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Updated: July 31, 2024
'I had, however, no occasion to use the weapon; for, in running towards me, Martin's foot slipped in some molasses which had been spilt on the ground, and he fell heavily to the floor, striking his head against the corner of one of the large wooden sugar-coolers. 'The blow stunned him for the time, and before he recovered I had left the boiling-house.
Many young men, he said, had doubtless been killed by it. During crop time, the book-keepers had to be up every night till twelve o'clock, and every other night all night, superintending the work in the boiling-house, and at the mill. Often the mills were in the wind before four o'clock, on Sabbath afternoon.
From two till dark they resume their labours, when they generally knock off and return home, except in crop-time, when it is important to get the canes cut and carried as rapidly as possible, and the boiling-house requires a number of hands.
"Nice clean business too," said my father; "makes clean money, and keeps people clean. I suppose you know it's horribly hot out there?" "Not so hot as in our boiling-house, sir," I replied. "Humph!" said my father; and then, without another word, he walked back into the house. "I am glad," cried Tom, rubbing his hands together softly. "What a time of it we shall have, Mas'r Harry!"
The people were at work in the mill and boiling-house, and as we passed, bowed and bade us "good mornin', massa," with the utmost respect and cheerfulness. A white overseer was regulating the work, but wanted the insignia of slaveholding authority, which he had borne for many years, the whip.
The firemen stripped to the waist, are feeding the furnaces with the dried stems of last year's crop, which forms our only fuel. The smoke hovers in volumes over the boiling-house. The pinmen are busy sorting their pins, rolling hemp round them to make them fit the holes more exactly.
In the course of the day we had opportunities of seeing the apprentices in almost every situation in the field, at the mill, in the boiling-house, moving to and from work, and at rest. In every aspect in which we viewed them, they appeared cheerful, amiable, and easy of control. It was admirable to see with what ease and regularity every thing moved.
The fire-bell was kept in the market-house where High Street and Bridge Street met: every one knew what it meant. Some dwelling, or maybe a boiling-house was on fire, and neighbourly assistance was summoned with all speed, in a town where no water was laid on, nor fire-engines kept in readiness.
The meagre and sickly among the negroes exhibit a surprising alteration in a few weeks after the mill is set in action. The labouring horses, oxen, and mules, though almost constantly at work during this season, yet being indulged with plenty of the green tops of this noble plant, and some of the scummings from the boiling-house, improve more than at any one period of the year.
The boiling-house was but very dimly lighted by two murky oil-lamps, the rays from which could scarcely penetrate through the dense atmosphere of steam which rose from the seething coppers. Occasionally a bright glow from the furnace-mouths lighted up the scene for a single instant, only to leave it the next moment darker than ever.
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