"  I  'd  like  to  have  been  able  to  kick  the  fellow  down  the
Bteps,"  said  he  to  himseH,  as  he  saw  the  door  fairly  closed,
''with  his  impudent  assurance  ;  but  he  knows  how  much  he  has
jie  at  advantage.  If  anybody  had  ever  said  to  me  that  I  should
iell  Tom  down  south  to  one  of  those  rascally  traders,  I  should
have  said, '  Is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  thing  ? '
And  now  it  must  come,  for  aught  I  see.  And  Eliza's  child,
too !  I  know  that  I  shall  have  some  fuss  with  wife  about  that;
and,  for  that  matter,  about  Tom,  too.  So  much  for  being  in
debt,  —  heigh-ho  !  The  fellow  sees  his  advantage,  and  means
to  push  it."

Perhaps  the  mildest  form  of  the  system  of  slavery  is  to  be
^een  in  the  State  of  Kentucky.  The  general  prevalence  of
agricultural  pursuits  of  a  quiet  and  gradual  nature,  not  requir-
ing those  periodic  seasons  of  hurry  and  pressure  ihat  are  called
for  in  the  business  of  more  southern  districts,  makes  the  task
of  the  negro  a  more  healthful  and  reasonable  one  ;  while  the
master,  content  with  a  more  gradual  style  of  acquisition,  has
not  those  temptations  to  hard-heartedness  which  always  over-
come frail  human  nature  when  the  prospect  of  sudden  and  rapid
gain  is  weighed  in  the  balance,  with  no  heavier  counterpoise
than  the  interests  of  the  helpless  and  unprotected.
