Yankee, whom he somewhat
resembles and greatly admires, he never omits an opportunity of 'turning
an honest penny.' In defiance of custom-house regulations and of our
strict blockade, he has carried on a more or less regular traffic with
New-York and Boston (_via_ Halifax and other neutral ports) ever since
North-Carolina seceded. His turpentine, while it was still his property,
has been sold in the New-York market, under the very eyes of the
government officials, and, honest reader, _I_ have known of it.

By various roundabout means, I have recently received letters from him.
His last, dated in April, and brought to a neutral port by a shipmaster
whom he implicitly trusts, has reached me since the previous chapters
were written. It covers six pages of foolscap, and is written in
defiance of all grammatical and orthographical principles; but as it
conveys important intelligence in regard to some of the persons
mentioned in this narrative, I will transcribe a portion of it.

It gave me the melancholy tidings of the death of Colonel J----. He had
joined the Confederate army, and fell, bravely meeting a charge of the
Massachusetts troops, at Roanoke.

On receiving the news of his friend's death, Andy rode over to the
plantation, and found Madam P---- plunged in the deepest grief. While he
was there, a letter arrived from Charleston, with intelligence of the
dangerous illness of her son. This second blow crushed her. For several
days she was delirious and her life despaired of; but throughout the
whole, the noble corn-cracker, neglecting every thing, remained beside
her.

When she returned to herself, and had in a measure recovered her
strength, she learned that the Colonel had left no will; that she was
still a slave, and soon to be sold, with the rest of the Colonel's
_personal property_, according to law.

This is what Andy writes about the affair. I give the letter as he wrote
it, merely correcting the punctuation and enough of the spelling to make
it intelligible:

'W'en I hard thet th' Cunnel hadent leff no wil, I was hard put what ter
dew; but arter thinkin' on it over a spell, I knowed shede har on it
sumhow; so I 'cluded to tell har miseff. She tuk on d----d hard at fust,
but arter a bit, grew more calm like, and then she sed it war God's wil,
an' she wudent komplane. Ye knows I've got a wife, but w'en the ma'am
sed thet, she luk'd so like an angel, thet d----d eff I cud help puttin'
my arms round har, an'