of the room, she hobbled out crying bitterly.  As soon as she was gone, the major pointed to the blood, and said, “If we did not see that sometimes, there would be no living with the brutes;” to which I replied in terms he could not misunderstand, and at once left the house, determined never again to enter it—­a resolution I religiously kept.  I afterwards heard that this miserable creature was pregnant at the time, a circumstance that would have induced at least some regard to leniency in any man not utterly debased.

Those who are acquainted with southern scenes will see nothing extraordinary in this recital, for they are every-day occurrences, and scarcely elicit a remark, unless the perpetrator should happen to be a slave-holding Wesleyan or Whitfieldite, when, perhaps, he would be called to some account—­his own version of the affair being of course admitted in limine.  Many of the slave-holders are an incorrigibly degraded set of men.  It is by no means uncommon for them to inflict chastisement on negresses with whom they are in habitual illicit intercourse, and I was credibly informed that this cruelty was often resorted to, to disabuse the mind of a deceived and injured wife who suspects unfair treatment.  This attested fact, disgraceful as it is, can scarcely be wondered at in men who mercilessly subject defenceless women to the lash without a spark of human feeling, or compunction of conscience.  It is little to the credit of United States senators that they have not at least made laws to protect women from the barbarous usage of flogging.  One would imagine that men, who, perhaps, above all others in the world, pay homage to the sex, would have established a distinction in this respect; but I apprehend the truth to be, that they are so far influenced by their wives, who are notoriously jealous of their sable rivals, that they have succumbed to their sentiments and dictation.

There are many Dutch in St. Louis, and along the levee you perceive boarding-houses and groceries kept for their accommodation.  These men are generally great drinkers, and think as little of quaffing at a few draughts half-a-pint of whiskey, as an Englishman would the same quantity of malt liquor.  They consume, also, vast quantities of claret.  I have frequently seen a couple of these men at a cafe, drink five or bottles without betraying any ill effects.  It must, however, be remembered that claret is not so potent as the heavier wines.

A few days after my arrival, while standing in the vestibule of my hotel, my attention was drawn to a loud altercation going on at the bar, and as it was evident, from the manner of the parties, that some public question was being discussed, I listened, and ascertained that an obnoxious citizen had been seized for perpetrating a petty act of revenge on a neighbour by damaging his horse, and was that day to be publicly tarred, feathered, and escorted out of the city, as they said, bag and baggage.  Having ascertained