The
children are fat, sleek, and, inheriting no nervous longings from their
parents, are on a constant grin--at play with loud laughs and high
leaps.
"May 1. It does not follow because the slaves are sleek and fat and
really happy--for happy I believe they are--that slavery is not an evil;
and the great evil is, as I always supposed, in the effect upon the
whites. The few Southern gentlemen that I know interest me from their
courtesy, agreeable manners, and ready speech. They also strike me as
childlike and fussy. I catch myself feeling that I am the man and they
are women; and I see this even in the captain of a steamer. Then they
all like to talk sentiment--their religion is a feeling.
"May 2. The negroes are remarkable for their courtesy of manner. Those
who belong to good families seem to pride themselves upon their dress
and style.
"A lady walking in Charleston is never jostled by black or white man.
The white man steps out of her way, the black man does this and touches
his hat. The black woman bows--she is distinguished by her neat dress,
her clean plaid head-dress, and her upright carriage. It would be well
for some of our young ladies to carry burdens on their heads, even to
the risk of flattening the instep, if by that means they could get the
straight back of a slave.
"Mrs. W., who takes us out to drive, comes with her black coachman and a
little boy. The coachman wears white gloves, and looks like a gentleman.
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