More than one such character rises before me from the past, and the stories of their authority are a part of the traditional record of every family. The most imposing one that I personally remember was “Uncle Tom,” the butler of a cousin, whose stateliness impressed my childhood’s fancy in a way which has never been effaced. I have seen monarchs less impressive. His authority was so well recognized that he used to be called in to make the children take their physic. It was said that one of the children, who is now a matron of great dignity and a grandmother, once, in an awed whisper, asked her grandmother, who was the mistress of “Uncle Tom” and of several hundred other servants, “Gran’ma, is you feared o’ Unc’ Tom?” And her grandmother, who told the story, used to add: “And you know the truth is, I am.” It was a cousin of hers, Mrs. Carter, of Shirley, who used to say that when she invited company she always had to break it to Clarissy, her maid. In truth, whatever limitation there was on the unstinted hospitality of the South was due to the fact that the servants were always considered in such matters. This awe of the butler in his grandeur often did not pass away with youth. He both demanded and received his due respect even from grown members of the family. Of one that I knew it is told now by gray-headed men how, on occasion, long after they were grown, he would correct their manners, even at table, by a little rap on the head and a whispered reproof, as he leaned over them to place a dish. And I never knew one who did not retain his position of influence and exercise his right of admonition. I have known butlers to take upon themselves the responsibility of saying what young gentlemen should be admitted as visitors at the house, and to whom the ladies should be denied. In fact, every wise young man used to be at pains to make friends with the old servants, for they were a sagacious class and their influence in the household was not inconsiderable. They had an intuitive knowledge, which amounted to an instinct, for “winnowing the grain from the chaff,” and they knew a “gent’man” at sight. Their acute and caustic comments have wrecked the chances of many an aspiring young suitor who failed to meet with their approval. IV