tle fellow
had been naughty, and had been corrected by his mother. 'What fo' she
done slap Mars' Tom?' she asked: 'he ain't done nuffin', po' chile!'

"'Nonsense!' I said. 'The boy was naughty, and his mother boxed his
ears. Why, Chloe,' I added, 'what do _you_ mean by complaining? I
have seen you take your own baby by one leg and throw him across the
kitchen, without any regard to the stoves or kettles he might hit.'

"''Course you has,' she said coolly: 'he's allers under my feet.'

"'But you might strike his head and kill him.'

"'Well,' was the startling answer, 'he's nuffin' but a nigga.'

"And that was her own child, habitually treated with neglect and blows
by his mother, while she cried over the cruelty of slapping the white
child she had nursed. And it was not to curry favor, but from a
sincere belief that the one child should be caressed and loved, while
the other must expect knocks and blows, being 'nuffin' but a nigga.'

"One old crone told me, 'I've done had sixteen picaninnies, Mars'
Cap'n, but I nebber seed none o' dem after dey was 'bout six weeks
old. Dey was in de nussery, an' I was a rale smart cotton-picker, and
couldn't be spar'd to nuss chillen, nohow.'

"'But were you not allowed to see your own children?' I asked, as much
shocked as you would be.

"''Lowed! 'Course I was 'lowed ef I wanted to bother 'bout 'em. But
Law's sakes! dey was all mixed up 'long o' de others, an' I wa'n't
goin' fussin' 'bout some oder woman's baby, likely 'nuff.'

"Many such instances convinced me speedily that--whether from want of
natural affection or from their having been educated to indifference I
do not pretend to say--negro mothers in Mississippi had certainly no
violent affection for their own offspring.

"But the most shocking case that came under my immediate notice was
that of a woman seeking employment. She came to my office with two
handsome boys, all three being bright mulattoes. The little fellows
were about three and five years of age, with large brown eyes and
pretty faces, full of fun and vivacity. The mother was a tall,
fine-looking woman of twenty-two or -three, and claimed to be a good
cook. I had one place in my mind, and sent her there, as a friend had
mentioned to me that he wanted a cook, and if one came for employment
would like to have her sent to him.

"Unfortunately, he objected to the children, but, thinking the mother
could board them out, told her to 'get rid of the children' an