University of Virginia Library

18. CHAPTER XVIII.
THE QUARTER.

Having despatched these important matters at
the stable, we left our horses in charge of the servants,
and walked towards the cabins, which were not
more than a few hundred paces distant. These hovels,
with their appertenances, formed an exceedingly
picturesque landscape. They were scattered
over the slope of a gentle hill without order; and many
of them were embowered under old and majestic
trees. The rudeness of their construction rather enhanced
the attractiveness of the scene. Some few
were built after the fashion of the better sort of cottages;
but age had stamped its heavy traces upon
their exterior: the green moss had gathered upon the
roofs, and the coarse weatherboarding had broken,
here and there, into chinks. But the more lowly of
these structures, and the most numerous, were nothing
more than plain log-cabins, compacted pretty
much on the model by which boys build partridgetraps;
being composed of the trunks of trees, still
clothed with their bark, and knit together at the corners
with so little regard to neatness that the timbers,
being of unequal lengths, jutted beyond each
other, sometimes to the length of a foot. Perhaps,
none of these latter sort were more than twelve feet

square, and not above seven in height. A door
swung upon wooden hinges, and a small window of
two narrow panes of glass were, in general, the only
openings in the front. The intervals between the
logs were filled with clay; and the roof, which was
constructed of smaller timbers, laid lengthwise along
it and projecting two or three feet beyond the side or
gable walls, heightened, in a very marked degree, the
rustic effect. The chimneys communicated even a
droll expression to these habitations. They were,
oddly enough, built of billets of wood, having a broad
foundation of stone, and growing narrower as they
rose, each receding gradually from the house to which
it was attached, until it reached the height of the roof.
These combustible materials were saved from the
access of the fire by a thick coating of mud; and the
whole structure, from its tapering form, might be said
to bear some resemblance to the spout of a tea kettle;
indeed, this domestic implement would furnish no unapt
type of the complete cabin.

From this description, which may serve to illustrate
a whole species of habitations very common in
Virginia, it will be seen, that on the score of accommodation,
the inmates of these dwellings were furnished
according to a very primitive notion of comfort.
Still, however, there were little garden-patches attached
to each, where cymblings, cucumbers, sweet
potatoes, water-melons and cabbages flourished in
unrestrained proximity. Add to this, that there were
abundance of poultry domesticated about the premises,
and it may be perceived that, whatever might
be the inconveniences of shelter, there was no want

of what, in all countries, would be considered a
reasonable supply of luxuries.

Nothing more attracted my observation than the
swarms of little negroes that basked on the sunny
sides of these cabins, and congregated to gaze at us
as we surveyed their haunts. They were nearly all
in that costume of the golden age which I have here,
tofore described; and showed their slim shanks and
long heels in all the varieties of their grotesque natures,
from the most knock-kneed to the most bandy-legged.
Their predominant love of sunshine, and
their lazy, listless postures, and apparent content to
be silently looking abroad, might well afford a comparison
to a set of terapins luxuriating in the genial
warmth of summer, on the logs of a mill-pond.

And there, too, were the prolific mothers of this
redundant brood,—a number of stout negro-women
who thronged the doors of the huts, full of idle curiosity
to see us. And, when to these are added a few
reverend, wrinkled, decrepit old men, with faces
shortened as if with drawing-strings, noses that seemed
to have run all to nostril, and with feet of the configuration
of a mattock, my reader will have a tolerably
correct idea of this negro-quarter, its population,
buildings, external appearance, situation and
extent.

Meriwether, I have said before, is a kind and considerate
master. It is his custom frequently to visit
his slaves, in order to inspect their condition, and,
where it may be necessary, to add to their comforts
or relieve their wants. His coming amongst them,
therefore, is always hailed with pleasure. He has

constituted himself into a high court of appeal, and
makes it a rule to give all their petitions a patient
hearing, and to do justice in the premises. This, he
tells me, he considers as indispensably necessary;
—he says, that no overseer is entirely to be trusted:
that there are few men who have the temper
to administer wholesome laws to any population,
however small, without some omissions or irregularities;
and that this is more emphatically true of
those who administer them entirely at their own will.
On the present occasion, in almost every house
where Frank entered, there was some boon to be
asked; and I observed, that in every case, the petitioner
was either gratified or refused in such a
tone as left no occasion or disposition to murmur,
Most of the women had some bargains to offer, of
fowls or eggs or other commodities of household use,
and Meriwether generally referred them to his wife,
who, I found, relied almost entirely on this resource,
for the supply of such commodities; the negroes
being regularly paid for whatever was offered in this
way.

One old fellow had a special favour to ask,—a little
money to get a new padding for his saddle, which,
he said, “galled his cretur's back.” Frank, after a
few jocular passages with the veteran, gave him
what he desired, and sent him off rejoicing.

“That, sir,” said Meriwether, “is no less a personage
than Jupiter. He is an old bachelor, and
has his cabin here on the hill. He is now near
seventy, and is a kind of King of the Quarter. He
has an old horse, that he extorted from me last

Christmas; and I never come here without finding
myself involved in some fresh consequences from
my donation. I believe now, however, that he is
fully equipped with every thing but spurs, with
which I mean to supply him. But he is a preposterous
coxcomb; Ned has given him an old cocked-hat,
and he wears it on Sundays, with a conceit that
has excited the jealousy of all the negroes on the
plantation.”

From this view of the negro population at Swallow
Barn I should not hesitate to pronounce them a
comparatively comfortable and contented race of
people, with much less of the care and vexation of
life than I have often observed in other classes of
society. I expressed this opinion to Meriwether.
His reply may serve to explain the feelings of an intelligent
slave-holder on this subject.

“This topic,” said he, “has grown to possess a
fearful interest of late. The world has begun to discuss
the evils of slavery; and a part of the debate
has been levelled to the comprehension of our negroes.
I believe there is no class of men who may
not be persuaded that they suffer some wrong in the
organization of society;—and, perhaps, it is true;
then, how much easier is it to inflame the ignorant
minds of these people, especially with a subject
so indefensible as slavery? It is theoretically
and morally wrong; and, of course, it may be made
to appear wrong in all its modifications. But, surely,
if these people are consigned to our care, and put
upon our commonwealth, without our agency, the
only duty that is left to us is to administer wholesome

laws for their government, and to make their
servitude as tolerable to them as we can. We are
not bound to submit to internal convulsions to get
rid of them; nor have we a right, in the desire to
free ourselves, to whelm them in greater evils than
they suffer here: A violent removal of them, or a
general emancipation would produce one or the
other of these consequences. When we can part
with them on terms easy to ourselves and to them,
I would do it. In the mean time, we must treat
them kindly and justly. As to the evils they suffer,
I do not believe in them:—the evil generally is on the
side of the master. They are required to do less
work than any other labourers in society, they have
as many privileges as are compatible with the nature
of their occupations: they are subsisted in general
as comfortably, nay, in their estimation of comforts,—
more comfortably than the tillers of the soil of other
nations. And as to the severities that are alleged to
be practised upon them, I think there is more malice
than truth in the accusation: the slave-holders, in this
country at least, are, in the main, men of kind and
humane tempers, as pliant to the touch of pity and
compassion as any class in any country; and as little
likely to inflict sufferings upon their dependants.
Indeed, the owner of slaves is less apt to be harsh in
his requisitions of labour, than those men are who toil
much themselves; because, it is almost invariably
true, that those who are in the habit of severely tasking
themselves, are most inclined to regulate their
demands upon others by their own standard. Our
slaves are punished for misdemeanors, exactly as
disorderly or dishonest persons are punished in all
communities. The different mode of inflicting the punishment
upon slaves causes it to be more remarked.
If a man in New York is committed to prison or
chained in a cell, for robbery, it is called an act of justice,
because it is done by the public authorities; but if
a negro in Virginia should rob his neighbour's barn, he
is whipped by the overseer; and all that the world
knows of it is—that a black man has been cruelly
whipped by order of his master. The punishments in
this community very little exceed in amount the
penalties exacted in other communities.

“It is very well worth the attention of our legislature
to consider whether the negro population be ill
used; and I would give my hearty concurrence to a
law to punish cruelty in masters, because it concerns
humanity, as well as good government, that all such
abuses of power should be checked. But, as to myself,—and
I believe I may speak for my neighbours,
—such a law would be found of exceeding rare application.

“Whenever emancipation of slaves, or the abolition
of slavery is to be required, the requisition must come
from the slave-holding states themselves, as they are
the only persons in this country who are able to deal
with the subject. All other men will be deluded
by the feeling which the abstract question of slavery
excites in their minds,—a feeling of unmitigated abhorrence
of its injustice. We, on the contrary, have
every motive to calm and prudent counsel. Our
lives, fortunes, families,—even our commonwealth—
are put at the hazard of this resolve. In the mean

time, therefore, it seems to me that the real friends of
humanity and justice should rather conspire to allay
the ferments of the country on this question, and, especially,
to soothe the mind of the slave himself, and
reconcile him to a destiny which, in fact, is more free
from want, care or sorrow, than that of most others
who perform the same offices.

“It has sometimes occurred to me,—and I am disposed
to cherish the idea now,—that we in Virginia
might elevate our slave population to a more respectable
footing, by infusing into it something of a feudal
character. I would establish a class of privileged
serfs, somewhat like those, formerly, in parts of Germany.
These should be selected from the most deserving
negroes above the age of forty-five years.
They should be entitled to hold small tracts of land,
under their masters, rendering for it a certain rent,
payable either in personal service or money. I would
create manorial jurisdictions, and give the masters or
stewards of these manors, high civil and criminal
judicial authority; and I would enact a code of laws
particularly adapted to such a class. The effect of
this system would be to relieve us from the support
of a superfluous slave population; to furnish incentives
to good conduct on the part of our slaves, by
placing before them the hope of attaining this feudal
rank; and it would reduce the administration of punishment
amongst our slaves to such specific offences
as would show, in most cases, the motive and the
extent of the infliction;—a circumstance that would
take away from it the objection of its being considered
capricious or vindictive.

“I have not carried out all the details of my plan,”
continued Meriwether,—“but I have a fancy that
this idea may be improved to advantage,—and I
should like myself to begin the experiment. Jupiter
here, should be my first feudatory,—my tenant in soccage,—my
old villain.”

“I suspect,” said I, “Jupiter considers that his
dignity is not to be enhanced by any enlargement of
privilege—as long as he is allowed to walk about in
his cocked hat as King of the Quarter.”

“Perhaps not,” replied Meriwether, laughing:—
“then I shall be forced to make my commencement
upon Carey.”

“Carey, “interrupted Hazard,—“would think it
small promotion to be allowed to hold land under
you.”

“Faith, I shall be without a feudatory to begin
with!”—said Meriwether.—“But come with me: I
have to make a visit to the cabin of old Lucy.”