Twelve Years a Slave
children of Africa, who toil and hunger along the shores of that
sluggish, but prolific stream.
About the time of which I am now writing, an event occurred in our
immediate neighborhood, which made a deep impression upon me, and
which shows the state of society existing there, and the manner in
which affronts are oftentimes avenged. Directly opposite our quarters,
on the other side of the bayou, was situated the plantation of
Mr. Marshall. He belonged to a family among the most wealthy and
aristocratic in the country. A gentleman from the vicinity of Natchez
had been negotiating with him for the purchase of the estate. One
day a messenger came in great haste to our plantation, saying that a
bloody and fearful battle was going on at Marshall's--that blood had
been spilled--and unless the combatants were forthwith separated, the
result would be disastrous.
On repairing to Marshall's house, a scene presented itself that
beggars description. On the floor of one of the rooms lay the ghastly
corpse of the man from Natchez, while Marshall, enraged and covered
with wounds and blood, was stalking back and forth, "breathing out
threatenings and slaughter." A difficulty had arisen in the course of
their negotiation, high words ensued, when drawing their weapons, the
deadly strife began that ended so unfortunately. Marshall was never
placed in confinement. A sort of trial or investigation was had at
Marksville, when he was acquitted, and returned to his plantation,
rather more respected, as I thought, than ever, from the fact that the
blood of a fellow being was on his soul.
Epps interested himself in his behalf, accompanying him to Marksville,
and on all occasions loudly justifying him, but his services in this
respect did not afterwards deter a kinsman of this same Marshall
from seeking his life also. A brawl occurred between them over a
gambling-table, which terminated in a deadly feud. Riding up on
horseback in front of the house one day, armed with pistols and
bowie knife, Marshall challenged him to come forth and make a final
settlement of the quarrel, or he would brand him as a coward, and
shoot him like a dog the first opportunity. Not through cowardice,
nor from any conscientious scruples, in my opinion, but through the
influence of his wife, he was restrained from accepting the challenge
of his enemy. A reconciliation, however, was effected afterward, since
which time they have been on terms of the closest intimacy.
Such occurrences, which would bring upon the parties concerned in them
merited and condign punishment in the Northern States, are frequent on
the bayou, and pass without notice, and almost without comment. Every
man carries his bowie knife, and when two fall out, they set to work
hacking and thrusting at each other, more like savages than civilized
and enlightened beings.
The existence of Slavery in its most cruel form among them, has a
tendency to brutalize the humane and finer feelings of their nature.
Daily witnesses of human suffering--listening to the agonizing
screeches of the slave--beholding him writhing beneath the merciless
lash--bitten and torn by dogs--dying without attention, and buried
without shroud or coffin--it cannot otherwise be expected, than
that they should become brutified and reckless of human life. It
is true there are many kind-hearted and good men in the parish of
Avoyelles--such men as William Ford--who can look with pity upon
the sufferings of a slave, just as there are, over all the world,
sensitive and sympathetic spirits, who cannot look with indifference
upon the sufferings of any creature which the Almighty has endowed
with life. It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so
much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot
withstand the influence of habit and associations that surround him.
Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears, that
the rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change his
opinions in maturer years.
There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman
ones--there may be slaves well-clothed, well-fed, and happy, as there
surely are those half-clad, half-starved and miserable; nevertheless,
the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have
witnessed, is a cruel, unjust, and barbarous one. Men may write
fictions portraying lowly life as it is, or as it is not--may
expatiate with owlish gravity upon the bliss of ignorance--discourse
flippantly from arm chairs of the pleasures of slave life; but let
them toil with him in the field--sleep with him in the cabin--feed
with him on husks; let them behold him scourged, hunted, trampled
on, and they will come back with another story in their mouths.
Let them know the _heart_ of the poor slave--learn his secret
thoughts--thoughts he dare not utter in the hearing of the white man;
let them sit by him in the silent watches of the night--converse with
him in trustful confidence, of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness," and they will find that ninety-nine out of every hundred
are intelligent enough to understand their situation, and to cherish
in their bosoms the love of freedom, as passionately as themselves.
CHAPTER XV.
LABORS ON SUGAR PLANTATIONS--THE MODE OF PLANTING CANE--OF
HOEING CANE--CANE RICKS--CUTTING CANE--DESCRIPTION OF THE CANE
KNIFE--WINROWING--PREPARING FOR SUCCEEDING CROPS--DESCRIPTION OF
HAWKINS' SUGAR MILL ON BAYOU BOEUF--THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS--THE
CARNIVAL SEASON OF THE CHILDREN OF BONDAGE--THE CHRISTMAS
SUPPER--RED, THE FAVORITE COLOR--THE VIOLIN, AND THE CONSOLATION IT
AFFORDED--THE CHRISTMAS DANCE--LIVELY, THE COQUETTE--SAM ROBERTS, AND
HIS RIVALS--SLAVE SONGS--SOUTHERN LIFE AS IT IS--THREE DAYS IN THE
YEAR--THE SYSTEM OF MARRIAGE--UNCLE ABRAM'S CONTEMPT OF MATRIMONY.
In consequence of my inability in cotton-picking, Epps was in the
habit of hiring me out on sugar plantations during the season of
cane-cutting and sugar-making. He received for my services a dollar
a day, with the money supplying my place on his cotton plantation.
Cutting cane was an employment that suited me, and for three
successive years I held the lead row at Hawkins', leading a gang of
from fifty to an hundred hands.
In a previous chapter the mode of cultivating cotton is described.
This may be the proper place to speak of the manner of cultivating
cane.
The ground is prepared in beds, the same as it is prepared for the
reception of the cotton seed, except it is ploughed deeper. Drills
are made in the same manner. Planting commences in January, and
continues until April. It is necessary to plant a sugar field only
once in three years. Three crops are taken before the seed or plant is
exhausted.
Three gangs are employed in the operation. One draws the cane from the
rick, or stack, cutting the top and flags from the stalk, leaving only
that part which is sound and healthy. Each joint of the cane has an
eye, like the eye of a potato, which sends forth a sprout when buried
in the soil. Another gang lays the cane in the drill, placing two
stalks side by side in such manner that joints will occur once in four
or six inches. The third gang follows with hoes, drawing earth upon
the stalks, and covering them to the depth, of three inches.
In four weeks, at the farthest, the sprouts appear above the ground,
and from this time forward grow with great rapidity. A sugar field is
hoed three times, the same as cotton, save that a greater quantity of
earth is drawn to the roots. By the first of August hoeing is usually
over. About the middle of September, whatever is required for seed is
cut and stacked in ricks, as they are termed. In October it is ready
for the mill or sugar-house, and then the general cutting begins. The
blade of a cane-knife is fifteen inches long, three inches wide in the
middle, and tapering towards the point and handle. The blade is thin,
and in order to be at all serviceable must be kept very sharp. Every
third hand takes the lead of two others, one of whom is on each side
of him. The lead hand, in the first place, with a blow of his knife
shears the flags from the stalk. He next cuts off the top down as far
as it is green. He must be careful to sever all the green from the
ripe part, inasmuch as the juice of the former sours the molasses, and
renders it unsalable. Then he severs the stalk at the root, and lays
it directly behind him. His right and left hand companions lay their
stalks, when cut in the same manner, upon his. To every three hands
there is a cart, which follows, and the stalks are thrown into it by
the younger slaves, when it is drawn to the sugar-house and ground.
If the planter apprehends a frost, the cane is winrowed. Winrowing is
the cutting the stalks at an early period and throwing them lengthwise
in the water furrow in such a manner that the tops will cover the
butts of the stalks. They will remain in this condition three weeks or
a month without souring, and secure from frost. When the proper time
arrives, they are taken up, trimmed and carted to the sugar-house.
In the month of January the slaves enter the field again to prepare
for another crop. The ground is now strewn with the tops, and flags
cut from the past year's cane. On a dry day fire is set to this
combustible refuse, which sweeps over the field, leaving it bare and
clean, and ready for the hoes. The earth is loosened about the roots
of the old stubble, and in process of time another crop springs up
from the last year's seed. It is the same the year following; but the
third year the seed has exhausted its strength, and the field must be
ploughed and planted again. The second year the cane is sweeter and
yields more than the first, and the third year more than the second.
During the three seasons I labored on Hawkins' plantation, I was
employed a considerable portion of the time in the sugar-house. He is
celebrated as the producer of the finest variety of white sugar. The
following is a general description of his sugar-house and the process
of manufacture:
The mill is an immense brick building, standing on the shore of the
bayou. Running out from the building is an open shed, at least an
hundred feet in length and forty or fifty feet in width. The boiler in
which the steam is generated is situated outside the main building;
the machinery and engine rest on a brick pier, fifteen feet above
the floor, within the body of the building. The machinery turns two
great iron rollers, between two and three feet in diameter and six
or eight feet in length. They are elevated above the brick pier, and
roll in towards each other. An endless carrier, made of chain and
wood, like leathern belts used in small mills, extends from the iron
rollers out of the main building and through the entire length of the
open shed. The carts in which the cane is brought from the field as
fast as it is cut, are unloaded at the sides of the shed. All along
the endless carrier are ranged slave children, whose business it is
to place the cane upon it, when it is conveyed through the shed into
the main building, where it falls between the rollers, is crushed, and
drops upon another carrier that conveys it out of the main building
in an opposite direction, depositing it in the top of a chimney upon
a fire beneath, which consumes it. It is necessary to burn it in
this manner, because otherwise it would soon fill the building, and
more especially because it would soon sour and engender disease. The
juice of the cane falls into a conductor underneath the iron rollers,
and is carried into a reservoir. Pipes convey it from thence into
five filterers, holding several hogsheads each. These filterers are
filled with bone-black, a substance resembling pulverized charcoal.