against
you?' I made this inquiry, thinking it possible that this might be done
_at the outset_. Like other foreigners, though familiar with the North,
I had not supposed that nearly two years of civil war, with its
inevitable expenditure of blood and treasure, would be needed to induce
this direct and obvious means of subduing a rebellion. Englishmen, it is
known, have ferocious ideas on the subject, as witness India.

'If the slaves rose, we should kill them like so many snakes!' was the
answer. And the young lady's voice and flashing eyes showed that she was
in earnest.

* * * * *

Our promenade lasted until the return of the Colonel, who presently took
a private opportunity of informing me that the wounded slave would
probably survive, and that he had sent for a surgeon from an adjoining
plantation, expressing some apprehension that delay or indifference on
his part might involve fatal consequences.

'It's Christmas time, you see, and perhaps he won't care about coming,'
said my host. I may add that his anticipation was in part verified by
the result, 'the doctor' not appearing till the following morning.
Thanks, however, to a rough knowledge of surgery on the part of the
overseer, aided by the excellence of his constitution, 'Timberlake'
recovered. I will mention here, in dismissing the subject, that 'Hurry's
John' was subsequently sold to a Louisiana sugar-planter, a fate only
less terrible to a negro than his exportation to Texas.

Within an hour of our return to the house, we partook of an excellent
and luxurious Christmas dinner, to which birds of the air, beasts of the
earth, and fish of the sea had afforded tribute, and the best of
European wines served as an appropriate accompaniment. The meal was, I
think, served earlier than usual, that we might attend the event of the
day, the negro weddings.

These were solemnized at a little private church, in the rear of which
was absolutely the most enormous live-oak I had ever seen, its branches,
fringed with pendent moss, literally covering the small churchyard,
where, perhaps, a dozen of the ---- family lie buried--a few tombstones,
half hidden by the refuse of the luxuriant vegetation, marking their
places of sepulture. The plain interior of the building had been
decorated with evergreens in honor of the time and the occasion, under
the tasteful direction of the young ladies, who had also contrived to
furnish white dresses and