Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-12
KENTUCKY SLAVERY.
THE OWNERS OF SLAVES GENER-
ALLY TREATED THEM KINDLY.

THE OWNERS OF SLAVES GENER-
ALLY TREATED THEM KINDLY.
Experience of School Teacher in Ante
Bellum Days-Easy Life of the Colored
Field Hands-strong Attachment Be
tween the Blacks and Whites.
To the average New England youth who
went to Kentucky to teach school anywhere
from thirty to fifty years ago the slaves ap-
peared to have pretty easy time of it. They
did not work like the sons of well to do
farmers in Maine and Vermont. They had
more money and more time for enjoyment.
Mason county at the time l lived there had
a very large slave population. As compared
with the white population, believe it was
as large as in any part of the south, except
few parishes in South Carolina. | expected
to witness much cruelty, but | never did
The owners of slaves generally treated them
kindly. They certainly did not overwork
them. | well remember the first time |
| walked out from the village among the
farms. l saw fifteen able bodied negroes sit
| of fence at one end OF cornfield. 1t was
little after 10 in the morning. There was
no slave driver, with whip in hand, mounted
on horse, as l had expected to see The
men who were resting, and whose mules
were eating corn leaves, were sent out to
| plow corn. asked the man who was near
est to me if anything was the matter 'Oh,
| no, maSsa,n he answered: I'VE was jess
awaiting for de horn to blow for dinner" :"
found that was about a sample Of the way
slaves worked, or rather rested
On Saturday was surprised to find most
of the negro population in town. Many of
| them brought in wood cut on massa's place,
which they sold and received the pay for
The money they spent as they chose. Others
were dressed in their Sunday clothes and had
come into town simply to have good time.
found that nearly every slave had plot Of
ground of his own on which he raised to
bacco, sweet potatoes and other things, which
he sold for the purpose of obtaining spending
money. The two weeks that included the
winter holidays was the time of jubilee when
nearly every slave worked for whom he Ghost
and had the money he earned II masters
and mistresses desired to have their OWE
} day season it was necessary to engage then
some time in advance. Such opportunities
for earning money were unknown to boy!
brought up on New England farms, as my
old friend and myself could testify to.
The next thing that struck me as very
strange was the strong attachment that ex
listed between the whites and blacks that hat
the same home. Nearly every male slave re
garded his owner as the greatest man in tn
country. He took pride in him and boastet
about him whenever there was an oppor
! tunity. If he was treated pretty strictly o
: even severely he still thought massa was
mighty big man who hadn't time TO vast
over common people. Almost every slave
old or young, looked or missus as a saint
and was not far out of the way. The south
ern woman who was at the head of larg
family of whites and blacks was in wors
condition of slavery than any person abou
the plantation. There was birth, marriag
or death in the family almost every weeh
She was the confidant of every one and th
person relied upon for advice and assistance
Her time was anybody's but her own. Sh
was literally ''the servant of servants" He
A. responsibilities were many and varied. Sh
| lltu l4lllt tlIlIt lul IGSN, ItCItdLIu
l. or society.
e The quarrels of slaves belonging on diffel
h ent farms were generally taken up by the
q masters No white man could abuse a slay
n belonging to another with impunity. h
1t was called to answer for his act as prompt
'. as if he had mistreated a son. In tracing L
the cause of enmities between white famlli,
| generally found them to be connected wit
i. the treatment of slaves. Two nice girls
my school never talked together, l notices
though they belonged to the same class an
were general favorites. | wondered at tn
and inquired about it. | learned that Il
grandfather of one of the girls, while in
passion, struck the favorite servant Of Il
grandfather of the other girl and declined
apologize for it. This occurred before III
pupils were born. Both parties to the qua
rel had long been dead, but the quarrel WI
not settled, and question if it is now.
There was law in Kentucky, as In 9TH
southern states, that forbid giving instru
ton to slaves in reading and writing. Sti
| was convinced that all the bright negro
who wanted to learn to read did SO. 1t
very difficult to keep persons from acquiriI
a knowledge of written language. If boo
and papers are exposed persons will learn
read them. l noticed that colored b,
who had dozen letters to deliver at diffe
ent places left each at the right place VIII
's a white child was being instructed in rea
ing at home half dozen little blacks won
be learning. A little white boy or girl w
played keeping school" had negro childr
for pupils A slave who learned how to re
was not long in learning how to use ma
In one short lesson he found out where Ca
l. ada was and what state he would have
pass through to get there.
c. Mild as was the system of slavery that p
vailed in Kentucky, there were some who
capped from it They were not, as is gen
ally supposed in the north, those who We
worked very hard, were denied all pri
leges and pleasures, and were beaten for
tie or no cause. The class that ran aw
comprised the petted or spoiled negroes, W
had many privileges and ways Of maxi
money, but who did very little work, tn,
who had so hard a reputation that they b
no friends and wanted to try their luck il
new place, those who had committed pc
crimes and were undiscovered, and tn
who had made unhappy marriages. If tn
were two suitors for the same dusky dam
- one would sometime tell the other that
master was embarrassed and that there v
Oh danger of his being sold and sent down
river. He knew that if he could scare
rival into running away he could secure
4 prize both were seeking. Love is distu
IL, ing element in the hearts that beat un
- black as well as under white skins-Rodl
=. WEIGH in Chicago Times