oil. She asked if there were any new fashions in New Orleans.

Next morning we drove over to our home in this village. It is the
county-seat, and was, till now, a good place for the practice of H.'s
profession. It lies on the edge of a lovely lake. The adjacent planters
count their slaves by the hundreds. Some of them live with a good deal
of magnificence, using service of plate, having smoking-rooms for the
gentlemen built off the house, and entertaining with great hospitality.
The Baptists, Episcopalians, and Methodists hold services on alternate
Sundays in the court-house. All the planters and many others near the
lake shore keep a boat at their landing, and a raft for crossing
vehicles and horses. It seemed very piquant at first, this taking our
boat to go visiting, and on moonlight nights it was charming. The woods
around are lovelier than those in Louisiana, though one misses the
moaning of the pines. There is fine fishing and hunting, but these
cotton estates are not so pleasant to visit as sugar plantations.

But nothing else has been so delightful as, one morning, my first sight
of snow and a wonderful new, white world.

_Feb. 27._--The people here have hardly felt the war yet. There are but
two classes. The planters and the professional men form one; the very
poor villagers the other. There is no middle class. Ducks and
partridges, squirrels and fish, are to be had. H. has bought me a nice
pony, and cantering along the shore of the lake in the sunset is a
panacea for mental worry.