Their improvidence has passed into a proverb, many being truly objects of charity; and whoever would now write a true tale of poverty and wretchedness may take for the hero "Old Uncle Tom without a cabin." For "Uncle Tom" of the olden time, in his cabin, with a blazing log fire and plenty of corn bread, and the Uncle Tom of to-day, are pictures of very different individuals.
Reviewing these sketches of our early days, I feel that they are incomplete without a tribute to some of the teachers employed to instruct us. Even in colonial days our great-grandfathers had been sent to England to be educated, so that education was considered all-important in our family, especially with my father, who exerted his influence for public schools and advocated teaching the negroes to read and write, contending that this would increase their value as well as their intelligence.
Determining that my sister and myself should have proper educational advantages, he engaged, while we were young children, a most extraordinary woman to teach us—a Danish lady, better versed in many other languages than in our own. Her name was Henriquez, and her masculine appearance, mind, and manners were such as to strike terror into the hearts of youthfulpupils. Having attended lectures at a college in Copenhagen with several female friends alike ambitious to receive a scientific education, Mme. Henriquez scorned feminine acquirements and acquaintances, never possessing, to my knowledge, a needle or thimble. Her conversation was largely confined to scientific subjects, and was with men whenever possible, rarely descending to anything in common with her own sex. Sometimes in school our recitations would be interrupted by recollections of her early days in Copenhagen, and, instead of pursuing a lesson in geography or grammar, we would be entertained with some marvelous story about her father's palace, the marble stable for his cows, etc. In the midst of correcting a French or German exercise she would sometimes order a waiter of refreshments to be brought into the schoolroom and placed before her on a small table which had a history, being made, as she often related, from a tree in her father's palace grounds, around which the serfs danced on the day of their emancipation. She had a favorite dog named Odin which was allowed the privilege of the schoolroom, andany girl guilty of disrespect to Odin was in serious disgrace.
This Danish lady was succeeded by one of a wholly different type, all grace and accomplishments,a Virginian, and the widow of Major Lomax of the United States Army.
Mrs. Lomax had several accomplished daughters who assisted in her school, and the harp, piano, and guitar were household instruments. The eldest daughter contributed stories and verses, which were greatly admired, to periodicals of that day. One of these stories, published in a Northern journal, won for her a prize of one hundred dollars, and the school-girls were thrilled to hear that she spent it all for a royal purple velvet gown to wear to Miss Preston's wedding in Montgomery County.
In this school Mrs. Lomax introduced a charming corps of teachers from Boston, most cultivated and refined women, whom it will always be a pleasure to remember. Among these were Mrs. Dana, with her accomplished daughter, Miss Matilda Dana, well known in the literary world then as a writer of finished verses.
We had also a bright, sweet-natured littleFrenchwoman, Mlle. Roget, who taught her native language.
Besides these teachers we had a German gentleman, a finished pianist and linguist; and the recollections of those days are like the delicious music that floated around us then from those master-musicians.
After such pleasant school-days at home we were sent away to a fashionable boarding-school in the city of Richmond, presided over by a lady of great dignity and gentleness of manner, combined with high attainments. She was first Mrs. Otis of Boston, and afterward Mrs. Meade of Virginia.
At her school were collected many interesting teachers and pupils. Among the former were Miss Prescott of Boston and Miss Willis, sister of N. P. Willis, both lovable and attractive.
Among the noted girls at Mrs. Meade's school was Amélie Rives[20]of AlbemarleCounty, Va. She spoke French fluently, and seemed to know much about Paris and the French court, her father having been Minister to France.
We looked upon Amélie with great admiration, and, as she wrote very pretty poetry, every girl in the school set her heart upon having some original verses in her album, a favor which Amélie never refused.
Closing this chapter on schools suggests the great difference in the objects and methods of a Virginia girl's education then and now. At that period a girl was expected not only to be an ornament to the drawing-room, but to be also equipped for taking charge of an establishment and superintending every detail of domestic employment on a plantation—the weaving, knitting, sewing, etc.—for the comfort of the negro servants to be some day under her care. I have thus seen girls laboriously draw the threads of finest linen, and backstitch miles of stitching on their brothers' collars and shirt-bosoms. Having no brothers to sew for, I looked on in amazement at this dreary task, and I have since often wished that those persevering and devoted women couldcome back and live their lives over again in the days of sewing-machines.
At that day the parents of a girl would have shuddered at the thought of her venturing for a day's journey without an escort on a railway car, being jostled in a public crowd, or exposed in any way to indiscriminate contact with the outside world, while the proposition of a collegiate course for a woman would have shocked every sensibility of the opposite sex.
How the men of that time would stand aghast to see the girl of the present day elbowing her way through a crowd, buying her ticket at the railway station, interviewing baggage-agents, checking trunks, and seating herself in the train to make a long journey alone, perhaps to enter some strange community and make her living by the practice of law or medicine, lecturing, teaching, telegraphing, newspaper-reporting, typewriting, bookkeeping, or in some other of the various avenues now open to women!
Whether the new system be any improvement upon the old remains open for discussion. It is certain that these widely opposed methods must result in wholly different types of feminine character.
The scenes connected with the late war will recall to the mind of every Southern man and woman the name of Robert E. Lee—a name which will be loved and revered as long as home or fireside remains in old Virginia, and which sets the crowning glory on the list of illustrious men from plantation homes. Admiration and enthusiasm naturally belong to victory, but the man must be rare indeed who in defeat, like General Lee, receives the applause of his countrymen.
It was not alone his valor, his handsome appearance, his commanding presence, his perfect manner, which won the admiration of his fellow-men. There was something above and beyond all these—his true Christian character. Trust in God ennobled his every word and action. Among the grandest of human conquerors was he, for, early enlisting as a soldier of the Cross, to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil,he fought the "good fight," and the victor's crown awaited him in the "kingdom not made with hands."
Trust in God kept him calm in victory as in defeat. When I remember General Lee during the war, in his family circle at Richmond, then at the height of his renown, his manner, voice, and conversation were the same as when, a year after the surrender, he came to pay my mother a visit from his Lexington home.
His circumstances and surroundings were now changed: no longer the stars and epaulets adorned his manly form; but, dressed in a simple suit of pure white linen, he looked a king, and adversity had wrought no change in his character, manner, or conversation.
To reach our house he made a journey, on his old war horse "Traveler," forty miles across the mountains, describing which, on the night of his arrival, he said:
"To-day an incident occurred which gratified me more than anything that has happened for a long time. As I was riding over the most desolate mountain region, where not even a cabin could be seen, I wassurprised to find, on a sudden turn in the road, two little girls playing on a large rock. They were very poorly clad, and after looking a moment at me began to run away. 'Children,' said I, 'don't run away. If you could knowwhoI am, you would know that I am the last man in the world for anybody to run from now.'
"'But we do know you,' they replied.
"'You never saw me before,' I said, 'for I never passed along here.'
"'But we do know you,' they said. 'And we've got your picture up yonder in the house, and you are General Lee! And we aint dressed clean enough to see you.'
"With this they scampered off to a poor low hut on the mountain side."
It was gratifying to him to find that even in this lonely mountain hut the children had been taught to know and revere him.
He told us, too, of a man he met the same day in a dense forest, who recognized him, and, throwing up his hat in the air, said: "General,pleaselet me cheer you," and fell to cheering with all his lungs!
My last recollections of General Lee,when making a visit of several weeks at his house the year before his death, although not coming properly under the head of "plantation reminiscences," may not be inappropriate here.
It has been said that a man is never a hero to his valet; but this could not have been said of General Lee, for those most intimately connected with him could not fail to see continually in his bearing and character something above the ordinary level, something of the hero.
At the time of my visit the Commencement exercises of the college of which he was president were going on. His duties were necessarily onerous. Sitting up late at night with the board of visitors, and attending to every detail with his conscientious particularity, there was little time for him to rest. Yet every morning of that busy week he was ready, with his prayer-book under his arm, when the church bell called its members to sunrise service.
It is pleasant to recall all that he said at the breakfast, dinner, and tea table, where in his hospitality he always insisted upon bringing all who chanced to be at his house atthose hours—on business or on social call.[21]This habit kept his table filled with guests, who received from him the most graceful courtesy.
Only once did I hear him speak regretfully of the past. It was one night when, sitting by him on the porch in the moonlight, he said to me, his thoughts turning to his early childhood:
"It was not my mother's wish that I should receive a military education, and I ought to have taken her advice; for," he continued very sadly, "my education did not fit me for this civil life."
In this no one could agree with him, for it seemed to all that he adorned and satisfactorily filled every position in life, civil or military.
There was something in his manner which naturally pleased everyone without his making an effort; at the same time a dignity and reserve which commanded respectand precluded anything like undue familiarity. All desirable qualities seemed united in him to render him popular.
It was wonderful to observe—in the evenings when his parlors were overflowing with people, young and old, from every conceivable place—how by a word, a smile, a shake of the hand, he managed to giveallpleasure and satisfaction, each going away charmed with him.
The applause of men excited in him no vanity; for those around soon learned that the slightest allusion or compliment, in his presence, to his valor or renown, instead of pleasing, rather offended him. Without vanity, he was equally without selfishness.
One day, observing several quaint articles of furniture about his house, and asking Mrs. Lee where they came from, she told me that an old lady in New York city—of whom neither herself nor the general had ever before heard—concluded to break up housekeeping. Having no family, and not wishing to sell or remove her furniture to a boarding-house, she determined to give it to "thegreatest living man" and that man was General Lee.
She wrote a letter asking his acceptance of the present, requesting that, if his house was already furnished and he had no room, he would use the articles about his college.
The boxes arrived. But—such was his reluctance at receiving gifts—weeks passed and he neither had them opened nor brought to his house from the express office.
Finally, as their house was quite bare of furniture, Mrs. Lee begged him to allow her to have them opened, and he consented.
First there was among the contents a beautiful carpet large enough for two rooms, at which she was delighted, as they had none. But the general, seeing it, quickly said: "That is the very thing for the floor of the new chapel! It must be put there."
Next were two sofas and a set of chairs. "The very things we want," again exclaimed the general," for the platform of the new chapel!"
Then they unpacked a sideboard. "This will dovery well," said the general, "to be placed in the basement of the chapel to hold the college papers!"
And so with everything the lady had sent, only keeping for his own house the articleswhich could not possibly be used for the college or chapel,—a quaint work-table, an ornamental clock, and some old-fashioned preserve-dishes—although his own house was then bare enough, and the donor had particularly requested that only those articles which they did not need at their home should go to the college.
The recollection of this visit, although reviving many pleasant hours, is very sad, for it was the last time I saw the dear, kind face of Mrs. Lee, of whom the general once said, when one of us, alluding to him, used the word "hero": "My dear,Mrs.Lee is the hero. For although deprived of the use of her limbs by suffering, and unable for ten years to walk, I have never heard her murmur or utter one complaint."
And the general spoke truly,—Mrs. Lee was a heroine. With gentleness, kindness, and true feminine delicacy, she had strength of mind and character a man might have envied. Her mind, well stored and cultivated, made her interesting in conversation; and a simple cordiality of manner made her beloved by all who met her.
During this last visit she loved to tellabout her early days at Arlington—her own and her ancestors' plantation home—and in one of these conversations gave me such a beautiful sketch of her mother—Mrs. Custis—that I wish her every word could be remembered that I might write it here.
Mrs. Custis was a woman of saintly piety, her devotion to good works having long been a theme with all in that part of Virginia. She had only one child—Mrs. Lee—and possessed a very large fortune. In early life she felt that God had given her a special mission, which was to take care of and teach the three hundred negroes she had inherited.
"Believing this," said Mrs. Lee to me, "my mother devoted the best years of her life to teaching these negroes, for which purpose she had a school-house built in the yard, and gave her life up to this work; and I think it an evidence of the ingratitude of their race that, although I have long been afflicted, only one of those negroes has written to inquire after me, or offered to nurse me."
These last years of Mrs. Lee's life were passed in much suffering, she being unable tomove any part of her body except her hands and head. Yet her time was devoted to working for her church. Her fingers were always busy with fancy-work, painting, or drawing,—she was quite an accomplished artist,—the results of which were sold for the purpose of repairing and beautifying the church in sight of her window, and as much an object of zeal and affection with her as the chapel was with the general.
Indeed, the whole family entered into the general's enthusiasm about this chapel, just then completed, especially his daughter Agnes, with whom I often went there, little thinking it was so soon to be her place of burial.
In a few short years all three—General Lee, his wife and daughter—were laid here to rest, and this chapel they had loved so well became their tomb.
All plantation reminiscences resemble a certain patchwork, made when we were children, of bright pieces joined with black squares. The black squares were not pretty, but if left out the character of the quilt was lost. And so with the black faces—if left out of our home pictures of the past, the character of the picture is destroyed.
What I have written is a simple record of facts in my experience, without an imaginary scene or character; intended for the descendants of those who owned slaves in the South, and who may in future wish to know something of the lofty character and virtues of their ancestors.
The pictures are strictly true; and should it be thought by any that the brightest have alone been selected, I can only say I knew no others.
It would not be possible for any country to be entirely exempt from crime and wickedness,and in Virginia, too, these existed; for prisons, penitentiaries, and courts of justice were here, as elsewhere, necessary; but it is my sincere belief that the majority of Southern people were true and good. And that they have accomplished more than any other nation toward civilizing and elevating the negro race may be shown from the following paragraph in a late magazine:
"From a very early date the French had their establishment on the western coast of Africa. In 1364 their ships visited that portion of the world. But with all this long intercourse with the white man the natives have profited little. Five centuries have not civilized them, so as to be able to build up institutions of their own. Yet the French have always succeeded better than the English with the negro and Indian element."
Civilization and education are slow; for, says a modern writer:
"After the death of Roman intellectual activity, the seventh and eighth centuries were justly called dark. If Christianity was to be one of the factors in producing the present splendid enlightenment, she had no time to lose, and she lost no time. She wasthe only power at that day that could begin the work of enlightenment. And, starting at the very bottom, she wrought fornine hundred yearsalone. The materials she had to work upon were stubborn and unmalleable. For one must be somewhat civilized to have a taste for knowledge at all; and one must know something to be civilized at all. She had to carry on the double work of civilizing and educating. Her progress was necessarily slow at first. But after some centuries it began to increase in arithmetical progression until the sixteenth century."
Then our ancestors performed a great work—the work allotted them by God, civilizing and elevating an inferior race in the scale of intelligence and comfort. That this race may continue to improve, and finally be the means of carrying the Gospel into their native Africa, should be the prayer of every earnest Christian.
Never again will the negroes find a people so kind and true to them as the Southerners have been.
There is much in our lives not intended for us to comprehend or explain; but, believing that nothing happens by chance, andthat our forefathers have done their duty in the place it had pleased God to call them, let us cherish their memory, and remember that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
"For he who rules each wondrous star,And marks the feeble sparrow's fall,Controls the destiny of man,And guides events however small."Man's place of birth, his home, his friends,Are planned and fixed by God alone—'Life's lot is cast'—e'en death he sendsFor some wise purpose of his own."
"For he who rules each wondrous star,And marks the feeble sparrow's fall,Controls the destiny of man,And guides events however small."Man's place of birth, his home, his friends,Are planned and fixed by God alone—'Life's lot is cast'—e'en death he sendsFor some wise purpose of his own."
"For he who rules each wondrous star,And marks the feeble sparrow's fall,Controls the destiny of man,And guides events however small.
"For he who rules each wondrous star,
And marks the feeble sparrow's fall,
Controls the destiny of man,
And guides events however small.
"Man's place of birth, his home, his friends,Are planned and fixed by God alone—'Life's lot is cast'—e'en death he sendsFor some wise purpose of his own."
"Man's place of birth, his home, his friends,
Are planned and fixed by God alone—
'Life's lot is cast'—e'en death he sends
For some wise purpose of his own."
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:[1]Robert Logan, of Roanoke, Va[2]Rev. G. W. Leyburn[3]John Randolph of Roanoke[4]Colonel Tom Preston[5]General Watts's place, Roanoke[6]George P. Tayloe, Esq[7]The old seat of the Breckinridges, Botetourt County[8]Mrs. Cary Breckinridge[9]"Miss Fanny."[10]William M. Radford, of Greenfield, Botetourt County[11]John Preston, afterward Governor of Virginia[12]Colonel Burwell's[13]On the route to Rustic was a small village called Liberty, approaching which, and hearing the name, "English Louis" swore he would not pass through any such——little republican town, and, turning his horses, traveled many miles out of his way to avoid it[14]From this vicinity went nine ministers who were eminent in their several churches: two Episcopal bishops, one Methodist bishop, three distinguished Presbyterian and three Baptist divines of talent and fame[15]Dr. Cunningham's[16]General Scott[17]General Robert Toombs[18]General Toombs and General Floyd[19]Charles Mosby[20]This interesting girl married Mr. Sigourney of Massachusetts, and after the war, as she was crossing the ocean to Europe with her husband and all her children (except one son) the ill-fated ship sank with nearly all on board. We have heard that, as the ship was going down, Amélie, her husband, and her children formed a circle, hand in hand, and were thus buried in the deep[21]Here was seen the Mount Vernon silver, which had descended to Mrs. General Washington's great-grandson, General Custis Lee, and which was marvelously preserved during the war, having been concealed in different places—and once was buried near Lexington in a barn which was occupied by the enemy several days
[1]Robert Logan, of Roanoke, Va[2]Rev. G. W. Leyburn[3]John Randolph of Roanoke[4]Colonel Tom Preston[5]General Watts's place, Roanoke[6]George P. Tayloe, Esq[7]The old seat of the Breckinridges, Botetourt County[8]Mrs. Cary Breckinridge[9]"Miss Fanny."[10]William M. Radford, of Greenfield, Botetourt County[11]John Preston, afterward Governor of Virginia[12]Colonel Burwell's[13]On the route to Rustic was a small village called Liberty, approaching which, and hearing the name, "English Louis" swore he would not pass through any such——little republican town, and, turning his horses, traveled many miles out of his way to avoid it[14]From this vicinity went nine ministers who were eminent in their several churches: two Episcopal bishops, one Methodist bishop, three distinguished Presbyterian and three Baptist divines of talent and fame[15]Dr. Cunningham's[16]General Scott[17]General Robert Toombs[18]General Toombs and General Floyd[19]Charles Mosby[20]This interesting girl married Mr. Sigourney of Massachusetts, and after the war, as she was crossing the ocean to Europe with her husband and all her children (except one son) the ill-fated ship sank with nearly all on board. We have heard that, as the ship was going down, Amélie, her husband, and her children formed a circle, hand in hand, and were thus buried in the deep[21]Here was seen the Mount Vernon silver, which had descended to Mrs. General Washington's great-grandson, General Custis Lee, and which was marvelously preserved during the war, having been concealed in different places—and once was buried near Lexington in a barn which was occupied by the enemy several days
[1]Robert Logan, of Roanoke, Va
[2]Rev. G. W. Leyburn
[3]John Randolph of Roanoke
[4]Colonel Tom Preston
[5]General Watts's place, Roanoke
[6]George P. Tayloe, Esq
[7]The old seat of the Breckinridges, Botetourt County
[8]Mrs. Cary Breckinridge
[9]"Miss Fanny."
[10]William M. Radford, of Greenfield, Botetourt County
[11]John Preston, afterward Governor of Virginia
[12]Colonel Burwell's
[13]On the route to Rustic was a small village called Liberty, approaching which, and hearing the name, "English Louis" swore he would not pass through any such——little republican town, and, turning his horses, traveled many miles out of his way to avoid it
[14]From this vicinity went nine ministers who were eminent in their several churches: two Episcopal bishops, one Methodist bishop, three distinguished Presbyterian and three Baptist divines of talent and fame
[15]Dr. Cunningham's
[16]General Scott
[17]General Robert Toombs
[18]General Toombs and General Floyd
[19]Charles Mosby
[20]This interesting girl married Mr. Sigourney of Massachusetts, and after the war, as she was crossing the ocean to Europe with her husband and all her children (except one son) the ill-fated ship sank with nearly all on board. We have heard that, as the ship was going down, Amélie, her husband, and her children formed a circle, hand in hand, and were thus buried in the deep
[21]Here was seen the Mount Vernon silver, which had descended to Mrs. General Washington's great-grandson, General Custis Lee, and which was marvelously preserved during the war, having been concealed in different places—and once was buried near Lexington in a barn which was occupied by the enemy several days