58 RUNAWAY SLAVE. [CHAP. XXII. 



counted the rings of growth in the buried trees, to ascertain their 

 age, and I told him I had often reckoned up 300, and once up 

 ward of 800 rings ; to which he replied, &quot; Then plant your shil 

 lings in the funds, and you will see how much faster they would 

 grow.&quot; 



Before reaching Chehaw, we stopped to dine at a small log- 

 house in the woods, and had prepared our minds, from outward 

 appearances, to put up with bad fare ; but, on entering, we saw 

 on the table a wild turkey roasted, venison steaks, and a part 

 ridge-pie, all the product of the neighboring forest, besides a large 

 jug of delicious milk, a luxury not commonly met with so far 

 south. 



The railway cars between Chehaw and Montgomery consisted, 

 like those in the north, of a long apartment, with cross benches 

 and a middle passage. There were many travelers, and among 

 them one rustic, evidently in liquor, who put both his feet on one 

 of the cushioned benches, and began to sing. The conductor 

 told him to put his feet down, and afterward, on his repeating the 

 offense, lifted them off. On his doing it a third time, the train 

 was ordered to stop, and the man was told, in a peremptory tone, 

 to get out immediately. He was a strong-built laborer, and 

 would have been much more than a match for the conductor, 

 had he resisted ; but he instantly complied, knowing, doubtless, 

 that the officer s authority would be backed by the other passen 

 gers, if they were appealed to. We left him seated on the 

 ground, many miles from any habitation, and with no prospect 

 of another train passing for many a long hour. As we go south 

 ward, we see more cases of intoxication, and hear more swearing. 



At one of the stations we saw a runaway slave, who had been 

 caught and handcuffed ; the first I had fallen in with in irons in 

 the course of the present journey. On seeing him, a New En- 

 glander, who had been with us in the stage before we reached 

 Chehaw, began to hold forth on the miserable condition of the 

 negroes in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and some other states 

 which I had not yet visited. For a time I took for granted all 

 he said of the sufferings of the colored race in those regions, the 

 cruelty of the overseers, theijr opposition to the improvement and 



