C., Dec. 26, 1829, to
James H. Hammond. MS. among the Hammond papers in the Library of Congress.]
Likewise where the family affairs of slaves were concerned the silence and
passiveness of the law gave masters occasion for eloquence and activity.
Thus a Georgian wrote to a neighbor: "I have a girl Amanda that has your
servant Phil for a husband. I should be very glad indeed if you would
purchase her. She is a very good seamstress, an excellent cook--makes cake
and preserves beautifully--and washes and irons very nicely, and cannot be
excelled in cleaning up a house. Her disposition is very amiable. I have
had her for years and I assure you that I have not exaggerated as regards
her worth.... I will send her down to see you at any time."[44] That offers
of purchase were no less likely than those of sale to be prompted by such
considerations is suggested by another Georgia letter: "I have made every
attempt to get the boy Frank, the son of James Nixon; and in order to
gratify James have offered as far as five hundred dollars for him--more
than I would pay for any negro child in Georgia were it not James'
son."[45] It was therefore not wholly in idyllic strain that a South
Carolinian after long magisterial service remarked: "Experience and
observation fully satisfy me that the first law of slavery is that of
kindness from the master to the slave.
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