An Englishman's Travels In America: His Observations Of Life And Manners In The Free And Slave States - 1857 - By J. Benwell.
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As The Ride Was A Long One, We Halted At This House For Refreshment,
And, After Baiting Our Horses, Regaled Ourselves Upon Some Choice Ham
And Eggs.
At the table, three little negroes, one girl and two boys,
under fourteen years of age, served as waiters.
Their clothing was
supplied by nature, being solely the primitive habiliments worn in Eden
before the fall. This is quite customary in the south, where the rules
of decency are commonly set at defiance, as if the curse of Adam's
transgression applied not in this respect to the African race. The
little creatures did not seem to be in the least aware of their degraded
state; they were as agile as fawns, and their tact in administering to
the wants of the company was quite remarkable.
Just as we were about to proceed on our journey, a party of some
half-a-dozen planters or overseers of neighbouring estates, mounted on
fine mules, who had been searching for fugitive field-hands, rode up. I
could see they were greatly excited, and one of them had a negro lassoed
by the neck, one end of the rope being fastened to his high Spanish
saddle. On coming up to the entrance gate, the one most in advance
dismounted to open it; the mule, eager, perhaps, to get to a crib, or,
what is more likely, to evade a brutal kick or blow, trotted through;
this did not please its owner, who bellowed loudly to it to stop.
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