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VOL.XXII
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“TUb Dangiiwr ol the Gontcdßracu” Describes Hig
Mistresses of the Plantations.
The Languid Dames of Popular
Tradition Had No Existence.
Written for The Constitution.
(First Paper.)
Since the day of exploded ideals has ar
rived. when William Tell ami George
Washington’s little hatchet, yea. even the
all-pervading Puritan who dominated our
school histories —one anil all have been de
throned from their sure seats, it seems as
if the ttraditiojial southern woman of the
old plantation life might lie allowed to de-
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WINNIE DAVIS, “THE DAUGHTER OF THE CONFEDERACY.
jccnd from the cross where she has been
Hailed for generations.
This graceful but lackadaisical efligy of
the imaginary “southern princess” who al
ternately lolled in a hammock in slothful
self-indulgence, or arose in her wrath to
scourge her helpless dependents, is the cre
ation which our neighbors have been
pleased .to call the “typical southern
woman.’
The Ileal Matrons of the Old South.
How different was the real bouseiuistress
who, on the great river properties before
the war, ruled the destinies of her family
with gentle and wise sway. To us who
know her in her old age it seems inexpliea
ple that her place has been so long usurped
by the figure fashioned by a hostile sculptor.
What a blessing this woman is to the
“new south,” the south of struggles and pov
erty—even the bitterness of her detractors
must acknowledge now that the cloud and
smoke of battle begin to clear away and
under the sun of peace reveal her true self.
Whitt she was in the larger and more
complicated sphere of her old life is known
only to those who took part in it. or to the
younger generation who feel the beneficent
influence of her character. Had the wo
men of the plantations been the lazy drones
of the popular fancy, dreaming away their
aimless lives in an atmosphere heavy with
the odors of yellow jasmine, magnolias and
roses, she would have been vanquished by
the conditions over which she has been
victorious.
When War. pestilence and famine set
tled on her country, the southern women,
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BEAFVOIR Httl’SE. THE JEFFERSON DAVIS HOME IN MISSISSIPPI.
armed <'ap-n-pie with her heredity of good
lu usewih ry. self-coni rol sind patience,
sprung uncomplaining and cheerful to her
place, and vanquished her dilheulties with
a manly vigor and a womanly grace, the
memory of Which is very precious and sweet,
6avoted to those with whom she dwelt.
<>:<!-I'nshioncd Virtues mid Tas! ch.
She probably did not understand the
higher mathematics; but her arithmetic
sufficed for household accounts and to gauge
her expenses. . . ,
Iler family practice tn the hospital ot
her plantation made her the best of nurses.
Although her ideas of modern philosophy
mav have been the vaguest gentle and
sincere pietv breathed through all her ar
duous life, and made of her the best model
for the half-civilized souls entrusted in her
(•are, and also the relining influence over
t.b<' men of her family.
If among the Hebrews each man was
a priest to his own family-, among our
people ever.v woman, ollieiated as' priest
ess in the isolated corner where she dwelt
with the man towards whom “duly was
pleasure and love was law,” to whom “for
better or for worse” she was married until
death shoild them part. With her
whole heart she gave her best energies to
his service. It was her mission to counsel
and comfort the weak-hearted ami succor
all those who were desolate and distressed,
were they of her own or of the subject
race. She was the mediatrix, the teacher,
and in short the mother of her people, and
to her, if to tiny one, the negro owes his
present civilization and moral culture.
The prejudices of her male relatives were
arrayed against publicity of any kind for
her —even the homage due to her virtues
seemed an invason of the snneity of home.
Thus the reco.-1 es her deeds has been sup
pressed ami she blossomed, bore noble
fruit and faded behind a screen so thick
that it has obscured to the outside world
the gracious lines of her personality, and
her works 'Hone praised “her in the gates,”
but her children now rise up and call her
blessed.
How tlie Southern Woman Was Trained.
To understand the so-called “new south”
it is necessary to comprehend the actual
duties of her mothers and the social rela
tions which brought forth a race of people
honorable, Kindly, faithful and recklessly
brave, yet adaptable in the highest degree.
These positive virtues are not generally
associated with adaj tability to new condi
tions. yet the southern people in their bit
ter experience of defeat have given evi
dence of this power in its fullest signifi
cance.
Tin 1 men and women of our country had.
during the slave-holding period, fulfilled
so many varying and incongruous duties
to thvh - .slaves th.U they were i:i a measure
lilted for any labor. The first lesson that
;> lit lie southern girl learned in preparti
tion for her duiies as mistress of a planta
tion was her association, usually develop
ing into a warm friendship, with tiie maid
of her own age. vho was generally given
6y the mother of the negro to “be of some
sarvice to little miesic,” a sort of counter
part to the “body servant” whom the re-
ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1893.
cent dialect stories have made familiar to
our non-slave-holding neighbors. Although
the peculiar relations of things made this
intimacy less close than that, between mas
ter and man, the love which began in their
early youth ripened generally into a hearty
affection, which usually was life-long, be
ginning, as it did, with their childish games
in the negro quarter.
llnconHcioiis Trainliu; of tho Negro Quarter
It is doubtful if there was ever a terre
defeudus so attractive to a child as this
same “quarter,” a collection of small dwell
ings built on each side of a street, and in
habited by children of a larger growth who
were prodigal of stories iiavored by the
faith of the raconteur. There were friendly
yclloujl dogs; ?in< kens, rallied, muliled and
duck-legged, which aaiswored to mimes,
with callow broods racing after them, and
wonderful hens’ rests full of eggs in un
frequented corners, fires in the open air
with fat. sweet potatoes roasting in their
ashes; doll baby gardens planted and torn
up at once by a multitude of little coilee
eolored playmat 's who scampered about
“little missus” in a frenzy of delight.
Mistress and maid confided everything to
each other and their mutual affeeiion stood
the mistress in good stead in her after life
and enabled her often to penetrate Jhe in
teresting but bewildering l.'imtle. ol ter
giversations.” which the plantation negro
calls his thoughts. Experience taught In r
the habit of their minds and opem.d io her
tlie genuine dialect of a thousand
idioms which she would aiterward
have to use in instructing her
slaves. It also initiated her into the Af
rican standards of right and wrong, b;
which she gauged the depth of the offenders
culpability.
There, too, she learned the potentiality
of sarcasm in dealing with a race so alive
to a sense of the ludicrous that an appeal
to its visibles will often answer the purpose
better than punishment.. _ .
Au instance of this kind is given of a
southern woman who cured her negro
marketman of bringing the family a turkey’
dailv for dinner because he had speculated
in them and they were cheaper than other
meat- She invited him to “stand on the
gallery and gobble a little.” This ludicrous
performance deterred him from a repetition
of his offense when more serious remon
strances had proved fruitless.
How She Absorbed Bon.ewlfery.
The little girls were present at all the
milkings, churnings, sausage-cuttings, corn
shuckiugs and even the grinding of meal on
the place, and so became familiar with the
minutiae of these industries.
When the young mistress was married the
Superintendence of these duties devolved upon
her —the curing of tin' meat which was to
form the staple food of the white and black
family throughout the year, the recipes for
which were handed down from mother
to daughter for generations As there were
no markets, chickens and turkeys and ducks
and geese must be reared in plenty; bin let
must be churned: a good vegetable garden
sedulously cultivated' the fruit trees and
berrv vines persuaded to bear fruit after
their kind. To overlook the weaving room,
where the cotton clothes as well as woolens
used to bo nmde, was also her duty and in
all these things our grandmothers and
mothers were ns proficient as the chatelaim s
of the middle ages. Much of these arts the
southern child absorbed without special
instruction. Also a part of her education
was the cutting and sewing of all kinds of
garments, the cooking and serving of all
sorts of dainties and the intelligent care of
the sick.
Well Hoad Plantation W omen.
This practical education went hand in
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hand with the elementary and theoretical
one under governesses, or in the lit tie schools
composed of the children ul the neighboring
1 Whether this method of mixing the actual
with the ideal was particularly beneficial
to their minds or that the loneliness <>t then
lives drove them into more serious studies,
it is remarkable how many well-read women
there were on these river places whose la
maliarity with the classics w.is close enough
to be loving and whose skill m t.ie tinkling
mttgie of their day was of no mean proti
cii ney. .
So well were their capacity and attain
ments recognized that the distinguished
American historian of this century. .df.
Bancroft, declined a wager with a southern
lady about a literary question, .saying: “1
have been told to beware of the plantation
woman she reads so many books she will
prove mi l in the wrong."
As the southern woman developed into
maturity, dividing her time between her
studies and observation of the busy lite
around her. she rend in the daily practice
of her eiders the constantly repeated lesson
of her duty to her sable dependents.
Jtcfiponslbllity of the Slnveholding Family
On the plantation it was not a question
of cottage visiting, such as is common in
English and New England eountry life. It
was the actual care of an irresponsible fam
ily, large and often refractory enough Io
dampen the zeal of the most philanthropic.
There were clothes to be made for the
babies and little children, and as well for
the “orphans,” the shiftless bachelors and
motherless boys and girls who would not
sew if they could. Then the seamstresses
who were to do this work were to lie train
ed from the manner of holding needles ami
.scissors through ail the various kinds of
stitches to be taken up to dressmaking.
There were waiters and waitresses and
dairy maids to instruct, and cooks to super
intend. Also there must, be many of these
skilled servants, because, without excep
tion, they all had families, and if one of
these should be taken ill another servant
must be taken out of the field to supply the
parent’s place in the house, so that the child
might, be properly attended and the moth
er’s heat at. ease.
The fallacy that those darky servants
grew like brackberries on the briars belongs
to that land of Cockaigne where roasted
pigeons fell from the sky. Certainly these
self-producing prodigies did not. exist for our
mothers. It will be only after a long and
careful course of training, with mutual for
bearance and patience, that, the free negro
will make as accomplished a servant as our
slaves were.
The Truth About Whipping nnd Selling
The extreme penalty of whipping was
reserved for such offenses tis stealing and
other crimes. As the negroes could mot be
“discharged without, a character.'' the mis
tress! was not armed with the terror always
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THE LIBRARY AT BEAUVOIR HO'T’SE.
in the hands of the modern housewife, but
she hud to make the best ol her Jiusband s
negroes as she found them, trusting to her
own powers as educator to form of the
young ones such servants .as she like
to have about her.
To sell one of the negroes “born on the
place” was an evidence of the direst poverty
of the master or of the most heinous conduct
on the part of the slaves.
A M Istress Could Not Discharge Her Slave
Such piecadilloes as insubordination, un
tidimss or stupidity formed no reason to
the mind of either m'stress or maid in the
“old south” for a dissolution of their mutual
relation; nor could a tormented mistress
find relief by giving a useless servant her
freedom.
There is an authentic story of one who
tried, during a visit to the north, to thus
rid herself of a drunken maid whose taste
for Madeira had tempted her to run up a
score on her mistress s account al. a neigh
boring drinking shop. When the mistress
remonstrated the negro answered her that
being a “quatily darky she could ixardly
lie expected to get. drunk on whisky, “like
po-" /’:ite trash,” and that, as tar as her
“free papers” were co .earned she would have
none < f them. ’1 here was no use talking,
she was “master's nigger” and he would
have to support her as long as she lived.
There was no recourse but. to submit, and
the maid continued to follow her own sweet
will until her freedom was forced upon
her by the war. This was no singular or
isolated case. Winnik Davis.
The Dontli-Beds of Great Men.
From The Buffalo Courier.
Modern newspaper enterprise and modern
telegraph facilities have greatly increased
the number of mourners who are virtually
at the bedside of every great man who is
stricken with mortal illness, lor several
weeks past every morning newspaper oiace
in the United States has had hourly bulle
tins from Air. Blaine’s sick room, and in
every such office the telegraph editors, op
erators, printers, pressmen, etc., have had
to lengthen their nightly vigil a couple of
hours in order to be sure that when the
end conies there shall be no delay in an
nouncing it to the country. The number
of men whose day’s work is thus prolonged
is many thousand, and the same men have
watched by the bedside of many fmi< us
men in the same way. During rhe whole
twenty-four hours reporters have been on
the watch at. the Blaine mansion ever since
his illness began. The English reporters
who were charged with a like duty when
Tennyson lay dying deserted their trust,
and the poet's death was not announced
until several hours after its oeear’vnee.
Such a breach of duty by American report
ers is inconceivable.
—•—
When Duty Comes.
Myron W. Hood.
Bret Harte's miner dug for gold: could not
find any. He burrowed for it until he was
tired and sick, ami gave it up. But the camp
needed water, so he sunk for water and found
gold. I, myself, have hunted for boar, hut the
only bear I ever saw was when I was going
a-tishing.
There are. I suppose, a million or so of men
and women at this time seeking office. Few
there be that will lind what they seek. Even
in polities there are many surprises. The
nomination of Abraham Lincoln was not. I
thin!:, a deliberate plan of a party. It was a
deliberate providence of God. in common
years there are plenty of men who will make
fair presidents. But in 18(10 there was only
one man who would do.
The notable men of the Bible attending
to their own business when the word conies
that calls them Into the light. Gideon i s
theshing, Ha vid is keeping sheep, the great
apostles arc* fishing, or getting ready to fish,
and tiie greatest apostle is persecuting Chris
tians when the word conies. Joan of Arc
lias uo ambition but to spin and take care
of her sheep when shq hears the beautiful
voice.
A FIGHHOR LIFE.
A Hudson Bay Trapper's Adven
ture with Buffaloes.
“It was the nastiest scrape I ever got
into,” said Jonathan Johnson as the trail
upon which we were driving suddenly
led down into the imignilieeiit ravine in
which the Pipestone creek wends
its sluggish way toward the
tjtiappel'le river through numerous cran
berry swamps and muskegs.
“It was Hie nastiest scrape I over got
into, and I'm going to tell you all about
it”
I settled myself comfortably in the wag
on seat ready for a good story, fori knew
that Jonathan in his .young days had Loen
an <»ld buffalo hunter and could tell many
a good anecdote if he would only allow
himself to be drawn out.
“ ’Twas about fifty years ago,” said bo,
“when these prairies Were as wild as na
ture made them and buffalo were as thick
as mice in a. barn, that; I first eamt' out
bore to limit anil trap for tin' Hudson
Bay Compttny. In the cast there were
few who could beat me as a hunter, ’nut
up to that time I didn't, know much about
the westi rn big game. Well, I soon found
the favorite feeding ground of the bttf
fatlo. ami that was right around this
neighborhood. Many a hundred have f
shot! within five miles of this spot, but
althouglL I have had several narrow
squeaks for my life, I only once camo
near getting frightened to death, and it
happened right, here.
“1 hadn't exactly been hunting that
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MY RIFLE WAS EMPTY, SO I WIELDED IT AS A CLUB.
day, still I had my rille with me. I car
ried it partly from habit, you see, and
also for the very best of reasons—that
1 didn’t have any better place to leave
it. In those days there weren’t many
of us hunters had any very special homes
in the west, ami when the weather was
warm and clear we frequently made
long trips, camping just where we found
ourselves at sunset.
“Well, it was getting dusky on that
particular evening, so when I came to
the creek here, thinks 1 to myself I'll
stay right here; so after tethering the
horse. I stretched out on the ground to
enjoy my pine.
“After (laying perhaps an hour 1 was
suddenly startled by a. peculiar rum
bling noise—it sounded like an under
ground disturbance. 1 tried to think my
fancy had decieved me, but it kept get
ting louder and louder, so finally 1 de
termined to go'and look around.
“1 clambered up that bank as fast, as I
could, noticing that as 1 neared the top
the rumbling sound grew more and more
distinct, but strange’ to say, I never for
a moment suspected the danger.
“Well, when 1 at length reached the
brow of the hill and looked over, the
sight that met my eyes fairly froze the
blood in my veins.
“A living prairie of panting, straggling
buffaloes, and the whole herd under full
steam, stampeding ami heading straight
for mo.
“My heart just fairly jumped into my
mouth, for they weren't more than a. quar
ter of a. mile away, but it wasn't any
time to stand thinking, so I just turned
down that ravine faster than 1 could run—
it would kill a man to do it in cold blood,
but I knew 1 had to reach my horse or
lose my life.
"As I neared the horse he plunged
and tore at the ropes as though he were
crazy, and it was evident that he had
scented the danger.
“1 had got to within twenty yards of
him when he made a frantic plunge,
snapped the rope, and away he went.
I turned in despair just as the first buf
faloes reached the brow of the hill, but
I knew I'o.v useless it would be to waste
ammunition. 1 think, however, that I
would have fought it out had I not
thought of the muskeg which commenced
about forty yards from where 1 stood;
I knew that, though I might get a little
way upon the quaking mass by being
very carei’ufl, still it would be mighty
poor footing for a. stampeding herd of
buffalo. There wasn't a moment to lose,
so I headed for it as hard as I could run.
but short, as the distance was. 1 realized
that it would be a close race between my
self and the frightened brutes already
surging down the steep bluils, heedless
of anything except flight.
“Just as 1 reached the edge of 1 ns- mo
rass the living wive broke upon the bot
tom of the ravine, causing the quaking
ground to undulate in long swells, winch
wry nearly threw me headlong into i.ie
muddy water.
“I recovered myself, liowever. a.ud,
making a. desperate spring, landed upon
one of those small moss islands which
float here and there upon the surface
PRICE 5 CENT
of the quagmire. One more leap and I
had reached my limit. I could get no
further, for there was not another island
within twenty feet.
“I turned and faced the snorting, foam
flecked mass of maddened buffaloes.
“One glance showed me that only the
extreme left of the herd would face the
swamp—tlie great mass passing to the
westward, still 1 knew that I had not
yet got out of tire scrape.
“The first cretilure to reach the edge
attempted to hold back, but. ho. tried in
vain. The irresistable power behind
drove him forward to bis dooifi, and with
a loud bellow Ire sprang upon the nearest
island, but it, was not built to carry him
and he instantly disappeared.
“I looked from the spot where he had.
gone down and sa w to my horror that
■what 1 ha-tl crossed as safe land had now
sunk under the combined weight of the
herd and that between my frail raft and
the dry laud was now fully eighty feet
of quagmire filled with drowning and
lighting animals, some of which were
Imee-deep, while .others barely had their
noses out of water. The struggles awl
cries of the poor creatures were horri
ble to witness as one after another they
were trampled under foot and pressed
under water by the stronger among the
herd crowding forward.
“I'p to this’ time but few of them had
succeeded in lighting their way through
the thick slime to the island upon which
I had taken refuge, and there I had been
forced to shoot for my self-prolection.
“There was one. however, that near
ly proved too much for me. A young
and sturdy Indi, after making a vigorous
rush across the backs of the others, dur
ing which he slipped and half fell three
or four times only t<> recover himself
with a snort of terror, finally reached thej
end of his living bridge, and. gathering
himself for a. last effort, attempted to
spring upon my stronghold. Fortunate
ly for me, the great fellow slipped, and
falling short, succeeded only in striking
the island with his massive woolly head.
“As a matter of course the shock threw
me off my feet and when I had recovered
myself the bull had got one leg upon
the moss and had half raised himself from
the watgr.
"My rifle was empty so I wielded it as
a club, striking him upon the nose until
his roifiTt echoed down the ravine; but
for all my clubbing 1 could not drive him
back and in another instant he had secur
ed a footing with the other log.
“Never shall 1 forget the agony of that
moment—standing as 1 did upon a- small
moss island scarcely twelve feet in di
ameter with a bottomless quagmire all
round and an enraged buffalo drawmgjue
resist lesff.y into the folds of the heaving 1
bubbling mud, in which wore either dead
or dying a full hundred of the wild cat
tle.
“At that moment T remembered my
hunting knife and drawing it from my
belt drove it to the hilt in the bull's neck.
“The blow was a good one. and as the
warm life blood poured from his mouth
and nostrils I knew that I was saved.
A moment later the huge, strong form
sank lifelessly into th ■ mire; the island
righted itself'and I was again master of
the situation.
“The rest was comparatively easy, al
though on one occasion. 1 had as many
as a dozen struggling animals close round
me and all clamoring for admittance at
the same time. But the poor creatures
were 100 weak to raise themselves, m
fact most of them sunk without causing
in- much trouble, and very soon all be
came still, but never had the moon shone
down upon a. more ghastly struggle 1m
existence than had occupied the last hint
hour. , . a- „
“ \fter easting around for some time
for a means of reaching the shore I tinal
lv succeeded in crossing upon the backs
of the dead buffaloes, but it. was ticklish
" "Well to cut a long story short, for this
is mv farm we tire coming to. I managed
to g'ef enough hides out of that pool to
make my trip a very profitable one, but
1 had to get a. now horse before I could
market them, for the old one I never saw
again.”
Thousands of Intoxicants.
From The Philadelphia Record.
••There are no less than 0.000 intoxicants
of dill'erent kinds known to the custom house
ollieinls,” said an attache of the customs
lection department yesterday. “Ninety-five
per cent, of the foreigners in this country
drink, and none of them has ever heard of
toial abstinence, They have all their native
piniors. which often cannot be procured in
.ountrv. and they soon make arrange
ments to have their favorite tipple scut to
tlmm. I' l this way th" custom house people
.•mcvmiilate a verj' wide knowledge of intox
icants.”
Why Not Ti-v the Ki'ctcy Cure?
From The Washington Post. /
The whisky trust will feel better after It
has taken a Tuiltish bath anil had its head
rubbed.
