The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-05-28

| llGl Cdlllt U RIOCG69NJlA OA SAAAeAAl |OS Ss | each carrying in his hands a dish which he had been cautioned to treat with | especial care under penalty of having every bone in his ''wuthliss karkidge'' broken on the spot as a penalty for negligence. The small boys were eager and ready walters, too, for they were rewarded with liberality by the guests, and the friend of the household who de- parted without fleeing his little waiter, as we'll as the boy who held his horse, and the house servants generally, was regarded as "poor white trash" and to be "poor white trash" was only one re- move from the Flow down free nigger." |"
 It was a singular thing what an op- probrium attached to the word "nigger, ' among the former slaves. When a. diff ference of any kind arose among them the epithet was at once resorted to as embodying the height of scorn and con- tempt in the one using it for his op- ponent, and when in the fury of passion it was intensified into "blaek nigger," the insult was of the greatest descrlp- ton. Bloody fights often resulted from the use of this offensive expression, and the fact that it was employed was al-
  sonal attack.
 The monotony of life on the large plantations, varied only by the different class of duties imposed by the change of seasons, was broken when there was a wedding among the slaves. This fre- quently happened, as marriage was en- couraged by the masters, and in some cases, where the servants were highly esteemed the ceremony took place in the parlor, with the family. and a few neighbors as witnesses. A party dress, low-necked and short7sleeved was pre- scented to the bride by one of the ladies, the groom being arrayed with clothes of his master. A bridal procession from the "quarters" to the house was a sol emn affair, and both bride and groom enjoyed the momentary prominence giv- en them by the occasion. In families where the slaves were we'll treated. a wedding feast was provided, abundant, though homely, and the assembled guests of color reveled in as much bacon and greens, 'possum and sweet pota- toes, hominy, corn-pone and pumkin pie as they could stow away, while the pie kaninnies had corn meal and pot liquor,
  The pot liquor was an indispensability on the plantation, for, to raise little darkies without it was regarded as an impossibility. It was the water in which hams or other meats had been boiled, and that contained considerable nourishment. Thickened with corn meal and thoroughly reboiled, it was served out to the youngsters by the mammy who had charge of them, with the result that their little ribs were always well covered with fat.
 A marriage on the plantation was pro- ductive of no little misery when, as of- ten happened, the slaves changed hands, and one or the other was sold into an- other part of the country. This break ing Of the family relations was one of | the worst features of Slavery and great ly deplored by the more humane owners. | Not few masters, when compelled to | part with their slaves tried to keep the | families together, but others were not | so considerate, and the severance of | parents and children of husbands and | wives. was common. as well as de- plorable, occurrence.@
 Though legally the slaves could ac- qulre no property, many large owners allowed them portion of their own | time, during which they could work for themselves. Generally they were per mitted also a patch of ground on which | they could plant what they pleased, and | as the staple crop was cotton, they fre- quently planted it in their private patches, and at the close of the season, when the masters crop had all been picked and ginned and baled, the spec tacle of one or two slaves driving a sor- " mule, hitched to a sorrier cart, along the road with a bale or two of cotton, their own property, on the way to mar ket, was too common to excite remark Aside from cotton, chickens and water were the favorite articles of and by the raising and sale # these many slaves acquired a good ieal of small change. When owned by | kindly master they were sometimes tble to acquire enough to purchase their ,wn freedom, as they occasionally did There was case of this kind in Frank ort, Ky, several years before the war, when an old Uncle" who by long econ my had managed to save $400, proposed ci his master to purchase a half interest Il himself. The benevolent owner con- ented, the $400 changed hands, and the i'd man thus acquired half his own ime. Naturally, the master expected hat 'Uncle Joe" would soon have though to purchase complete liberty, ut Uncle Joe' gave him surprise, or, after loaflng wearily about three ays in the week for two or three months, he sold his own interest in him. elf to a neighbor for $450 cash, thus fearing handsome percentage on his nvestment When questioned about his peculiar transaction Uncle JoeS xcused himself by the statement that nigger property's so uncertain l don't 1ant to hold any" Public curiosity had ardly died away, when all of sudden ! Uncle Joe" disappeared, and was next card from as owning first class bar D CT shop In Cincinnati, which he had urchased with the proceeds of his last peculation. Uncle Joe was not the only slave who lade a good investment by crossing the ! hio, for in the border states runaway ayes were numerous. Any one who \ lkes up the files of the daily or weekly \ apers published between 1850 and 1860 \