"Two or three countrymen came to see Comfort a few days after our arrival. They were all 'misters,' not 'colonels' and 'squires.' They said they were Union men; and it was wonderfully interesting to hear them tell, in their quaint provincialisms, what happened to them during the war.
"We rode out to see one of them afterwards, and found him a thrifty farmer, with four or five hundred acres of good land, living in a log house, with a strange mixture of plainness and plenty about him. Somehow I think I shall like this class of people better than the other, — though they are rough and plain, — they seem so very good-hearted and honest.
"We are going to have the teachers from the colored school at Verdenton here to dinner to-day to keep Thanksgiving. There are some half-dozen of them, — all Northern girls. I have not met them; but Comfort says they are very pleasant ladies. Of course they have no society except a few Northern people; and he has gone to bring them out to give them a treat as well as ourselves, I suppose.
"Yours ever, with love to all,
"METTA."
CHAPTER X
POOR TRAY
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THE next letter was during the week which succeeded Christmas Day, and explains itself: —
"MY DEAR JULIA, — My last letter to you was written while I was waiting for the young ladies, who are teaching at Verdenton, to come and share our Thanksgiving dinner. That was a momentous day for us, and that dinner a most important affair. We were a little short of some things necessary for such an occasion; but we pieced and fitted, and, with the help of the willing hands of many colored girls (you must remember that all colored women are 'girls'), we made out to spread a very respectable table. Comfort had gone into town early with my little bridle-wise mare Jaca in leading for one of the young ladies to ride; and the ambulance followed for the others. Just as my letter was finished, they all came up the avenue to the house; and a merrier crowd I am sure I never saw in my life. Six sweeter girls could not be found. They are employed by the Missionary Association to teach in the colored schools that have sprung up all over the South like magic, and are real 'missionaries' in the very best sense of the word. They are from six different States, and never saw each other until they met here at the school in Verdenton, and are all cultivated, refined ladies of the best class of our Northern people, who have come here simply to do good. It was really charming to see them, so fresh and girlish, just from loving homes and tender friends, coming away down here on a noble errand, where they are despised and insulted for the very good they perform. Only the few Northern people who are here will have any thing to do with them. They are as much missionaries, and have as much to undergo, as if they were in Turkey; indeed more, if our old friend who is teaching in Beirût tells the whole truth in regard to her difficulties. We had a delightful day; and towards night both of us returned with them, and sending back the ambulance, and keeping only our saddle-horses, staid at the Mission House, as their abode is called, until after nine o'clock; and then Comfort and I rode home in the moonlight. I don't think I was ever happier in my life, or felt that I had been the cause of more happiness to others, than on that day; and, when we knelt for our evening prayer, I did thank God with all my heart that he had directed our steps hitherward, for I believe we have a blessed work to do, and that our lives here will not be in vain.
"A few days afterward I went to call on some of the ladies who had visited me. It was so far that Comfort went with me, and I persuaded him to let me go on horseback; for it is so unpleasant to ride in an ambulance, which is the only alternative. This would not be quite en règle at home, I know; but here it is a very general thing, and it is a mode of traveling too delightful ever to be abandoned. We called at three houses, and were received at all of them with a very marked restraint of manner, and with positive rudeness in one case. I felt as if I could cry from disappointment and chagrin. We wanted to be friendly, and avoided every subject of conversation which could give pain; and it seemed too bad to be met with such coolness. Comfort tried to console me as we rode home; but I could see that he felt it as well as I.
"A day or two after this, Squire Hyman, who is one of our nearest neighbors, though he lives a mile away, came over to see us. He is a queer old gossip, who is so anxious to be on good terms with everybody that he has hard times to keep anybody on his side. During the war, it seems, he played fast and loose; and it is amusing enough to hear Colonel Vaughn and his Confederate friends caution us against him as a man who professed to be 'all right,' but was all the time encouraging deserters and harboring bush-whackers; and then to hear Jehu Brown, and other known and reliable Unionists, say, 'He, won't du tu tie ter. He was always claimin' tu be a powerful good Union man, an' at the same time givin' information agin any o' the boys that was hidin' out.'
"I knew that he had something 'very particular,' as he says, to tell me the moment he came into the room; but it was a long time before he could get to it. I think Comfort suspected what it was, and purposely led him away from the point he was striving to reach. At length he 'bounced it squarely,' as the country-people hereabout say, the statement, —
"'I hear they've got a powerful big school for the — the niggers as we call them, — in Verdenton.'
"'Oh, yes!' I answered in all innocence. We had the young ladies who are teaching there out here to our Thanksgiving dinner, and liked them very much.'
"'Indeed! I don't know any thing about them, good or bad. Of course I hear a good deal said; but that's neither here nor there. Some folks make a heap of fuss about every thing; but I'm one of them that lets other folks alone if they don't trouble me. That's right, ain't it, Colonel? He, he!'
"'I don't see why there should be any thing said against these young ladies,' said I.
"'Well,' he replied, 'you know how we Southern people are. We have our own notions.' And he winked, and chuckled to himself; and I said rather sharply, —
"'I don't see what your notions have to do with these young ladies, who are certainly doing God's work in teaching these poor colored people, old and young.'
"'Oh, certainly! It would look so; but' —
"'But what?' said Comfort so markedly that the old man jumped in his seat.
"'Oh — nothing — that is — nothing of account — only — you know, Colonel, we can't help thinking that any one that comes from the North down here, and associates with niggers — can't — well — can't be of much account at home.'
"'And you call teaching colored people associating with them?' asked Comfort.
"'Well, of course, in a manner,' answered the squire hesitatingly.
"'And you doubtless think it disreputable to associate with such teachers?'
"'Well, Colonel, I'm glad you mentioned it. I didn't want to broach it myself, being a delicate subject, you know; but it is so counted — by — the best society, you know.'
"'So you came to warn us that if we continue to associate with these teachers we must forego the pleasures of good society hereabouts?'
"'Well, I had heard remarks, you know. I name no names; but I thought it would be no more than neighborly, being as you were strangers as I may say, and not accustomed to our ways, to let you know, so that you might be careful in the future.'
"'Thank you. We are certainly under many obligations to you for letting us know whom we are to be permitted to associate with, and whom not.'
"'Oh, not at all! not at all! I'm sure it's no more than I would do for any neighbor,' said the squire with an air of gratified vanity.
"'Certainly not, Squire,' said Comfort sarcastically, — and I knew from the flashing of his eyes that some one would get a shot, — 'certainly not; and it is my confidence in your neighborly inclination which makes me presume to ask a favor at your hands.'
"'Any thing in the world that I can do, sir. I'm sure I shall be proud to serve you,' said the squire with marked enthusiasm.
"'Then, Squire, I would be glad if you would say to these good people who have undertaken to regulate our asso
ciations, that I bought this property, paid for it cash down, and am quite capable of regulating my own affairs without their aid.'
"'What do you mean, sir?' said the squire, starting from his seat, white with rage. 'Do you mean to insult me?'
"'I mean,' said Comfort quietly, 'to say that the ladies who are teaching in the colored school at Verdenton are ladies of character and culture, fit associates for my wife, and fully the equals of any lady in the State. I desire to say further, that, regarding them as such, if it comes to a choice between ostracizing them simply because of the good work in which they are engaged, and losing the approval of the first families of Verdenton and vicinity, I shall certainly choose the latter.'
"'Well — of course," said the squire, somewhat staggered by this view of the matter, 'of course you have a right to your own way. I meant no harm, not the least in the world. Good-evening, sir! Good-evening, Madam!' And he was gone to do the errand at Comfort's bidding.
"Colonel Vaughn came the next day upon the same errand. I did not hear the conversation he had with Comfort; but he talked very loud, and I suppose was answered much as the squire had been. I heard Comfort say to him, just as he was leaving, —
"'I fought four years, sir, for the privilege of living under the flag of the United States with all the rights of a citizen in any part of the Union, and I do not intend to permit anybody to dictate my conduct towards anybody else.'
"'If your family associate with nigger teachers, you can not expect respectable people to recognize them as associates.'
"'We do not ask anybody to associate with us, sir. We are not suppliants for recognition. If people desire our friendship, we are frank and outspoken, pretending to nothing more than we are, and accepting others as we find them. If they do not wish to associate with us, we do not complain, and are not likely to mourn.'
"The colonel, as he calls himself, went away in high dudgeon; and the next week the paper published at Verdenton had a dirty little squib in regard to the matter, which I send you.
["It read as follows: —
"'Our readers will regret to learn that the Canadian Yankee Servosse, who has bought the Warrington Place, is one of those fanatical abolitionists whose infamous doctrines were the real cause of all the suffering and bloodshed of the last four years. Our citizens had extended many favors to him, and our ladies had shown very marked courtesy to his family. Instead of appreciating these things, he has chosen to slander our first ladies by comparing them with the nigger schoolmarms who have come down here to teach social equality by example.
"'We understand that Servosse had all these free-love nigger-missionaries of the female persuasion out at Warrington to celebrate the new Yankee holiday, which has been added to the governmental calendar since the first year of Lincoln's reign, called Thanksgiving Day. The day itself is a relic of New England Puritanical hypocrisy, and, we understand, was fitly observed at Warrington, where they ate and drank, and sung "John Brown," "We're coming, Father Abraham," and similar melodies. It is said that one of the "N. Ts." became so full of the spirit of the occasion, that she kissed one of the colored boys who waited at the table. Colonel Servosse cannot expect his family to be recognized by respectable people if he chooses such associates for them.']
"Did you ever see any thing so mean? Of course we don't care any thing about it: only one likes to live peaceably with one's neighbors if possible. Comfort was very much exasperated when he first saw this, and went into town in a very angry mood. I don't know what he did; but the next week there was a very abject apology in the paper. It made a great excitement though, and even many of the colored people advised us not to have the teachers here any more. ('N. T.,' you know, is Southern euphemism for Nigger Teacher.) Of course we paid no attention to it, and will have them here just as often as we can, both to show that we are not moved by such things, and because they enjoy coming so much.
"Some time ago Comfort concluded to establish a sabbath school for colored people, as there are a great many in this neighborhood, and no school of any kind for them nearer than Verdenton. So he consulted with some of their leading men, and they fixed up an arbor and some seats in a grove not far from the house; and you ought to see what congregations gather there Sunday afternoons. Two or three white men came in at first, as if to see what would be done. Comfort asked them to take classes, and help us teach these poor people. One old man with long, white hair, strange, dark eyes, and a mild, soft voice, came forward, and said that it was a good work, and he thanked God that he had put it into the mind of this new neighbor to do it; and he for one would do all in his power to assist him.
"The others stood off, and did not seem to know what to do about the matter. The old man's name is George D. Garnet. He is of Huguenot descent, and belongs to a large family in the South, whose name has been corrupted from its original orthography. He is very proud of his descent, and was attracted to us by our name being also French. He is a deacon of the Baptist church in Mayfield, about twenty miles from here. He says he has been trying to get his church to take hold of a colored sabbath school from the very day of the surrender; but they will not hear him. He has often staid to tea with us, and we find him very entertaining indeed. He is very eccentric, as is evident from what he says, and the stories the colored people tell of him. He says he was a slaveholder who thought slavery wrong, — a 'Virginia abolitionist,' as he says, The colored people say that he used to buy slaves who were anxious to be free, and let them work out their freedom. He was not a rich man, only just a good 'common liver,' as they say; but in this way he bought and freed many slaves.
"The colored people flock around us as if they thought 'de Yankee kunnel' could do every thing, and hire them all. I think I could have a hundred housemaids if I would take all that come to me, and Lilian has nurses enough offered to take charge of all the children in your town.
"Comfort has decided to sell all of Warrington but a hundred acres. The rest lies along the creek, and is very well fitted to cut up into little farms of ten and twenty acres for colored men, giving them upland to live on, with a little timber, and a piece of good bottom to cultivate. He is going to put little log-houses on them, and sell them to colored people on six or ten years' time. It will make quite a little town.
"We hope to do some good, and trust that the foolish prejudice of the people will wear away. It is strange how credulous they are, though. An old country-woman, who came along with some things to sell the other day, said she had heard that the colonel had come down here to try and 'put the niggers over the white folks,' and wanted to know if it was true! She had a snuff-stick in her mouth, and neither she nor her two grown daughters could read or write! It is wonderful how many there are here who are so ignorant; and those who are not ignorant are full of a strange prejudice against all who are not of their own particular set, and think and believe just as they do.
"There are some reports of difficulties experienced by Northern men in some parts of the South; but we hope they are exaggerated.
"Yours ever,
"METTA."
CHAPTER XI
A CAT IN A STRANGE GARRET
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SERVOSSE was very busy during the winter and spring which followed in building the houses referred to by Metta, and laying out and selling a large part of his plantation. He found the colored men of the best character and thrifty habits, anxious to buy lands, and no one else was willing to sell to them. He purchased some Confederate buildings which were sold by the government, tore them down, and, out of the materials, constructed a number of neat and substantial little houses on the lots which he sold. He also assisted many of them to buy horses, in some instances buying for them, and agreeing to take his pay in grain and forage out of the crops they were to raise. In the mean time he gave a great deal of attention to the improvement of Warrington, expecting to reap his reward from the thousands of fruit-trees which Mr. Noyotte had planted, and which had grown to be full-bearing, in spite of neglect since his death. Th
ese trees and vines were all carefully pruned and worked; and Warrington assumed the appearance of thrift and tidiness, instead of the neglect and decay which had before been its distinguishing features. There was some fault found with the sales which he made to colored men, on the ground that it had a tendency to promote "nigger equality;" but he was so good-natured and straight-forward in the matter that but little was said, and nothing done about it at that time, though he heard of organizations in some parts of the State instituted to prevent the colored people from buying land or owning horses.
The succeeding summer was well advanced when he went one day to attend a political meeting which was held in a little grove some seven miles from Warrington. It was a meeting purporting to be called for consultation in regard to the general interests of the country. Eminent speakers were advertised to attend; and Servosse felt no little curiosity, both to see such a gathering, and to hear what the speakers might have to say. He had never been any thing of a politician, and had no desire or expectation of being one. He rode to the meeting, which he found to be far greater than he expected, not less than a thousand people having assembled. Almost every man came on his horse or on foot; and the horses stood about, tied to the lower limbs of the trees in the grove where the meeting was held. There were many speeches of the kind peculiar to the Southern stump, full of strong, hard hits, overflowing with wit and humor, and strongly seasoned with bombast. Stories of questionable propriety were abundant, and personalities of the broadest kind were indulged in.
Servosse sat among the crowd, enjoying to the utmost this experience, and wondering how people could relish contending so hotly over each other's records during and before the war. It all seemed to him very amusing. But, when they came to address themselves to the future, he became interested for another reason.
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