ABSTRACT
In this district, as in all others where slavery sits brooding (I have fre quently heard this admitted, even by those who are its warmest advo cates), there is an air of ruin and decay abroad which is inseparable from the system. The bams and outhouses are mouldering away; the sheds are patched and half roofless; the log cabins (built in Virginia with external chimneys made of clay or wood) are squalid in the last degree. There is no look of decent comfort anywhere. The miserable stations by the rail way side; the great wild woodyards, whence the engine is supplied with fuel; the negro children rolling on the ground before the cabin doors, with dogs and pigs; the biped beasts of burden slinking past: gloom and dejection are upon them all.
