sworn in, he burst into a flood of tears.  He understood his situation very well, and never was guilty of impertinence.  He was one of the best chroniclers of the events of the Revolutionary War, in Georgia.  Judge Dooly thought much of him, for he had served under his father, Colonel Dooly.  It was Dabney’s custom to be at the public house in Madison, where the judge stopped during court, and he took much pains in seeing his horse well attended to.  He frequently came into the room where the judges and lawyers were assembled on the evening before the court, and seated himself upon a stool or some low place, where he would commence a parley with any one who chose to talk with him.

He drew his pension in Savannah where he went once a year for this purpose.  On one occasion he went to Savannah in company with his neighbor, Colonel Wyley Pope.  They traveled together on the most familiar terms until they arrived in the streets of the town.  Then the Colonel observed to Austin that he was a man of sense, and knew that it was not suitable to be seen riding side by side with a colored man through the streets of Savannah; to which Austin replied that he understood that matter very well.  Accordingly when they came to the principal street, Austin checked his horse and fell behind.  They had not gone very far before Colonel Pope passed the house of General James Jackson who was then governor of the state.  Upon looking back he saw the governor run out of the house, seize Austin’s hand, shake it as if he had been his long absent brother, draw him from his horse, and carry him into his house, where he stayed whilst in town.  Colonel Pope used to tell this anecdote with much glee, adding that he felt chagrined when he ascertained that whilst he passed his time at a tavern, unknown and uncared for, Austin was the honored guest of the governor.

     White’s “Historical Collections,” 584.

FREEDOM AND SLAVERY IN APPALACHIAN AMERICA

To understand the problem of harmonizing freedom and slavery in Appalachian America we must keep in mind two different stocks coming in some cases from the same mother country and subject here to the same government.  Why they differed so widely was due to their peculiar ideals formed prior to their emigration from Europe and to their environment in the New World.  To the tidewater came a class whose character and purposes, although not altogether alike, easily enabled them to develop into an aristocratic class.  All of them were trying to lighten the burdens of life.  In this section favored with fertile soil, mild climate, navigable streams and good harbors facilitating direct trade with Europe, the conservative, easy-going, wealth-seeking, exploiting adventurers finally fell back on the institution of slavery which furnished the basis for a large plantation system of seeming principalities.  In the course of time too there arose in the few towns of the coast a number of prosperous business men whose bearing was equally as aristocratic as that of the masters of plantations.[1] These elements constituted the rustic nobility which lorded it over the unfortunate settlers whom the plantation system forced to go into the interior to take up land.  Eliminating thus an enterprising middle class, the colonists tended to become more aristocratic near the shore.