Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-04-16
Home Of the ChivaIry.

The following letter, published originally in
Owego On. W Times, a copy of which was
mailed to the Postmaster at Aiken, was the
cause of the expulsion of the lady writer and
her sick companion from the place at which
it is dated, by mob. We published &C.
count of the mater few days since.
AIKEN, s. c., Feb. 2.
My Dear Brother.-We are in what is cal
led the Pine Woods District, 12O miles west
of Charleston. Aiken is small town of not
more than 900 inhabitants, and one of the
very dullest place was ever in. All the work
that is done in this country is done by the
slaves, and they do just as little as they posi-
bly, can. A. .''.'r b.:
The houses are open and not half made,
with the doors off the hinges, and the win
windows won't shut +; you could put
your hand in the cracks all around the sash
es. The whole country has the appearance
of lazy, shiftless, degenerating decay. The
white people are the most lazy, shiftless, dirty,
ignorant set of thingsit is possible to conceive
of. They 60 lounging about the streets and
stores all day, moving heap of rags, dirt
and ignorance, looking little better, and often
knowing less, than the slaves-too proud to
work, and too poor to live-Mrs. Stowe's
description, in Uncle TOMS Cabin, of the poor
whites of the South, is no way over drawn
but often fails of their destitution and ig-
nOrance. r .-..t, .....r....
The slaves are of all colors and shades from
the most sooty black to perfect white
There was waiter at the Hotel at Charleston,
who was as white as you or /, with blue eyes
and sandy hair, and not the least appearances
of African blood that could see. I thought
him an 1rishman, and my husband thought
him an American but from over host, tn
our surprise, we found him to be a slave, the
property of planter few miles south OF
Charleston.
Aiken is a quiet resort for consumptives.
1t lies on high ground, and is surrounded
by yellow pine forest. The climate is mild
and warm, the atmosphere pure and delight
full We have been out all the morning with
out cloaks or shawls. And L ought not to
complain of country that gives my daught-
er health but, in spite of all my wishes, the
hours hang heavily upon me. We have no
company except the two young, ladies from
New York-the one sick and the other to
take care of her, and a gent from Ohio, also
sick, a testy old bachelor, whieh'is worse
than being sick. .t g. d. .. 70
This monOtonOus life is occasionally broken
by negro whipping. The other day, as I
was walking down street, saw quite crowd
of people, and soon beheld in their midst a
large, tall negro, with his arms pinioned be-
hind him, who had been driven twelve miles
that morning by white man thesman rid
ing Jon a horse and driving him. Before him,
using gso, two long ropes as we ussinss to drive
The men said that the negro had started tn
run away, and he had caught him and brought
him back. The negro saidsthat he belonged
to man few miles south, an had only lost
his way in the woods, and if they would let
him, he would go right,home. They fogged
him, put him to the calaboose, Ga negro pris-
on, and what has become of him since / do
not know, but feel quite sure that they had
the ropes on the wrong man, for the negro
was much the smartest lookIng gof the two.
Last Sunday, just after morning service,
we heard great noise in the street. and on
looking out we saw black man irving to get
away from two white men. His face was
cut and bleeding profusely. They tied his
hands behind him, stripped his back bare,
took him into their store which is nearly op-
posite to our house, tied him down to the
floor, and gave him fifty lashes in the course
of the next half hOur-not all at once. After
about ten lashes he groaned most piteousy at
every stroke of the whip. And all the crime
that we could learn that he had committed
was to prevent the black nurse from taking
whistle which he had bought and given his
boy, and giving it to his masters boy. The
slave and nurse were quarreling about it
when the master came home from church,
He came into the kitchen, took moulding
board and broke it over the slaves head, then
struck him a blow with the rollng-pin. The
slave rushed into the street, and the noise
began that attracted our attention. p,
have heard many censure the master for
whipping his slave on Sunday, but one that
he was whipped SO severely. While we-poor
craven wretches that we are-have to witness
such things, and dare not open our mouths in
disapproyal of it, / almost despise myself
for being such coward; but we could not
do the poor slaves any good, but ourselves
much harm so we bite our lips, and keep
silent before folks but in our own rooms
we feel as valiant, and crow as independent,
ly as young ROSTERS when they get upon their
own dunghiIl '"
And this is life in the South. Here is
Southern chivalry, the aristocracy Of America,
the constituency of Butler and Brooks
But give me my Northern home, however hum
BILE. l would rather be almost anything lex
cept a doughface) in the free North, than to
be mistress of the best plantation in South
Carolina. ,aaHaB .i 1.s-..a.
;l.A:-ogs &