Plantation_ 40

_My Own Early Home_ 52

_Two Bob Whites_ 59

_Little Dave_ 74

_The Hog-Feeder's Day_ 85

_The Junior Reserve_ 113

_Mammy_ 119

_War Reminiscences_ 150

TO MY GRANDCHILDREN

As the "New South," with all its changes and improvements, rises above
the horizon, those whose hearts still cling to the "Old South" look
sadly backward and sigh to see it fade away into dimness, to be soon
lost to sight and to live only in the memory of the few. Hoping to
rescue from oblivion a few of the habits, thoughts, and feelings of
the people who made our South what it was, I have drawn from memory a
few pen sketches of plantation life, based upon actual events, in
which are recorded some of the good and even noble traits of character
which were brought forth under the yoke of slavery.

For you, my dear grandchildren, I have tried to fix, before they fade
entirely, these already faint reflections from the "light of other
days."

Margaret Devereux.

Raleigh, North Carolina.
December, 1905.

PLANTATION LIFE

I am going to try to describe to you something of the lives and homes
of your dear grandfather and of your great-grandfather, because I want
you to know something of them, because their mode of life was one of
which scarcely a vestige is left now, and because, finally, I don't
want you to be led into the misconception held by some that Southern
planters and slaveholders were cruel despots, and that the life of the
negro slaves on the plantation was one of misery and sorrow.

Before I enter upon my brief narrative I want you to realize that it
is all strictly true, being based upon my knowledge of facts; very
simple and homely in its details, but with the merit of entire
truthfulness.

Your great-grandfather, Thomas Pollock Devereux, and your grandfather,
John Devereux, were planters upon an unusually large scale in North
Carolina; together they owned eight large plantations and between
fifteen and sixteen hundred negroes. Their lands, situated in the rich
river bottoms of Halifax and Bertie counties, were very fertile, the
sale crops being corn, cotton, and droves of hogs, whic