ro seated himself by the fire, between
Preston and me.

'You have brought the documents, I see, Joe; let me look at them,' I
said, reaching out my hand for the books.

'Yas, sar, and dey'm all written up till a week back. I reckon _you_ kin
pick 'em out, Mr. Kirke, dough master Robert he say he don't understand
my way ob keepin' 'em.'

I opened the books, and any man of business will appreciate my surprise
to find them kept by 'double entry.' Cotton, corn, and turpentine had
each its separate account, and at a glance I could see how much had been
made or lost by the production of each staple. The handwriting was plain
and bold, and the general appearance of the ledger compared favorably
with that of a much larger one I knew of, which was the pride of an
experienced bookkeeper.

'Why, Joe, I'm astonished,' I exclaimed with unaffected gratification;
'you write like a schoolmaster.'

A flush, which would have been a blush on a lighter skin, overspread the
negro's face, as he replied:

'I don't hab practice 'nuff, Mr. Kirke, to write bery well.'

'Practice!' said Preston, 'he has constant practice; he writes the love
letters of all the darkies in the district.'

'It am so, dat's a fac, sar', said Joe, a quiet humor twinkling in his
eye. 'One ob Cunnel Dawsey's folk came to me tother day--his wife had
been sold down Souf, an' he wanted to say to har, dat dough ribers rose,
and mountins run atween 'em, he'd neber hab nuffin to do wid no oder
'ooman--so he come to me, and I wrote de letter; an' when I'd a put in
all de ribers, an' de mountins, an' eber so many runs, an' thought I'd
done it right smart, I read it ober to him, but he say he sort o'
reckoned it warnt quite done up 'pletely, not 'xactly 'cluded; an' he
'sisted dat I muss 'sert a pose scrip, axin' her to ''scuse de bad
writin'.''

'And you did it?'

'Yes, sar, I done it.'

'Well, Joe, the important thing just now, is how much you owe. Give me a
slip of paper, and let me put these balances together.'

'I'se done dat, Mr. Kirke; here dey am,' and he handed me a correctly
drawn-up statement, showing Preston's exact liabilities. I glanced over
it, compared it with the footings in the ledger, and said:

'I see by this, Preston, that you owe seventeen hundred dollars,
floating debt; twelve hundred dollars, interest on your mortgage, and
are overdrawn five hundred dollars on our house.'

'Yes, so Joe makes it, and I reckon he's correct.'

'But dar'm de