The Barbadoes Girl | Page 3

commenced a new style of treatment, and the English
education of Matilda, so far as concerned that most important part of all
education, the management of the temper, in the following manner:
On the family being seated at the dinner-table, Miss Hanson called out,
in a loud and angry tone, "Give me some beer!"
Mr. Harewood had previously instructed the servant who waited upon
them how to act, in case he was thus addressed; and in consequence of
his master's commands, the man took no notice whatever of this claim
upon his attention.

"Give me some beer!" cried she again, in so fierce a manner that the
boys started, and poor Ellen blushed very deeply, not only from the
sense of shame which she felt for the vulgarity of the young lady's
manners, but from a kind of terror, on hearing such a shrill and
threatening voice.
The servant still took no notice of her words, though he did not do it
with an air of defiance, but rather as if it were not addressed to him.
The little angry child muttered, loud enough to be heard--"What a fool
the wretch is!" but as nobody answered what was in fact addressed to
no one, she was at length compelled to look for redress to Mrs.
Harewood, whom, regarding with a mixture of rage and scorn, she now
addressed--"Pray, ma'am, why don't you tell the man to give me some
beer? I suppose he'll understand you, though he seems a fool, and deaf."
"My children are accustomed to say--'Please, Thomas, give me some
beer;' or, 'I'll thank you for a little beer;' and the loud rude manner in
which you spoke, probably astonished and confused him. As, however,
I certainly understand you, I will endeavour to relieve you.--Pray,
Thomas, be so kind as to give Miss Hanson some beer," said Mrs.
Harewood.
Thomas instantly offered it; but the little girl cried out in a rage--"I
won't have it--no! that I won't, from that man: I'll have my own negro
to wait--that I will!--Must I say please to a servant? must a nasty man
in a livery be kind to me?--no! no! no! Zebby, Zebby, I say, come
here!"
The poor black woman, hearing the loud tones of her young lady, to
which she had been pretty well used, instantly ran into the room, before
Mr. Harewood had time to prevent it, and very humbly cried
out--"What does Missy please wanty?"
"Some beer, you black beetle!"
"Is, Missy," said the poor woman, with a sigh, reaching the beer from
Thomas with a trembling hand, as if she expected the glass to be

thrown in her face.
Charles had with great difficulty refrained from laughter on the outset
of this scene; but indignation now suffused his countenance. The young
vixen was an acute observer, and, had she not been cruelly neglected,
might have been a sensible child. It instantly struck her, that his
features disputed her right; and, determined not to endure this from any
one, she instantly threw the beer in the face of poor Zebby,
saying--"There's that for you, madam."
It was not in the forbearance of the children to repress their feelings;
even Edmund exclaimed--"What a brute!"
Ellen involuntarily started up, and hid her face in her mother's lap,
while Charles most good-naturedly offered his handkerchief to the
aggrieved Zebby, kindly condoling with her on her misfortune.
Mr. Harewood now, for the first time, spoke.--"Zebby," said he, in a
calm but stern tone, "it is my strict command, that so long as you reside
under my roof, you never give that young lady any thing again, nor
hold any conversation with her: if you disobey my commands, I shall
be under the necessity of discharging you."
The young lady checked herself, and for a moment looked alarmed; but
recovering, she said--"She is not yours, and you sha'n't discharge her:
she is my own slave, and I will do what I please with her; poor papa
bought her for me, as soon as I was born, and I'll use her as I please."
"But you know your mamma told you, that as soon as she arrived in
England she would be free, and might either return or remain, as she
pleased. Now it so happens that she is much pleased with my family,
and having a sincere regard for your mother, she this morning
requested Mrs. Harewood to engage her in any service she could
undertake: convinced that she was worthy our protection, we have done
this, and therefore all your claims upon her are over."
The little girl, bursting into a passionate flood of tears, ran out of the
room.

Poor Zebby, courtesying, said--"Sir, me hopes you will have much pity
on Missy--she was spoily all her life, by poor massa--her mamma good,