manufacture in return for the only produce which the Virginian gentry
chose to cultivate. Their hospitality was boundless. No stranger was ever
sent away from their gates. The gentry received one another, and
travelled to each other's houses, in a state almost feudal. The question
of Slavery was not born at the time of which we write. To be the
proprietor of black servants shocked the feelings of no Virginian
gentleman; nor, in truth, was the despotism exercised over the negro race
generally a savage one. The food was plenty; the poor black people lazy
and not unhappy. You might have preached negro emancipation to Madam
Esmond of Castlewood as you might have told her to let the horses run
loose out of her stables; she had no doubt but that the whip and the
corn-bag were good for both.

Her father may have thought otherwise, being of a sceptical turn on very
many points, but his doubts did not break forth in active denial, and he
was rather disaffected than rebellious. At one period, this gentleman had
taken a part in active life at home, and possibly might have been eager
to share its rewards; but in latter days he did not seem to care for
them. A something had occurred in his life, which had cast a tinge of
melancholy over all his existence. He was not unhappy--to those about him
most kind--most affectionate, obsequious even to the women of his family,
whom be scarce ever contradicted; but there had been some bankruptcy of
his heart, which his spirit never recovered. He submitted to life, rather
than enjoyed it, and never was in better spirits than in his last hours
when he was going to lay it down.

Having lost his wife, his daughter took the management of the Colonel and
his affairs; and he gave them up to her charge with an entire
acquiescence. So that he had his books and his quiet, he cared for no
more. When company came to Castlewood, he entertained them handsomely,