198

350 LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

I could not help the reflections naturally arising from having seen so many generations of the same family on the same estate. I had seen the elder Lloyd, and was now walking around with the youngest member of that name. In respect to the place itself, I was most agreeably surprised to find that time had dealt so gently with it, and that in all it appointments it was so little changed from what it was when I left it, and from what I have elsewhere described it. Very little was missing except the squads of little black children which were once seen in all directions, and the great number of slaves on its fields. Col. Lloyd's estate comprised twenty-seven thousand acres, and the home-farm seven thousand. In my boyhood sixty men were employed in cultivating the home farm alone. Now, by the aid of machinery, the work is accomplished by ten men. I found the buildings, which gave it the appearance of a village, nearly all standing, and I was astonished to find that I had carried their appearance and location so accurately in my mind during so many years. There was the long quarter, the quarter on the hill, the dwelling-house of my old master, Aaron Anthony; the overseer's house, once occupied by William Sevier, Austin Gore, James Hopkins, and other overseers. In connection with my old master's house was the kitchen where Aunt Katy presided, and where my head had received many a thump from her unfriendly hand. I looked into this kitchen with peculiar interest, and remembered that it was there I last saw my mother. I went round to the window at which Miss Lucretia used to sit with her sewing, and at which I used to sing when hungry, a signal which she well understood, and to which she readily responded with bread. The little closet in which I slept in a bag had been taken into the room; the dirt floor, too, had disappeared under plank. But upon the whole, the house is very much as it was in the olden time. Not far from it was the stable formerly in charge of old Barney. The store-house at the end of it, of which my master carried the keys, had been removed. The large carriage house, too, which in my boy days contained two or three tine coaches, several phaetons, gigs, and a large sleigh (for the latter there was seldom any use) was gone. This carriage house was of much interest to me because Col. Lloyd sometimes allowed his servants the use of it for festal occasions, and in it there was at such times music and dancing. With these two exceptions, the houses of th estate remained. There was the shoemaker's shop, where Uncle Abe made and mended shoes; and there the blacksmith's shop, where Uncle Tony hammered iron, and the weekly closing of which first taught me to distinguish Sundays from other days. The old barn, too, was there- time-worn, to be sure, but still in good condition--a place of wonderful interest to me in my childhood, for there I often repaired to listen to the chatter and watch the

350 LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

I could not help the reflections naturally arising from having seen so many
generations of the same family on the same estate. I had seen the elder Lloyd,
and was now walking around with the youngest member of that name. In
respect to the place itself, I was most agreeably surprised to find that time had
dealt so gently with it, and that in all its appointments it was so little changed
from what it was when I left it, and from what I have elsewhere described it.
Very little was missing except the squads of little black children which were
once seen in all directions, and the great number of slaves on its fields. Col.
Lloyd's estate comprised twenty-seven thousand acres, and the home-farm
seven thousand. In my boyhood sixty men were employed in cultivating the
home farm alone. Now, by the aid of machinery, the work is accomplished by
ten men. I found the buildings, which gave it the appearance of a village,
nearly all standing, and I was astonished to find that I had carried their
appearance and location so accurately in my mind during so many years.
There was the long quarter, the quarter on the hill, the dwelling-house of my
old master, Aaron Anthony; the overseer's house, once occupied by William
Sevier, Austin Gore, James Hopkins, and other overseers. In connection with
my old master's house was the kitchen where Aunt Katy presided, and where
my head had received many a thump from her unfriendly hand. I looked into
this kitchen with peculiar interest, and remembered that it was there I last saw
my mother. I went round to the window at which Miss Lucretia used to sit
with her sewing, and at which I used to sing when hungry, a signal which she
well understood, and to which she readily responded with bread. The little
closet in which I slept in a bag had been taken into the room; the dirt floor,
too, had disappeared under plank. But upon the whole, the house is very
much as it was in the olden time. Not far from it was the stable formerly in
charge of old Barney. The store-house at the end of it, of which my master
carried the keys, had been removed. The large carriage house, too, which in
my boy days contained two or three tine coaches, several phaetons, gigs, and
a large sleigh (for the latter there was seldom any use) was gone. This carriage
house was of much interest to me because Col. Lloyd sometimes
allowed his servants the use of it for festal occasions. and in it there was at
such times music and dancing. With these two exceptions, the houses of the
estate remained. There was the shoemaker's shop, where Uncle Abe made
and mended shoes; and there the blacksmith's shop, where Uncle Tony hammered
iron, and the weekly closing of which first taught me to distinguish
Sundays from other days. The old barn, too, was there- time-worn, to be
sure, but still in good condition- a place of wonderful interest to me in my
childhood, for there I often repaired to listen to the chatter and watch the