The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 5, April, 1836Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 5, April, 1836
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Then comes the
opposite extreme--they are, like ourselves, the sons of Adam, and
must therefore, have like passions and wants and feelings and
tempers in all respects. This, we deny, and appeal to the knowledge
of all who know. But their authority will be disputed, and their
testimony falsified, unless we can devise something to show how a
difference might and should have been brought about. Our theory is a
short one. It was the will of God it should be so. But the
means--how was this effected? We will give the answer to any one who
will develop the causes which might and should have blackened the
negro's skin and crisped his hair into wool. Until that is done, we
shall take leave to speak, as of things _in esse_, of a degree of
loyal devotion on the part of the slave to which the white man's
heart is a stranger, and of the master's reciprocal feeling of
parental attachment to his humble dependant, equally
incomprehensible to him who drives a bargain with the cook who
prepares his food, the servant who waits at his table, and the nurse
who doses over his sick bed. That these sentiments in the breast of
the negro and his master, are stronger than they would be under like
circumstances between individuals of the white race, we believe.
That they belong to the class of feelings "by which the heart is
made better," we know. How come they? They have their rise in the
relation between the infant and the nurse. They are cultivated
between him and his foster brother. They are cherished by the
parents of both. They are fostered by the habit of affording
protection and favors to the younger offspring of the same nurse.
They grow by the habitual use of the word "my," used as the language
of affectionate appropriation, long before any idea of value mixes
with it. It is a term of endearment. That is an easy transition by
which he who is taught to call the little negro "his," in this sense
and _because he loves him_, shall love him _because he is his_. The
idea is not new, that our habits and affections are reciprocally
cause and effect of each other.
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