We Have Got A New 'boy' (All Coloured Servants Are 'boys,' - A
Remnant Of Slavery), And He Is The Type Of The Nigger Slave.
A
thief, a liar, a glutton, a drunkard - but you can't resent it; he
has a naif, half-foolish, half-knavish buffoonery, a total want of
self-respect, which disarms you.
I sent him to the post to inquire
for letters, and the postmaster had been tipsy over-night and was
not awake. Jack came back spluttering threats against 'dat domned
Dutchman. Me no WANT (like) him; me go and kick up dom'd row.
What for he no give Missis letter?' &c. I begged him to be
patient; on which he bonneted himself in a violent way, and started
off at a pantomime walk. Jack is the product of slavery: he
pretends to be a simpleton in order to do less work and eat and
drink and sleep more than a reasonable being, and he knows his
buffoonery will get him out of scrapes. Withal, thoroughly good-
natured and obliging, and perfectly honest, except where food and
drink are concerned, which he pilfers like a monkey. He worships
S-, and won't allow her to carry anything, or to dirty her hands,
if he is in the way to do it. Some one suggested to him to kiss
her, but he declined with terror, and said he should be hanged by
my orders if he did. He is a hideous little negro, with a
monstrous-shaped head, every colour of the rainbow on his clothes,
and a power of making faces which would enchant a schoolboy.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 55 of 141
Words from 14740 to 15010
of 37925
