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Ebook has 2054 lines and 138202 words, and 42 pages

Illustrator: William A. McCullough Jules Turcas

A GIRL'S LIFE

IN VIRGINIA

BEFORE THE WAR

A GIRL'S LIFE

IN VIRGINIA

BEFORE THE WAR

Letitia M. Burwell

William A. McCullough AND Jules Turcas

New York

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

DEDICATION.

PAGE

"CARPENTERS ALWAYS AT WORK FOR THE COMFORT OF THE PLANTATION" 2

"ACCOMPANIED BY ONE OF THESE SMILING 'INDISPENSABLES'" 4

"I USE TO WATCH FOR DE CARRIAGE" 10

"I DON'T WANT TO BE FREE NO MO'" 12

"SHE ALWAYS RETURNED IN A CART" 18

"READING AND REPEATING VERSES TO HIM" 26

"MY GRANDMOTHER WOULD SHOW US THE STEP OF THE MINUET" 32

"THERE WERE OLD GENTLEMEN VISITORS" 34

"NOW, MARSTER, YOU DONE FORGOT ALL 'BOUT DAT" 36

"THREE WOMEN WOULD CLEAN UP ONE CHAMBER" 42

"LUNCH BY SOME COOL, SHADY SPRING" 66

"HIS MISSION ON EARTH SEEMED TO BE KEEPING THE BRIGHTEST SILVER URNS" 78

"HOW DEY DOES GROW!" 86

"WHERE IS MY MUTTON?" 98

"AUNT FANNY 'SPERSED DAT CROWD'" 160

A GIRL'S LIFE IN VIRGINIA BEFORE THE WAR

That my birthplace should have been a Virginia plantation, my lot in life cast on a Virginia plantation, my ancestors, for nine generations, owners of Virginia plantations, remain facts mysterious and inexplicable but to Him who determined the bounds of our habitations, and said: "Be still, and know that I am God."

Confined exclusively to a Virginia plantation during my earliest childhood, I believed the world one vast plantation bounded by negro quarters. Rows of white cabins with gardens attached; negro men in the fields; negro women sewing, knitting, spinning, weaving, housekeeping in the cabins; with negro children dancing, romping, singing, jumping, playing around the doors,--these formed the only pictures familiar to my childhood.

The master's residence--as the negroes called it, "the great house"--occupied a central position and was handsome and attractive, the overseer's being a plainer house about a mile from this.

Each cabin had as much pine furniture as the occupants desired, pine and oak being abundant, and carpenters always at work for the comfort of the plantation.

Bread, meat, milk, vegetables, fruit, and fuel were as plentiful as water in the springs near the cabin doors.

Among the negroes--one hundred--on our plantation, many had been taught different trades; and there were blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, millers, shoemakers, weavers, spinners, all working for themselves. No article of their handicraft ever being sold from the place, their industry resulted in nothing beyond feeding and clothing themselves.

My sister and myself, when very small children, were often carried to visit these cabins, on which occasions no young princesses could have received from admiring subjects more adulation. Presents were laid at our feet--not glittering gems, but eggs, chestnuts, popcorn, walnuts, melons, apples, sweet potatoes,--all their "cupboards" afforded,--with a generosity unbounded. This made us as happy as queens, and filled our hearts with kindness and gratitude to our dusky admirers.

Around the cabin doors the young negroes would quarrel as to who should be his or her mistress, some claiming me, and others my sister.

All were merry-hearted, and among them I never saw a discontented face. Their amusements were dancing to the music of the banjo, quilting-parties, opossum-hunting, and sometimes weddings and parties.

Many could read, and in almost every cabin was a Bible. In one was a prayer-book, kept by one of the men, a preacher, from which he read the marriage ceremony at the weddings. This man opened a night school--charging twenty-five cents a week--hoping to create some literary thirst in the rising generation, whose members, however, preferred their nightly frolics to the school, so it had few patrons.

Our house servants were numerous, polite, and well trained. My mother selected those most obliging in disposition and quickest at learning, who were brought to the house at ten or twelve years of age, and instructed in the branches of household employment.

These small servants were always dressed in the cleanest, whitest, long-sleeved aprons, with white or red turbans on their heads. No establishment being considered complete without a multiplicity of these, they might be seen constantly darting about on errands from the house to the kitchen and the cabins, upstairs and downstairs, being, indeed, omnipresent and indispensable.

It was the custom for a lady visitor to be accompanied to her room at night by one of these black, smiling "indispensables," who insisted so good-naturedly on performing all offices--combing her hair, pulling off her slippers, etc.--that one had not the heart to refuse, although it would have been sometimes more agreeable to be left alone.

The negroes were generally pleased at the appearance of visitors, from whom they were accustomed to receive some present on arriving or departing; the neglect of this rite being regarded as a breach of politeness.

The old negroes were quite patriarchal, loved to talk about "old times," and exacted great respect from the young negroes, and also from the younger members of the white family. We called the old men "Uncle," and the old women "Aunt,"--these being terms of respect.

The atmosphere of our own home was one of consideration and kindness. The mere recital of a tale of suffering would make my sister and myself weep with sorrow. And I believe the maltreatment of one of our servants--we had never heard the word "slave"--would have distressed us beyond endurance. We early learned that happiness consisted in dispensing it, and found no pleasure greater than saving our old dolls, toys, beads, bits of cake or candy, for the cabin children, whose delight at receiving them richly repaid us. If any of the older servants became displeased with us, we were miserable until we had restored the old smile by presenting some choice bit of sweetmeat to the offended one.

I remember that once, when my grandmother scolded nurse Kitty, saying: "Kitty, the butler tells me you disturb the breakfast cream every morning by dipping out milk to wash your face," I burst into tears, and thought it hard that, when there were so many cows, poor Kitty could not wash her face in milk. Kitty had been told that her dark skin would be improved by a milk bath, which she had not hesitated to dip every morning from the breakfast buckets.

At such establishments one easily acquired a habit of being waited upon, there being so many servants with so little to do. It was natural to ask for a drink of water when the water was right at hand, and to have things brought which you might easily have gotten yourself. But these domestics were so pleased at such errands, one felt no hesitation in requiring them. A young lady would ask black Nancy or Dolly to fan her, whereupon Nancy or Dolly would laugh good-naturedly, produce a large palm-leaf, and fall to fanning her young mistress vigorously, after which she would be rewarded with a bow of ribbon, some candy, or sweet cakes.

The negroes made pocket-money by selling their own vegetables, poultry, eggs, etc.,--produced at the master's expense, of course. I often saw my mother take out her purse and pay them liberally for fowls, eggs, melons, sweet potatoes, brooms, shuck mats, and split baskets. The men made small crops of tobacco or potatoes for themselves on any piece of ground they chose to select.

My mother and grandmother were almost always talking over the wants of the negroes,--what medicine should be sent, whom they should visit, who needed new shoes, clothes, or blankets,--the principal object of their lives seeming to be in providing these comforts. The carriage was often ordered for them to ride around to the cabins to distribute light-bread, tea, and other necessaries among the sick. And besides employing the best doctor, my grandmother always saw that they received the best nursing and attention.

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