oughts were turned in that direction, I called to mind a certain
resemblance between the Colonel and the negro that I had not heeded
before. Though one was a high-bred Southern gentleman, claiming an old
and proud descent, and the other a poor African slave, they had some
striking peculiarities which might indicate a common origin. The
likeness was not in their features, for Jim's face was of the
unmistakable negro type, and his skin of a hue so dark that it seemed
impossible he could be the son of a white man, (I afterward learned that
his mother was a black of the deepest dye,) but it was in their form and
general bearing. They had the same closely-knit and sinewy frame, the
same erect, elastic step, the same rare blending of good-natured ease
and dignity--to which I have already alluded as characteristic of the
Colonel--and in the wild burst of passion that accompanied the negro's
disclosure of their relationship, I saw the same fierce, unbridled
temper, whose outbreaks I had witnessed in my host.

What a strange fate was theirs! Two brothers--the one the owner of three
hundred slaves, and the first man of his district--the other, a bonded
menial, and so poor that the very bread he ate, the clothes he wore,
were another's! How terribly on him had fallen the curse pronounced on
his race!

I passed the remainder of the afternoon in my room, and did not again
meet my host until the family assembled at the tea-table. Jim then
occupied his accustomed seat behind the Colonel's chair, and my host was
in more than his usual spirits, though Madam P----, I thought, wore a
sad and absent look.

The conversation rambled over a wide range of subjects, and was carried
on mainly by the Colonel and myself; but toward the close of the meal
the lady said to me:

'Mr. K----, Sam and young Junius are to be buried this evening. If you
have never seen a negro funeral, perhaps you'd like to attend.'

'I will be happy to accompany you, Madam, if you go,' I replied.

'Thank you,' said the lady.

'Pshaw! Alice, you'll not go into the woods on so cold a night as this!'

'Yes, I think I ought to. Our people will expect me.'

* * * * *

It was about an hour after nightfall when we took our way to the
burial-ground. The moon had risen, but the clouds which gathered when
the sun went down, covered its face, and were fast spreading their
thick, black shadows over the little collection of negro-houses. Near