The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 2, August, 1862 | Page 8

J----; dat am my new wife--my ole wife am up dar whar I cum from.'
'What! have you two wives?'
'Yas, massa, I'se two.'
'But that's contrary to Scripture?'
'No, sar; de Cunnel say 'tan't. He say in Scriptur' dey hab a heap ob 'em, and dat niggers kin hab jess so many as dey likes--a hun'red ef dey want ter.'
'Does the Colonel teach that to his negroes?' I asked, turning to the native.
'Yas, I reckon he do, an' sits 'em th' 'zample, too,' he replied, laughing; 'but th' old sinner knows better'n thet; he kin read.'
'Do you find that in the Bible, Lazarus?'
'Yas, massa, whar I reads it. Dat's whar it tell 'bout David and Sol'mon and all em--dey hab a heap ob wives. A pore ole darky karn't hab nuffin' 'sides dem, an' he orter be 'low'd jess so many as he likes.'
Laughing at the reasoning of the negro, I asked:
'How would you like it, if your wife over at Colonel J----'s had as many husbands as she liked?'
'Wal, I couldn't fine no fault, massa; an' I s'pose she do, dough I doan't knows it, 'case I'se dar only Sundays.'
'Have you any children?'
'Yas, sar, Ise free 'longin' ter de Cunnel, an' four or five--I doan't 'zactly know--up ter hum; but dey'se grow'd up.'
'Is your wife up there married again?'
'Yas, massa, she got anoder man jess w'en I cum 'way; har ole massa make har do it.'
We then left the cabin, and when out of hearing of the blacks, I said to the corn-cracker: 'That may be Scripture doctrine, but I have not been taught so.'
'Scriptur' or no Scriptur', stranger, it's d----d heathenism,' replied the farmer, who, take him all in all, is a superior specimen of the class of small planters at the South; and yet, seeing polygamy practiced by his own slaves, he made no effort to prevent it. He told me that if he should object to his darky cohabiting with the Colonel's negress, it would be regarded as unneighborly, and secure him the enmity of the whole district! And still we are told that slavery is a divine institution!
After this, we strolled off into the woods, where the hands were at work.
They were all stout, healthy, and happy-looking, and in answer to my comments on their appearance, the native said that the negroes on the turpentine-farms are always stronger and longer-lived than those on the rice and cotton-fields. Unless carried off by the fevers incident to the climate, they generally reach a good old age, while the rice-negro seldom lives to be over forty, and the cotton-slave very rarely attains sixty. Cotton-growing, however, my host thought, is not, in itself, much more unhealthy than turpentine-gathering, though cotton-hands work in the sun, while the turpentine-slaves labor altogether in the shade.
'But,' he said, 'the' work 'em harder nor we does, an' doan't feed 'em so well. We give ourn meat and whisky ev'ry day, but them articles is skarse 'mong th' cotton blacks, an' th' rice niggers never get 'em excep' ter Christmas-time, an' thet cums but onst a yar.'
'Do you think the white could labor as well as the black, on the rice and cotton-fields?' I asked.
'Yas, an' better--better any whar; but, in coorse, 'tain't natur' fur black nor white ter stand long a workin' in th' mud and water up ter thar knees; sech work would kill off th' very devil arter a while. But th' white kin stand it longer nor the black, and it's 'cordin' ter reason that he shud; for, I reckon, stranger, that the spirit and pluck uv a man hev a durned sight ter du with work. They'll hole a man up when he's clean down, an' how kin we expec' thet th' pore nig, who's nary a thing ter work fur, an who's been kept under an' 'bused ever sense Adam was a young un'--how kin we expec' he'll work like men thet own 'emselfs, an' whose faders hev been free ever sense creation? I reckon that the parient has a heap ter du with makin' th' chile. He puts the sperit inter 'im: doan't we see it in hosses an' critters an' sech like? It mayn't crap eout ter onst, but it's shore ter in th' long run, and thet's th' way th' black han't no smarter nor he is. He's been a-ground down an' kept under fur so long thet it'll take more'n 'un gin'ration ter bring him up. 'Tan't his fault thet he's no more sperit, an' p'raps 'tan't ourn--thet is, them on us as uses 'em right--but it war the fault uv yer fader an' mine--yer fader stole 'em, and mine bought 'em, an' the' both made cattle uv 'em.'
'But I had supposed the black was better fitted by nature for hard labor, in a hot climate, than the