A Historical Account of St. Thomas, W. I.: With Its Rise and Progress in Commerce; Missions and Churches; Climate and Its Adaptation to Invalids; Geological Structure; Natural History, and Botany : and Incidental Notices of St. Croix and St. Johns; Slave Insurrections in These Islands; Emancipation and Present Condition of Laboring Classes

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Page 153 - We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most — feels the noblest — acts the best. Life's but a means unto an end — that end Beginning, mean, and end to all things — God.
Page 157 - Florence, the vulture of Spain, To the pride of Anjou, and the guile of Lorraine. Farewell to thy fountains, farewell to thy shades, To the song of thy youths, and the dance of thy maids To the breath of thy gardens, the hum of thy bees, And the long waving line of the blue Pyrenees. Farewell, and for ever. The priest and the slave May rule in the halls of the free and the brave. Our hearths we abandon ; our lands we resign ; But, Father we kneel to no altar but thine.
Page 266 - SEC. 12. The governor is commander in chief of all the armed forces in the islands. In case of emergency the governor has authority, on his own responsibility, to declare the islands either entirely or partially in a state of siege, and to exercise unlimited power. Whenever this has taken place, and after good order and tranquility has been reestablished, it is incumbent on the governor to make a statement thereof to the respective colonial council at its next meeting. This statement, together with...
Page 253 - All agreements contrary to the above rules, are to be null and void, and owners and managers of estates convicted of any practice tending wilfully to counteract or avoid these rules by direct or indirect means, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $200.
Page 247 - By mutual agreement of master and laborer, before a magistrate. B. By order of a magistrate on just and equitable cause being shown by the parties interested. Legal marriage, and the natural tie between mothers and their children, shall be deemed by the magistrate just and legal cause of removal from one estate to another. The husband shall have...
Page 95 - ... eight years after the colony in St. Thomas was formed, than an expedition was dispatched, having for its object the importation of negroes. The company monopolized this traffic, as far as their own colonies were concerned, and in time supplied them all with the strength required for their cultivation. From the nature of the soil, and the present condition of agriculture in the Island of St. Thomas, it is difficult to imagine that any great return was obtained for the expense incurred in that...
Page 252 - Pregnant women shall be at liberty to work with the small gang, as customary, and when confined not to be called on to work for seven weeks after their confinement. Young children shall be fed and attended to during the hours of work at some proper place, at the cost of the estate. Nobody is allowed to stay from work on pretence of attending a sick person, except the wife and the mother, in dangerous cases of illness.
Page 250 - ... o'clock. The watch to be delivered in the usual manner by nightfall and by sunrise. The above rule shall not be compulsory, except where voluntary watchmen cannot be obtained at a hire the planters may be willing to give, to save the time lost by employing their ordinary laborers as watchmen. Likewise the male laborers are bound once a month, on Sundays and...
Page 249 - ... cents a week. Nurses losing two hours every working day, shall be paid at the rate of four full working days in the week. The wages of minors to be paid as usual to their parents, or to the person in charge of them. Laborers not calling at pay time personally, or by another authorized, to wait till next pay day, unless they were prevented by working for the estate. No attachment of wages for private debts to be allowed, nor more than two thirds to be deducted for debts to the estate, unless otherwise...
Page 107 - The average for the last thirty-two years is found to be 2,512 vessels, measuring 182,038 tons ; and there seems to be no reason to anticipate a decay, so long as the masters of the islands continue to pursue the liberal system of commercial policy which has conducted it to its present prosperity.

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