"MARSE CHAN," BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE, WAS PUBLISHED IN THE CENTURY MAGAZINE IN APRIL, 1884. IT IS USUALLY CITED AS THE FIRST "PLANTATION TALE," A GENRE THAT BECAME INCREASINGLY POPULAR OVER THE NEXT TWO DECADES. IN THE TALE, SAM, "MARSE CHAN"'S FORMER SLAVE, TELLS AN UNNAMED MAN FROM THE NORTH THAT HIS LIFE AS A SLAVE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR "wuz good ole times, marster--de bes' Sam ever see! Dey wuz, in fac'! Niggers didn' hed nothin' 't all to do--jes' hed to 'ten' to de feedin' an' cleanin' de hosses, an' doin' what de marster tell 'em to do; an' when dey wuz sick, dey had things sont 'em out de house, an' de same doctor come to see 'em whar 'ten' to de white folks when dey wuz po'ly. Dyar warn' no trouble nor nothin'."
  THE ILLUSTRATION WAS DRAWN BY W. T. SMEDLEY FOR THE TALE'S PUBLICATION IN A 1897 EDITION OF PAGE'S FIRST BOOK, IN OLE VIRGINIA, A COLLECTION OF PLANTATION TALES THAT FIRST APPEARED IN 1887.