nd I studied his large limbs and grim, full face
with curious admiration. He told me that he hired his negro hands from
the surrounding slave-owners, and that he gave them premiums upon excess
of work, approximating to wages. In this way they were encouraged to
habits of economy, perseverance, and sprightliness.

"I don't own a nigger," he said, "not one! But I don't think a nigger's
much too good to be a slave. I won't be bothered with owning 'em. And I
won't be conquered into 'the institution.' I said, when I commenced,
that I should not buy niggers, and I won't buy niggers, because I said
so! As to social disadvantages, every Northern man has 'em here. They
called me an abolitionist; and a fellow at the hotel in Richmond did so
to my face. I knocked him into a heap, and nobody has meddled with me
since." "Of course," he said, after a moment, "it won't do to inflame
these people. These people are like my bulls, and you mustn't shake a
red stick at 'em. Besides, I'm not a fanatic. I never was. My wife's one
of these people, and I let her think as she likes. But, if there's
anybody in these parts that wants to interfere with me, I should like to
know the man!"

The contemptuous tone in which he mentioned "these people" amused me
infinitely, and I believed that his resolute, indomitable manner would
have made him popular in any society. He was shrewd, withal, and walked
beside me to his gate. When the regiments halted to rest, by the
wayside, he invited the field officers to the dairy, and so obtained
guards to rid him of depredators. He would have escaped very handsomely,
but the hand of war was not always so merciful, and a part of the battle
of Malvern Hills was fought upon his property. I have no doubt that he
submitted unflinchingly, and sat more stolidly amid the wreck than old
Marius in battered Carthage.

Until two o'clock in the afternoon I rode leisurely southward, under a
scorching sky, but still bearing up, though aflame with fever. The guns
thundered continuously behind, and the narrow roads were filled, all the
way, with hurrying teams, cavalry, cannon, and foot soldiers. I stopped,
a while, by a white frame church,--primly, squarely built,--and read the
inscriptions upon the tombs uninterestedly. Some of the soldiers had
pried open the doors, and a wounded Zouave was delivering a mock sermon
from the pulpit. Some of his comrades broke up the meeting by singing--

"John Brown's body lies a mouldering