 
 white guardian or patron, they were liable not only to be 
 robbed of their hard-earned possessions and deprived of 
 life and liberty by means of the perjured statements of 
 covetous persons of the other race, but in many 
 instances the most outrageous and infamous crimes, 
 which shock every fibre in the body of a real man, were 
 perpetrated upon helpless females, when no redress 
 
193 
 
 could be had, the only witnesses to them being persons 
 of color. 
 
 In some sections of the South these poor people were 
 compelled to purchase badges at fabulous rates and 
 wear them, in order to distinguish themselves from their 
 slave brethren ; and although they, in this way and by 
 paying a direct poll-tax, as well as the usual tax on 
 their meagre possessions, were constantly enriching the 
 public treasury, yet thej 7 were not permitted to vote for 
 their representatives, being in this respect in a worse 
 condition than the Indians, who pay no taxes. 
 
 In times of public alarm these free colored people 
 were objects upon which the lower class of the white 
 element of the South vented their spite, since they were 
 entirely defenseless, being forbidden by law to carry fire- 
 arms, or even to keep them within their dwellings, and, 
 as we have remarked, had little or no redress at law. 
 This was especially true of them at a time when a real 
 or imaginary revolt of the slaves was threatened. The 
 writer will never forget a reign of terror that was inau- 
 
 urated and maintained during the Fremont-Buchanan 
 campaign of 1856. The impression had in some mys- 
 
 irious manner become prevalent amongst the slaves 
 that if Fremont was elected President of the United 
 . tates their freedom would be assured. Where this idea 
 came from or how it gained currency amongst them, 
 nobody knew; but it existed, nevertheless, and created 
 
194 
 
 in the minds of the more cautious of the slave-holders 
 an apprehension that in the event of a failure on the 
 part of the slaves to realize their expectations, acts of 
 violence might be indulged in by them. Laboring under 
 this mental delusion, and being filled with such a degree 
 of cowardice as their guilty actions naturally begat in 
 them, they organized bodies of midnight marauders, 
 known as patrols, who, during the night season, scoured 
 the suburbs of the ancient town in which we lived, 
 striking terror to the hearts of the defenseless free col- 
 ored people, who had not even masters to protect them, 
 and in many instances committing depredations that 
 even a savage would blush to acknowledge. 
 
 We almost shudder to recall an eventful night when 
 an ominous knock was heard upon the door of our 
 humble cot. We were all alone. Mother was a poor 
 widow, her fatherless children were all quite young, 
 the eldest not yet having reached puberty. We made 
 no response. Again that harsh knock rang upon the 
 midnight air, causing our hearts to beat almost audibly 
 within our breasts. Not yet did we deign a response. 
 Then there fell upon our ears a harsh, cruel voice: 
 " Open this door, G — d d — n you! or we'll bust it in!" 
 
 "John," said our clear mother, " get up and see what 
 they want. I guess they are the patrols." Then, ad- 
 dressing herself to the marauders, she said: "All right; 
 
195 
 
 wait a minute until we make a light, and we'll let you 
 in." 
 
 A match was struck; an old-fashioned tallow dip 
 was lit, and then the writer, clothed in his robe de nuit, 
 with fear and trembling, drew the bar. A half dozen 
 uncouth, desperate-looking characters invaded the prem- 
 ises, accompanied by one or two men who laid claim to 
 some degree of respectability, and who, upon discovering 
 that the} 7 were only disgracing themselves by trespass- 
 ing upon the premises of a lonely widow and her little 
 brood, were lavish of their apologies and vacated with- 
 out delay. The remainder, after passing through the 
 house and glancing curiously at every object that 
 confronted them, failed to find anything that could be 
 construed into a firearm, and left, to return no more. 
 
 Our neighbors, however, were less fortunate, for it 
 happened that an old fowling-piece, a relic of the past, 
 was discovered upon their premises, which was the 
 direct cause of procuring for its unfortunate owner 
 thirty-nine lashes upon his naked back, from a cow-hide 
 in the hands of one of that infernal clan. Nor was that 
 all, for, not being satisfied with flogging the husband, 
 they essayed to insult the wife, and when she resisted 
 and attempted to resent the insult, they assaulted her in 
 a most outrageous manner. 
 
 For a colored man to assault a white man in those 
 days was to commit an unpardonable offense, which 
 
196 
 
 blood alone could atone for — it mattered not how great 
 soever the provocation might be, or how just the colored 
 man's cause. We distinctly remember an incident that 
 took place in the State of North Carolina in the latter 
 part of the }'ear 1856, when the writer was a boy, that 
 made a lasting impression upon his mind and caused 
 him to remark to his kind mother that if she did not 
 sell her home and leave the South, he would leave just 
 as soon as his age and means would admit of it. The 
 incident was as follows : 
 
 A large, muscular man, having a very slight admix- 
 ture of African blood in his veins, drove into the town 
 
 of with a load of small casks or kegs which he 
 
 had made to barter away for a few groceries. He went 
 to one of the leading merchants of the place and offered 
 his kegs for sale, and a trade was readily effected ; but 
 during during the course of the conversation that 
 ensued, the capacity of the kegs being called in question, 
 a dispute arose between the merchant and the country- 
 man, when the former stigmatized the latter as a liar; 
 the rustic retorted by hurling the same epithet at the 
 grocer, when the latter struck the customer a violent 
 blow in the face with his fist, who had no sooner received 
 it than he returned it with interest, felling the merchant 
 to the floor. Immediately the cry went around: "A 
 nigger has struck a white man; kill him! kill the d — n 
 nigger!" and a crowd such as were in those days always 
 
197 
 
 to be found loitering around stores and wharves in that 
 section, without further inquiry fell upon the countryman 
 and attempted to knock him down. He was equal to the 
 emergency, however, and had he enjoyed even the sem- 
 blance of fair play, would have succeeded in whipping 
 all his assailants; but finally, when it became apparent 
 that he was getting the better of the cowardly crew, a 
 sailor in their midst drew a bar of iron, and striking 
 him a blow on the head with it, felled him to the ground. 
 Once in that position his clothing was torn from his 
 body, his arms and legs pinioned, and his bare back 
 flogged with a "cowhide" until the blood ran from it, 
 and the gashes made in his flesh by the cruel strokes 
 presented a ghastly spectacle as they gaped open. For 
 this colored man there was no redress; indeed, he was 
 only too glad to escape with his life, and drag back 
 again his mangled, bleeding body to the heart-broken 
 wife and grief-stricken children from whom he had 
 parted a few hours previous with hopes beating high. 
 
 The writer labors under the embarrassment derived 
 from the fear that there may be those who will read 
 these recitals of oppression and injury inflicted upon the 
 colored people of the South with incredulity, and imagine 
 them to be the productions of a dishonest imagination. 
 If such should be the case, the reader has only to refer 
 the matter to any one of the thousands of well-informed 
 
198 
 
 colored citizens who are to be found in all our cities 
 and towns of the North for a verification, ndt only by 
 their verbal testimony, but by their scarred and crippled 
 bodies that are yet to be seen. The half has not been 
 told. 
 
 What the colored people of the South need at the 
 present time to raise them up to an equal plain with the 
 better class of the white people there is a fair opportu- 
 nity in the race of life to earn and accumulate money, 
 and good educational facilities for their children. 
 
 Thanks to the large-heartedness of the people of the 
 North, there are in some sections of that benighted 
 land a few educational institutions that will compare 
 favorably with some of the best in the land; where 
 young men and women of color are fast preparing them- 
 selves to enter the higher walks of life. Of such are 
 Fisk University and Hampton Institute, to say nothing 
 of many others less pretentious. 
 
 The law of the land can do so much for us as to 
 remove all obstructions from our way that are obnox- 
 ious to its provisions; but no more. It can not take 
 us from under the ban of prejudice any more than it 
 can the pauper of another race. 
 
 Our destiny lies to a very great extent in our 
 own hands, and the quicker we recognize that fact the 
 more rapid will be our progress upward. If the 
 
199 
 
 recognition and preferment of races of other people is 
 governed by their wealth, intelligence and integrity, by 
 these same means, and these alone, must we seek 
 and expect to win success in life; and not by a state 
 of inertia, or a period spent in bewailing our unfortu- 
 nate lot. "A word to the wise is sufficient." 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 Past and Present of "Magnolia." — Sherman's Boys and Har- 
 dee. — " No Law to Compel One Man to ' Mister ' Another." — The 
 Results of the Trip. — Returning North. 
 
 We must now hasten to a conclusion of our narrative, 
 since we have already occupied more time and space 
 in relating it than we anticipated at the beginning. 
 Suffice it to say, then, that the town of Magnolia, while 
 possessing a greater population than Hudsonville and 
 wearing somewhat of a metropolitan appearance, did not 
 fully meet our expectations. Even to Jones and Brown, 
 our companions of the route, who had resided there in 
 former times during its prosperity, scarcely recognized 
 in its charred and dilapidated appearance the Magnolia 
 of the past, when business was flourishing and there was 
 abundance of labor with fair remuneration for all, except 
 those who were enslaved. Instead of scores of drays 
 and carts being employed in hauling the large deposits 
 of merchandise to and fro from the steamboat landing; 
 now half a dozen vehicles could scarcely find employ- 
 ment; where formerly a numerous body of mechanics 
 were wont to reside in the midst of a plentiful supply of 
 all the necessaries of life, we at length found only a 
 
201 
 
 tithe of them, striving to eke out an existence by the 
 performance of such odd jobs as could be found in a 
 place where the erection of substantial buildings gave 
 place to a few repairs to such as were alreach* in 
 existence to keep them in suitable condition for use, 
 and the banks that once flourished there for the accom- 
 modation of a healthy trade, were to be found no more, 
 but in their stead one petty institution. In fact, decay 
 and blight seemed to have seized upon all things. The 
 people who inhabited the place appeared to be discour- 
 aged and lost to all ambition, even to repair the sad 
 ravages that the events of the war had entailed. 
 
 Formerly this place was the seat of learning, refine- 
 ment and wealth for all that section of the great State 
 of North Carolina, and the unsophisticated rustic of the 
 interior who had the ambition to make it a visit, opened 
 his eyes in astonishment as he gazed at the exterior of 
 the capacious buildings to be found there, and the riches 
 as displayed in the show-windows and on the streets; in 
 short, it was the commercial center from which all the 
 country around, within a radius of a hundred miles, 
 drew its supplies, and it was no uncommon thing before 
 the war to see her streets in the vicinity of the Court 
 and Market House, crowded with the vehicles of 
 planters and small farmers, who had traveled many 
 miles to visit this emporium for the purpose of purchas- 
 ing or exchanging wares. 
 
202 
 
 But now all this was reversed, and, instead, gloom and 
 despondency seemed to brood over the forsaken place. 
 The inhabitants remaining were not slow in attributing 
 all their losses and misfortunes to the " Yankees," and 
 pointed to the charred remains of their former bank 
 buildings and store-houses, which were destroyed dur- 
 ing Sherman's grand march to the sea, as a proof of 
 the correctness of their statements, but they seemed to 
 lose sight of the fact that their own ' obstinacy in en- 
 deavoring to impede his progress, even up to the last 
 moment, occasioned the greater portion of the damage 
 that had accrued. 
 
 It is related that one of the typical Southern ladies of 
 that time, full of reliance on the superior fighting quali- 
 ties of the Southern chivalry, when told that Sherman 
 was approaching the town, said : " O, never mind, 
 General Har-dee is here, and he won't let them enter." 
 Alas for her confidence and reliance upon the superior 
 skill and chivalric bearing of "Hardee and his troops!" 
 Instead of emulating the example of the gallant three 
 hundred under Leonidas at Thermopylae, and dying in 
 the " last ditch," they at the last moment ingloriously 
 fled, being in some instances wounded in the back, and 
 not a few of them captured. 
 
 Among the wealthy class of the white people to be 
 found at this place were some who for their general in- 
 telligence and magnaminity of character are deserving of 
 
203 
 
 great praise. This is especially true of a few of the 
 weaker portion of the community, who were veritable 
 ministering angels at the bedside of many a poor unfor- 
 tunate sufferer in their midst, for which future genera- 
 tions will render them their full mead of praise; but as 
 a rule they were very exclusive in their habits, and dis- 
 dained to mingle on terms of intercourse with those 
 whom they considered their inferiors — their standards 
 of distinction being color, money and intelligence. 
 Some of the male portion carried their silly prejudice 
 to such an extent that they would even refuse to 
 address a colored man as Mister, calling him Tom, 
 Dick, Harry or boy, as the case might demand, 
 regardless of the merits or demerits of the person 
 addressed, or his station in life. The following anec- 
 dote will go far to show the extent to which the 
 business men of the place permitted this silly bias 
 to carry them. A very respectable colored man, of 
 average intelligence, was elected to the honorable posi- 
 tion of alderman of the town, and he very reasonably 
 concluded that he was entitled to the ordinary and usual 
 courtesies that ought to be observed on the part of one 
 citizen to another; therefore, when he was addressed b} r 
 a merchant of the town as Thomas, it is not to be won- 
 dered at that he reminded him that he had a "handle" 
 to his name, and that handle was the word Mister. <;The 
 result of this action on the part of the " city fatter " 
 
204 
 
 was an invitation extended to him by the merchant to 
 leave bis store, which invitation not being immediately 
 complied with, the porter was ordered to summarily 
 eject the alderman, which he did in a manner more 
 forcible than polite. An action in the nature of as- 
 sault and battery against the aggressors was the next 
 scene in this strange drama, in which the defendants 
 were acquitted, and the complainant was not only lec- 
 tured by the partial justice for not leaving the premises 
 of the merchant when ordered by him to do so (albeit 
 he had gone there on business, which had not been 
 transacted), but was also reminded that there was no 
 law in the State of North Carolina, known to the court, 
 by virtue of which one man could be compelled "to 
 mister another." 
 
 We found an extensive, well-regulated society of col- 
 ored people here, together with churches and schools 
 managed by them, that were a credit alike to them and 
 the State in which they resided, but the increased cost 
 of living in a manner suitable to our requirements, to- 
 gether with the almost total absence of remunerative 
 emplo3 T ment, prevented us from selecting Magnolia as a 
 home. Besides this, we had breathed the pure atmos- 
 phere of the free North for so long a time that the 
 prejudices and customs peculiar to that locality could 
 illy be brooked by us ; we therefore concluded to return to 
 Hudsonville by the nearest route, pack our carpet-bags, 
 
205 
 
 and turn our steps Northward, where the invigorating 
 breezes of our mountains and lakes impart new life, and 
 inspire one with hopes and ambitions sueh as go far 
 towards establishing true manhood: and where the laws 
 and customs in vogue do not necessarily militate 
 against one on account of his race and color, but everj T 
 man is known and honored for what he is, judged by 
 the standard of morality and qualification. 
 
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