or noise among the servants in the kitchen or in any other part
of the premises.

There is in the Southern States a great amount of prejudice
in regard to color, even among the negroes themselves.
The nearer the negro or mulatto approaches to the white, the more
he seems to feel his superiority over those of a darker hue.
This is no doubt the result of the prejudice that exists on
the part of the whites against both the mulattoes and the blacks.

Sam was originally from Kentucky, and through the instrumentality
of one of his young masters, whom he had to take to school,
he had learned to read so as to be well understood, and, owing to
that fact, was considered a prodigy, not only among his own
master's slaves, but also among those of the town who knew him.
Sam had a great wish to follow in the footsteps of his master
and be a poet, and was therefore often heard singing doggerels
of his own composition.

But there was one drawback to Sam, and that was his color.
He was one of the blackest of his race. This he evidently regarded
as a great misfortune; but he endeavored to make up for it in dress.
Mr. Wilson kept his house-servants well dressed, and as for Sam,
he was seldom seen except in a ruffled shirt. Indeed, the washerwoman
feared him more than any one else in the house.

Agnes had been inaugurated chief of the kitchen department,
and had a general supervision of the household affairs.
Alfred, the coachman, Peter, and Hetty made up the remainder
of the house-servants. Besides these, Mr. Wilson owned