文档介绍：CLOTELLE
CLOTELLE
By William Wells Brown
1
CLOTELLE
CHAPTER I
THE SOUTHERN SOCIAL CIRCLE
FOR many years the South has been noted for its beautiful Quadroon
women. Bottles of ink, and reams of paper, have been used to portray the
"finely-cut and well-moulded features," the "silken curls," the "dark and
brilliant eyes," the "splendid forms," the "fascinating smiles," and
"plished manners" of these impassioned and voluptuous daughters
of the two races,--the unlawful product of the crime of human bondage.
When we take into consideration the fact that no safeguard was ever
thrown around virtue, and no inducement held out to slave-women to be
pure and chaste, we will not be surprised when told that immorality
pervades the domestic circle in the cities and towns of the South to an
extent unknown in the Northern States. Many a planter's wife has
dragged out a miserable existence, with an aching heart, at seeing her
place in the husband's affections usurped by the unadorned beauty and
captivating smiles of her waiting-maid. Indeed, the greater portion of the
colored women, in the days of slavery, had no greater aspiration than that
of ing the finely-dressed mistress of some white man. At the negro
balls and parties, that used to be so frequently given, this class of women
generally made the most splendid appearance.
A few years ago, among the many slave-women of Richmond, Va.,
who hired their time of their masters, was Agnes, a mulatto owned by John
Graves, Esq., and who might be heard boasting that she was the daughter
of an American Senator. Although nearly forty years of age at the time of
which we write, Agnes was still exceedingly handsome. More than half
white, with long black hair and deep blue eyes, no one felt like disputing
with her when she urged her claim to her relationship with the Anglo-
Saxon. In her younger days, Agnes had been a housekeeper for a young
slave-holder, and in sustaining this relation had e the mother of t