himself as the property of another. When this relation was no longer
possible, owing to the war, and to his master's death and the dispersion
of the family, he had been unable to break off entirely the mental
habits of a lifetime, but had attached himself to the old plantation, of
which he seemed to consider himself an appurtenance. We found him useful
in many ways and entertaining in others, and my wife and I took quite a
fancy to him.

Shortly after we became established in our home on the sand-hills,
Julius brought up to the house one day a colored boy of about seventeen,
whom he introduced as his grandson, and for whom he solicited
employment. I was not favorably impressed by the youth's
appearance,--quite the contrary, in fact; but mainly to please the old
man I hired Tom--his name was Tom--to help about the stables, weed the
garden, cut wood and bring water, and in general to make himself useful
about the outdoor work of the household.

My first impression of Tom proved to be correct. He turned out to be
very trifling, and I was much annoyed by his laziness, his carelessness,
and his apparent lack of any sense of responsibility. I kept him longer
than I should, on Julius's account, hoping that he might improve; but he
seemed to grow worse instead of better, and when I finally reached the
limit of my patience, I discharged him.

"I am sorry, Julius," I said to the old man; "I should have liked to
oblige you by keeping him; but I can't stand Tom any longer. He is
absolutely untrustworthy."

"Yas, suh," replied Julius, with a deep sigh and a long shake of the
head, "I knows he ain' much account, en dey ain' much 'pen'ence ter be