_Overseer_.--Well, now listen; go along, and take her, but, you lazy
dog, if you get into any scrapes, and don't work like live coals, I'll
send her to the other estate (which was situated forty miles distant),
and flay you alive into the bargain.
The poor fellow, after thanking the overseer (not for his politeness,
certainly), darted off to communicate the joyful intelligence to his
affianced, making the welkin ring with his shouts. The gentleman who
described this scene said that it was always the custom on his father's
estate to give a gallon or two of whiskey for the attendant
merry-making.
After numerous stoppages, the train at length reached Charleston. The
journey from Greensborough had been a tedious one; besides the annoyance
of slow travelling, through the inefficient state of the line, which was
so defective that the carriages frequently left the rails, the noisome
effluvia arising from the swamps we had to pass through, which harbour
innumerable alligators and other reptiles, had the most debilitating
effect on the frame, which was increased by the extreme sultriness of
the weather After leaving my ticket at the terminus, I disposed of my
baggage by hiring a negro to carry it to my boarding-house, and slowly
wended my way into the city.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213