The madam’s severity.

Mrs. McGee was naturally irritable.  Servants always got an extra whipping when she had any personal trouble, as though they could help it.  Every morning little Kate, Aunt Delia’s little girl, would have to go with the madam on her rounds to the different buildings of the establishment, to carry the key basket.  So many were the keys that they were kept in a basket especially provided for them, and the child was its regular bearer.  The madam, with this little attendant, was everywhere—­in the barn, in the hennery, in the smokehouse—­and she always made trouble with the servants wherever she went.  Indeed, she rarely returned to the house from these rounds without having whipped two or three servants, whether there was really any cause for the punishment or not.  She seldom let a day pass without beating some poor woman unmercifully.  The number and severity of these whippings depended more upon the humor of the madam than upon the conduct of the slaves.  Of course, I always came in for a share in this brutal treatment.  She continued her old habit of boxing my jaws, pinching my ears:  no day ever passing without her indulging in this exercise of her physical powers.  So long had I endured this, I came to expect it, no matter how well I did my duties; and it had its natural effect upon me, making me a coward, even though I was now growing into manhood.  I remember once, in particular, when I had tried to please her by arranging the parlor, I overheard her say:  “They soon get spirit—­it don’t do to praise servants.”  My heart sank within me.  What good was it for me to try to please?  She would find fault anyway.  Her usual morning greeting was:  “Well, Lou, have you dusted the parlors?” “Oh, yes,” I would answer.  “Have the flowers been arranged?” “Yes, all is in readiness,” I would say.  Once I had stoned the steps as usual, but the madam grew angry as soon as she saw them.  I had labored hard, and thought she would be pleased.  The result, however, was very far from that.  She took me out, stripped me of my shirt and began thrashing me, saying I was spoiled.  I was no longer a child, but old enough to be treated differently.  I began to cry, for it seemed to me my heart would break.  But, after the first burst of tears, the feeling came over me that I was a man, and it was an outrage to treat me so—­to keep me under the lash day after day.

* * * * *

A shocking Accident.

Not long after Mrs. Farrington had made her first visit to our house, she came there to live.  Celia had been acting as her maid.  When Mrs. Farrington had been up some months, it was decided that all the family should go down to old Master Jack’s for a visit.  Celia, the maid, had been so hurried in the preparations for this visit that she had done nothing for herself.  The night before the family was to leave, therefore, she was getting ready a garment