heir
turn, subject to the overseers, who, in turn, if not found to be
temperate and reliable, were dismissed. Upon well-ordered plantations
punishments were rare, I may say unknown, except to the half-grown
youths. Negroes, being somewhat lacking in moral sense or fixed
principles, are singularly open to the influence of example; and thus
it was that a few well-ordered elders would give a tone to the whole
plantation, while the evil influences of one ill-disposed character
would be equally pronounced.

The plantations of which I am speaking were singularly remote, being
so surrounded by other large plantations that they were exempt from
all outside and pernicious influences. The one or two country stores
at which the negroes traded might have furnished whiskey, had not
those who kept them stood too much in awe of the planters to incur the
risk of their displeasure. As the town of Halifax could boast of
several little stores, and was the trading post of Feltons,
Conacanara, and Montrose, your great-grandfather, in order to prevent
the evils of promiscuous trading, caused certain coins to be struck
off, of no value except to the one merchant with whom his people were
allowed to trade.

Perhaps you will be surprised to know how important to the country
merchants was the trade of a plantation, so I will explain to you of
what it consisted. Of course, a few of the careless, content with the
abundance provided for them, did not care to accumulate, while others,
naturally thrifty, amassed a good deal from the sale of otter, coon,
mink, and other skins of animals trapped. Then, some owned as many as
thirty beehives. One old woman, known as "Honey Beck," once hauled
thirty or more gallons of honey to Halifax and back again, the whole
distance (twenty-five miles), rather than take a low price for it.
Besides skins, honey, and beeswax, eggs and poultry were always
salable. One of my necessities in housekeeping was a bag of small
change, and, as I never refused to take what was brought to me, my
pantry was often so overstocked with eggs and my coops with ducks and
chickens, that it was a hard matter to know how to consume them.

The beautiful white shad, now so highly prized in our markets, were
then a drug. It was the prettiest sight in the early dawn of a spring
morning to see the fishermen skimming down the broad river with their
dip-nets poised for a catch. My opportunities for seeing them at that
early hour were from my be