Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/409

Rh of two couple of his house-slaves. The bridal pairs were young people and looked very well, especially one of the bridegrooms, a negro, black as night, and whom his master commended for the excellence of his character and his general intelligence, and one of the brides—but not of the bridegroom par excellence, were regularly handsome. Both the brides were dressed very prettily in white, and wore garlands. The clergyman entered the negro-company, stepped up to the bridal couples and very soon dismissed the marriage ceremony, after which they began dancing in the same room. Negroes and negresses swung round in a lively waltz; ladies dressed and decked out in gauze and flowers, altogether like our ladies, the only difference being that these had more finery about them, and considerably less grace; and after all they looked very much better in this borrowed and imitated finery than I should have believed possible. Whilst the black company danced zealously, the white people went to see the wedding dinner-table, which was splendidly covered with flowers and fine cakes, and seemed really almost to bend under the abundance of meats.

I here became acquainted with a German, Professor Lieber, an author of talent and a worthy man. For the rest there was nothing very remarkable here, unless it were the great number of colonels. All gentlemen of wealth, planters or others, it matters not, are called Colonel, though they may not have been military. Such colonels abound in the Southern States. When I expressed my astonishment at this general promotion, I was told that when the President of the United States visited the various states, he nominated many of these gentlemen to be his adjutants for the occasion; and these adopted and have since retained the title of Colonel. But that sounding title for so small service, and the passion for titles which evidently distinguished a portion &emsp;