TWO WEEKS OK THE MISSOURI BORDER. 
295 
prietor. She was a maiden lady, considerably on the down-hill 
side of life, large, portly, with most expressionless face, but she 
had “ raised ” the “ boy,” and she “ wanted him treated kindly.” 
She said, “ she had thought she would let him have what wages 
he made through the summer.” When the proprietor, quite harsh- 
ly, said, “it did not do to treat negroes well,” she said “she 
had never struck the boy a blow in her life, and she would have 
him well treated ; he could stay a month, and if he did not like 
he could leave.” 
In a conversation with a little daughter of the former proprie¬ 
tor, she said, “ Where are you from ? ” 
“ Massachusetts.” 
“ What county is that in?” 
-“ Massachusetts is a state,” timidly replied the sensitive girl, 
not liking to show any superiority of knowledge. 
- “ Yes, I know that; but what county is it in ? ” 
There seemed to be a confusion of ideas. She knew she lived in 
Jackson County, and to her, probably, that comprised all Missouri. 
&s far as native intelligence went, the colored boy was her supe¬ 
rior, and she evidently regarded him with the same affection she 
would a whita boy whom she had reared. 
A most forcible display of the evil passions aroused and 
strengthened by the system of slavery, and the effect which abso¬ 
lute power over one’s fellow-creature has upon the character, was 
made one day at dinner. A stranger unfortunately had taken the 
seat which this boarder usually occupied. He came late to his 
meal, and saw the seat was occupied, and, as he stood in the door¬ 
way, looking up and dowm the table, turning his head this way 
and that in most furious manner, there v 7 as in his face scarcely 
one expression of the “ human face divine.” He was an intem¬ 
perate man, and now, when his passions were aroused, his appear¬ 
ance suggested wild animals, a whole menagerie. Seeing his 
strange actions and looks, we supposed he was looking for some 
one at the table, against whom such wrath had concentrated, but 
he finally turned and told the proprietor, “he should leave the 
house before the sun-setting, and he would have it torn down ; 
not another night should it stand.” Thus he raved all that after- 
