American Scenes, and Christian Slavery Part 14

LETTER XXVIII.

A Visit to Mount Vernon--Dr. Robinson--Welsh Deputation--Queen Anne and New York--The Sabbath--Preaching at Dr. L's--Afternoon Service at Mr.

C----'s--Tea at Dr. L----'s--Evening Service at Mr.----'s.

The next day my wife and I paid our promised visit to the inst.i.tution of the Abbotts at Mount Vernon. In its government there are neither rewards nor punishments; but each pupil, at the close of the day, has to present a brief report of her own conduct. Her good deeds and her bad deeds must be alike proclaimed--proclaimed by herself,--and that in the presence of her fellow-pupils who were witnesses of the conduct to which she refers. This compels her to be faithful. If she tries to conceal what was faulty, she is surrounded by those who will detect that concealment: if she ostentatiously parades her own excellences, she knows she will sink in the estimation of her friends. The encouragement of self-respect, and of a regard for that which is good for its _own_ sake, are the great principles of government in this establishment.

Mr. Abbott's plan of teaching a language is, not at first to weary the pupils with the dry rules of grammar, but to store their memories with words. He read a word or a short sentence in French, for instance, and asked the pupils to translate it into English. Then, with closed books, he would give them the English in like manner to be turned into French.

I have since adopted the plan with Latin pupils with pleasure and success.

Mr. Abbott allows a recess of five minutes at the close of every half-hour. The hours of attendance are from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M.; but a rest of half an hour is allowed in the midst of that period. We happened to be there when the said half-hour arrived. All the Abbotts, the pupils, and ourselves went out to the playground, which was furnished with seats, and swings, and skipping-ropes, and swinging-boats, and all sorts of machines for exercise and amus.e.m.e.nt.

In these gymnastic performances the Abbotts themselves joined the pupils, with a beautiful combination of freedom and propriety. A happier a.s.semblage I never saw. We retired highly delighted with all we had witnessed.

In the afternoon I had the honour of being introduced to Dr. Robinson, whose Greek Lexicon I had often thumbed with advantage. He appeared to be from 45 to 50 years of age. His manners were exceedingly simple and unostentatious,--the constant characteristics of true greatness. I looked upon him with high respect and veneration. He is a man of whom America may well be proud. He pressed me to go and address the students at Union College, of which he is one of the Professors; but an opportunity of doing so did not occur.

In the evening I was waited upon by two gentlemen who announced themselves as the "President and Secretary" of a Welsh Temperance Society, and wished me to attend and address one of their meetings at a given time. This I could not do. In conversation with them about slavery, and the oppression of the coloured people, I was surprised and grieved to find how soon the Welsh people imbibed the feelings and aped the conduct of the Americans in those matters. On their pressing me to attend a meeting of their society on some _future_ occasion, I told them I was one of the most downright Abolitionists that ever lived, and, if I came, would terrify them all with such an abolition speech as they had never heard. This, of course, was cold water upon their love, and our interview soon terminated.

The weather for the next two days was so unfavourable that we could not go out at all. Among the information I then derived from books were the following precious morsels from the Introduction to the Natural History of New York: "The Governor was directed by Queen Anne to take especial care that the Almighty should be devoutly and duly served according to the rites of the Church of England," and was at the _same time_ desired by the Queen "to take especial care that the colony should have a constant and sufficient supply of merchantable negroes at moderate rates." Just what our own West India planters _now_ want! Oh! how they would hail the return of the palmy days of Queen Anne!

On Sabbath the 28th of March I was invited to preach in the morning in the church of Dr. L----, a Congregational place of worship, capable of accommodating about 500 persons. The attendance was not more than 200.

There I was delighted to find no negro pew. A few coloured children were intermingled with the white ones in the gallery. The Doctor, to whom I had not been introduced, was already in the pulpit when I arrived. The ceremony of introduction to each other had to be duly performed in the rostrum. He is a fine, tall, clean, and venerable-looking old gentleman. He began the service, and, before sermon, announced that they would then "take up" the usual collection.

That place of worship is what they call a "Free Church,"--_i.e._ there is no pew-letting; as a subst.i.tute for which, they "take up" a weekly collection. The Doctor also made the following announcement: "A Missionary of the London Missionary Society, from Guiana, one of the South American possessions of Britain,--his name is Mr. Davies,--will now preach; and in the evening Professor Kellog from----, a _long_ friend of mine, will preach." At the close I was introduced to the Doctor's _long_ friend, Professor Kellog; and sure enough he was a "long" one! There was present also Professor Whipple, of the Oberlin Inst.i.tute, to whom I had before been introduced.

In the afternoon I preached for a Mr. C----, in a Presbyterian Church.

The place was beautiful, commodious, and nearly full. The pastor introduced the service. In his manner of doing so, I was very much struck with--what I had before often observed in our Transatlantic brethren--a great apparent want of reverence and fervour. The singing was very good--in the choir. In my address, I urged them to give their legislators, and their brethren in the South, no rest till the guilt and disgrace of slavery were removed from their national character and inst.i.tutions. I also besought them, as men of intelligence and piety, to frown upon the ridiculous and contemptible prejudice against colour wherever it might appear. To all which they listened with apparent kindness and interest.

We took tea by invitation with Dr. L----, for whom I had preached in the morning. There we met with his nice wife, nice deacon, nice little daughters, and nice nieces,--but a most intolerable nephew. This man professed to be greatly opposed to slavery, and yet was full of contempt for "n.i.g.g.e.rs." He talked and _laughed_ over divisions in certain churches, and told the company how he used occasionally to go on Sunday nights to hear a celebrated minister, just "for the sake of hearing him _talk_--ha--ha--ha!" And yet this was a professor of religion!

On the subject of slavery the following conversation took place:--

_Nephew._--"If I were in a Slave State, I would not hold slaves."

_Aunt._--"Ah! but you would."

_Nephew._--"No! that I would not."

_Aunt._--"You could not live there without."

_Dr. L._----(gravely).--"Well, I _guess_ we had better pray, 'Lead us not into temptation.'"

_Aunt._ (devoutly)--"I _guess_ we had."

By-and-by one of the young ladies said to my wife, "I guess we had better go and fix our things, and get ready for church." This was the signal for the breaking up of our social enjoyment, which would have been one of unmingled pleasure, had it not been for this noisy, conceited, talkative nephew.

In the evening I had to preach again for Mr.----, the place where the coloured gentleman was refused admission to the body of the church. The building was very fine, and the congregation very large. Professor Fowler, of Amherst College, who happened to be present, read the Scriptures and prayed. My subject was "the woes and wants of the African race." I touched upon American slavery, and gave details of the horrors of the slave traffic as at present carried on. I also bore testimony against the cruel prejudice which so extensively exists against the African colour. All were attentive, except one man, who rose and walked out; and I fancied him saying to himself, "I am not going to sit here to listen to this abolition nonsense any longer." And so ended my Sabbath in New York.

LETTER XXIX.

The Rev. Theodore Sedgwick Wright--His Testimony against Caste--His Funeral--Drs. c.o.x and Patton--The Service in the House--The Procession--The Church--The Funeral Oration--Mrs. Wright.

During my stay at this time in New York, there died in that city the Rev. Theodore Sedgwick Wright, a Presbyterian minister of colour. His attainments and talents were very respectable; and for fifteen years he had been the successful pastor of a church of coloured people in the city.

Before you accompany me to his funeral, listen to his voice. Though "dead, he yet speaketh." He had felt this cruel prejudice against the colour of his skin as iron entering his soul. Here is his touching testimony on the subject, delivered in a speech at Boston eleven years before his death:--

"No man can really understand this prejudice, unless he feels it crushing him to the dust, because it is a matter of feeling. It has bolts, scourges, and bars, wherever the coloured man goes. It has bolts in all the schools and colleges. The coloured parent, with the same soul as a white parent, sends his child to the seats of learning; and he finds the door bolted, and he sits down to weep beside his boy.

Prejudice stands at the door, and bars him out. Does the child of the coloured man show a talent for mechanics, the heart of the parent beats with hope. He sees the children of the white man engaged in employment; and he trusts that there is a door open to his boy, to get an honest living, and become a useful member of society. But, when he comes to the workshop with his child, he finds a bolt there. But, even suppose that he can get this first bolt removed, he finds other bars. He can't work. Let him be ever so skilled in mechanics, up starts prejudice, and says, 'I won't work in the shop if you do.' Here he is scourged by prejudice, and has to go back, and sink down to some of the employments which white men leave for the most degraded. He hears of the death of a child from home, and he goes in a stage or a steam-boat. His money is received, but he is scourged there by prejudice. If he is sick, he can have no bed, he is driven on deck: money will not buy for him the comforts it gets for all who have not his complexion. He turns to some friend among the white men. Perhaps that white man had sat at his table at home, but he does not resist prejudice here. He says, 'Submit. 'Tis an ordinance of G.o.d,--you must be humble.' Sir, I have felt this. As a minister, I have been called to pa.s.s often up and down the North River in steam-boats. Many a night I have walked the deck, and not been allowed to lie down in a bed. Prejudice would even turn money to dross when it was offered for these comforts by a coloured man. Thus prejudice scourges us from the table; it scourges us from the cabin, from the stage-coach, from the bed. Wherever we go, it has for us bolts, bars, and rods."

And now let us attend the speaker's funeral. Professor Whipple will be our guide. As we proceed, crowds of coloured people are hastening in the same direction from all quarters. We are at the house. But so great is the throng that it is impossible to get in. Here, however, comes Dr.

c.o.x. "Make room for Dr. c.o.x!"--"Make room for Dr. c.o.x!" is now heard on every hand. A path is opened for the great man, and we little men slip in at his skirt. On reaching the room where the remains of the good man lie, we find Dr. Patton and the Rev. Mr. Hatfield. They and Dr. c.o.x are there in a semi-official capacity, as representing the Presbytery with which Mr. Wright was connected. Louis Tappan, the long-tried and faithful friend of the coloured race, is there also. I am asked to be a pall-bearer: without at all reflecting on the duties and inconveniences of the office, I good-naturedly consent. A _white_ cotton scarf is instantly thrown over my shoulder. There is the coffin; and there is a lifelike portrait of Mr. Wright hung up against the wall, and looking as it were down upon that coffin. But you can see the face of Mr.

Wright himself. The coffin-lid is screwed down; but there is a square of gla.s.s, like a little window, just over the face, as is generally the case in America, and you can have a view of the whole countenance.

A black man reads a hymn, and, in connection with it, begins an address in a very oracular style, and with very solemn pauses. A hint is given him not to proceed. They sing. Mr. Hatfield delivers an appropriate address. A coloured minister prays, sometimes using the first person singular, and sometimes the first person plural; also talking about the "meanderings of life," and a great deal of other nonsense.

We move down stairs. The immense procession starts. Drs. c.o.x and Patton, Mr. Hatfield, and about half-a-dozen more white ministers, are in it. As we pa.s.s on from street to street, and from crossing to crossing, all sorts of people seem to regard the procession with the utmost respect. The cabmen, 'busmen, and cartmen behave exceedingly well. But did you overhear what those three or four low dirty men said as we approached? I am ashamed to tell, because those men are not Americans, but _Irishmen_,--"Here comes the dead n.i.g.g.e.r!" The boys, now and then, are also overheard counting how many _white_ men there are in the procession.

We are now at the church. After much delay and difficulty we enter. The place, which is not large, is crammed. There must be about 600 people in. Dr. c.o.x urges them to make room for more, and says there are not more than one-tenth in of those who wish to enter. If so, there must be a concourse of 6,000 people, and not more than twenty whites among them all!

A coloured man gives out a hymn. Dr. c.o.x reads the Scriptures, and makes a few remarks. Dr. Patton delivers an oration. In that oration, while speaking of Mr. Wright's anti-slavery feelings as being very strong, he adds, with very questionable taste, "But at the same time our brother had no sympathy with those who indulged in _denunciation, wrath, and blackguardism_. He would never touch the missiles which _none but scoundrels use_." What a selection of words in a funeral oration! In speaking of Mr. Wright's labours in connection with that church for fifteen years, he says, "Our brother had difficulties which other men have not. Two or three years ago he had to trudge about the city, under the _full muzzle_ of a July or August sun, to beg money in order to extricate this place from pecuniary difficulties. On one occasion, after walking all the way to the upper part of the city to call upon a gentleman from whom he hoped to receive a donation, he found that he had just left his residence for his office in the city.

Our brother, though greatly exhausted, was compelled to walk the same distance down again; for--to the shame, the everlasting shame of our city be it spoken--our brother, on account of his colour, could not avail himself of one of the public conveyances. The next week disease laid hold of him, and he never recovered."

What a strong and unexpected testimony against that cruel prejudice!

According to this testimony, Theodore Sedgwick Wright fell a _victim_ to it. But who would have thought that Dr. Patton, who thus denounced the cabmen and 'busmen of New York, had at the very time the "Negro Pew" in his own church!

While on this subject, let me tell you another fact respecting poor Mr.

Wright. The life of his first wife was sacrificed to this heartless and unmanly feeling. He was travelling with her by steam-boat between New York and Boston. They had to be out all night, and a bitter cold winter's night it was. Being coloured people, their only accommodation was the "hurricane-deck." Mrs. Wright was delicate. Her husband offered to pay any money, if they would only let her be in the kitchen or the pantry. No,--she was a "n.i.g.g.e.r," and could not be admitted. Mr. Wright wrapped her in his own cloak, and placed her against the chimney to try to obtain for her a little warmth. But she took a severe cold, and soon died. _His_ colour, it would seem, hastened his own exit to rejoin her in that world where such absurd and inhuman distinctions are unknown.

Dr. Patton's oration is now ended. But--did you ever hear such a thing at a funeral?--that minister in the table pew is actually giving out--

"Praise G.o.d, from whom all blessings flow!"

and they sing it to a funeral tune!

We start for the place of burial. But it is a long way off, and I had better spare you the journey. The great men fell off one after another; but my pall-bearing office compelled me to remain to the last. It was 4 o'clock P.M. before the solemnities were closed.

LETTER x.x.x.

Trip to New Haven--Captain Stone and his Tender Feeling--Arrival in New Haven--A Call from Dr. Bacon and the Rev. Mr. Dutton--Newspapers--The Centre Church and Standing Order--The North Church and Jonathan Edwards, junior.

Now for an excursion to New Haven. We leave by the steamer "Traveller,"

Captain Stone, at 61/2 A.M. Wrap yourself up well; it is piercing cold, being the 30th of March. This boat is altogether different from the boats on the Mississippi. It seems to belong to quite another species.

It is, however, admirably adapted for its purpose,--that of running along a stormy coast. In the gentlemen's cabin are three tiers of berths, one above another like so many book-shelves. The engine works outside, like a top-sawyer. We shall pa.s.s "h.e.l.l Gate" directly; but don't be alarmed. You would not have known it, had I not told you. The Hog's Back, the Frying Pan, and other places of Knickerbocker celebrity, are in this neighbourhood.