man's provincialisms, according to the adage: When we are in Buffalo we must do as the buffaloes do.'

My previous examination of the premises had apprized me that we were occupying the parlor, sitting-room, dining-room, kitchen, dormitories and all, and that there were but two beds. The old gentleman pointed us to one of them, and in a few minutes we were in a sound sleep. The old people and the children were of course accommodated somewhere; where, I do n't know; save that I heard an ominous rustling under our bed during the night.

This reminds me of a friend and his lady, who, having put up for the night while travelling in Georgia, were shown an apartment where there were several beds. On retiring, our friend thought it prudent to securely fasten the door of their sleeping-room. About midnight he and his lady were suddenly awakened by a violent rattling at the door. The assailants, finding an entrance denied them at that point, were by no means repulsed; but scaling the beams and removing a loose plank, like the occupants of the ancient Trojan horse, let themselves down from aloft; and our friend, at daybreak, found that instead of having fallen among thieves and robbers, he was surrounded by the young people of the house; who, having been out at a party, had returned at an unusually late hour. Crossing the fording-place the next morning, we continued our journey through the sparsely-settled pine-lands, once in a while starting up from their hiding-places a flock of quails, and at one time during the day driving up some eight or ten wild turkeys. There are no finer-looking birds than these. They frequent the harvest-fields in autumn, and are exceedingly wary of the approach of the hunter. Some of them weigh twenty-five pounds. They are swift on wing or foot, and when near a thicket, resort to the latter as a means of flight. The most profitable mode of catching them is to make a small building of logs, several inches apart, and dig a trench leading from the outside to the centre of this temporary cabin. The trench is then covered over, leaving each end open, and corn or grain is strewed about the outside entrance, and from thence to the place where it communicates with the cabin. In this way the turkeys are decoyed into the building, where, finding themselves entrapped, they are incessantly thrusting their heads through the crevices of the shanty, without ever discovering the opening from whence they made their entrance.

One

Toward sun-set we fell in with a large party on horse-back, who informed us that they were going to a wedding, which was to take place that night at a village some miles in the advance of us. of the crowd' was a brother of the bride, who gave us a cordial invitation to participate in the festivities of the occasion. When we arrived at the village, we found there was no little excitement in view of the approaching nuptials. Guests had come in from every precinct of the county. At the tavern, the venerable landlady, noticing that we were not disposed to attend the approaching festival, said, in a bland voice:

'Strangers, you'll lose a mighty fine chance to see all the pretty

young ladies in the settlement; and many of 'em are so pert and likely that their betters are very scarce. Beside, the bride herself is a mighty well-raised lady. She was at the high-school at Tuscaloosa for a long while, and last winter travelled with her uncle as far as the Federal City.''

Finding that these considerations, though weighty, especially to bachelors like ourselves, were not likely to overcome our disposition to repose, the son of our hostess, beckoning us to the door, presented an additional variety of inducements.

They'll have the nicest table to-night over to the widow Powell's that was ever spread this side of Mobile. The wines and fruits are the best that can be scared up, and there's no end to the other fixin's they'll have there. You'd best go over, gentlemen, for the room is fixed up a little of the tallest sort, with every kind of vines and flowers; and do n't you believe it, strangers, they've even gone to the expense of buying sperm-candles!'

The dust and fatigue of a forty miles' ride on horse-back having unfitted us for social life, we felt compelled to neglect the advice of our landlady and her son.

Near this place we passed the track of a tornado; a phenomenon more frequent in the Gulf States than any other section of the Union. They occur in mid-summer, and vary in their length, width and intensity of movement. Their general direction is from west to east, with a slight inclination northward. They are intermittent in their violence, sometimes prostrating every tree in their course, and again sparing the sturdier portion of the forest. One of these furious tempests passed over the county of Yalabusha, in Mississippi, last season, destroying the most of the flourishing village of Grenada, killing several persons and injuring others. In 1838 one passed over the counties of Barbour and Russell, in Alabama, and Stewart, in Georgia, extending forty miles, with an average width of three hundred and fifty yards. An acquaintance of ours was overtaken by it, and dismounting from his horse, reached a spot where there was but one tree which he thought could endanger him. When this fell, it struck him senseless to the ground. Fortunately the tree did not fasten him, and on recovering he succeeded in reaching a neighboring plantation. A log-house was entirely carried away, except the sills and flooring, leaving the occupants, a woman and five children, uninjured. Some of the shingles of the roof were identified at the distance of ten miles eastward. A planter informed us that his negroes, the ensuing evening, picked up two maimed deer and three bushels of black-birds. The tornado lasts but a few moments, and is always attended with heavy rain and thick darkness.

Montgomery is one of the most productive counties of Alabama It has an undulating surface, a deep soil and an unusually large number of well cultivated plantations. In commencing a settlement in this region, the pioneers went into the rich valleys, girdled the trees, cleared up the rubbish, and the next spring planted with corn or cotton. In this way crop after crop was planted amid the decay

ing forest, until the bristling limbs and finally the heavy trunks were brought to the ground during the storms and strong winds of winter. Many of the cultivated fields of this county are now free from trees and stumps, but in a thinner soil we often see the lands worn out and abandoned while the native forest trees are yet standing; the former occupants having left them for the fresh soil of the west. No where is a visitor met with a more cordial welcome than by the southern planter. You find his residence some twenty or thirty rods from the road with a wide avenue leading to it. Around are numerous shade trees, the sycamore, mimosa and china. The house is adapted to the climate with a piazza in front, and one often two passages intersecting each other, which in the warm season contribute much to the comfort of the occupants. The apartments are spacious, and are higher posted than we find them in a northern latitude. If you are a stranger your host extends to you the hospitalities of his house as frankly as if you were an old acquaintance, cheerfully answers your inquiries, and volunteers to show you whatever you may choose to examine upon his premises. You notice the log-cabins of his slaves arranged in two rows in the rear of his dwelling, rough in appearance, but from the thickness of the walls, cooler in summer than framed buildings. The adults, both male and female, are in the fields, but here and there is a group of children who, during the absence of their mothers, are 'minded' by the aged negroes who are too infirm to labor.

In the garden are a numerous variety of vegetables and fruit trees, and if you make any inquiries of the gray-headed negro you meet with a spade in one hand and his hat in the other, you will ascertain that for years he has acted in the two-fold capacity of carriage driver and gardener, and if desired he will expatiate largely on the importance of the manifold duties devolving upon him, and on the skill with which he manages the horticultural affairs of the household. You see all the fences made of wood, for the manifest reason that there is no other material of which to build them. The rails are cut in winter and seasoned before using them. When the wood fails the planter resorts to ditches.

The large and closely-made barns attached to every farm-house in the north are never seen southward. The fodder here is put in stacks and the corn in 'cribs' or small log-buildings. Neither are there any cellars under the houses, and whatever the planter wishes to keep cool he places in a dry well.

At table you find your host provided with all the necessaries of life. While you are enjoying the hospitalities of the festive board, you observe that the servants are continually bringing hot dishes from the kitchen. Instead of cold wheat bread, you are served hot biscuit, waffles and fritters. You will see but little beef except in winter, but an abundance of excellent ham, fowl and eggs. The butter is daily made from the fresh milk, but you find no cheese save what is brought from the north, the produce of the dairy not being sufficient to admit of it.

After dinner your host accompanies you on horseback to visit his

plantation. In no other month are field and forest clothed with a more attractive livery than in May. You pass an orchard of peach trees thickly set with the promised fruit. The wheat fields are yellow for the harvest. The cotton fields often contain several hundred acres, and during this month demand close attention. Agriculture, however, requires less severe labor here than in New-England. Haying time, the most busy and laborious season at the north, occurs during the warmest months; a period of comparative leisure here, since the crops are laid by and none of them are yet matured for harvest. The mule is chiefly used on the plantations, as he is better adapted to the climate than the horse, and can better endure harsh

usage.

When a planter has a sufficient force he employs an overseer who superintends the business of the plantation, and who occupies his time with the hands, directing their labors and seeing that the work is well performed. The value of a crop depends much upon the good judgment and energy of the overseer, and he who has established his reputation as an enterprising and skilful manager obtains high wages.

Many planters live from five to fifty miles from their plantations, in order to avail themselves of a more healthy location, to enjoy better social advantages, and what is more frequently the object, to obtain better facilities for educating their children. In this case more responsibility devolves upon the overseer, as the owner visits his plantation but rarely, and can only give general directions in regard to its management.

There are few men whom you can meet with who are so free from care, and who are so truly sinecures as the southern planter. His crops never prove an entire failure, but are always sure to meet the current expenses of the year. As he is able to produce almost every article of consumption within himself; if his crop is short he has only to reduce his expenses to the more immediate necessaries of life, and these he can produce except coffee, salt and iron. His overseer, whose place depends upon his diligence, relieves him from the labor and perplexity of superintending his hands. His duties are not sufficient to afford him exercise. He employs his time in social intercourse with his neighbors in travel, in hunting or any amusement which inclination may dictate. Should you tarry with a planter a few days he will invite you to a deer hunt: a favorite exercise at the south; and soon after day-break with half a dozen of his neighbors, and twice that number of well-trained dogs will mount you on one of his horses, and set off at full speed for the open pine-woods. The morning air is exhilarating, but as you are not an old hunter you can see no adequate reason why your companions should be as full of enthusiasm in search of a red-deer, as most men would be when a private fortune is at stake, or a public enemy is to be encountered. After reaching the hunting-ground and the party are apprized by the barking of the dogs that a deer is started, the company station themselves one by one at points where the deer is expected to come, and if he escapes the first marksman,

he is liable to be brought down by the second or third. The hunters fire while the animal is at full speed; and it requires a practised eye and a steady nerve to make a successful shot. After a few excursions of this sort you will find yourself participating as deeply in the ardor and excitement of the deer-chase as if you were a native Alabamian.

Among the wealthiest planters of the state is one who came here thirty years ago with about a dozen hands and settled upon the then wild lands of Montgomery county. The income of each year was invested in additional lands and negroes, and he has at the present time seven plantations and four hundred slaves. The spacious and beautifully-arranged grounds about his residence are frequently visited by travellers, and will richly repay a journey of many miles. They abound with almost every species of shrubbery, vine and plant. Among them are the American aloe, the India-rubber tree, and the pine-apple. The hedges are of arbor-vitæ, cedar, and cape-jessamine. In a region where so little effort is employed to adorn and make cheerful either the mansion of the rich or the cottage of the poor, he who by his munificence contributes to improve the public taste, to make our homes and our way-sides more pleasant, is truly a public benefactor.

MONADNOCK.