The instances of malignity now noted by us are but a few among many. Still such bitterness was far from being universal. There seemed to be comparatively little of it among the loyal. They were resolute, but not often virulent. They were animated by confident hope. Few of them, after Camp Jackson was taken, ever believed that Missouri would secede. They however saw the need of constant vigilance. They coped with an able foe; but feeling that their star was in the ascendant, they gave themselves largely to works of charity, generously meeting the wants of both friends and foes. On the other hand, the cause of the disloyal was clearly on the wane. The fact was so evident that they were often in a state of desperation. In such trying circumstances some of them gave way to blind passion. Their better natures were overborne and some of them expressed their pent up bitterness in hot, hasty words, or in despicable deeds; still a large majority of them, in all the stress of the hour, cherished and manifested a kindly spirit. But it has been necessary for us, in order faithfully to depict society as it was in St. Louis during the war, to present some of the many sad and startling exhibitions of bitterness. CHAPTER XI SLAVES AND SLAVE-PENS When the Civil War broke out, as we have before said, there were only about fifteen hundred slaves in St. Louis. Among these the females, specially demanded for domestic service, far outnumbered the males. While the system of slavery was essentially barbarous and cruel, most of these bondmen were kindly treated. Occasionally, however, some brutal master gave vent to his passion and punished his slaves with unreasonable and unbridled severity. A man of my acquaintance, who had among his household servants a small colored girl, not more than fifteen years old, for trivial offences, used to take her into the bath-room, remove all her clothing, and then hold her for many minutes at a time under the streaming cold water of the shower bath. Her cries, while undergoing this torture, could be heard in the street and in the houses of his neighbors. And while humane slaveholders denounced the savagery, such was the law, and such was public sentiment, that nobody ventured to take the part of the poor slave girl, while her owner and tormentor gloried in his cruelty, evidently regarding the punishment as original and a mark of his genius.