Now, I thought with myself, as I stood and enjoyed the sight, what a
palpable and eloquent, though undesigned and silent, refutation that is,
of all such Northern chimeras. If poisons are mixed with articles of
food or medicine by the negroes with any noticeable frequency, the sign
of a negro compounding medicines for public sale would surely be, to
customers, the most detersive sign which an apothecary could erect over
his premises. That little incident, and things like it, which are
meeting you at every turn, show the state of things here to be in
pleasing contrast to the horrors with which the imaginations of many of
us Northerners are peopled. I find, in the "Charleston Mercury," a good
cut of this "negro and golden mortar," and I send it to you as an
appropriate answer to much of your letter.
Our landlord, driving us about the country the other day, and needing
silver change, came to a gang of slaves in a field, and cried out,
"Boys, got any silver for a five dollar gold piece?" Several hands went
into as many pockets, at once, and a lively fellow among them getting
the start, jumped over the fence, and changed the money. I had been here
a month when I received your letter, and when I read it I at first
laughed as heartily, I suspect, as "the pro-slavery Senior" did.
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