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15 - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup · Twelve Years a Slave

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen of twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. In consequence
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  Speaker 1: of my inability in cotton picking, Epps was in the
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  Speaker 1: habit of hiring me out on sugar plantations during the
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  Speaker 1: season of cane cutting and sugar making. He received for
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  Speaker 1: my services a dollar a day, with the money supplying
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  Speaker 1: my place on his cotton plantation. Cutting cain was an
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  Speaker 1: employment that suited me, and for three successive years I
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  Speaker 1: held the lead row at Hawkins, leading a gang of
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  Speaker 1: from fifty two one hundred hands. In a previous chapter,
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  Speaker 1: the mode of cultivating cotton is described. This may be
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  Speaker 1: the proper place to speak of the manner of cultivating cain.
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  Speaker 1: The ground is prepared in beds the same as it
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  Speaker 1: is prepared for the reception of the cotton seed, except
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  Speaker 1: it is plowed deeper. Drills are made in the same manner.
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  Speaker 1: Planting commences in January and continues until April. It is
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  Speaker 1: necessary to plant a sh sugar field only once in
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  Speaker 1: three years. Three crops are taken before the seed or
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  Speaker 1: plant is exhausted. Three gangs are employed in the operation.
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  Speaker 1: One draws the cane from the rick or stack, cutting
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  Speaker 1: the top and flags from the stalk, leaving only that
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  Speaker 1: part which is sound and healthy. Each joint of the
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  Speaker 1: cane has an eye, like the eye of a potato,
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  Speaker 1: which sends forth a sprout when buried in the soil.
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  Speaker 1: Another gang lays the cane in the drill, placing two
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  Speaker 1: stalks side by side in such manner that joints will
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  Speaker 1: occur once in four or six inches. The third gang
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  Speaker 1: follows with hose, drawing earth upon the stalks and covering
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  Speaker 1: them to the depth of three inches. In four weeks
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  Speaker 1: at the farthest the sprouts appear above the ground, and
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  Speaker 1: from this time forward grow with great rapidity. A sugar
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  Speaker 1: field is hoed three times the same as cotton, save
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  Speaker 1: that a greater quantity of earth is drawn to the roots.
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  Speaker 1: By the first of August. Hoeing is usually over about
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  Speaker 1: the middle of September. Whatever is required for seed is
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  Speaker 1: cut and stacked in ricks. As they are turned. In October,
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  Speaker 1: it is ready for the mill or sugar house, and
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  Speaker 1: then the general cutting begins. The blade of a cane
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  Speaker 1: knife is fifteen inches long, three inches wide in the
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  Speaker 1: middle and tapering towards the point and handle. The blade
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  Speaker 1: is thin and in order to be at all serviceable,
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  Speaker 1: must be kept very sharp. Every third hand takes the
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  Speaker 1: lead of two others, one of whom is on each
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  Speaker 1: side of him. The lead hand in the first place,
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  Speaker 1: with a blow of his knife, shears the flags from
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  Speaker 1: the stalk. He next cuts off the top down as
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  Speaker 1: far as its green. He must be careful to sever
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  Speaker 1: all the green from the ripe part, inasmuch as the
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  Speaker 1: juice of the former sours the molasses and renders it unsaleable.
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  Speaker 1: Then he severs the stalk at the root and lays
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  Speaker 1: it directly behind him. His right and left hand companions
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  Speaker 1: lay their stalks, when cut, in the same manner, upon
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  Speaker 1: his to every three hands. There's a cart which follows,
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  Speaker 1: and the stalks are thrown into it by the younger
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  Speaker 1: slaves when it's drawn to the sugar house and ground.
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  Speaker 1: If the planter apprehends a frost, the cane is wind road.
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  Speaker 1: Wind Rowing is the cutting the stalks at an early
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  Speaker 1: period and throwing them lengthwise in the water furrow in
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  Speaker 1: such a manner that the tops will cover the butts
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  Speaker 1: of the stalks. They will remain in this condition three
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  Speaker 1: weeks or a month without souring, and secure from frost.
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  Speaker 1: When the proper time arrives, they are taken up, trimmed,
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  Speaker 1: and carted to the sugar house. In the month of January,
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  Speaker 1: the slaves enter the field again to prepare for another crop.
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  Speaker 1: The ground is now strewn with the tops and flags
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  Speaker 1: cut from the past year's cane. On a dry day,
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  Speaker 1: fire is set to this combustible refuse, which sweeps over
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  Speaker 1: the field, leaving it bare and clean and ready for
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  Speaker 1: the hose. The earth is loosened about the roots of
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  Speaker 1: the old stubble, and in process of time another crop
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  Speaker 1: springs up from the last year's seed. It is the
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  Speaker 1: same the year following, but the third year the seed
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  Speaker 1: has exhausted its strength and the field must be plowed
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  Speaker 1: and planted again. The second year the cane is sweeter
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  Speaker 1: and yields more than the first, and the third year
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  Speaker 1: more than a second. During the three seasons I laboured
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  Speaker 1: on Hawkins's plantation, I was employed a considerable portion of
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  Speaker 1: the time in the sugar house. He is celebrated as
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  Speaker 1: the producer of the finest variety of white sugar. The
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  Speaker 1: following is a general description of his sugar house and
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  Speaker 1: the process of manufacture. The mill is an immense brick
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  Speaker 1: building standing on the shore of the bayou. Running out
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  Speaker 1: from the building is an open shed at least one
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet in length and forty or fifty feet in width.
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  Speaker 1: The boiler in which the steam is generated is situated
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  Speaker 1: outside the main building. The machinery and engine rest on
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  Speaker 1: a brick pier fifteen feet above the floor. Within the
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  Speaker 1: body of the building. The machinery turns two great iron
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  Speaker 1: rollers between two and three feet in diameter and six
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  Speaker 1: or eight feet in length. They are elevated above the
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  Speaker 1: brick pier and roll in towards each other. An endless
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  Speaker 1: carrier made of chain and wood like leathern belts used
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  Speaker 1: in small mills, extends from the iron rollers out of
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  Speaker 1: the main building and through the entire length of the
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  Speaker 1: open shed. The carts in which the cane is brought
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  Speaker 1: from the field as fast as it is cut, are
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  Speaker 1: unloaded at the sides of the shed. All along the
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  Speaker 1: endless carrier are ranged slave children, whose business it is
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  Speaker 1: to place the cane upon it. When it is conveyed
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  Speaker 1: through the shed into the main building, where it falls
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  Speaker 1: between the rollers, is crushed and drops upon another carrier
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  Speaker 1: that conveys it out of the main building in an
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  Speaker 1: opposite direction, depositing it in the top of a chimney
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  Speaker 1: upon a fire beneath which consumes it. It is necessary
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  Speaker 1: to burn it in this manner because otherwise it would
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  Speaker 1: soon filled a building, and more especially because it would
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  Speaker 1: soon sour and engender disease. The juice of the cane
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  Speaker 1: falls into a conductor underneath the iron rollers and is
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  Speaker 1: carried into a reservoir. Pipes convey it from thence into
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  Speaker 1: five filterers holding several hogsheads each. These filterers are filled
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  Speaker 1: with bone black, a substance resembling pulverized charcoal. It is
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  Speaker 1: made of bones calcinated in close vessels, and is used
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  Speaker 1: for the purpose of decolorizing by filtration the cane juice.
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  Speaker 1: Before boiling. Through these five filterers, it passes in succession
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  Speaker 1: and then runs into a large reservoir underneath the ground floor,
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  Speaker 1: from whence it is carried up by means of a
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  Speaker 1: steam pump into a clarifier made of sheet iron, where
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  Speaker 1: it is heated by steam until it boils. From the
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  Speaker 1: first clarifier, it is carried in pipes to a second
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  Speaker 1: and a third, and thence into close iron pans. Through
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  Speaker 1: which tubes pass filled with steam. While in a boiling state.
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  Speaker 1: It flows through three pans in succession, and is then
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  Speaker 1: carried in other pipes down to the coolers on the
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  Speaker 1: ground floor. Coolers are wooden boxes with sieve bottoms made
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  Speaker 1: of the finest wire. As soon as the syrup passes
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  Speaker 1: into the coolers and is met by the air, it grains,
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  Speaker 1: and the molasses at once escapes through the sieves into
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  Speaker 1: a cistern below. It is then white or loaf sugar
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  Speaker 1: of the finest kind, clear clean and as white as snow.
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  Speaker 1: When cool it is taken out, packed in hogsheads, and
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  Speaker 1: is ready for market. The molasses is then carried from
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  Speaker 1: the cistern into the upper story again, and by another
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  Speaker 1: process converted into brown sugar. There are larger mills, and
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  Speaker 1: those constructed differently from the one thus imperfectly described, but
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  Speaker 1: none perhaps more celebrated than this anywhere on Bayou. Berth
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  Speaker 1: Lambert of New Orleans is a partner of Hawkin's. He
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  Speaker 1: is a man of vast wealth, holding, as I have
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  Speaker 1: been told, an interest in over forty different sugar plantations
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  Speaker 1: in Louisiana. The only respite from constant labour the slave
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  Speaker 1: has through the whole year is during the Christmas holidays.
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  Speaker 1: Epps allowed us three others allow four, five and six
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  Speaker 1: days according to the measure of their generosity. It is
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  Speaker 1: the only time to which they look forward with any
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  Speaker 1: interest or pleasure. They are glad when night comes, not
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  Speaker 1: only because it brings them a few hours repose, but
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  Speaker 1: because it brings them one day nearer Christmas. It is
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  Speaker 1: hailed with equal delight by the old and the young.
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  Speaker 1: Even Uncle Abram ceases to glorify Andrew Jackson, and Patsy
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  Speaker 1: forgets her many sorrows. Amid the general hilarity of the holidays,
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  Speaker 1: it is the time of feasting and frolicking and fiddling
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  Speaker 1: the carnival season. With the children of bondage. They are
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  Speaker 1: the only days when they are allowed a little restricted
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  Speaker 1: libert and heartily indeed do they enjoy it. It is
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  Speaker 1: the custom for one planter to give a Christmas supper,
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  Speaker 1: inviting the slaves from neighboring plantations to join his own
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  Speaker 1: on the occasion. For instance, one year it's given by Epps,
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  Speaker 1: the next by Marshall, the next by Hawkins, and so on.
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  Speaker 1: Usually from three to five hundred are assembled, coming together
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  Speaker 1: on foot in carts, on horseback, on mules, riding double
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  Speaker 1: and triple, sometimes a boy and girl, at others a
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  Speaker 1: girl and two boys, and at others again a boy,
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  Speaker 1: a girl and an old woman. Uncle Abram astride a mule,
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  Speaker 1: with and Phoebe and Patsy behind him, trotting towards a
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  Speaker 1: Christmas supper would be no uncommon sight. On by u birth,
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  Speaker 1: then two of all days in the year, they array
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  Speaker 1: themselves in their best attire. The cotton coat has been
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  Speaker 1: washed clean, the stump of a tallow candle has been
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  Speaker 1: applied to the shoes, and if so fortunate as to
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  Speaker 1: possess a rimless or a crownless hat, it is placed
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  Speaker 1: jauntily on the head. They are welcomed with equal cordiality. However,
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  Speaker 1: if they come bare headed and bare footed to the feast.
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  Speaker 1: As a general thing, the women wear handkerchiefs tied about
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  Speaker 1: their heads. But if chance has thrown in their way
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  Speaker 1: a fiery red ribbon or a cast off bonnet of
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  Speaker 1: their mistress grandmother, it is sure to be worn. On
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  Speaker 1: such occasions. Red, the deep blood red, is decidedly the
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  Speaker 1: favorite colour among the enslaved damsels of my acquaintance. If
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  Speaker 1: a red ribbon does not encircle the neck, you will
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  Speaker 1: be certain to find all the hair of their wooly
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  Speaker 1: heads tied up with red strings of some sort or another.
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  Speaker 1: The table is spread in the open air and loaded
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  Speaker 1: with varieties of meat and piles of vegetables. Bacon and
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  Speaker 1: corn meal at such times are dispensed with. Sometimes the
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  Speaker 1: cooking is performed in the kitchen on the plantation, at
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  Speaker 1: others in the shade of water wide branching trees. In
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  Speaker 1: the latter case, a ditch is dug in the ground
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  Speaker 1: and wood laid in and burned until it is filled
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  Speaker 1: with glowing coals, over which chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, and
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  Speaker 1: not infrequently the entire body of a wild ox are roasted.
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  Speaker 1: They are furnished also with flour, of which biscuits are made,
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  Speaker 1: and often with peach and other preserves, with tarts, and
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  Speaker 1: every manner and description of pies except the mints, that
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  Speaker 1: being an article of pastry as yet unknown among them.
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  Speaker 1: Only the slave who has lived all the years on
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  Speaker 1: his scanty allowance of meal and bacon can appreciate such suppers.
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  Speaker 1: White people in great numbers assemble to witness the gastronomical enjoyments.
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  Speaker 1: They seat themselves at the rustic table, the males on
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  Speaker 1: one side, the females on the other. The two between
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  Speaker 1: whom there may have been an exchange of tenderness, invariably
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  Speaker 1: managed to sit opposite. For the omnipresent Cupid disdains not
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  Speaker 1: to hurl his arrows into the simple hearts of slaves.
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  Speaker 1: Unalloyed and exalting happiness lights up the dark faces of
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  Speaker 1: them all. The ivory teeth, contrasting with their black complexions,
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  Speaker 1: exhibit two long white streaks the whole extent of the table.
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  Speaker 1: All round the bountiful board, a multitude of eyes roll
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  Speaker 1: in ecstasy. Giggling and laughter, and the clattering of cutlery
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  Speaker 1: and crockery succeed. Cuffey's elbow hunches his neighbour's side, impelled
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  Speaker 1: by an involuntary impulse of delight. Nellie shakes her finger
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  Speaker 1: at Sambow and laughs. She knows not why, and so
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  Speaker 1: the fun and merriment flows on. When the viands have
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  Speaker 1: disappeared and the hungry moors of the children of Toil
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  Speaker 1: are satisfied, then next in the order of amusement is
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  Speaker 1: the Christmas Dance. My business on these gala days always
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  Speaker 1: was to play on the violin. The African race is
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  Speaker 1: a music loving one proverbially, and many there were among
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  Speaker 1: my fellow bondsmen whose auger of tune were strikingly developed,
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  Speaker 1: and who could thumb the banjo with dexterity. But at
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  Speaker 1: the expense of appearing egotistical, I must nevertheless declare that
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  Speaker 1: I was considered the ear laboul of Bayou Berth. My
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  Speaker 1: master often received letters, sometimes from a distance of ten miles,
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  Speaker 1: requesting him to send me to play at a ball
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  Speaker 1: or festival of the whites. He received his compensation, and
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  Speaker 1: usually I also returned with many picayunes jingling in my pockets,
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  Speaker 1: the extra contributions of those whose delight I had administered.
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  Speaker 1: In this manner, I became more acquainted than I otherwise
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  Speaker 1: would Up and down the Bayou. The young men and
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  Speaker 1: maidens of Holmesville always knew there was to be a
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  Speaker 1: jollification somewhere. Whenever Platt Epps was seen passing through the
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  Speaker 1: town with his fiddle in his hand. Where are you
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  Speaker 1: going now, Platt? And what is coming off to night?
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  Speaker 1: Platt would be into rogatwees, issuing from every door and window,
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  Speaker 1: and many a time when there was no special hurry
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  Speaker 1: yielding to pressing importunities, Platt would draw his bow, and,
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  Speaker 1: sitting astride his mule, perhaps discourse musically to a crowd
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  Speaker 1: of delighted children gathered around him in the street. Alas,
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  Speaker 1: had it not been for my beloved violin, I scarcely
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  Speaker 1: can conceive how I could have endured the long years
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  Speaker 1: of bondage. It introduced me to great houses, relieved me
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  Speaker 1: of many days labor in the field, supplied me with
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  Speaker 1: conveniences for my cabin, with pipes and tobacco and extra
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  Speaker 1: pairs of shoes, and oftentimes led me away from the
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  Speaker 1: presence of a hard master to witness scenes of jollity
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  Speaker 1: and mirth. It was my companion, the friend of my bosom,
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  Speaker 1: triumphing loudly when I was joyful, and uttering its soft,
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  Speaker 1: melodious consolations when I was sad. Often at midnight, when
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  Speaker 1: sleep had fled affrighted from the cabin and my soul
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  Speaker 1: was disturbed and troubled with the contuma pla of my fate,
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  Speaker 1: it would sing me a song of peace. On holy
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  Speaker 1: Sabbath days, when an hour or two of leisure was allowed,
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  Speaker 1: it would accompany me to some quiet place on the
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  Speaker 1: Bayou bank, and lifting up its voice, discourse kindly and pleasantly. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: it heralded my name round the country, made me friends
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  Speaker 1: who otherwise would not have noticed me, gave me an
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  Speaker 1: honored seat at the yearly feasts, and secured the loudest
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  Speaker 1: and heartiest welcome of them all at the Christmas dance.
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  Speaker 1: The Christmas dance, O ye, pleasure seeking sons and daughters
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  Speaker 1: of idleness, who move with measured step, listless and snail
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  Speaker 1: like through the slow winding coatyon. If you wish to
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  Speaker 1: look upon the celerity, if not the poetry of motion,
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  Speaker 1: upon genuine happiness, rampant and unrestrained, go down to Louisiana
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  Speaker 1: and see the slaves dancing in the starlight of a
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  Speaker 1: Christmas night on that particular Christmas. I have now in
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  Speaker 1: my mind a description whereof will serve as a description
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  Speaker 1: of the day. Generally, Miss Lively and mister Sam, the
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  Speaker 1: first belonging to Stewart, the latter to Roberts, started the ball.
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  Speaker 1: It was well known that Sam cherished an ardent passion
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  Speaker 1: for Lively, as also did one of Marshal's and another
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  Speaker 1: of Carey's boys for Lively was Lively indeed, and a
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  Speaker 1: heartbreaking coquette. With all. It was a victory for Sam Roberts.
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  Speaker 1: When rising from the repast, she gave him her hand
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  Speaker 1: for the first figure, in preference to either of his rivals.
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  Speaker 1: They were somewhat crestfallen and shaking their heads angrily, rather
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  Speaker 1: intimated they would like to pitch into Sam and hurt
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  Speaker 1: him badly, but not. An emotion of wrath ruffled the
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  Speaker 1: placid bosom of Samuel, as his legs flew like drumsticks
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  Speaker 1: down the outside and up the middle by the side
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  Speaker 1: of his bewitching partner, the whole company, he cheered them
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  Speaker 1: vociferously and excited with the applause, they continued tearing down
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  Speaker 1: after all the others had become exhausted and halted a
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  Speaker 1: moment to recover breath. But Sam's superhuman exertions overcame him,
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  Speaker 1: finally leaving Lively alone yet whirling like a top. Thereupon,
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  Speaker 1: one of Sam's rivals, Pete Marshall, dashed in and with
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  Speaker 1: might and main leaped and shuffled and threw himself into
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  Speaker 1: every conceivable shape, as if determined to show Miss Lively
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  Speaker 1: and all the world that Sam Roberts was of no account.
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  Speaker 1: Pete's affection, however, was greater than his discretion. Such violent
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  Speaker 1: exercise took the breath out of him directly, and he
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  Speaker 1: dropped like an empty bag. Then was the time for
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  Speaker 1: Harry Carey to try his hand, but Lively also soon
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  Speaker 1: outwinded him amidst hurrahs and shouts, fully sustaining her well
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  Speaker 1: earned reputation of being the fastest gal on the bayou
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  Speaker 1: set off. Another takes its place, he or she remaining
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  Speaker 1: longest on the floor, receiving the most uproarious commendation. And
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  Speaker 1: so the dancing continues until broad daylight. It does not
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  Speaker 1: cease with the sound of the fiddle, but in that
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  Speaker 1: case they set up a music peculiar to themselves. This
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  Speaker 1: is called patting, accompanied with one of those unmeaning songs
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  Speaker 1: composed rather for its adaptation to a certain tune or
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  Speaker 1: measure than for the purpose of expressing any distinct idea.
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  Speaker 1: The patting is performed by striking the hands on the knees,
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  Speaker 1: then striking the hands together, then striking the right shoulder
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  Speaker 1: with one hand, the left with the other, all the
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  Speaker 1: while keeping time with the feet and singing. Perhaps this
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: song Harper's creak and roaring ribber. There my dear will
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  Speaker 1: live forever, then will go to the engine nation. All
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  Speaker 1: I want in discreation is pretty little wife and big
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: plantation chorus, Dat oak and down that rubber, two overseers
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  Speaker 1: and one little nigger. Or if these words are not
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: adapted to the tune called for, it may be that
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: old Hogye is a rather solemn and startling specimen of versification,
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  Speaker 1: not however, to be appreciated unless heard at the South.
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  Speaker 1: It runneth as follows, who's been here? Since I've been gone?
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  Speaker 1: Pretty little gal with a josie on hoggye, old hog
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  Speaker 1: eye and hosey too, Never see the like since I
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: was born? Here come a little gal with a josie
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  Speaker 1: on hoggye, old hog eye and hosey too. Or maybe
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the following, perhaps equally nonsensical, but full of melody. Nevertheless,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: as it flows from the negro's mouth, Ebo Dick and
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Jurdon's Joe, them two niggers stole my yo chorus Hop
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Jim along, Walk, Jim along, talk Jim along, et cetera
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: old black down as black as tar, He damn glad,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: but he was not dar hopgym along etc. During the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: remaining holidays succeed in Christmas. They are provided with passes
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: and permitted to go where they please within a limited distance,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: or they may remain and labour on the plantation, in
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: which case they are paid for it. It is very rarely, however,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: that the latter alternative is accepted. They may be seen
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: at these times hurrying in all directions as happy looking
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: mortals as can be found on the fakes of the earth.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: They are different beings from what they are in the field,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the temporary relaxation, the brief deliverance from fear and from
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the lash, producing an entire metamorphosis in their appearance and demeanor.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: In visiting, riding, renewing old friendships, or perchance reviving some
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: old attachment, or pursuing whatever pleasure may suggest itself. The
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: time is occupied. Such is Southern life, as it is
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: three days in the year, as I have found it,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the other three hundred and sixty two being days of
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: weariness and fear and suffering and unremitting labour. Marriage is
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: frequently contracted during the holidays, if such an institution may
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: be said to exist among them. The only ceremony required
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: before entering into that holy estate is to obtain the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: consent of the respective owners. Either party can have as
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: many husbands or wives as the owner will permit, and
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: either is at liberty to discard the other at pleasure.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: The law in relation to divorce, and to bigamy and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: so forth is not applicable to property. Of course, if
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the wife does not belong on the same plantation with
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the husband, the latter is permitted to visit her on
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Saturday nights, if the distance is not too far. Uncle
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Abram's wife lived seven miles from epps on Bayu hof Power.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: He had permission to visit her once a fortnight, but
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: he was growing old, as has been said, and truth
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: to say, had latterly well nigh forgotten her. Uncle Abram
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: had no time to spare from his meditations on General
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Jackson connubial dalliance, being well enough for the young and thoughtless,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: but unbecoming a grave and solemn philosopher like himself. End
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: of Chapter fifteen.