r's home on Long Island many years after the
war. The trite saying that history repeats itself is here forcibly
illustrated by brother fighting against brother. It brings to mind our
own fraternal troubles during the Civil War, which can never be effaced
from memory.
Much of the furniture of my first home was purchased from Citizen Genet
when my grandfather took possession of the house and farm. We understood
that the French minister brought it with him from France, and many of
the pieces, some of which are mahogany, are still in my possession. A
bedstead which I still occupy has been said to be the first of its
design brought from France to this country. Hanging in my bedroom is a
set of engravings entitled "Diligence and Dissipation," after Hogarth,
and also a handsome old print of the Savior in the Pharisee's House, all
of which were purchased at the same time. Two alabaster ornaments are
memories of my earliest childhood, one of which was a column casting a
shadow that formed a likeness of Louis XVI.
My Grandfather Hazard had many slaves, and I remember hearing of one of
them who ran away and took with him a carriage and pair of horses, and,
who, when called to account for the act, threatened my grandfather's
life. My mother, although suffering from a severe indisposition, ran out
of the house for succor. The slave was taken into custody, and was
eventually sent South and sold. Some of the other slaves I well
remember. Among them was a very old couple with numerous progeny who
lived not far from us in a hut in the woods on the Hazard estate. In
subsequent years I heard my mother remark, upon the occasion of a
marriage in the family connection, that when "Cuff" and "Sary" were
married her father gave the clergyman five dollars for his services.
Cuff was an old-fashioned, festive negro born in this country, and with
the firm belief that existence was bestowed upon him solely for his own
enjoyment. He possessed a genius for discovering holidays, and added
many to the calendar that were new to most of us. For example, sometimes
when he was given a task to accomplish, he would announce that he could
not work upon that day as it was "Paas Monday," or "Paas Tuesday," and
so on, continuing as the case required, through the week. He had supreme
contempt for what he called "Guinea niggers," a term he applied to those
of his race who came directly from Africa, in contradistinction to those
who had been born in this country.
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