by G. A. Henty
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WITH LEE IN VIRGINIA
_A STORY OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR_
BY
G. A. HENTY
AUTHOR OF "WITH CLIVE IN INDIA," "WITH WOLFE IN CANADA," "BY ENGLAND'SAID," "IN THE REIGN OF TERROR," "THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN"
NEW YORKHURST AND COMPANYPUBLISHERS
PREFACE.
My Dear Lads:
The Great War between the Northern and Southern States of Americapossesses a peculiar interest to us, not only because it was a strugglebetween two sections of a people akin to us in race and language, butbecause of the heroic courage with which the weaker party, with ill-fed,ill-clad, ill-equipped regiments, for four years sustained the contestwith an adversary not only possessed of immense numerical superiority,but having the command of the sea, and being able to draw its arms andmunitions of war from all the manufactories of Europe. Authorities stilldiffer as to the rights of the case. The Confederates firmly believedthat the States, having voluntarily united, retained the right ofwithdrawing from the Union when they considered it for their advantageto do so. The Northerners took the opposite point of view, and an appealto arms became inevitable. During the first two years of the war thestruggle was conducted without inflicting unnecessary hardship upon thegeneral population. But later on the character of the war changed, andthe Federal armies carried widespread destruction wherever they marched.Upon the other hand, the moment the struggle was over the conduct of theconquerors was marked by a clemency and generosity altogether unexampledin history, a complete amnesty being granted, and none, whether soldiersor civilians, being made to suffer for their share in the rebellion. Thecredit of this magnanimous conduct was to a great extent due to GeneralsGrant and Sherman, the former of whom took upon himself theresponsibility of granting terms which, although they were finallyratified by his government, were at the time received with anger andindignation in the North. It was impossible, in the course of a singlevolume, to give even a sketch of the numerous and complicated operationsof the war, and I have therefore confined myself to the central point ofthe great struggle--the attempts of the Northern armies to force theirway to Richmond, the capital of Virginia and the heart of theConfederacy. Even in recounting the leading events in these campaigns, Ihave burdened my story with as few details as possible, it being myobject now, as always, to amuse, as well as to give instruction in thefacts of history.
Yours sincerely,
G. A. Henty.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. A Virginia Plantation,
II. Buying a Slave,
III. Aiding a Runaway,
IV. Safely Back,
V. Secession,
VI. Bull Run,
VII. The "Merrimac" and the "Monitor,"
VIII. McClellan's Advance,
IX. A Prisoner,
X. The Escape,
XI. Fugitives,
XII. The Bushwhackers,
XIII. Laid Up,
XIV. Across the Border,
XV. Fredericksburg,
XVI. The Search for Dinah,
XVII. Chancellorsville,
XVIII. A Perilous Undertaking,
XIX. Free!
XX. The End of the Struggle,
WITH LEE IN VIRGINIA.
CHAPTER I.
A VIRGINIA PLANTATION.
"I won't have it, Pearson; so it's no use your talking. If I had my wayyou shouldn't touch any of the field hands. And when I get my way--thatwon't be so very long--I will take very good care you shan't. But youshan't hit Dan."
"He is not one of the regular house hands," was the reply; "and I shallappeal to Mrs. Wingfield as to whether I am to be interfered with in thedischarge of my duties."
"You may appeal to my mother if you like, but I don't think that youwill get much by it. You are too fond of that whip, Pearson. It neverwas heard on the estate during my father's time, and it shan't be againwhen it comes to be mine, I can tell you. Come along, Dan; I want you atthe stables."
Vincent Wingfield turned on his heel, and followed by Dan, a negro ladof some eighteen years old, he walked toward the house, leaving JonasPearson, the overseer of the Orangery Estate, looking after him with anevil expression of face.
Vincent Wingfield was the son of an English officer, who, making a tourin the States, had fallen in love with and won the hand of WinifredCornish, a Virginia heiress, and one of the belles of Richmond. Afterthe marriage he had taken her to visit his family in England; but shehad not been there many weeks before the news arrived of the suddendeath of her father. A month later she and her husband returned toVirginia, as her presence was required there in reference to businessmatters connected with the estate, of which she was now the mistress.
The Orangery, so called from a large conservatory built by Mrs.Wingfield's grandfather, was the family seat, and the broad lands aroundit were tilled by upward of two hundred slaves. There were in additionthree other properties lying in different parts of the State. HereVincent, with two sisters, one older and one younger than himself, hadbeen born. When he was eight years old Major and Mrs. Wingfield had goneover with their children to England, and had left Vincent there for fouryears at school, his holidays being spent at the house of his father'sbrother, a country gentleman in Sussex. Then he had been sent forunexpectedly; his father saying that his health was not good, and thathe should like his son to be with him. A year later his father died.
Vincent was now nearly sixteen years old, and would upon coming of ageassume the reins of power at the Orangery, of which his mother, however,would be the actual mistress as long as she lived. The four yearsVincent had passed in the English school had done much to render theinstitution of slavery repugnant to him, and his father had had manyserious talks with him during the last year of his life, and had shownhim that there was a good deal to be said upon both sides of thesubject.
"There are good plantations and bad plantations, Vincent; and there aremany more good ones than bad ones. There are brutes to be foundeverywhere. There are bad masters in the Southern States just as thereare bad landlords in every European country. But even from self-interestalone, a planter has greater reason for caring for the health andcomfort of his slaves than an English farmer has in caring for thecomfort of his laborers. Slaves are valuable property, and if they areover-worked or badly cared for they decrease in value. Whereas if thelaborer falls sick or is unable to do his work the farmer has simply tohire another hand. It is as much the interest of a planter to keep hisslaves in good health and spirits as it is for a farmer to feed andattend to his horses properly.
"Of the two, I consider that the slave with a fairly kind master is tothe full as happy as the ordinary English laborer. He certainly does notwork so hard, if he is ill he is carefully attended to, he is well fed,he has no cares or anxieties whatever, and when old and past work he hasno fear of the workhouse staring him in the face. At the same time I amquite ready to grant that there are horrible abuses possible under thelaws connected with slavery.
"The selling of slaves, that is to say, the breaking up of families andselling them separately, is horrible and abominable. If an estate weresold together with all the slaves upon it, there would be no morehardship in the matter than there is when an estate changes hands inEngland, and the laborers upon it work for the new master instead of theold. Were I to liberate all the slaves on this estate to-morrow and
tosend them North, I do not think that they would be in any way benefitedby the change. They would still have to work for their living as they donow, and being naturally indolent and shiftless would probably fare muchworse. But against the selling of families separately and the use of thelash I set my face strongly.
"At the same time, my boy, whatever your sentiments may be on thissubject, you must keep your mouth closed as to them. Owing to theattempts of Northern Abolitionists, who have come down here stirring upthe slaves to discontent, it is not advisable, indeed it is absolutelydangerous, to speak against slavery in the Southern States. Theinstitution is here, and we must make the best we can of it. People hereare very sore at the foul slanders that have been published by Northernwriters. There have been many atrocities perpetrated undoubtedly, bybrutes who would have been brutes wherever they had been born; but tocollect a series of such atrocities, to string them together into astory, and to hold them up, as Mrs. Beecher Stowe has, as a picture ofslave life in the Southern States, is as gross a libel as if anyone wereto make a collection of all the wife-beatings and assaults of drunkenEnglish ruffians, and to publish them as a picture of the average lifeof English people.
"Such libels as these have done more to embitter the two sections ofAmerica against each other than anything else. Therefore, Vincent, myadvice to you is, be always kind to your slaves--not over-indulgent,because they are very like children and indulgence spoils them--but beat the same time firm and kind to them, and with other people avoidentering into any discussions or expressing any opinion with regard toslavery. You can do no good, and you can do much harm. Take things asyou find them and make the best of them. I trust that the time may comewhen slavery will be abolished; but I hope, for the sake of the slavesthemselves, that when this is done it will be done gradually andthoughtfully, for otherwise it would inflict terrible hardship andsuffering upon them as well as upon their masters."
There were many such conversations between father and son, for feelingon the subject ran very high in the Southern States, and the former feltthat it was of the utmost importance to his son that he should avoidtaking any strong line in the matter. Among the old families of Virginiathere was indeed far less feeling on this subject than in some of theother States. Knowing the good feeling that almost universally existedbetween themselves and their slaves, the gentry of Virginia regardedwith contempt the calumnies of which they were the subject. Secure inthe affection of their slaves, an affection which was afterwardabundantly proved during the course of the war, they scarcely saw theugly side of the question. The worst masters were the smallest ones; theman who owned six slaves was far more apt to extort the utmost possiblework from them than the planter who owned three or four hundred. Andthe worst masters of all, were those who, having made a little money intrade or speculation in the towns, purchased a dozen slaves, a smallpiece of land, and tried to set up as gentry.
In Virginia the life of the large planters was almost a patriarchal one;the indoor slaves were treated with extreme indulgence, and werepermitted a far higher degree of freedom of remark and familiarity thanis the case with servants in an English household. They had been thenurses or companions of the owners when children, had grown up withthem, and regarded themselves, and were regarded by them, as almost partof the family. There was, of course, less connection between theplanters and their field hands; but these also had for the most partbeen born on the estate, had as children been taught to look up to theirwhite masters and mistresses, and to receive many little kindnesses attheir hands.
They had been cared for in sickness, and knew that they would beprovided for in old age. Each had his little allotment, and could raisefruit, vegetables, and fowls, for his own use or for sale, in hisleisure time. The fear of loss of employment, or the pressure of want,ever present to our English laborers, had never fallen upon them. Theclimate was a lovely one, and their work far less severe than that ofmen forced to toil in cold and wet, winter and summer. The institutionof slavery assuredly was capable of terrible abuses, and was marked inmany instances by abominable cruelty and oppression; but taken all inall, the negroes on a well-ordered estate, under kind masters, wereprobably a happier class of people than the laborers upon any estate inEurope.
Jonas Pearson had been overseer in the time of Major Wingfield, but hisauthority had at that time been comparatively small, for the majorhimself personally supervised the whole working of the estate, and wasgreatly liked by the slaves, whose chief affections were, however,naturally bestowed upon their mistress, who had from childhood beenbrought up in their midst. Major Wingfield had not liked his overseer,but he had never any ground to justify him making a change. Jonas, whowas a Northern man, was always active and energetic; all MajorWingfield's orders were strictly and punctually carried out, andalthough he disliked the man, his employer acknowledged him to be anexcellent servant.
After the major's death, Jonas Pearson had naturally obtained greatlyincreased power and authority. Mrs. Wingfield had great confidence inhim, his accounts were always clear and precise, and although theprofits of the estate were not quite so large as they had been in herhusband's lifetime, this was always satisfactorily explained by a fallin prices, or by a part of the crops being affected by the weather. Sheflattered herself that she herself managed the estate, and at times rodeover it, made suggestions, and issued orders, but this was only in fitsand starts; and although Jonas came up two or three times a week to thehouse nominally to receive her orders, he managed her so adroitly, thatwhile she believed that everything was done by her directions, she inreality only followed out the suggestions which, in the first place,came from him.
She was aware, however, that there was less content and happiness on theestate than there had been in the old times. Complaints had reached herfrom time to time of overwork and harsh treatment. But upon inquiringinto these matters, Jonas had always such plausible reasons to give thatshe was convinced he was in the right, and that the fault was among theslaves themselves, who tried to take advantage of the fact that they hadno longer a master's eye upon them, and accordingly tried to shirk work,and to throw discredit upon the man who looked after the interests oftheir mistress; and so gradually Mrs. Wingfield left the management ofher affairs more and more in the hands of Jonas, and relied moreimplicitly upon him.
The overseer spared no pains to gain the good will of Vincent. When thelatter declared that the horse he rode had not sufficient life andspirit for him, Jonas had set inquiries on foot, and had selected forhim a horse which, for speed and bottom, had no superior in the State.One of Mrs. Wingfield's acquaintances, however, upon hearing that shehad purchased the animal, told her that it was notorious for its vicioustemper, and she spoke angrily to Jonas on the subject in the presence ofVincent. The overseer excused himself by saying that he had certainlyheard that the horse was high spirited and needed a good rider, and thathe should not have thought of selecting it had he not known that Mr.Vincent was a first-class rider, and would not care to have a horse thatany child could manage.
The praise was not undeserved. The gentlemen of Virginia were celebratedas good riders; and Major Wingfield, himself a cavalry man, had beenanxious that Vincent should maintain the credit of his English blood,and had placed him on a pony as soon as he was able to sit on one. Apony had been kept for his use during his holidays at his uncle's inEngland, and upon his return Vincent had, except during the hours hespent with his father, almost lived on horseback, either riding aboutthe estate, or paying visits to the houses of other planters.
For an hour or more everyday he exercised his father's horses in apaddock near the house, the major being wheeled down in an easy-chairand superintending his riding. As these horses had little to do and werefull of spirit, Vincent's powers were often taxed to the utmost, and hehad many falls; but the soil was light, and he had learned the knack offalling easily, and from constant practice was able at the age offourteen to stick on firmly even without a saddle, and was absolutelyfearless as to any animal he mounted.
In the two years which had followed he had kept up his riding. Everymorning after breakfast he rode to Richmond, six miles distant, put uphis horse at some stable there, and spent three hours at school; therest of the day was his own, and he would often ride off with some ofhis schoolfellows who had also come in from a distance, and not returnhome till late in the evening. Vincent took after his English fatherrather than his Virginia mother, both in appearance and character, andwas likely to become as tall and brawny a man as the former had beenwhen he first won the love of the Virginia heiress.
He was full of life and energy, and in this respect offered a strongcontrast to most of his schoolfellows of the same age. For althoughsplendid riders and keen sportsmen, the planters of Virginia were inother respects inclined to indolence; the result partly of the climate,partly of their being waited upon from childhood by attendants ready tocarry out every wish. He had his father's cheerful disposition and goodtemper, together with the decisive manner so frequently acquired by aservice in the army, and at the same time he had something of the warmthand enthusiasm of the Virginia character.
Good rider as he was, he was somewhat surprised at the horse theoverseer had selected for him. It was certainly a splendid animal, withgreat bone and power; but there was no mistaking the expression of itsturned-back eye, and the ears that lay almost flat on the head whenanyone approached him.
"It is a splendid animal, no doubt, Jonas," he said the first time heinspected it; "but he certainly looks as if he had a beast of a temper.I fear what was told my mother about him is no exaggeration; for Mr.Markham told me to-day, when I rode down there with his son, and said wehad bought Wildfire, that a friend of his had had him once, and onlykept him for a week, for he was the most vicious brute he ever saw."
"I am sorry I have bought him now, sir," Jonas said. "Of course I shouldnot have done so if I had heard these things before; but I was told hewas one of the finest horses in the country, only a little tricky, andas his price was so reasonable I thought it a great bargain. But I seenow I was wrong, and that it wouldn't be right for you to mount him; soI think we had best send him in on Saturday to the market and let it gofor what it will fetch. You see, sir, if you had been three or fouryears older it would have been different; but naturally at your age youdon't like to ride such a horse as that."
"I shan't give up without a trial," Vincent said shortly. "It is aboutthe finest horse I ever saw; and if it hadn't been for its temper, itwould have been cheap at five times the sum you gave for it. I haveridden a good many bad-tempered horses for my friends during the lastyear, and the worst of them couldn't get me off."
"Well, sir, of course you will do as you please," Jonas said; "butplease to remember if any harm comes of it, that I strongly advised younot to have anything to do with it, and I did my best to dissuade youfrom trying."
Vincent nodded carelessly, and then turned to the black groom.
"Jake, get out that cavalry saddle of my father's, with the high cantleand pommel, and the rolls for the knees. It's like an armchair, and ifone can't stick on on that, one deserves to be thrown."
While the groom was putting on the saddle, Vincent stood patting thehorse's head and talking to it, and then taking its rein led it downinto the inclosure.
"No, I don't want the whip," he said, as Jake offered him one. "I havegot the spurs, and likely enough the horse's temper may have beenspoiled by knocking it about with a whip; but we will try what kindnesswill do with it first."
"Me no like his look, Massa Vincent; he debble of a hoss dat."
"I don't think he has a nice temper, Jake; but people learn to controltheir temper, and I don't see why horses shouldn't. At any rate we willhave a try at it. He looks as if he appreciates being patted and spokento already. Of course if you treat a horse like a savage he will becomesavage. Now, stand out of the way."
Gathering the reins together, and placing one hand upon the pommel,Vincent sprang into the saddle without touching the stirrups; then hesat for a minute or two patting the horse's neck. Wildfire, apparentlydisgusted at having allowed himself to be mounted so suddenly, lashedout viciously two or three times, and then refused to move. For half anhour Vincent tried the effect of patient coaxing, but in vain.
"Well, if you won't do it by fair means you must by foul," Vincent saidat last, and sharply pricked him with his spurs.
Wildfire sprang into the air, and then began a desperate series ofefforts to rid himself of his rider, rearing and kicking in such quicksuccession that he seemed half the time in the air. Finding after awhile that his efforts were unavailing, he subsided at last into sulkyimmovability. Again Vincent tried coaxing and patting, but as no successattended these efforts, he again applied the spur sharply. This time thehorse responded by springing forward like an arrow from a bow, dashed atthe top of his speed across the inclosure, cleared the high fencewithout an effort, and then set off across the country.
He had attempted to take the bit in his teeth, but with a sharp jerk ashe drove the spurs in, Vincent had defeated his intention. He now didnot attempt to check or guide him, but keeping a light hand on the reinslet him go his own course. Vincent knew that so long as the horse wasgoing full speed it could attempt no trick to unseat him, and hetherefore sat easily in his saddle.
For six miles Wildfire continued his course, clearing every obstaclewithout abatement to his speed, and delighting his rider with his powerand jumping qualities. Occasionally, only when the course he was takingwould have led him to obstacles impossible for the best jumper tosurmount, Vincent attempted to put the slightest pressure upon one reinor the other, so as to direct it to an easier point.
At the end of six miles the horse's speed began slightly to abate, andVincent, abstaining from the use of his spurs, pressed it with his kneesand spoke to it cheerfully, urging it forward. He now from time to timebent forward and patted it, and for another six miles kept it going at aspeed almost as great as that at which it had started. Then he allowedit gradually to slacken its pace, until at last first the gallop andthen the trot ceased, and it broke into a walk.
"You have had a fine gallop, old fellow," Vincent said, patting it; "andso have I. There's been nothing for you to lose your temper about, andthe next road we come upon we will turn your face homeward. Half a dozenlessons like this, and then, no doubt, we shall be good friends."
The journey home was performed at a walk, Vincent talking the greaterpart of the time to the horse. It took a good deal more than six lessonsbefore Wildfire would start without a preliminary struggle with hismaster, but in the end kindness and patience conquered. Vincent oftenvisited the horse in the stables, and, taking with him an apple or somepieces of sugar, spent some time there talking to and petting it. Henever carried a whip, and never used the spurs except in forcing it tomake its first start.
Had the horse been naturally ill-tempered Vincent would probably havefailed, but, as he happened afterward to learn, its first owner had beena hot-tempered and passionate young planter, who, instead of beingpatient with it, had beat it about the head, and so rendered it restiveand bad-tempered. Had Vincent not laid aside his whip before mounting itfor the first time, he probably would never have effected a cure. It wasthe fact that the animal had no longer fear of his old enemy the whip,as much as the general course of kindness and good treatment, that hadeffected the change in his behavior.
It was just when Vincent had established a good understanding betweenhimself and Wildfire that he had the altercation with the overseer, whomhe found about to flog the young negro Dan. Pearson had sent the ladhalf an hour before on a message to some slaves at work at the other endof the estate, and had found him sitting on the ground watching a treein which he had discovered a 'possum. That Dan deserved punishment wasundoubted. He had at present no regular employment upon the estate.Jake, his father, was head of the stables, and Dan had made himselfuseful in odd jobs about the horses, and expected to become one of theregular stable hands. The overseer was of opinion that there werealready more neg
roes in the stable than could find employment, and hadurged upon Mrs. Wingfield that one of the hands there and the boy Danshould be sent out to the fields. She, however, refused.
"I know you are quite right, Jonas, in what you say. But there werealways four hands in the stable in my father's time, and there alwayshave been up to now; and though I know they have an easy time of it, Icertainly should not like to send any of them out into the fields. As toDan, we will think about it. When his father was about his age he usedto lead my pony when I first took to riding, and when there is a vacancyDan must come into the stable. I could not think of sending him out as afield hand; in the first place for his father's sake, but still more forthat of Vincent. Dan used to be told off to see that Vincent did not getinto mischief when he was a little boy, and he has run his messages andbeen his special boy since he came back. Vincent wanted to have him ashis regular house servant; but it would have broken old Sam's heart if,after being my father's boy and my husband's, another had taken hisplace as Vincent's."
And so Dan had remained in the stable, but regarding Vincent as hisspecial master, carrying messages for him to his friends, or doing anyodd jobs he might require, and spending no small portion of his time insleep. Thus he was an object of special dislike to the overseer; in thefirst place because he had not succeeded in having his way with regardto him, and in the second because he was a useless hand, and theoverseer loved to get as much work as possible out of everyone on theestate. The message had been a somewhat important one, as he wanted theslaves for some work that was urgently required; and he lost his temper,or he would not have done an act which would certainly bring him intocollision with Vincent.
He was well aware that the lad did not really like him, and that hisefforts to gain his good will had failed, and he had foreseen thatsooner or later there would be a struggle for power between them.However, he relied upon his influence with Mrs. Wingfield, and upon thefact that she was the life owner of the Orangery, and believed that hewould be able to maintain his position even when Vincent came of age.Vincent on his side objected to the overseer's treatment of the hands ofwhich he heard a good deal from Dan, and had already remonstrated withhis mother on the subject.
He, however, gained nothing by this. Mrs. Wingfield had replied that hewas too young to interfere in such matters, that his English ideas wouldnot do in Virginia, and that naturally the slaves were set against theoverseer; and that now Pearson had no longer a master to support him, hewas obliged to be more severe than before to enforce obedience. At thesame time it vexed her at heart that there should be any severity on theOrangery Estate, where the best relations had always prevailed betweenthe masters and slaves and she had herself spoken to Jonas on thesubject.
He had given her the same answer that she had given her son: "The slaveswill work for a master, Mrs. Wingfield, in a way they will not for astranger. They set themselves against me, and if I were not severe withthem I should get no work at all out of them. Of course, if you wish it,they can do as they like; but in that case they must have anotheroverseer. I cannot see a fine estate going to ruin. I believe myselfsome of these Abolition fellows have been getting among them and doingmischief, and that there is a bad spirit growing up among them. I canassure you that I am as lenient with them as it is possible to be. Butif they won't work I must make them, so long as I stay here."
And so the overseer had had his way. She knew that the man was a goodservant, and that the estate was kept in excellent order. After all, theseverities of which she had heard complaints were by no means excessive,and it was not to be expected that a Northern overseer could ruleentirely by kindness, as the owner of an estate could do. A change wouldbe most inconvenient to her, and she would have difficulty in suitingherself so well another time. Besides, the man had been with her sixteenyears, and was, as she believed, devoted to her interests. Therefore sheturned a deaf ear to Vincent's remonstrances.
She had always been somewhat opposed to his being left in England atschool, urging that he would learn ideas there that would clash withthose of the people among whom his life was to be spent; and she stillconsidered that her views had been justified by the result.
The overseer was the first to give his version of the story about Dan'sconduct; for on going to the house Vincent found his sisters, Rosa andAnnie, in the garden, having just returned from a two days' visit tosome friends in Richmond, and stayed chatting with them and listening totheir news for an hour, and in the meantime Jonas had gone in and seenMrs. Wingfield and told his story.
"I think, Mrs. Wingfield," he said when he had finished, "that it willbe better for me to leave you. It is quite evident that I can have noauthority over the hands if your son is to interfere when I am about topunish a slave for an act of gross disobedience and neglect. I foundthat all the tobacco required turning, and now it will not be done thisafternoon, owing to my orders not being carried out, and the tobaccowill not improbably be injured in quality. My position is difficultenough as it is; but if the slaves see that instead of being supported Iam thwarted by your son, my authority is gone altogether. No overseercan carry on his work properly under such circumstances."
"I will see to the matter, Jonas," Mrs. Wingfield said decidedly. "Beassured that you have my entire support, and I will see that my son doesnot again interfere."
When, therefore, Vincent entered the house and began his complaint, hefound himself cut short.
"I have heard the story already, Vincent. Dan acted in grossdisobedience, and thoroughly deserved the punishment Jonas was about togive him. The work of the estate cannot be carried on if such conduct isto be tolerated; and once for all, I will permit no interference on yourpart with Jonas. If you have any complaints to make, come to me and makethem; but you are not to interfere in any way with the overseer. As forDan, I have directed Jonas that the next time he gives cause forcomplaint he is to go into the fields."
Vincent stood silent for a minute, then he said quietly:
"Very well, mother. Of course you can do as you like; but at any rate Iwill not keep my mouth shut when I see that fellow ill-treating theslaves. Such things were never done in my father's time, and I won't seethem done now. You said the other day you would get me a nomination toWest Point as soon as I was sixteen. I should be glad if you would doso. By the time I have gone through the school, you will perhaps seethat I have been right about Jonas."
So saying, he turned and left the room and again joined his sisters inthe drawing room.
"I have just told mother that I will go to West Point, girls," he said."Father said more than once that he thought it was the best education Icould get in America."
"But I thought you had made up your mind that you would rather stop athome, Vincent?"
"So I had, and so I would have done, but mother and I differ inopinion. That fellow Jonas was going to flog Dan, and I stopped him thismorning, and mother takes his part against me. You know, I don't likethe way he goes on with the slaves. They are not half so merry and happyas they used to be, and I don't like it. We shall have one of themrunning away next, and that will be a nice thing on what used to beconsidered one of the happiest plantations in Virginia. I can't makemother out; I should have thought that she would have been the lastperson in the world to have allowed the slaves to be harshly treated."
"I am sure we don't like Jonas any more than you do, Vincent; but yousee mamma has to depend upon him so much. No, I don't think she can likeit; but you can't have everything you like in a man, and I know shethinks he is a very good overseer. I suppose she could get another?"
Vincent said he thought that there could not be much difficulty aboutgetting an overseer.
"There might be a difficulty in getting one she could rely on sothoroughly," Rosa said. "You see a great deal must be left to him. Jonashas been here a good many years now, and she has learned to trust him.It would be a long time before she had the same confidence in astranger; and you may be sure that he would have his faults, though,perhaps, not the same as those of Jona
s. I think you don't makeallowance enough for mamma, Vincent. I quite agree with you as to Jonas,and I don't think mamma can like his harshness to the slaves any morethan you do; but everyone says what a difficulty it is to get a reallytrustworthy and capable overseer, and, of course, it is all the harderwhen there is no master to look after him."
"Well, in a few years I shall be able to look after an overseer,"Vincent said.
"You might do so, of course, Vincent, if you liked; but unless youchange a good deal, I don't think your supervision would amount to verymuch. When you are not at school you are always on horseback and away,and we see little enough of you, and I do not think you are likely for along time yet to give up most of your time to looking after the estate."
"Perhaps you are right," Vincent said, after thinking for a minute; "butI think I could settle down, too, and give most of my time to theestate, if I was responsible for it. I dare say mother is in adifficulty over it, and I should not have spoken as I did; I will go inand tell her so."
Vincent found his mother sitting as he had left her. Although she hadsided with Jonas, it was against her will; for it was grievous to her tohear complaints of the treatment of the slaves at the Orangery. Still,as Rosa had said, she felt every confidence in her overseer, andbelieved that he was an excellent servant. She was conscious that sheherself knew nothing of business, and that she must therefore give herentire confidence to her manager. She greatly disliked the strictness ofJonas, but if, as he said, the slaves would not obey him without thisstrictness, he must do as he thought best.
"I think I spoke too hastily, mother," Vincent said as he entered; "andI am sure that you would not wish the slaves to be ill-treated more thanI should. I dare say Jonas means for the best."
"I feel sure that he does, Vincent. A man in his position cannot makehimself obeyed like a master. I wish it could be otherwise, and I willspeak to him on the subject; but it will not do to interfere with himtoo much. A good overseer is not easy to get, and the slaves are alwaysready to take advantage of leniency. An easy master makes bad work, butan easy overseer would mean ruin to an estate. I am convinced that Jonashas our interests at heart, and I will tell him that I particularly wishthat he will devise some other sort of punishment, such as depriving menwho won't work of some of their privileges, instead of using the lash."
"Thank you, mother. At any rate, he might be told that the lash is neverto be used without first appealing to you."
"I will see about it, Vincent, and talk it over with him." And with thatVincent was satisfied.
