ding-clothes; after a
while she'll be undergoing some of the troubles of the married state, which
will lengthen her face. The men get the best of it, decidedly; for they
have not all the petty annoyances a woman must encounter. What do you think
about it, Arthur?"

"I hardly know," said Arthur. "I have been in love ever since I could tell
my right hand from my left. I have hardly ever looked forward to marriage;
my time has been so much occupied here, that when I get a few moments for
reflection, my thoughts go back to Alice, and the happy years I have passed
with her, rather than to anticipations of any kind. I suppose I shall find
out, though, and then you may profit by my experience."

"You will have a sad experience with those niggers of yours, I am afraid,
Arthur," said Abel. "Our people are determined never to let them alone. I
wonder you do not employ white hands upon the plantation, and have done
with any trouble about the matter."

"What would be done with the slaves in the mean time?" said Arthur.

"Set 'em free," said Abel; "colonize, or hang 'em all."

"The latter is the more practicable suggestion," said Arthur. "As to
setting them free, they could not remain in Virginia afterward if I were
willing to do so: there is a law against it. Colonizing them would be
equally difficult, for the most of them would refuse to go to Africa; and
if I have not the right to hold them slaves, I certainly have not a right
to force them into another country. Some of them would be willing and glad
to come to the North, but some would object. My father set a house-servant
free; he was absent a year, and returned voluntarily to his old condition.
Mark had got some Abolition notions in his head, and my father told him he
might have his free papers, and go: I have told you the result. The fact
is, Abel, you Yankees don't stand very well with our slaves. They seem to
consider you a race of pedlars, who come down upon them in small bodies for
their sins, to wheedle away all their little hoardings. My father has
several times brought servants to New York, but they have never run away
from him. I think Virginia would do well without her colored people,
because her climate is moderate, and white labor could be substituted. But
it is not so with the more Southern States. I would like to see a Louisiana
sun shining upon your New England States for a while--how quickly you would
fit out an expedition for Africa. It is the mere accident