Flower de Hundred; The Story of a Virginia Plantation (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: his master in minor things. But for his tiny mistress, his veneration knew no bounds. Saul's daughter, Phyllis, Madam's own maid, was a portly, comfortable body, always seen dressed in pink or blue prints, while the others were content with domestic cottons manufactured on the quarter looms. Phyllis tied her head handkerchief in a huge butterfly bow, and wore around her neck a string of real gold beads, which, with the distinction of having buried four husbands, won her the leading place in plantation upper circles. A bed-room "made up" by Phyllis was a bower of bliss and cleanliness. Three or four times a day she would come in to see that hot water, cold water, fresh logs of wood, clean-swept hearths, window-shades at the right angle proper ventilation, abundant towels, and flowers newly picked for the vases, were not lacking to one's needs. Service like hers was the only approximation ever known in America to the consideration for the comfort of the guest seen in English houses. The maids trained by Phyllis are, to-day, the mothers of self-assertive freed- men, who jostle white people out of place, wear pinces- nez in the cornfields, and travel with "gripsacks" and high hats, demanding for themselves in our Southern States far more of social consideration than the peasant classes of any other nation upon earth either receive or expect. The chef was Duke, whose father had let his Elijah's mantle fall upon his shoulders. For thirty years before the war broke out, Duke had lived among the saucepans at Flower de Hundred coveting no change. He was fat and timid, and having once made up his mind to the great enterprise of going down in the boat to visit the quiet burgh of Norfolk, had spent the night there, returning next day in unrestrained disgust of the manners and customs of...