The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 2, August, 1862, page 1 by Various Authors
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acker.'
The native's farm was located on the stream which watered my friend's plantation, and was about ten miles distant. Taking a by-road which led to it through the woods, we rode rapidly on in advance of the wagon.
'Sort o' likely gal, thet, warn't she?' remarked the turpentine-maker, after a while.
'Yes, she was,' replied the Colonel, in a half-abstracted manner, 'very likely.'
'Kill harself 'case har man war shot by thet han'som overseer uv yourn?'
'Not altogether for that, I reckon,' replied my host,' I fear the main reason was her being put at field-work, and abused by the driver.'
'Thet comes uv not lookin' arter things yerself, Cunnel. I 'tend ter my niggers parsonally, and they keer a durned sight more fur this world then fur kingdom-cum. Ye cudn't hire 'em ter kill 'emselves fur no price.'
'Well,' replied the Colonel, in a low tone, 'I did look after her. I put her at full field-work myself.'
'By--!' cried the native, reining his horse to a dead stop, and speaking in an excited manner; 'I doan't b'lieve it, 'taint 't all like ye; yer a d--d seceshener--thet comes uv yer bringin'-up; but ye've a soul bigger'n a meetin'-house, and ye cudn't hev put thet slim, weakly gal inter th' woods, no how!'
The Colonel and I instinctively halted our horses, as the 'corn-cracker' stopped his.
'It is true, Barnes,' said my host, in a low voice, 'I did do it!'
'May God Almighty furgive ye, Cunnel,' said the native, starting his horse forward, 'I wudn't hev dun it fur all yer niggers, by----.'
The Colonel made no reply, and we rode on the rest of the way in silence.
The corn-cracker's house--a low, unpainted, wooden building--stood near the little stream, and in the centre of a cleared plot of some ten acres. This plot was surrounded by a post and rail fence, and in its front portion was a garden, which grew a sufficient supply of vegetables to serve a family of twenty persons. In the rear, and