The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-07-01

uoVCldoiC g v -
the dust to the realms Of an exalted
ancestry
We could not have kept them in
subsection had they hated the yoke
and rebel,ed against it, Their exceed
ing dooility, their sense of pride in US,
their surprising power of imitation, so
that the man walked and talked like
his master, their ownership of US; all
these characteristics made them light
hearted in their servitude.
In every we'll ordered country house
there was a room set apart where sew
eral colored women. trained to use
their needles, sat and sewed, making
the clothing for the negro men, and
forthe women, too, unloss they asked
for the material hat they might make
their own garments, and if they had
proven themselves thrifty and compe-
tent it was placed in their hands, not
otherwise. The infants clothing YVES
not always under my mothers super
vision. 1t was given out to the wo-
men by her as it was needed. A. wo.
man in her confinement was always
her own mistress for a full month. and
after she went to work much indul-
genoe was shown her that she might
suckle her infant.
On the rice plantations, where the
men worked most Of the time in dig
ging and repairing bitches and en-
bankments, and in the fields after
they had been under water, it was
necessary for them to have very warm
clothing. My father always made
them wear red flannel shirts, and their
outer clothing was the Atwood Eng
lish plaids. [ remember so we'll the
great bales Of this expensive cloth
rolled out upon the floor, where the
women knelt and cut out the many
coats and breaches necessary.
Many of our country physicians
made a handsome income out of the
planters, who paid a fixed sum for an
Dual attendance on the sick Of the
plantations.
My father also paid regularly &
stipend to the old Methodist clergy
man, who came to preach to his peo-
pie. How we'll [ remember the old
man as we saw him approaching on
his weary old nag, and ran to tell u
mother. The cook knew no gentle
man in the land called out my moth.
er's Christian love as this old mai
did, and the fire was made to burn
afresh and n hot. DELIGHTFUL meal was
served to him as she sat by and kind
ly talked with him. This was by 90
means all the religious teaching .phey
received. They often attended the
Church services at our chapel and
members of the masters family pri-
vately instructed them.
Out of our own home each Sunday
afternoon, the Puritan amongst us, as
we called her, would slip away SO
quietly from our gay assembly we
scarcely missed her, and taking her
little pile of books would walk over to
the negro quarters, where she taught
the young and old. There she sat,
this beautiful girl, the light of her
holy eyes testifyiDg to the truth of
her holy teaching, and as the end
proves, this teaching is still in their
hearts.
My father was a man Of immense
energy and great enthusiasm for his
work. No middle man came between
! him and his people; the most %intelli-
gent colored man on the place was his
overseer; he came every evening for
his orders as to the work to be done
next day. The place which myfathcr
planted had lain waste for manyyears;
the low-lying fields during this period
had received the aHuvial deposit from
the adjoining swamp, and the lands,
he saw, if reclaimed, would yield a
golden harvest. The fields were Gov
cred with cypress knees and. the soil
held in a network of roots; this growth
had to be dug out before anything
could be done with the rich soil. His
friends predicted financial ruin when
he undertook this seemingly impossi.
BILE work, but year by year he added
field after field, cleared of the wiley
cypress knees and ready to receive
the grain in its rich bosom.
remember one notable year; the
season had been after the planters
own heart and the crop was heavy.
The sight was so very beautiful, that
he drove us, my mother and the chill
dreu, to the plantation from our sum
mer home, some miles distant, and
along one Of the entertainments, which
divided field from field, to see the crop.
1t was a perfect afternoon in the early
autumn; the sickle had not yet touched
the thick standing stalks bending
their head under the weight of golden
grain; field after field stretched before
US, the light playing over the surface
in glad ripples as the mass was gently
shaken by the breeze. To add to the
exceeding beauty Of the scene a deer
leaped through the rice, from wooded
side to wooded side, and lost himself
in the forest.
A few days afterward a steady au-
tumnal rain set in; the crop which had
been cut. but not taken from the field,
was in little stacks ready for removal
to the barns; the rain fell in torrents,
and the streams which fed the great
swamp swelled and poured their wa.
ters into it's shallow basin. The crop
was flooded from this swamp at proper
seasons, but now the flood gates were
all carefully closed. The waters
surged against the strong banks and
for a long time they stood it bravely,
but this was a storm Of exceptional
violence, and after many hours the
banks gave signs of weakness. The
negroes worked, my father at their
head, with wonderful endurance and
fortitude, strengthening the banks by
every device conceivable, and the
dark, weary hours went by. AS the
day wore on the danger to the beauti-
full crop grew greater and greater, and
at last, towards evening, a break in a
bank took place; they renewed in vain
their frantic efforts to keep back the
strong, cruel waters; break after break
then came and the night drew on. At
last they gathered even the golden
shcayes in their arms and dashed
them into the surging waters to try to
stop the fatal gaps. 1t was now black
night, and it was by flaming torches
tb,t tbov -orl.o6 rofucipr mu f,thar'e