he
comforts and luxuries of civilized life_, when they are elevated to the
sphere, and feel the self-respect and dignity of freemen? But let us
notice some of the reasons which profess to be _founded on fact_. They
may all be resolved into two, _the laziness of negroes, and their
tendency to barbarism_.

[Footnote A: Probably in more instances than the one recorded in the
foregoing chapter, the improvidence of the negroes is inferred from
their otherwise unaccountable preference in walking six or ten miles to
chapel, rather than to work for a maccaroni a day.]

i. They _now_ refuse to work on Saturdays, even with wages. On this
assertion we have several remarks to make.

1.) It is true only to a partial extent. The apprentices on many
estates--whether a majority or not it is impossible to say--do work for
their masters on Saturdays, when their services are called for.

2.) They often refuse to work on the estates, because they can earn
three or four times as much by cultivating their provision grounds and
carrying their produce to market. The ordinary day's wages on an estate
is a quarter of a dollar, and where the apprentices are conveniently
situated to market, they can make from seventy-five cents to a dollar a
day with their provisions.

3.) The overseers are often such overbearing and detestable men, that
the apprentices doubtless feel it a great relief to be freed from their
command on Saturday, after submitting to it compulsorily for five days
of the week.

2. Another fact from which the laziness of the negroes is inferred, is
their _neglecting their provision grounds_. It is said that they have
fallen off greatly to their attention to their grounds, since the
abolition of slavery. This fact does not comport very well with the
complaint, that the apprentices cultivate their provision grounds to the
neglect of the estates. But both assertions may be true under opposite
circumstances. On those estates which are situated near the market,
provisions will be cultivated; on those which are remote from the
market, provisions will of course be partially neglected, and it will be
more profitable to the apprentices to work on the estates at a quarter
of a dollar per day, raising only enough provisions for their own use.
But we ascertained another circumstance which throws light on this
point. The negroes expect, after emancipation, to _lose their provision
grounds_; many expect certainly to be turned off by their ma