face of the Federal Constitution. Was it better, in the development of mankind, that this race should have remained in Africa, free to live like the veriest beasts they slaughtered, or should have become useful as slaves, under an enlightened sky? In that day slavery was regarded as an evil-but so difficult of removal that no plan was ever seriously contemplated for its cure. It was many years later that the constant assaults upon the slaveholder by citizens of distant States drove him in his pride and defiance to the proposition that slavery was a moral, political and social blessing. Compared with his situation in Africa, slavery was undoubtedly a political, moral and social blessing to the slave. Whether it was such to the master will remain one of those vexed questions which will be answered according to the sentiments with which habit, education, prejudice and custom have clothed each one of us. Certain it is, that taking the slave-owning planters of that day as a body, there was nowhere under the broad sun a more moral race of men, with purer and more elevated social habits, or with more liberal and benign political institutions. Major General Quitman, a native of New York, wrote in 1822, when but a youth, to his father, the following description of Southern life: 66 "Our bar is quartered at different country seats— not boarding; a Mississippi planter would be insulted by such a proposition, but we are enjoying the hospi"talities that are offered to us on all sides. The awful "pestilence in the city brings out, in strong relief, the "peculiar virtues of these people. The mansions of "the planters are thrown open to all comers and goers "free of charge. charge. Whole families have free quarters 66 66 66 66 "during the epidemic, and country wagons are sent daily to the verge of the smitten city with fowls, vegetables, &c., for gratuitous distribution to the poor. I am now writing from one of these old mansions, and "I can give you no better notion of life at the South "than by describing the routine of a day. The owner "is the widow of a Virginia gentleman of distinction"a brave officer who died in the public service during "the last war with Great Britain. "She herself is a native of this vicinity-of Eng"lish parents, settled here in Spanish times. She is "an intimate friend of my first friend, Mrs. G., and I "have been in the habit of visiting her house ever "since I came South. The whole aim of this excellent "lady seems to be to make others happy. I do not "believe she ever thinks of herself. She is growing "old, but her parlors are constantly thronged with the 66 young and gay, attracted by her cheerful and neverfailing kindness. There are two large families from the city staying here; and every day come ten or a "dozen transient guests. Mint juleps in the morning 66 66 are sent to our room, and then follows a delightful "breakfast in the open veranda. We hunt, ride, fish, "pay morning visits, play chess, read or lounge until dinner, which is served at 2 P. M., in great variety, " and most delicately cooked in what is here called "Creole style-very rich, and many made or mixed "dishes. In two hours afterwards everybody, white "and black, has disappeared. The whole household is asleep-the siesta of the Italians. The ladies retire "to their apartments, and the gentlemen on sofas, set"tees, hammocks, and often gipsy fashion, on the grass "under the spreading oaks. Here, too, in fine weather 66 "the tea-table is always set before. sunset; and then "until bedtime we stroll, sing, play whist or croquet. "It is an indolent, yet charming life, and one quits "thinking and takes to dreaming. 66 66 66 This excellent lady is not rich, merely independent; but by thrifty housewifery and a good dairy and garden she contrives to dispense the most liberal hos"pitality. Her slaves appear to be in a manner free, "yet are obedient and polite, and the farm is well "worked. With all her gayety of disposition and fond"ness for the young she is truly pious; and in her own "apartments every night she has family prayers with "her slaves, one or more of them being often called upon to sing and pray. When a minister visits the house, which happens very frequently, prayers, night "and morning, are always said; and on these occasions "the whole household and the guests assemble in the parlor; chairs are provided for the servants. They "are married by a clergyman of their own color; and a sumptuous supper is always prepared. On public 66 66 66 holidays they have dinners equal to an Ohio barbacue; and Christmas, for a week or ten days, is a pro"tracted festival for the blacks. They are a happy, "careless, unreflecting, good-natured race, who, left to "themselves, would degenerate into drones or brutes; "but subjected to wholesome restraint and stimulus be 66 come the best and most contented of laborers. They "are strongly attached to 'old massa' and 'old missus,' "but their devotion to young massa' and 'young "missus' amounts to enthusiasm. They have great 'family pride, and are the most arrant coxcombs and "aristocrats in the world. At a wedding I witnessed "here last Saturday evening, where some one hundred 66 66 "and fifty negroes were assembled-many being in"vited guests-I heard a number of them addressed as governors, generals, judges and doctors (the titles of "their masters), and a spruce, tight-set darkey, who "waited on me in town, was called 'Major Quitman.' "The colored ladies' are invariably Miss Joneses, "Miss Smiths, or some such title. They are exceed"ingly pompous and ceremonious, gloved and highly 66 perfumed. The 'gentlemen' sport canes, ruffles and "jewelry; wear boots and spurs; affect crape on their "hats, and carry huge cigars. The belles wear gaudy colors, 'tote' their fans with the air of Spanish seno"ritas, and never stir out, though black as the ace of "spades, without their parasols. 66 "In short, these niggers,' as you call them, are the happiest people I have ever seen, and some of them, "in form, features and movements, are real sultanas. So "far from being fed on 'salted cotton seed,' as we used "to believe in Ohio, they are oily, sleek, bountifully "fed, well clothed, well taken care of, and one hears "them at all times whistling and singing cheerily at "their work. They have an extraordinary facility for sleeping. A negro is a great night-walker. He will, "after laboring all day in the burning sun, walk ten "miles to a frolic, or to see his Dinah, and be at home "and at his work by daylight the next morning. This 66 "would knock up a white man or an Indian. 66 66 But a negro will sleep during the day-sleep at his work— sleep on the carriage box, sleep standing up; and I "have often seen them sitting bare-headed in the sun, "on a high rail fence, sleeping as securely as though "lying in a bed. They never lose their equipoise; "and will carry their cotton baskets or their water ves "sels, filled to the brim, poised on their heads, walking "carelessly and at a rapid rate, without spilling a drop. "The very weight of such burdens would crush a white "man's brains into apoplexy. "Compared with the ague-smitten and suffering "settlers that you and I have seen in Ohio, or the sickly "and starved operatives we read of in factories and in "mines, these Southern slaves are indeed to be envied. They are treated with great humanity and kindness." 66 This is a true picture of the home and surroundings of the Southern planter of that day, drawn by an intelligent spectator of Northern birth and education. Such were the homes of Middle Georgia and of Middle Alabama. If the character of the people was not marked with that quiet refinement, that gentle grace and perfect command over every movement of person and every expression of countenance and speech which belonged to the older communities of the coast cities, and which can only be acquired by constant contact with the highly educated, it was at least marked with an unselfishness and a candor, a vigor of mind and a purity of thought and action, which could often shame and put to flight the cold, calculating spirit of the fashionable world. It was not an aristocracy of education and hereditary wealth, but a nobility of nature. The child obtains the imprint of character from the mother. The daughters of that day received a home education. Their constitutions were robust; their health vigorous. They were devoted to the claims of home, husband and children. They were affectionate, industrious, proud and pious. Their world was the home circle; and their occupation was in the broad field of domestic duties. They taught their sons and daughters the simple purity |