other a sitting room, a bedroom and a dining room.  In the second story were a hall and four rooms, similar in all respects to those below, and above these was a large attic.  The interior woodwork was of black walnut.  The walls were white, and the centerpieces in the ceilings of all the rooms were very fine, being the work of an English artisan, who had been only a short time in this country.  This work was so superior, in design and finish, to anything before seen in that region that local artisans were much excited over it; and some offered to purchase the right to reproduce it, but Boss refused the offer.  However, some one, while the house was finishing, helped himself to the design, and it was reproduced, in whole or in part, in other buildings in the city.  This employment of a foreign artist was unusual there and caused much comment.  The parlors were furnished with mahogany sets, the upholstering being in red brocade satin.  The dining room was also furnished in mahogany.  The bedrooms had mahogany bedsteads of the old-fashioned pattern with canopies.  Costly bric-a-brac, which Boss and the madam had purchased while traveling in foreign countries, was in great profusion.  Money was no object to Edmund McGee, and he added every modern improvement and luxury to his home; the decorations and furnishings were throughout of the most costly and elegant; and in the whole of Tennessee there was not a mansion more sumptuously complete in all its appointments, or more palatial in its general appearance.  When all was finished—­pictures, bric-a-brac, statuary and flowers all in their places, Mrs. McGee was brought home.

In this new house Boss opened up in grand style; everything was changed, and the family entered upon a new, more formal and more pretentious manner of living.  I was known no longer as errand boy, but installed as butler and body-servant to my master.  I had the same routine of morning work, only it was more extensive.  There was a great deal to be done in so spacious a mansion.  Looking after the parlors, halls and dining rooms, arranging flowers in the rooms, waiting on the table, and going after the mail was my regular morning work, the year round.  Then there were my duties to perform, night and morning, for my master; these were to brush his clothes, black his shoes, assist him to arrange his toilet, and do any little thing that he wanted me to.  Aside from these regular duties, there were windows to wash, silver to polish and steps to stone on certain days in the week.  I was called to do any errand necessary, and sometimes to assist in the garden.  A new staff of house servants was installed, as follows:  Aunt Delia, cook; Louisa, chambermaid; Puss, lady’s maid to wait on the madam; Celia, nurse; Lethia, wet nurse; Sarah, dairymaid; Julia, laundress; Uncle Gooden, gardener; Thomas, coachman.

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The new style of living.