wise, and I will
speak to him on the subject; but it will not do to interfere with him
too much. A good overseer is not easy to get, and the slaves are always
ready to take advantage of leniency. An easy master makes bad work, but
an easy overseer would mean ruin to an estate. I am convinced that Jonas
has our interests at heart, and I will tell him that I particularly wish
that he will devise some other sort of punishment, such as depriving men
who won't work of some of their privileges, instead of using the lash."

"Thank you, mother. At any rate, he might be told that the lash is never
to be used without first appealing to you."

"I will see about it, Vincent, and talk it over with him." And with that
Vincent was satisfied.

CHAPTER II.

BUYING A SLAVE.

Mrs. Wingfield did talk the matter over with the overseer, and things
went on in consequence more smoothly. Vincent, however, adhered to his
wish, and it was arranged that as soon as he could get a nomination he
should go to West Point, which is to the American army what Sandhurst
and Woolwich are to England. Before that could be done, however, a great
political agitation sprang up. The slave States were greatly excited
over the prospect of a Republican president being chosen, for the
Republicans were to a great extent identified with the abolition
movement; and public feeling, which had for some time run high, became
intensified as the time approached for the election of a new president,
and threats that if the Democrats were beaten and a Republican elected
the slave States would secede from the Union, were freely indulged in.

In Virginia, which was one of the most northern of the slave States,
opinion was somewhat divided, there being a strong minority against any
extreme measures being taken. Among Vincent's friends, however, who were
for the most part the sons of planters, the Democratic feeling was very
strongly in the ascendant and their sympathies were wholly with the
Southern States. That these had a right to secede was assumed by them as
being unquestionable.

But, in point of fact, there was a great deal to be said on both sides.
The States which first entered the Union in 1776 considered themselves
to be separate and sovereign States, each possessing power and authority
to manage its own affairs, and forming only a federation in order to
construct a central power, and so to operate with more effect against
the mother country. Two years lat