HOUSEHOLD HELP. 359 



"Late yesterday afternoon a colored man went into the 

 county clerk's office, and finding Mr. B. in charge, asked 

 for a marriage license. The usual questions Avere asked 

 him by Mr. B. as to the age of the woman he wanted to 

 marry, and if her former husband was dead or alive. 



'' ' She's been divorced,' replied the colored gentleman. 



" 'Well,' replied Mr. B., knowing as he does that fre- 

 quently negroes separate without going through the form 

 of getting a divorce, ' have you got a certified certificate 

 of her divorce? If not, I can not issue a license under 

 the law until you get such certificate from the clerk of the 

 county she came from.' 



''The negro rej^lied in the negative, and went out in 

 search of the woman to see if she had a certificate of di- 

 vorce, being considerably wrought up. She went into the 

 office with the man and was asked if she had the required 

 certificate, to which she answered in the negative, when 

 Mr. B. refused to grant the license. This angered the 

 woman, and she railed out at Mr. B, : 



" ' I guess I knows dat I hab a 'vorce, and kin prove it, 

 kase I hab had four childruns since I quit my husband/ 



" She thought that this statement would clear things up 

 with Mr. B. Notwithstanding the children, the license was 

 again refused, and the unhappy couple took their depart- 

 ure, a wiser but a badly disappointed pair." 



We have now said enough to reveal the condition of 

 household help as at present found in Florida, with rare 

 exceptions. 



In the " old regime '' the South was famous for its good 

 cooks ; the wives and daughters of the planters vied with 

 each other in making their homes attractive. They were 

 wise in their generation and knew the royal road to a man's 

 heart, so they taught the most promising of the slaves how 

 to cook, and allowed them to do nothing else. Hence, with 



