centre of the little collection of
negro houses, and a few hundred yards from the mansion. It was of logs,
a story and a half high, and had originally been only about twenty feet
square. To the primitive structure, however, an addition of the same
dimensions had been made, and as it then stretched for more than forty
feet along the narrow bypath which separated the two rows of negro
shanties, it presented quite an imposing appearance. A second addition
in its rear, though it did not increase its dignity in the eyes of
'street' observers, added largely to its proportions and convenience.

The various epochs in Joe's history were plainly written on his
dwelling. The original building noted the time when, a common field
hand, he had married a wife, and set up housekeeping; the front addition
marked the era when his industry, intelligence, and devotion to his
master's interest had raised him above the dead level of black
servitude, and given him the management of the plantation; and the rear
structure spoke pleasantly of the time when old Deborah, disabled by age
from longer service at 'the great house,' and too infirm to clamber up
the steep ladder which led to Joe's attic bedrooms, had come to doze
away the remainder of her days under her son's roof.

The cabin was furnished with two entrance doors, and suspecting that the
one in the older portion led directly into the kitchen, I rapped lightly
at the other. In a moment it opened, and Joe ushered me into the living
room.

That apartment occupied the whole of the newer front, and had a
cheerful, cosy appearance. Its floor was covered with a tidy rag carpet,
evidently of home manufacture, and its plastered walls were decorated
with tasteful paper, and hung with a number of neatly framed engravings.
Opposite the doorway stood a large mahogany bureau, and over it,
suspended from the ceiling by leathern cords, was a curiously contrived
shelving, containing a score or more of well-worn books. Among them I
noticed a small edition of 'Shakespeare,' Milton's 'Poems,' Goldsmith's
'England,' the six volumes of 'Comprehensive Commentary,' Taylor's 'Holy
Living and Dying,' the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' a 'United States
Gazetteer,' and a complete set of the theological writings of
Swedenborg. Neat chintz curtains covered the small windows, a number of
brightly burnished brass candlesticks ornamented a plain wooden mantle
over the broad fireplace, and a yellow-pine table, oiled and varni