Bricks Without Straw

rnmost of those States which good Queen Caroline was fortunate enough to have designated as memorials of her existence. The plantation was just upon that wavy li

bacco on the hillsides, corn upon the wide bottoms, cotton on the gray uplands, and wheat, oats, fruits, and grasses everywhere. Five hundred acres of hill and bottom, forest and field, with what was termed the Island, consisting of a hundred more, which had never been overflowed in the century of cu

onclusion, and measuring every opportunity by its money value. He was not of an ancient family. Indeed, the paternal line stopped short with his own father, and the maternal o

owner of a large part of his employer's estates. Thrifty in all things, he married in middle life, so well as nearly to double the fortune then acquired, and before his death had become one of the wealthiest men in his county. He was always hampered by a lack of education. He could read little and write less. In his later days he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and was chosen one of the County Court, or "Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions," as it was technically called. These honors were so pleasant to him that he determined to give his only son a name which should commemorate this event. Th

State of Virginia, who united in her azure veins at least a few drops of the blood of all the first families of that fine-bred aristocracy, from Pocahontas's days until her own. The role of the gentleman had been too much for the male line of the Bellamys to sustain. Horses and hounds and cards and high living had gradually eaten down their once magnificent patrimony

so the point was yielded; and by considerable persistency on the part of the young wife, "P. D. SMITH" was transforme

both sides the border line in the Piedmont region where he had been bred. It embraced every form of business known to the community of which he was a part, from the cattle ranges of the extreme west to the fisheries of the farthest east. He made his possessions a sort of self-supporting commonwealth in themselves. The cotton which he grew on his eastern farms was manufactured at his own factory, and distributed to his various plantations to be made into clothing for his slaves. Wheat and corn and meat, raised upon some of his plantations, supplied others devoted to non-edible staples. The tobacco grown on the Hyco and other plantations in that belt was manufactured at his own establishment, supplied his eastern laborers and those which wrought in the pine woods to the southward at the production of naval supplies. He had realized the dream of his own life and the aspiration of his father, the overseer, and had become one of the wealthiest men in the State. But he attended to all this himself. Every overseer knew that he was liable any day or night to receive a visit from the untiring owner of all this wea

is father had early shown him that no branch of business was, or

the Piedmont belt, were the most advantageous locations that could be found for the rearing of slaves. Such plantations, largely worked by female slaves, could be made to return a small profit on the entire investment, without at all taking into account the increase of the human stock. This was, therefore, so much added profit. From careful study and observation he had deduced a specific formulary by which he measured the rate of gain. With a well-selected force, two thirds of which should be females, he calculated that with proper care such plantations could be made to pay, year by year, an

money at the legal rate of six per cent, taking care that his maturing liabilities should, at no time, exc

he faces, he gave the closest attention to their hygienic condition, especially that of the women, who were encouraged by every means to bear children. It was a sure passport to favor with t

on or report. When an overseer was put in charge of a plantation he was given a list of the slaves assigned to it, by name and number, and was required to report every month the condition of each slave during the month previous, as to health and temper, and also the labor in which the same had been

and this was done only on personal inspection. Upon a visit to a plantation, therefore, one of his special duties alwa

Knapp-of-Reeds, in the middle of a June afternoon, and uttered the usual halloo. He was ans

's d

nce that visitors w

-of-R

Ware?" asked

-ground terbacker, long wid d

ound this year?" rep

t 'twixt de branch an'

ou can sen

War's dat keerful ter please Marse Desmit dat he takes 'em all ou

as he began to descend from his gig, "a

it, while the traveler alighted. No sooner did he turn fully

isself, I do believe! How d'ye do, Mah

e you looking so peart," he responded pleasantly.

le, Mahs'r,

t me some dinner, gal. I hav

tion, though she had no idea whether it was twent

like neck which joined but hardly separated the massive head and herculean trunk. This hair, now almost white, had been a yellowish red, a hue which still showed in the eyebrows and in the stiff beard which was allowed to grow beneath the angle of his massive jaw, the rest of his face being clean shaven. The

ewing a mouthful of home-made twist, which he had replenished several times since leaving the

lonel?" said

ing him closely. "No, I dare say not. They hardly ever do. Fact

urprise as a means of ascertaining their attention to his interests. Ware was one of his most trusted lieutenants, however, and everything that he had ever seen or

let run a plantation that long without looking after them. Your reports have been very correct, a

ing hez been jest about ez favorable fer hands an' stock ez one could wish. The spring's work didn't seem ter worry the stock a mite, an' when the new feed come on there was

Mr. Ware," said De

I reported to you in-lemme see, February, I reckon-along o' rheumatism which he done cot

ld him to come home

I directed,

somewheres, an' he lit out to come home jest at the time of the February 'fresh.' He had to ste

od price for him. Wasn't a better nor s

well. Lorency had a bad time over her baby, but she's '

of terbacker, and the corn looks prime. Knapp-of-Reeds has been doin' better 'n

ot anything to

Ware apologetically. "I hev got a drap of apple that they say is right good for this region, a

gar from his sideboard as he spoke, and c

mit. "Here, you Lorency, bring

t and gazed tenderly through, then drew the cork and smelled of its contents, shook his head

d been brought, "allow me, sir, to offer you some brandy which is thirty-five years old-pure French brandy

uld have done honor to a more solemn occasion, after bowing low to h

brought up while I eat my dinner, if you please. I

hed his dinner every man, woman, and child on the plantation was in the yard, and e

very youngster a dime, until he came to the women. The first of these was Lorency, the strapping cook, who had improved the time since her

says you have made me a p

. Jes' you look at him now," she continued, holding up her brighteyed pickaninny. "Ebber y

mit, pointing to the child. "Wh

ke from the assembled crowd. Nothing abashed, t

, dat a coal make a white mark on. Yah I yah! what yer gwine ter name him, Mahs'r? Gib him a good name, now, none o' yer common mean ones,

s it, M

replied

mother. "Say dat agin

bus," repea

'yer! little-what's yer name? Jes' ax yer Mahs'r fer a silver dollar te

of laughter from her fellow-servants. Desmit good-naturedly threw a dollar i

ant now, gal?"

pore cullud gal an' not so much ez giv' her someting ter

he laughing, as he ga

shan't have

ank ye, Mahs'r," she said, a

id Desmit; "how o

ars out of Marse Desmit instead of the one customarily given by him on such occasions. And so the record was made up in the brass-clasped book of Colonel Potes

-Male-April 24th, 184

dfather should the chattel ever seek to run away, or should it become desirable to exchange him for some other form of value. There was nothing harsh or b