Anonymous - The memoirs of Dolly Morton

Oh, but this is a particularly horrid idea, I observed. If you are determined to carry it out, don’t make me come to the table. Just fancy what a dreadful position it would be for me to have to sit among a lot of men, surrounded by naked women. I should not know which way to look.

He again laughed, but there was in his eyes a hard look which I had got to know and which meant that he had determined to have his way. It does not matter which way you look, he said, You are looking very pretty and that’s sufficient. You will have to take your place at table as usual, and you must appear to be quite unconscious that the women are naked. None of my guests will insult you by word or look.

I still remonstrated, but he sternly told me to shut up or it would be the worse for me. I shut up, for I was afraid of him, knowing him to be a man who would stop at nothing and that if I made any more objections he might take it into his head to whip me.

Now sending for Dinah, he told her what he intended, to do, and gave her orders to have ten of the young women stripped naked in readiness. He named the ones he wanted, selecting those who had the best figures. Seven were quadroons, the other three octoroons-one of them being Rosa.

Dinah, with a perfectly unmoved countenance, received the order and some further instructions. All right, Sab, she said, de gals shall be ready. Then she left the room.

It was nearly seven o’clock, and the guests began to arrive. Some came on horseback, some came in buggies. In a short time the whole party had assembled. All the gentlemen were more or less known to me, and everyone, upon entering the room, shook hands with me in a polite manner. The men were of all ages, the youngest being about twenty-five and the oldest upwards of fifty. Most of them were bachelors, but I knew that some were married men.

Presently, Dinah, looking very smart in her black frock and white cap, made her appearance with a tray of cocktails, and, while the guests were imbibing, Randolph said with a smile on his face: I suppose, gentlemen, that most of you have read Rabelais. Those who have perused the book will remember the description of the banquet given to Pantagruel in the island of Papimania.

Aye! cried the company. And what a banquet it was!

Well, said Randolph, grinning lasciviously, I intend our dinner tonight to be, as nearly as possible, a counterpart of that banquet. I think that I can give you as good a fare and as good wine as Homenas gave Pantagruel and his companions. I also think that the ’she-butlers’ will please you. They may not be so fair-skinned as were the damsels of Papimania, but in all other respects you will find that the ’waitresses’ will answer the description of the ones mentioned in the book. They are ’tight lasses,’ good conditioned, comely, waggish and fit for business.

The men who had read Rabelais and knew what was coming laughed and clapped their hands.

The men who had not read the book looked puzzled. However, knowing Randolph’s little ways, these latter libertines knew all too well that something funny was going to happen.

In a short time dinner was announced, whereupon the oldest of the guests, a gentleman named Harrington-whom I knew to have grown up daughters-offered me his arm and led me into the brilliantly-lighted dining room. The other men followed and we took our places at the table, which was beautifully decorated with flowers and glittering with plate and glass.

Randolph took his place at one end of the table, I faced him at the other end and five of the guests sat on each side.

When everyone was comfortably settled, Randolph touched a small handbell beside him.

Then the door at the far end of the room was opened and Dinah came in, followed by ten naked young women with their long black hair flowing loose on their shoulders.

Each girl, without hesitation, took her position behind one of the guests-Dinah had told them where to go. They all showed signs of bashfulness, for, though every one of them had on various occasions passed through the hands of gentlemen singly in a bedroom, none ever had been exposed stark-naked before the eyes of a number of people. Some cast their eyes downward and fidgeted as they stood. All of them placed their hands over the spot between their legs.

I felt horribly uncomfortable. Hot thrills passed over me and my cheeks grew scarlet. The men smiled, casting amused glances at one another. Then they looked with gleaming eyes at the naked girls. Some were slim, some were plump. Some were tall, some were of medium size and some were short. But all were pretty and had shapely figures, with firm, round breasts and good bottoms. The brilliant light, shining on their naked bodies, made their smooth, olive-tinted skins glisten. The hair covering the spots was, in all cases, black or dark brown, and one of the quadroons, a plump little girl nineteen years of age named Fanny, who had been whipped a couple of days before, still bore the pink stripes left by the switch.

Rosa was the prettiest of all the girls. She also had the best figure, and she was the lightest in color. Consequently she attracted the most admiration.

The dinner soon was in full progress. The girls, directed by Dinah, bustled about bringing in the dishes, changing the plates and filling the glasses with champagne. Some of them, not being accustomed to waiting at table, were rather awkward. But, whenever a girl made a mistake, she received from Randolph the next time she came within reach of his arm a slap on the bottom which made her jump and squeal and clap her hand to the smarting target.

The gentlemen talked and laughed as unconcernedly as if they were quite accustomed to being waited on by naked women and to seeing them smacked whenever they made a mistake. But it was a most trying time for me. I sat with my eyes fixed on my plate, and with a very red face, making a pretence of eating and hardly listening to the conversation of Mr.

Harrington, the old gentleman who had taken me into dinner and who was sitting on my right.

He chattered away to me, but I noticed that he kept leering lecherously at Rosa’s full bosom and broad bottom as she tripped gracefully here and there. She evidently had taken his fancy more than any of the other girls, and I felt sure that later on my pretty maid would be poked by the old satyr.

The dinner was a long one, but at last it was over and the gentlemen settled down to smoke their cigars and sip their coffee while the conversation turned upon slaves and the price of cotton. No improper remarks of any sort were made by the men, but their eyes frequently were turned with lustful looks on the naked girls standing in various attitudes about the room.

When the cigars had been smoked, we all went into the drawing room, the girls being told to follow. I tried to slip away, but Randolph ordered me to remain. He then told his guests to sit on a row of chairs at the end of the room.

When they had done so, he posed the naked girls in groups in various positions with their arms round each other, some standing, some kneeling and some lying on their sides at full length so that their figures could be seen both back and front. These poses plastiques greatly pleased the spectators, and they gloated over each lascivious tableau, applauding vigorously, while the girls, utterly astonished at what they were being made to do, gazed about timidly with their big, ox-like eyes.

At last Randolph exhausted his ingenuity in inventing fresh tableaux, and I thought he would at least let the girls put on their clothes. But he did not. He had not yet finished with their naked bodies.

Now gentlemen, he said, if you will go into the corridor I will let you see some young mares race. Some of them are rather fat, but I dare say that I shall be able to make them show their best paces.