ELIZA LUCAS:
A Girl Planter of the 15th Century
IN our day any young woman who shows keen interest in civic, agricultural, or social reforms is loudly applauded and spoken of as a New Woman, a product of the twentieth century, but there is a small volume of letters written by a girl of two centuries ago, which disproves this, and it is worthy of perusal and applause because of what she accomplished for what was then the province of South Carolina, while she was still in her teens.
Lieutenant-Colonel Lucas, an officer in the English army stationed at the West Indian island of Antigua, left the island in 1638 for South Carolina, taking with him his delicate wife, in search of a climate which would be of benefit to her, and with them went their two daughters, Polly and Eliza, who up to that time had been in London with a family friend, Mrs. Boddicott, being educated, only returning to the island for their vacations. Their brothers, Tom and George, were also in London at school, where they remained while Colonel and Mrs. Lucas with the two girls went to the new locality. So delighted with it was the Colonel that he at once bought land, laid out plantations and was hoping to settle down and begin experiments in planting crops in the strange soil and climate, when war broke out between England and Spain and the Colonel received orders to hasten back to his West Indian post, leaving his family alone in their new home. Mrs. Lucas was entirely too frail to burden with plantation cares, so in his hurried leave-taking the Colonel entrusted all his affairs to Eliza, in whose practical common sense and business ability he seems to have placed implicit reliance, and the trust was well merited.
Eliza was only sixteen years old then, but she seems to have a.s.sumed the unusual amount of responsibility so unexpectedly thrust upon her with calm a.s.surance that she could carry it, and we find her general manager of the home and the plantation when the series of letters begin which gives such a vivid glimpse of life at that time, and also some idea of the character of the girl on whose slender shoulders rested such a heavy burden.
First, let us look for a moment at the background to our picture. The Lucas plantation was on the Wappoo, a salt creek connecting the Ashley river with another creek and separated from the ocean only by two long sandy islands. Although that part of the country was very flat, it was extremely pretty, and being on a salt creek, sheltered from the north winds, the climate was very mild. Trees grew to a great size, land was very fertile, all growth hardy and luxuriant, and it was no wonder that even in his short stay Colonel Lucas had become deeply interested in discovering what crops could be most profitably raised there for export.
At that time rice was the one agricultural product, the others being lumber, skins and naval stores.
Eliza, inheriting her father"s love of farming, and having heard many conversations on the subject, determined secretly after her father had gone, to try some experiments herself and became much interested in trying to raise indigo and ginger, with what results her letters disclose. Little farmer that she was, her love of agriculture and of nature then and always amounted to almost a pa.s.sion, as it is easy to see. Separated as she was from all her old friends, letters were a vital medium of expressing to them what her new life held of work and play, and the fragments which we can reprint here give a clear idea, not only of the times in which she lived, but of Mistress Eliza herself.
To her brother George she writes, telling of the new country and life in this fashion:--
I am now set down my Dear Brother to obey your commands, and give you a short discription of the part of the world which I now inhabit. So.
Carolina then, is a large and Extensive Country near the Sea. Most of the settled parts of it is upon a flat--the soil near Charles Town Sandy, but farther distant clay and swamp land. It abounds with fine navigable rivers and great quant.i.ties of fine timber. The country at great distance, that is to say about a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles from Charles Town, very hilly. The soil in general very fertile, and there is very few European or American fruits or grain but what grow here. The country abounds with wild fowl, Venison and fish, Beaf, veal and mutton are here in much greater perfection than in the Islands, tho" not equal to that in England--but their pork exceeds the wild, and indeed all the poultry is exceeding good, and peaches, Nectrins and mellons of all sorts extremely good, fine and in profusion, and their Oranges exceed any I ever tasted in the West Indies or from Spain or Portugal.
The people in general--hospitable and honest, and the better sort and to these a polite gentile behaviour. The poorer sort are the most indolent people in the world or they could never be wretched in so plentiful a country as this. The winters here are very fine and pleasant, but four months in the year is extremely disagreeable, excessive hot, much thunder and lightening and muskatoes and sand flies in abundance.
C^s Town, the Metropolis is a neat, pretty place. The streets and houses regularly built, the ladies and gentlemen gay in their dress, upon the whole you will find as many agreeable people of both s.e.xes for the size of the place as almost anywhere. St. Phillips church in C^s Town is a very elegant one, and much frequented and the generality of people of a religious turn of mind.
I began in haste and have observed no method or I should have told you before I came to summer, that we have a charming spring in this country, especially for those who travel through the country, for the scent of the young mirtle and yellow Jessamin with Which the woods abound is delightful. . . .
Yours most affectionately, E. LUCAS.
With its quaint wording and abbreviations and an occasional slip in spelling, how fragrant the whole letter is of out door life, how intelligent its every phrase is, and how well the little farmer knows her subjects!
Again to Mrs. Boddicott she wrote:
_Dear Madam_:--
I flatter myself it will be a satisfaction to you to hear that I like this part of the world, as my lott has fallen here, which I really do. I prefer England to it "tis true, but I think Carolina greatly preferable to the West Indies, and was my Papa here I should be very happy. We have a very good acquaintance from whom we have received much friendship and Civility. . . .
My Papa and Mama"s great indulgence to mee leaves it to mee to chuse our place of residence either in town or country, but I think it more prudent as well as most agreeable to my Mama and selfe to be in the Country during my father"s absence. Wee are 17 mile by land, and 6 by water from Charles Town where wee have about 6 agreeable families around us with whom wee live in great harmony. I have a little library well furnished (for My Papa has left mee most of his books) in w^{ch} I spend part of my time. My Musick and the Garden w^{ch} I am very fond of take up the rest that is not imployed in business, of w^{ch} my father has left mee a pretty good share, and indeed "Twas unavoidable, as my Mama"s bad state of health prevents her going thro" any fatigue.
I have the business of 3 plantations to transact, w^{ch} requires much writing and more business and fatigue of other sorts than you can imagine, but lest you should imagine it too burthensome to a girl at my early time of life, give mee leave to a.s.sure you I think myself happy that I can be useful to so good a father. By rising very early I find I can go through with much business, but lest you should think I shall be quite moaped with this way of life, I am to inform you there is two worthy Ladies in C^{rs} Town, Mrs. Pinckney and Mrs. Cleland who are partial enough to mee to wish to have mee with them, and insist upon my making their houses my home when in Town, and press mee to relax a little much oftner than "tis in my power to accept of their obliging intreaties, but I am sometimes with one or the other for three weeks or a monthe at a time, and then enjoy all the pleasures C^{rs} Town affords. But nothing gives mee more than subscribing myself
D^r Madam Y^r most affectionet and most obliged hum^{ble} Ser^{vt} ELIZA LUCAS.
Pray remember me in the best manner to my worthy friend M^r Boddicott.
To my good friend Mrs. Boddicott.
May ye 2^{ond}.
What greater proof is needed that Eliza"s plantation life was no easy matter than "I have the business of three plantations to transact, w^{ch} requires much writing and more business and fatigue of other sorts than you can imagine." Then comes the other side of the picture.
"I am sometimes with one or the other (Mrs. Pinckney or Mrs. Leland) for three weeks or a month at a time and then enjoy all the pleasures C^{rs} Town affords." Truly a versatile young person, this Eliza of long ago!
That her planting was no holiday business is shown by a memorandum of July 1739:
"I wrote my father a very long letter on his plantation affairs . . . on the pains I had taken to bring the Indigo, Ginger, Cotton, Lucern, and Ca.s.sada to perfection, and had greater hopes from the Indigo--if I could have the seed earlier the next year from the West Indies,--than any of ye rest of y^e things I had tryd, . . . also concerning pitch and tarr and lime and other plantation affairs."
As has been said before, Eliza"s ambition was to follow out her father"s plan, to discover some crop which could be raised successfully as a staple export, and the determination and perseverance with which she set out to accomplish the task, shows that she was made of no ordinary stuff, even at sixteen, when the majority of girls were occupied with far different activity and diversions. Indigo seems to have been the crop most likely to succeed, and to that Eliza turned her attention with the intensity of purpose which marked all her actions. It was no easy achievement to cultivate indigo, as it required very careful preparation of the soil, much attention during its growth, and a long and critical process to prepare it for the market. After a series of experiments, she reported to her father:
I wrote you in a former letter we had a fine crop of Indigo seed upon the ground and since informed you the frost took it before it was dry. I picked out the best of it and had it planted but there is not more than a hundred bushes of it come up, w^{ch} proves the more unlucky, as you have sent a man to make it. I make no doubt Indigo will prove a very valueable commodity in time, if we could have the seed from the east Indies time enough to plant the latter end of March, that the seed might be dry enough to gather before our frost. I am sorry we lost this season we can do nothing towards it now but make the works ready for next year.
The death of my Grandmamma was as you imagine very shocking and grevious to my Mama, but I hope the consideration of the miserys that attend so advanced an age will help time to wear it off. I am very much obliged to you for the present you were so good to send me of the fifty pound bill of Exchange w^{ch} I duely received. Mama tenders you her affections and polly joyns in duty with
My dear Papa Your ob^t and ever Devoted Daughter, _E. Lucas_.
In the following letters we find her showing a lively interest in all that concerns her father, her brothers, her "cousens" and neighbours, and also a normally healthy liking for amus.e.m.e.nt, linked with her pa.s.sionate love of nature and a milder interest in pretty clothes--and a still milder form of interest in love affairs!
Hard indeed it is in this day of quick delivery to realize the inconveniences of daily life in Eliza"s time, and it evokes a smile to hear that if she or one of the family had neuralgia, it was necessary to write an account of the symptoms to Mrs. Boddicott in November, followed by a letter of thanks to her for her promptness, because of which "the meddicines will arrive by May, and tis allways worse in hott weather!"
Think of waiting six months for a dose of medicine!
Eliza has already mentioned two neighbours of whom she had become very fond, and between her and Miss Pinckney"s niece, a Miss Bartlett, who lived with Mrs. Pinckney either in her home in Charles Town, or at their country seat five miles out of town, a flourishing correspondence sprang up, and the following are some of Eliza"s letters to her friend:
Jan^r 14th, 1741/2.
_Dear Miss Bartlett:_:--
"Tis with pleasure I commence a Correspondence w^{ch} you promise to continue tho" I fear I shall often want matter to soport an Epistolary Intercourse in this solotary retirement--; however, you shall see my inclination, for rather than not scribble, you shall know both my waking and sleeping dreams, as well as how the spring comes on, when the trees bud, and inanimate nature grows gay to chear the rational mind with delight; and devout grat.i.tude to the great Author of all; when my little darling that sweet harmonist the mocking bird, begins to sing.
Our best respects wait on Col^l. Pinckney and lady, and believe me to be dear Miss Bartlett
Your most obed^t Serv^t E. LUCAS.
Again she writes in a tone of quaint sarcasm:
_Dear Miss Bartlett_:--
An old lady in our Neighbourhood is often querreling with me for rising so early as 5 o"Clock in the morning, and is in great pain for me least it should spoil my marriage, for she says it will make me look old long before I am so; in this however I believe she is mistaken, for what ever contributes to health and pleasure of mind must also contribute to good looks; but admitting what she says, I reason with her thus. If I should look older by this practise, I really am so; for the longer time we are awake the longer time we live, sleep is so much the Emblem of death, that I think it may be rather called breathing than living, thus then I have the advantage of the sleepers in point of long life, so I beg you will not be frighted by such sort of apprehensions as those suggested above and for fear of y^r pretty face give up y^r late pious resolution of early rising.
My Mama joins with me in comp^{ts}. to M^r and M^{rs} Pinckney. I send herewith Col^l Pinckney"s books, and shall be much obliged to him for Virgil"s books, notwithstanding this same old Gentlewoman, (who I think too has a great friendship for me) has a great spite at my books, and had like to have thrown a vol^m of my Plutarcks lives into the fire the other day, she is sadly afraid she says I shall read myself mad. . . .
Again in this strain, on the 6th of February, 1741, she writes, showing that although she would have taken a girlish pleasure in amus.e.m.e.nt, her sense of duty was too keen to allow her to leave the plantation very often:
TO THE HONOURABLE C. PINCKNEY, ESQ.
Feb^r 6th, 1741.
_Sir_:--I received yesterday the favour of your advice as a phisician and want no arguments to convince me I should be much better for both my good friends company, a much pleasanter Prescription yours is, I am sure, than Doc^t Mead"s w^{ch} I have just received. To follow my inclination at this time, I must endeavor to forget I have a Sister to instruct, and a parcel of little Negroes whom I have undertaken to teach to read, and instead of writing an answer bring it My self, and indeed grat.i.tude as well as inclination obliges me to wait on M^{rs} Pinckney as soon as I can, but it will not be in my power til a month or two hence. Mama payes her comp^{ts} to Mrs Pinckney, and hopes she will excuse her waiting on her at this time, but will not fail to do it very soon.
I am a very Dunce, for I have not acquired y^e writing short hand yet with any degree of swiftness--but I am not always one for I give a very good proof of the brightness of my Genius when I can distinguish well enough to subscribe my self with great esteem.