1. CHAPTER I.
THE SLAVE'S SOCIAL CIRCLE.
With the growing population in the Southern States, the increase
of mulattoes has been very great. Society does not frown upon
the man who sits with his half-white child upon his knee whilst the
mother stands, a slave, behind his chair. In nearly all the cities and
towns of the Slave States, the real negro, or clear black, does not
amount to more than one in four of the slave population. This fact is
of itself the best evidence of the degraded and immoral condition of
the relation of master and slave. Throughout the Southern States,
there is a class of slaves who, in most of the towns, are permitted to
hire their time from their owners, and who are always expected to pay
a high price. This class is the mulatto women, distinguished for their
fascinating beauty. The handsomest of these usually pay the greatest
amount for their time. Many of these women are the favorites of men
of property and standing, who furnish them with the means of compensating
their owners, and not a few are dressed in the most extravagant
manner.
When we take into consideration the fact that no safeguard is thrown
around virtue, and no inducement held out to slave-women to be pure
and chaste, we will not be surprised when told that immorality and vice
pervade the cities and towns of the South to an extent unknown in the
Northern States. Indeed, many of the slave-women have no higher aspiration
than that of becoming the finely-dressed mistress of some
white man. At negro balls and parties, this class of women usually
make the most splendid appearance, and are eagerly sought after in the
dance, or to entertain in the drawing-room or at the table.
A few years ago, among the many slave-women in Richmond, Virginia,
who hired their time of their masters, was Agnes, a mulatto owned by
John Graves, Esq., and who might be heard boasting that she was the
daughter of an American Senator. Although nearly forty years of age
at the time of which we write, Agnes was still exceedingly handsome.
More than half white, with long black hair and deep blue eyes, no one
felt like disputing with her when she urged her claim to her relationship
with the Anglo-Saxon.
In her younger days, Agnes had been a housekeeper for a young slave-holder,
and in sustaining this relation had become the mother of two
daughters. After being cast aside by this young man, the slave-woman
betook herself to the business of a laundress, and was considered to be
the most tasteful woman in Richmond at her vocation.
Isabella and Marion, the two daughters of Agnes, resided with their
mother, and gave her what aid they could in her business. The mother,
however, was very choice of her daughters, and would allow them to
perform no labor that would militate against their lady-like appearance.
Agnes early resolved to bring up her daughters as ladies, as she termed it.
As the girls grew older, the mother had to pay a stipulated price for
them per month. Her notoriety as a laundress of the first class enabled
her to put an extra charge upon the linen that passed through her
hands; and although she imposed little or no work upon her daughters,
she was enabled to live in comparative luxury and have her daughters
dressed to attract attention, especially at the negro balls and parties.
Although the term “negro ball” is applied to these gatherings, yet a
large portion of the men who attend them are whites. Negro balls and
parties in the Southern States, especially in the cities and towns, are
usually made up of quadroon women, a few negro men, and any number
of white gentlemen. These are gatherings of the most democratic
character. Bankers, merchants, lawyers, doctors, and their clerks and
students, all take part in these social assemblies upon terms of perfect
equality. The father and son not unfrequently meet and dance vis a vis
at a negro ball.
It was at one of these parties that Henry Linwood, the son of a
wealthy and retired gentleman of Richmond, was first introduced to
Isabella, the oldest daughter of Agnes. The young man had just returned
from Harvard College, where he had spent the previous five
years. Isabella was in her eighteenth year, and was admitted by all
who knew her to be the handsomest girl, colored or white, in the city.
On this occasion, she was attired in a sky-blue silk dress, with deep
black lace flounces, and bertha of the same. On her well-moulded
arms she wore massive gold bracelets, while her rich black hair was arranged
at the back in broad basket plaits, ornamented with pearls, and
the front in the French style (a la Imperatrice), which suited her classic
face to perfection.
Marion was scarcely less richly dressed than her sister.
Henry Linwood paid great attention to Isabella, which was looked
upon with gratification by her mother, and became a matter of general
conversation with all present. Of course, the young man escorted the
beautiful quadroon home that evening, and became the favorite visitor
at the house of Agnes.
It was on a beautiful moonlight night in the month of August, when
all who reside in tropical climates are eagerly gasping for a breath of
fresh air, that Henry Linwood was in the garden which surrounded
Agnes' cottage, with the young quadroon by his side. He drew from
his pocket a newspaper wet from the press, and read the following advertisement:—
NOTICE.—Seventy-nine negroes will be offered for sale on Monday,
September 10, at 12 o'clock, being the entire stock of the late John
Graves. The negroes are in an excellent condition, and all warranted
against the common vices. Among them are several mechanics, ablebodies
field-hands, plough-boys, and women with children, some of them
very prolific, affording a rare opportunity for any one who wishes to raise
a strong and healthy lot of servants for their own use. Also several
mulatto girls of rare personal qualities,—two of these very superior.
Among the above slaves advertised for sale were Agnes and her two
daughters. Ere young Linwood left the quadroon that evening, he
promised her that he would become her purchaser, and make her free
and her own mistress.
Mr. Graves had long been considered not only an excellent and upright
citizen of the first standing among the whites, but even the slaves
regarded him as one of the kindest of masters. Having inherited his
slaves with the rest of his property, he became possessed of them without
any consultation or wish of his own. He would neither buy nor
sell slaves, and was exceedingly careful, in letting them out, that they
did not find oppressive and tyrannical masters. No slave speculator
ever dared to cross the threshold of this planter of the Old Dominion.
He was a constant attendant upon religious worship, and was noted for
his general benevolence. The American Bible Society, the American
Tract Society, and the cause of Foreign Missions, found in him a liberal
friend. He was always anxious that his slaves should appear well on
the Sabbath, and have an opportunity of hearing the word of God.
