word, that I saw the
individual in question.

"His is a sad case," my Southern friend remarked.

"Whisky, isn't it?"

"Oh, no, I don't mean that. He does drink some, I know, but what I
mean is this: His father died about five years ago. He left his son
nothing but fourteen or fifteen niggers. They were all smart, young
hands, and he has been able to hire them out, so as to bring a
yearly income of two thousand dollars. This has supported him very
comfortably. This income stopped a year ago. The niggers have all run
away, and that young man is now penniless, and without any means of
support. It is one of the results of your infernal Abolition war."

I assented that it was a very hard case, and ought to be brought
before Congress at the earliest moment. That a promising young man
should be deprived of the means of support in consequence of this
Abolition war, is unfortunate--for the man.

CHAPTER XXXV.

OUR FREE-LABOR ENTERPRISE IN PROGRESS.

The Negroes at Work.--Difficulties in the Way.--A Public Meeting.--A
Speech.--A Negro's Idea of Freedom.--A Difficult Question to
Determine.--Influence of Northern and Southern Men Contrasted.--An
Increase of Numbers.--"Ginning" Cotton.--In the Lint-Room.--Mills and
Machinery of a Plantation.--A Profitable Enterprise.

On each of the plantations the negroes were at work in the
cotton-field. I rode from one to the other, as circumstances made it
necessary, and observed the progress that was made. I could easily
perceive they had been accustomed to performing their labor under
fear of the lash. Some of them took advantage of the opportunity for
carelessness and loitering under the new arrangement. I could not be
in the field at all times, to give them my personal supervision. Even
if I were constantly present, there was now no lash to be feared.
I saw that an explanation of the new state of affairs would be an
advantage to all concerned. On the first Sunday of my stay on the
plantation, I called all the negroes together, in order to give them
an understanding of their position.

I made a speech that I adapted as nearly as possible to the
comprehension of my hearers. My audience was attentive throughout.
I made no allusions to Homer, Dante, or Milton; I did not quote from
Gibbon or Macaulay, and I neglected to call their attention to the
spectacle they were presenting to the crowned heads of Europe. I
explained to them the change the war had made in their condition,