'Not a _pity_, Mr. Kirke,' rejoined Mrs. Preston; 'Nature, or rather God, always puts us in our right places. Joseph is more useful where he is than he would be anywhere else.' 'I understood him that he was raised on the plantation,' I added. 'Yes,' replied my host; 'my grandfather bought his mother, who is a native African, when she was a girl; she was a favorite house-servant, and Joe was born in a room over where we are sitting. This building was then all there was of the mansion.' 'And how did he pick up so much information?' 'The old gentleman, who gave little heed to either law or gospel, taught them both to read and write.' (Years after the date of this conversation I learned that Joe was the son of that lawless, graceless old gentleman.) 'And Joe, when a boy, read everything he could lay his hands on. Since I brought my library here, he has devoured about half of the books in it. He devotes every night, from eight o'clock to twelve, to reading.' 'I am surprised that with so much reading he uses so entirely the negro dialect.' 'But he does not. In common conversation he expresses himself in it, for it is the dialect in which a black does his ordinary thinking; but let him get upon an elevated subject, as he does frequently in his sermons, and you will hear words as strong, pure, and simple as any found in the Bible, flow from him like a stream.' 'Does he preach every Sunday?' 'Yes; I usually catechize the people in the morning, and he preaches in the evening.' 'But do you learn all your negroes to read?' 'No, the law does not allow it. I teach them to repeat the catechism, texts of Scripture, and passages from good books, and I explain these to them.' 'And Joe is your overseer?' 'Not exactly that. My father made him overseer about thirty years ago, but the law requires a white man in that situation; and when I took charge of the plantation, the neighbors made a clamor about my having a black. The result was, I 'whipped the devil round the stump,' by hiring a white distiller, and _calling_ him 'overseer.' I let Joe, however, 'oversee' him, as you have seen to-day.' A rap came then at the door, and master Joe, springing up, ushered the subject of our conversation into the room. He held his hat in his hand, and had under his arm a couple of account books. 'This is Joseph the First,' said the lad, taking the black by the coat-tail, and bowing gravely to me. 'And you are Joseph the Second, eh?' I said, laughing. 'Yas, sar, he'm dat 'stinguished gemman,' replied the negro, stroking affectionately the lad's head; 'and he don't dishonor de name, sar. He'm de true blue, dyed in de wool.' 'He was named for Joseph,' said the lady, smiling kindly on the black. 'Bring up a chair, Joseph.' 'Tank you, missus,' and the negro seated himself by the fire, between Preston and me. 'You have brought the documents, I see, Joe; let me look at them,' I said, reaching out my hand for the books.