The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. NationNation, Carry Amelia
History
The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation
Nation, Carry Amelia
Nation, Carry Amelia, 1846-1911; Social reformers -- United States -- Biography; Temperance -- United States
My mother was a very handsome woman. My father was what you
might call good looking. I was very anxious to look like him; used to
try to wear off my teeth on the right side, because his were worn off.
About two years before he died, he came to Texas to visit me. I was
then in the hotel business. During the first meal he ate at the hotel,
he looked up and seeing me waiting on the table, he got up and began
waiting on the table himself. I had to work very hard then and it was
a grief to him to have no means to give me. One morning he came into
my room while I was dressing and said: "Daughter, I have not slept
all night for thinking of you. The last thing last night was you in the
kitchen and the first thing this morning. I have always hoped to have
something to leave you, and it is such a grief to me that I can not help
you. Carry, it seems the Lord has been so hard on you." I said:
"No, Pa; I thank God for all my sorrows. They have been the best for
me, and don't you worry about not leaving me money, for you have left
me something far better." He looked up surprised and said: "What is
it?" I answered: "The memory of a father who never did a dishonorable
act." My father's eyes filled with tears, and after that he seemed to
be happier than I had ever seen him; everything seemed to go right.
My father was a very indulgent master to his colored servants, who
loved him like a father. They always called him "Mars George." The
negro women would threaten to get "Mars George" to whip their bad
children, and when he whipped them, I have heard them say: "Served
you right. Did not give you a lick amiss." This was proving their
great confidence, they being willing for some one else to whip their
children. They were very sensitive in this matter and were not willing
for my mother to do this. My father would lay in a supply, while in
Cincinnati, of boxes of boots and shoes, arid get combs, head handkerchiefs,
and Sunday dresses, which would greatly delight his colored people.
Happy, indeed, would the negroes have been if all their masters
had been as my father was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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