The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-01-31

va. vet we hope that somehow good
VIZ be The hnal goal of ILL.,
10 pangs of nature, sins of will.
Dciects OF doubt and tains of blood
TennySou.
"On Friday, the Oath ultimo, the mulatto
boy, Valentine, convicted of the murder of his
master, was executed according to his SEN
tence." Such was the item that met nv ewes
In CHANGING over the columns of Southern pa.
per. 1t made no more impression upon me at
the time than such paragraphs make upon YOU
or any of us-that is, none at all. Nv glance
sided over that to the next items, chronicling
IN order the success of benevolent ball. the
arrival OF popular singer, &c. and I should
have forgotten al about it, had not the execu
ton occurred near the plantation of dear
friend, with whom / was accustomed to mass q
part OF every year. From that friend | heard
the story, and found that those two lines COM
prised domestic tragedy, which, for it's inspi-
rations of pity and terror, equalled any old
Greek drama that ever read l know not if
| can do anything like justice to the subject by
giving the story in my own words.
Near the city of M, on the A river.
stood the plantation of Red Hill. 1t was one
of the largest cotton plantations in the South,
covering several square miles, but it was i'll
cultivated and Improbable.
The plantation house was situated mile
back from the river, in a grove of trees on the
brow of the hill, quite out of the reach of fog
and miasma.
AT the time | speak of, it was owned by Col.
Waring, a widower, with one son, to whom he
had given his mothers family name of Oswald.
The ostensibe female head of this house was
the Majors own mother, Madame Waring. an
old lady of French extraction, and now fallen
deeply into the vale of years and infrmties.
The real head was PhRdra, female slave. and
a Mestizza* by birth. Phadra had one child,
a boy, some two years younger than the heir of
the family. Notwithstanding the want of a lady
hostess at the head of the table, there was not
a pleasanter or more popular mansion in the
State than Colonel Warnings. Indeed, be might
be said to have kept open house, for his dwell
ing was half the time filed with company, COM
prising old and young gentlemen, ladies, and
children.
Without any one habit of dissipation, Colonel
Waring was bon-vivant of the gayest order,
who loved to play the host, forget care, and en-
JOY himself with his friends and neighbors. He
was benevolent, also; no appeal to his heart
was ever sighted. He was frequently in want
of ready money, yet, when he had cash, it was
as likely to be lavshed in injudicious alms.giv-
ing, as expended upon his own debts or neces-
sites. / have heard of his giving thousand
dollars to set poor widow up in business, and
at the same time put off his creditors, and 90
dppnar into dQbt for h;c 81
thing. In the times when the yellow fever desc
lated the South, his mansion year after year
became the house of refuge to those who fed
from the cities, yet were unable to bear the ex-
pense OF a watering place. His house was a
place where the trammels of conventionalism
could, without offence, be cast off for a while
Children might do as they liked; young people
as they pleased; and old folks might-dance,
if they felt lively. at was at Colonel Warnings"
was sufficient explanation of any sort of eccen-
tricity.
Madame Waring, in her distant chamber,
was not much more than a myth" or, at best.
a family tradition; yet her name undoubtedly
gave sanction to the presence of ladies in a
house, which, without her, they would probably
never have entered. (
The Mestizza was scarcely less of myth
Everybody knew of her existence, and there
were few who did not understand her position
as well as that of the beautiful boy Valentine,
who was the constant companion of Oswald;
but these things are winked at on a plantation,
and, besides, Ph@dra was never seen, nor was
her presence to be guessed except in the we'll
ordered house, and the delicious breakfasts,
dinners, and suppers, prepared under her super
vision, and sent up to the guests.
Colonel Waring had his enemies. What man
has not? And even among those who at times
sat at his board and slept under his roof, it was
said that "justice should go before generos-
lty;" and that Colonel Waring, by his reckless
charities and lavish hospitality, wronged both
his creditors and his heir. Others whispered
that he plunged into the excitements of COM
pany, for the purpose Of drowning thought or
and if stranger came into the
neighborhood, and found himself, as he would be |
not unlikely to do, the guest of Colonel Waring,
he would be told by some felow-visiter that the |
ate Mrs. Waring, the wife of the Colonel, had
lied, raving mad, in Northern Lunatic Asy- |
uLu.
And, among the women, it was whispered
hat in dying she had deeply cursed the Mes |
liza and her son.
However that might be, it is certain that
Phedra had always manifested the most sincere |
attachment to the lady's son; and from the
lime that Oswald was left an orphan at the
,ge of six months, to the time of her death,
10 one could be more devoted nurse or
greater philosopher than she was to him.
'hadras nature was despotic, and every one
IN the plantation had to yield to Master Os-
valid, or they would find rstions shortened, holy
lays refused, work Increased, clothing neglect.
I'd, and be punished in numerous indirect ways,
lot by their most ndulgent of masters, but by
be influence of the Mestizza. Even her own
on was scarcely an exception to the universal
omage she exacted for Oswald. He had two
laims upon her-in the first place, in her ewes
e was the young master, the heir apparent
he Crown Erince-and then he had mo moth
RI '''''A
And the boy on his side repaid his nurses
eviction by the most sincere affection, both for
er and for his foster brother, Valentine.
Oswald took after" his father, both in the
axon fairness OF his fresh complexion, haxen
air, and lively blue eyes, and in the hearty
enevolence and careless gayety of his dspo-
tion. Like his father, also, he lacked self,es.
,em, aIG the dignity of character that it gives
lay, he had not half so much of that quality
8 hsd the son OF the Mestizza, whose over
eening pride won for him the name of Little J
'rince."
Valentine was beautiful, an exquisitely ,
eautiful boy; he was like his Mestizza moth
r, in the clear, dark brown skin, and regular
outline features; but, instead of her straight
lack locks, he had soft, shining. bluish-black
air, that fell in numerous spiral ringlets all
round his neck, and when he stopped yelled
is cheeks. In startling, yes, in absolutely ,,
ghtful contrast to that dark skin and raven (,
. The Mestzzs is half Indian, half Negro Il