“You don't eat with your helps,” said my visitor. “Is not that something like pride?”
“It is custom,” said I; “we were not used to do so at home, and I think that keeping a separate table is more comfortable for both parties.”
“Are you not both of the same flesh and blood? The rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all.”
“True. Your quotation is just, and I assent to it with all my heart. There is no difference in the flesh and blood; but education makes a difference in the mind and manners, and, till these can assimilate, it is better to keep them apart.”
“Ah! you are not a good Christian, Mrs. Moodie. The Lord thought more of the poor than he did of the rich, and he obtained more followers from among them. Now, we always take our meals with our people.”
Presently after, while talking over the affairs of our households, I happened to say that the cow we had bought of Mollineux had turned out extremely well, and gave a great deal of milk.
“That man lived with us several years,” she said; “he was an excellent servant, and D—— paid him his wages in land. The farm he now occupies formed a part of our U.E. grant. But, for all his good conduct, I never could abide him, for being a black.”
“Indeed! Is he not the same flesh and blood as the rest?”
The colour rose into Mrs. D——'s sallow face, and she answered with much warmth—
“What! do you mean to compare me with a nigger!”