They have
no right to wages. Suppose you had to pay all these creatures
— seven hundred of them — as you pay people at Melbourne; how
much do you suppose you would have left to live upon
yourselves? What nonsense it is to talk!"
"But they work for us," I said.
"Certainly. There would not be anything for any of us if they
didn't. Here, at Magnolia, they raise rice crops and corn, as
well as cotton; at our place we grow nothing but cotton and
corn."
"Well, what pays them for working?"
"I told you! they have their living and clothing and no care;
and they are the happiest creatures the sun shines on."
"Are they willing to work for only that?" I asked.
"Willing!" said Preston.
"Yes," said I, feeling myself grow sick at heart.
"I fancy nobody asks them that question. They have to work, I
reckon, whether they like it or no."
"You said they _like_ to lie in the sun. What makes them work?"
"Makes them!" said Preston, who was getting irritated as well
as impatient. "They get a good flogging if they do not work —
that is all.
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