arrangement followed; then Joe rose, and, taking the account books under his arm, bade us good evenin"." As he was leaving the room, I asked: "Do you preach tomorrow?"

"Yas, sar; an' I'se gwine home ter study ober de sermon. You'll come dar, sar? You won't yere no raal preachin', 'less massa Robert feels de sperrit move, fur de Lord don't gib de brack man de tongue He gib de white."

"I'm not sure of that; but I'll be there. Good night."

"Good night, sar, an' de Lord bless you."

When he had gone, I said to Preston: "You have admitted me to your confidence, and asked my advice; therefore, I think you'll pardon me, if I make you a few business suggestions."

"Most certainly; and I shall be guided by them."

"With a hundred hands in those thick woods, Joe will turn out a vast amount of produce. His ambition is excited with the idea of being his own master, and he will coin money for you; but you need to be prudent. You owe a mortgage of twenty thousand dollars—and mortgage debts are the worst in the world. Your plantation and negroes may be worth three times the amount, but they are in jeopardy so long as it exists. If it were called in suddenly, you couldn't pay it; your property would be sacrificed-everything might be lost. Now I would suggest that you sell, at once, your three hundred acres of swamp land, all your surplus live stock and materials, and appropriate the proceeds to paying your floating debt, and reducing the mortgage."

"And we might reduce our family expenses, Robert," said his wife; "we have too many house-servants. We could hire

out five or six of them in Newbern. And Joseph's schooling costs us five hundred dollars a year; he might come home-I could teach him."

“You would take too much on yourself, Lucy," replied her husband. "You are not strong, and you can't spare a single

servant."

"How many have you?" I asked.

"Nine," said Preston.

"For a family of two adults and three children?'

"It strikes you as too many, Mr. Kirke," said the lady,

way; but every

"and it is. It is our Southern
vant makes additional work for the mistress."

additional ser

“I think you are right, madam," I replied. "A Northern lady that you know of, takes care of me, Frank, the two young children, and a large house, with only two servants and an errand boy; and she never has anything to do after two o'clock."

"But you have the Irish; they are better house-servants than our blacks; and you can discharge them, if they won't work," said Preston.

"I would rather have Phyllis, than any servant I ever saw at the North. With her, the cook, and one more, I will promise to get on beautifully," remarked his wife.

Preston's voice quivered, as he replied: "Do as you think best."

"But, madam," I said, "I think you are really taking too much on yourself; the care of the children will be a great tax on your strength. Would it not be better to employ a governess to instruct them? What is now expended on Joe,

would pay a competent person."

"What do you say to that, Joe?" asked his father; "would you like to come home, and have a woman teacher?”

"I'd like to do what mother wants me to," said the lad, putting his arms about her neck, and kissing her.

"You're a good boy, Joe," said his mother.

"But you'll let me keep the pony, won't you, father?" said the lad.

"Yes, my son; and if you learn well, you shall go with uncle James when you're fifteen."

Shortly afterward, we separated for the night.

CHAPTER XI.

THE NEGRO MEETING.

ON a gentle knoll, a few hundred yards from the negro quarters, and in the midst of a grove of pines, whose soft brown tassels covered the ground all around it, stood the negro meeting house. It was built of unhewn logs, its crevices chinked with clay, and was large enough to seat about two hundred persons. Though its exterior resembled a backwoods barn, its interior had a neat and tasteful appearance. Evergreen boughs hid its rough beams and bare shingled roof, and long wreaths of pine leaves hung in graceful festoons from its naked walls and narrow windows. On the two sides of a wide aisle, which served to separate the sheep on the right hand from the goats on the left, were long rows of benches, with hard board bottoms, and rough, open backs; and beyond them, divided from the rest of the interior by a rustic railing, was the "family pew "—an enclosure about twelve feet square, neatly carpeted, and furnished with half a dozen arm chairs. Opposite to this was a platform elevated three steps from the floor, and on it stood a rustic settee, a large easy chair, and a modest desk covered with green baize, and decorated with small sprigs of evergreen. On this desk rested a large Bible.

The enormous seashell which served as a bell to this "house

of prayer," was sending its last blast in long echoes through the old trees, when, with Mrs. Preston and the children, I elbowed an opening through the thick group of grinning Africans that blocked the doorway, and worked a passage down the crowded aisle to the family enclosure. Seating myself in one of its cane-bottomed chairs, I glanced around on the assem blage. Such a gathering of woolly heads I had never seen. Every plantation within a circuit of five miles had sent in a representation, till the benches, the aisle, the small area around the pulpit, and the open space near the doorway were all densely packed. On the left, the men, in gaudy cravats and many-colored waistcoats, were chatting merrily together, and enjoying themselves as heartily as a parcel of Yankees at a clam-bake; and on the right, the women, in red and yellow turbans, and flaming shawls and neckerchiefs, were bobbing about and flaunting their colors, like so many dolphins sporting in the sunshine. Preston was seated in the lone chair at the back of the pulpit, and Boss Joe and Black Jack occupied the settee near him. The latter shortly rose to open the services, and, in a moment, a deep silence fell on the noisy multitude. The old preacher had carefully combed his thin wool into a pyramid on the top of his head, and he looked-dressed in glossy black pants, long-tailed blue coat, ruffled shirt, and high shirt collar— like a stuffed effigy at an exhibition of wax figures. Stepping rather unsteadily to the front of the platform, he flourished his red cotton bandanna, and, spreading his huge claws over the large Bible, said:

"Dear bred'rin, leff us begin de worship ob de Lord, by singin':

"From all dat dwell below de skies,

Leff de Creator's praise arise." "