STATUS OF THE SLAVES 37 



friend. This old man, long a widower, had recently married a 

 woman from the state of Maine, who had been the governess of 

 his children. In the early morning I heard a tumult in the back 

 yard, and on looking out saw a negro man, his arms tied up to a 

 limb of a tree, while the vigorous matron was administering on 

 his back with a cowhide whip. At breakfast I learned that the 

 man had well deserved the flogging, but it struck me as curious 

 that in the only instance of the kind I had known the punish- 

 ment was from the hands of a Northern woman. 



In the households where I was intimate the slaves were on 

 about the same social footing as the other members of the 

 family; they were subjected to sudden explosions of the mas- 

 ter's temper much as were his children. I well remember a 

 frequent scene in my grandfather's house, whereto it was the 

 custom that I should go every Sunday afternoon for counsel 

 and instruction. These were at first somewhat fearsome occa- 

 sions for a little lad thus to be alone with an aged and stately 

 grandfather. I soon won his interest, in some measure by my 

 fears, and came greatly to enjoy the intercourse, for he knew 

 how to talk to a boy, and we became, in a way, boys together 

 in our sense of the funny side of things. It was the custom, too, 

 for him to divide the session of three or four hours with a brief 

 nap taken in his chair. Meanwhile I had a picture-book, or, 

 after I was about ten years old, when I could read, some work 

 he deemed profitable, very often verses to commit, most com- 

 monly from Pope, while he slept. As his rooms were near the 

 negro quarter, he would make ready for his siesta by sending 

 forth the servant-man who waited on him, bidding him tell the 

 people that they were to keep quiet during the performance. I 

 can see him now with his pig-tail hanging down behind the back 

 of the easy-chair and a handkerchief over his face as he courted 

 slumber. For a minute or two it would be still, then the hidden 

 varlets would be as noisy as before. Then the pig-tail would 

 begin to twitch, and he would mutter: "Jim, tell those people 

 they must be still." Again a minute of quiet, and once more 



