d cloes--an' massa, he den call me Lazarus,
'case he say I war all ober rags and holes, an' it hab sort o' stuck ter
me eber sense. I war a'mighty bad off 'fore dat, but w'en I cum down har
I gets inter Abr'am's buzzum, I does;" and here the darky actually
reeled on his seat with laughter.

"Is this woman your wife?" I asked.

"No, sar; my wife 'longs to Cunnel J----; dat am my new wife--my ole
wife am up dar whar I cum from!"

"What! have you two wives?"

"Yas, massa, I'se two."

"But that's contrary to Scripture."

"No, sar; de Cunnel say 'tain't. He say in Scriptur' dey hab a heap ob'
'em, and dat niggers kin hab jess so many as dey likes--a hun'red ef dey
want ter."

"Does the Colonel teach that to his negroes?" I asked, turning to the
native.

"Yas, I reckon he do--an' sits 'em th' 'zample, too," he replied,
laughing; "but th' old sinner knows better'n thet; he kin read."

"Do you find that in the Bible, Lazarus?"

"Yas, massa; whar I reads it. Dat's whar it tell 'bout David and Sol'mon
and all dem--dey hab a heap ob wives. A pore ole darky karn't hab
'nuffin 'sides dem, an' he _orter_ be 'low'd jess so many as he likes."

Laughing at the reasoning of the negro, I asked:

"How would _you_ like it, if your wife over at Colonel J----'s, had as
many husbands as _she_ liked?"

"Wal, I couldn't fine no fault, massa: an' I s'pose she do; dough I
doan't knows it, 'case I'se dar only Sundays."

"Have you any children?"

"Yas, sar; I'se free 'longin' ter de Cunnel, an' four or five--I doant
'zactly know--up ter hum; but _dey'se_ grow'd up."

"Is your wife, up there, married again?"

"Yas, massa, she got anoder man jess w'en I cum 'way; har ole massa make
har do it."

We then left the cabin, and when out of hearing of the blacks, I said to
the corn-cracker: "That _may be_ Scripture doctrine, but _I_ have not
been taught so!"

"Scriptur or no Scriptur, stranger, it's d----d heathenism," replied
the farmer, who, take him all in all, is a superior specimen of the
class of small-planters at the South; and yet, seeing polygamy practised
by his own slaves, he made no effort to prevent it. He told me that if
he should object to his darky cohabiting with the Colonel's negress, it
would be regarded as unneighborly, and secure him the enmity of the
whole district! And still we are told that slavery is a _Divine_
institution!

After this, we strolled off into the woods, where the hands were at
work. They wer