The Lancaster ledger. (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, March 14, 1855, Image 1
-$2 PER ANNUM. flinln'd lo no Parly'* nrb itrary *way, "J XT A T)Y A IVPF ^
^ ? Wo cleave to ItHtli witdr'cro ih? loado (be way. %
L ' -
% ? ?-...?.... ..... ... ...... - ? ....?..... ..
* NEUTRAL IN POLITICS?DEVOTED TO LITERACY, COMMERCIAL, AGRICULTURAL, SCIENTIFIC, GENERAL AND LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
VOLUME IV. LANCASTER. C. II., SOUTH CAROLINA. WEDNESDAY MORNING. MARCH U, 185-3 NUMBER 5
OPT flOW RUT PO I 1I? showed his military coat, trimmed I lIia autumnal ?t... a _t.?1_ i ... - .. ..
OMjEjUI IttLCiO.
*HE RIGHT AUMI
Fifty yeais ago a terrible storm shoo I
the city of London. At thtj dead of night
when tbo storm was at its highest, ai
aged minister, living near the darkest
suburbs of the city, was aroused by mi
earusst cry for help. Looking from hii
window, be beheld a rude man. clad ir
the coarse attire of the swct-per of thi
public streets. In a few moment*
while the rain came down in torrents,
and the storm growled above, thai
preacher leaning on the arm of the scavenger
treaded his way to the dark
suburb.
That very day >? strange old mati had
fallen speech lest in front of tho scavenger's
rude home. The good hearted streetsweeper
had taken him iu?laid him on
his bed?he had not spoken once?and
now he was dying.
This was the story of the rough man.
And now through dark alleys, among
miserable tenements, that seems to topple
down upon their heads, into the loneliest
Mild dreariest suberb* of the city tbcy pass;
That while haired minister and his guide.
At l?*l in n narrow court i.nd up stairs
lltftl cracked beneath their trend, nnd
then into the death room.
It was in truth, n miserable place.
A. glimmering light stood ou u broke.,
chair. There werotlio rough walla, thcr.
the solitary garret window with the rain
beating through the rags and straw, which
stuffed the brokeu the paues?and there
amid u heap of cold ashes the small valise
which it seems the stranger had with
liiia.
In one corner, on the coarse straw of
the ragged bed, lay the dying man. lie
was but half dressed ; his legs were concealed
in military boots.
The aged preacbcr drew near, and
iookuu upon nun. ami lio looked ?
llirob?tliroli?itiruli?you might hear
the death-watch licking in the shattered
wall.
It was the form ofa strong man grown
old with care more than age.
There was a face that you might look
upon once, and yet wear it in yuur memory
forever. Let Hs bend over the hed
and look ou that face.
A bold forehead scanted by one deep
wrinkle between the brows?long locks
of dark hair, sprinkled with grey?lips
rtrmly set, yet quivering us though they
hud a life separate from the life of the
man?and then two large eyes vivid,
burning, unnatural in their steady glare
Ah, there was something so terrible
in that (ace?something so full of unutterable
louuiinoss, unspeakable despair?
tlmt the aged minister started back in
horror.
Bat look tboeo strong arms are clutching
at the vacant air?-the death sweat
starts in drops unon the cold brow?tl.<
? " ~ "
man U dying.
Throb?throb?throb?beat the death
watHi in the shattered wail.
"Would you die iii the faith of Christian!"
faltered the preuchcr, aa he knelt
Chare on the dark floor.
White lips of the death atrk-keu man
trembled but made no sound.
Thau with the ^pny of death upon
him, ha roae into a sitting pasture. For
<he first time, he apoke:
^Christian!" he echoed in that deep
tone, which thrilled the preacher to the
Inert, M??N that faith give me back my
tiwwrt Come with ma?Come * it j mo
far over the water. Jlah ! we ore there?
Tbie is my native town. Yonder i? the
"church in which I knelt in childhood ?
yonder tk* groan on wliieb I sported wtun
boy. Bntanatbar flag thap thai waved
wlian I dm a child. And li?tow, old
tn?n; w?ro 1 lo fMi along tbia aireet aa
I paaaad wbon im child, tho very bnbra
In their cradles would raiaa their liny
bends and rurse me. The grave* in
yonder ebmvli yard would abriuk from
my footstep** and yondar ting would ttnin
I n hapttaw of Mood upon my heart T
I That was am awful deMllfUd. TU?
minuter kaa wauhvJ the "last night,'1
with a hundred convicU ia their oella and
I fvi never beheld a arena *o totriblo ar
lb?*?
I MMf the dying man wroee. lit
^ luitmd *k?njt Ibn door. With thma
white fofcn *rh?a* nail* are blue with
b* tb?ow open litn ? ?!* .
with silver, an old parchment, a piece of (
cloth thnt looked like the wreck of a battle
flag.
"Look yc, priest, this faded coat is spot.
ted with my blood!" he cried, as old memt
ories seemed stirring at his heart. "This
( is the coat I wore when 1 p anted the
t banner of the stars on Ticonderoga. That
( Bullot hole was pierced in the fight at
, Quebec; now?1 am a?lit me whisper
( in your ear!
"Now help mo priest," ho said, in a
voice growing suddenly tremulous; "help '
mo put on this coat uf blue and silver.? ,
For you see," and a ghastly smile came j
over his face, "there is i.one to wipe the J
I I I
wiu urojw irotn my l?row; no wile, no
cl.ild?I must meet denth alone; but I will
meet him as 1 met him in battle, without
fear."
While ho ptood arraying himself in that
worm-eaten coat of blue and silver, the
good preacher spoke to him of faidi
in Jesus. Yes, ol that great faith
which pierced the clouds of human guilt, 1
and rolls them back from the face of
God.
"Faith!" echoed the strange man who
stood there, erect, with the denthlight in
his eye. "Faith, can it give me hack my '
honor! Look yo, priest, there over the
waves, sits George Washington, telling to
his comrades tlio pleasant story of tineight
years' war?ihcfc in his royal halls
sits George of Kngland, bewailing in his 1
idiotic voice ti e loss of his Colonies.
And hero am I?I ? who was first t??
raise the Hag of freodoir., the fir.-1 to
strike a blow against that King?here I
am dying like a dog!"
The awe stricken preacher started back
from the look of the dying man while
throb?throb?throb?beat tlio death
watch in the shattered wall.
"Hush! silence along the lino there!"
lie muttered iu that wild absent tone, as
though speaking to the dead; "silence along
the line*! Not a word on peril of
your lives, ilark you, Montgomery, we
will meet ill the centre of ilic town? *iVe
will meet there in victory or death? Hist!
silence, my inen, not a whisper as you
move up those steep rooks! Now on my
boys, now on! Men of the wilderness,
we will gain the town. Now up with
the banner of the star.-; up with the flag
of freedom, though the night is dink and
the snow falls! Now?now?" shrieked
the death stricken man, towering there
' in the blue uniform, with his clenched
' hands waving in the air?"now, now!
One blow more and Ouebt'C is ours.'
And look! His eyes' grdw glassy.? '
With that word on his lips, he stands 1
there?all, what a hideous picture of des- 1
pair, erect, livid, ghastly ! There for a 1
moment and then lie falls! He is dead! 1
Ah, look at that proud form, thrown 1
?Jo!d and stiff upon the damp tlooi. In '
that glassy eve thero lingers even yet, I
horrible energy, a sublimity of despair. >
Who is this strange man, dying here i
1 alone in this rudo garret; this man, who,
in all his crimes .-till treasured up tliut 1
....it. -?.i rf --.
veiiv uriiusviM aiiu inumi u?ig r |
Who is litis being of liorrihlo remorse? j
l itis man whose memories link something
of Heaven and more of hell!
Let us look at that parchment and that
flag.
The old minister u.irolU thai faded hag,
il wae a blue banner, gleaming with thirteen
stars.
lie unrolls that parchment. It is a
Colonel's com mission in the Continental
Army, addressed to, Ukskoict Aknold.
And there, in tbil rude hut, while the
death-watch throbbed like a heart in the
shattered wall?-unknown, unwept, in all
the bitterness of desolation, lay the corpse
of the patriot and Traitor.
0, that our own true Washington had
been there, to sever that good right arm
froiu the corpse, and while the dishonored
i body rotted into the dust, to bring home
I that good right arm, and embalm it a
tnoog the holiest memoirs of tiio l'aat. j1
>'ur thai right arm has struck many a , |
gallant blow for freedom, yonder at Ti- , t
condrroga, at Quebec, Chuinplain and ',
Saratoga?that arm yotufor, beneath (he j i
i mow-whit* mountain, in the dtp idence j |
1 of the d*etd,fir?t raised into tight the Ian- ,
> ner of the Starr, K ,
i it was during (be renowned expedition |
; through the wilderness to Quebec, that
t , Arnold encamped for two or three days *
i beside the Hirer bf the Dead, near a sn?>wi
wbito mountain, which rose tit lovely t
. grandeur over all other mountains, into' j
or. A mugiu buiuicr 1
ceiided liio mountain with the h<>[>o
beholding from -its summit the rocks hi
spires of Quebec. When ho came dow
Arnold took from lite brtni&t, Where I
four days in privation and danger he hi
carried it, a blue banner gleaming \vi
thirteen stars, lie raised it into the ligl
and for the first linio the Continent
Banner floated over the solitudes of tl
Doad Uiver. This is a fu:t attested 1
history and corroborated by tradition.
from the Louisville Democrat.
THE KNOW NOTHINGS
The rapid rise of the new party calh
Know Nothings has been a matter of su
pr'se. llow could such an order rise ar
multiply so fast ? Well, it is not half
wonderful after all; since it is but an o
party in a new dress, and one ilmt fi
bettor than the uM one. It is but tl
former opposition to the democratic part
an m posed of tlie same men, lioliling tl
same views, tlio sanio sympathies ar
antipathies. In fixing tip to start
fresh a new element or two is added
tlie crcetl, to stimulate the zeal of tl
faithful, and accommodate a few of tl
gleanings from other parties. Ilostili
to foreigners and 'Jalholies is liot at i
unnatural to the old whig party. The
proclivity to the former has been muuitV
ted before. It is a sentiment the faithf
always cherished rocretiy. To be sin
just previous to ail election their orgni
ilways denied it, and their catul dates ft
a morbid affection for the brogue and tl
accent, but nature would out in mnr
ways. The proscription of Catholics
a new feature, nnd wo presume it will n
lust long. It is designed more to exo
favorable terms of amity than as a setth
item of the creed. However this may I
the new- order is but the old opposition
the democratic parly.
Everywhere its great | oiut has been
defeat democratic candidates for office,!
difference what the eon*e<piencos niig
be. In the North, the abolitionists ha'
used the Know Nothings-, nnd tlio Kuo
Nothings have used the abolitionists
defeat the democratic parly. Every mi
who dared rapport the Nebraska bill,
showed a disjn sicion to legi*?de for il
whole country, and not for the free Stat
entirely, has been hunted down, where
was possible, by this new Older, combine
with abolitionists. In all the free Stat
where the fusion i>ts have been successft
they have returned abolitionists to tl
Si'iiato of the United States. In one o
ly di<l some of the new order make an <
fort to defrat an abolitionist, and in tli
effort they signally failed. Their call
snd obligations were not sufficient to bit
the faithful ngaiiist a whig or an ul.o
tionist. If it had been a democrat tli
I.... I ... ?.- i-e i .1
>..in iv uv ucivmeu, mey could have sto<
linn, f<>r (bat is their mission; l>ut a wh
snd an abolitionist was too much for tl
isithful.
Hero in Kentucky, a whig conventh
was to be held on the 22nd inst., but
?ndod in a Know Nothing convention
Louisville, and the whig Assemblage,
ihere arc enough of the party left to for
)ue, will only have to peiform the inour
rul duty of attending the funeral of tin
>ld organization, and han ling over i
issets to the new party.
Farewell to the name whig; it hi
>een sadly abused; and perhaps mad
i happy es ape 10 its plac in tl
locabulary of our language. Wo ni
low to have some other word desecrate
;o a party purpose.
\\ see in the Courier a long letter i
ulvice ami council from Washington, n<
Ireaaed to tho brethron. They havodoi
>adly in other 8utes, (ha writer admit
[f they can't do better, bettor not do at a
riioy set out to reform, and have mat
wiifta urilli n >>n ? ...
.... .. R.??
culls. The demagogues and old polil
uil backs, have taken possession of ll
brethren, and used them to their ou
mi r poses. They are the natural lioirs i
tucli a calamity, ami can't escape the
lcsUny. That class of politicians lly
ibe new party that are dissaiifffovt *vii
he old ones; and they are
nrillt the ones because the old ones afe di
tntiftfied with them, generally for got
reason*.
We are not at all surprised that tl
whig* have gone into know nothiagiei
What should a good sturdy old wh
think of the times t He has to do lab
n a good oxuet- He baa offered good a
of * >*& as . ?tii -ers^i- A?
0.*
i9- i vice, no lias preached and written an
of exhorted, and perhaps in pressing eine
nd , gencies, cheated and iied a little for tl
ii, j good of the country; and how has an ui
or grateful country responded to all his It
iid bors? It has condemned and repudiate
th all his good offers.
it, , No wonder if he tninks the world h:
.al degenerated; that the people arc corrup
lie and the old parties unreliable. Sonv
;>y | thing's the matter; and something mu
i bo done to save the Republic. Open o
1 gaiiizalion have been tried and failed, let
| try secrecy and emft. Somebody's 1
j blame; no doubt about tbut; and who s
j likeiy to be llie culprits as these foreignei
: tho whigs never lilted, except just befoi
lr" an election, ami llie Catholics, whom the
ought not to like if tliey did. We nun
so sav that this letter is a very unkind ct
1 1 *
' in this Commonweatli. Hosts of Catlu
lies have been always the sturdiest kin
o( whigs. They have been old soldiers i
^' whig battalions. Are they not most ui
>e gratefully treated 1
K' Rut there is a great public necessity
,l" the country must be saved. It is in aba
lo way, for it has repudiated whiggery an
,c must be vciy corrupt and stupid of cours*
IC So a whig might very naturally reasoi
'y We don't wonder at it at all. Most me
don't relish the idea of other people's ill
" fallibility, but are very partial to tliei
H" own; that tliey have been wrong all tbei
lives is the last idea that will be allowe
' > to enter their heads.
"s The now order are fond of boasting c
It
recruits from the democratic ranks, an
lc to keep up appearances they will give
crum or two in the way of uflice to a dem
ocrat now and then; but tliey have n
"l place on their platform for democrats irer
I t r ?1 " ? '
erally. These latte r have no reason to b
dissatisfied willi thu country. It is Join
" pretty well. It bus been under decide
l" dcmocialic rule, ami has therefore bee
about light. It is charged that foreigner
have generally voted one way. Th
meaning is, that they have voted demt
'll cratic; That only shows thtiir seilse, an
u' their eonipotency to vote right. It i:
AV moreover,charged ilia: the Catholics hav
10 voted democratic, which, by the way, i
,n not true in this state; and it is a fact thu
01 a large proportion of foreigners and Call
" oliis have voted whigs, and worked liar
for the whig party. In this they hav
11 not shown much discrimination, wegtan
and we have tin dou'it most of them ar
0,1 sorry for this sin by this tAno. Upon t!i
' whole deiiioo.ills have reisoii to believ
lw that the counliy has been doing very wel
" take it all round, and have no reason t
fly to this new order for salvation; nor wi
Hl they do it. Those w ho think the old den
ocralic paity dead in Kentucky will fin
themselves mistaken; and our opponent
needn't suppose that by putting on a lie'
nt dress they will not be recognised as th
same old coon. There nothing but an ol
,r> party race coining oil in this State, tlii
" Summer. Disguises had as well t
thrown aside. They deceive nobody.
it Tho Biter Bitten.
In
If At seven o'clock the dinner was serve
in up, and a better ono never was given i
n- Calcutta; hot as every pleasure mill
>ir come to an end, so this excellent dinnc
ts was at laat finished. The desert was aL
served np, and the hookahs began to em
is their guttural notes. Many worts th
le subjects broached nnd got rid of; man
le me toasts wiuim enlivened lltolashionabi
re feast.
td At length, by the ino*t s'tilful manrri:
tering atid with infinite tact, Mucaula
of brought tho beauty of the new tables o
1- the tapis. Every one admired them, an
10 felt grateful to tlieiil for having so lat(
s. ly supported the rich dinner of thci
II. bust.
le "They are of the finest mahogany 1 et
of er s?w," said Major Hriscoe.
? 'They are perfect," said another. "
le never saw any so well proportioned i
n my life. I must have roiuo made lik
to them.*
>ir "They are too high," chimed in Chai
to ley Macnulay, with affected indifferent
lli ?"just a little too high, tkm'lyou thin
>d so, Gordon ?"
a- *Oo the contrary," replied the hoe
>d "if any thing, I consider them a shade to
low."
to "You are mistaken, tuy dear fo
n. | low ; t have an excellent eye, and I ai
iff I sure I am riuht. No table shoeld
M I isro feat d??<U?M *1 lewtoue mc
ul I "You are in error; tliey are not iuor<
r- than two feet and a half.'*
10 "Don't bet, James, don't bet, for 1,'n
11- sure of the fact. I tell you 1 cannot b<
a deceived ; my cyo is always correct."
d "Not bet ? If the tables were not mj
own, and consequently I should bet ot
is : certainty, I'd lay you a lac of rupees thai
t; they are not more tlian thirty inches ir
e- height."
st "O, if you are willing, I will make the
r- bet; but rcmembet", gentlemen, I led yon
's beforehand, that I am certain of the fact
o I say theso tables are at least thirty-oiic
io i Inches from the ground."
rs "Done, for a lac of rupees !" cried Gor o
; don.
y j "Done!" re-echoed Charley.
s,t The wager was duly registered. A
it servant was ordered to bring in a yard
). measure, when Charley Macaulay turned
d around with an air of triumph, and
a said?
i- "You may save yourselves the trouble
of measuring?ha ! ha!" and be chuckled
with delight?"I w arned you fairly that I
,1 hi t on certainty, and so the bet must Le
,| | binding, James." .
?. ''I stand to my bet," said Gordon.
"Well, then pay mo the money. I
n nvasttred the tables this morning while
i. you were shaving, and here is the memoir
random of height?thirtv one inches exr
Hot?y."
j The colonel burst into a roar of laughter,
as ho prixhiced the pocket book with
,f the memorandum in it.
j "I know you did," said James ; 'T saw*
a you do so in the looking glass."
The colonel sturted.
u "Yes, I saw you do it; an J as soon as
you had gone away, knowing well your
0 object* I bad an inch sawed oft' of every
.. leg. So for once, my knovVlng friend, the
j tables are turned !"
.. The roar that shook the table would
s have drowned Niagara. Charley Macauw
lay left Calcutta the next day ten llioturand
pounds sterling p wrer than l?o was
the day he arrived ; and what was still
, worse, the very youngest ensigns in the
e army quizzed him ever afterwards, l'er18
haps he was richer in the end, however,
lt J for it was his last het,"
j "It Can't be Helped."
e I ''Cant't Ik* helped" is one of the thou'
j sand convenient phrases with which men
1 , cheat and deceive themselves. It is one
in which the helpless and the idle take rec
fuge as their last and only comfort?it
...
' can't be helped '. Youi energetic man is
' t i.-i-: 1 "
I mr uui|mig everything. it tie sees an evil
j ami clearly discerns its cause, he is for
J tukiug steps forthwith to remove it. lie
busies himself with ways and means, deb
vises practical plan# mid methods, and
iV will not let the world rest until lie hasdono
c something in a remedial way.
, j The indolent man spare# himself all
; this trouble. He will not budge. He
c sits with his arms folded, and is ready w ith
J his unvarying observation, ''It can't be
helped," a# much n# to say?"If it is, it
' ought to ht'j and t*e need not bestir ourj
j selves to alter It."
n Wash your face, you dirty little social
it b?y > you are vile, and repulsive, and vi,r
cious, by reason of your neglect of cleanli0
ness. "It can't he helped." Clear away
your refuse, sweep your streets, cleanse
0 your drains and gutters, purify your uty
mosphere, you indolent corpoations, for
e tho cholera is coming. "It can't behelpod."
Educate your childrcd, train them
up in virtuous habits, teach them to be
y indue:itons, obedien', frugal and thoughtn
ful, you thoughtless communities, for they
j are now growing up vicious, ignorant and
I careless, h source of future peril to the najr
tion. "It car/t be helped.'1
But it can be helped. Every evil can
be Abated, every tiuiaance got rid of, every
abomination swept away ; though this
1 will never bo done by the "can't-be-holpn
ed" people. Man is not helpless, but can
,e both help himself and help others. Ho
can act individually and unitedly against
r- wrong and erih He bat the power to
:e abate and eventually uproot them. But
k alas! the greatest obstaclo of all in the
way of such beueficial action, is the feelit,
ing and disposition out of which arises
?o the miserable, puling and idle ejftctthitioti
of "It can't be helped."
AS* trials etf Ufa 'V* --?
m "'r*" *??? i?*i'
^ which Ascertain how much gyUJ there ii
>h 'n "* . ? _
One to-day is worth two to-morrow*.
jN " * ijL
*
~ M 4
proveuients carried out on the place ; ?-r. I
withal a very fair crop of cotton made
and sent to market in good time and fine
order; if followed, perhaps, by ono vvl.o
has established for himself a reputation
with many employers, by making an enormous
crop of cotton ! "1 made, last year
for Mr. , upon his worn place, with
so and so hauds, so and so bales of cotton."
Ah! he is a manager!?teu?
twelve bales to the hand! Not a word
of the active, healthy, not over-Worked ?
hands; the full corn cribs; abundance of
fodder, peas, potatoes, &c.. the hogs killed
and meat cured; the fine teams, good
fences, poor spots manured, wet places
ditched; roads well worked; gin house,
scaffolds, tfce., in tiue order, with which
he commenced the year?all the work of
his predecessor. Nor of the condition of
tilings then upon the place?the exact
rovers of all this. Ilis big crop proving
to be a serious loss to the employer, in the
end.
To those managing estate? as Execu
tors, Guardians, etc.; these books aro invaluable.
A prominent New Orleans
;| AGRICULTURAL. .
a j From the Southern Cultivator.
System on the Plantation?Letter from !
' j Mr. Affleck.
L | To , Esq :
> Dkak Sin?The remark in yours of thej
; 18th inst., surprises me no little?that i
s ! "for myself I have no hope o! ever getting i
i j an overseer whb tvill or can keep such a
. j book" as my ''Plantation Record and Ae!
count ltook." And that you arc now
| "trying to leach one?perhaps my best?
j who has 100 workers tinder Itiin, to write
' and to read my writing."
An overseer unable to write, and yet
j entrusted with the management of a propj
erty worth, I presume, from ?150,000 to
1 ?180,000; and the happiness, to a very
great degree, of some 150 souls ! In w hat
I other business would such a risk be run ?
i And vet it is by no means an uncommon
; state of things. Still, in your case, I was
well aware that if men really competent
for such an employment and position could
be had, you would have them. And l
' hence,
infer that your overseers, as a class,
aru thus ignorant.
Here, it is not so. There are many j
overseees here who are men well educa|
ted and fully competent to the responsible
J charge of large plantations?in not a few
j instances, able to keep and do keep their
j Plantation Rooks in a satisfactory man|
nor.
! When I first commenced cotton planing,
having been trained in Scotland to
I the strictest business habits, I was astonI
isbed beyond measure to find that it was j
alu.ost impossible to find an overseer who
I wi uld ever listen to an idea of the kind?
I as to keeping a plantation book. They
! would note the daily picking of cotton
j and the w eights of the bales as sent oil'?
but nothing else. That would not suffice i
j for mo. I looked around amongst my (
neighbors and found some few who haii !
. ?
1 kept regular plantation books for many
j years. I examined these, and gained '
! many valuabled hints. Rut the great I
I . , ,
I liiniculty was, the entire waul ol uniform- j
j ilv, or of anything like a general system
'of management recognized by all. During
my first year's planting, I prepared
two books with the pen, almost identical
I
I with nliat now published for llio cotton
, ,.l...mlsn ? ...... i. -
, miivi J^u* v Uiiy IW vrttu Vil HIV |
: next year's overseers. making it a part of!
my contract with them, that these Looks
w ere to he correctly kcj>t and returned to
me nttho end of the year. And, with a
little assistance and encouragement, it was
done. Ar.d w hat a satisfaction it was to
ine ! Soon after that, at the suggestion
: of a New Orleans Publisher, 1 prepared
( him a transcript of the plan for publication,
and the books we-e published. For
years, they went off slowly, but surely.?
Now, as I mentioned, the edition of
'2,000 for the present year will all be
J sold.
Already a vast improvement in the
overseers themselves is observable, and
certainly in the system of plantation management
and discipline. Think of the
advantage to both planters and overseers
of even 1,000 books of written from dayto-day
experience, scattered over the country.
At first,overseers were strongly opposed
to any such evidence of a strict responsibility
to tlil'ih elnployers ; and to the trou
Me of n daily entry of wliat occurred up- j
on tlio place; a quarterly inventory of j
stock, tools, <fcc., <fcc., Hut. they had no
alternative?it was made n part of their
contract, and must bo done and done well.
The effort was made, and ;he task found I
to he not so very serious a one after-all.
It even helped to while away an hour of
an evening; and the retrospect passed
many a wet day off pleasantly. The
htfnd writing improved. Kusiness habits
were induced, and everything moved along
more smothly. Ovorseers found that
their assurance that they had "been in
the habit of keeping one of Affleck's Plantation
Hooks" was no small recommenda1
lion to desirable situations. They found,
1 loo, that, in fact, their responsibility was
* lessened rather than increased. "Ilere
1 are iny wrtteu orders?there it the proof
1 that they wore carried out ?for the result
lam not alone responsible." Then, again
an able and Intelligent manager, w ho
. leaves his com cribs fall; stock innreaaed
in number and in fine order; the negroes
comfort tidy housed, fed and ?*i*d fbf;
Implements made W borne; sand*/ lis*
; j
"JVT - *1%A
.. 'if i*i
factor gratified mo not a little recently
by remarking that he has little hesitation
in advancing to or accepting for a Planter
who kept his Plantation Record and
Account Rook correctly, requiring the
same of his overseer?"such planters knew
what they were about, and, in fact, rarely
asked for advances." Instances have already
occurred in the Courts, in which
the overseer's daily cutry in his Plantation
Book was received as or idence, in the
same manner as the entry of a Merchant's
clerk in his Day Book.
But I have spun out my letter far beyond
what I intended when 1 sat do*n
to rfeply to yours.
M any thanks for the blank leaf from
your own Plantation Book. ItjsuggerUsd
a vast improvement to mine, which 1 shall
iiiuku in iny ue.M editions. J'ray favor
mo v illi a copy of your Plantation Rules.
Soiiiii one in Richmond, Virginia, I believe,
lias publislnj an almost literal reprint
of my books; but with the part o'f
llamlet omitted ! Most shabbily gotteu
up, and some of the most important re- jfr*.
cords left out.
We think it, here, indispensable that
the cotton picked by each band each day
should be recorded. It for no other purpose
than to compel a uniform and invariable
system on the part of the overseer.
There should be no omissions. 1 have
not tini" to point out all the advantages ;
but lliey arc many;
1 have been compelled to binit many
things I should like to have included, to
avoid complication. The planter himself
should keep records of encb^Qeld, <fce.?
My plan is, a skeleton map of the plantation,
cut out of Bristol board, leaving a
net work of tho board, for the boundaries
of the fields, ?fcc., of about n quarter of an
inch wide, upon which the Nos. of tho
fields are noted, their contents, when clear/>r1
Tl.-.o i..: 1 1 ? -
v., iiih m iniu uver h OJHliK silC'.t,
and sketched around with a pen, tawing
a copy of the skeleton. In the spate
marked out for each field, notes of the
crops are made, ?fcc., <tc. But I must
close.
Yours very respectfully,
Thomas Affleck.
Washington, Miss., Jan., 1855.
What fTid of.
We overheard once the following dialogue
between an Alderman and an Irish v
shop lifter: ? w . i
44 W hat's gone of yotir husband, woman
?"
"What's gone of him, yor honor ?-?
Faith, and he's gone Jend." "U
4,Ah I pray what did he die oft"
4,T>ie of, ycr honov t lie died of a Friday."
"
"I don't mean what day *of the week,
but what complaint!" ? M
'(">, whnt-com plaint, yerhomr? Faith; 3s
and it's himself that did not get lime t<>
complain."
? 4<J, he died suddenly f 'jSi .jj
' kathiip il<?t w"' ?? ' ??" afct
--V, r
"Did he foil in a fit !w
No newer. ^
"He fell In a fit, perhape ?"
"A fit, yer honor) Why, no,, ,wpt ex-'
1 Actljr that. He fill) <>??t of a, window, or
through a celler door? I don't know \?h?t
| "No, not quite tbjit, yer woielip.*' J
"There wee a bit of a elring or oord, or
like that, and it throltj^^pf^ ^ ?