They are
brave, and quick to resent insult or wrong, and prefer death to
dishonor; scrupulously just in all transactions with their fellow-men,
forbearing toward the foibles of others, without envy, and without
malice. In their family intercourse they are respectful and kind, and
particularly to their children: they are cautious never to oppress or
mortify a child--directing the parental authority first to the teaching
of the heart, then to the mind--instilling what are duties with a
tenderness and gentleness which win the affections of the child to
perform these through love only. Propriety of deportment toward their
seniors and toward each other is instilled from infancy and observed
through life. All these lessons are stamped upon the heart, not only by
the precepts of parents and all about them, but by their example.
The negro servants constitute a part of every household, and are
identified with the family as part of it. To these they are very kind
and forbearing, as also to their children, to whom they uniformly speak
and act gently. A reproof is never given in anger to either, nor in
public, for the purpose of mortifying, but always in private, and
gently--in sorrow rather than in anger; and where punishment must be
resorted to, it is done where only the parent or master, and the child
or servant, can see or know it.
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