MARCH 1. (Sunday.)
Last night the negroes of Friendship took it into their ingenious heads to
pay me a compliment of an extremely inconvenient
nature. They thought that it would be highly proper to treat me
with a nightly serenade, just by way of showing their enjoyment
on my return ; and, accordingly, a large body of them arrived at
my doors about midnight, dressed out in their best clotbes, and
accompanied with drums, rattles, and their whole orchestra of
abominable instruments, determined to pass the whole night in
singing and dancing under my windows. Luckily, my negrogovernors
heard what was going forwards, and knowing my taste
a little better than my visitors, they hastened to asure them of
my being in bed and asleep, and with much difficulty persuaded
them to remve into my village. Here they contented themselves with
making a noise for the greatest part of the night ;
and the nest morning, after coming up to see me at breakfast,
they went away quietly. One of them only remained, to inquire
particularly after Lady H—, as her mother had been her nurse,
and she was very particular in her inquiries as to her health, her
children, their ages, and names. When she went away I gave
her a plentiful provision of bread, butter, plantains, and cold
ham from the breakfast-table, part of which she sat down to eat,
intending, as she said, to carry the rest to her piccaniny at
home. But, in half an hour after, she made her appearance
again, saying she was come to take leave of me, and hoped I
would give her a
bit to buy tobacco. I gave her a maccaroni,
which occasioned a great squall of delight. Oh! since I had
given her so much, she would not buy tobacco, but a fowl ; and
then, when I returned, she would bring me a chicken from it for
my dinner; that is, if she could keep the other negroes from
stealing it from her—a piece of extraordinary good luck of
which she seemed to entertain but slender hopes. At length off
she set ; but she had scarcely gone above ten yards from the
house when she turned back, and was soon at my writing-table
once more, with a " Well! here me come to massa again! " So
then she said that she had meant to eat part of the provisions
which I had given her, and carry home the rest to her boy; but
that really it was so good she could not help going on eating and
eating till she had eaten the whole, and now she wanted another
bit of cold ham to carry home to her child, And then she should
away perfectly contented. I ordered Cubina to give her a
hunch of it, and Mrs. Phillis at length took her departure
for good and all.
