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has
been in the Legislature, and better still, if in Congress. Such a
person caught within the purlieus of Swallow Barn, may set down one
week's entertainment as certain--inevitable, and as many more as he
likes, the more the merrier. He will know something of the quality of
Meriwether's rhetoric before he is gone.

Then again, it is very pleasant to see Frank's kind and considerate
bearing towards his servants and dependents. His slaves appreciate
this, and hold him in most affectionate reverence, and, therefore, are
not only contented, but happy under his dominion.

HIS WIFE.

Whilst Frank Meriwether amuses himself with his quiddities, and floats
through life upon the current of his humor, his dame, my excellent
cousin Lucretia, takes charge of the household affairs, as one who has
a reputation to stake upon her administration. She has made it a
perfect science, and great is her fame in the dispensation thereof!

Those who visited Swallow Barn will long remember the morning stir, of
which the murmurs arose even unto the chambers, and fell upon the ears
of the sleepers; the dry-rubbing of floors, and even the waxing of the
same until they were like ice;--and the grinding of coffee-mills;--and
the gibber of ducks and chickens and turkeys; and all the multitudinous
concert of homely sounds. And then, her breakfasts! I do not wish to be
counted extravagant, but a small regiment might march in upon her
without disappointment, and I would put them for excellence and variety
against anything that ever was served upon platter. Moreover, all things
go like clock-work. She rises with the lark, and infuses an early vigor
into the whole household. And yet, she is a thin woman to look upon, and
a feeble; with a sallow complexion, and a pair of animated black eyes
which impart a portion of fire to a countenance otherwise demure from
the paths worn across it, in the frequent travel of a low-country ague.
But, although her life has been somewhat saddened by such visitations,
my cousin is too spirited a woman to give up to them; for she is
therapeutical, and considers herself a full match for any reasonable
tertian in the world. Indeed, I have sometimes thought that she took
more pride in her leechcraft than becomes a Christian woman; she is even
a little vain-glorious. For, to say nothing of her skill in compounding
simples, she has occasionally brought down upon her head the sober
remonstrances of her husband, by her pertinacious faith in the efficacy
of certain spells in cases of intermittent. But there is no reasoning
against her experience. She can enumerate the cases--"and men may say
what they choose about its being contrary to reason, and all that;--it
is their way! But seeing is believing--nine scoops of water in the
hollow of the hand, from the sycamore spring, for three mornings, before
sunrise, and a cup of strong coffee with lemon-juice, will break an
ague, try it when you will." In short, as Frank says, "Lucretia will die
in that creed."

I am occasionally up early enough to be witness to her morning
regimen, which, to my mind, is rather tyrannically enforced against
the youngsters of her numerous family, both white and black. She is in
the habit of preparing some death-routing decoction for them, in a
small pitcher, and administering it to the whole squadron in
succession, who severally swallow the dose with a most ineffectual
effort at repudiation, and gallop off, with faces all rue and
wormwood.

Everything at Swallow Barn, that falls within the superintendence of
my cousin Lucretia is a pattern of industry. In fact, I consider her
the very priestess of the American system, for, with her, the
protection of manufactures is even more a passion than a principle.
Every here and there, over the estate, may be seen, rising in humble
guise above the shrubbery, the rude chimney of a log cabin, where all
the livelong day, the plaintive moaning of the spinning-wheel rises
fitfully upon the breeze, like the fancied notes of a hobgoblin, as
they are sometimes imitated in the stories with which we frighten
children. In these laboratories the negro women are employed in
preparing yarn for the loom, from which is produced not only a
comfortable supply of winter clothing for the working people, but some
excellent carpets for the house.

It is refreshing to behold how affectionately vain our good hostess is
of Frank, and what deference she shows to him in all matters, except
those that belong to the home department; for there she is confessedly
and without appeal, the paramount power. It seems to be a dogma with
her, that he is the very "first man in Virginia," an expression which
in this region has grown into an emphatic provincialism. Frank, in
return, is a devout admirer of her accomplishments, and although he
does not pretend to have an ear for music, he is in raptures at her
skill on the harpsichord, when she plays at night for the children to
dance; and he sometimes sets her to singing "The Twins of Latona,"
and "Old Towler," and "The Rose-Tree in Full Bearing" (she does not
study the modern music), for the entertainment of his company. On
these occasions, he stands by the instrument, and nods his head, as if
he comprehended the airs.

HOW HORSE-SHOE AND ANDREW CAPTURED FIVE MEN.

(_From Horse-Shoe Robinson, a Tale of the Tory Ascendancy in
S. C._[11])

[Mistress Ramsay speaking to Horse-Shoe Robinson:]

"Who should come in this morning, just after my husband had cleverly
got away on his horse, but a young cock-a-whoop ensign, that belongs
to Ninety-Six, and four great Scotchmen with him, all in red coats;
they had been out thieving, I warrant, and were now going home again.
And who but they! Here they were, swaggering all about my house--and
calling for this--and calling for that--as if they owned the
fee-simple of every thing on the plantation. And it made my blood
rise, Mr. Horse-Shoe, to see them run out in the yard, and catch up my
chickens and ducks, and kill as many as they could string about
them--and I not daring to say a word: though I did give them a piece
of my mind, too."

"Who is at home with you?" inquired the sergeant eagerly.

"Nobody but my youngest boy, Andrew," answered the dame. "And then,
the filthy, toping rioters--" she continued, exalting her voice.

"What arms have you in the house?" asked Robinson, without heeding the
dame's rising anger.

"We have a rifle, and a horseman's pistol that belongs to John.--They
must call for drink, too, and turn my house, of a Sunday morning, into
a tavern."

[Illustration: ~State House, Columbia, S. C.~]

"They took the route towards Ninety-Six, you said, Mistress Ramsay?"

"Yes,--they went straight forward upon the road. But, look you, Mr.
Horse-Shoe, you're not thinking of going after them?"

"Isn't there an old field, about a mile from this, on that road?"
inquired the sergeant, still intent upon his own thoughts.

"There is," replied the dame; "with the old school-house upon it."

"A lop-sided, rickety log-cabin in

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