In due time a letter arrived from my master, and it seemed that he had heard a different report of me, and and [sic] my qualifications from that given by Mrs Wheeler, and he rather dissented from her opinion in other particulars. However he expressed his readiness to dispose of me on reasonable terms, leaving to Mr Henry the arbitration of the sale. I was not pleased, yet what could I do? Should I expose the inconsistencies revealed in my in Mrs Wheeler’s character that my intimacy with her had discovered? Should I accuse her of deception, and almost open falsehood? Could I expect to be believed when I said she was a hard mistress, and a woman unworthy of confidence? What would her friends and mine say to such a proceeding? All these considerations I weighed deliberately, and finally concluded to let them consummate the bargain without objection or difficulty. But I never felt so poor, so weak, so utterly subjected to the authority of another, as when that woman with her soft voice and sauvity of manner, yet withal so stern and inflexible told me that I was hers body and soul, and that she did and would exact obedience in all cases and under all circumstances. “And yet” I thought “Mrs Henry told me how kind you were.”
But the best and wisest may be deceived.
service This I readily engaged to do, wishing not only to oblige the lady, but to show my gratitude to Mrs Henry The next morning I was duly installed
CHAPTER 13
A Turn of The Wheel
Thou but my hiding place
Now Ninevah was a great Psalms city and full of people.
JONAH
Washington, the Federal City. Christmas holidays recently over. The implacable winter weather. The great President of the Great Republic looks perhaps from the windows of his drawing room, and wonders at the mud and slush precisely as an ordinary mortal would. Perhaps he remarks to the nearest secretary that the roads are dreadful; and the secretary bound to see with the same eyes and hear with the same ears echoes “dreadful.” What inconsistency, and what a pity it is that great men should care about roads or such common things.
But perhaps his excellency wished to take a drive, for Presidents generally admire splendid equipages and are fond of display. No wonder, then, that he notices the mud—mud so deep and dark that you half fancy the waters of the deluge have but newly retired from the earth, and that perhaps a Python might be caught by another Apollo floundering in the neighborhood of the Capitol. Carriages dragging through mire; horses splashed to their manes. Congress men jostling each other at the street crossings, or perhaps losing their foothold, where a negro slave was seen slipping and sliding but a moment before. Alas; that mud and wet weather should have so little respect for aristocracy.
Gloom everywhere. Gloom up the Potomac; where it rolls among meadows no longer green, and by splendid country seats. Gloom down the Potomac where it washes the sides of huge warships. Gloom on the marshes, the fields, and heights. Gloom settling steadily down over the sumptuous habitations of the rich, and creeping through the cellars of the poor. Gloom arresting the steps of chance office-seekers, and bewildering the heads of grave and reverend Senators; for with fog, and drizzle, and a sleety driving mist the night has come at least two hours before its time.
Gas is lighted in divers The lamps are lighted in divers[e] places, but rather serve to render the gloom visible than to dispel it. The shops are lighted too, and soon, very soon there is a gleaming of lights from little windows and great windows that seems to betoken warmth and comfort within.
Just where the gloom was densest, and the muddy street the muddiest there was I, wrapped in a very thin shawl and carrying a very small box in my hand. I had been to a shop in Pennsylvania Avenue, much frequented by the slaves of fashionable Ladies, who sought to add artificial to natural charms. Paints and cosmetics in every variety, perfumes from China and India, hair of every color in curls or braids, teeth, washes, powders magnetic or otherwise, filters, love-tokens, and similar articles of great perfection and infinite variety were to be exchanged for gold.
Mrs Wheeler conceived her beauty to be on the wane. She had been a belle in youth, and the thought of her fading charms was unendurable. That very day an antiquated lady, with a large mouth filled with false teeth, a head covered with false hair, and a thin scrawny neck, beneath which swelled out a false bust, had called on my mistress with what she designated very highly important information. I supposed at first that the President’s wife was dead, or the secretary’s daughter about to be married, but it was something more interesting to fashionable ladies than even that. Some great Italian chemist, a Signor with an unpronounceable name had discovered or rather invented an impalpable powder, fine, highly scented, and luxurious, that applied to the hands and face was said to produce the most marvellous effect. The skin, however sallow and unbeautiful, would immediately acquire the softness and delicacy of childhood. Tan, or freckless [freckles], or wrinkles, or other unseemly blotches would simultaneously disappear, and to render the article still more attractive it was said that only two or three boxes of it yet remained. Of course Mrs Wheeler was all impatience to obtain one of them, and her visitor was scarcely out of hearing when I was summoned, and directed to go at once to the Chemist’s, and get a box of the Italian Medicated Powder. No hesitancy on account of mud or bad weather was allowable. I went, purchased the last box, and when returning passed two gentlemen, standing in a somewhat sheltered place apparently conversing on some subject of deep interest. There was something in the coat of seedy black, and the general bearing and manner of one of them, which instantly arrested my attention, but the driving mist and sleet was full in my face, with the gloom momentarily thickening, so that I failed to obtain a perfect view of his features. It was certainly very ill-mannered, but stimulated by curiosity I even turned back to look at them, and not minding my footing through pre-occupation of mind I slipped very suddenly and came down with all my weight on the rough paving stones. The two gentlemen immediately came forward, and one of them assisting me to rise, kindly inquired if I was hurt. I looked into the face of the other I knew. I knew him on the instant Oh then I knew him on the instant, I could have remembered his eyes and countenance among a thousand. It was Mr Trapp[e].
Whether or not the recognition was mutual I had no means of ascertaining, but his presence to me seemed ominous of evil, and hastily murmuring my thanks I hastened home.
Mr Wheeler was in the apartment of his wife when I entered it. He was a little dapper man, very quick in his motions, and with little round piercing black eyes set far back in his head. He had the exact air and manner of a Frenchman, but was reputed to be very obstinate in his way, and to have little respect for constituted authorities in his moments of passion. Report said that he had actually quarreled with the President, and challenged a senator to fight a duel, besides laying a cowhide on a certain occasion over the broad shoulders of a member of Congress. At any rate he had been turned out of office, and now was busily engaged in hunting another. Consequently he was seldom at home, being usually to be found haunting the bureau of some department or other, and striving to engage attention by talking in sharp shrill voice, accompanied with violent gesticulation of what should be done in one place, or had been left undone in another. He knows exactly where a screw is loose, and he understands perfectly to tighten it again. On many matters he is better informed than the President. He could give instructions to the secretaries of the army and navy, but they are old, obstinate, and headstrong, and won’t listen to his advice.
Of course Mrs Wheeler was particularly interested in these schemes of her husband, and when he came home occasionally they had a little familiar talk on the affairs of the nation generally, and the chances for office in particular, where a vacancy has occurred and where another is likely to occur, and similar interesting matters.
“How are you getting along, any chance yet?” was the spousal salutation repeated perhaps for the thousandth time in the same soft voice, with the same languid air.
“Well” replies Mr Wheeler, crossing his legs and rubbing the topmos
t up and down “I am not discouraged. It takes a great deal to discourage me, you know, besides I have a promise”
“A promise” the languid air is dropped for a moment, then taken up and put on again, as though it were a mantle.
“A veritable promise” repeats the husband. “You know Riggs of the Naval Department is almost dead. His physician, who has been consulted, says he can’t live over a week; Trotter expects to succeed him, and if Trotter does succeed him, I’m in for it.”
“In for it, how vulgar you are” says the lady.
Riggs, however, contrary to the expectations of his physician, and notwithstanding the pills, powders, and doses of which he had taken enough to have killed two or three common men actually recovered, and so both Trotter and Mr Wheeler had to turn their attention to some other quarter. I occupied a little room, communicating by a single door with that of my mistress. She wanted me always near and handy, she said, so that when summoned I could come on the instant. A little bell stood on a table by her side, and its ting a ring ding reminded me of my servitude a hundred times a day. In this room I could hear every word of conversation repeated in the other.
“I don’t see what old people must live forever for” said Mrs. Wheeler to her husband, when the astounding news that Riggs was actually abroad reached her ears. “But that’s just the way, and thus younger and better ones are kept out of their legitimate sphere.[”]
“Well I don’t know” replied Mr Wheeler “but it’s an old saying that some people will live as long as they can see anybody alive, and I verily believe that Riggs must be of that sort. However there’s another vacancy. A clerk connected with the Treasury Department after lining his pocket well with the funds has suddenly decamped. If I could only obtain that situation.”
“Why can’t you, is there opposition?” inquired the lady.
“Opposition” repeats her husband “why there were two hundred applicants there to[-]day, crowding and jamming each other, and each one intriguing to set forth his claims to the best advantage. There was one, a blacksmith’s son from New York, who actually had the insolence to smile when I recommended myself as being the most proper person from my extensive acquaintance with political business.”
“A blacksmith’s son” repeated the lady, with a sparkling a sparkle of the eyes and agitation of manner. “A blacksmith’s son, indeed; an Abolitionist I dare say, who would reverse the order of nature, and place Negroes at the top instead of at the bottom of society. Really smiled at you, the wretch.”
The next day it was ascertained that the blacksmith’s son had obtained the appointment.
On the present occasion Mr Wheeler came to ask a favor of his wife. Another vacancy had occurred, but the gift was in the power of a gentleman, with whom at some time or another of his life Mr Wheeler had some disturbance, and much as he desired the office he dreaded still more the humiliation of asking for it. Could not his wife be induced to make the request? He thought with a little well-timed flattery she might. Ladies of great consideration not unfrequently petitioned for their husbands. The President had been importuned by them till he almost feared the sight of a woman. The Secretaries had fared little better; indeed all who had offices to bestow had been coaxed, and flattered, and addled by female tongues untill they scarcely knew what they were about. They said, too, that female petitioners were likeliest to succeed. Perhaps that was the reason of his frequent failure. Had he brought his wife sooner into the field, in all probability he would have secured a prize with far less trouble. The experiment is worth trying at any rate, though he is not positive that the lady will concur.
“My dear” says Mr Wheeler, discreetly eyeing his wife. “My dear.”
“What?” inquires the lady in a very soft voice, and with a very languid air.
“I have been thinking that if your galaxy you are not quite in your usual spirits to[-]day, yet I never saw you looking better.”
“Well, I don’t know” says the lady brightening a little.
For say what you will of lovers there’s nothing so flattering to female vanity as the praise of a husband, because it is universally considered a more difficult matter to retain affection than to win it.
“And faith, nor do I know” reiterates the husband. “A woman of your fine presence has no right to be out of spirits. That isn’t a countenance to be sad or meloncholly. Then you haven’t no care, no public or private burdens on your mind. You never ask for offices without expectations of gaining them. You never ask for offices, my dear.”
He dwells rather longer on this phrase than is strictly necessary, considering the extent and variety of his conversational abilities. Twice or thrice he repeats it with his peculiarly listening face, as if expecting an answer. “You never ask for offices, my dear”
“And I don’t know why I should” she answers “Since
At last the answer is elicited with a sort of vague smile. “I never have indeed, I don’t know why I should, since my husband is fully capable of doing his own business.”
The little man runs his fingers thoughtfully through his hair, and replies
“But his abilities, my dear, are not rightly appreciated. It takes time to convince people that you possess abilities. Then abilities are so very common; they are possessed by every man. Lord bless you, Mrs Wheeler, men of abilities are as thick all over Washington as are cherries in June.”
The lady looks at him and wonders what he is driving at. He continues.
“With female beauty, my dear, it is very different. Any one having the use of his eyes can readily discover that. Then, too, beauty is rarer. It’s only once in awhile that a beautiful woman crosses your path, and when such is the case, why, Lord, the men run nearly stark mad. Any she wishes, must be complied with Her slightest wish is obeyed, and they are proud and happy to do her a service. That is the reason I suppose why so many women have succeeded in obtaining offices for their husbands, when the husbands themselves failed to do so. There was Mrs. Perkins, you know.”
“Mrs Perkins” retorted the lady scornfully “you don’t call her beautiful, I hope.”
[“]Rather good-looking, that is all, and nothing comparable with you. I was thinking, however, that as her good looks accomplished much, perhaps your beauty might do more.”
A gleam of intelligence flitted over her countenance, mingled I thought with an expression of slight displeasure, and she inquired in a voice raised somewhat above the common key.
“Is it possible that you wish me to do as Mrs Perkins did? Is it possible that you desire me to hang around some haughty official till I weary him by my constant with continual coming, that you ask me to weep before him, and kneel at his feet with importunities that will not be answered in the negative?—is it possible Mr Wheeler, I say—?”
“No, my dear, it is not possible,” said the gentleman deprecatingly. “I require you to do no such thing. Of course I don’t, but my love could you feel willing to lend your influence in the affair. I am certain it would go a great way. No mind. I don’t require this of you. Indeed, it would be too much to expect from any other woman of your admirable presence and beauty, but you have always been so kind to me, and so considerate of our interests, and I am under so many obligations to you already that I shouldn’t be at all surprised if another still greater was to be added to them.”
What this prospective obligation might be he did not think proper to specify, but his finishing of the sentence restores him to favor, and the lady’s looks imply, tho she does not say “what a sensible man this husband of mine is. Surely if the public understood its interests he would have been laden with offices before this time.”
“I regret to say, my dear” continued Mr Wheeler “that I am the object of continued opposition. Men of attainment in a high position of society always have their enemies of course. I have mine. Not so with you. You, I am proud to say it, are universally admired. Then no gentleman would think for a moment of opposing a lady. Certainly not. Now a vacancy has just occurred, and M
rs Piper is intriguing to have it filled by her husband. It is a very important office, worth about two thousand a year.”
“Then she expects to get it, does she?—and a failure would mortify her exceedingly. She is so haughty, vain, and conceited. Wouldn’t it be pleasant to disappoint her?”
“It would, indeed.”
“Who makes the appointment?”
Mr Wheeler gave the desired information.
The lady sate [sat] a few moments in profound silence, then she spoke though rather as talking to herself than any one else. “Mrs Piper, indeed, going to obtain a situation for her husband when mine has none. But I’ll disappoint her, that I will. Mr Wheeler you shall have this office. I’ll see to it that you do.”
Mr Wheeler bowed complacently. Nothing could suit his purpose better.
“I’ll go now, this very evening” continued the lady. “The weather is so bad that probably the gentleman will be at home. And then he will be more likely to be disengaged. Hannah you can prepare my toilet.”
“Certainly.”
“My rich antique moire, and purple velvent [velvet] mantilla. Mr Wheeler be so good as to order the carriage.”
Two bows, and a two expressions of “certainly Madam” were the response to this.
Mrs Wheeler did not forget her beautifying powder.
“How lucky” she exclaimed [“]that I sent for it just when I did. Don’t be sparing of it Hannah, dear, as I wish to look particularly well.”
The powder was very fine, soft, and white, and certainly did add much to the beauty of her appearance. I had never seen her look better. Mr Wheeler complimented her, hoped that she would be careful of herself and not take cold, and actually kissed her hand as he assisted her into the carriage, observing to me as he stepped back on the pavement “She is a dear, good, noble woman.”
The next moment I heard my voice called, and turning round beheld Mrs Wheeler leaning from the carriage window and beckoning.
The Bondwoman's Narrative Page 22