louisa picquet, the octoroon: or inside views of - Negro Artist

Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon 19
the meanin'. She did not want to answer for a good while. I suppose I was so
small she hated to tell me, but I kept on askin'. Then she said, 'You see Lucy,
how many children she's got?' I told her yes. Then she said she did not know the
father of any of them children, and said when folks had children that way they
must be married like she (Mrs. Cook) was to her husband. It was adultery to
stay with any one without bein' married--that was the, meanin' of it."
Q.--"Who was this Lucy?"
A.--"She was a seamstress in Mrs. Cook's family."
Q.--"What was her color?"
A.--"Right white--light hair and blue eyes. All her children were right white."
Q.--"And was she a slave?"
A.--"Yes, sir."
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Q.--"How many children had she?"
A.--"Five or six in Georgia, and one after she went to Mobile."
Q.--"And had she no husband?"
A.--"No, sir; never had a husband in her life."
Q.--"Do not the slave women usually have husbands, or those they call their
husbands?"
A.--"Yes, sir; some of them do; but some of them do not. They can't have any
husbands, because their masters have them all the time."
Q.--"How did you say it was with Lucy?"
A.--"She sew in the house all day, and then go to her room, off, at night."
Q.--"What became of her?"
A.--"Well, she was sold the day I was, in Mobile, and got free after a while; and
each of the white men bought his child. Mr. Moore bought his, and Mr. Hale
bought his; and then the others, that their fathers would not own, her relations
bought and set free."
24.03.2006