Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/35

Rh the trees, behind which they dress, paint, and adorn themselves. They have rings in their noses, and they attire themselves very showily. One of these Indians is an unusually handsome young man, and wears his hair in long locks falling on his shoulders. I have sketched a couple of the young girls; they look very plump and merry, and in features are not unlike Jewesses, that is to say, such as have broad and flat noses.

These Indians are praised for their integrity, and the exactness with which they keep a promise. Farther up the Alabama River, great numbers of Indians are still met with in a savage condition; but a great portion of the state of Alabama is still in a savage condition, not only as regards the country itself, but the manners of its white inhabitants. The state is young; having only obtained its constitution in 1817, and it has the institution of slavery, the institution of all others least conducive to spiritual and temporal advancement. The fetters of slavery bind the white masters as well as the black servants.

Even Mobile has its slave-market, which I visited, but found there merely a few mulatto girls, who remained unsold, and who looked stupid and indifferent, and who proposed to me that I should purchase them.

I have been repeatedly to the theatre, and always amused and interested by the young and promising actress, Miss D. I met her one evening, with a number of others of the theatrical company, at Mrs. Le V.'s. They all appeared agreeable and well-bred people, and young Miss D. was more beautiful in a room than on the stage, and as modest in dress and demeanour as any of the young Puritans of New England. She is accompanied by, or rather she accompanies her father, who also is an actor of merit. It is evident that actors in the New World take a higher position in educated society than they have yet done in Europe. They do not here form a caste.