SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 451 



happened to me on this evening cannot be realized by my 

 readers, by any description that I can give ; and can only 

 be judged of by other travellers who after toiling de- 

 spondingly through darkness and difficulty, suddenly find 

 themselves by the warm hearthstone of a new found and 

 unexpected friend. 



The day had been warm and balmy as a New-England 

 mid May day, the roads good from the effect of good 

 weather. The blossoms, as I have before remarked, mak- 

 ing the air fragrant; garden vegetables green growing 

 in luxuriance ; while hundreds of negro laborers, busy in 

 the fields, made the world seem gladsome with their 

 cheerful laugh and jovial song. Yet amid all, I could not 

 feel gladsome myself, for I could not but see ruin follow- 

 ing in the footsteps of such a system of cultivation as I 

 too frequently witnessed. In this mood of mind, I passed 

 Coffeeville, the county seat of Yallabusha, just before 

 sun down, and as the town, which is built upon almost 

 as many hills as ancient Rome, offers but little induce- 

 ment to a stranger to spend a night, I passed on with 

 the intention of stopping at some rode-side house, a mile 

 or two on ; but after passing that distance and seeing no 

 more pleasant prospect ahead, I made inquiry of a pass- 

 ing negro, and was assured that I should find no stop- 

 ping place "this side of Tom Hardiman's, and dat was 

 six mile mighty bad road," which I was bound to get 

 over or stick fast in, with a tired team and in a dark 

 night. On, on, I went, over hills, stumps, gulleys, 

 streams, mud, and in the expectancy of a very poor sup- 

 per. How I was at length disappointed! Although I 

 found the house a low log cabin, built after the universal, 

 never varying pattern, of two rooms with a broad hall 

 between, I was struck with surprise, and at once im- 

 pressed with the idea that I should find something out 

 of the common course of things within. Reader, would 

 you know why I received this impression in advance, and 

 that so suddenly, and only from the glimpse I caught by 

 candlelight, as the host advanced to answer my call. 



