The Story of Mattie J. Jackson | Page 5

night her husband came home with the news that Camp Jackson was
taken and all the soldiers prisoners. Mrs. Lewis asked how the Union
soldiers could take seven hundred men when they only numbered the
same. Mr. L. replied they had seven thousand. She was much
astonished, and cast her eye around to us for fear we might hear her.
Her suspicion was correct; there was not a word passed that escaped
our listening ears. My mother and myself could read enough to make
out the news in the papers. The Union soldiers took much delight in
tossing a paper over the fence to us. It aggravated my mistress very
much. My mother used to sit up nights and read to keep posted about
the war. In a few days my mistress came down to the kitchen again
with another bitter complaint that it was a sad affair that the Unionists
had taken their delicate citizens who had enlisted and made prisoners of
them--that they were babes. My mother reminded her of taking Fort
Sumpter and Major Anderson and serving them the same and that turn
about was fair play. She then hastened to her room with the speed of a
deer, nearly unhinging every door in her flight, replying as she went
that the Niggers and Yankees were seeking to take the country. One
day, after she had visited the kitchen to superintend some domestic
affairs, as she pretended, she became very angry without a word being
passed, and said--"I think it has come to a pretty pass, that old Lincoln,
with his long legs, an old rail splitter, wishes to put the Niggers on an
equality with the whites; that her children should never be on an equal
footing with a Nigger. She had rather see them dead." As my mother
made no reply to her remarks, she stopped talking, and commenced
venting her spite on my companion servant. On one occasion Mr.
Lewis searched my mother's room and found a picture of President
Lincoln, cut from a newspaper, hanging in her room. He asked her what
she was doing with old Lincoln's picture. She replied it was there
because she liked it. He then knocked her down three times, and sent
her to the trader's yard for a month as punishment. My mistress
indulged some hopes till the victory of New Orleans, when she heard
the famous Union song sang to the tune of Yankee Doodle:
The rebels swore that New Orleans never should be taken, But if the

Yankees came so near they should not save their bacon. That's the way
they blustered when they thought they were so handy, But Farragut
steamed up one day and gave them Doodle Dandy.
Ben Butler then was ordered down to regulate the city; He made the
rebels walk a chalk, and was not that a pity? That's the way to serve
them out--that's the way to treat them, They must not go and put on airs
after we have beat them.
He made the rebel banks shell out and pay the loyal people, He made
them keep the city clean from pig's sty to church steeple. That's the way
Columbia speaks, let all men believe her; That's the way Columbia
speaks instead of yellow fever.
He sent the saucy women up and made them treat us well He helped the
poor and snubbed the rich; they thought he was the devil, Bully for Ben.
Butler, then, they thought he was so handy; Bully for Ben Butler
then,--Yankee Doodle Dandy.
The days of sadness for mistress were days of joy for us. We shouted
and laughed to the top of our voices. My mistress was more enraged
than ever--nothing pleased her. One evening, after I had attended to my
usual duties, and I supposed all was complete, she, in a terrible range,
declared I should be punished that night. I did not know the cause,
neither did she. She went immediately and selected a switch. She
placed it in the corner of the room to await the return of her husband at
night for him to whip me. As I was not pleased with the idea of a
whipping I bent the switch in the shape of W, which was the first letter
of his name, and after I had attended to the dining room my fellow
servant and myself walked away and stopped with an aunt of mine
during the night. In the morning we made our way to the Arsenal, but
could gain no admission. While we were wandering about seeking
protection, the girl's father overtook us and persuaded us to return home.
We finally complied. All was quiet. Not a word was spoken respecting
our sudden departure. All went on as usual. I was permitted to attend