'What is the political sentiment, sir, of this section of the State?' 'Wal, I reckon most of the folks 'bout har' is Union; they're from the "old North," and gin'rally pore trash.' 'I have heard that the majority of the turpentine getters are enterprising men and good citizens,--more enterprising, even, than the cotton and rice planters.' 'Wal, they is enterprisin', 'cause they don't keer for nuthin' 'cep' money.' 'The man who is absorbed in money-getting is generally a quiet citizen.' 'P'raps that's so. But I think a man sh'u'd hev a soul suthin' 'bove dollars. Them folks will take any sort o' sarce from the Yankees, ef they only buy thar truck.' 'What do you suffer from the Yankees?' 'Suffer from the Yankees? Don't they steal our niggers, and hain't they 'lected an ab'lishener for President?' 'I've been at the North lately, but I am not aware that is so.' 'So! it's damnably so, sir. I knows it. We don't mean to stand it eny longer.' 'What will you do?' 'We'll secede, and then give 'em h--l, ef they want it!' 'Will it not be necessary to agree among yourselves before you do that? I met a turpentine farmer below here who openly declared that he is friendly to abolishing slavery. He thinks the masters can make more money by hiring than by owning the negroes.' 'Yes, that's the talk of them North County[A] fellers, who've squatted round har. We'll hang every mother's son on 'em, by G----.' [Footnote A: The 'North Counties' are the north-eastern portion of North Carolina, and include the towns of Washington and Newberne. They are an old turpentine region, and the trees are nearly exhausted. The finer virgin forests of South Carolina, and other cotton States, have tempted many of these farmers to emigrate thither, within the past ten years, and they now own nearly all the trees that are worked in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. They generally have few slaves of their own, their hands being hired of wealthier men in their native districts. The 'hiring' is an annual operation, and is done at Christmas time, when the negroes are frequently allowed to go home. They treat the darkies well, give them an allowance of meat (salt pork or beef), as much corn as they can eat, and a gill of whisky daily. No class of men at the South are so industrious, energetic, and enterprising. Though not so well informed, they have many of the traits of our New England farmers; in fact, are frequently called 'North Carolina Yankees.' It was these people the Overseer proposed to hang. The reader will doubtless think that 'hanging was not good enough for them.'] 'I wouldn't do that: in a free country every man has a right to his opinions.' 'Not to sech opinions as them. A man may think, but he mustn't think onraasonable.' 'I don't know, but it seems to me reasonable, that if the negroes cost these farmers now one hundred and fifty dollars a year, and they could hire them, if free, for a hundred, that they would make by abolition.'