barrel of syrup. I have experienced this so often, and in many cases
so touchingly, that I cannot refrain from recording it. Among others who
thus took to me was the giant Jim, who was unto Paxton and me as the
captive of our bow and spear, albeit an emancipated contraband. When the
Southerners defied General Butler to touch their slaves, because they
were their "property" by law, the General replied by "confiscating" the
property by what Germans call _Faustrecht_ (or fist-right) as "contraband
of war."

This Jim, the general waiter and butler, was a character, shrewd, clever,
and full of dry humour. When I was alone in the drawing-room of an
evening, he would pile up a great wood-fire, and, as I sat in an
arm-chair, would sit or recline on the floor by the blaze and tell me
stories of his slave life, such as this:--

"My ole missus she always say to me, 'Jim, don' you ever have anything to
do with dem Yankees. Dey're all pore miserable wile wretches. Dey lib
in poverty an' nastiness and don' know nothin'.' I says to her, 'It's
mighty quare, missus. I can't understan' it. Whar do all dem books come
from? Master gits em from de Norf. Who makes all our boots an' clothes
and sends us tea an' everythin'? Dey can't all be so pore an' ignoran'
ef dey writes our books an' makes everythin' we git.' 'Jim,' she says,
'you're a fool, an' don' understan' nothin'.' 'Wery good, missus,' says
I, but I thinked it over. All we do is to raise cotton, an' dey make it
into cloff, which we hav'n't de sense to do."

I believe that I give this word for word. And Jim, as I found, was a
leading mind among the blacks.

I had a letter of introduction from Mr. Lea to Horace Harrison, who was
the State Attorney for Tennessee. At this time his power was very great,
for he had in his hands the disposition of all the estates of all the
rebels in Tennessee. He was the type of a Southwestern gentleman. He
reminded me very much of my old Princeton friends, and when I was in his
office smoking a pipe, I felt as if I were in college again. I liked him
very much. One morning I called, and after some deliberation he said,
"You are a lawyer, are you not?" I replied that I had studied law under
Judge Cadwallader.

"Then I should like to consult with you as a lawyer. I have a very
difficult case to deal with. There is a law declaring that all property
belonging to rebels shall be seized and held for one year. Now, here is
a man who