Chapter III: Mr. and Mrs. Shelby

It was the design of the writer, in delineating the domestic arrangements of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, to show a picture of the fairest side of slave-life, where easy indulgence and good-natured forbearance are tempered by just discipline and religious instruction, skilfully and judiciously imparted.

The writer did not come to her task without reading much upon both sides of the question, and making a particular effort to collect all the most favorable representations of slavery which she could obtain. And, as the reader may have a curiosity to examine some of the documents, the writer will present them quite at large. There is no kind of danger to the world in letting the very fairest side of slavery be seen; in fact, the horrors and barbarities which are necessarily inherent in it are so terrible that one stands absolutely in need of all the comfort which can be gained from incidents like the subjoined, to save them from utter despair of human nature. The first account is from Mr. J. K. Paulding’s Letters on Slavery; and is a letter from a Virginia planter, whom we should judge, from his style, to be a very amiable, agreeable man, and who probably describes very fairly the state of things on his own domain.

DEAR SIR: As regards the first query, which relates to the “rights
and duties of the slave,” I do not know how extensive a view of this
branch of the subject is contemplated. In its simplest aspect, as
understood and acted on in Virginia, I should say that the slave is
entitled to an abundance of good plain food; to coarse but
comfortable apparel; to a warm but humble dwelling; to protection
when well, and to succor when sick; and, in return, that it is his
duty to render to his master all the service he can consistently
with perfect health, and to behave submissively and honestly. Other
remarks suggest themselves, but they will be more appropriately
introduced under different heads.

2d. “The domestic relations of master and slave.”—These relations
are much misunderstood by many persons at the North, who regard the
terms as synonymous with oppressor and oppressed. Nothing can be
further from the fact. The condition of the negroes in this state
has been greatly ameliorated. The proprietors were formerly fewer
and richer than at present. Distant quarters were often kept up to
support the aristocratic mansion. They were rarely visited by their
owners; and heartless overseers, frequently changed, were employed
to manage them for a share of the crop. These men scourged the land,
and sometimes the slaves. Their tenure was but for a year, and of
course they made the most of their brief authority. Owing to the
influence of our institutions, property has become subdivided, and
most persons live on or near their estates. There are exceptions, to
be sure, and particularly among wealthy gentlemen in the towns; but
these last are almost all enlightened and humane, and alike liberal
to the soil and to the slave who cultivates it. I could point out
some noble instances of patriotic and spirited improvement among
them. But, to return to the resident proprietors: most of them have
been raised on the estates; from the older negroes they have
received in infancy numberless acts of kindness; the younger ones
have not unfrequently been their playmates (not the most suitable, I
admit), and much good-will is thus generated on both sides. In
addition to this, most men feel attached to their property; and this
attachment is stronger in the case of persons than of things. I know
it, and feel it. It is true, there are harsh masters; but there are
also bad husbands and bad fathers. They are all exceptions to the
rule, not the rule itself. Shall we therefore condemn in the gross
those relations, and the rights and authority they imply, from their
occasional abuse? I could mention many instances of strong
attachment on the part of the slave, but will only adduce one or
two, of which I have been the object. It became a question whether a
faithful servant, bred up with me from boyhood, should give up his
master or his wife and children, to whom he was affectionately
attached, and most attentive and kind. The trial was a severe one,
but he determined to break those tender ties and remain with me. I
left it entirely to his discretion, though I would not, from
considerations of interest, have taken for him quadruple the price I
should probably have obtained. Fortunately, in the sequel, I was
enabled to purchase his family, with the exception of a daughter,
happily situated; and nothing but death shall henceforth part them.
Were it put to the test, I am convinced that many masters would
receive this striking proof of devotion. A gentleman but a day or
two since informed me of a similar, and even stronger case, afforded
by one of his slaves. As the reward of assiduous and delicate
attention to a venerated parent, in her last illness, I proposed to
purchase and liberate a healthy and intelligent woman, about thirty
years of age, the best nurse, and, in all respects, one of the best
servants in the state, of which I was only part owner; but she
declined to leave the family, and has been since rather better than
free. I shall be excused for stating a ludicrous case I heard of
some time ago:—A favorite and indulged servant requested his master
to sell him to another gentleman. His master refused to do so, but
told him he was at perfect liberty to go to the North, if he were
not already free enough. After a while he repeated the request; and,
on being urged to give an explanation of his singular conduct, told
his master that he considered himself consumptive, and would soon
die; and he thought Mr. B—— was better able to bear the loss than
his master. He was sent to a medicinal spring and recovered his
health, if, indeed, he had ever lost it, of which his master had
been unapprised. It may not be amiss to describe my deportment
towards my servants, whom I endeavor to render happy while I make
them profitable. I never turn a deaf ear, but listen patiently to
their communications. I chat familiarly with those who have passed
service, or have not begun to render it. With the others I observe a
more prudent reserve, but I encourage all to approach me without
awe. I hardly ever go to town without having commissions to execute
for some of them; and think they prefer to employ me, from a belief
that, if their money should not quite hold out, I would add a little
to it; and I not unfrequently do, in order to get a better article.
The relation between myself and my slaves is decidedly friendly. I
keep up pretty exact discipline, mingled with kindness, and hardly
ever lose property by thievish, or labor by runaway slaves. I never
lock the outer doors of my house. It is done, but done by the
servants; and I rarely bestow a thought on the matter. I leave home
periodically for two months, and commit the dwelling-house, plate,
and other valuables, to the servants, without even an enumeration of
the articles.

3d. “The duration of the labor of the slave.”—The day is usually
considered long enough. Employment at night is not exacted by me,
except to shell corn once a week for their own consumption, and on a
few other extraordinary occasions. _The people_, as we generally
call them, are required to leave their houses at daybreak, and to
work until dark, with the intermission of half an hour to an hour at
breakfast, and one to two hours at dinner, according to the season
and sort of work. In this respect I suppose our negroes will bear a
favorable comparison with any laborers whatever.

4th. “The liberty usually allowed the slave,—his holidays and
amusements, and the way in which they usually spend their evenings
and holidays.”—They are prohibited from going off the estate without
first obtaining leave; though they often transgress, and with
impunity, except in flagrant cases. Those who have wives on other
plantations visit them on certain specified nights, and have an
allowance of time for going and returning, proportioned to the
distance. My negroes are permitted, and, indeed, encouraged, to
raise as many ducks and chickens as they can; to cultivate
vegetables for their own use, and a patch of corn for sale; to
exercise their trades, when they possess one, which many do; to
catch muskrats and other animals for the fur or the flesh; to raise
bees, and, in fine, to earn an honest penny in any way which chance
or their own ingenuity may offer. The modes specified are, however,
those most commonly resorted to, and enable provident servants to
make from five to thirty dollars apiece. The corn is of a different
sort from that which I cultivate, and is all bought by me. A great
many fowls are raised; I have this year known ten dollars worth sold
by one man at one time. One of the chief sources of profit is the
fur of the muskrat; for the purpose of catching which the marshes on
the estate have been parcelled out and appropriated from time
immemorial, and are held by a tenure little short of fee-simple. The
negroes are indebted to Nat Turner[1] and Tappan for a curtailment
of some of their privileges. As a sincere friend to the blacks, I
have much regretted the reckless interference of these persons, on
account of the restrictions it has become, or been thought,
necessary to impose. Since the exploit of the former hero, they have
been forbidden to preach, except to their fellow-slaves, the
property of the same owner; to have public funerals, unless a white
person officiates; or to be taught to read and write. Their funerals
formerly gave them great satisfaction, and it was customary here to
furnish the relations of the deceased with bacon, spirit, flour,
sugar and butter, with which a grand entertainment, in their way,
was got up. We were once much amused by a hearty fellow requesting
his mistress to let him have his funeral during his lifetime, when
it would do him some good. The waggish request was granted; and I
venture to say there never was a funeral the subject of which
enjoyed it so much. When permitted, some of our negroes preached
with great fluency. I was present, a few years since, when an
Episcopal minister addressed the people, by appointment. On the
conclusion of an excellent sermon, a negro preacher rose and thanked
the gentleman kindly for his discourse, but frankly told him the
congregation “did not understand his _lingo_.” He then proceeded
himself, with great vehemence and volubility, coining words where
they had not been made to his hand, or rather his tongue, and
impressing his hearers, doubtless, with a decided opinion of his
superiority over his white co-laborer in the field of grace. My
brother and I, who own contiguous estates, have lately erected a
chapel on the line between them, and have employed an acceptable
minister of the Baptist persuasion, to which the negroes almost
exclusively belong, to afford them religious instruction. Except as
a preparatory step to emancipation, I consider it exceedingly
impolitic, even as regards the slaves themselves, to permit them to
read and write: “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”
And it is certainly impolitic as regards their masters, on the
principle that “knowledge is power.” My servants have not as long
holidays as those of most other persons. I allow three days at
Christmas, and a day at each of three other periods, besides a
little time to work their patches; or, if very busy, I sometimes
prefer to work them myself. Most of the ancient pastimes have been
lost in this neighborhood, and religion, mock or real, has succeeded
them. The banjo, their national instrument, is known but in name, or
in a few of the tunes which have survived. Some of the younger
negroes sing and dance, but the evenings and holidays are usually
occupied in working, in visiting, and in praying and singing hymns.
The primitive customs and sports are, I believe, better preserved
further south, where slaves were brought from Africa long after they
ceased to come here.

6th. “The provision usually made for their food and clothing,—for
those who are too young or too old to labor.”—My men receive twelve
quarts of Indian meal (the abundant and universal allowance in this
state), seven salted herrings, and two pounds of smoked bacon or
three pounds of pork, a week; the other hands proportionally less.
But, generally speaking, their food is issued daily, with the
exception of meal, and consists of fish or bacon for breakfast, and
meat, fresh or salted, with vegetables whenever we can provide them,
for dinner; or, for a month or two in the spring, fresh fish cooked
with a little bacon. This mode is rather more expensive to me than
that of weekly rations, but more comfortable to the servants.
Superannuated or invalid slaves draw their provisions regularly once
a week; and the moment a child ceases to be nourished by its mother,
it receives eight quarts of meal (more than it can consume), and one
half-pound of lard. Besides the food furnished by me, nearly all the
servants are able to make some addition from their private stores;
and there is among the adults hardly an instance of one so
improvident as not to do it. He must be an unthrifty fellow, indeed,
who cannot realize the wish of the famous Henry IV. in regard to the
French peasantry, and enjoy his fowl on Sunday. I always keep on
hand, for the use of the negroes, sugar, molasses, &c., which,
though not regularly issued, are applied for on the slightest
pretexts, and frequently no pretext at all, and are never refused,
except in cases of misconduct. In regard to clothing:—the men and
boys receive a winter coat and trousers of strong cloth, three
shirts, a stout pair of shoes and socks, and a pair of summer
pantaloons, every year; a hat about every second year, and a
great-coat and blanket every third year. Instead of great-coats and
hats, the women have large capes to protect the bust in bad weather,
and handkerchiefs for the head. The articles furnished are good and
serviceable; and, with their own acquisitions, make their appearance
decent and respectable. On Sunday they are even fine. The aged and
invalid are clad as regularly as the rest, but less substantially.
Mothers receive a little raw cotton, in proportion to the number of
children, with the privilege of having the yarn, when spun, woven at
my expense. I provide them with blankets. Orphans are put with
careful women, and treated with tenderness. I am attached to the
little slaves, and encourage familiarity among them. Sometimes, when
I ride near the quarters, they come running after me with the most
whimsical requests, and are rendered happy by the distribution of
some little donation. The clothing described is that which is given
to the crop hands. Home-servants, a numerous class in Virginia, are
of course clad in a different and very superior manner. I neglected
to mention, in the proper place, that there are on each of my
plantations a kitchen, an oven, and one or more cooks; and that each
hand is furnished with a tin bucket for his food, which is carried
into the field by little negroes, who also supply the laborers with
water.

7th. “Their treatment when sick.”—My negroes go, or are carried, as
soon as they are attacked, to a spacious and well-ventilated
hospital, near the mansion-house. They are there received by an
attentive nurse, who has an assortment of medicine, additional
bed-clothing, and the command of as much light food as she may
require, either from the table or the store-room of the proprietor.
Wine, sago, rice, and other little comforts appertaining to such an
establishment, are always kept on hand. The condition of the sick is
much better than that of the poor whites or free colored people in
the neighborhood.

8th. “Their rewards and punishments.”—I occasionally bestow little
gratuities for good conduct, and particularly after harvest; and
hardly ever refuse a favor asked by those who faithfully perform
their duty. Vicious and idle servants are punished with stripes,
moderately inflicted; to which, in the case of theft, is added
privation of meat, a severe punishment to those who are never
suffered to be without it on any other account. From my limited
observation, I think that servants to the North work much harder
than our slaves. I was educated at a college in one of the free
states, and, on my return to Virginia, was struck with the contrast.
I was astonished at the number of idle domestics, and actually
worried my mother, much to my contrition since, to reduce the
establishment. I say to my contrition, because, after eighteen
years’ residence in the good Old Dominion, I find myself surrounded
by a troop of servants about as numerous as that against which I
formerly so loudly exclaimed. While on this subject it may not be
amiss to state a case of manumission which occurred about three
years since. My nearest neighbor, a man of immense wealth, owned a
favorite servant, a fine fellow, with polished manners and excellent
disposition, who reads and writes, and is thoroughly versed in the
duties of a butler and housekeeper, in the performance of which he
was trusted without limit. This man was, on the death of his master,
emancipated with a legacy of six thousand dollars, besides about two
thousand dollars more which he had been permitted to accumulate, and
had deposited with his master, who had given him credit for it. The
use that this man, apparently so well qualified for freedom, and who
has had an opportunity of travelling and of judging for himself,
makes of his money and his time, is somewhat remarkable. In
consequence of his exemplary conduct, he has been permitted to
reside in the state, and for very moderate wages occupies the same
situation he did in the old establishment, and will probably
continue to occupy it as long as he lives. He has no children of his
own, but has put a little girl, a relation of his, to school. Except
in this instance, and in the purchase of a few plain articles of
furniture, his freedom and his money seem not much to have benefited
him. A servant of mine, who is intimate with him, thinks he is not
as happy as he was before his liberation. Several other servants
were freed at the same time, with smaller legacies, but I do not
know what has become of them.

I do not regard negro-slavery, however mitigated, as a Utopian
system, and have not intended so to delineate it. But it exists, and
the difficulty of removing it is felt and acknowledged by all, save
the fanatics, who, like “fools, rush in where angels dare not
tread.” It is pleasing to know that its burdens are not too heavy to
be borne. That the treatment of slaves in this state is humane, and
even indulgent, may be inferred from the fact of their rapid
increase and great longevity. I believe that, constituted as they
are, morally and physically, they are as happy as any peasantry in
the world; and I venture to affirm, as the result of my reading and
inquiry, that in no country are the laborers so liberally and
invariably supplied with bread and meat as are the negro slaves of
the United States. However great the dearth of provisions, famine
never reaches them.

P. S.—It might have been stated above that on this estate there are
about one hundred and sixty blacks. With the exception of infants,
there has been, in eighteen months, but one death that I
remember,—that of a man fully sixty-five years of age. The bill for
medical attendance, from the second day of last November, comprising
upwards of a year, is less than forty dollars.

The following accounts are taken from “Ingraham’s Travels in the South-west,” a work which seems to have been written as much to show the beauties of slavery as anything else. Speaking of the state of things on some Southern plantations, he gives the following pictures, which are presented without note or comment:

The little candidates for “field honors” are useless articles on a
plantation during the first five or six years of their existence.
They are then to take their first lesson in the elementary part of
their education. When they have learned their manual alphabet
tolerably well, they are placed in the field to take a spell at
cotton-picking. The first day in the field is their proudest day.
The young negroes look forward to it with as much restlessness and
impatience as school-boys to a vacation. Black children are not put
to work so young as many children of poor parents in the North. It
is often the case that the children of the domestic servants become
pets in the house, and the playmates of the white children of the
family. No scene can be livelier or more interesting to a
Northerner, than that which the negro quarters of a well-regulated
plantation present on a Sabbath morning, just before church-hours.
In every cabin the men are shaving and dressing; the women, arrayed
in their gay muslins, are arranging their frizzly hair,—in which
they take no little pride,—or investigating the condition of their
children; the old people, neatly clothed, are quietly conversing or
smoking about the doors; and those of the younger portion who are
not undergoing the infliction of the wash-tub are enjoying
themselves in the shade of the trees, or around some little pond,
with as much zest as though slavery and freedom were synonymous
terms. When all are dressed, and the hour arrives for worship, they
lock up their cabins, and the whole population of the little village
proceeds to the chapel, where divine service is performed, sometimes
by an officiating clergyman, and often by the planter himself, if a
church-member. The whole plantation is also frequently formed into a
Sabbath class, which is instructed by the planter, or some member of
his family; and often, such is the anxiety of the master that they
should perfectly understand what they are taught,—a hard matter in
the present state of their intellect,—that no means calculated to
advance their progress are left untried. I was not long since shown
a manuscript catechism, drawn up with great care and judgment by a
distinguished planter, on a plan admirably adapted to the
comprehension of the negroes.

It is now popular to treat slaves with kindness; and those planters
who are known to be inhumanly rigorous to their slaves are scarcely
countenanced by the more intelligent and humane portion of the
community. Such instances, however, are very rare; but there are
unprincipled men everywhere, who will give vent to their ill
feelings and bad passions, not with less good will upon the back of
an indented apprentice, than upon that of a purchased slave. Private
chapels are now introduced upon most of the plantations of the more
wealthy, which are far from any church; Sabbath-schools are
instituted for the black children, and Bible-classes for the
parents, which are superintended by the planter, a chaplain, or some
of the female members of the family.

Nor are planters indifferent to the comfort of their gray-headed
slaves. I have been much affected at beholding many exhibitions of
their kindly feeling towards them. They always address them in a
mild and pleasant manner, as “Uncle,” or “Aunty,”—titles as peculiar
to the old negro and negress as “boy” and “girl” to all under forty
years of age. Some old Africans are allowed to spend their last
years in their houses, without doing any kind of labor; these, if
not too infirm, cultivate little patches of ground, on which they
raise a few vegetables,—for vegetables grow nearly all the year
round in this climate,—and make a little money to purchase a few
extra comforts. They are also always receiving presents from their
masters and mistresses, and the negroes on the estate, the latter of
whom are extremely desirous of seeing the old people comfortable. A
relation of the extra comforts which some planters allow their
slaves would hardly obtain credit at the North. But you must
recollect that Southern planters are men, and men of feeling,
generous and high-minded, and possessing as much of the “milk of
human kindness” as the sons of colder climes—although they may have
been educated to regard that as right which a different education
has led Northerners to consider wrong.

With regard to the character of Mrs. Shelby the writer must say a few words. While travelling in Kentucky, a few years since, some pious ladies expressed to her the same sentiments with regard to slavery which the reader has heard expressed by Mrs. Shelby.

There are many whose natural sense of justice cannot be made to tolerate the enormities of the system, even though they hear it defended by clergymen from the pulpit, and see it countenanced by all that is most honorable in rank and wealth.

A pious lady said to the author, with regard to instructing her slaves, “I am ashamed to teach them what is right; I know that they know as well as I do that it is wrong to hold them as slaves, and I am ashamed to look them in the face.” Pointing to an intelligent mulatto woman who passed through the room, she continued, “Now, there’s B——. She is as intelligent and capable as any white woman I ever knew, and as well able to have her liberty and take care of herself; and she knows it isn’t right to keep her as we do, and I know it too; and yet I cannot get my husband to think as I do, or I should be glad to set them free.”

A venerable friend of the writer, a lady born and educated a slave-holder, used to the writer the very words attributed to Mrs. Shelby:—“I never thought it was right to hold slaves. I always thought it was wrong when I was a girl, and I thought so still more when I came to join the church.” An incident related by this friend of her examination for the church shows in a striking manner what a difference may often exist between theoretical and practical benevolence.

A certain class of theologians in America have advocated the doctrine of disinterested benevolence with such zeal as to make it an imperative article of belief that every individual ought to be willing to endure everlasting misery, if by doing so they could, on the whole, produce a greater amount of general good in the universe; and the inquiry was sometimes made of candidates for church-membership whether they could bring themselves to this point, as a test of their sincerity. The clergyman who was to examine this lady was particularly interested in these speculations. When he came to inquire of her with regard to her views as to the obligations of Christianity, she informed him decidedly that she had brought her mind to the point of emancipating all her slaves, of whom she had a large number. The clergyman seemed rather to consider this as an excess of zeal, and recommended that she should take time to reflect upon it. He was, however, very urgent to know whether, if it should appear for the greatest good of the universe, she would be willing to be damned. Entirely unaccustomed to theological speculations, the good woman answered, with some vehemence, that “she was sure she was not;” adding, naturally enough, that if that had been her purpose she need not have come to join the church. The good lady, however, was admitted, and proved her devotion to the general good by the more tangible method of setting all her slaves at liberty, and carefully watching over their education and interests after they were liberated.

Mrs. Shelby is a fair type of the very best class of Southern women; and while the evils of the institution are felt and deplored, and while the world looks with just indignation on the national support and patronage which is given to it, and on the men who, knowing its nature, deliberately make efforts to perpetuate and extend it, it is but justice that it should bear in mind the virtues of such persons.

Many of them, surrounded by circumstances over which they can have no control, perplexed by domestic cares of which women in free states can have very little conception, loaded down by duties and responsibilities which wear upon the very springs of life, still go on bravely and patiently from day to day, doing all they can to alleviate what they cannot prevent, and, as far as the sphere of their own immediate power extends, rescuing those who are dependent upon them from the evils of the system.

We read of Him who shall at last come to judgment, that “His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner.” Out of the great abyss of national sin he will rescue every grain of good and honest purpose and intention. His eyes, which are as a flame of fire, penetrate at once those intricate mazes where human judgment is lost, and will save and honor at last the truly good and sincere, however they may have been involved with the evil; and such souls as have resisted the greatest temptations, and persisted in good under the most perplexing circumstances, are those of whom he has written, “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”

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Footnote 1:

The leader of the insurrection in lower Virginia, in which upwards of
a hundred white persons, principally women and children, were
massacred in cold blood.