Chapter 5

The next scene presented the assembled council and the prolonged debate; the warriors' detail of their long secret marches, continued hunger, and anxious ambush, until the moment arrived of the Pale-face's security, and the Indian war-whoop, surprise, and triumph. The continued massacre is next detailed; ending with the settlement being left a reeking charnel-house, and its best champion led captive to crown the triumph with his death, the last and proudest sacrifice to Indian vengeance.

The last change was to the ready stake, near which stood the unshaken captive and the eager warriors, encircled by an admiring crowd--and woman, too, was there, lovely woman! whose angel heart no custom, however barbarous and time-honoured, can wholly harden against that tender sympathy which forms at once her highest pleasure and her most dangerous snare.

Amongst the eager crowd stood one admiring, and pitying whilst admiring, till nature, stronger than the ties of country and of custom, spurning their control, armed with irresistible persuasion the Indian maiden's tongue, and touched a new chord in the stern breast of her sire and king; at once giving to the hopeless captive life and freedom, and winning for the name of Pocahontas the immortality of a nation's gratitude: and never, surely, did nature show more beautiful than when it thus rose superior to the force of habit long confirmed; nor ever did mercy achieve a prouder triumph than when, animating woman's voice, it reprieved from the fire of the Indian warrior a captive so feared and so honoured.

* * * * *

I had, in this place, the pleasure of passing an evening with a descendant of this princess, rendered more famous by her compassionate nature than though her father had worn the diadem of the Cæsars. This is the third female I have encountered in society claiming the like honourable descent; they have each been distinguishable both in physiognomy and manner; right gentle ladies all, as ever sprung from royal lineage, savage or civilized: one of them, lately married to a northern gentleman, possesses in a remarkable degree the traits of Indian blood and beauty, with much simplicity and grace of manner, and a freshness and warmth of feeling as delightful as it is natural and original.

IMPRESSIONS OF PETERSBURG.--THE DESERTED CHURCH.

Upon a steep hill, situated about half a mile from the hotel, and bearing from it about south-east, stand the ruins of a well-built church, surrounded by a large grave-yard, thickly tenanted by the once citizens of Petersburg: numerous tombs, of a respectable and, indeed, venerable appearance, contribute to invest the spot with quite an Old-country character; and, viewed from the high stone wall which surrounds it, the setting sun is glorious.

To this place my first visit was one of mere chance, but each evening after saw me at the same calm hour taking my walk amongst the tombs. I discovered that by far the greatest number of these decent dwellings of the dead were inscribed to Europeans, chiefly from Ireland and Scotland: very few were dated past the middle age of life, the majority were indeed young men,--enterprising adventurers, who had wandered hither to seek fortune, and had found a grave, the consummation of all wants and desires.

Upon many of these grave-stones were displayed evidences of the lingering pride of gentle birth; recollections which, suppressed, or perhaps forgotten in the land of equality during life, seemed to have survived the grave, stronger than death. Here were set forth in goodly cutting the coat armour, crest, and motto of an old Scots or Irish house, from which the junior branches had probably received no other inheritance save this claim to _gentillesse_, with liberty to bear it to some distant soil.

How favoured was the French gentleman of whom we read, who, resigning his sword, sailed in search of gain, and was permitted to return and reclaim it before time had rusted its bright blade! How many young hearts, that, quitting home, have beat high with the prospect of an equally happy return, have been doomed to waste and wither in all the misery of hope deferred, which maketh the heart sick indeed, until care and climate closed the protracted weary struggle, and the fortune-seeker was laid to moulder in some stranger grave.

I trust that, amidst the changes each day brings forth here, this ruined church will be left unprofaned, and that the tenants who sleep within its little inclosure may be left undisturbed. And I would further counsel any gentle traveller who rests for a sunset in Petersburg, to walk to this church, and contemplate its going-down from off the lofty stile leading over the western wall of the grave-yard: and when he shall behold the forest vale below changed--as I have more than once beheld it--into a lake of living gold, and over this shall watch the shadows of evening steal till the last bright fringe is withdrawn, and the brown forest again is seen to cover all the land--when, I say, this has been witnessed, the stranger (if a woman, certainly) will hardly fail to thank me for this discovery; for such I do verily consider it to be, as much as was Colon's first lighting on this huge sliver of our nether world.

I visited this little city at a period when cholera was making frightful ravages on every side, and a consequent depression was to be expected amongst the community. I was nevertheless greatly pleased with the situation of the place, and with the air of business that appeared to animate its citizens despite the frightful disease by which they were assailed; and indeed, so far as a sojourner of five days may be permitted to express an opinion, I should say that the evidences of the city's prosperity and growing prospects were many and cheering.

I in this place and in the neighbourhood saw a good deal of slavery, and heard much more: the victims themselves (so called) seem here a merry, light-hearted, and lightly-worked race, and I was a good deal surprised to find that in many instances their possessors were looked upon as the real sufferers.

Some of these, it is certain, are not to be envied this description of property, for they are often compelled to keep many active mouths for one useful hand: yet here are numbers of such persons who do not like to sell these household knaves, familiar as they have been from the cradle to the day of inheritance, and mixed up with every recollection of home and its inmates, although they would gladly renounce the present possession to be assured against all after claims.

_Nov. 5th._--Quitted Petersburg on a delightful morning, and as far as Norfolk made a quick trip; but, shortly after leaving this place, we encountered a very heavy gale of wind that endured all night, and compelled us next evening to put into Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, for a fresh supply of fuel: that night, the gale moderating, we reached Baltimore about fourteen hours later than was anticipated.

_7th._--Took the steamer for Philadelphia, where I rested for a day; and thence on to New York, which I learn is exceedingly gay,--a circumstance I do not regret to hear, as I am about to sojourn here for a couple of weeks previous to my departure for the South.

This I discover to be the commencement of the New York gay season; and here is, at present, no lack of amusement,--two theatres, an Italian Opera, various public assemblies, besides the ordinary resources of balls and family parties: of these there are three or four taking place every week; and I do not think the New-Yorkers are ever seen to better advantage than in the exercise and enjoyment of the lavish hospitality usually dispensed on these occasions. Here is no fobbing you off with a meagre account of jellies and a cup of lemonade: you find, on the contrary, without fail, a sensible supper, abounding with substantials for the hungry as well as trifles for the sentimental; the best wines of the cellar are paraded in abundance, together with a punch such as I never elsewhere remember to have encountered. Now and then, a little set would get drawn together at these suppers, which it was no easy matter to disperse.

_Nov. 22nd._--Embarked for Charleston, South Carolina, on board the William Gibbons, steamer. We had a series of hard blows until the evening of the 24th, when, getting to the southward of Cape Hatteras, the weather gradually moderated, and, early in the morning of the 25th, we were landed in Charleston; but so excessive was the cold, that I conceived it possible the captain had made a mistake, and that we were at some Charleston, in Greenland, or Icy Cape. The weather either was, or appeared to be, much colder than in New York when we departed.

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

Went to a hotel kept by a coloured family, named Jones, and was appointed to comfortable summer-quarters in an outbuilding, where I received an immediate call from Mr. R. R----d, a cousin of my friend, W. R----d, of New York; and with this gentleman I dined at an excellent boarding-house where there were three or four excellent Frenchmen resident. Here I spent a pleasant evening, despite the severe cold.

_28th._--After two days of weather for the severity of which no people can be worse provided, we are relieved by as lovely a day as can well be imagined; the thermometer is at 77 degrees, the breeze bland, the atmosphere of singular purity.

On this day I visited the theatre, a barn; the building originally erected for this purpose being changed into a school of anatomy: so cutting up is still the order of the day; only the practice is no longer confined to the poets, but extended to subjects generally. After arranging with my manager, I took a ride, making a rapid survey of the town and its immediate vicinity.

Vegetation still appears in progress; the orange trees are flourishing, the grass looking green, and only the forest appears clad in the sober brown of winter.

At this season Charleston is dull to a proverb; most of the planters, with their families, being in the country, and the rest preparing to follow; the city is, therefore, nearly abandoned to the cotton-shippers; and so it will remain until the month of February, when the race-meeting draws the whole State together; and, for a period of four or five weeks, few places, as I learn, can be more lively or more sociable. After this date, the country families once more return to their plantations, where they can remain with safety until about the second week in April: after which date the choice between country and city may be summed up in the words of Shakspeare, to "go and live, or stay and die;" since to stay is assuredly to die, after once the malaria is fairly in movement. Formerly, the winter campaign used to be prolonged until the middle of June; but of late years the time has been, from some cause or other, gradually abridged by common consent, until now the 15th of April is considered the last day of security.

The forest rides leading on either hand from the main road to the Cooper and Ashley rivers by which the sandy neck the city occupies is flanked, are, though flat, very delightful. Plants and flowers of rare beauty and in great variety abound here; the wild vine and other climbing plants are drawn from tree to tree; and the live-oak, sycamore, hickory, with the loftiest pines, altogether form avenues down which the eyes of a stranger wander with delight, and in which on these delicious calm days it is a joy to linger. My rides were sometimes solitary; and it was on these occasions I most enjoyed these forest paths, now as healthful as beautiful; yet, let only a few months pass away, and to sleep one night within their shade would be death as certain as though it were spent beneath the boughs of the poisonous Upas.

I could hardly conceive the possibility of such a baneful change, as, on a bright day of December, I sauntered carelessly along, watching the sun dancing in long lines of light over the smooth water, and an atmosphere before me glowing, as though a veil of gold tissue had been drawn above the forest. Yet so it is; the overseers alone remain upon the plantation after sunset, and amongst these the numerous deaths, as well as the cadaverous hue of the survivors, afford unquestionable testimony of the peril incurred by such a residence.

To the negro alone this air appears congenial, as the lively look of the chubby little imps that fill every cabin fully indicates. It is impossible not to be struck by the contrast between the looks of these children of the sun and the degenerate offsets of northern men; I have often observed with feelings of sorrow the sickly aspect of the children of some road-side store-keeper, or publican of the white race, as they sit languidly before their parents' door, with sallow parchment skins and lack-lustre eyes, the very emblems of malaria, possessing neither the strength nor the desire to follow those active sports natural and in fact necessary, at their age: whilst, sporting about or near them, might be observed the offspring of their slaves; the elder ones, with hardly any covering, pursuing each other, shouting and grinning from ear to ear; the youngsters, quite naked perhaps, rolling on the kitchen floor, or creeping about in the dust like so many black beetles, almost as broad as long. Despite their degraded condition, I have at such times been tempted to exclaim, "Surely this must here be the most enviable lot!"

This picture, however, must not be applied to the wealthy portion of the landed proprietors, who either migrate north with each season, or else seek the shelter of the dry sandy soil of the Pine-barrens, and on their heights breathe health and life; whilst below and around, at no great distance, stalk disease and death.

Amongst this class, on the contrary, I have often been surprised to find children whose elastic forms and ruddy complexions would have been noticeable even in the health-giving air of Britain; and indeed, taken as a whole, I should say that the population of Charleston City, the capital of this deadly country, wears as fresh a look, and presents as many hale, hearty old persons, as any of the northern cities of this continent. I was, perchance, the more struck with this fact from having expected the very reverse.

An air of greater antiquity prevails throughout this city than may be discovered in any other I have visited in the States; I should conceive it to be just in the condition the English army left it; I did not see a large house that appeared of newer date; and the churches, guard-house, &c. must be the same.

This population apparently has slept whilst their persevering brethren of the North, to use one of their familiar sayings, have "continually gone ahead" with an energy of purpose admirable as irresistible. This difference can, I fancy, be accounted for in two ways: first, much may be fairly set down to climate, which limits the business months here to about six; next, the revolution found here a sort of aristocratic association of wealthy proprietors, the produce of whose estates furnished them with ample means, but whose business habits were limited to periodical settlements with their factors or brokers. The revolution, and the changes consequent upon it, awoke the spirit and incited the hope of every man to whom the absence of inherited wealth supplied an impetus to labour; and the populated portions of these States became as a hive thronged with an active, money-seeking swarm, by which the idle and the inert were thrust aside before they became awake to their changed condition, or heard a murmur of the tide whose waves were encircling them about on every side.

The law of primogeniture having ceased to exist, estates became subject to division and subdivision, until the growing families of the original proprietors found themselves unable to continue planters with any prospect of advantage. In such cases the property was sold, and the proceeds divided according to law, or in conformity to the will of the testator, and so passed into strange hands; whilst with straitened means the members of the family of the once wealthy planter removed to some city, and here clung to their original habits and prejudices; nor, except in a few instances, ever turned their thoughts to trade, at once the source and secret of their changed condition; and into the hands of whose active agents, in fact, had passed the home and the inheritance of their fathers.

Comparatively few of the old families now remain who are wealthy; but happily these have mostly become aware of the effects certain to follow the existing state of society and laws, as well as of the necessity of providing their children with the means of warding off their worst consequences. Now, therefore, the sons of the best men of the South are wisely placed in counting-houses in the great trading cities; or, however good their prospects may be, are bred up to some useful calling, which in this country will, if pursued with industry, ensure decent competence if not always wealth.

The condition of numbers of men, among those of the South who have never been trained to this laudable course, is at this day one that excites great commiseration. How many fine intelligent-looking young fellows may be observed lounging about in the most hopeless idleness, easily to be distinguished for the sons of gentlemen, wearing in a half slovenly way, but with a flashy air, expensive clothes and ill-assorted articles of finery, without possessing either means or energy to cultivate those manly dissipations which in some sort redeem the idleness of our European youth, and at certain seasons withdraw them from mere pursuits of sensuality; making that at least graceful, if not useful to the community, which here becomes truly hideous, as the reckless air and wasted features of most of these unfortunate hereditary idlers sufficiently attest.

I do not anywhere know a class more to be pitied in a country, wherein the idle man finds neither sympathies, pursuits, nor associates, from which he can derive emulation, improvement, or even amusement worthy a rational being; it is, let me add, an exceedingly small class, and of necessity must, I conceive, decrease rapidly; at present its members ought to be regarded by parents as moral landmarks, living to warn the wise and worthy from that course on which their hopes have foundered.

The young ladies appear possessed of the same _naïve_, simple, yet perfectly easy manners which characterise their countrywomen of the North, where indeed they are principally educated and instructed in all those graceful accomplishments which embellish and refine our life. It appears upon a first view strange that, superior as they are, they do not exercise a greater influence over the youth of the other sex; but this may be ascribed to the fact, that they are brought out before either their judgment or knowledge of the world are sufficiently matured to make them aware of the existence of certain abuses, or of their own power of reforming them. Then again, marrying very young, they commonly quit society, in a great measure, at the moment the influence of their example might be of the greatest service to it.

A TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

_Nov. 30th._--Just entered my room, after having been for the last hour engaged waiting for, and watching the progress of, one of those startling phenomena which in the earlier ages were wont to be hailed as especial manifestations of the Creator's anger,--whose influence has been known to stay the onset of engaging hosts, making men deaf to the sound of the trumpet, and dead to the yet more stirring influence of their own furious passions, when standing armed before the array of their enemies,--which have been known to scare the robber from his spoil, and join in renewed amity the hands of long hating brothers.

And even at this day, when natural causes have been assigned for the appearance of this wonder, and science has learned to anticipate the minute and the effect of its coming, still, what power does it exercise over the imagination of the mass! Few minds can watch the progress of such an event, natural though it be, untouched by awe, unelevated to that Being who is the cause of all; the hearts of the simple and the profound, of the sinner and of the saint, alike own the influence of the hour, and render up nature's involuntary homage to nature's God.

It had been already calculated that at Charleston and in its immediate vicinity this eclipse would be total; and, consequently, here were drawn together, from different points, several scientific men, astronomers and others, for the purpose of observing its progress.

Nothing could have chanced more happily for their object than the present state of the atmosphere. At meridian the sky was cloudless; the page of heaven lay open, fair, to all who could read therein: at the same time the thermometer stood at 75 degrees in the shade; but from this hour until two P.M., when the obscuration was complete, continued gradually to fall, remaining stationary at 50 degrees.

As the great luminary became slowly covered, the shadows kept deepening, until, at last, day was exchanged for the sober effect of moonlight: thin filmy clouds then became observable, slowly sailing beneath the diminished orb; one by one the stars came twinkling forth; the household poultry gathered uneasily together in the yard, and retired to their roosting-places; the hurrying tread of frequent passers gradually ceased; the buzz of the thousands of eager watchers died away; the voice of man was silent, or heard but in whispers, and the profoundest silence reigned throughout the city; till, at the moment when the interposition was complete, the bells of the different churches tolled out, adding a thrilling solemnity to the scene.

At this point of the eclipse the effect was grand beyond description: a well-defined, narrow circle, of the most brilliant crimson colour, surrounded for a few moments the darkened orb, which then seemed to diverge into a glorious halo composed of equal rays: but only for a minute was this clearly definable; the rays quickly faded from the side of the luminary once more given to view; and again a soft daylight, like the gradual spreading of a fine dawn, chased away the night shadows that had thus prematurely usurped day's fair dominion.

From every quarter was now heard the cheerful crowing of the "early cock;" the fowls came briskly forth, pluming themselves in the recovered sunshine; the tramp of numerous passers-by was again echoing from the street; and again the cheerful buzz of human voices filled the air.

This was the first time I had ever witnessed a total eclipse; and I confess I fully shared the general interest with which all about me appeared inspired. Upon the covered gallery fronting the south, the inmates of the hotel were all assembled; whilst, in the yard below, were congregated the servants and household slaves of the family, with upturned anxious faces, now watching the progress of the phenomenon, and now casting their eyes upon the group of white men, to gather from their looks the effect likely to follow this hiding of the sun, in whose presence the negro alone may be said to live.

Although the recovered luminary shone bright as before its obscuration, it was with diminished power, for it continued chilly during the rest of the day and night; nor was it before noon on the 1st of December that the mercury recovered from its sudden depression.