lia, the maid, had
been so hurried in the preparations for this visit that she had done
nothing for herself. The night before the family was to leave,
therefore, she was getting ready a garment for herself to wear on the
trip; and it was supposed that she sewed until midnight, or after, when
she fell asleep, letting the goods fall into the candle. All at once, a
little after twelve o'clock, I heard a scream, then a cry of "fire!
fire!" and Boss yelling: "Louis! Louis!" I jumped up, throwing an old
coat over me, and ran up stairs, in the direction of Mrs. Farrington's
room, I encountered Boss in the hall; and, as it was dark and the smoke
stifling, I could hardly make any headway. At this moment Mrs.
Farrington threw her door open, and screamed for "Cousin Eddie," meaning
McGee. He hurriedly called to me to get a pitcher of water quick. I
grasped the pitcher from the stand, and he attempted to throw the water
on Celia, who was all in a blaze, running around like a mad woman; but
the pitcher slipped from his hand and broke, very little of the water
reaching her. She was at last wrapped in an old blanket, to extinguish
the flames; but she was burned too badly to recover. Boss, being a
physician, said at once: "Poor girl, poor girl! she is burned to death."
He did all he could for her, wrapped her in linen sheets, and endeavored
to relieve her sufferings, but all was of no avail--she had inhaled the
flame, injuring her internally, and lived only a few days.

* * * * *

MASTER'S NEW COTTON PLANTATION.

Shortly after Boss bought his home in Memphis, he bought a large farm in
Bolivar, Miss. It was a regular cotton farm, on the Mississippi river,
embracing 200 acres. The houses built for the slaves were frame,
eighteen in number, each to contain three or four families, and arranged
on each side of a street that ran through the farm. This street was all
grassed over, but there were no sidewalks. All the buildings--the barn,
gin-house, slaves' quarters and overseers' house--were whitewashed, and
on this grass-grown street they made a neat and pretty appearance. The
house where the Boss and the madam staid, when they went down to the
farm, was about two hundred yards from the slaves' quarters. It was
arranged in two apartments, one for the overseer and wife, and the other
for the master and mistress upon the occasion of their visits. This
building was separated from the other buildings by a fence.