University of Virginia Library

JONATHAN BULL & MARY BULL (1821).

(Written but not published at the period of the Missouri question.)

Jonathan Bull & Mary Bull, who were descendants of old
Jn°. Bull, the head of the family, had inherited contiguous
estates in large tracts of land. As they grew up & became
well acquainted, a partiality was mutually felt, and advances
on several occasions made towards a matrimonial connection.

This was particularly recommended by the advantage of
putting their two estates under a common superintendence.
Old B. however as guardian of both and having long been
allowed certain valuable privileges within the Estates with
which he was not long content had always found the means
of breaking off the match which he regarded as a fatal obstacle
to his secret design of getting the whole property into
his own hands.

At a moment favorable as he thought for the attempt, he
brought suit agst. both, but with a view of carrying it on in a
way that would make the process bear on the parties in such
different modes times and degrees as might create a jealousy
& discord between them. J. & M. had too much sagacity
to be duped. They understood well old Bull's character and
situation. They knew that he was deeply versed in all the
subtleties of the law, that he was of a stubborn & persevering
temper, and that he had moreover a very long purse. They
were sensible therefore that the more he endeavoured to
divide their interests & their defence of the suit the more
they ought to make a common cause, and proceed in a concert
of measures. As this could best be done by giving effect to
the feelings long entertained for each other, an intermarriage
was determined on, & solemnized with a deed of settlement
as usual in such opulent matches, duly executed, and no event
certainly of the sort was ever celebrated by a greater fervor
or variety of rejoicings among the respective tenants of the
parties. They had a great horror of falling into the hands of
old B. and regarded the marriage of their proprietors under
whom they held their freeholds as the surest mode of warding
off the danger. They were not disappointed. United purses
and good advocates compelled old B. after a hard struggle
to withdraw the suit, and relinquish forever not only the new
pretensions he had set up but the old privileges he had been
allowed.

The marriage of J. and M. was not a barren one. On the
contrary every year or two added a new member to the family

and on such occasions the practice was to set off a portion of
land sufficient for a good farm to be put under the authority of
the child on its attaining the age of manhood, and these lands
were settled very rapidly by tenants going as the case might
be from the estates, sometimes of J. sometimes of M. and
sometimes partly from one & partly from the other.

It happened that at the expiration of the non-age of the 10th.
or 11th. fruit of the marriage some difficulties were started
concerning the rules & conditions of declaring the young
party of age, and of giving him as a member of the family, the
management of his patrimony. Jonathan became possessed
with a notion that an arrangement ought to be made that
would prevent the new farm from being settled and cultivated,
as in all the latter instances, indiscriminately by persons
removing from his and M's estate and confine this privilege to
those going from his own; and in the perverse humour which
had seized him, he listened moreover to suggestions that M.
had some undue advantage from the selections of the Head
Stewards which happened to have been made much oftener
out of her tenants than his.

Now the prejudice suddenly taken up by J. agst. the equal
right of M's tenants to remove with their property to new
farms, was connected with a peculiarity in Mary's person not
as yet noticed. Strange as it may appear, the circumstance
is not the less true, that M. when a Child had unfortunately
recd. from a certain African dye, a stain on her left arm which
had made it perfectly black, and withal somewhat weaker than
the other arm. The misfortune arose from a Ship from Africa
loaded with the article which had been permitted to enter a
river running thro' her estate, and dispose of a part of the
noxious cargo. The fact was well known to J. at the time
of their marriage, and if felt as an objection, it was in a manner
reduced to nothing by the comely form and pleasing features
of M. in every other respect; by her good sense and amiable
manners; and in part perhaps by the large and valuable estate
she brought with her.

In the unlucky fit however which was upon him, he looked
at the black arm, and forgot all the rest. To such a pitch of
feeling was he wrought up that he broke out into the grossest
taunts on M. for her misfortune; not omitting at the same
time to remind her of his long forbearance to exert his superior
voice in the appointment of the Head Steward. He had now
he said got his eyes fully opened, he saw everything in a new
light, and was resolved to act accordingly. As to the Head
Steward he wd. let her see that the appointment was virtually
in his power; and she might take her leave of all chance of
ever having another of her tenants advanced to that station,
and as to the black arm, she should, if the colour could not be
taken out, either tear off the skin from the flesh or cut off the
limb; For it was his fixed determination, that one or other
should be done, or he wd. sue out a divorce, & there should
be an end of all connection between them and their Estates.
I have examined he said well the marriage settlement, and
flaws have been pointed out to me, that never occurred before,
by which I shall be able to set the whole aside. White as I
am all over, I can no longer consort with one marked with such
a deformity as the blot on your person.

Mary was so stunned with the language she heard that it
was some time before she could speak at all; and as the surprise
abated, she was almost choked with the anger & indignation
swelling in her bosom. Generous and placable as
her temper was, she had a proud sensibility to what she
thought an unjust & degrading treatment, which did not
permit her to suppress the violence of her first emotions. Her
language accordingly for a moment was such as these emotions
prompted. But her good sense, and her regard for J. whose
qualities as a good husband she had long experienced, soon
gained an ascendency, and changed her tone to that of sober
reasoning & affectionate expostulation. Well my dear husband
you see what a passion you had put me into. But it is now over,
and I will endeavor to express my thoughts with the calmness
and good feelings which become the relation of wife & husband.

As to the case of providing for our child just coming of age,
I shall say but little. We both have such a tender regard for
him and such a desire to see him on a level with his brethren
as to the chance of making his fortune in the world, that I am
sure the difficulties which have occurred will in some way or
other be got over.

But I cannot pass so lightly over the reproaches you cast
on the colour of my left arm, and on the more frequent appointment
of my tenants than of yours to the head-stewardship of
our joint estates.

Now as to the first point, you seem to have forgotten, my
worthy partner, that this infirmity was fully known to you
before our marriage, and is proved to be so by the deed of
settlement itself. At that time you made it no objection
whatever to our Union; and indeed how could you urge such
an objection, when you were conscious that you yourself
was not entirely free from a like stain on your own person.
The fatal African dye, as you well know, had found its way
into your abode as well as mine; and at the time of our marriage
had spots & specks scattered over your body as black
as the skin on my arm. And altho' you have by certain
abrasions and other applications, taken them in some measure
out, there are visible remains which ought to soften at least
your language when reflecting on my situation. You ought
surely when you have so slowly and imperfectly relieved
yourself from the mortifying stain altho' the task was comparatively
so easy, to have some forbearance and sympathy
with me who have a task so much more difficult to perform.
Instead of that you abuse me as if I had brought the misfortune
on myself, and could remove it at will; or as if you had pointed
out a ready way to do it, and I had slighted your advice. Yet
so far is this from being the case that you know as well as I do
that I am not to be blamed for the origin of the sad mishap,
that I am as anxious as you can be to get rid of it; that you are
as unable as I am to find out a safe & feasible plan for the
purpose; and moreover that I have done everything I could,

in the meantime, to mitigate an evil that cannot as yet be
removed. When you talk of tearing off the skin or cutting
off the unfortunate limb, must I remind you of what you
cannot be ignorant that the most skilful surgeons have given
their opinions that if so cruel an operation were to be tried,
it could hardly fail to be followed by a mortification or a
bleeding to death. Let me ask too whether, should neither of
the fatal effects ensue, you would like me better in my mangled
or mutilated condition than you do now? And when you
threaten a divorce and an annulment of the marriage settlement,
may I not ask whether your estate wd. not suffer as
much as mine by dissolving the partnership between them?
I am far from denying that I feel the advantage of having the
pledge of your arm, your stronger arm if you please, for the
protection of me & mine; and that my interests in general
have been and must continue to be the better for your aid
& counsel in the management of them. But on the other
hand you must be equally sensible that the aid of my purse
will have its value, in case old B. or any other rich litigious
fellow should put us to the expense of another tedious lawsuit.
And now that we are on the subject of loss & gain,
you will not be offended if I take notice of a report that
you sometimes insinuate that my estate according to the rates
of assessment, does not pay its due share into the common
purse. I think my dear J. that if you ever entertained
this opinion you must have been led into it by a very wrong
view of the subject as to the direct income from rents, there
can be no deficiency on my part there; the rule of apportionment
being clear & founded on a calculation by numbers.
And as to what is raised from the articles bought & used
by my tenants, it is difficult to conceive that my tenants buy
or use less than yours, considering that they carry a greater
amount of crops to market the whole of which it is well known
they lay out in articles from the use of which the bailiff regularly
collects the sum due. It wd. seem then that my tenants
selling more, buy more; buying more use more, and using more
pay more. Meaning however not to put you in the wrong,
but myself in the right, I do not push the argument to that
length, because I readily agree that in paying for articles
bought & used you have beyond the fruits of the soil on
which I depend ways & means which I have not. You draw
chiefly the interest we jointly pay for the funds we were
obliged to borrow for the fees & costs the suit of Old Bull
put us to. Your tenants also turn their hands so ingeniously
to a variety of handicrafts & other mechanical productions,
that they make not a little money from that source. Besides
all this, you gain much by the fish you catch & carry to
market; by the use of your teams and boats in transporting
and trading on the crops of my tenants; and indeed in doing
that sort of business for strangers also. This is a fair statement
on your side of the account, with the drawback however,
that as your tenants are supplied with a greater proportion of
articles made by themselves, than is the case with mine, the
use of which articles does not contribute to the common purse,
they avoid in the same proportion, the payments collected
from my tenants. If I were to look still farther into this
matter and refer you to every advantage you draw from the
union of our persons & property, I might remark that the
profits you make from your teams & boats & which enable
you to pay your quota in great part, are drawn from the
preference they have in conveying & disposing of the products
of my soil; a business that might fall into other hands
in the event of our separation. I mention this as I have
already sd. not by way of complaint for I am well satisfied
that your gain is not altogether my loss in this more than in
many other instances; and that what profits you immediately
may profit me also in the long run. But I will not dwell on
these calculations & comparisons of interest which you ought
to weigh as well as myself as reasons agst. the measure to which
you threaten a resort. For when I consult my own heart &
call to mind all the endearing proofs you have given of yours
qeing in sympathy with it, I must needs hope that there are
other ties than mere interest to prevent us from ever suffering
a transient resentment on either side, with or without
cause, to bring on both all the consequences of a divorce; consequences
too which wd. be a sad inheritance indeed for our
numerous and beloved offspring.

As to the other point relative to the Head Stewards I must
own, my worthy husband, that I am altogether at a loss for
any cause of dissatisfaction on your part or blame on mine.
It is true as you say that they have been oftener taken from
among my tenants than yours, but under other circumstances
the reverse might as well have happened. If the individls.
appointed had made their way to the important trust by
corrupt or fallacious means; if they had been preferred merely
because they dwelt on my estate, or had succeeded by any
interposition of mine contrary to your inclination; or finally
if they had administered the trust unfaithfully, sacrificing
your interests to mine, or the interests of both to selfish or
unworthy purposes in either of these cases you wd have ground
for your complaints. But I know J. that you are too just and
too candid not to admit that no such ground exists. The head
Stewards in question cd. not have been appointed without
your own participation as well as mine. They were recommended
to our joint choice by the reputed fairness of their
characters, by their tried fidelity & competency in previous
trusts, and by their exemption from all charges of impure &
grasping designs, and so far were they from being partial to
my interest at the expense of yours, that they were rather
considered by my tenants as leaning to a management more
favorable to yours than to mine. I need not say that I allude
to the bounties direct or indirect to your teams & boats, to
the hands employed in your fisheries, and to the looms and
other machineries which witht. such encouragement wd. not be
able to meet the threatened rivalships of interfering neighbors.
I say only that these ideas were in the heads of some of my
tenants. For myself I shd. not have mentioned them but
as a defence agst. what I must regard as so unfounded

that it ought not to be permitted to make a lasting
impression.[28]

But laying aside all these considerations, I repeat my dear
J. that the appt of the Head Steward lies as much if not more
with you than with me. Let the choice fall where it may,
you will find me faithfully abiding by it, whether it be thought
the best possible one or not, and sincerely wishing that he
may equally improve better opportunities of serving us
both than was the lot of any of those who have gone before
him.

J. who had a good heart as well as sound head &
steady temper was touched with this tender & considerate
language of M. and the bickering wch had sprung up
ended as the quarrels of lovers always, & of married folks
sometimes do, in increased affection & confidence between
the parties.