EVOLUTION OF THE COTTON SYSTEM 49 



tion bell, he went to bed only after he had seen that the 

 horses were in the stables, the corn in the cribs, and the 

 Negroes in the cabins. Otherwise, there was danger that 

 supplies might disappear, mules might be ridden, and 

 Negroes might go visiting. If punishment and reprimands 

 were to be distributed, it fell to the lot of the overseer 

 to inflict them. When presents, pardons, and favors were 

 to be granted, the planter and his family gave them to 

 the slaves. The overseer often wanted to attend the rustic 

 dances and merrymakings of his compatriots but his 

 duties kept him on the plantation. No doubt he often 

 slipped away. James K. Folk's overseer writes complain- 

 ing that the planter does not want him to keep a decent 

 horse or a supply of liquor for himself. Undoubtedly, the 

 overseer was crude, illiterate, and of low social status. 

 At the same time he was often a man of good practical 

 sense and keen business management. His salary usually 

 varied from $250 to $600. He had to remain fairly con- 

 tent in his social and economic status. As a rule he ex- 

 pected to marry his daughter to a man in the like class. 

 But an exceptional overseer who had won the confidence 

 of the factor with whom he dealt might borrow from 

 him, move West, and set up as a planter himself. Not 

 many of them did, it is to be feared. If successful, his 

 descendants by the third generation, having learned the 

 manners of gentility, might be admitted to the society 

 of their peers. 



Relations on the plantation have been sentimentalized 

 and moralized over until it is difficult to find an objective 

 presentation. The house servants were the closest to 

 their owner. Their contacts were primary, and their 

 often cordial relations are responsible for the many tra- 

 ditions of the plantation. "The lives of the white and 



