Ours had ever been a family of love. My father, manly, affectionate, and
strongly attached to my mother, was admirably suited to sustain that
dominion of the heart which the last had established from her earliest
days at Clawbonny. This power of the feelings had insensibly extended
itself to the slaves, who seldom failed to manifest how keenly alive they
all were to the interests and happiness of their owners. Among the negroes
there was but one who was considered as fallen below his proper level, or
who was regarded as an outcast. This was an old fellow who bore the name
of Vulcan, and who worked as a blacksmith on the skirts of the farm,
having been named by my grandfather with the express intention of placing
him at the anvil. This fellow's trade caused him to pass most of his youth
in an adjacent village, or hamlet, where unfortunately he had acquired
habits that unsuited him to live as those around him were accustomed to
live. He became in a measure alienated from us, drinking, and otherwise
living a life that brought great scandal on his sable connections, who
were gathered more closely around the homestead. Nevertheless, a death, or
a return home, or any important event in the family, was sure to bring
even Vulcan back to his allegiance; and, for a month afterwards, he would
be a reformed man. On this occasion he was one of those who were out in
the fields and woods in quest of me, and he happened to be the very
individual by whom I was discovered.

The awe-struck, solemn manner in which the reckless Vulcan approached,
were all other proofs wanting, would have proclaimed the weight of the
blow that had fallen on Clawbonny. The eyes of this fellow were always
red, but it was easy to see that even he had been shedding tears. He knew
he was no favourite; seldom came near me, unless it were to excuse some of
his neglects or faults, and lived under a sort of ban for his constantly
recurring misdeeds. Nevertheless, a common cause of grief now gave him
confidence, and Neb himself could hardly have approached me with a manner