e of pride which the Colonel made in
seeking a reconciliation with Scip. It was the cutting off of his right
hand. The circumstance showed the powerful influence held over him by
the octoroon woman. Strange that she, his slave, cast out from society
by her blood and her life, despised, no doubt, by all the world, save by
him and a few ignorant blacks, should thus control a proud, self-willed,
passionate man, and control him, too, only for good.

After the black had gone, I said to the Colonel, "I was much interested
in old Lucy. A few more such instances of cheerful and contented old
age, might lead me to think better of slavery."

"Such cases are not rare, sir. They show the paternal character of our
'institution.' We are _forced_ to care for our servants in their old
age."

"But have your other aged slaves the same comforts that Aunt Lucy has?"

"No; they don't need them. She has been accustomed to live in my house,
and to fare better than the plantation hands; she therefore requires
better treatment."

"Is not the support of that class a heavy tax upon you?"

"Yes, it _is_ heavy. We have, of course, to deduct it from the labor of
the able-bodied hands."

"What is the usual proportion of sick and infirm on your plantation?"

"Counting in the child-bearing women, I reckon about twenty per cent."

"And what does it cost you to support each hand?"

"Well, it costs _me_, for children and all, about seventy-five dollars a
year. In some places it costs less. _I_ have to buy all my provisions."

"What proportion of your slaves are able-bodied hands?"

"Somewhere about sixty per cent. I have, all told, old and young--men,
women, and children--two hundred and seventy. Out of that number I have
now equal to a hundred and fifty-four _full_ hands. You understand that
we classify them: some do only half tasks, some three-quarters. I have
_more_ than a hundred and fifty-four working-men and women, but they do
only that number of full tasks."

"What does the labor of a _full_ hand yield?"

"At the present price of turpentine, my calculation is about two hundred
dollars a year."

"Then your crop brings you about thirty-one thousand dollars, and the
support of your negroes costs you twenty thousand."

"Yes."

"If that's the case, my friend, let me advise you to sell your
plantation, free your niggers, and go North."

"Why so, my dear fellow?" asked the Colonel laughing.

"Because you'd make money by the operatio