114 



®l)c JTarnici-'s iilontl)hj bisitor. 



seen the delicate christian female, that would 

 grace any parlor in New York, and the owner 

 of a hiimlred slaves, sitting in llie school-room 

 from morning till night, spending her strength in 

 teaching her young slaves, and endeavoring to 

 prepare them for the enjoyment of freedom ; and 

 this she does month after month, herself the most 

 perfect slave of ail ; and she lives among ilicin 

 not of choice, hut hecanse she dare not rim away 

 from a duty which she feels that God, in His mjiS- 

 teriouR providence, has imposed i.pon her. 



Now is it not hard that when tliis christian la- 

 dy visits the North for a little lelaxalion from her 

 duties, and needing the sympathies and prayers 

 of christians, she should find 1 erself dehaned 

 frou) the commimion of saints, and her name 

 cast out as evil, hecause she had the misfortune 

 to be born south of the Potomac, and cannot see 

 it her duty to cast oti' these poor, ignorant and 

 helpless beings upon the cold charities of the 

 world ? 



Another lady said to me, "I am living here an 

 e.\ile from my home, on account of my slaves, 

 which have been entailed upon me, and which 1 

 cannot part with, for they will not consent to be 

 separated from me." 



But it may be said, these are extreme cases ; be 

 it so, but they are nudtiplying every day — and if 

 we, at the North, will but let tliem alone, " and 

 cease to do evil," if we will but fall in \\h\\ the 

 leadings of God's providence, seek to know His 

 will, and mark the significant signs, ihatare point- 

 ing to the ultimate good, and glorious resulls, 

 vvhich God designs to bring out of this evil, and 

 instead of abusing our brethren at the South, and 

 throwing obstacles in their way, seek to encour- 

 age and aid them by our prayerd and sympathies; 

 then may this work continue to progress until ev- 

 ery son and daughter of Ham be ble.ssed not 

 will) frecilom only, but with that light and liberty 

 wherewith Christ makes his people fiee. 



E. N. SAVVTELL. 



JVew Orleans, 1847. 



From the Congregations) Journsl. 

 Facts coucernin? Slavery at the South. 



so. III. 



" Ethiopia shall Btrelch out Jier hands to God." 

 In listening lo speeches and remarks at the 

 North on the subject of slavery, one would be led 

 to suppose that all the sympathy ever felt for the 

 slave, and all that has ever been done, or is now 

 doing to ameliorate his condition, were confined 

 to Northern people, or non-slaveholding States — 

 and that Sontheiii men cannot possibly have any 

 fellow feeling or sympathy with the slave, or even 

 do any thing tor his elevation or freedom. Hence 

 the cries an<l groans of these noisy speech-mak- 

 ing men at the North — as if the whole limdeu 

 of this great work rested upon iheir shoulders — 

 and that if they were to cease lo cry aloud, the 

 whole world would go to sleep. 



Now, the good people at the North, who really 

 desire to know the triilli on this sulijecl, ought 

 not lo be kept in ignorance. They ought lo know 

 that there is more genuine kindueps fell, more 

 enlightened benevolence e\er(used, more sacri- 

 fices made, and more practical wa)s and means 

 adopted for the ediicalion, religious insiruclion, 

 and final elevation of the slaves, by people here 

 at ihe Soulli, than ever was dreamed of at the 

 North. Ihit here, they do not make a world of 

 noise about it ; aiining at no impossibililies — tak- 

 ing hold of the evil, as they lind it, not as they 

 would have it— Iheir work is u practical one — 

 thry are laying " the a.\e !it the loot of the tree ;" 

 and Ihouj'lj miosteiUalious imd silent in its ope- 

 rations, is sure and progressive — and like leaven 

 destined lo leaven the whole lump. A single in- 

 «taric will illusirale what I ineati — and will ex- 

 hibit, al.~o, that far-reaching, eiiliglueurd philan- 

 ihiupy, that is rapidly pervading the South on 

 lliis .^li'ject. 



In compliance with a previous rngap;ement, 

 and ill company with two other gentletiKMi, I at- 

 tended divine service, last Sahb.uh, at what may 

 be called the " negro qiiarteis" of one of the 

 wealthiest gentlemen in Louisiana, who was one 

 among the fiist settlers in the Slate. On enter- 

 ing the immense enclosure surrnnnded by a high 

 fence, and seeing houses of all sizes and descrip- 

 tions, it reminded me of an Italian Villa, in the 

 midst of which stootl the mansion of the old 

 master, but little superior to those of his slaves. 

 The largest imd most prominent building, how- 



ever, was a commodious brick church, erected 

 exclusively for the accommodation of his color- 

 erl people. The old veteran received us with 

 that cordial hospitality so universal at the South 

 — and no sooner seated, than ihe conversation 

 began upon the all im[iortant subject of Slavfry, 

 its moral and pecuniary curse ; the certainty of 

 its final abolition, and the impoi tance of educat- 

 ing the mind, elevating the character, and |ire- 

 paring the slave for that liberty, which he felt 

 sure,God designed he should one day enjoy — top- 

 ics which Northern peojjle supjiose are never 

 broached here at the South, but which in fact are 

 discussed more freely, more sensibly, and with 

 far more enlightened christian views than at the 

 North — and lor this very good reason, that they 

 licre better understand llie subject. He had hard- 

 ly began, iiowever, to give his own views on the 

 subject, before one of his servants announced 

 that it was " meeting time." 



" Gentlemen, said he, as he arose, " will you 

 accompany me to church.'" 



Of course we wished to do nothing else. On 

 entering the church door, there was seated one 

 of the most orderly, well dressed and well be- 

 haved congregations that one will find anywhere 

 — composed solely of his own colored people, 

 and one of his own slaves in the pulpit giving 

 out the hyimj; after singing and prayer, he de"- 

 livered a most sensible and appropriate sermon. 

 At the close of the services, Ihey bejjan singing 

 one of their soul-stirring hyiun.s, and soon get- 

 ting into their happiest mood, they began to move 

 about, shaking hands with each other — till final- 

 ly coming into our corner, where we happened 

 to be seated, they seized first their ohi master's 

 hand, then mine, and so on — singing in the most 

 melodious strains — 



" Oh, who will come and go with us, 

 We are bound for the pronjised land." 



Tears rolled down the furrowed cheeks of their 

 old master, as i hey held his hand, and we all wept 



toi^otlior. 



On returning to the house, and anxious to hear 

 more of his views on the great subject of pre- 

 paring these immortal beings for liberty in ihis 

 world, and happiness in the next, he began : — 

 " Why," said he, " we must educate them, we owe 

 it to our slaves, and we now have the power to 

 do it ; we must instruct them in the christian re- 

 ligion, in the mechanic arts, in the principles of 

 free government, or their fi-eedom would prove a 

 curse instead of a blessing." 



"1 speak not," said he, "theoretically, but from 

 experience. I have already educated about one 

 hundred of mine, and who have, of their own 

 choice, gone to Liberia; some of them are mer- 

 chants, some farmers, and others mechanics. 1 

 gave two of them a collegiate education, aud ihe 

 rest i educated myself — and I have the satisfiic- 

 tioii of knowing that they are all doing well, are 

 useful and happy — one of them is a missionary, 

 and he « rites me that he has nearly two hundred 

 native African children in his school — teaching 

 them our language, our religion and our laws — 

 and," said he, " that you may see for yourselves; 

 read these letters" — here he handed a mimber of 

 letters, received from the colony of Liberia — 

 from those that were once his own ignorant slaves 

 — aud to say nothing of the elegance of diction 

 aud penmanship — they were so filled with ex- 

 pressions of joy and n juicing, of love and grati- 

 tude to their master, as to make it utterly impos- 

 sible 10 read them without weeping — addressing 

 him by such endearing appidlations as "dear fa- 

 ther," " dear parent," " dear benefactor," and de- 

 claring at the close that they had hut one single 

 wish for ever visiting the United Stales again, and 

 that was, "that they might see, once more, their 

 ilear old father, before he died." " Now," .said 

 this old gentleman, "this is my idea of our duly 

 and obligalimis to the shues, aud of God's pur- 

 poses ill sending lliein here, and what 1 have done 

 lor those in liiberia, 1 am going to do for all." 



On asking how he managed to teach so many 

 liimsell? he r^'plied, " 1 have iIk in divided into 

 four classes; al day-iight on Sahhath morning, I 

 call the first class, and drill them in reading ami 

 spelling till birakliist. After breakliist, the sih-- 

 oiid class is caHed, and they go through the short- 

 er calcchism and the ten commandincnls— then 

 comes the hour for public worship — when cme 

 (d' the servants, who is a minister, becomes the 

 teacher, and I the learner. Alter public service, 

 ihe otin r two clusses, more advanced, are carried I 



through their respective lessons in the someway 

 as those in the morning. This is the way," said 

 he, " 1 spend all my Sabbaths ; nor do I sufi'er any 

 intrusion from my neighbors, unless it be one 

 who is desirous of learning the art of doing good 

 — and of training up his slaves for the high pur- 

 poses and destiny lor which God designs them." 



Aud 1 could not but reflect myself, how much 

 more evidently was this man in the path of Ida 

 duly, than those who think their Sabbaths well 

 spent in denouncing slaveholders as man-steal- 

 ers, and antheinatizing every one who will not 

 consent to turn his slaves loose into the woods, 

 all at once, and with none to care for their souls 

 or bodies. 



Rut another peculiarity in this man's system 

 of training his slaves for freemen is, that he al- 

 lows of no arbitrary control or punishment. In 

 fact, his slaves are organized into a perfiict re- 

 public — [lossessing all the elements of a free, leg- 

 islative government. Their trials fiir any misde- 

 meanor or crime, are by jury — witnesses exam- 

 ined, and especial pleadings with all the solem- 

 nities of a court. In important and diftlcnlt cas- 

 e.s, the old master is sometimes called in lo pre- 

 side as judge, and decide upon some ilifficult 

 points of law; but the verdict, the sentence, and 

 its execution are all in their own bauds. 



Thus is it in this way they are learning impor- 

 tant and practical lessons in the principles of civ- 

 il polity a:id jurisprudence. .'\nd if we ask this 

 good man for his motive in all this, his answer is 

 worthy of being recorded in golden capitals. 

 " Why," said he, " intelligence, virtue and religion 

 constitute the only sure basis of a republic. 1 be- 

 lieve Africa is to he a republic, and receive our 

 language, laws and institutions, and 1 believe the 

 cupidity of England in first introducing slaves 

 upon this continent is to be overruled for the fur- 

 therance of this cause, and so many of these in- 

 struments, as God in his proviilence has placed 

 in my hands, 1 want to prepare and get them rea- 

 dy In meet tlieir high lesponsibililies when the 

 time for action shall come." I responded a long 

 and loud Ame.n, sincerely believing that this man 

 is in the path of his duty. 



But should it be ihoiiglitlhat this man must be 

 made an exception as a simple-hearted, weak- 

 minded, religious fanatic, whose example goes 

 for nothing, let me saj', it is a great mistake. He 

 is one of the shrewdest of men — far-seeing in his 

 plans. Nor is he a member of any church — but 

 he believes in the Bible, and that education is 

 just as necessary for the blacks as the whites, to 

 constitute them good and happy citizens of a free 

 government. 



But another interesting fact in this man's his- 

 tory is, that he was one of the first commission 

 merchants of New Orleans — to whom were con- 

 signed ships containing cargoes of slaves for sale 

 — and for many years was engaged in this un- 

 righteous traftic, like Newton, wiilioiit ever think- 

 ing of its being a sin. Now, mark ihe change in 

 the life of one, and the same man. He, who in 

 his youth was engaged in importing and filling 

 the land with the most ignorant aud degraded 

 barbarians, is now engaged in educating them, 

 teaching them the principles of our holy religion, 

 and sending them back civilized and christian- 

 ized lo bless and save the laud of their fathers. 

 It' such be the change in the life of one man, 

 what may not this century do, iii converting the 

 curse and shame of this country into the richest 

 blessing for Africa.' 1 confess in this view of the 

 subject, there is in my own mind, a sublimity and 

 glory surrounding Ihis subject, surjiassiiig that 

 of any, and all others, that the church, or the 

 world, has ever conceived. 



E. N. SAWTELL. 

 .Yew Orleatis, 18 47. 



PAl.^Tl^■o Brick Buildings.— A cheap and 



trood wav of painting brick buildings is given by 

 T. Hudson, a corics|)^ondenl of ihe Prairie Farm- 

 er. He stales that be has seen buildings thus 

 painted twelve or fifteen years ago, the colm- re- 

 maining as bright as when first put on. Slack 

 tre-li burnt lime, as for whiiewash, anil add \ e- 

 iipliau reil to give it the desired color. Apply it 

 with ■,. whiiewash brush, in dry, hot weatlier. 

 Two coats are sutVicieiit. Then « ilh a chalk 

 line lay olV Ihe joints in the brick, and pencil 

 those lines wilii whitewash or while paint, the 

 former proving most dmable. Salt, glue, or skim 

 milk are said lo improve this paint or wish, but 

 arc not essential. 



