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

Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon 6
24.03.2006
"THEN I was sold to Georgia, Mr. Cook bought mother and me. When mother
first went to Georgia she was a nurse, and suckled Madame Cook's child, with
me. Afterward, she was a cook. I was a nurse. I always had plenty to do. Fast as
one child would be walkin', then I would have another one to nurse."
Question (by the writer).--"Did your master ever whip you?"
Answer.--"Oh, very often; sometimes he would be drunk, and real funny, and
would not whip me then. He had two or three kinds of drunks. Sometimes he
would begin to fight at the front door, and fight every thing he come to. At other
times he would be real funny."
Q.--"He was a planter, was he?"
A.--"Yes; he had a large cotton plantation, and warehouse where he kept all the
cotton in, and stores up the country, in a little town--Monticello--and then he
had some in Georgia. He used to give such big parties, and every thing, that he
broke up. Then his creditors came, you know, and took all the property; and
then he run off with my mother and me, and five other slaves, to Mobile, and
hired us all out. He was goin' to have enough to wait on him, for he could not
wait on his self. I was hired out to Mr. English. He was a real good man; I
wouldn't care if I belonged to him, if I had to belong to any body. I'd like to
swap Mr. Cook for him. Mr. English and his wife were very clever to me. They
never whipped me. Mother had a little baby sister when we first went to Mobile-
-a little girl just running round. She died in Alabama. She had one before that,
while she was in Georgia; but they all died but me and my brother, the oldest
and the youngest."
Q.--"Had she any one she called her husband while she was in Georgia?"
A.--"No."
Q.--"Had she in Mobile?"
A.--"No."
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Q.--"Had she any children while she lived in Mobile?"
A.--"None but my brother, the baby when we were all sold."
Q.--"Who was the father of your brother, the baby you speak of?"