slaves; numbers of whom I saw at work in the
fields, the garden, and about the house. They
appeared to be a remarkably stout, robust race of
men, and, in point of health, had, to all appear-
ance, greatly the advantage of their owners. A
person, not conversant with these things, would be
naturally led to think, that where families have the
opportunity of employing a number of slaves,
every thing about their houses, gardens, and plan-
tations, would be kept in very nice order. How-
ever, the reverse of this is generally the case; and
I was sometimes ready to think that the more
slaves there were employed about a house and
plantation, the more disorder appeared. I am
persuaded, that in a well-regulated family, with
one or two hired servants, much more neatness,
order, and comfort may be preserved, than can be
maintained by treble the number of slaves. I have
been in families where several slaves were kept
which have scarcely afforded the common neces-
saries of life. I have sat at table in families where
two or three slaves have waited upon us, and yet
there has not been a lodging-room or accommoda-
tions at night, equal to what many a labouring man
in England is able to furnish; and, to compare the
accommodations of a slave-holder, in some of the
Southern States, with what the meanest of the
Pennsylvanian farmers are accustomed to, would
be still more unfavourable to the former.