The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 13, September, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 13, September, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
heart and elastic a step as if I had been appointed an ambassador with
full powers. What became of my stage companions I did not stop to
inquire. I was indeed so much elated with my own good fortune that for
once I forgot my usual benevolence, and it was not until the next
morning that I learned that a due proportion of them were sentenced to
perform quarantine in the neighborhood. Here then, said I to myself,
have I at last reached the goal of my desires! This is the spot where
so many thousands are sighing to come without being gratified--where
so many love sick city nymphs and whiskered beaux are panting to try
their luck in the wheel of life's lottery. What a lucky dog am I to
have gained admittance into this region of delight!
I continued to soliloquize in this rapturous strain, until Blackamore
(it was night fall on my arrival) conducted me to my chamber,--where,
being somewhat fatigued, I proposed to retire at an early hour and to
rise with the morning sun, renovated and refreshed for all the
countless enjoyments of the next day. The serene current of my
thoughts was, to be sure, somewhat ruffled, when on reaching my
apartment I found it to be a quadrangle of about eight feet
dimensions, with a cot and mattress on each side of the door arranged
for two lodgers. A couple of chairs, a wash stand, and a fractured
mirror about the size of the Jack of Spades, constituted the sum total
of the furniture. "My worthy descendant of Ethiop!" I exclaimed, "here
is some mistake! Do you take a gentleman of my size and respectability
into a room not larger than a closet? No fire either to warm my limbs
in the chilly night air of these mountains? I will forthwith complain
to the Prime Minister!"
"Lod masser," answered Syphax, or Juba or Jugurtha, (I forget his
name) "complaining will do no more good than saying nothing at all.
Take a nigger's advice and keep quiet--for you ought to remember, sir,
that mass Calwell _don't charge not a cent for board nor lodging_."
"Thou son of old Sycorax!" I replied fiercely, "do you take me for a
strolling mendicant? I will teach you and your master too, and his
Grand Vizier to boot, that I expect to pay for my accommodations, and
must therefore have them to my taste."
"You're a high larned gentleman," said old Cato, (I think Cato was the
name) "but nigger speaks the truth for all that. Mass Calwell not
charge a four pence ha'-penny for eating and sleeping, but he charge
_eight dollars a week for use of de water_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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