s, sir, he's a very good boy; I raised him, or rather, my
father did; he comes of a good stock; plenty of sense and know their
places. When I came on the road they gave me a mulatto fellow whom I
couldn't stand, one of these young, new, "free-issue" some call them,
sir, I believe; I couldn't stand him, I got rid of him.' I asked him
what was the trouble. 'Oh! no trouble at all, sir; he just didn't know
his place, and I taught him. He could read and write a little--a negro
is very apt to think, sir, that if he can write he is educated--he could
write, and thought he was educated; he chewed a toothpick and thought he
was a gentleman. I soon taught him better. He was impertinent, and I
put him off the train. After that I told them that I must have my own
servant if I was to remain with them, and I got Nick. He is an excellent
boy (he was about fifty-five). The black is a capital servant, sir, when
he has sense, far better than the mulatto.'

"I became very intimate with the old fellow. You could not help it. He
had a way about him that drew you out. I told him I was going to New
Orleans to pay a visit to friends there. He said, 'Got a sweetheart
there?' I was rather taken aback; but I told him, 'Yes.' He said he knew
it as soon as I spoke to him on the platform. He asked me who she was,
and I told him her name. He said to me, 'Ah! you lucky dog.' I told him
I did not know that I was not most unlucky, for I had no reason to think
she was going to marry me. He said, 'You tell her I say you'll be all
right.' I felt better, especially when the old chap said, 'I'll tell
her so myself.' He knew her. She always travelled with him when she came
North, he said.

"I did not know at all that I was all right; in fact, I was rather low
down just then about my chances, which was the only reason I was so
anxious to go to New Orleans, and I wanted just that encouragement and
it helped me mightily. I began to think Christmas on the cars wasn't
quite so bad after all. He drew me on, and before I knew it I had told
him all about myself. It was the queerest thing; I had no idea in the
world of talking about my matters. I had hardly ever spoken of her to
a soul; but the old chap had a way of making you feel that he would be
certain to understand you, and could help you. He told me about his own
case, and it wasn't so different from mine. He lived in Virginia before
the war; came from up near Lynchburg somewhere; belonged to an old
family ther