She was an American; a very respectable old lady, who resided
in a handsome frame-house on the main road. I was at dinner, the
servant-girl, in the meanwhile, nursing my child at a distance.
Mrs. D - - sat looking at me very seriously until I concluded my
meal, her dinner having been accomplished several hours before.
When I had finished, the girl give me the child, and then removed
the dinner-service into an outer room.
"You don't eat with your helps," said my visitor. "Is not that
something like pride?"
"It is custom," said I; "we were not used to do so at home, and I
think that keeping a separate table is more comfortable for both
parties."
"Are you not both of the same flesh and blood? The rich and the poor
meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all."
"True. Your quotation is just, and I assent to it with all my heart.
There is no difference in the flesh and blood; but education makes a
difference in the mind and manners, and, till these can assimilate,
it is better to keep them apart."
"Ah! you are not a good Christian, Mrs. Moodie. The Lord thought
more of the poor than he did of the rich, and he obtained more
followers from among them. Now, WE always take our meals with
our people."
Presently after, while talking over the affairs of our households,
I happened to say that the cow we had bought of Mollineux had turned
out extremely well, and gave a great deal of milk.
"That man lived with us several years," she said; "he was an
excellent servant, and D - - paid him his wages in land. The farm he
now occupies formed a part of our U.E. grant. But, for all his good
conduct, I never could abide him, for being a BLACK."
"Indeed! Is he not the same flesh and blood as the rest?"
The colour rose into Mrs. D - -'s sallow face, and she answered with
much warmth -
"What! do you mean to compare ME with a NIGGER!"
"Not exactly. But, after all, the colour makes the only difference
between him and uneducated men of the same class."
"Mrs. Moodie!" she exclaimed, holding up her hands in pious horror;
"they are the children of the devil! God never condescended to make
a nigger."
"Such an idea is an impeachment of the power and majesty of the
Almighty. How can you believe such an ignorant fable?"
"Well, then," said my monitress, in high dudgeon, "if the devil did
not make them, they are descended from Cain."
"But all Cain's posterity perished in the flood."
My visitor was puzzled.
"The African race, it is generally believed, are the descendants of
Ham, and to many of their tribes the curse pronounced against him
seems to cling. To be the servant of servants is bad enough, without
our making their condition worse by our cruel persecutions. Christ
came to seek and to save that which was lost; and in proof of this
inestimable promise, he did not reject the Ethiopian eunuch who was
baptised by Philip, and who was, doubtless, as black as the rest of
his people. Do you not admit Mollineux to your table with your other
helps?"
"Mercy sake! do you think that I would sit down at the same table
with a nigger? My helps would leave the house if I dared to put such
an affront upon them. Sit down with a dirty black, indeed!"
"Do you think, Mrs. D - -, that there will be any negroes in heaven?"
"Certainly not, or I, for one, would never wish to go there;" and
out of the house she sallied in high disdain.
Yet this was the woman who had given me such a plausible lecture
on pride. Alas, for our fallen nature! Which is more subversive of
peace and Christian fellowship - ignorance of our own characters,
or the characters of others?
Our departure for the woods became now a frequent theme of
conversation. My husband had just returned from an exploring
expedition to the backwoods, and was delighted with the prospect of
removing thither. The only thing I listened to in their praise, with
any degree of interest, was a lively song, which he had written
during his brief sojourn at Douro: -
TO THE WOODS! - TO THE WOODS!
To the woods! - to the woods! - The sun shines bright,
The smoke rises high in the clear frosty air;
Our axes are sharp, and our hearts are light,
Let us toil while we can and drive away care.
Though homely our food, we are merry and strong,
And labour is wealth, which no man can deny;
At eve we will chase the dull hours with a song,
And at grey peep of dawn let this be our cry,
To the woods! - to the woods! - &c.
Hark! how the trees crack in the keen morning blast,
And see how the rapids are cover'd with steam;
Thaw your axes, my lads, the sun rises fast,
And gilds the pine tops with his bright golden beam.
To the woods! - to the woods! - &c.
Come, chop away, lads! the wild woods resound,
Let your quick-falling strokes in due harmony ring;
See, the lofty tree shivers - it falls to the ground!
Now with voices united together we'll sing -
To the woods! - to the woods! - The sun shines bright,
The smoke rises high in the clear frosty air;
Our axes are sharp, and our hearts are light,
Let us toil while we can and drive away care,
And drive away care.
J.W.D.M.
CHAPTER XII
THE VILLAGE HOTEL
Well, stranger, here you are all safe and sound;
You're now on shore. Methinks you look aghast, -
As if you'd made some slight mistake, and found
A land you liked not.
