A journey in the seaboard slave states : with remarks on their economy . majority,of entirely uneducated, poverty-stricken vagabonds. I meanby vagabonds, simply, people without habitual, definite occu-pation or reliable means of livelihood. They are poor, hav-ing almost no property but their own bodies; and the use ofthese, that is, their labor, they are not accustomed to hireout statedly and regularly, so as to obtain capital by wages,but only occasionally by the day or job, when driven to itby necessity. A family of these people will commonly hire,or squat and build, a little log cabin, so m
A journey in the seaboard slave states : with remarks on their economy . majority,of entirely uneducated, poverty-stricken vagabonds. I meanby vagabonds, simply, people without habitual, definite occu-pation or reliable means of livelihood. They are poor, hav-ing almost no property but their own bodies; and the use ofthese, that is, their labor, they are not accustomed to hireout statedly and regularly, so as to obtain capital by wages,but only occasionally by the day or job, when driven to itby necessity. A family of these people will commonly hire,or squat and build, a little log cabin, so made that it is onlya shelter from rain, the sides not being chinked, and havingno more furniture or pretension to comfort than is commonlyprovided a criminal in the cell of a prison. They will cul-tivate a little corn, and possibly a few roods of potatoes, NORTH CAROLINA. 349 cow-peas and coleworts. They will own a few swine, that findtheir living in the forest; and pretty certainly, also, a rifle anddogs; and the men, ostensibly, occupy most of their time &&^^^^s^3^i^s=g A gentleman of Fayetteville told me that he had, severaltimes, appraised, under oath, the whole household property offamilies of this class at less than $20. If they have need ofmoney to purchase clothing, etc., they obtain it by sellingtheir game or meal. If they have none of this to spare, or aninsufficiency, they will work for a neighboring farmer for a fewdays, and they usually get for their labor fifty cents a day,finding themselves. The farmers say, that they do not like toemploy them, because they cannot be relied upon to finishwhat they undertake, or to work according to directions; and 350 OUR SLAVE STATES. because, being white men, they cannot drive them. Thatis to say, their labor is even more inefficient and unmanage-able than that of slaves. That I have not formed an exaggerated estimate of theproportion of such a class, will appear to the reader moreprobable from the testimony of a pi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectslavery, bookyear1856
