The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-06-03
THE COLOR LINE


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the congregation was composed OF some Of tina
most wealthy and aristocratic families. Prob.
ably there was not u pewholder who WA no, /.
stakeholder. Passing this church on a SUNDAY
noon. at the hour OF the communion service 7
stepped In out OF curiosity to see it, found
body OF about three hundred communicates
one-third OF whom at least were negroe, NJ
both sexes. all very neatly dressed. The colorcd
people had come down from the galleries
and were seated on benches placed in ,ha
middle aisle Of the church. They wcro
served with the bread and wine by the sauna
deacons. venerable white gentlemen. and fam
tho same massive silver vessels by whom ami
from which their masters and mistresscs war,
served in tho pews. and at the same TINA
saw no distinction whatever In tho whole SER
vicc. Tho pastor addressed all alike. and Thar,
ut least. In tho administration OF the most
solemn rite OF Christianity, the color line wo.
completely disregardcd. | know not from nh.
servaton how common this practice WAS in
other churches Of the South during the day. 81
slavery. but was told that IT was tine general
rule whore tho slaves and their uu,f1r. h'
nnnr 20 'hs HE Sa anne rJhGrgsH,i9' anu were
orally the case with the domestic srl,uui. Nil,
had religious tendencies.
Now that you have started nm inquiry uto
Tn" present tendency of tho colurrd Icuiin In
draw the color line for themselves 1t Wo, a la
very, Interesting u some .c"inlctrut person
would give us the facts which show how thai
line was drawn or not drawn in the ,li,ys az
slavery, during the period say of twenty or
live and twenty years before the civil wui I
saw enough in 1913, and at II later uri.Id In
satisfy me that tie rn!aion, between tn, uyo
races in some of the older Southern Sitt", bad
some very beautiful aud touching. ASP. cts 10
offset the bad features oi slavery. Wnethrr
~ the present condition OF things. ITO
power 10 benefit by their superior intehigclce
Their c3lored fellow citizens. aud whether they
nave nave the same disposliion. arc questions on
to show that the Christianity and phlnulhropy
Of the south are doing "a great denl IN the hight
direction. How far these efforts are impcdci
by political action apl the, 9stV,hpne.s q
party politics il Won d be satisfactory to know.
HAVING alluded to tho bad aspects Of slavery,
to observe one OF its worst | silent three or
ionr weeks IN the spring of that year at
il front. of which ran the railroad from
Charleston TO Augusta. This was at "a tlno
when considcrab,e gangs of negroes were buing
the Southwest. The trains stopped every
morning Tor twenty or thirty minutes and
used TO 20 down to the rail for the purpose II
studying the countcnanccs and appearance of
these slaves. They wore carried in II peculiar
kind Of car. built for the purpose, in shape like
mir and provision forwa.er. The, were Of both
sexes and all ages. Very few were ironcd nj ali.
mothers who had little children were well
cared Tor. could not detect in the coun-
tcnanccs Of any of them amy sign Of suli.r-
ing or discontent. Their general appearance
was that OF good-humorcd Indifference; some.
times thoy were jolly and excited by the pros.
pect OF now scenes and II new home. doubt
less they consisted Tor The most part OF sllyrs
that had been sold on the breaking up OF old
estates. or IN consequence OF tn" Insolvency Of
their former owners. or because. IN u rare case
the individual had become Interchangeable by
ms ms, innsLef ~; A. Jew instances eonNerocl
make out no unhappiness. do not OF course.
mention this in palliation of tho System bat
because 1t was to mo study which / prose.
cutoi for u few weeks nearly every day witha
great deal Of interest:
Ten years later had an opportunity of oh.
serving the system in its best and most patr-
of scvora days Ut II wellknown estate on tho
name was II Christian gentleman and n most
ostiinnbe man in every relation Of life. He had
ne ws maT ihr property at an early
three hundred negroes ut the time of my visit.
He tod me that he had never bought slave
and had never sold but one, man who was
utterly ihcoIriglble, and dangerous. and
that his removal. gave great salts.
ws shen Sewsen g o and 2S g. and Ny have nG,
reason to doubt that he spoke the truth when
he said that he would az soon sell one OF his
possibly keep. Sucf IA STAKEHOLDER was Of
course, although not by any means II rarity,
depcndnnts east upon him by Providence and
acting with II religious sense of his RESPONSE.
bility to his ana their Maker. went among
his negroes with perfect freedom. unnrcom-
panied by him or any member of his family
and he desired mo 10 ask them any questions
and to CONVERSE with them ON any subject
lodging. clothes. bedding. food. all the material
comiori, OF liie. their condition was greatly
superior to that of an lrishmuu who WAS doing
the work OF my garden Al tho highest rate II
wages Then paid in New England and whose
FANNY had to assist with something moro
than his wages IN order that they might keep
body and soul together. In unhuuud'd utl"c-
ton Tor their master and his family. th'ss
negroes We're slGht worth seeing. | believe
his life At any time for Mr.. - or any one u
Now. as TO the color line at that timc ON such
an estate as that of Mr.. -, in Virginia
Msn on 70 snnfny m9rn'nE o With h nnd Ri,
lance from his house. which was supported
6y him and other planter, in the ne-hborAoud.
other domestic servants. attended tho same
service. and so did some of the servants Of mo
9 FL" families wprsyhGpins AT ,he SAM eh9sh
Metholists, and they worshipped nj chapel
which he had built for them on his own prop;
preacher. whom. he told me, they pre-
ferred ana whose COMPENSATION no paid
when he wal a.; not one OF his own reorle. as vas
been, in general. that when the negroes were
OF the same religious, denomination rs their
were ne. differently treated within the church
wa MhIt. Seryanis would be IN any part ot
me clNlllIeu WOflu. when til" nr.rurS wore
MethodistS or Baptists they had their own
places Of worship, provided for them ty their
owners. and most commonly had colnrcd
preacher, who might or might not be- a slave.
The whole subject Of marriage among Tie
slaves. IA VOL rs many other topics would b9
curious and important If. before all the com.
peient witnesses have PASSED away. soma ono
would give us something better than We have
ever hnd from tho sweeping denunc.ulinHs OF
The Abplitionsts or from the writers Of negro
hctions. l remenl Dor one day walking me
country lane in tho neighburhood of Aiken
and meeting n very respectable old negro wo-
man. comfortably clad. with whom / frli INTO
convorsation. She pointed out 10 mo her hut.
a decent cottage not iar of. and told me HAT
mhSsa took care Of her. | asked her II sha
had II husband. She said NJ. sab ! had
one once. He b'ionEd to Mr.. -. over
dar on the mex pIantashun. He went
after anod"r woman. and his mussa TAX
him one day an tied him M and irked HIM;
An he run away. an | haint have none -"nc"
Probably this does not imply that there had
ever been Il marriage ceremony. but il dd M
ply that when there WAS an acknowledged r"ll-
ton Of husband and wife. the parties were "n-
poctrd To conform to it; which IerhduS can
hardly he said Of states Of society whrr" appll-
cations for divorce ara ndv"rtlSsd 'o b" nttdn
without any charge. unless they are succ"sslu,
and whore they are successful in such hum-
bers that the marriage tie be 1t n civil orlC
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