The age-herald., 1902-03-02

From the Boston Evening Transcript.
 There recently visited Boston a man who once was a slave of Jefferson Davis. This man, Isaiah T. Montgomery, is the founder of a prosperous colony of col ored people in the valley of the Yazoo River. in Mississippi and the mayor of the village of Mound Bayou, the center of the colony. MT. Montgomery came to Boston to attend the meetings of the National Negro Business League. He Is a man of education and refinement, and possessed of unusual business ability. There are few ex-slaves living now who are able to describe Southern life before the war so intelllgently as he is. Prob ally there is no one, not even Mrs. Davis herself, who knows so much about the historic old Davis plantation of 4000 acres and the 300 slaves who lived upon it.
 On the Saturday which followed the sessions of the League in Boston the city gCN ernment invited the delegates to g upon an excursion down the harbor. During this had an opportunity to have a long convei sation with MT. Montgom- cry, in the course of which he told me many interesting things about his life and about the famous family with which he had been so intimately associated
 "To really tell my story right, said MT Montgomery, and to make plain how l came to know much about the Davis plantation, 1 must begin before l was born. When my father was a boy he had a young master about his own age to whom he was assigned as a constant attendant. They played together on the beach great deal The white boy had lessons every day, regularly, with faAl Tod too, and, so afterntcrs. when they were at play cut on the beach he would get his young master to teach oVe" to him what he had learned in the morning, icing the letters in the sand with a stick. In this way he learned to read and write. When he came to have children of his own he taught them what he knew and, as a result, I learned to read and Hrite. too. When I was 6 years old as taken to the big house to be trained for house servant Because l already knew how to read and write, I suppose, MT. Joe took me to be his office boy, and I stayed at that work until the war broke out, five years afterwards.
 " MT. Joe was MT. Jeff Davis older brother, MT. Joserh E. Davis. He was the one who really managed the whole estate, as MT. Jeff was in politics so much that ne was at horne but little The Davis plantation comprised 4000 aci es. 25O0 of which VI ere in tillage land and 1500 in woods. There were two man sion houses. The one where MT. Joe lived was called Hurricane because once a hurricane had swept over the place and done a great deal of damage Hurricane was destroyed during the war. with much of it's contents, including a fine library. MT. Jeffs place was called Briarflelds.'
 The Davis Plantation.
 hi hnn nf the Mississippi, and the river almost around it. The place was called Davis Bend. It was thirty miles below Vicks- burg. We had a landing which the small CT boats could make, and mail at cer- tain times there, but the regular mail came thu ee times a week to a landing three miles down the river, and when passengers were to take one of the big river boats they had to be rowed to that landing. The morning Mr. Jeff was to start to the inauguration we were late Ill getting away from the house. Before we had got far out on the river we heard the steamer blow at the landing. We knew we couldn't get to the landing in time so We headed for the upDer end or an island which lay out in the river so as to meet the steamer when she came out from behind the island I re- member she was old Tom Leathers' boat the Natchez. The Captain was expecting Mr. DAVIS on that trip. and when he found that MT. Davis was not at the landing was looking out for him. When the steamer came along Mr. Davis made a signal to her. and the Captain bIowed to show that he saw us. We rowed up and Mir. Davis was taken on board That was the last time ever saw him.
 Did he act as If he was impressed with the grea. Dess of the <,urney which he had undertaken?" I asked. Its signih- canoe, and far-reaching possibilties?"
 Jeff Davis was a man you couldn't tell what was in his mind" MT. Montgom- cry replied. "He chatted with us just the same as usual. Said we were late, praised the oarsmen for their extra ef- forts. and said what good time we were making. MT. Davis was a maste CT in the art of speaking writing for the public, though. He could say more in one sen tence than most men can in half page"
 .I wish you would tell me something mere about tho life on the place before the war, as you remember It." I said.
 we just barely had an idea of what slave life was. The conditions our place were better than most. The over seers had only a partial power. They never were allowed to punish any one. All they could do was to keep account and tell MT. Joe when he came. He al- ways said what the punishment should be. and stayed near to see that his or