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Page 30
CHAPTER VI.
There is yet another evil growing out of slavery which I must notice
before I bring my remarks to a close on this topic. I allude to the
degraded condition of a portion of the white population in the slave
States. There are, throughout the slave States, a class of the white
population who are so debased by ignorance and vice, that the slaves
are in many respects their superiors. They are about on a par with the
free negroes. About the larger cities in the North, a similar class
may be found, a majority of whom are free negroes and foreigners. The
poverty, vice, ignorance and degradation of this class of persons, in
the South, is a sore evil, and demands the attention of every
Christian philanthropist in the Southern States. This, I conceive, has
originated partly from the competition of slave and free labor, but
mainly, I presume, from the association of this class with the African
population. There are other agencies, no doubt, which have contributed
to debase and brutalize this class of the white population, but I
judge, that the causes above indicated, are the principal ones. Some
will, no doubt, attribute this in part to the disparity between the
lower classes in the South, and what they choose to term the
slaveholding aristocracy. They will contend, that the vast difference
between the higher and lower classes in the South, results in the
deterioration of the latter. There is some plausibility in the
argument, and it may be that there is some truth in it, but such
individuals have forgotten that the same agency is in active operation
in the free as well as the slave States. I am aware that men of wealth
do not feel themselves under any obligation to associate with their
less fortunate neighbors, the world over. It is one of the
characteristics of human nature. But men of wealth in the Southern
part of the United States, are not more haughty, distant and
overbearing, than the same class in other parts of the Union. On the
contrary, there is an urbanity about Southern slaveholders, that
enables the lower classes to approach them with less embarrassment
than they feel when they attempt to approach the frigid, stiff, and
less polite Northerner. Gentlemen and ladies, in the Southern part of
the United States, are accustomed to treat every one that approaches
them, rich or poor, with a degree of civility and courteous ease, that
is unknown among the same class in any other part of the civilized
world. Their blandness and kindness cannot fail to make the poor man
feel happier and better. If he is forced to approach them for the
purpose of soliciting aid, he is seldom turned away empty. They are
universally liberal and hospitable. Having practiced medicine among
them twenty years, I have no recollection of a solitary instance in
which any of them made a long face, when I made out a long bill for
services. I will here relate some anecdotes which will serve to
illustrate Southern character. Being pressed at a certain time for two
hundred dollars, and not having time at my disposal to collect it, and
having rendered important services for a wealthy citizen near the town
in which I resided; I seated myself at my table, with an intention of
making out a bill against him that would liquidate the claim against
myself. With considerable difficulty, I at length screwed up the bill
to two hundred dollars, and off I posted to his house. I found him at
home and presented the bill; not without some misgivings, that
perchance he might take exceptions to the amount charged for services.
But I was disappointed, for after looking over the bill a few moments,
he remarked, "why sir, you have not charged me half enough; you ought
to have charged me five hundred dollars." He paid the bill, made me a
present of fifty dollars, and told me that if I needed money at any
time to "call and get it." At another time I was employed by a
gentleman to attend his son, who had been, for several years previous
to that time, subject to epileptic attacks. The fee, per visit, was
stipulated at the outset, and I was paid for each visit before leaving
the house, according to contract. I attended the young gentleman near
two years, and during the time was pressed for money and borrowed one
hundred dollars of the old gentleman, and executed my note for that
amount. Some years after I had dismissed my patient, I called for my
note, and presented the amount, principal and interest. The gentleman
handed me the note, but refused to receive the money, and when I
pressed him to take it, he replied, "No sir, I shall not receive the
money, I always intended to give it to you, provided that you cured my
son, and I presume he is well."
On a bright sunny morning, when a boy, I was seated on a rock watching
a flock of lambs, that were frisking and skipping about in a meadow.
An old lady by name S., and a gentleman by name M., met within a few
yards from where I sat. After the usual salutations; "Well, Mrs. S.,"
said the gentleman, "I understand that you have sustained a heavy loss
by fire." "Yes," replied Mrs. S. "Well I am very sorry to hear it, and
I intend to send you a wagon load of provisions, &c., shortly." "I
thank you Mr. M., but don't trouble yourself about the matter, for we
have already received twice as much as we lost by the fire." I will
relate yet another.
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