o last with the serene happiness of a contented
mind.

Even more marked than his habitual cheerfulness was his almost
feminine sympathy with the poor and feeble. His servants, as was the
universal rule in Virginia, were his slaves; but his relations with
his black dependents were of almost a paternal character, and his
kindness was repaid by that childlike devotion peculiar to the negro
race. More than one of these servants--so great was his reputation
for kindness--had begged him to buy them from their former owners.
Their interests were his special care; in sickness they received all
the attention and comfort that the house afforded; to his favourite
virtues, politeness and punctuality, they were trained by their
master himself, and their moral education was a task he cheerfully
undertook. "There was one little servant in the family," says Mrs.
Jackson, "whom my husband took under his sheltering roof at the
solicitations of an aged lady; to whom the child became a care after
having been left an orphan. She was not bright, but he persevered in
drilling her into memorising a child's catechism, and it was a most
amusing picture to see her standing before him with fixed attention,
as if she were straining every nerve, and reciting her answers with
the drop of a curtsey at each word. She had not been taught to do
this, but it was such an effort for her to learn that she assumed the
motion involuntarily."

Jackson's home was childless. A little daughter, born at Lexington,
lived only for a few weeks, and her place remained unfilled. His
sorrow, although he submitted uncomplainingly, was very bitter, for
his love for children was very great. "A gentleman," says Mrs.
Jackson, "who spent the night with us was accompanied by his
daughter, but four years of age. It was the first time the child had
been separated from her mother, and my husband suggested that she
should be committed to my care during the night, but she clung to her
father. After our guests had both sunk in slumber, the father was
aroused by someone leaning over his little girl and drawing the
covering more closely round her. It was only his thoughtful host, who
felt anxious lest his little guest should miss her mother's guardian
care under his roof, and could not go to sleep himself until he was
satisfied that all was well with the child."

These incidents are little more than trivial. The attributes they
reveal seem of small import. They are not such as go t