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

Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon 46
I.--And first, let it be remembered that this is no fiction. It is a plain,
unvarnished story, from the lips of one who has spent her life in the South; has
seen and known all that she asserts; and has no motive for exaggeration or
falsehood. On the other hand, the very worst things in the narrative are those
which she recited with the least apparent satisfaction. And the manner in which
they were referred to, in their recital, showed conclusively that they were not
and could not have been inventions to serve a purpose. Of all that has ever been
published respecting the actual workings of slavery in the South, nothing has
ever appeared that was worthy of more implicit confidence in all its details than
the preceding pages. Though unable to read or write, Mrs. P. has an excellent
memory; is decidedly intelligent; and, more than all, is deeply pious and
conscientious. All that she has said, therefore, is worthy of the most implicit
belief.
Page 50
II.--The darkest and most prominent feature of the whole narrative is the deep
moral corruption which it reveals in the families concerned, resulting from the
institution of slavery.
1. At the outset (p. 2), we find the mother of Mrs. P., Elizabeth, through no fault
of her own, a "seamstress," or concubine, in the family of John Randolph, who
becomes the father of Louisa. Then there is trouble in the family, and Elizabeth
and her young babe, like Hagar of old, must leave the patriarchal mansion in
South Carolina for a home among strangers in Georgia.
2. Then she has three more quadroon children, while Mr. Cook owned her; but
no husband, either black or white (p. 4).
3. She has another child while in Mobile (the brother now in Texas), who is as
white as Louisa; but no husband (p. 4).
4. We have the case of Lucy, the seamstress of Mr. Cook, with her "light hair
and blue eyes," and her six or seven white children; but no husband (p. 16).
5. We have the cases of Elcy and Judy, kept by Mr. -- (p. 17).
6. Next we have the very "gentlemanly" conduct of Mr. Cook, a married man,
toward Louisa, while in Mobile (p. 6-11). And yet all this is tolerated even by
Mrs. Bachelor, the friend of Louisa, inasmuch as the loathsome wretch was not
at once driven from beneath her roof. What kind of a home would such a man
24.03.2006