270 EFFECTS OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY 



of slavery, and the manners of those times well ; and he 

 told me many curious particulars of what, things were 

 then among the farmers on the Hudson, compared with 

 what they are now. 



&quot; Those were the times when only the blacks laboured. 

 The white man considered himself above labour. The 

 work of the slaves had to support the white man and 

 his family, besides themselves and their own families. 

 With the useless mouths to feed, and useless backs to 

 clothe, he was considered a successful farmer who could 

 make both ends meet. 



&quot; It was then the custom for the white men, both old arid 

 young, of a neighbourhood, by 11 o clock in the morn 

 ing, to collect at the nearest public-houses. In many 

 townships there were scores of these, and Kinderhook 

 had its share. Here they remained talking and drinking 

 till early dinner-time, returned again by live in the 

 afternoon, and spent the evening, till probably midnight, 

 in drinking, gambling, cock-fighting, horse-racing, or 

 perhaps fighting among themselves. Idleness led the 

 way to immorality, and to frequent ruin, on the part of 

 the whites. 



&quot;But when the abolition of slavery came i Who will 

 till our farms? it was asked; we shall all be ruined. But 

 gradually good sense overcame prejudice. The freed 

 blacks were at first hired as labourers, but white labour 

 gradually took its place and now &quot; the dignity of labour&quot; 

 is the watchword of a powerful party in the confederation. 

 The sons of the farmer, instead of spending their time in 

 idleness and dissipation, from a kind of necessity, became 

 first producers, and afterwards intelligent interested im 

 provers. Old uncomfortable houses gave way to new 

 and commodious ones. The out-buildings were enlarged, 

 improved, and made ornamental. Waste land has been 

 brought into cultivation ; fences erected that will secure 

 the crops ; the stock changed into objects of beauty as 



