"You are not to be eye-servants. Now, eye-servants are such as will work hard, and seem mighty diligent, while they think anybody is taking notice of them; but, when their masters" and mistresses" backs are turned they are idle, and neglect their business. I am afraid there are a great many such eye-servants among you, and that you do not consider how great a sin it is to be so, and how severely G.o.d will punish you for it. You may easily deceive your owners, and make them have an opinion of you that you do not deserve, and get the praise of men by it; but remember that you cannot deceive Almighty G.o.d, who sees your wickedness and deceit, and will punish you accordingly. For the rule is, that you must obey your masters in all things, and do the work they set you about with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of G.o.d from the heart; with good-will doing service as to the Lord, and not as to men.
"Take care that you do not fret or murmur, grumble or repine at your condition; for this will not only make your life uneasy, but will greatly offend Almighty G.o.d. Consider that it is not yourselves, it is not the people that you belong to, it is not the men who have brought you to it, but it is the will of G.o.d who hath by his providence made you servants, because, no doubt, he knew that condition would be best for you in this world, and help you the better towards heaven, if you would but do your duty in it. So that any discontent at your not being free, or rich, or great, as you see some others, is quarrelling with your heavenly Master, and finding fault with G.o.d himself, who hath made you what you are, and hath promised you as large a share in the kingdom of heaven as the greatest man alive, if you will but behave yourself aright, and do the business he hath set you about in this world honestly and cheerfully. Riches and power have proved the ruin of many an unhappy soul, by drawing away the heart and affections from G.o.d, and fixing them on mean and sinful enjoyments; so that, when G.o.d, who knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves, sees that they would be hurtful to us, and therefore keeps them from us, it is the greatest mercy and kindness he could show us.
"You may perhaps fancy that, if you had riches and freedom, you could do your duty to G.o.d and man with greater pleasure than you can now. But pray consider that, if you can but save your souls through the mercy of G.o.d, you will have spent your time to the best of purposes in this world; and he that at last can get to heaven has performed a n.o.ble journey, let the road be ever so rugged and difficult. Besides, you really have a great advantage over most white people, who have not only the care of their daily labour upon their hands, but the care of looking forward and providing necessaries for to-morrow and next day, and of clothing and bringing up their children, and of getting food and raiment for as many of you as belong to their families, which often puts them to great difficulties, and distracts their minds so as to break their rest, and take off their thoughts from the affairs of another world. Whereas you are quite eased from all these cares, and have nothing but your daily labour to look after, and, when that is done, take your needful rest. Neither is it necessary for you to think of laying up anything against old age, as white people are obliged to do; for the laws of the country have provided that you shall not be turned off when you are past labour, but shall be maintained, while you live, by those you belong to, whether you are able to work or not.
"There is only one circ.u.mstance which may appear grievous, that I shall now take notice of, and that is correction.
"Now, when correction is given you, you either deserve it, or you do not deserve it. But whether you really deserve it or not, it is your duty, and Almighty G.o.d requires that you bear it patiently. You may perhaps think that this is hard doctrine; but, if you consider it right, you must needs think otherwise of it.
Suppose, then, that you deserve correction, you cannot but say that it is just and right you should meet with it. Suppose you do not, or at least you do not deserve so much, or so severe a correction, for the fault you have committed, you perhaps have escaped a great many more, and are at last paid for all. Or suppose you are quite innocent of what is laid to your charge, and suffer wrongfully in that particular thing, is it not possible you may have done some other bad thing which was never discovered, and that Almighty G.o.d who saw you doing it would not let you escape without punishment one time or another? And ought you not, in such a case, to give glory to him, and be thankful that he would rather punish you in this life for your wickedness than destroy your souls for it in the next life? But suppose even this was not the case (a case hardly to be imagined), and that you have by no means, known or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered, there is this great comfort in it, that, if you bear it patiently, and leave your cause in the hands of G.o.d, he will reward you for it in heaven, and the punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to your exceeding great glory hereafter.
"Lastly, you should serve your masters faithfully, because of their goodness to you. See to what trouble they have been on your account. Your fathers were poor ignorant and barbarous creatures in Africa, and the whites fitted out ships at great trouble and expense and brought you from that benighted land to Christian America, where you can sit under your own vine and fig tree and no one molest or make you afraid. Oh, my dear black brothers and sisters, you are indeed a fortunate and a blessed people. Your masters have many troubles that you know nothing about. If the banks break, your masters are sure to lose something. If the crops turn out poor, they lose by it. If one of you die, your master loses what he paid for you, while you lose nothing. Now let me exhort you once more to be faithful."
Often during the delivery of the sermon did Snyder cast an anxious look in the direction where Carlton was seated; no doubt to see if he had found favour with the stranger. Huckelby, the overseer, was also there, seated near Carlton. With all Snyder"s gesticulations, sonorous voice, and occasionally bringing his fist down upon the table with the force of a sledge hammer, he could not succeed in keeping the Negroes all interested: four or five were fast asleep, leaning against the trees; as many more were nodding, while not a few were stealthily cracking, and eating hazelnuts. "Uncle Simon, you may strike up a hymn," said the preacher as he closed his Bible. A moment more, and the whole company (Carlton excepted) had joined in the well known hymn, commencing with
"When I can read my t.i.tle clear To mansions in the sky."
After the singing, Sandy closed with prayer, and the following questions and answers read, and the meeting was brought to a close.
"Q. What command has G.o.d given to servants concerning obedience to their masters?--A. "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing G.o.d."
"Q. What does G.o.d mean by masters according to the flesh?--A.
"Masters in this world."
"Q. What are servants to count their masters worthy of?-- A. "All honour."
"Q. How are they to do the service of their masters?--A. "With good will, doing service as unto the Lord, and not unto men."
"Q. How are they to try to please their masters?--A. "Please him well in all things, not answering again."
"Q. Is a servant who is an eye-servant to his earthly master an eye-servant to his heavenly master?--A. "Yes."
"Q. Is it right in a servant, when commanded to do any thing, to be sullen and slow, and answer his master again?--A. "No."
"Q. If the servant professes to be a Christian, ought he not to be as a Christian servant, an example to all other servants of love and obedience to his master?--A. "Yes."
"Q. And, should his master be a Christian also, ought he not on that account specially to love and obey him?--A. "Yes."
"Q. But suppose the master is hard to please, and threatens and punishes more than he ought, what is the servant to do?--A. "Do his best to please him."
"Q. When the servant suffers wrongfully at the hands of his master, and, to please G.o.d, takes it patiently, will G.o.d reward him for it?--A. "Yes."
"Q. Is it right for the servant to run away, or is it right to harbour a runaway?--A. "No."
"Q. If a servant runs away, what should be done with him?--A. "He should be caught and brought back."
"Q. When he is brought back, what should be done with him?-- A. "Whip him well."
"Q. Why may not the whites be slaves as well as the blacks?-- A. "Because the Lord intended the Negroes for slaves."
"Q. Are they better calculated for servants than the whites?-- A. "Yes, their hands are large, the skin thick and tough, and they can stand the sun better than the whites."
"Q. Why should servants not complain when they are whipped?-- A. "Because the Lord has commanded that they should be whipped."
"Q. Where has He commanded it?--A. "He says, He that knoweth his master"s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes."
"Q. Then is the master to blame for whipping his servant?--A. "Oh, no! he is only doing his duty as a Christian.""
Snyder left the ground in company with Carlton and Huckelby, and the three dined together in the overseer"s dwelling. "Well," said Joe, after the three white men were out of hearing, "Ma.r.s.er Snyder bin try hesef to-day." "Yes," replied Ned; "he want to show de strange gentman how good he can preach." "Dat"s a new sermon he gib us to-day," said Sandy. "Dees white fokes is de very dibble," said d.i.c.k; "and all dey whole study is to try to fool de black people." "Didn"t you like de sermon?" asked Uncle Simon.
"No," answered four or five voices. "He rared and pitched enough,"
continued Uncle Simon.
Now Uncle Simon was himself a preacher, or at least he thought so, and was rather pleased than otherwise, when he heard others spoken of in a disparaging manner. "Uncle Simon can beat dat sermon all to pieces," said Ned, as he was filling his mouth with hazelnuts. "I got no notion of dees white fokes, no how," returned Aunt Dafney. "Dey all de time tellin" dat de Lord made us for to work for dem, and I don"t believe a word of it."
"Ma.r.s.er Peck give dat sermon to Snyder, I know," said Uncle Simon. "He jest de one for dat," replied Sandy. "I think de people dat made de Bible was great fools," said Ned. "Why?" Uncle Simon.
""Cause dey made such a great big book and put nuttin" in it, but servants obey yer masters." "Oh," replied Uncle Simon, "thars more in de Bible den dat, only Snyder never reads any other part to us; I use to hear it read in Maryland, and thar was more den what Snyder lets us hear." In the overseer"s house there was another scene going on, and far different from what we have here described.
CHAPTER VII
THE POOR WHITES, SOUTH
"No seeming of logic can ever convince the American people, that thousands of our slave-holding brethren are not excellent, humane, and even Christian men, fearing G.o.d, and keeping His commandments."--Rev. Dr. Joel Parker.
"You like these parts better than New York," said Carlton to Snyder, as they were sitting down to dinner in the overseer"s dwelling. "I can"t say that I do," was the reply; "I came here ten years ago as missionary, and Mr. Peck wanted me to stay, and I have remained. I travel among the poor whites during the week and preach for the n.i.g.g.e.rs on Sunday." "Are there many poor whites in this district?" "Not here, but about thirty miles from here, in the Sand Hill district; they are as ignorant as horses. Why it was no longer than last week I was up there, and really you would not believe it, that people were so poor off. In New England, and, I may say, in all the free states, they have free schools, and everybody gets educated. Not so here. In Connecticut there is only one out of every five hundred above twenty-one years that can neither read nor write. Here there is one out of every eight that can neither read nor write. There is not a single newspaper taken in five of the counties in this state. Last week I was at Sand Hill for the first time, and I called at a farmhouse. The man was out. It was a low log-hut, and yet it was the best house in that locality. The woman and nine children were there, and the geese, ducks, chickens, pigs, and children were all running about the floor. The woman seemed scared at me when I entered the house. I inquired if I could get a little dinner, and my horse fed. She said, yes, if I would only be good enough to feed him myself, as her "gal," as she called her daughter, would be afraid of the horse. When I returned into the house again from the stable, she kept her eyes upon me all the time. At last she said, "I s"pose you ain"t never bin in these parts afore?" "No,"
said I. "Is you gwine to stay here long?" "Not very long," I replied. "On business, I s"pose." "Yes," said I, "I am hunting up the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "Oh," exclaimed she, "hunting for lost sheep is you? Well, you have a hard time to find "em here. My husband lost an old ram last week, and he ain"t found him yet, and he"s hunted every day." "I am not looking for four-legged sheep," said I, "I am hunting for sinners." "Ah"; she said, "then you are a preacher." "Yes," said I. "You are the first of that sort that"s bin in these diggins for many a day."
Turning to her eldest daughter, she said in an excited tone, "Clar out the pigs and ducks, and sweep up the floor; this is a preacher." And it was some time before any of the children would come near me; one remained under the bed (which, by the by, was in the same room), all the while I was there. "Well," continued the woman, "I was a tellin" my man only yesterday that I would like once more to go to meetin" before I died, and he said as he should like to do the same. But as you have come, it will save us the trouble of going out of the district."" "Then you found some of the lost sheep," said Carlton. "Yes," replied Snyder, "I did not find anything else up there. The state makes no provision for educating the poor: they are unable to do it themselves, and they grow up in a state of ignorance and degradation. The men hunt and the women have to go in the fields and labour." "What is the cause of it?" inquired Carlton. "Slavery," answered Snyder, slavery,--and nothing else. Look at the city of Boston; it pays more taxes for the support of the government than this entire state. The people of Boston do more business than the whole population of Mississippi put together. I was told some very amusing things while at Sand Hill. A farmer there told me a story about an old woman, who was very pious herself. She had a husband and three sons, who were sad characters, and she had often prayed for their conversion but to no effect. At last, one day while working in the corn-field, one of her sons was bitten by a rattlesnake. He had scarce reached home before he felt the poison, and in his agony called loudly on his Maker.
"The pious old woman, when she heard this, forgetful of her son"s misery, and everything else but the glorious hope of his repentance, fell on her knees, and prayed as follows--"Oh! Lord, I thank thee, that thou hast at last opened Jimmy"s eyes to the error of his ways; and I pray that, in thy Divine mercy, thou wilt send a rattlesnake to bite the old man, and another to bite Tom, and another to bite Harry, for I am certain that nothing but a rattlesnake, or something of the kind, will ever turn them from their sinful ways, they are so hard-headed." When returning home, and before I got out of the Sand Hill district, I saw a funeral, and thought I would fasten my horse to a post and attend. The coffin was carried in a common horse cart, and followed by fifteen or twenty persons very shabbily dressed, and attended by a man whom I took to be the religious man of the place. After the coffin had been placed near the grave, he spoke as follows,--
""Friends and neighbours! you have congregated to see this lump of mortality put into a hole in the ground. You all know the deceased--a worthless, drunken, good-for-nothing vagabond. He lived in disgrace and infamy, and died in wretchedness. You all despised him--you all know his brother Joe, who lives on the hill? He"s not a bit better though he has sc.r.a.p"d together a little property by cheating his neighbours. His end will be like that of this loathsome creature, whom you will please put into the hole as soon as possible. I won"t ask you to drop a tear, but brother Bohow will please raise a hymn while we fill up the grave.""
"I am rather surprised to hear that any portion of the whites in this state are in so low a condition." "Yet it is true," returned Snyder.
"These are very onpleasant facts to be related to ye, Mr.
Carlton," said Huckelby; "but I can bear witness to what Mr.
Snyder has told ye." Huckelby was from Maryland, where many of the poor whites are in as sad a condition as the Sand Hillers of Mississippi. He was a tall man, of iron const.i.tution, and could neither read nor write, but was considered one of the best overseers in the country. When about to break a slave in, to do a heavy task, he would make him work by his side all day; and if the new hand kept up with him, he was set down as an able bodied man. Huckelby had neither moral, religious, or political principles, and often boasted that conscience was a matter that never "cost" him a thought. "Mr. Snyder ain"t told ye half about the folks in these parts," continued he; "we who comes from more enlightened parts don"t know how to put up with "em down here.
I find the people here knows mighty little indeed; in fact, I may say they are univarsaly onedicated. I goes out among none on "em, "cause they ain"t such as I have been used to "sociate with. When I gits a little richer, so that I can stop work, I tend to go back to Maryland, and spend the rest of my days." "I wonder the Negroes don"t attempt to get their freedom by physical force." "It ain"t no use for "em to try that, for if they do, we puts "em through by daylight," replied Huckelby. "There are some desperate fellows among the slaves," said Snyder. "Indeed," remarked Carlton. "Oh, yes," replied the preacher. "A case has just taken place near here, where a neighbour of ours, Mr. J. Higgerson, attempted to correct a Negro man in his employ, who resisted, drew a knife, and stabbed him (Mr. H.) in several places. Mr. J. C.
Hobbs (a Tennessean) ran to his a.s.sistance. Mr. Hobbs stooped to pick up a stick to strike the Negro, and, while in that position, the Negro rushed upon him, and caused his immediate death. The Negro then fled to the woods, but was pursued with dogs, and soon overtaken. He had stopped in a swamp to fight the dogs, when the party who were pursuing him came upon him, and commanded him to give up, which he refused to do. He then made several efforts to stab them. Mr. Roberson, one of the party, gave him several blows on the head with a rifle gun; but this, instead of subduing, only increased his desperate revenge. Mr. R. then discharged his gun at the Negro, and missing him, the ball struck Mr. Boon in the face, and felled him to the ground. The Negro, seeing Mr. Boon prostrated, attempted to rush up and stab him, but was prevented by the timely interference of some one of the party. He was then shot three times with a revolving pistol, and once with a rifle, and after having his throat cut, he still kept the knife firmly grasped in his hand, and tried to cut their legs when they approached to put an end to his life. This chastis.e.m.e.nt was given because the Negro grumbled, and found fault with his master for flogging his wife." "Well, this is a bad state of affairs indeed, and especially the condition of the poor whites," said Carlton.
"You see," replied Snyder, "no white man is respectable in these slave states who works for a living. No community can be prosperous, where honest labour is not honoured. No society can be rightly const.i.tuted, where the intellect is not fed. Whatever inst.i.tution reflects discredit on industry, whatever inst.i.tution forbids the general culture of the understanding, is palpably hostile to individual rights, and to social well-being. Slavery is the incubus that hangs over the Southern States." "Yes," interrupted Huckelby; "them"s just my sentiments now, and no mistake. I think that, for the honour of our country, this slavery business should stop. I don"t own any, no how, and I would not be an overseer if I wern"t paid for it."
CHAPTER VIII
THE SEPARATION
"In many ways does the full heart reveal The presence of the love it would conceal; But in far more the estranged heart lets know The absence of the love, which yet it fain would show."
AT length the news of the approaching marriage of Horatio met the ear of Clotel. Her head grew dizzy, and her heart fainted within her; but, with a strong effort at composure, she inquired all the particulars, and her pure mind at once took its resolution.