Meriwether generally referred them to his wife, who, I found, relied almost entirely on this resource for the supply of such commodities, the negroes being regularly paid for whatever was offered in this way.
One old fellow had a special favor to ask—a little money to get a new padding for his saddle, which, he said, "galled his cretur's back." Frank, after a few jocular passages with the veteran, gave him what he desired, and sent him off rejoicing.
"That, sir," said Meriwether, "is no less a personage than Jupiter. He is an old bachelor and has his cabin here on the hill. He is now near seventy and is a kind of King of the Quarter. He has a horse, which he extorted from me last Christmas, and I seldom come here without finding myself involved in some new demand as a consequence of my donation. Now he wants a pair of spurs, which, I suppose, I must give him. He is a preposterous coxcomb, and Ned has administered to his vanity by a present of a chapeau de bras, a relic of my military era, which he wears on Sundays with a conceit that has brought upon him as much envy as admiration—the usual condition of greatness."
The air of contentment and good humor and kind family attachment, which was apparent throughout this little community, and the familiar relations existing between them and the proprietor struck me very pleasantly. I came here a stranger, in great degree, to the negro character, knowing but little of the domestic history of these people, their duties, habits, or temper, and somewhat disposed, indeed, from prepossessions, to look upon them as severely dealt with, and expecting to have my sympathies excited towards them as objects of commiseration. I have had, therefore, rather a special interest in observing them. The contrast between my preconceptions of their condition and the reality which I have witnessed, has brought me a most agreeable surprise. I will not say that, in a high state of
