ALABAMA. 123 



many years been a member of the legislature of the terri- 

 tory of Mississippi. Now, in advancing life, he was settling 

 in that estate at Dallas, Alabama, which was henceforward 

 to be his residence, and the place of his death in 1847. To 

 this dignified and agreeable personage, whose polished 

 manners formed a charming contrast to the rough tones he 

 had lately been accustomed to, Philip Gosse showed his 

 open letter of introduction to the planter at Claiborne, 

 which Mr. Conrad had given him. It fortunately happened 

 that Judge Saffold was seeking a master for a school com- 

 posed of the sons of his neighbour proprietors and him- 

 self He instantly engaged Philip Gosse, and when the 

 steamer reached King's Landing, which was the nearest 

 point on the river to Dallas, the latter stopped there ; Mr. 

 Saffold proceeding a little further on business, and pro- 

 mising to meet him at his own house next day. 



An hour before dawn he was landed at the foot of a 

 long flight of steps which descended from a large cotton 

 warehouse. His trunks were thrown to him, and the 

 steamer wheeled away in the darkness. Mr. Safifold's house 

 was ten miles distant, and how to find it he knew not. He 

 groped along a path up into the forest, and presently came 

 to a clearing with several houses in it. He made his way to 

 the door of one, where a rascally cur kept up a pertinacious 

 barking, and he knocked and shouted to no purpose. At 

 length, at another house, the cracked voice of a negro 

 woman replied. He told her he was on his way to Pleasant 

 Hill, and asked her to get him some breakfast. All sound 

 within the house died away, till he knocked and shouted 

 again, always to receive the same answer, " Sah .? Iss, 

 sah ! " At last, when patience was wearing away, the old 

 woman appeared, went to another house, and began to 

 shout, " Mas' James ! Mas' James ! " But Master James was 

 even more impassive than she had been herself, and made 



