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THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



cates and recommendations handed to you by 

 those who are candidates for employment as 

 overseers. Some farmers of very kind hearts 

 and generous feelings have erred in recommend- 

 ing overseers, who, upon trial, have been 

 found sadly deficient. Contracts with over- 

 seers are generally made in May or June, and 

 overseers move 15th November. ' The farmers 

 and planters should consult together and reso- 

 lutely determine to postpone making contracts 

 with' overseers until August or September. 

 The present practice is injurious to the farmers 

 and planters, and beneficial only to such over- 

 seers as have really but little merit. If a new» 

 overseer moves to your farm on the 15th Nov. 

 you ought to have by general acquiescence and 

 established usage, until August or September 

 to decide whether his management is such as to 

 entitle him to a continuance for the next year. 

 No overseer who wishes and intends to do his 

 duty, and who is conscious of possessing proper 

 qualifications need apprehend any difficulty in 

 getting a good situation and reasonable com- 

 pensation, by a postponement of the period for 

 making contracts as is here suggested. 



Half a century ago, a majority of the wealthy 

 planters of Virginia relied almost entirely upon 

 the management of their overseers, and seemed 

 to regard agriculture as a pursuit unworthy of 

 the regular attention of a gentleman. Hence 

 many of them were impoverished. Within the 

 last thirty years a great change in public senti- 

 ment has taken place, and now the farmer 

 or planter, .who is too proud or too indo- 

 lent to superintend his overseer and control the 

 affairs of the farm, is more likely to excite ridi- 

 cule than win approbation. Do you not know, 

 Christopher, that'* 1 the eye of the master will do 

 more work than both his hands" — that " want of 

 care does us more damage than the want of 

 knowledge," and that "not to superintend 

 workmen is to leave them your purse open?" 

 Remember that in many of the affairs of this 

 world, men are not saved by faith, but by the 

 want of it. 



You tell me that you are in debt, that you 

 are anxious, uneasy and unhappy ; that you 

 know not which to do, whether to sell half of 

 your negroes and thus pay your debts, or sell 

 your land, pay your debts with the proceeds, 

 and then move with } T our wife, children and 

 negroes to Texas : or whether it would be best 

 to remain in Virginia, hold your property, and 

 try, by diligence and frugality, to discharge 

 your pecuniary obligations. You say that the 

 estimated value of your land when you obtained 

 possession was thirty thousand dollars, that 

 although the family mansion was comfortable 

 and in good order, you thought it deficient in 

 elegance and taste, that you took it down and 

 built a new house which cost you ten thousand 

 dollars and that when this house was completed, 

 you and your wife went to New York and 

 bought furniture to the amount of ten thousand 

 dollars for your charming residence, that you 

 have paid only five thousand dollars in fact 



for said house and furniture, the other fif- 

 teen thousand having been borrowed of two 

 or three friends, who require you to pay the 

 annual interest punctually, &c, &c. I regret 

 your perplexity as well as its cause. You arc 

 well acquainted with the Latin and Greek, the 

 French and Spanish languages— with ancient 

 and modern history — with chemistry and mathe- 

 matics, with natural and moral philosophy ; in 

 short, your head is a perfect storehouse of learn- 

 ing, yet cousin Christopher, excuse me for say- 

 ing that after all " }^ou are a bit of a goose." 

 The comfortable house in which you were born 

 and raised, and in which your father died, 

 might, you thought, do very well for an "old 

 fogy" like him, but was wholly unfit, as you 

 believed, for "Young America." You have 

 certainly made considerable " progress," but 

 whether or not in the right road is exceed- 

 ingly questionable. No wonder that you are 

 found complaining because the last Legislature 

 doubled the State taxes. Men, when much 

 involved in debt, are prone to find fault wjth all 

 kind of legislation — except the passage of a 

 bankrupt law. Our taxes have been doubled, 

 and very justly and properly doubled. The 

 taxes imposed by government < are not the only 

 taxes we submit to. Many persons (perhaps 

 you among the number) are taxed twice as 

 much by their idleness, three times as much by 

 their pride, and four times as much by their 

 folly. Dismiss from your mind the thought of 

 selling your inheritance and moving off to 

 Texas, remain where you are, reform your 

 habits, reduce your expenditures, apply your- 

 self with augmented industry and zeal to the 

 management of your farm and endeavor by all 

 honest exertions to pay your debts as soon as 

 practicable. Take care of your estate and your 

 estate will take care of you. Oh ! that every 

 young man in Virginia would bear in remem- 

 brance this simple truth. Remember that " he 

 who sells an acre of land sells an ounce of his 

 credit." Debts are paid, not by despair, but 

 by industry. Like many others, you have not 

 learned to appreciate the value of time. What 

 we call time enough, always proves little 

 enough. "Then plough deep while sluggards 

 sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to 

 keep/' If you love life, then do not squander 

 time, "for that is the stuff life is made of," as 

 poor Richard says. Rise early and devote seve- 

 ral hours of every day (Sundays excepted) to 

 your farming operations.' Your overseer and 

 negroes seeing this improvement in your habits, 

 will be encouraged and stimulated to perform 

 their respective duties with greater fidelty and 

 zeal Inform your wife frankly and* fully of 

 the extent of your debts, and your anxious de- 

 sire to pay them as soon as you can, and ask 

 her in a kind manner, to abstain henceforward 

 from buying so many costly sdks, &c, from 

 Stewart's fashionable store in New York and 

 certain stores in Philadelphia^and Baltimore. 

 You will, I am sure, find her willing to co-ope- 

 rate with you in your laudable efforts to pay 



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