University of Virginia Library

5. V.
The Effect the Proclamation of Secretary Seward
produced in Kentucky.

AT last! The deed is dun! The tiranikle government
which hez sway at Washington hez
finelly extinguished the last glimerin flicker uv Liberty,
by abolishin slavery! The sun didn't go down
in gloom that nite — the stars didn't fade in2 a sickly
yeller, at wich obstinacy uv nachur I wuz considably
astonished.

I got the news at the Post Offis (near wich I am
at present stayin, at the house uv a venerable old
planter, who accepts my improvin conversation and
a occasional promise, wich is cheap, ez equivalent
for board). Sadly I wendid my way to his peaceful
home, dreadin to fling over that house the pall
uv despair. After supper I broke to em ez gently
ez I cood the intelligence that three-fourths uv the

States hed ratified the constooshnel amendment —
that Seward had ishood his proclamation, and that
all the Niggers wuz free!

Never did I see sich sorrer depicted on human
countenance — never wuz there despair uv sich depth.
All nite long the bereaved inmates uv that wunst
happy but now distracted home wept and waled in
agony wich wuz perfectly heart rendin.

“Wo is me,” sobbed the old man, wringin his
hands.

“John Brown's karkis hangs a danglin in the air,
but his sole is marchin on.

“It took posseshun of Seward, and thro his ugly
mouth it spoke the words `the nigger is free,' and
there is no more a slave in all the land.

“Wunst I hed a hundred niggers, and the men
were fat and healthy, and the wenches wuz strong,
and sum uv em wuz fair to look upon.

“They worked in my house, and my fields, from
the rising uv the sun to the goin down uv the same.

“Wuz they lazy? I catted them till they wuz
cured thereof; for lo! they wuz ez a child under
my care.

“Did they run away? From Kentucky they run
North, and lo! the Locofoco Marshals caught them
for me, and brought them back, and delivered them

into my hand, without cost, sayin, lo! here is thy
nigger — do with him ez thou wilt (wich I alluz
did), wich is cheeper than keepin dogs, and jest as
good.

“Solomon wuz wise, for he hed uv konkebines a
suffishensy, but we wuz wiser in our day than
him.

“For he hed to feed his children, and it kost him
shekels uv gold and shekels uv silver, and much
corn and oil.

“We hed our konkebines with ez great a muchness
ez Solomon, but we sold their children for silver,
and gold, and red-dog paper.”

And all nite long the bereaved old patriarch, who
hed alluz bin a father to his servants (and a grandfather
to menny uv em) poured out his lamentations.

In the mornin the niggers wuz called up, and ez
they all hed their koats on, and hed bundles, I spect
they must hev heard the news. The old gentleman
explained the situation to em.

“Yoo will,” sed he, “stay in yoor happy homes
— you will alluz continue to live here, and work
here, ez yoo hev alluz dun!”

The niggers all in korious, with a remarkable
unanimity, remarkt that ef they hed ever bin introdoost
to theirselves, they thought they woodent. In

fact, they hed congregated at that time for the purpose
uv startin life on their own hook.

A paroxysm uv pain and anguish shot over the
old man's face. Nearest to him stood a octoroon,
who, hed she not bin tainted with the accurst blood
uv Ham, wood hev bin considered beautiful. Fallin
on her neck, the old patriarch, with teers a streamin
down his furrowd cheeks, ejackilated, —

“Farewell, Looizer, my daughter, farewell! I
loved yoor mother ez never man loved nigger. She
wuz the solace uv my leisure hours — the companion
uv my yooth. She I sold to pay orf a mortgage on
the place — she and yoor older sisters. Farewell!
I hed hoped to hev sold yoo this winter (for yoo are
still young), and bought out Jinkins; but wo is me!
Curses on the tirent who thus severs all the tender
ties uv nachur. Oh! it is hard for father to part
with child, even when the market's high; but, Oh
God! to part thus —”

And the old gentleman, in a excess uv greef,
swoonded away genteely.

His son Tom hed bin caressin her two little children,
who wuz a half whiter than she wuz. Unable
to restrain hisself, he fell on her neck, and bemoaned
his fate with tetchin pathos.

“Farewell, farewell, mother uv my children!
Farewell faro, and hosses, and shampane — a long
farewell! Your increase wuz my perquisites, and
I sold em to supply my needs. Hed you died, I
cood hev bin resigned; for when dead you ain't
wuth a copper; but to see yoo torn away livin, &
wuth $2,000 in enny market — it's too much, it's
too much!”

And he fainted, fallin across the old man.

“Who'll do the work about the house?” shreekt
the old lady, faintin and fallin across Tom.

“Who'll dress us, and wash us, and wait on us?”
shreekt the three daughters, swoonding away, and
fallin across the old woman.

My first impulse wuz to faint away myself, and
fall across the three daughters; but I restraned myself,
and wuz contented with strikin a attitood and
organizin a tablo. Hustlin the niggers away with a
burnin cuss for their ingratitood, I spent the balance
uv the forenoon in bringin on em too. Wun by
wun they became conshus; but they wuz not theirselves.
Their minds wuz evidently shattered; they
wuz carryin a heavy heart in their buzzums.

Wood, Oh! wood that Seward cood hev seen that
groop! Sich misery does Ablishinism bring in its

trane — sich horrers follers a departure from Dimikratic
teechins. When will reason return to the
people? Eko answers, When?