USA > Virginia > Virginia before and during the war > Part 2
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have the folks up before day and out after night. Ole Master told him he wanted him to make big crops. He wanted a heap of money to spend on his card-playing and horse-racing. Ole Miss was quiet and good and belonged to the 'Piscopals, and she did not like the carryings on, but she did not say nothing. Well, after Miss Nora done marry Col. Preston over the mountains, she mighty grand lady now, and Mars William was most grown, the Baptist preacher, Mr. Jerry Jeter, and Jesse Witt, come and hold a big meetin'. They was powerful preachers, and ole Mr. Harris, he preached to the black folks, and Mars Jimmy Leftwich sung for them. He was son of old Parson Leftwich, that used to keep tavern on the Lynchburg road, and folks said, loved the apple brandy too good that he stilled himself to sell to travelers, but Mars Jimmy was a powerful temperance man and a mighty fine singer. Ole master concluded he would go and hear them preach, and he told overseer to go 'long with the black folks, at night, and not to let them git into any devilment. Ole Master, lie got mighty serious, and he fotch Mr. Jeter home with him, and they set and talked most all night; and he jined the church, and Ole Miss cried mightily and she jined the church, and Mars William too; and they had a great baptizing, poor and rich, black and white. And Ole Master was that changed, he stopped making the folks work at night and git up before day, and he built them . good cabins, and had them all white-washed, and he told the over- seer to make folks mind and do good work, but not whip them. if he could help it. When Miss Nora heard of it, she said she was glad her Pa had quit drinkin' and gamblin', but she thought he might have done better than join the Baptists. and the idea of her mother, that was an Eppes, one of the first families in the low country, jinin' them, was simply ridiculous; and as for Wil- liam, from a boy, he never had any family pride, and she warn't astonished at him. When Mars William brought home Miss Ju. lia, that was a Watkins from Petersburg, the ole folks was mighty pleased. Ole Master has been dead about ten years, and Ole Miss died year before last, and they was both happy and resigned."
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When Christmas morning came, Miss Heath was awakened by the noise of shouting and laughing. Several of the colored girls came unceremoniously into her room claiming a Christmas gift, and the little girls followed, wishing her a happy Christmas. The negroes were turned loose for a week of feasting and enjoy- ment. The Judge, though a strict church member, would not forbid such as were so disposed, to have a dance, though some of the older and more zealous of the negroes frequently groaned and shook their heads, and told the young people they had letter be praying.
Willie, accompanied by his sisters and the teacher, went into the dancing room to witness the exhibition. There were at least twenty couple on the floor, some being from neighboring planta- tions. They entered into the sport with an abandon not seen among other people. Some, especially the girls, were very grace- ful in their movements. The fiddler seemed to be at the height of felicity as he swayed his body backwards and forwards, vigor- ously patting his foot, and prompting in a pompous manner.
The Christmas holidays passed very quietly, the family mak- ing no visits, but they invited a few friends, one day to dinner, among them Dr. Stoval and Mr. Nelson, with their wives. Wil- lie spent his time with several boys of the neighborhood, hunt- ing hares and quail called partridges in the Southern States.]
CHAPTER V.
On the ist of January, Miss Heath commenced her school. She found that he pupils had been taught carelessly, and she commenced at once to remedy the evil by insisting on their ac- quiring a thorough acquaintance with all their studies, and giv- ing their protracted and undivided attention during school hours. They were all bright pupils, but she soon found that Lizzie Camp- bell exceeded the others in aptitude, especially in music, for which she had a remarkable talent. James Campbell, at the same time, took charge of the plantation, occupying with Willie
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a cottage in the yard, and taking his meals with the family. He was continually on horseback, when not at his meals. He was systematic and thorough in his management, the hands arising and going to their tasks at the tap of the bell. He divided his forty hands into three bands, each under the direction of a fore- man, one of these called a head foreman having general super- vision over all, and receiving orders direct from the overseer. These foremen were not allowed to punish grown persons, but reported misdemeanors to the overseer, when committed, and could punish children without reporting. The overseer had the use of a horse which he rode or kept neat him at all times. The negroes were generally obedient and cheerful at their work. There was, however, one exception, Sam, a son of the cook; a gigantic young fellow, soon showed a disposition to try the new overseer. This was frequently done by slaves. If the overseer was a man of firmness and succeeded in conquering his man, he generally had but little trouble thereafter ; but if he showed timid- ity and vacillation, he was ever after inefficient. and had fre- quently to give up his place. One Saturday morning while the negroes were busy finishing the burning of a plant bed, Sam. though the strongest man among them, moved very slowly, with his coat on and buttoned up. After standing this conduct some time, James Campbell said : "Sam, you are not trying to do any- thing ; if you do not move up you will have to be punished." On this, Sam stepped forward and replied, "Who will punish me ; if you think to run over me, you will find yourself disappointed." Then drawing a long keen knife from a back pocket, made a step towards the overseer. Quick as thought, Campbell drew a re- volver, and pointing it, told Sam not to move a step, or he would kill him. This stopped him, but he held on to his drawn knife. and swore he would not be taken. The overseer did not wish to
him, and saw that it would be very dangerous to approach him, and that he would defend himself desperately if he ordered the other negroes to take him. Just then, Willie, who was bird- hunting, rode up. and hearing what was going on, wanted to fill
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Sam with bird shot. But Campbell requested him to go and bring his father, who was then at home.
On the arrival of the Judge, Sam still refused to surrender. 'The other negroes were then called on to take him. He kept them all at bay for some time, when the Judge rode up and gave him a blow on the head with his cane, and at the same time, old Jim, the foreman, seized him from behind, and the rest precipi- tated themselves upon him and disarmed him. He was now sent under guard to be locked up, the Judge declaring he should be sent to the coal mines. However, by the entreaties of his mother, he was so far moved as to agree that if the overseer would con- sent, he would let him remain, after receiving a good strapping, This was accordingly administered, and Campbell had no further trouble with him.
At the Baptist Church, where the family of Judge Buford held their membership, there was preaching twice a month. The preacher, Mr. Creath, was unlearned, but a man of great zeal and piety. The white people occupied the lower floor, and there was a gallery above, set apart for the negroes. These were disposed to be very demonstrative in their worship, and considerable lati- tude was allowed them. After services, Miss Heath was aston- ished to see the whole crowd shaking hands, uttering pious ejac- ulations and exhorting one another. This would have been car- ried to great excess, if they had not known there was a point beyond which they would not be allowed to go.
It is a remarkable fact, in the history of the Southern States where slavery existed for more than two hundred years, there was never but one servile insurrection. This was led by one Nat Turner, a fanatical preacher and a man of some education. After this insurrection, and after the great anti-slavery demonstration at the North had commenced, Virginia passed a law prohibiting slaves to be taught to read. This was frequently evaded, and on most large plantations, there were a few who could read. Assen- blies of slaves, for worship, was unlawful without the presence of white persons. Judge Buford, however, allowed his negroes, on
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his own place, to meet for the purpose of having the Bible read and expounded by one of their number, on condition of dispers- ing at a reasonable hour.
CHAPTER VI.
In the month of February, Miss Heath determined to pay her promised visit to Dr. Stoval. The morning selected was cold and clear. Willie drove her in a strong one-horse spring wagon. During this trip they had an opportunity to become better ac- quainted. Since her arrival, both had been so busy as not to see much of each other. On his inquiring how she was pleased with the country, she replied, she could not yet tell, but that she par- ticularly noticed the isolation of the people; and she might al- most say the lonesomeness of the country. He told her this was true of the winter season, but that when spring came, this would be much relieved, as she might ride on horseback, or go fishing, whenever she chose, that there were some pleasant gentlemen and ladies in the neighborhood who would join in these amusements. He also spoke of picnics and open-air dances, saying he cared very little for them, but they were better than nothing. He car- ried with him a double-barreled shot-gun, and a fine pointer ran behind, as he expected to take a hunt with John Stoval. On their way they passed Tom Jones, who was hauling wood on a rather dilapidated wagon, Tom having to work on Saturdays in order to be spared for school on the other days of the week. The road ran through a good deal of forest and some fields grown up in old field pines. They saw some good looking farm houses and some shabby looking cabins occupied by poor white people.
The Doctor's house was quite different from those of his neighbors, which were built in the plain old-fashioned style. It was a frame, painted a lead color, and built according to modern fashion The rooms were more numerous and smaller than was customary in the country, and it had all the modern improve- ments conducive to comfort. The kitchen was under the same
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roof as his other rooms, as was also the well. He did not like to hold and be bothered with slaves, and owned only two girls to do his housework, being almost compelled to do so from his sur- roundings. He hired a free negro, living near, to cultivate his garden and a crop of corn and hay for his stock, consisting of a few horses; cows and hogs, and to drive his carriage. His family consisted of his wife, a daughter, now off at school, his son John, a boy of fifteen, and three younger children. His wife was a plain, illiterate woman, from a poor family, as was the Doctor himself. She was very amiable, and retained undiminished the affection he had for her since their early youth.
On their arrival, Miss Heath and Willie were welcomed with great cordiality, and were ushered into an elegant parlor warmed. by the first coal fire Miss Heath had seen since her arrival in the country. Punctually at twelve dinner was served, and immedi- ately after dinner the boys left for their hunt.
During the afternoon, the Doctor gave a history of his life to Miss Heath. He commenced by observing, "I was born and reared in a log cabin about twenty miled from here, but my life has not been a hard one; on the contrary, I have been very suc- cessful. I have been a lover of my profession and a student from boyhood. I have never neglected it, and I have been repaid for all my attention, by pecuniary success and by the pleasure of ben- efitting my fellow creatures. My father, who is yet living with my sister in an adjoining county, was an irregular practioner, called by the people, a root and herb doctor. I was never com- pelled to labor hard, as my father's practice enabled him to sup- port his family in the plain style in which we lived. We owned no slaves, and our household work was done by my mother and sisters. The children went to school, whenever one was near enough for us to walk to it, which was not always the case. I have read a great deal by the light of pine kucts, as we did not feel able to indulge in candles, and there was no coal-oil then used. I cannot see any hardship in that, as these pine knots make an excellent light. My ambition, when a boy, was to be-
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come a great physician. By the time I was eighteen, I knew the contents of my father's few books, and was pretty well acquainted with his method of practice. At that age I commenced teaching school, some distance from home, near a physician, who lent me his books and directed my studies. In three years, I had made nearly enough money to attend a course of medical lectures. Mr. Hairston, a wealthy gentleman, who took an interest in me, came and said, "John, my son Peter is going to the University of Vir- ginia this autumn, suppose you go with him and take a course of medical lectures?" On my telling him I did not have enough money, he replied. "Go, and I will lend you what you need." ]1 the course of nine months, I graduated, this institution requir- ing no term of study, but only ability to stand a very strict ex- amination. On my return home, I at once obtained a good prac- tice, Mr. Hairston giving me his which was very profitable, as he owned a great many negroes. In the summer following, there was a great deal of malarial fever, and I was very successful in treating it, chiefly owing to the boldness with which I gave qui- nine, then a new practice. In a few years, I was able to spend nearly a year in New York, attending lectures and the great hos- pitals. On my return, feeling my position to be assured, I asked Mary, to whom I had long been attached, to become my wife. Since then, I think I have enjoyed as much happiness as usually falls to the lot of man."
Miss Heath informed the Doctor that her father, a Congre- gational minister, had been dead some years, leaving but little property, having spent most of his means in educating his chil- dren. Her mother was still living with a married sister, and a brother, younger than herself, had gone to Illinois to practice law In their conversation about Virginia, she said she was much impressed by the plainness of the people, which she had not expected to see. She had not observed those pretentions to aristocracy with which the slaveholders were credited in the North. Also she observed that the marriage relation was held to be more sacred than in her State, and divorces seemed to be more
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uncommon. The Doctor informed her that there was but little assumption of superiority on account of wealth or birth, in this part of the State, but that it was different in some sections, es- pecially east and north of Richmond, where many prided them- selves on descent from the old colonial families, and the wealthy
generally were quite pretentious. "Many Virginians," he re- marked, "especially when removed to other States, made them- selves ridiculous by boasting of the superiority of their State and , of their own families in particular." Taken altogether, he pre- ferred this, the Southern Piedmont region, to any section of the State. Here there was but little poverty, and but few with very large fortunes, and the people were generally religious, and there was a good deal of intelligence, but still they were greatly in need of better educational facilities. The conversation turning upon slavery he remarked that he never took an active part in politics, but read a great deal and was a close observer of events, and on that account was probably better able to predict the future than those whose passions were excited by political contests. He was of opinion that we were nearing a great catastrophe. He thought the Republicans would come into power in a few years, though not in the next Presidential contest. Then the Southern States, including Virginia, would secede. Maryland, Kentucky and Mis- souri would remain in the Union. He believed a war would re- sult which would only end with the freeing of the slaves and the subjugation of the South. There was no braver people than the people of the Southern States, nor could they be excelled in the qualities that make efficient soldiers, but the odds against them was too gre :; t. Their opponents were more than three times as numerous and held the navy, which would cut them off from foreign supplies, and the prestige of being the old and estab- lished Government would give the North an incalculable advan tage in borrowing money. Added to this, the South could not hope for foreign aid, as the sentiment of the civilized world was opposed to slavery. He could recall scarely an instance of a por- tion of a country achieving independence without foreign aid.
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The United States could never have become independent without the aid of France and Spain, and the Netherlands could not have become independent without the aid of France and England. He and Judge Buford had frequently talked of these things, and ยท agreed in sentiment. The Judge was a very conservative man and opposed to entertaining the idea of secession under any con- ceivable circumstances, and Major Jubal Early, formerly of the United States Army, who sometimes visited him, was much of `the same opinion. But such men were largely in the minority. He would venture to predict that in case of war, Willie would distinguish himself on the part of the South, and his own boy would espouse the same cause. For his own part, though averse to managing slaves, he was not an abolitionist, nor even an eman- cipationist. As a physician he had studied the mental character- istics of negroes, and could see nothing but evil to the whites in having them free amongst them, and no good to the negroes. Judge Buford, who was a very prudent man, some months prev- ious, had visited his old friend, Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the reaping machine, and a native of Rockbridge County, Va., and made considerable investments in Chicago. The Doctor had not a dollar outside the State, and had determined to share the lot of his people, for good or for evil. In closing the conversa- tion, he remarked, "But we must not cross the bridge before we get to it, these things may never happen, and a man can only do his duty as events transpire."
Miss Heath was much pleased with her visit. She gradually formed the acquaintance of other agreeable people, and the sense of lonesomeness which she had at first experienced was greatly diminished. Her friendship for Willie increased, and a lasting attachment sprung up between them. She began to entertain a high respect for James Campbell, although their respective duties were such that they were not thrown very much together, and he, charmed by her intelligence and affability, began to have a high regard for her and to seek her company whenever an oppor- tunity offered. She was the most intelligent lady he had ever
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met. Although she was dignified, she was unaffected, open and cheerful. When some thoughts of falling in love with her aro. e in his mind, he banished them, from the fear that from his want of education and culture he might be unacceptable to her, not having learned that the most highly educated women frequently give their affections to men much inferior to themselves in this respect. Miss Heath, from her own observation and her conver- sation with Dr. Stovall, began to feel that change in opinion with regard to negro slavery that is so common with Northern people when they come to reside in the South, it being a noticeable fact that those who are best acquainted with negroes, and reside where they are most numerous, as a rule, are the strongest advo cates, or apologists for the institution of slavery.
CHAPTER VII.
During the winter and spring, Willie applied himself dili- gently to his studies and made rapid progress. Late in May he was invited by Alfred Williams, a schoolmate, about eighteen years old, who resided about five miles from his father's, to go home with him on Friday evening, and join some friends in fish- ing on Saturday.
. Late in the afternoon they approached the residence of Mr. Alfred Williams, Sr. The house was a plain two-story frame, without paint or whitewash. In the yard, grown up in weeds, were a number of Lombardy poplars, with branches pointing up- wards, affording no shade. This tree once so popular in the Southeast can now scarcely be seen anywhere." The fence around the yard was of unwhitewashed plank and rather dilapidated in appearance. Some distance from the main building was a log room with a wide brick chimney, which was the kitchen, in which the cooking was done in a wide, open fire-place. A little farther off were three log cabins, with stick and mud chimneys. in which the negroes lodged.
The boys rode into the horse lot, an inclosure of about two
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acres, traversed by gullies and grown up in rank weeds. The stables and corn-crib were erected with some care, and were the best looking buildings about the place. Just then four boys came riding up on bare-back horses having their plow gear on, return- ing from their day's plowing. They were two white and two colored, the white boys being Alfred's brothers, lads of sixteen and fourteen years old. The boys of slaveholders of moderate means were trained to work, and even the sons of the affluent labored sufficiently to learn how work ought to be done. The young men of Virginia were not the worthless, idle fellows many in other States supposed them to be. They were manly and in- dependent, and after the war went to work with a good will, and contributed, by manual labor, to the prosperity of their own and many other States.
In the distance might be seen the rest of Mr. Williams' force consisting of three men and two women, walking up, with hoes on their shoulders. Before going into the house, they met Mr. Williams, who came out to attend to the feeding of his stock. He gave Willie a very cordial greeting, and said he hoped they would have a clear day and fine sport to-morrow.
He was a tall, thin man, with stooping shoulders, about fifty years old. His dress consisted of a cotton shirt worn since the last Sunday, cotton pantaloons dyed at home, held up by a pair of home-knit yarn suspenders, a pair of rusty old shoes, a shock- ingly bad hat, and nothing more, -but his countenance was pleas- ant and intelligent, and his manners gentlemanly.
Willie was ushered into the best room, where he was intro- duced to Mrs. Williams, a large fine looking lady, dressed in a plain calico gown, and to Miss Euphemia, who, expecting his coming, had taken some pains to make a neat appearance. Miss Euphemia had some- pretentions to beauty, and being very fond of the society of gentlemen, who were quite scarce in her neigh- borhood, thought it worth while to try and make a favorable im- pression upon a wealthy, well-grown young gentleman of sixteen. They were soon invited to supper, which was a very good one,
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as Mrs. Williams and Esther, her colored cook, were famous cooks and Miss Euphemia was celebrated for her skill in making cakes and preserves.
After supper they all took seats on the porch, where Mrs. Williams could enjoy her pipe and Mr. Williams his quid. They and the younger children soon retired, it being then the custom with farmers to go to bed very early and rise with the first ap- pearance of dawn. The parlor was thus left to Alfred, Willie and Miss Williams. She played some lively tunes on the piano, which was sadly out of tune, they living so remote from cities that a tuner seldom came around, but when one made his appear- ance he was welcomed with as much pleasure as the repairer of clocks. Miss Williams, after playing, inquired about Mr. Camp. bell, who formerly frequently visited them, but had not done so for several months. She wondered if he was not so taken with the Yankee school-marm as to neglect the society of other ladies. Willie replied that he did not know as to that, but that Mr. Campbell's business was so engrossing that he had but little leis- ure for society, and that Miss Heath was so busy with her pupils that there was little opportunity for her to receive the attentions of gentlemen. He said she was a great favorite of his and he might become a formidable rival to any gentleman who might fall in love with her. At this, Miss Williams laughed and said she did not believe he could be caught by a lady as old as the teacher, but she would not vouch that he did not fall in love with little Lizzie Campbell, the prettiest and sweetest girl she knew. At this, Willie blushed and abruptly turned the conversation. Miss Williams had sufficient tact not to prolong the subject, so after a short time spent in conversation in which she showed her- self to be quite intelligent and well educated, they all retired, an- ticipating a pleasant time on the morrow.
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