Historical Romance of the American NegroFowler, Charles Henry
History
Historical Romance of the American Negro
Fowler, Charles Henry
African Americans -- History
When Mrs. Sutherland had done speaking as above, she resumed her seat
amidst a scene of great enthusiasm. Indeed the whole audience was worked
up to a pitch of great excitement. The glee club now advanced to the
front, and gave us one of their best songs, which was most heartily
enjoyed by every person present.
The reverend chairman now rose to his feet, and thus addressed the
immense assembly:
"Ladies and Gentlemen:—Just think upon the glorious speech to which we
have listened, and the unanswerable arguments of the beautiful and
accomplished speaker! There are wonderful changes in store for this
nation, and the end is not yet. I will now call upon Mrs. Thomas
Lincoln, of Kentucky, to address the house. Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs.
Lincoln."
Although this was my first appearance in public, and though that mighty
audience looked formidable enough to scare an African lion or royal
Indian tiger, still my own mind was firmly made up to brook no failure,
and I proceeded to speak as follows:
"My good Christian friends of the North: I bless and magnify the Lord
this famous night, not only because I am permitted to address you, but
because I am even free. It is very true that in yonder great slave land
my lines fell to me in pleasant places; but after all, though I figured
as ’The Flower-Girl of Riverside Hall,’ I was no more in the eyes of the
'peculiar institution,’ ridiculously so called, than a pampered and
favored greyhound with a gold chain around his neck! (Loud laughter.)
That golden chain marked me for a slave, although it was my privilege,
upon grand occasions, to become an ornament to grace my owner’s triumph
among his visitors, just like any other fragile vase set upon a
mantelpiece. (More laughter). Upon those grand occasions our masters
used to bring out the finest wines, richest fruits and rarest delicacies
of the whole earth. The land and the sea were ransacked to find dainties
for the glorious lords and ladies of the South, to set before their
guests far more than the lords and dukes and barons of Europe and Asia
ever even attempted to display. At our grand banquets it was my duty to
pour out the wine, and assist in a general way in the dining-room, as
the necessity of the moment might require. Then nature has endowed me
with a voice for music, and as I am fond of singing, I had to obey,
whenever I was bid, by giving them some of our Southern songs to the
accompaniment of the grand piano, and even play for the company whenever
they wanted to dance. (Loud applause from the young people). But I am
bound to confess that often in the midst of these grand pastimes, when I
deemed it prudent to look pleasant, and even to smile sweetly for the
purpose of concealing my real thought, I was longing and praying for
freedom, and regarded myself as no more than that aforementioned chained
greyhound among other greyhounds that were free. (Cheers from the
audience). I could not forget that at that very hour there were good men
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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