Tobacco and rage had worn his teeth short, and nearly every sentence
that escaped their compressed grating, was commenced or concluded with
some outburst of profanity. His presence made the field alike the field
of blood, and of blasphemy. Hated for his cruelty, despised for his
cowardice, his death was deplored by no one outside his own house--if
indeed it was deplored there; it was regarded by the slaves as a
merciful interposition of Providence. Never went there a man to the
grave loaded with heavier curses. Mr. Sevier's place was promptly taken
by a Mr. Hopkins, and the change was quite a relief, he being a very
different man. He was, in{75} all respects, a better man than his
predecessor; as good as any man can be, and yet be an overseer. His
course was characterized by no extraordinary cruelty; and when he
whipped a slave, as he sometimes did, he seemed to take no especial
pleasure in it, but, on the contrary, acted as though he felt it to be
a mean business. Mr. Hopkins stayed but a short time; his place much
to the regret of the slaves generally--was taken by a Mr. Gore, of whom
more will be said hereafter. It is enough, for the present, to say, that
he was no improvement on Mr. Sevier, except that he was less noisy and
less profane.

I have already referred to the business-like aspect of Col. Lloyd's
plantation. This business-like appearance was much increased on the two
days at the end of each month, when the slaves from the different farms
came to get their monthly allowance of meal and meat. These were gala
days for the slaves, and there was much rivalry among them as to _who_
should be elected to go up to the great house farm for the allowance,
and, indeed, to attend to any business at this (for them) the capital.
The beauty and grandeur of the place, its numerous slave population,
and the fact that Harry, Peter and Jake the sailors of the sloop--almost
always kept, privately, little trinkets which they bought at Baltimore,
to sell, made it a privilege to come to the great house farm. Being
selected, too, for this office, was deemed a high honor. It was taken as
a proof of confidence and favor; but, probably, the chief motive of the
competitors for the place, was, a desire to break the dull monotony of
the field, and to get beyond the overseer's eye and lash. Once on the
road with an ox team, and seated on the tongue of his cart, with no
overseer to look after him, the slave was comparatively free; and, if