the reader, she was the mother of
twelve children. Some were quite young, but a number of them were grown,
and all of them, with the exception of one, (the namesake of his father,)
inherited their mother's energy of character. She had accustomed them to
constant industry, and unqualified obedience to her directions; and for
this reason, no one had found it necessary to interfere in their
management.

Pride was a large ingredient in Phillis's composition. Although her husband
presented one of the blackest visages the sun ever shone upon, Phillis
appeared to hold in small esteem the ordinary servants on the plantation.
She was constantly chiding her children for using their expressions, and
tried to keep them in the house with white people as much as possible, that
they might acquire good manners. It was quite a grief to her that Bacchus
had not a more genteel dialect than the one he used. She had a great deal
of family pride; there was a difference in her mind between family servants
and those employed in field labor. For "the quality" she had the highest
respect; for "poor white people" only a feeling of pity. She had some noble
qualities, and some great weaknesses; but as a _slave!_ we present her to
the reader, and she must be viewed as such.

Miss Janet was, in her eyes, perfection. Her children were all the better
for her kind instructions. Her youngest child, Lydia, a girl of six or
seven years old, followed the old lady everywhere, carrying her key and
knitting-basket, looking for her spectacles, and maintaining short
conversations in a confidential tone.

One of Phillis's chiefest virtues was, that she had been able to bring
Bacchus into subjection, with the exception of his love for an occasional
spree. Spoiled by an indulgent master, his conceit and wilfulness had made
him unpopular with the servants, though his high tone of speaking, and a
certain pretension in his manner and dress, was not without its effect. He
was a sort of patriarch among waiters and carriage-drivers; could tell
anecdotes of dinners where Washington was a guest; and had been familiar
with certain titled people from abroad, whose shoes he had had the honor of
polishing. The only person in whose presence he restrained his braggadocio
style was Phillis. Her utter contempt for nonsense was too evident.
Bacchus was the same size as his master, and often fell heir to his
cast-off clothes. A blue dress-coat and buff vest that he thus inherited,