n his slaves any religious teachings, and perhaps it was
just as well that _he_ did not attempt anything of that kind, for he is
said to have taught his white congregation that it was no more harm to
separate a family of slaves than a litter of pigs. His new master, whose
name was Johns, lived about thirty miles distant, and nearly as much as
that nearer the boundary line between Ohio and Kentucky, an item which
the boy noticed with much satisfaction. On their way home Mr. Johns took
special pains to impress on the mind of his new property the fact, that
the condition of his being well treated in his new home would be his
good behavior. "It's of no use," he says, "for my boys to go to showing
off airs, and setting themselves up. I can't stand that. But if they are
quiet and industrious, I give them as good allowances and as good
quarters as anybody."

What Mr. Johns called good behavior in servants, was their doing
promptly and precisely just as he told them to, without venturing to
think for themselves anything about it. If any of them did venture an
opinion before him he shut them up with a cut of the whip or a sharp
word, so that the utmost extent of their conversation in his presence
was a strict answer to his questions, and "Yes, massa," in reply to
his commands.

Lewis was destined to assist in the garden. Mr. Johns was very fond of
horticulture, but to have had his head gardener a slave, would have
involved the necessity of talking with him, and consulting him too much
to consist with his views of propriety. The slaves of families in the
far South are not usually treated in this manner, but Mr. Johns was by
birth an Englishman. The gardener, then, was a free white man named
Spencer, and Lewis found him a very pleasant master. It was not
difficult for him to find his way into his good graces, so that Lewis
did not suffer so much by the change as he expected. His heart was
already hardened by the loss of so many friends, that he took this with
unexpected indifference. But he did miss his brother Ned. More than
once, in his dreams, did he hear him crying for help; but after a while
he heard, through a fellow-slave, that Ned was serving as waiter in a
hotel at Louisville. This was the last he ever heard of him.

Besides this, Lewis loved his new work. It was so delightful to see the
shrubs, and trees, and plants flourish, and the flowers putting forth
their gorgeous displays; and Spencer's kindness made the heavies