Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/465

Rh is ground; but when the harvest is late, as it is this year, the festival is put off to eternity; and for the greater number it always remains there. If the harvest has been good and the work is done, then the negroes may sometimes dance.

“Hitherto no religious instruction has been allowed to the slave on the plantations, nor is it even to this hour. But God knows how it has happened, some of these poor creatures have, notwithstanding, got hold of some of the truths of the Gospel, and you can scarcely imagine the eagerness with which they listen to every word. I know two plantations where the slaves have regular Christian instruction, and it is very probable that this may spread and produce a change in the relationship between slave and master.

“The time is perhaps not far distant when public opinion will become a real defence to the slave, and more so than law can ever be.

“People are becoming compelled to more justice and gentleness towards their slaves, for their own safety. I have known times here, when there was not a single planter who had a calm night's rest; they then never lay down to sleep without a brace of loaded pistols at their side.

“If people would only attempt to treat the slave with justice and with reason, they would be astonished at the results of these methods. The negro is in a high degree susceptible of kindness and justice. He is disposed to subordination under any real superior, and if the whites would avail themselves of such means they would be able to govern the negro, or at all events, he would work for them without the whip.

“I never allowed the whip to be used on my plantation to drive them to work; there was no need of it. Justice, regularity, reason, sufficed with them; and they worked well. I only allowed the whip to be used (and one cannot