The Old Dominion

by G. P. R. James

"As if the heaven let fall
Its lesser stars upon the earth."

"But I think the wind is going to change, captain," resumed he. "Don't you see that haze over there?"

"I shouldn't wonder, Mr. Wheatley," answered the master of the vessel; "and if it does, it will blow pretty stiff." These hints determined me to go down once more to the cabin, and take possession of my berth, although the scene from the deck was very beautiful: the stars shining, still, bright, and clear above; the faint outline of the Virginian coast upon our right; the waters of the bay heaving gently under us, gemmed with phosphorescent light, and innumerable white sails gliding along in the same direction with ourselves, some near and some far off, but all, like the beautiful phantoms that pass by us on the wide sea of human life, deriving much of their charm from imagination and indistinctness. But the horror of sea-sickness--that most unimaginative and unpoetical of all maladies--made me anxious to get to sleep before it fixed its fangs upon me. Accordingly, I was soon in the little den allotted to me, which was certainly less comfortable, and not much more spacious, than a coffin. Some fatigue, however, and the late hour to which I had sat up at Mr. E----'s, on the preceding night, brought slumber to my eyes before the wind changed or the gale began to blow. I suspect we were tossed pretty well during the night; but nothing awoke me till day had long dawned. By this time the sea was tolerably calm again, but the breeze not quite so favourable as it had been before; and it was not till yesterday afternoon that we rounded Cape Charles, and entered what is called Hampton Roads. Thenceforward the wind was very fair, and we had no difficulty in making our way to this place. I cannot say that the scenery we passed was very beautiful; yet I do not think I was ever more charmed or struck by anything affecting merely the sight, than I was with the glorious sunset of that evening, as we sailed up the Elizabeth River. In the morning, some clouds had been in the sky; about midday they had thickened and grown darker; and the weatherwise predicted a storm. But, just as those who pretend to the most philosophical knowledge of human nature are generally the most ignorant of men, so the weatherwise, I have remarked, are the most ignorant of the weather. Before three o'clock every cloud had vanished; floating vapour might be here and there, but it was so thin that the eye could not even discern its shadow on the blue, and it was not till the sun nearly touched the horizon that a thin, golden line, brighter than the rest, showed that there was something to catch and reflect the rays. On the right hand and the left, were piney points, with deep bays and indentations between, but with hardly a house visible; though now and then some blue smoke curled up from amongst the trees, near narrow creeks or little rivers opening their mouths into the wider stream, on which hardly a sail was seen to float, and where merely a canoe with a black man quietly dangling his line over the side, gave human vitality to the aspect of the waters. Beyond, towered up dense and lofty forests, massed in the shades of evening, with a sort of light haze resting upon them, and thus leaving a sort of mysterious flatness over the surface. You could see that they were green, yet the tint was curiously indefinite, approaching black in some places, and showing brighter colours in others; but beyond all, to the west, rose up the most gorgeous sky I ever beheld, of a burning fiery yellow towards the horizon, a broad orange glow above, and thence passing gradually into pink and purple, as the rays of the setting sun reached his zenith. To us, indeed, the sun was already set; for he was hidden by the trees and the gentle slopes of the land to the westward; but that he was not yet below the verge of earth, could be plainly perceived; for every here and there along the shores, where a deep creek or cove wandered up into the woods, his rays could be seen, as it were a path of light, reflected from the surface of the waters. At the mouth of two of these creeks, standing long-legged in the midst of the blaze, I perceived a party of storks or cranes, finding their evening meal on some shoal of the river. But the absence of all traces of civilized man; the glorious sunset; the dim woods; the calm, dull, unexpectant attitude of the storks; the width of the river; the sea-like motion of the waves; the solitary negro fishing from his canoe--all gave a strange, solemn, sublime aspect to the scene, and I could not help figuring to myself that such must have been the appearance of the country as it presented itself to the eyes of the first settlers here, who were amongst the earliest of those who visited the North American continent, when first their venturous barques approached these shores. What bold and hardy fellows they must have been! How unimpressible and resolute! I declare the sight of that sunset made me feel a kind of awe; and I do believe that, had I been amongst them, the solitude and the grandeur would have had a sort of sacredness in it to my mind, which would have induced me to turn the prow homeward, and leave the holiness of nature unprofaned. They were not such tempers, however; and some of the results of their persevering and dauntless spirit of adventure were soon visible in the houses and wharves of Norfolk, looking black and ragged upon the sky, with masts, and sails, and columns of smoke, and boats flitting across and across the river, and the steamboat which I had disdained, lying puffing out her hot breath, and singing no very melodious song. I must say that the external view of the city is much more pleasant than the internal. From the water, on whose bosom it seems to rest, the very ruggedness and irregularity of the outline--especially in the magnifying atmosphere of twilight--give it a picturesqueness, and even a grandeur, which the interior wofully belies. The streets are narrow, irregular, ill kept, and full of the most unpleasant odours. At every crossing you stumble over a dead dog or cat. The air, too, is redolent of stale and salted fish and tobacco; and the part of the town nearest to the river seems a happy compound of Wapping and Billingsgate, while the ear is regaled with violent peels of Negro laughter, mingled occasionally with all the riches of the Irish brogue.

"Negro laughter!" you may exclaim. Yes, my dear sister! Whatever you may think, these poor, unhappy people, as we are taught to believe them, laugh all day long with such merry and joyous peals, that it is impossible to believe that the iron of which we are told, is pressing very deeply into their souls. At all events, I am quite sure it does not affect their diaphragms. I think I shall establish it as a good comparison to say, "as merry as a negro slave." Even in their solitary moments, too, there seems to be no brooding discontent about them. They are talking continually to themselves, and their soliloquies seem full of fun--at least, if we may believe the merry laughs excited by what they themselves are saying. This morning, I followed down to the very extreme end of the town an old negro, who, though he was somewhat lame in one leg, seemed very agile and vigorous. There was something about the man that caught my fancy; for though he was very plainly dressed, in a sort of frieze jacket and a pair of blue linen trousers, he was very clean: his white wool looked respectable, and his black skin shone like ebony. His occupation, at the time, was the humble one of carrying a large dead pig upon his back. These people are a curious study to me, having seen so little of them, and having received but a one-sided view of their character and of their treatment. So I watched him along the way, keeping a little behind, and on one side of him. Some distance down the street, at a house with a little garden before it, a huge monkey, with a face horridly human, was sitting, chained to a tree, eating what seemed to me a potato. The negro stopped, with the pig still upon his back, and gazed thoughtfully at the monkey for a moment or two. The brute grinned and chattered at the man, and held up his doubled fist in rather a pugilistic attitude. The negro grinned, and said aloud--"Ah, massa Jacko, you damn like old folks!" And on he marched upon his way. I must explain to you that "old folks," in negro parlance, means, generally, the mother and father of the speaker. At the further part of the town, where a rough paling encircled a piece of ground intended to be built upon, my black friend stopped, and deliberately unshouldered his pig, setting him up on his hind feet against the boards. But he could not be without his joke, even at his mute companion. Indeed, this race seems to have a poetical way of animating everything. "Ah, massa piggy." he said, "I carried you long way; you look mighty stiff. I damn tired too. So we both rest ourselves." As we were now at the outskirts of the town, and as I was afraid of losing myself if I went further, I turned back to my inn, which is tolerably comfortable, although a poor looking place enough. It is called the Exchange Hotel; and there you had better write to me, as when I go onward, I shall request my very civil landlady to forward all letters to me by the speediest conveyance. You may ask why I do not go onward at once, and get through my business in the interior without delay; but the fact is I am waiting for letters from Mr. Griffith of New York, who, having seen me in England, can identify me here. He only can prove that I am the veritable Simon Pure, and make clear my title to the property which our good aunt has left me. I expected these letters in Baltimore; but, in regard to some of the institutions, I wanted to see and examine, especially that of slavery, Baltimore is neither fish, flesh, nor red herring. It is in a slaveholding State; but so close to the free States, that slavery there is little more than a name. It presented itself to my mind there in no other way than to make me wonder that the gentlemen and ladies of such a nice town were so fond of black servants, which you know is not generally the case in England. I therefore came on to Virginia, where the slave system is in full force, and directed the letters to follow me. As soon as they arrive, I shall proceed into Southampton County; and if it be possible to remain incog. in this most inquisitive of all countries, I shall quietly inspect Aunt Bab's lands and tenements, and make every necessary inquiry before I disclose who I am. What I shall do with the property, I do not know. It is not necessary to me. I have enough without; and may perhaps abandon it altogether. I hear you exclaim, my dear Kate, "You will of course emancipate the slaves!" And you will be horrified when I reply, "I do not know." But be assured I will do what, on mature reflection and personal observation, I judge to be the best for them. No motive of sordid interest will have any effect upon me, or could ever induce me to keep my fellow man in bondage. But I confess my preconceived opinions have been very much shaken by what I myself have seen, even during my short stay here, and by the comparisons which my mind has unconsciously instituted between the condition of the negro in the free states and in the slave-holding communities. In the former, he is decidedly a sad, gloomy, ay, an ill-treated man, subject to more of the painful restrictions of caste than I could have conceived possible. Here, he appears to be a cheerful, light-hearted, guileless, childlike creature, treated with perfect familiarity, and as far as I have seen, with kindness. Whether this be a reality or merely a semblance, I shall know hereafter; but, depend upon it, I will not act till I do know. I must close my letter, for my fellow passenger, Mr. Wheatley, has just come to call upon me, and I have surely written enough for one day. Write soon if you would have your letter reach me, as there is nothing more uncertain than the length or shortness of the stay of

Your affectionate Brother.

P.S.--This Mr. Wheatley, who has just left me, is certainly a very amusing man. I cannot tell much about his principles; and he seems to vent his scoffs and jests at everything. But he has a good deal of originality of thought, no bad conceit of himself, and some very strong and fixed opinions, springing rather, I suspect, from the suggestions of his own mind than from anything which has been instilled into him by others. He always seems to set out from the beginning of things; and then flies along his chain of deductions like an electric current, skipping a few links here and there, I doubt not, and getting on to another chain which leads him far away. But with men whom I may never meet again, I have got into a way of amusing myself with their characters, rather than combating their arguments. I was never born for an apostle; and I do not think, if I had the power of depriving men of their opinions or even of their prejudices, I should do much good to myself, or them, or society. Indeed, I have come to the conclusion, that the great bulk of men's prejudices is part of their property, which we have no right to take from them. We may tax them to a certain extent for the benefit of society, but we must prove that benefit before we make it our plea; and the rest we have no right to meddle with at all. The self-conceited desire to do so, is the origin of all fanaticism and of the host of evils to which it gives rise.

P.S. No. 2.--Eleven o'clock Friday night.--I have just made a funny sort of acquaintance with my friend the negro pig-carrier. In going out about two hours ago, I heard a loud dispute at the foot of the stairs, and found another fellow as black as himself abusing no other person than Mr. Zedekiah Jones; for such is his euphonious name. I did not stop to listen; but one vituperative epithet was applied to him by his opponent, which I never should have expected to hear addressed by one negro to another. "You're a damn'd black free nigger!" cried the little scrubby fellow who was contending with him.

"You're black as I am," retorted Zedekiah, "and nigger too. I could'nt help being free. Ole massa 'mancipate me whether I like or no." The accusation and excuse were strangely characteristic; and a few minutes ago old Zedekiah came up to my room to ask if I had any boots or shoes to clean. It seems he is a sort of supernumerary shoeblack, or porter of the house. I shall get something of his history from him to-morrow, for he appears to be a good kind of merry creature; but, it being late to-night, I satisfied myself with obtaining his name. No letter has come yet, so I shall have to stay here another day.

[CHAPTER II.]

Another letter, my dear sister, and still from Norfolk. It was useless to set out without the expected epistles to identify me, in case of need; and they only arrived this morning. Then came the great and important question of how, and by what manner, I was to proceed to my journey's end. It was one which I gave no heed to till this morning--an old habit of mine, by the way; for I fear my mind is somewhat discursive, and rambles about important points, to amuse itself on the outskirts of the question. No stage was to be had to the point which I wished to reach--no steam-boat, because it is far inland--no blessed post-horses, for those much enduring animals are unknown in this country; and there were only two resources: what they call here a buggy--that is to say, a rumbling, generally ill conditioned vehicle, with either one or two half-starved nags, for the hire of which one is charged the most extortionate price--or the old-fashioned mode of locomotion on a horse's back. I determined upon the latter resource; but upon going to a livery stable in the neighbourhood of the inn, I saw a collection of animals so miserable and forlorn, that I doubted much whether any one of them would reach the end of the journey without falling to pieces. Moreover, my good friend, the proprietor, made considerable difficulty as to hiring them out for so long a journey, and gave me clearly to understand that he should consider he was doing me a great favour if he acceded at all. Not wishing to lay myself under an obligation to this very independent gentleman, I walked away, determined to fall back upon the buggy, and to get my new friend Mr. Wheatley, to undertake the negotiation for me; for I somewhat feared that my temper, though I believe a tolerably good one, might break down under similar discussions. On going back to the inn, in order to send him a note, and finding my worthy acquaintance, Zedekiah Jones, standing at the door, I inquired of him, casually, if there were no other place than the one to which I had been directed where I could hire a horse. He grinned, and shook his head; but remarked, that I could buy plenty of very good horses if I wanted one to purchase. He knew of two, he said, which had come into town two days before, fresh and well-conditioned, and a capital match.