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trades, had suggested this to his father, as one 

 which would be extremely to his taste. We finally 

 settled, that when the plough should be introduced 

 on my estate (which I am very anxious to accom- 

 plish, and substitute the labour of oxen for that of 

 negroes, wherever it can possibly be done), Prince 

 should be instructed in farming business, and in 

 the mean while should officiate as a pen-keeper to 

 look after the cattle. 



Just now Prince came to me with a request of 

 his own. " Massa, please, me want one little coat." 

 — "A little coat ! For what ?" — " Massa, please, 

 for wear when me go down to the Bay." — " And 

 why should you wear a little coat when you go 

 to the Bay ?" — " Massa, please, make me look eerie 

 (buckish) when me go abroad." So I assured him 

 that he looked quite eerie enough already ; and 

 that, as I was going away too soon to admit of my 

 seeing him in his little coat, there could not be 

 the slightest occasion for his being a bit eerier than 

 he was. A master in England would probably 

 have been not a little astonished at receiving such 

 a request from one of his groom-boys; but here 

 one gets quite accustomed to them; and when 

 they are refused, the petitioners frequently laugh 

 themselves at their own unreasonableness. 



March 2. 



Most of those negroes who are tolerably indus- 

 trious, breed cattle on my estate, which are their 



