J. F. Lee

“ The lightning speed of the train soon landed her in her mother's arms, who, with Simon, gave her a joyous welcome. She had much to say to them of her seminary life, of the plaudits of the press and people and the farewell commendation of the President, and when she told them of the attempted suicide of her music teacher, and she being the cause, she broke down and wept bitterly. They comforted her by telling her that her next music teacher would be a lady, and surely that could not happen again.
She whiled away the hours of vacation at her piano or organ or with her guitar, violin or harp. ”

“ Her lover continued his visits, offering what comfort he could to Octavia. Of course propriety forbade him mentioning matrimony. Octavia was indeed lonely now. Not a relative in the world that she knew of. How desolate! It is true, that troubles never come singly; as the day after her uncle's burial, she saw in the newspapers, notice of the death and burial of her former governess, Miss Mildred. In her loneliness, she would weep for hours at a time. But time heals all things, and in a few months, her grief was somewhat assuaged. She made up her mind to go North to live. ”

“ He said to Simon that he had heard of Octavia's brilliant success in college, of the plaudits of her teachers, press and public. If Octavia, said he, went to Europe, it would be simply to get rid of her suitors; that hers was an anomalous condition. She would not wed beneath herself, and the laws of the country forbid her marrying a white man. He would now bid farewell to his ex-foreman, for the last time, wishing him unbounded success in life. ”

“ They returned to the farm, had all the ex-slaves assembled, when the Colonel made them a nice, short speech, commending them for their faithfulness during his absence in the army; that the Confederacy had been beaten, the war was over, and that they were free men, women and children; that whosoever may have been responsible for slavery in the United States, that whether it was right or wrong, the South had resorted to the arbitrament of arms, and as a result they were free, and that next year he would contract with any or all who wanted to farm on his place, under the superintendency of Simon. ”

“ She then in a cool, quiet, dignified manner told him that she entertained feelings for him that she did not for any other man, and which she supposed writers of romance would call love, but that he knew and she knew that there was a social chasm between them, that could not be bridged—that both knew that the laws of the State were very stringent against the races intermarrying, and that it was wrong for him to propose, or for her to accept. ”

“ He went away sorrowfully, resolving to resort to strategy. The next day, the city dailies contained the startling information, that State's Attorney ——, had resigned his office, wound up his affairs and would leave in a few days to make his home in one of the South American Republics. After seeing this, Octavia threw herself on her couch, and wept bitter, bitter tears. There is this difference in men and women when in trouble: the former, frequently resort to drink, while the latter resort to tears. ”

“ Simon shortly arrived on the spot, thinking the dogs had Brutus up the tree. The dogs were there, the tree was there, and no doubt Brutus went up the tree, but he was not there. Simon gave up the chase, declaring that a negro who was sharp and strategical enough to climb a tree, and then jump into the river and swim across, would no doubt outwit the dogs, were he to take them across and continue the pursuit.
Elsie was thus relieved of her two most importunate and troublesome suitors—one dead and the other in the woods.
A negro is intensely religious, regardless of honesty and integrity ”

“ Being a lawyer, he pleaded that it might be a legal wrong, but that there was no moral wrong, and to get around this legal objection, they could soon go to a State that had no laws on the subject. She then told him of her humble birth—that of a slave—and of her life afterwards. He replied that he knew all, but that that did not have a feather's weight with him—that it was not birth, wealth or environment that made noble men or women ”

“ Being a favorite, the negroes turned out en masse, Octavia's only attendants were her mother and Aunt Lucy.
They carried their devotions on all night, singing, moaning, groaning and praying, and were too much exhausted to do anything the next day. At one time during the night Aunt Lucy said to Elsie that the child was surely dead. But by close examination Elsie said she could detect a weak, thready pulse at the wrist, and slight movement of the chest, and said that "while there is life there is hope." ”

“ The oxen on the plantation had been unmolested, a yoke of which were pressed into service, Simon doing the plowing and Elsie the hoeing. In a few days the negroes who had been carried off began to come in, until about all had returned. Simon advised each to harness up the oxen on the place and plow them, and to break to the plow a drove of half-grown mules and horse colts that were on the place. By this means probably half of the farm could be plowed and cultivated. Simon told each man that under the changed order of things it was "every fellow for himself, even if the devil got the hindmost." ”

“ Simon did so. Whereat, she was pleased as well as sad. She cared more for the attorney than she was willing to admit. At the same time she knew that it was wrong, socially, for a white man to be making visits to her uncle's house. The public might think that his visits were purely on business, as he had been her mother's successful attorney. But, if they continued, their object would soon be found out. "You may fool all the people awhile, but you can't fool some of the people all the while." When the attorney came, she had on her "best bib and tucker," and never looked lovelier. ”

“ It is a fact that many American girls, disgust the public in their chase after titled husbands—they furnishing the wealth, and the husband, the empty title. Away with such snobbishness! Simon kept her supplied with what funds she needed; she was popular in society and being so exceptionally beautiful and accomplished, she had from time to time a number of suitors, to all of whom she would reply as she did to the Russian count. Besides, she would be violating the trust imposed in her, and as long as she remained an agent of the Red Cross, she would wed no man. ”

“ At supper, Simon told his niece that the attorney would be there to hear her play and sing, and to inspect her art collection. She said that it must not be a social call. Simon went back to his store, thinking a lot, but saying nothing. He had been in public business so long, that he could read human character almost like a book. He was satisfied in his mind that Elsie's attorney had succumbed to Octavia's charms, and he would await developments with anxiety. ”

“ In commemoration of Octavia's restoration to health the negroes appointed a day of thanksgiving and prayer. The negro is nothing if not religious; he can surpass his white brother two to one in fervency and zeal, but whether that "zeal is according to knowledge" is not my province to decide. It is the custom of the negroes in their religious meetings to line out their hymns for singing, and when at their work you can hear them repeat two lines, sing it, and the other two lines to make out the verse, and sing that. It is a rare thing to see a skeptical negro of the Ingersoll type. ”

“ While he was whiling away the weary hours in jail another scene was being enacted at the plantation. Railroads were not as fashionable and plentiful as now, and had not driven the boats from the river, on which was a magnificent line of steamers which plowed the waters from Mobile to Montgomery. They were veritable floating palaces, and were the admiration of all. The writer of this, though in middle life, never tires looking at a fine steamer or train of cars. This was so of Elsie, who frequently went to the plantation landing, carrying Octavia with her. ”

“ A great deal is said against Mormonism and polygamy, which some one has termed a "twin evil of slavery." There is no doubt that Mormonism is one of the foulest blots upon the escutcheon of the United States. ”

“ Elsie was the belle of the plantation, having a large number of suitors, among them two of Colonel R.'s slaves, Brutus and Cæsar.
They were rivals and had an intense hatred for each other on Elsie's account. While Elsie had no idea of accepting either one or any negro, saying that she did not want a "kinky-headed nigger," she encouraged the attentions of both—a consummate flirt, to say the least. Brutus and Cæsar were good specimens of their race, and fairly good looking. Their rivalry increased in intensity and bitterness until they threatened each other's lives. ”

“ If one starts on a journey and a rabbit crosses the road before him, he turns around and goes back home. If one is sick and a screech owl screams near by, the sick person is sure to die. One could not be hired to go in a cemetery by himself at night. When any one dies they can see his "sperit" going about the place. They are strong believers in ghosts and "sperits." These and many other superstitions render them difficult patients to treat. The writer was called to see a sick negro on one occasion, and could not find that there was anything the matter with him. ”

“ Aunt Dinah, Simon's mother, was rather prepossessing in appearance, and was the plantation mammy, nurse and midwife, as well as the keeper of the orphan asylum for all the little pickaninnies on the plantation. Every place of any size had this character. It is often and truly said that it is the ambition of negro men to be preachers and of the women to be midwives.
Simon had interceded with his master and the overseer to exempt Elsie from farm work, and to appoint her seamstress, who had several assistants on the farm. ”

“ It is a common remark that females of the white race resort to all kinds of ways to make their hair kinky or frizzly, while those of the negro race would give an empire for straight hair.
Again, the negro suitor makes no objection because one has gone astray, and has one or more illegitimate children. If she has straight hair and a bright skin, it makes no difference about any of her past indiscretions. ”

“ In after years, when several children had blessed their union, they often spoke of their home in "Dixie's land;" of Octavia's many hairbreadth escapes; of the Northern tragedies on her account; of the many suitors who had received their mittens from her; of her Red Cross life; and last, but not least, of his successful strategy in bringing her to terms. Octavia admitted, shortly after marriage, that she deliberately ran off to Europe, knowing that if she remained, she would have to "marry him, to get rid of him." ”

“ Simon was twenty-five and Elsie eighteen years of age, both having the same mother, Aunt Dinah, and the same white father.
After the overseer and his assistants left for the army Colonel R. installed Simon as his foreman, with the authority of an overseer. Under his administration farm matters moved along as well as they did under the overseer. In slavery times there was always a negro head man, leader and squire among the negroes, who performed their marriage ceremonies (without license) , exhorted at their religious meetings and could sing and pray and be heard a mile. ”

“ Colonel R. immediately hired every wagon and team, hauled the cotton to the river, shipped it to New Orleans by the first boat, and realized fifty cents per pound in gold for it, and as there were about one thousand bales, the reader can calculate, at five hundred pounds per bale, what a nice fortune the Colonel had, all of which had much to do with Octavia's future career.
While to all appearances Octavia was as white as the whitest, she had African blood coursing through her veins, which would debar her from Southern society. ”

“ Just before the beginning of the civil war between the States there was a large and valuable plantation on the Alabama River on which there were several hundred slaves, said farm being in what is known as the "black belt of Alabama," having a river front of several miles, and annually producing five hundred bales of cotton, fifteen thousand bushels of corn, besides oats, wheat, hay, mules, horses, hogs, cattle, sheep and goats in abundance. ”

“ Colonel R. languished in a Northern prison on Johnson's Island, while Simon did the same thing in a county prison in Alabama.
The Confederate States were strongly blockaded, so much so that there could be no egress nor ingress except by blockade runners, which was a dangerous piece of business. Consequently very few of the delicacies of life could be had in the Southern States. This blockade also kept out quinine, which is so necessary in the South. For the want of this Octavia came near dying from an attack of malarial fever. ”

“ Thus was Colonel R.'s farm deprived of white men, and as every able-bodied man was needed at the front, it was out of the question to replace them; nor did he make any effort to do so. However, Colonel R. was not wanting for some one to take charge of his business; he had a quadroon named Simon, who had been carefully trained and drilled by the overseer in farm management. He had been a favorite with the overseer, who made no objection to his fourteen-year-old son teaching him to read and write. He also taught Simon's sister, Elsie. ”