OAT THE ST. AUGUSTINE ROAD. 157 



sits well on any man, whatever the color of 

 his skin. 



In that respect he was like another boy of 

 about his own age, who lived in the cabin 

 directly before us, but whom I did not see 

 till I had been several times over the road. 

 Then he happened to be at work near the 

 edge of the field, and I beckoned him to me. 

 He, too, was serious and manly in his bear- 

 ing, and showed no disposition to go back to 

 his hoe till I broke off the interview, as if 

 it were a point of good manners with him to 

 await my pleasure. Yes, the plantation was 

 a gqpd one and easily cultivated, he said, in 

 response to some remark of my own. There 

 were five in the family, and they all worked. 

 " We are all big enough to eat," he added, 

 quite simply. He had never been North, 

 but had lately declined the offer of a gen- 

 tleman who wished to take him there, 

 him and " another fellow." He once went 

 to Jacksonville, but could n't stay. " You 

 can get along without your father pretty 

 well, but it 's another thing to do without 

 your mother." He never meant to leave 

 home again as long as his mother lived ; 

 which was likely to be for some years, I 



