The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-06-28
OLD TIME VIII MINGTON
J e QUEER Negroes ard the
MiSchicvOus Parr0t---Flush
Times on the Cape Fear
River.
For The Messenger:

Ny first visi: TO Wilmington dates
far back, probably 10 somewhere about
1919 or 1850. but it made me a slave
owner, for through it / became seizei
and possessed OF h only negro / ever
owned.
My two sisters ard / were carried
down by the Cape Fear river to spend
time with Aunt Mason"(the only
name by which we knew her. though
she was really u great aunt, and
we also passed some days at the house
of Aunt Susan Marks, living just OF
Market on the east side of South Sec
iond street andw no afterwards became
Mrs. Beach.
This was the first time we had ever
Iseen Aunt Mason. though in our Fay
lette home we a frequent n pleas
liant reminders of her in punches of
Iconanuts and barrels of unhuped oys-
tiers. Young people of the present day
to whom bananas n ~pineapples are
as common as apples and peaches, and
to whom oysters are no rarity-have
no idea how seldom such luxuries got
into the hands of up-country folks hf-
lty and more years ago, before there
was quick n daily communication
with the markets of the world. I re-
member we'll that our bananas and
l~pineapples were shared with the neigh
lbors as a great treat, and that the oys-
tiers in the she'll were especially esteem
led a great delicacy.
AS well as / can recall at this dis
ltance Of time, Aunt Mason lived about
North Third or Fourth street, not far
from the city hall, in a house with a
front piazza extending flush to the
pavement. She was a large woman. of
majestic part and dignified bearing;
land 1 ave heard the older members
Iof the family say that she possessed
fnran of 70 ntnr Thara Uava
lat least two negroes to every white
lperson in the household, who We're put
to 1t to know how to pass their time.
flor which idlenesS they were reproved
at least a dozen times a day by a huge
Iugly green parrot. ciawing his way UP
land down his cage hanging on the piaz-
"a: "Yo lazy hussy! Missus. bring
lgive vent to a croaking laugh, as know
ing as that of the raven Of poor
Barnaby Ridge in Dickens.
There were three negro children
lamong the slaves, who sometimes got
Ia taste of the cowhide for their devil
lment, and with whom we played about
the yard and on the front piazza.
lone day Aunt Mason said j%ocularly,
I"I will give those three negroes to you
tchildren-John, to you, Harry, and Kit
Ity and Mag to your sisters Nothing
more was thought of this; but when
she died a few years afterwards, her
will showed her to be in earnest, for
she a formally bequeathed this part
lof her estate to us, and they were duly
lsent up to Fayetteville.
AS there may be some old people of
Wilmington, readers of The Messenger,
who are interested in this part of my
STORY, / will devote a paragraph to this
property to which we fell heir.
Kitty Ann died early, of consump-
lfinn. Nav uhn had the most violent
temper Of any negro / ever knew grew
Ito womanhood, and went off with Sher-
lman's army, when it passed through
here in the spring of 1865. John went
off with me to the war as my body
servant: and except hat he was incu-
Irably lazy, did fairly well.
On one occasion we got into a pref
lty sharp artillery fight, in which. at
lone of our pieces n man was killed,
land four wounded out of the six re-
maining. John held my horse just in
lrear of the caiSSOn, with his eyes like
lsaucers, but without a word, though
I hin he would have turned pale if
he could. After it was all over. as we
were Tightening the girth of the saddle,
he audibly soliloquised: 4 never knew
before dat white people was such plumb
fools" That was h only comment
1 ever heard him make on the war
land 1t was cauStic enough.
John, like a great many of his white
Isuperiors, contracted a liking for liquor
in h army, and his death was strange
and pitiable. / brought him home
with me when 1 was lucky enough to
iget a furlough in 1868; and one day,
getting PERMISSION to 60 down into
town, he got on a spree. He staggered
back home, crept into his room. lay
ldown on the foor-and died. Imme-
idiately after his death a white powder
came out thick al owe his body,
Through the pores of his skin. The
poor fellow was poisoned by bad y
Iquor, for we afterwards heard that he
had been drinking in the lowest o
gerry in the place.
Aunt Mason had two or three remark
able slaves. one was a Guinea negro,
who, from his looks, might have been
just landed in this country, as saw
Iagely royal in his appearance and bear
ing as a barbarian king-over six feet
in height, n stalwart in proportion,
with a great mop of buShy hair in
black curls, streaked with gray. His
eyes were the most remarkable feature
in his strong, rugged face, large and
Iindescribably fierce, with blood-shot
white. But he was as armle as d
Ichild, understanding very little of what
was said to him. and able to make
lothers understand as little Of what he
had to say.
However, for all his lingo, Aunt Ma
lson had perfect confidence in him, and
made him her caterer, buying all the
family supplies. Once or twice he took
me with him carly in the morning &c
market, which, if 1 recoliect Alright
was at the West end Of Market street
near the river, and was a long Wooder
building, or, rather, roof, for it was
lopen on all sides. 1t was a wonderful
place to me, with its wealth OF gool
things, it's hubbub n lively talk and
lceaseless movement. Where could III,
lpeople come from to eat al this beef
and mutton, and pork, and fish, an;
poultry, and fruits and vegetables?
To this day, / can see the giganti
NEGRO standing in the middle of tn
market, in front OF a glistening pill
of fish, only relfnquishing my small
hand from his great black pain
to wildly gesticulate, and roll hi
leyes, while his big thick lips splutter
led and Sfammared to make himSel