He Was Kind Enough To Entertain Me For Awhile, And Showed
Me Something Of Country Life In Kentucky.
A farm in that part of
the State depends, and must depend, chiefly on slave labor.
The
slaves are a material part of the estate, and as they are regarded
by the law as real property - being actually adstricti glebae - an
inheritor of land has no alternative but to keep them. A gentleman
in Kentucky does not sell his slaves. To do so is considered to be
low and mean, and is opposed to the aristocratic traditions of the
country. A man who does so willingly, puts himself beyond the pale
of good fellowship with his neighbors. A sale of slaves is regarded
as a sign almost of bankruptcy. If a man cannot pay his debts, his
creditors can step in and sell his slaves; but he does not himself
make the sale. When a man owns more slaves than he needs, he hires
them out by the year; and when he requires more than he owns, he
takes them on hire by the year. Care is taken in such hirings not
to remove a married man away from his home. The price paid for a
negro's labor at the time of my visit was about a hundred dollars,
or twenty pounds for the year; but this price was then extremely low
in consequence of the war disturbances. The usual price had been
about fifty or sixty per cent. above this. The man who takes the
negro on hire feeds him, clothes him, provides him with a bed, and
supplies him with medical attendance.
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