looked after yo' children, and could look after yo' house, too. Now see
this nigger of Jack's; he's better dressed than I am, tips round as solemn
on his toes as a marsh-crane, and yet I'll bet a dollar he's as slick and
cold-hearted as a high-water clam. That's what education has done for
_him_.

"You never knew Anthony, my old butler? Well, I want to tell you, he _was_
a servant, as _was_ a servant. During Mrs. Slocomb's life"--here the major
assumed a reminiscent air, pinching his fat chin with his thumb and
forefinger--"we had, of co'se, a lot of niggers; but this man Anthony! By
gravy! when he filled yo' glass with some of the old madeira that had
rusted away in my cellar for half a century,"--here the major now slipped
his thumb into the armhole of his vest,--"it tasted like the nectar of the
gods, just from the way Anthony poured it out.

"But you ought to have seen him move round the table when dinner was over!
He'd draw himself up like a drum-major, and throw back the mahogany doors
for the ladies to retire, with an air that was captivatin'." The major was
now on his feet--his reminiscent mood was one of his best. "That's been a
good many years ago, colonel, but I can see him now just as plain as if he
stood before me, with his white cotton gloves, white vest, and green coat
with brass buttons, standin' behind Mrs. Slocomb's chair. I can see the
old sidebo'd, suh, covered with George III. silver, heirlooms of a
century,"--this with a trance-like movement of his hand across his eyes.
"I can see the great Italian marble mantels suppo'ted on lions' heads, the
inlaid floor and wainscotin'."--Here the major sank upon the divan again,
shutting both eyes reverently, as if these memories of the past were a
sort of religion with him.

"And the way those niggers loved us! And the many holes they helped us out