Twelve Years a Slave
tobacco and so forth. The females, discarding the latter luxury, are
apt to expend their little revenue in the purchase of gaudy ribbons,
wherewithal to deck their hair in the merry season of the holidays.
I remained in St. Mary's until the first of January, during which
time my Sunday money amounted to ten dollars. I met with other
good fortune, for which I was indebted to my violin, my constant
companion, the source of profit, and soother of my sorrows during
years of servitude. There was a grand party of whites assembled at
Mr. Yarney's, in Centreville, a hamlet in the vicinity of Turner's
plantation. I was employed to play for them, and so well pleased were
the merry-makers with my performance, that a contribution was taken
for my benefit, which amounted to seventeen dollars.
With this sum in possession, I was looked upon by my fellows as a
millionaire. It afforded me great pleasure to look at it--to count
it over and over again, day after day. Visions of cabin furniture,
of water pails, of pocket knives, new shoes and coats and hats,
floated through my fancy, and up through all rose the triumphant
contemplation, that I was the wealthiest "nigger" on Bayou Boeuf.
Vessels run up the Rio Teche to Centreville. While there, I was bold
enough one day to present myself before the captain of a steamer, and
beg permission to hide myself among the freight. I was emboldened to
risk the hazard of such a step, from overhearing a conversation, in
the course of which I ascertained he was a native of the North. I did
not relate to him the particulars of my history, but only expressed
an ardent desire to escape from slavery to a free State. He pitied
me, but said it would be impossible to avoid the vigilant custom
house officers in New-Orleans, and that detection would subject him
to punishment, and his vessel to confiscation. My earnest entreaties
evidently excited his sympathies, and doubtless he would have yielded
to them, could he have done so with any kind of safety. I was
compelled to smother the sudden flame that lighted up my bosom with
sweet hopes of liberation, and turn my steps once more towards the
increasing darkness of despair.
Immediately after this event the drove assembled at Centreville, and
several of the owners having arrived and collected the monies due
for our services, we were driven back to Bayou Boeuf. It was on our
return, while passing through a small village, that I caught sight of
Tibeats, seated in the door of a dirty grocery, looking somewhat seedy
and out of repair. Passion and poor whisky, I doubt not, have ere this
laid him on the shelf.
During our absence, I learned from Aunt Phebe and Patsey, that the
latter had been getting deeper and deeper into trouble. The poor
girl was truly an object of pity. "Old Hogjaw," the name by which
Epps was called, when the slaves were by themselves, had beaten her
more severely and frequently than ever. As surely as he came from
Holmesville, elated with liquor--and it was often in those days--he
would whip her, merely to gratify the mistress; would punish her to
an extent almost beyond endurance, for an offence of which he himself
was the sole and irresistible cause. In his sober moments he could not
always be prevailed upon to indulge his wife's insatiable thirst for
vengeance.
To be rid of Patsey--to place her beyond sight or reach, by sale, or
death, or in any other manner, of late years, seemed to be the ruling
thought and passion of my mistress. Patsey had been a favorite when a
child, even in the great house. She had been petted and admired for
her uncommon sprightliness and pleasant disposition. She had been
fed many a time, so Uncle Abram said, even on biscuit and milk, when
the madam, in her younger days, was wont to call her to the piazza,
and fondle her as she would a playful Kitten. But a sad change had
come over the spirit of the woman. Now, only black and angry fiends
ministered in the temple of her heart, until she could look on Patsey
but with concentrated venom.
Mistress Epps was not naturally such an evil woman, after all. She was
possessed of the devil, jealousy, it is true, but aside from that,
there was much in her character to admire. Her father, Mr. Roberts,
resided in Cheneyville, an influential and honorable man, and as
much respected throughout the parish as any other citizen. She had
been well educated at some institution this side the Mississippi;
was beautiful, accomplished, and usually good-humored. She was kind
to all of us but Patsey--frequently, in the absence of her husband,
sending out to us some little dainty from her own table. In other
situations--in a different society from that which exists on the
shores of Bayou Boeuf, she would have been pronounced an elegant and
fascinating woman. An ill wind it was that blew her into the arms of
Epps.
He respected and loved his wife as much as a coarse nature like his
is capable of loving, but supreme selfishness always overmastered
conjugal affection.
"He loved as well as baser natures can,
But a mean heart and soul were in that man."
He was ready to gratify any whim--to grant any request she made,
provided it did not cost too much. Patsey was equal to any two of his
slaves in the cotton field. He could not replace her with the same
money she would bring. The idea of disposing of her, therefore, could
not be entertained. The mistress did not regard her at all in that
light. The pride of the haughty woman was aroused; the blood of the
fiery southern boiled at the sight of Patsey, and nothing less than
trampling out the life of the helpless bondwoman would satisfy her.
Sometimes the current of her wrath turned upon him whom she had
just cause to hate. But the storm of angry words would pass over at
length, and there would be a season of calm again. At such times
Patsey trembled with fear, and cried as if her heart would break,
for she knew from painful experience, that if mistress should work
herself to the red-hot pitch of rage, Epps would quiet her at last
with a promise that Patsey should be flogged--a promise he was sure
to keep. Thus did pride, and jealousy, and vengeance war with
avarice and brute-passion in the mansion of my master, filling it
with daily tumult and contention. Thus, upon the head of Patsey--the
simple-minded slave, in whose heart God had implanted the seeds of
virtue--the force of all these domestic tempests spent itself at last.
During the summer succeeding my return from St. Mary's parish, I
conceived a plan of providing myself with food, which, though simple,
succeeded beyond expectation. It has been followed by many others
in my condition, up and down the bayou, and of such benefit has it
become that I am almost persuaded to look upon myself as a benefactor.
That summer the worms got into the bacon. Nothing but ravenous hunger
could induce us to swallow it. The weekly allowance of meal scarcely
sufficed to satisfy us. It was customary with us, as it is with all in
that region, where the allowance is exhausted before Saturday night,
or is in such a state as to render it nauseous and disgusting, to
hunt in the swamps for coon and opossum. This, however, must be done
at night, after the day's work is accomplished. There are planters
whose slaves, for months at a time, have no other meat than such as is
obtained in this manner. No objections are made to hunting, inasmuch
as it dispenses with drafts upon the smoke-house, and because every
marauding coon that is killed is so much saved from the standing corn.
They are hunted with dogs and clubs, slaves not being allowed the use
of fire-arms.
The flesh of the coon is palatable, but verily there is nothing in
all butcherdom so delicious as a roasted 'possum. They are a round,
rather long-bodied, little animal, of a whitish color, with nose like
a pig, and caudal extremity like a rat. They burrow among the roots
and in the hollows of the gum tree, and are clumsy and slow of motion.
They are deceitful and cunning creatures. On receiving the slightest
tap of a stick, they will roll over on the ground and feign death. If
the hunter leaves him, in pursuit of another, without first taking
particular pains to break his neck, the chances are, on his return, he
is not to be found. The little animal has out witted the enemy--has
"played 'possum"--and is off. But after a long and hard day's work,
the weary slave feels little like going to the swamp for his supper,
and half the time prefers throwing himself on the cabin floor without
it. It is for the interest of the master that the servant should not
suffer in health from starvation, and it is also for his interest that
he should not become gross from over-feeding. In the estimation of the
owner, a slave is the most serviceable when in rather a lean and lank
condition, such a condition as the race-horse is in, when fitted for
the course, and in that condition they are generally to be found on
the sugar and cotton plantations along Red River.
My cabin was within a few rods of the bayou bank, and necessity
being indeed the mother of invention, I resolved upon a mode of
obtaining the requisite amount of food, without the trouble of
resorting nightly to the woods. This was to construct a fish trap.
Having, in my mind, conceived the manner in which it could be done,
the next Sunday I set about putting it into practical execution. It
may be impossible for me to convey to the reader a full and correct
idea of its construction, but the following will serve as a general
description:
A frame between two and three feet square is made, and of a greater
or less height, according to the depth of water. Boards or slats are
nailed on three sides of this frame, not so closely, however, as to
prevent the water circulating freely through it. A door is fitted
into the fourth side, in such manner that it will slide easily up
and down in the grooves cut in the two posts. A movable bottom is
then so fitted that it can be raised to the top of the frame without
difficulty. In the centre of the movable bottom an auger hole is
bored, and into this one end of a handle or round stick is fastened
on the under side so loosely that it will turn. The handle ascends
from the centre of the movable bottom to the top of the frame, or as
much higher as is desirable. Up and down this handle, in a great many
places, are gimlet holes, through which small sticks are inserted,
extending to opposite sides of the frame. So many of these small
sticks are running out from the handle in all directions, that a fish
of any considerable dimensions cannot pass through without hitting one
of them. The frame is then placed in the water and made stationary.
The trap is "set" by sliding or drawing up the door, and kept in that
position by another stick, one end of which rests in a notch on the
inner side, the other end in a notch made in the handle, running up
from the centre of the movable bottom. The trap is baited by rolling
a handful of wet meal and cotton together until it becomes hard, and
depositing it in the back part of the frame. A fish swimming through
the upraised door towards the bait, necessarily strikes one of the
small sticks turning the handle, which displacing the stick supporting
the door, the latter falls, securing the fish within the frame. Taking
hold of the top of the handle, the movable bottom is then drawn up to
the surface of the water, and the fish taken out. There may have been
other such traps in use before mine was constructed, but if there were
I had never happened to see one. Bayou Boeuf abounds in fish of large
size and excellent quality, and after this time I was very rarely in
want of one for myself, or for my comrades. Thus a mine was opened--a
new resource was developed, hitherto unthought of by the enslaved