CHAPTER III.
Soon afterwards, my master removed to the city of St.Louis, and purchased a farm four miles from there, which he placed under the charge of an overseer by the name of Friend Haskell.

He was a regular Yankee from New England.

The Yankees are noted for making the most cruel overseers.
My mother was hired out in the city, and I was also hired out there to Major Freeland, who kept a public house.

He was formerly from Virginia, and was a horse-racer, cock-fighter, gambler, and withal an inveterate drunkard.

There were ten or twelve servants in the house, and when he was present, it was cut and slash--knock down and drag out.