I am sorry for you, Dinah, I said. Your master spanked you so very severely.
She seemed to be a little surprised at my expression of sympathy, but she was very grateful for it and she thanked me. Then she said, I’se had plenty of spank-ins’ an’ whippins’ in my life, but I never thought dat I’d come to be spanked again like a little gal. Why, Missis, I ain’t had such a ting done to me since I was thirteen years ole. But, oh my! Dis one was a spankin’! It hurt most drefful. De Massa laid on powerful heavy, an’ his hand is very hard.
I’se been paddled twice, but I tink de Massa’s hand hurt me today near as much as de paddle did. My bottom is very sore an’ bruised, an’ it’ll be black an’ blue all over tomorrow.
Dinah had spoken without emotion. She evidently did not think it strange that a woman of her age should have been whipped in such an ignominious way, and she did not appear to bear her master the least malice. She was his slave, her body belonged to him, therefore he could do what he liked with it. Such was the degrading effect of slavery on the minds of the slaves.
I sent her away and dressed for dinner, putting on a new frock which I lately had received from the dressmaker in Richmond. Then I went down to the dining room, where I found Randolph. Since dinner was ready we sat down to table.
He had missed his appointment, he said, and it was an important one. Consequently he was very cross and snappish. But, after he had eaten a good dinner, drunk a bottle of champagne and smoked a cigar, he got into a better humor.
When we went into the drawing room, he seated himself in an easy chair, saying to me waggishly: ’Come here, Dolly, and let me see if you have taken off those beastly slippers you were wearing this afternoon. I went to him and held my skirts above my knees, while he looked at my feet and legs. I had on a pretty pair of high-heeled boots and pale blue silk stockings fastened with silver-buckled, pink satin garters.
Ah, this is something I like, he observed, running his hand up and down my legs and ankles.
Then he put his hand higher up under my drapery, and, opening the slit of my drawers, felt my bottom.
You are looking very pretty tonight, Dolly, and that new frock becomes you, he went on, drawing me closer to him while his eyes began to sparkle.
I knew what he was going to do! Taking me up in his arms, he carried me to the sofa and laid me upon it. Then he turned up my garments one by one, looking at my fine white petticoats deeply flounced with lace, my prettily trimmed drawers and my filmy chemise. (He always made me wear the dantiest undergarments in the evening.) When everything had been turned up and my drawers had been taken down, he stretched my legs widely apart and gazed for a moment or two at the spot. Then, inserting his finger, he tickled the sensitive little point till it distilled a few drops of moisture, while I squirmed and kicked my legs.
He seemed to be very much excited, kissing me hotly on the lips, eyes and cheeks several times. Then, throwing himself upon me, he pressed his lips upon mine and thrust his tongue into my mouth Next, putting his hands under me and grasping the cheeks of my bottom, he fixed his weapon deeply in the sheath and sworded me vigorously.
When all was over and we had made ourselves tidy, he rang the bell and ordered the parlormaid to bring a bottle of champagne. When the girl had brought the wine, we soon disposed of it, as our exciting combat had made us both thirsty.
Randolph was pleased with himself and he was also pleased with me, so he was in very good humor. We had a long conversation on various subjects, and, since he did not snub me when I differed with him, I passed a more pleasant evening than usual. At half-past eleven o’clock we went to bed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I will now pass over a period of four months. During that time, events had been marching rapidly and stirring things had happened.
The slave States had seceded from the Union.
Jeff Davis had been elected president of the Southern Confederacy.
Fort Sumter had been taken, and the war had begun.
All those events are matters of history, so I need not enter into details of them. I will confine myself to relating the things which were connected with Woodlands and with my own fortunes.
The work on the plantation was carried on as usual, notwithstanding the very unsettled state of affairs. But there was a spirit of unrest among all the field hands, and they were inclined to be insubordinate. Randolph and his four overseers always went about armed with revolvers, and whippings were of more frequent occurrence than ever.
The overseers in all cases inflicted the punishments, the male slaves being tied to the whipping post and cowhided while the females were stretched upon a branch and either switched or paddled. By these severe means, discipline so far had been thoroughly maintained.
The house-women, of course, rarely became very troublesome. But Randolph would stand no nonsense. He became stricter with them than before, and, whenever a woman or a girl had misbehaved in the least, Dinah and another stalwart woman named Milly were sent for and the offender was taken up and prepared for punishment. Then, in a few seconds, she would be squealing, writhing, kicking up her heels and promising amendment, while Randolph, wielding the switch with vigorous arm, striped her bottom with red weals. In some cases of grave misconduct, he would even draw blood. This treatment reduced to order all who were inclined to be unruly, and they soon returned to their ordinary behavior.
For some time past, business in the State had been almost at a standstill. Therefore Randolph could not dispose of his cotton, which had accumulated in the sheds which were full to overflowing. He was a rich man, but most of his income was derived from the sale of his cotton, and, now that there was no market for it — while, at the same time, the great expenses in keeping up the plantation were going on-he became very much pressed for ready money.
However, he thought that it would only be a temporary inconvenience, for he was quite convinced that the South eventually would prove victorious in the war.
My sympathies, of course, were with the Northerners, and I wished them speedy success. But I dared not express my sentiments. I really don’t know what Randolph would have done to me if I had said what I thought.
Meanwhile, he rarely left the plantation and he never gave any dinner parties. All his friends either had left the State or had joined the Confederate Army. He would have done so himself except that he was too old to go as a private soldier and he was unable to get a commission as an officer, owing to his having no knowledge of military affairs. But he had been elected member of Congress for the Southern Confederacy.
Since he would not leave Woodlands, my lover was obliged to fall back exclusively upon my company, and he seemed glad to have it. He seemed also to appreciate it. His manner became a little more tender, he did not speak to me so coarsely-as he often had been in the habit of doing-and he treated me with less indecency.
But with his slaves, both outdoor and indoor, he was more strict than ever. Since the breaking out of the war, several of the field hands had run away and had managed to get clear off, although the underground stations had been closed. Randolph had offered two-hundred dollars reward for the capture of each runaway, but not one of them had been brought back.
These losses had vexed him very much, the runaways having been some of his strongest and finest young men and women, each of whom was worth from fifteen-hundred to two-thousand dollars.
So far none of the house women had run away, but at last one of them did. One morning when Randolph and I were at breakfast, Dinah came in and told her master that one of the women named Sophie, who had been out the previous night, had not returned to the house, and that some other girls reported that she had taken away some of her clothes. Sophie was one of the kitchen-maids, a fine, big, healthy mulatto woman, twenty-six years of age and worth about eighteen-hundred dollars. There was no doubt that she had run Way, so Randolph at once wrote out copies of advertisements, describing the woman and offering the large reward of four-hundred dollars to anyone bringing her back to Woodlands or lodging her in a jail. He sent the advertisement to all the local newspapers, and he also ordered bills to be printed and posted up in various places.