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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10464 ***
+
+[Illustration: A SLAVE FATHER SOLD AWAY FROM HIS FAMILY.]
+
+
+
+THE CHILD'S ANTI-SLAVERY BOOK
+
+
+CONTAINING A
+
+Few Words about American Slave Children.
+
+AND
+
+STORIES OF SLAVE-LIFE.
+
+
+TEN ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+A FEW WORDS ABOUT AMERICAN SLAVE CHILDREN
+
+LITTLE LEWIS--THE STORY OF A SLAVE BOY
+
+MARK AND HASTY
+
+AUNT JUDY'S STORY--A STORY FROM REAL LIFE
+
+ME NEBER GIVE IT UP
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations.
+
+
+A SLAVE FATHER SOLD AWAY FROM HIS FAMILY.
+
+LITTLE LEWIS SOLD.
+
+WHIPPING A SLAVE.
+
+HUNTING RUNAWAY SLAVES.
+
+HASTY'S GRIEF.
+
+AUNT JUDY'S HUSBAND CAPTURED.
+
+HANDCUFFING JUDY'S HUSBAND.
+
+WAITING TO BE SOLD.
+
+AUNT JUDY.
+
+"ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"
+
+
+
+
+A FEW WORDS ABOUT AMERICAN SLAVE CHILDREN.
+
+
+Children, you are free and happy. Kind parents watch over you with
+loving eyes; patient teachers instruct you from the beautiful pages of
+the printed book; benign laws, protect you from violence, and prevent
+the strong arms of wicked people from hurting you; the blessed Bible is
+in your hands; when you become men and women you will have full liberty
+to earn your living, to go, to come, to seek pleasure or profit in any
+way that you may choose, so long as you do not meddle with the rights of
+other people; in one word, _you are free children_! Thank God! thank
+God! my children, for this precious gift. Count it dearer than life. Ask
+the great God who made you free to teach you to prefer death to the loss
+of liberty.
+
+But are all the children in America free like you? No, no! I am sorry to
+tell you that hundreds of thousands of American children are _slaves_.
+Though born beneath the same sun and on the same soil, with the same
+natural right to freedom as yourselves, they are nevertheless SLAVES.
+Alas for them! Their parents cannot train them as they will, for they
+too have MASTERS. These masters say to them:
+
+"Your children are OURS--OUR PROPERTY! They shall not be taught to read
+or write; they shall never go to school; they shall not be taught to
+read the Bible; they must submit to us and not to you; we shall whip
+them, sell them, and do what else we please with them. They shall never
+own themselves, never have the right to dispose of themselves, but shall
+obey us in all things as long as they live!"
+
+"Why do their fathers let these masters have their children? My father
+wouldn't let anybody have me," I hear one of my little free-spirited
+readers ask.
+
+Simply, my noble boy, because they can't help it. The masters have
+banded themselves together, and have made a set of wicked laws by which
+nearly four millions of men, women, and children are declared to be
+their personal chattels, or property. So that if one of these slave
+fathers should refuse to let his child be used as the property of his
+master, those wicked laws would help the master by inflicting cruel
+punishments on the parent. Hence the poor slave fathers and mothers are
+forced to silently witness the cruel wrongs which their helpless
+children are made to suffer. Violence has been framed into a law, and
+the poor slave is trodden beneath the feet of the powerful.
+
+"But why did those slaves let their masters bring them into this state?
+Why didn't they fight as our forefathers did when they threw off the
+yoke of England's laws?" inquires a bright-eyed lad who has just risen
+from the reading of a history of our Revolution.
+
+The slaves were not reduced to their present servile condition in large
+bodies. When our ancestors settled this country they felt the need of
+more laborers than they could hire. Then wicked men sailed from England
+and other parts of Europe to the coast of Africa. Sending their boats
+ashore filled with armed men, they fell upon the villages of the poor
+Africans, set fire to their huts, and, while they were filled with
+fright, seized, handcuffed, and dragged them to their boats, and then
+carried them aboard ship.
+
+This piracy was repeated until the ship was crowded with negro men,
+women, and children. The poor things were packed like spoons below the
+deck. Then the ship set sail for the coast of America. I cannot tell you
+how horribly the poor negroes suffered. Bad air, poor food, close
+confinement, and cruel treatment killed them off by scores. When they
+died their bodies were pitched into the sea, without pity or remorse.
+
+After a wearisome voyage the survivors, on being carried into some port,
+were sold to the highest bidder. No regard was paid to their
+relationship. One man bought a husband, another a wife. The child was
+taken to one place, the mother to another. Thus they were scattered
+abroad over the colonies. Fresh loads arrived continually, and thus
+their numbers increased. Others were born on the soil, until now, after
+the lapse of some two centuries, there are nearly four millions of negro
+slaves in the country, besides large numbers of colored people who in
+various ways have been made free.
+
+You can now see how easy it was for the masters to make the wicked laws
+by which the slaves are now held in bondage. They began when the slaves
+were few in number, when they spoke a foreign language, and when they
+were too few and feeble to offer any resistance to their oppressors, as
+their masters did to old England when she tried to oppress them.
+
+I want you to remember one great truth regarding slavery, namely, that a
+slave is a human being, held and used as property by another human
+being, and that _it is always_ A SIN AGAINST GOD _to thus hold and me a
+human being as property_!
+
+You know it is not a sin to use an ox, a horse, a dog, a squirrel, a
+house, or an acre of land as property, if it be honestly obtained,
+because God made these and similar objects to be possessed as property
+by men. But God did not make _man to be the property of man_. He never
+gave any man the right to own his neighbor or his neighbor's child.
+
+On the contrary, he made all men to be free and equal, as saith our
+Declaration of Independence. Hence, every negro child that is born is as
+free before God as the white child, having precisely the same right to
+life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as the white child. The law
+which denies him that right does not destroy it. It may enable the man
+who claims him as a slave to deprive him of its exercise, but the right
+itself remains, for the wicked law under which he acts does not and
+cannot set aside the divine law, by which he is as free as any child
+that was ever born.
+
+But if God made every man, woman, and child to be free, and not
+property, then he who uses a human being as property acts contrary to
+the will of God and SINS! Is it not so, my children?
+
+Yet that is what every slaveholder does. _He uses his slaves as
+property_. He reckons them as worth so many dollars, just as your father
+sets a certain money value on his horse, farm, or merchandise. He sells
+him, gives him away, uses his labor without paying him wages, claims his
+children as so many more dollars added to his estate, and when he dies
+wills him to his heirs forever. And this is SIN, my children--a very
+great sin against God, a high crime against human nature.
+
+Mark what I say! the sin of slavery does not lie merely in whipping,
+starving, or otherwise ill-treating a human being, but in using him as
+property; in saying of him as you do of your dog: "He is my property. He
+is worth so much money to me. I will do what I please with him. I will
+keep him, use him, sell him, give him away, and keep all he earns, just
+as I choose."
+
+To say that of a man is sin. You might clothe the man in purple, feed
+him on manna from heaven, and keep him in a palace of ivory, still, if
+you used him as your property, you would commit sin!
+
+Children, I want you to shrink from this sin as the Jews did from the
+fiery serpents. Hate it. Loathe it as you would the leprosy. Make a
+solemn vow before the Saviour, who loves the slave and slave children as
+truly as he does you, that you will never hold slaves, never apologize
+for those who do. As little Hannibal vowed eternal hatred to Rome at the
+altar of a false god, so do you vow eternal enmity to slavery at the
+altar of the true and living Jehovah. Let your purpose be, "I will
+rather beg my bread than live by the unpaid toil of a slave."
+
+To assist you in carrying out that purpose, and to excite your sympathy
+for poor slave children, the following stories were written. The
+characters in them are all real, though their true names are not always
+given. The stories are therefore pictures of actual life, and are worthy
+of your belief.
+
+D.W.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE LEWIS SOLD.]
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE LEWIS:
+
+The Story of a Slave Boy.
+
+
+BY JULIA COLMAN.
+
+
+"A, B, C," said little Lewis to himself, as he bent eagerly over a
+ragged primer. "Here's anoder A, an' there's anoder, an' there's anoder
+C, but I can't find anoder B. Missy Katy said I must find just so many
+as I can. Dear little Missy Katy! an' wont I be just so good as ever I
+can, an' learn to read, an' when I get to be a man I'll call myself
+white folks; for I'm a most as white as Massa Harry is now, when he runs
+out widout his hat; A, B, C." And so the little fellow ran on, thinking
+what a fine man he would be when he had learned to read.
+
+Just then he heard a shrill laugh in the distance, and the cry, "Lew!
+Lew! where's Lew?"
+
+It was Katy's voice, and tucking his book in his bosom, he ran around
+the house toward her with light feet; for though she was often cross and
+willful, as only daughters sometimes are, she was the only one of the
+family that showed him even an occasional kindness. She was, withal,
+a frolicsome, romping witch, and as he turned the corner, she came
+scampering along right toward him with three or four white children at
+her heels, and all the little woolly heads of the establishment,
+numbering something less than a score.
+
+"Here, Lew!" she said, as she came in sight, "you take the tag and run."
+
+With a quick movement he touched her outstretched hand, and he would
+have made the others some trouble to catch him, for he was the smartest
+runner among the children; but as he turned he tripped on a stone, and
+lay sprawling. "Tag," cried Hal, Katy's cousin, as he placed his feet on
+the little fellow's back and jumped over him. It was cruel, but what did
+Hal care for the "little nigger." If he had been at home he would have
+had some little fear of breaking the child's back, for his father was
+more careful of his _property_ than Uncle Stamford was.
+
+Before Lewis could rise, two or three of the negro boys, who were always
+too ready to imitate the vices of their masters, had made the boy a
+stepping stone, and then Dick, his master's eldest son, came down upon
+him with both knees, and began to cuff him roundly.
+
+"So, you black scamp, you thought you'd run away with the tag, did you!"
+Just then he perceived the primer that was peeping out of Lewis's shirt
+bosom. "Ha! what's here?" said he; "a primer, as I live! And what are
+you doing with this, I'd like to know?"
+
+"Missy Katy give it to me, and she is teaching me my letters out of it.
+Please, massa, let me have it again," said he, beseechingly, as Dick
+made a motion as if to throw it away. "I would like to learn how
+to read."
+
+"You would, would you!" said Dick. "You'd like to read to Tom and Sam,
+down on a Louisiana plantation, in sugar time, when you'd nothing else
+to do, I suppose. Ha, ha, ha!" and the young tyrant, giving the boy a
+vigorous kick or two as he rose, stuffed the book into his own pocket,
+and walked off.
+
+Poor Lewis! He very well knew the meaning of that taunt, and he did not
+open his mouth. No threat of a dark closet ever frightened a free child
+so much as the threat of being sold to a Southern plantation terrifies
+the slave-child of Kentucky.
+
+Lewis walked slowly toward the kitchen, to see Aunt Sally. It was to her
+he used to go with all his troubles, and sometimes she scolded, and
+sometimes she listened. She was very busy dressing the vegetables for
+dinner, and she looked cross; so the little fellow crept into the
+chimney corner and said nothing; but he thought all the more, and as he
+thought, the sad tears rolled down his tawny cheeks.
+
+"What is the matter now, little baby?" was Aunt Sally's tender inquiry.
+
+Lewis commenced his pitiful tale; but as soon as Aunt Sally heard that
+it was about learning to read, she shut him up with "Good enough for
+you! What do you want of a book? Readin' isn't for the likes of you; and
+the less you know of it the better."
+
+This was poor sympathy, and the little fellow, with a half-spiteful
+feeling, scrambled upon a bench near by, and tumbled out of the window.
+He alighted on an ash-heap, not a very nice place to be sure, but it was
+a retired corner, and he often hid away there when he felt sad and
+wanted to be alone. Here he sat down, and leaning his head against the
+side of the house, he groaned out, "My mother, O my mother! If you ain't
+dead, why don't you come to me?"
+
+By degrees he calmed down, and half asleep there in the sunshine, he
+dreamed of the home that he once had. His mother was a noble woman, so
+he thought. Nobody else ever looked so kindly into his face; he was sure
+nobody else ever loved him as she did, and he remembered when she was
+gay and cheerful, and would go all day singing about her work. And his
+father, he could just remember him as a very pleasant man that he used
+to run to meet, sometimes, when he saw him coming home away down the
+road; but that was long ago. He had not seen him now for years, and he
+had heard his mother say that his father's master had moved away out of
+the state and taken him with him, and maybe he would never return. Then
+Lewis's mother grew sad, and stopped her singing, though she worked as
+hard as ever, and kept her children all neat and clean.
+
+And those dear brothers and sisters, what had become of them? There was
+Tom, the eldest, the very best fellow in the world, so Lewis thought. He
+would sit by the half hour making tops, and whistles, and all sorts of
+pretty playthings. And Sam, too! he was always so full of fun and
+singing songs. What a singer he was! and it was right cheerful when Sam
+would borrow some neighbor's banjo and play to them. But they were all
+gone; and his sad, sweet-faced, lady-like sister Nelly, too, they were
+all taken off in one day by one of the ugliest negro-drivers that ever
+scared a little slave-boy's dreams. And it was while his mother was away
+from home too. How she did cry and take on when she came back and found
+them all gone, and she hadn't even the chance to bid them good-by! She
+said she knew her master sent her off that morning because he was going
+to sell her children.
+
+Lewis shuddered as he thought of that dreadful night. It was hardly two
+years ago, and the fearful things he heard then burned into his soul
+with terrible distinctness. It seemed as if their little cabin was
+deserted after that, for Tom, and Sam, and Nelly were almost grown up,
+and the rest were all little ones. The next winter his other sister,
+Fanny, died; but that wasn't half so sad. She was about twelve years
+old, and a blithesome, cheerful creature, just as her mother had been.
+He remembered how his master came to their cabin to comfort them, as he
+said; but his mother told him plainly that she did not want any such
+comfort. She wished Nelly was dead too. She wished she had never had any
+children to grow up and suffer what she had. It was in vain her master
+tried to soothe her. He talked like a minister, as he was; but she had
+grown almost raving, and she talked to him as she never dared to do
+before. She wanted to know why he didn't come to console her when she
+lost her other children; "three all at once" she said, "and they're ten
+times worse than dead. You never consoled me then at all. Religion?
+Pooh! I don't want none of _your_ religion."
+
+And now she, too, was gone. She had been gone more than a year. It was
+said that she was hired out to work in another family; but it wasn't so.
+They only told her that story to get her away from the children
+peaceably. She was sold quite a distance away to a very bad man, who
+used her cruelly.
+
+Ned, who was some two years younger than Lewis, and the only brother he
+had left, was a wild, careless boy, who raced about among the other
+children, and did not seem to think much about anything. Lewis often
+wished he could have somebody to talk with, and he wondered if his
+mother would ever come back again.
+
+Had he been a poet he might have put his wishes into verses like the
+following, in which Mrs. Follen has given beautiful expression to the
+wishes of such a slave boy as Lewis:
+
+THE SLAVE BOY'S WISH.
+
+    I wish I was that little bird,
+      Up in the bright blue sky,
+    That sings and flies just where he will,
+      And no one asks him why.
+
+    I wish I was that little brook,
+      That runs so swift along,
+    Through pretty flowers and shining stones,
+      Singing a merry song.
+
+    I wish I was that butterfly,
+      Without a thought or care,
+    Sporting my pretty, brilliant wings,
+      Like a flower in the air.
+
+    I wish I was that wild, wild deer,
+      I saw the other day,
+    Who swifter than an arrow flew,
+      Through the forest far away.
+
+    I wish I was that little cloud,
+      By the gentle south wind driven,
+    Floating along so free and bright,
+      Far, far up into heaven.
+
+    I'd rather be a cunning fox,
+      And hide me in a cave;
+    I'd rather be a savage wolf,
+      Than what I am--a slave.
+
+    My mother calls me her good boy,
+      My father calls me brave;
+    What wicked action have I done,
+      That I should be a slave?
+
+    I saw my little sister sold,
+      So will they do to me;
+    My heavenly Father, let me die,
+      For then I shall be free.
+
+So talking to himself he fell into a doze, and dreamed about his mother.
+He thought her large serious eyes were looking into his, and her long
+black hair falling over his face. His mother was part Indian and part
+white, with only just enough of the black to make her hair a little
+curly. It don't make much difference what color people are in the slave
+states. If the mothers are slaves the children are slaves too, even if
+they are nine-tenths white.
+
+From this pleasant dream Lewis was roused by a splash of cold water, and
+Aunt Sally, with her head out of the window, was calling, "Here you lazy
+nigger! come here and grind this coffee for me." And the little boy
+awoke to find himself a friendless orphan, in a cold world with a
+cruel master.
+
+The next morning Lewis was playing about the yard with as good a will as
+any of the young negroes. Children's troubles don't last long, and to
+see him turning somersets, singing Jim Crow, and kicking up a row
+generally, you would suppose he had forgotten all about the lost primer
+and his mother too.
+
+He was in the greatest possible glee in the afternoon, at being sent
+with another boy, Jim, to carry a package to Mr. Pond's. Then he was
+trusted, so he put himself on his dignity, and did not turn more than
+twenty somersets on the way. In coming back, as they had no package to
+carry, they took it into their heads to cut across lots, though it was
+no nearer than the road. Still it made them plenty of exercise in
+climbing fences and walking log bridges across the brooks. While doing
+this they came in sight of some white pond-lilies, and all at once it
+occurred to Lewis that it would be right nice to get some of them for
+Miss Katy, to buy up her good-will, for he was afraid she would be very
+angry when she found that he had lost the primer. So he waded and
+paddled about till he had collected quite a handful of them, in spite of
+Jim's hurrying up, and telling him that he would get his head broke, for
+missus had told them to be quick.
+
+When he had gathered a large handful he started on the run for home,
+stopping only once or twice to admire the fragrant, lovely flowers; and
+he felt their beauty quite as much, I dare say, as Miss Katy would.
+
+When they were passing the quarters, as the place is called where the
+huts of the slaves are built, Aunt Sally put her head out of the cabin
+door, and seeing him, she called out, "Here, Lew, here's your mother."
+
+The boy forgot his lilies, dropped them, and running to the door, he saw
+within a strange woman sitting on a bench. Was _that_ his mother? She
+turned her large dark eyes for a moment upon him, and then she sprang to
+meet him. His little heart was ready to overflow with tears of joy, and
+he expected to be overwhelmed with caresses, just as you would if you
+should meet your mother after being separated from her more than a year.
+
+Imagine his terror, then, as she seized him rudely by the wrists and
+exclaimed, "It's you, is it? a little slave boy! I'll fix you so they'll
+never get you!"
+
+Then she picked him up in her arms and started to run with him, as if
+she would throw him into the well. The little fellow screamed with
+fright. Aunt Sally ran after her, crying at the top of her voice,
+"Nancy, O Nancy! don't now!" And then a big negro darted out of the
+stables, crying "Stop her there! catch her!"
+
+All this hubbub roused the people at the house, and Master Stamford
+forthwith appeared on the verandah, with a crowd of servants of all
+sizes. Amid the orders, and cries, and general confusion that followed,
+Nancy was caught, Lewis was taken away, and she was carried back to the
+cabin, while the big negro was preparing to tie her. As she entered the
+cabin, her eye caught sight of a knife that lay there, and snatching it
+up, she gave herself a bad wound with it. Poor woman, she was tired of
+her miserable life. I don't wonder that she wanted to die.
+
+Was it right, you ask, for her to take her own life? Certainly not. But
+let us see what led to this attempt.
+
+For a long time she had been separated from Lewis and Ned, the last of
+her children that remained to her. To be sure, the other three were
+probably living somewhere, and so was her husband. But she only knew
+that they had gone into hopeless servitude, where she knew not. Indeed,
+she did not know but that they were already dead, and she did not expect
+ever to hear, for slaves are seldom able to write, and often not
+permitted to when they can. If there had only been hope of hearing from
+them at some time or other she could have endured it. But between her
+and those loved ones there rested a thick cloud of utter darkness;
+beyond that they might be toiling, groaning, bleeding, starving, dying
+beneath the oppressor's lash in the deadly swamp, or in the teeth of the
+cruel hounds, and she could not have the privilege of ministering to the
+least of their wants, of soothing one of their sorrows, or even dropping
+a silent tear beside them. If she could have heard only _one_ fact about
+them it would have been some relief. But she could not enjoy even this
+poor privilege. And then came the dead, heavy stillness of despair
+creeping over her spirits.
+
+Do you wonder that she became perfectly wild, and beside herself at
+times? How would you feel if all you loved best were carried off by a
+cruel slave-driver, and you had _no hope_ of hearing from them again in
+this world?
+
+During these dreadful fits of insanity she would bewail the living as
+worse than dead, and pray God to take them away. Then she would curse
+herself for being the mother of slave children, declaring that it would
+be far better to see them die in their childhood, than to see them grow
+up to suffer as she had suffered.
+
+She lived only a few miles from her old home; but her new master was an
+uncommonly hard man, and would not permit her to go and see her
+children. He said it would only make her worse, and his slaves should
+learn that they were not to put on airs and have whims. It was their
+business to live for him. Didn't he pay enough for them, and see that
+they were well fed and clothed, and what more did they want? This he
+called kind treatment. Very kind, indeed, not to allow a mother to go
+and see her own children! But when she was taken with those insane
+spells, and would go on so about her children that she was not fit to
+work, indeed could not be made to work, it was finally suggested to him
+that a visit to her children would do her good.
+
+This was the occasion of her present visit, and it was because she was
+insane that she attempted to take her own life. The wound, however, was
+not very deep, and Nancy did not die at this time. After the doctor had
+been there and dressed her wound, and affairs had become quiet, Lewis
+stole to the door of the cabin. He was afraid to go in. He hardly knew,
+any of the time, whether that strange wild woman could be his mother,
+only they told him she was. There was blood spattered here and there on
+the bare earth that served as a floor to the cabin, and on a straw
+mattress at one side lay the strange woman. Her eyes were shut, and now
+that she was more composed, he saw in the lineaments of that pale face
+the features of his mother; But her once glossy black hair had turned
+almost white since she had been away, and altogether there was such a
+wild expression that he was afraid, and crept quietly away again.
+
+He then went to find his brother, who, of course, did not remember so
+much about her. But it was touching to see the two little lone brothers
+stand peeping in wonderingly at their own mother, who was so changed
+that they hardly knew her. Then they went off behind the kitchen to talk
+about it, and cry over it.
+
+The strange big negro was Jerry, who belonged to the same master with
+Nancy, and he had come to bring her down. He was afraid that his master
+would be very angry if he should go back without her; but the doctor
+said the woman must not be moved for a week, and he wrote a letter for
+Jerry to carry borne to his master, while Nancy remained.
+
+The next day, as they gained a little more courage, the brothers crept
+inside of the cabin. Their mother saw them, and beckoned them to her
+bed-side. She could scarcely speak a word distinctly, but taking first
+one and then the other by the hand, she said inquiringly: "Lewis?"
+"Lewis?" "Ned?"
+
+They sat there at the bed-side by the hour that day. Sometimes she would
+hold their hands lovingly in hers; then again she would lay her hand
+gently on the heads of one and the other, and her eyes would wander
+lovingly over their faces, and then fill with tears.
+
+After a day or two little restless, fun-loving Ned grew tired of this,
+and ran out to play; but Lewis stayed by his mother, and she was soon
+able to talk with him.
+
+She showed him her wrists where they had been worn by the irons, and her
+back scarred by the whip, and she told him of cruelties that we may not
+repeat here. She talked with him as if he were a man, and not a child;
+and as he listened his heart and mind seemed to reach forward, and he
+became almost a man in thought. He seemed to live whole years in those
+few days that he talked with his mother. It was here that the fearful
+fact dawned upon him as it never had before. _He was a slave_! He had no
+control over his own person or actions, but he belonged soul and body to
+another man, who had power to control him in everything. And this would
+not have been so irksome had it been a person that he loved, but Master
+Stamford he hated. He never met him but to be called by some foul
+epithet, or booted out of the way. He had no choice whom he would serve,
+and there would be no end to the thankless servitude but death.
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "what have we done that we should be treated so
+much worse than other people?"
+
+"Nothing, my child, nothing. They say there is a God who has ordered all
+this, but I don't know about that." She stopped; her mother's heart
+forbade her to teach her child infidel principles, and she went on in a
+better strain of reasoning. "Perhaps he allows all this, to try if we
+will be good whether or no; but I am sure he cannot be pleased with the
+white folk's cruelty toward us, and they'll all have to suffer for it
+some day."
+
+Then there was a long pause, when both mother and son seemed to be
+thinking sad, sad thoughts. Finally the mother broke the silence by
+saying: "Well, here we are, and the great question is how to make the
+best of it, if there is any best about it."
+
+"I know what I'll do, mother," said Lewis earnestly, "I'll run away when
+I'm old enough."
+
+"I hope you may get out of this terrible bondage, my child," said the
+mother; "but you had better keep that matter to yourself at present. It
+will be a long time before you are old enough. There is one thing about
+it, if you're going to be a free man, you'll want to know how to read."
+
+Lewis's heart was full again, and he told his mother the whole story of
+the primer.
+
+"And did Missy Katy never ask about it afterward?" inquired the mother.
+
+"No, she never has said a word about it."
+
+"O well, she don't care. There are some young missies with tender hearts
+that do take a good deal of pains to teach poor slaves to read; but she
+isn't so, nor any of massa's family, if he is a minister. He don't care
+any more about us than he does about his horses. You musn't wait for any
+of them; but there's Sam Tyler down to Massa Pond's, he can read, and if
+you can get him to show you some, without letting massa know it, that'll
+help you, and then you must try by yourself as hard as you can."
+
+Thus did the poor slave mother talk with her child, trying to implant in
+his heart an early love for knowledge.
+
+But the time soon came when Nancy was well enough to go back to her
+cruel servitude. This visit had proved a great good to little Lewis. The
+entire spirit of his thoughts was changed. He was still very often
+silent and thoughtful, but he was seldom sad. He had a fixed purpose
+within, which was helping him to work out his destiny.
+
+His first effort was to see Sam Tyler. This old man was a very
+intelligent mulatto belonging to Mr. Pond. For some great service
+formerly rendered to his master, he was allowed to have his cabin, and
+quite a large patch of ground, separated from the other negroes, and all
+his time to himself, except ten hours a day for his master. His master
+had also given him a pass, with which he could go and come on business,
+and the very feeling that he was trusted kept him from using it to run
+away with.
+
+Mr. Pond was very kind to all his servants, as he called them, and a
+more cheerful group could not be found in the state. It would have been
+well if the Rev. Robert Stamford and many of his congregation had
+imitated Mr. Pond in this respect, for his servants worked more
+faithfully, and were more trustworthy than any others in the vicinity.
+There was one thing more that he should have done; he should have made
+out free papers for them, and let them go when they pleased.
+
+When Lewis mentioned his wish to Sam Tyler, the old man was quite
+delighted with the honor done to his own literary talent. "But you see,"
+said he, "I can tell ye what is a sight better; come over to Massa
+Pond's Sunday school. I'd 'vise ye to ask Massa Stamford, and then ye
+can come every Sunday."
+
+Lewis had a notion that it would not be very easy to get his master's
+permission, so the next Sunday he went without permission.
+
+It was a right nice place for little folks and big ones too. Nearly all
+Mr. Pond's servants were there punctually. It was held an hour, and Mr.
+Pond himself, or one of his sons, was always there. He read the Bible,
+taught them verses from it, sung hymns with them, and of late, at their
+urgent solicitation, he had purchased some large cards with the letters
+and easy readings, and was teaching them all to read.
+
+The first day that Lewis went he crept off very early, before his master
+was up, telling Aunt Sally where he was going, so that if he should be
+inquired for she could send Ned after him. Aunt Sally remonstrated, but
+it was of no avail; he was off, and she really loved him too well to
+betray him.
+
+That day young master Pond was in the Sunday school, and he spoke very
+kindly to Lewis, commending his zeal, and asking him to come again. But
+when he told his father that one of Mr. Stamford's boys was there, Mr.
+Pond's reply was that "this matter must be looked into."
+
+Mr. Pond was there himself on the next Sunday, and though he spoke very
+kindly to the boy, yet he told him very decidedly that he must not come
+there without a written permission from his master. "Well, then, I can't
+come at all, sir," said Lewis sorrowfully.
+
+"Ask him, at any rate," was the reply. "I'd like to have you come very
+well; but I'm afraid he will think I want to steal one of his boys, if I
+allow you to come here without his consent."
+
+It was with much fear that Lewis made known his wish to his master, and
+he was received, as he expected to be, with abuse.
+
+"You would like to be a smart nigger, I suppose; one of the kind that
+talks saucy to his master and runs away. I'll make you smart. I'm smart
+enough myself for all my niggers; and if they want any more of the
+stuff, I'll give them some of the right sort," said he with vulgar wit,
+as he laid his riding-whip about the shoulders of poor Lewis.
+
+But when Mr. Stamford found that Lewis had already been to Mr. Pond's
+Sunday school, he made a more serious matter of it, and the poor boy
+received his first severe flogging, twenty-five lashes on his bare back.
+
+"I hope now," said Aunt Sally, while dressing his welted and wounded
+back with wet linen, "that you'll give up that silly notion of your'n,
+that of learnin' to read. It's of no use, and these 'ere learned niggers
+are always gettin' into trouble. I know massa'd half kill one, if he had
+'im. Now, if you belonged to Massa Pond 'twould be different." And so
+she went on; but the more she talked the more firmly Lewis made up his
+mind that he would learn to read if he could, and the words of his
+mother came to his mind with authority: "If you're going to be a free
+man you'll want to know how to read."
+
+About two months after this he paid another visit to Sam Tyler. Sam's
+plot of ground and cabin was near the division line between the two
+farms, and Lewis took his time to go down there after dark. He asked Sam
+to teach him to read.
+
+"I should think you'd got enough of that," said Sam. "I shouldn't think
+it would pay."
+
+"What would you take for what you know about readin'?" asked Lewis.
+
+"Well, I can't say as I'd like to sell it, but it would only be a plague
+to you so long as you belong to Massa Stamford."
+
+By dint of coaxing, however, Lewis succeeded in getting him to teach him
+the letters, taking the opportunity to go to him rainy nights, or when
+Mr. Stamford was away from home. That was the end of Sam's help. He had
+an "idea in his head" that it was not good policy for him to do this
+without Massa Stamford's consent, after what Mr. Pond had said about
+Lewis's coming to Sunday school. Sam was a cautious negro, not so
+warm-hearted and impulsive as the most of his race. He prided himself on
+being more like white folks.
+
+Lewis was soon in trouble of another sort. He had found an old
+spelling-book, and Sam had shown him that the letters he had learned
+were to be put together to make words. Then, too, he managed to get a
+little time to himself every morning, by rising very early. So far so
+good, and his diligence was deserving of success, but the progress he
+made was very discouraging. C-a-n spelled sane, n-o-t spelled note, and
+g-o spelled jo. "I sane note jo;" what nonsense! and there was no one
+that could explain the matter intelligently. He perseveres bravely for a
+while, finding now and then a word that he could understand; but at last
+his book was gone from its hiding place; he knew not where to get
+another; and in short he was pretty much discouraged. These difficulties
+had cooled his ardor much more than the whip had done, and by degrees he
+settled down into a state of despondency and indifference that Mr.
+Stamford would have considered a matter of the deepest regret, had it
+befallen one of his own children.
+
+Years passed on--long, dreary, cheerless years. Lewis was now a boy of
+seventeen, rather intelligent in appearance, but melancholy, and not
+very hearty. In spite of repeated thinnings out by sales at different
+times to the traders, the number of Mr. Stamford's slaves had greatly
+increased, and now the time came when they must all be disposed of. He
+had accepted a call from a distant village, and must necessarily break
+up his farming establishment.
+
+It was a sad sight to see these poor people, who had lived together so
+long, put up at auction and bid off to persons that had come from many
+different places. Here goes the father of a family in one direction, the
+mother in another, and the children all scattered hither and thither.
+And then it was heartrending to witness their brief partings. Bad as had
+been their lot with Mr. Stamford, they would far sooner stay with him
+than be separated from those of their fellow-slaves whom they loved.
+
+A lot at a time were put up in a row, and one after another was called
+upon the block, and after a few bids was handed over to a new master, to
+be taken wherever he might choose.
+
+Ned and Jim and Lewis stood side by side in one of those rows. Ned had
+grown up to be a fine sprightly lad, and the bidding for him was lively.
+He was struck down to a Southern trader. Lewis listened despondently
+while the bidding for Jim was going on, expecting every moment to hear
+his own name called, when suddenly a strong hand was laid upon his
+shoulder from behind, and he was drawn from the row. After a thorough
+examination by a strange gentleman, in company with his master, he was
+bid to step aside. From some words that he heard pass between them, he
+understood that he had been sold at private sale, bartered off for a
+pair of carriage-horses.
+
+The animals, a pair of handsome bays, were standing near by, and he
+turned to look at them. "Suppose they were black," said he to himself,
+"would they be any meaner, less powerful, less valuable, less spirited?
+I do not see that color makes much difference with animals, why should
+it make so much difference among men? Who made the white men masters
+over us?" He thought long and deeply, but there came no answer.
+
+"Then, too, they are larger than I am, and there are two of them! What
+makes the difference that I should be higher priced? Ah, I have a
+_mind_, and it's my mind that they have sold," he added, with a sudden
+gleam of thought. "And what have I of my own? Nothing! They buy, and
+sell, and control soul and mind and body."
+
+Lewis had yet to learn that even the poor slave may with all his soul
+believe on Jesus, and no master on earth could hinder him. Mr. Stamford
+had never given his slaves any religious teachings, and perhaps it was
+just as well that _he_ did not attempt anything of that kind, for he is
+said to have taught his white congregation that it was no more harm to
+separate a family of slaves than a litter of pigs. His new master, whose
+name was Johns, lived about thirty miles distant, and nearly as much as
+that nearer the boundary line between Ohio and Kentucky, an item which
+the boy noticed with much satisfaction. On their way home Mr. Johns took
+special pains to impress on the mind of his new property the fact, that
+the condition of his being well treated in his new home would be his
+good behavior. "It's of no use," he says, "for my boys to go to showing
+off airs, and setting themselves up. I can't stand that. But if they are
+quiet and industrious, I give them as good allowances and as good
+quarters as anybody."
+
+What Mr. Johns called good behavior in servants, was their doing
+promptly and precisely just as he told them to, without venturing to
+think for themselves anything about it. If any of them did venture an
+opinion before him he shut them up with a cut of the whip or a sharp
+word, so that the utmost extent of their conversation in his presence
+was a strict answer to his questions, and "Yes, massa," in reply to
+his commands.
+
+Lewis was destined to assist in the garden. Mr. Johns was very fond of
+horticulture, but to have had his head gardener a slave, would have
+involved the necessity of talking with him, and consulting him too much
+to consist with his views of propriety. The slaves of families in the
+far South are not usually treated in this manner, but Mr. Johns was by
+birth an Englishman. The gardener, then, was a free white man named
+Spencer, and Lewis found him a very pleasant master. It was not
+difficult for him to find his way into his good graces, so that Lewis
+did not suffer so much by the change as he expected. His heart was
+already hardened by the loss of so many friends, that he took this with
+unexpected indifference. But he did miss his brother Ned. More than
+once, in his dreams, did he hear him crying for help; but after a while
+he heard, through a fellow-slave, that Ned was serving as waiter in a
+hotel at Louisville. This was the last he ever heard of him.
+
+Besides this, Lewis loved his new work. It was so delightful to see the
+shrubs, and trees, and plants flourish, and the flowers putting forth
+their gorgeous displays; and Spencer's kindness made the heaviest work
+seem light. It is very easy to serve a man that governs by kindness, but
+Lewis thought it would be much harder to serve Spencer if he had felt
+that he was his _owner_.
+
+One morning, going earlier than usual to the garden, he found Miss Ford
+there, the governess of the children. She was promenading one of the
+wide alleys, and pensively reading a favorite author. This occurred
+morning after morning, and Lewis thought he would be so glad if she
+would only spend a few minutes teaching him to read! He knew that she
+was from the free states, where they did not keep slaves, and he
+thought, perhaps, if she knew his desire to read she would help him. But
+morning after morning passed, and she seemed to take very little notice
+of him. Finally, he one day observed her looking at a beautiful magnolia
+blossom, the first that had come out. It was quite on the top of the
+tree. She evidently wanted it, and Lewis drew near, hoping that she
+would ask him to get it for her, and so she did. Lewis was delighted,
+she thanked him so kindly. After this he found occasion to say: "I think
+missus must be very happy, she can read."
+
+The lady looked surprised, and then pitiful. "And would you like to
+read?"
+
+"Indeed, there is nothing in this world would make me more happy," said
+Lewis.
+
+"It is a pity so simple a wish cannot be gratified," said she to
+herself. "Perhaps I could find time; if I thought so I might rise a
+little earlier. Could you come here by sunrise every morning?"
+
+"O yes, missus, indeed I could."
+
+"Come, then, to-morrow morning."
+
+That was a happy day for Lewis. His first lesson was quite a success. He
+had not forgotten all his letters. After this he went on prosperously,
+having a half hour lesson every fair morning.
+
+Lewis studied very hard, and made excellent progress. The difficulties
+that formerly troubled him now disappeared, for he had a teacher whom he
+could consult upon every word. Miss Ford gave him a few pence to buy
+candles with, and all his evenings were spent in assiduous devotion to
+his new task.
+
+The thoughts of his new acquisitions made him so happy that he worked
+more diligently, and appeared far more cheerful than formerly. Mr. Johns
+observed it, and remarked that the boy had turned out "a better bargain
+than he expected."
+
+When it was known in the house that Miss Ford was teaching Lewis, there
+was some consultation about it, and Mr. Johns approached the lady with a
+long face, to talk the matter over. However, she had altogether the
+advantage of him, for she laughed most uncontrollably at his concern,
+assured him that this was her intellectual play, and that she enjoyed
+the matter very much as she would teaching tricks to a parrot or monkey.
+"Surely, now, you would not deprive me of such an innocent amusement,"
+said she, with mock lamentation.
+
+"No; but my dear Miss Ford," said the gentleman, trying to appear
+serious, "it is not best for these people to know too much."
+
+"O, that is too good!" she replied, with a laugh. "Do you expect him to
+rival a Henry Clay or an Andrew Jackson?" and then she went on telling
+some such funny mistakes and ludicrous blunders of the boy, that Mr.
+Johns could resist no longer, and he joined in the laugh. There was
+evidently no such thing as pinning her fast to serious reasoning on the
+subject, and as she stood very high in Mr. John's good graces, he
+concluded he might about as well let her do as she liked.
+
+She had been a long time in the family, and as they had seen no
+ultra-abolition traits, they thought her "sound at heart" on that
+subject. And so she was; for had she known the true situation of the
+slaves, all the better feelings of her noble soul would have risen up in
+rebellion against the groundwork of the abominable "institution." But as
+the slaves were kept very much apart from the family, and by their
+master's peculiar training had very little to say when they did make
+their appearance, she had very little opportunity to study the workings
+of the system, if she had been disposed to do so, and very little to
+excite her curiosity about it.
+
+As Lewis by degrees gained the good opinion of his teacher, and
+flattered her by his rapid progress, so she gradually became interested
+in his early history, and especially in his early failures in learning
+to read. She was quite indignant at the opposition he had experienced,
+and her expressions of surprise at the treatment he received, led him to
+tell of greater cruelties that he had seen practised on others, and so
+on to the story of his mother. She took a deep interest in all his
+details, and he was never at a loss for something to tell.
+
+Could it be that slavery was so bad, that she was surrounded by these
+suffering creatures, and was doing nothing for them? She made inquiries
+of others prudently, and found that it was even so, and more too; that
+even she herself was not at liberty to speak out her sentiments about
+it. But she could think, and she did think. The great law of human,
+God-given _right_ came up before her, and she acknowledged it. These
+poor creatures had a right to their own personal freedom, and she
+thought it would be doing God and humanity a service if she could help
+them to obtain that freedom. She did not know that in doing thus she
+would be sinning against the laws of her country, (!) and perhaps she
+would not have cared much if she had, for she was one of those
+independent souls that dare to acknowledge the law of right.
+
+For months were these convictions gaining strength, but no opportunity
+occurred to assist any of them. Meanwhile she grew pensive and silent,
+oppressed by the helpless misery which she saw around her on every side.
+
+One evening when Lewis came for his lesson he brought her an anonymous
+note. The writer professed to take a deep interest in the intelligent
+young slave Lewis, and asked the question if she would be willing to do
+anything to advance his freedom.
+
+She unhesitatingly replied that she would be very glad to do so. Lewis
+knew where to carry the note, and she soon had an interview with the
+writer, Mr. Dean, of whom she had heard as the worst abolitionist in the
+neighborhood. Arrangements were soon made for running off the boy.
+
+Miss Ford was to get leave of Mr. Johns to send Lewis to a neighbor of
+Mr. Dean's on an errand for herself in the evening. As this would keep
+him quite late, and he was to report to her on his return, no one else
+would be likely to miss him until morning. He was to proceed at once to
+Mr. Dean's house, whence, with face and hands dyed, and his clothes
+changed, he was to go with Mr. Dean in the capacity of a servant to
+Cincinnati, and he should then run his own chance of escape. In its main
+features the plan worked well, and Lewis escaped.
+
+The next morning, when Lewis was missed at the house of his master,
+suspicion immediately fell upon Miss Ford. The plot was so simple that
+the truth could not well be concealed; but nothing was said about it
+until they might find some tangible evidence, and this was soon afforded
+by the imprudence of Dean. Two mornings after this he came to the garden
+fence by the arbor where she usually spent the morning, and threw over a
+note containing the words, "All right, and no suspicion."
+
+But he was mistaken about the "no suspicion." He himself would have been
+arrested at the moment of his return, for one of his neighbors had seen
+and recognized them in Cincinnati; but they waited and watched to see if
+by some chance Miss Ford might not also be implicated. And it was done.
+There were more observers than he dreamed of, and Miss Ford, who from
+her window saw the note fall, saw it picked up a moment after by Mr.
+Johns himself. Mr. Dean was arrested before he reached home again, and
+both he and Miss Ford were sent to jail. Complaints were preferred
+against them, but many months passed before they were brought to trial.
+When at last the trial came off, Mr. Dean was sentenced to imprisonment
+for ten years, and five thousand dollars fine. Miss Ford's sentence was
+five years' imprisonment, but the governor finally granted a reprieve of
+the last two years.
+
+After many adventures Lewis reached Boston, where he still lives, for
+aught I know, with a nice little woman of his own color for a wife, and
+three smart little boys. He labored so diligently in the cultivation of
+his mind that he became qualified for a teacher, and has been for a long
+time engaged in that pleasant and profitable occupation. But best of
+all, he has become a sincere Christian, rejoicing in the privilege of
+worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience, with
+none to molest nor make him afraid. He has heard once more from his
+parents. His father's master had returned to the neighborhood where his
+mother was, and they were again living together. His mother's mind was
+restored to sanity. She was more "like herself" than she had been before
+since the early days of their married life. In her later years she was
+brought to taste of the "liberty wherewith Christ has made us free," and
+went to her home above to be comforted after all her sufferings, while
+her cruel masters who enjoyed their ease here shall be tormented.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: WHIPPING A SLAVE.]
+
+[Illustration: HUNTING RUNAWAY SLAVES.]
+
+
+
+
+MARK AND HASTY;
+
+OR,
+
+SLAVE-LIFE IN MISSOURI.
+
+
+BY MATILDA G. THOMPSON.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The facts narrated in the following pages occurred in St. Louis a few
+years ago. They were communicated to the author by a friend residing
+temporarily in that city.
+
+
+
+
+MARK AND HASTY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+On a bright and pleasant morning in the month of November, Mrs. Jennings
+and her children were sitting in one of the bedrooms of a handsome
+dwelling in St. Louis. It was evident that preparations were being made
+for a long journey. Two large trunks, strapped and corded, stood in the
+center of the room, while folded and unfolded articles of clothing lay
+in confusion on the floor and chairs.
+
+"Katy," said Mrs. Jennings to a colored girl, who had just entered the
+room, "I wish you would bring in the other trunk, so that it will be
+ready for the children's clothes when Hasty comes."
+
+"Yes, missus," said Kate, and then, as she was leaving the room, she
+turned and said: "There's Hasty comin' in de gate, though she aint got
+de clothes wid her; 'pears to me she looks awful sorrowful."
+
+"Why, Hasty, what is the matter?" inquired Mrs. Jennings, as a pretty,
+but sad-looking mulatto woman made her appearance at the door.
+
+"O missus!" she said, "you must please 'scuse me, kase I hasn't de
+clothes done; but I'se been so nigh distracted dis week, dat I aint had
+heart nor strength to do anything. My husband has been sold down South,
+and I specs I'll never see him again if he once get down dar, kase dey
+never gets back."
+
+"Why, how did that happen, Hasty?" asked Mrs. Jennings. "Mark has always
+been such a trusty servant, and has lived so long in the family, that I
+thought nothing would have induced Mr. Nelson to part with him."
+
+"Yes, missus, I knows all dat. Mark has been the faithfulest sarvant dat
+his massa ever had. But ye see, on Saturday night when he cum down to
+see me, little Fanny was berry sick, and I had been out washin' all day,
+and Mark wanted me to go to bed, but I didn't; and we both sat up all
+night wid de chile. Well, early de next morning he started for his
+massa's, and got dere about church time, kase he had a good piece to
+walk. Den he hauled out de carriage, and fed de horses, and while dey
+was eatin', de poor crittur fell asleep. And after bit, Massa Nelson got
+mighty uneasy, kase he had to wait for de carriage, so he sent one of de
+men out to see whar Mark was; and dey found him asleep and went in and
+told his massa. Den he sent for Mark to cum into de parlor, and when he
+went in Massa Nelson axed him what right had he to go sleep, when it was
+time for de carriage to be round. And Mark said dat his chile had been
+sick, and he had sat up all night wid it, and dat was what made him so
+sleepy. Den Massa Nelson said he had no right to sit up, if it was gwine
+to interfere wid his work. And Mark stood right up and looked Massa
+Nelson in de face, and said: 'Massa Nelson, I think I hab as much right
+to sit up wid my sick chile, as you had to sit up de other night wid
+little Massa Eddie.' O my sakes alive! but Massa Nelson was mad den; he
+said: 'You, you black nigger, dare to talk to me about rights;' and he
+struck Mark over de face wid de big carriage whip, and said 'he'd 'tend
+to him in de mornin'.'"
+
+"And did Mark say nothing more than that?" inquired Mrs. Jennings;
+thinking that Hasty, like any other wife, would endeavor to hide her
+husband's faults.
+
+"No, missus, dat was every ting he said, and just went away and got de
+carriage round for Massa Nelson to go to church. Well, de next mornin'
+Massa Nelson told him to put on his coat and follow him, and he toted
+him down to old M'Affee's pen, and sold him to go down some river way
+down South; and I have cum dis mornin'," she said, looking up
+inquiringly into Mrs. Jennings's face, "to see if you, Missus, or Massa
+Jennings, wouldn't do something for him."
+
+"Well, Hasty, I'm sorry, very sorry for you," said Mrs. Jennings; "but
+don't be down-hearted; I will postpone going East this week, and see
+what can be done for you; and if my husband can't buy Mark, he probably
+knows some one who wants a trusty servant, such as I know Mark to be.
+However, Hasty, you may be assured that I will do all in my power to
+prevent your husband from going."
+
+Hasty dried her tears, and with many thanks took her departure, feeling
+much comforted by the confident tone with which Mrs. Jennings spoke.
+
+After Hasty had gone, Mrs. Jennings pondered, as she had never before
+done, on the evil effects of slavery. She thought of Hasty's grief, as
+poignant as would have been her own, had her husband been in Mark's
+place, and which had changed that usually bright countenance to one
+haggard with suffering. She thought of the father torn from his wife and
+child; of the child fatherless, though not an orphan; of that child's
+future; and as it presented itself to her, she clasped her own little
+girl closer to her heart, almost fearing that it was to share that
+future. Ah! she was putting her "soul in the slave soul's stead."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Mrs. Jennings, true to her promise, acquainted Mr. Jennings with the
+transaction, and entreated him to make an effort immediately to rescue
+Mark from his fearful doom.
+
+"Well, my dear," he answered, "it appears that the boy has been
+impudent, and I don't know that it would be right for me to interfere,
+but Mark has always been such a good servant that if I had been his
+master I would have overlooked it, or at least would not have punished
+him so severely. However, I'll go down to M'Affee and see about him."
+
+Accordingly, the next morning, he went down to the slave "pen" to see
+the trader. He found him at the door of his office, a sleek, smiling,
+well-dressed man, very courteous and affable, having the appearance of a
+gentleman.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Jennings," said the trader, "what can I do for you
+to-day?"
+
+"Why, M'Affee, I called down to see about a boy named Mark, one of
+Nelson's people. I heard you had him for sale, and as he is a good sort
+of a fellow, I wouldn't mind buying him, if you are reasonable."
+
+"Want to keep him in St. Louis?" inquired the trader.
+
+"O! certainly, I want him for a coachman; ours gets drunk, and my wife
+will not allow him to drive her."
+
+"Well, Mr. Jennings, I am very sorry, but the fact is, Mr. Nelson was
+very angry at Mark, and pledged me not to sell him in the State. You see
+he was impudent, and you know that can't be allowed at all. I am right
+sorry, but I dare say I can suit you in one quite as good. There's
+Hannibal, one of Captain Adam's boys, he is a--
+
+"No matter, I don't want him," interrupted Mr. Jennings; "I am not
+particular about purchasing this morning. I only wanted him to please my
+wife; she will be very much disappointed, as she has his wife washing
+for her, and she will be in great distress at parting with her husband."
+
+"Yes, yes, I see! It's a pity niggers will take on so. I am sorry I
+can't accommodate Mrs. Jennings. If you should want a coachman, I should
+be glad if you would call down, as I have a good stock on hand of
+strong, healthy boys."
+
+"Yes, when I want one I will give you a call. But do you really think
+that Mr. Nelson would refuse to have him remain even in the State? I
+really would like to keep the poor fellow from going down South, if I
+paid a hundred or two more than he is worth."
+
+"O! there is no chance for him. Mr. Nelson was positive in his
+instructions. I don't think you need take the trouble to ask him, as I
+am almost sure he will refuse."
+
+"Then I suppose nothing can be done. Good morning," said Mr. Jennings.
+
+"Good morning, sir; I am sorry we can't trade."
+
+Mr. Jennings went home, and acquainted his wife with the result of his
+mission. She was a kind mistress to her slaves, and had seen but little
+of the horrors of slavery. To be sure, she had heard of instances of
+cruelty, but they had made but little impression on her, and had soon
+been forgotten. But here was a case which outraged every womanly feeling
+in her breast, a case of suffering and wrong, occurring to persons in
+whom she was personally interested, and she was aroused to the
+wickedness of the system which allowed such oppression.
+
+In the evening Hasty came up to see if anything had been done for her
+relief. As she entered the room, the sorrowful expression of Mrs.
+Jennings's face brought tears into her eyes, for she felt there was
+no hope.
+
+"O poor Hasty!" said Mrs. Jennings.
+
+"Don't say no more, missus, I see what's comin'. Poor Mark will go down
+South. Seems to me I knowed it would be so from de fust. O dear! it'll
+go nigh breaking me down. Tears like I can't stand it no how," said
+Hasty, sobbing aloud.
+
+Mrs. Jennings waited till the first burst of bitter grief was over, and
+then tried to comfort her as well as she was able, but she felt how hard
+it was to assuage such grief as this. She spoke to her of the hope of
+seeing her husband again in this world, and of the certainty at least,
+if both tried to do the will of God, of meeting in heaven. But her
+efforts were unavailing, and her consoling words fell on a heart that
+would not be comforted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+When Mrs. Jennings awoke the next morning, her first thoughts were of
+Hasty, and she determined that the day should not pass over without her
+making another effort for Mark. Accordingly, after breakfast she ordered
+the carriage, intending to make a visit to Mr. Nelson's.
+
+"Where are you going, Maggie?" inquired Mr. Jennings of his wife, as he
+heard her give the order.
+
+"I am going to Mr. Nelson's about Mark," she answered.
+
+"Why, my dear, I told you what M'Affee said, that Nelson was implacable.
+And besides, I am afraid he will think it impertinent in you to meddle
+with his affairs."
+
+"I shall make an apology for my visit," she answered, "but I cannot rest
+satisfied until I hear a direct refusal from his own lips. His conduct
+toward Mark seems more like revenge than punishment. I do not think he
+can persist in it."
+
+"Well, I give you credit for your perseverance," he said, laughingly,
+"but I am afraid you will come home disappointed."
+
+"If I do," she replied, "I shall feel less conscience-stricken than if I
+had remained at home, knowing that I have done all in my power to
+prevent his going."
+
+As Mrs. Jennings rode along she felt that she had a disagreeable duty to
+perform, but, like a true Christian woman, she shrunk not, but grew
+stronger as she approached the dwelling of the lordly oppressor, and she
+prayed to God for strength to be true to him and to the slave. When she
+arrived, she entered the house of Mr. Nelson with strong hopes, but,
+much to her disappointment, was informed that he had left the city, and
+would be absent for some weeks. Her next thought was to see his wife, if
+she was at home. The servant said that his mistress was at home, but
+doubted if she could be seen.
+
+"Present my card to her," said Mrs. Jennings, "and say to her that I
+have called on business, and will detain her but a few moments if she
+will see me."
+
+The servant retired with the card, and in a few moments returned, saying
+that Mrs. Nelson would be glad to see her in the sitting-room. When Mrs.
+Jennings entered the room she apologized for the intrusion to a
+handsome, though slightly careworn lady, who arose to receive her.
+
+"Madame," said Mrs. Jennings, "I have called on you this morning in
+relation to your servant Mark. I hope you will not think it impertinent
+in me to interfere in this matter, but I am very much interested in him.
+His wife has been my laundress for several years, and is exceedingly
+distressed at the idea of being separated from him. She came to me
+yesterday, and told me that he had been impertinent, and that Mr. Nelson
+intended selling him down South. I promised to use what influence I had
+to keep him in the city. And I have called this morning to see if I
+could persuade Mr. Nelson to overlook this offense, pledging myself for
+his future good conduct, for I really think that this will be a lesson
+to him that he will never forget."
+
+"I can appreciate and sympathize with your feelings." said Mrs. Nelson,
+"for I have myself endeavored to change my husband's determination. But
+he is a rigid disciplinarian, and makes it a rule never to overlook the
+first symptom of insubordination in any of the servants. He says if a
+servant is once permitted to retort, all discipline ceases, and he must
+be sold South. It is his rule and he never departs from it. O! I
+sometimes feel so sick when I see the punishments inflicted that seem
+necessary to keep them in subjection. But we wives can do nothing,
+however great our repugnance may be to it. The children have begged me
+to take them to see Mark before he goes. I heard from one of the
+servants that his owner intended starting to-morrow, so that this will
+be the only opportunity they will have to see him, and I think I will
+gratify them and let them go."
+
+Mrs. Nelson rang the bell, and in a few moments Sally had the children
+ready.
+
+"I intended to go down myself," said Mrs. Jennings, "and if you have no
+objections, I will take the children down in my carriage, as it is
+waiting at the door."
+
+"O, I thank you, that will suit me very well," said Mrs. Nelson, "as my
+engagements this morning will hardly permit me to go, and I was almost
+afraid to trust them with any of the other servants, now that Mark
+has gone."
+
+Mrs. Jennings and the children immediately entered the carriage and
+drove to the yard. As the carriage drew up before the door, Mr. M'Affee
+came out and assisted the party to alight, and on hearing the business,
+summoned Mark to them.
+
+"O! Massa Eddie and Missy Bell," said he joyfully, "I'se so glad you cum
+to see poor Mark; I was afeard I would never see you again."
+
+"O yes," said Eddie, "we came as soon as mamma told us about it. You see
+we didn't know it until yesterday, when we went out to ride, and that
+cross old Noah drove us, and we couldn't tell what it meant; so as soon
+as we came home Bell asked mother about it, and she said that you had
+been naughty, and papa sent you away. But I don't care; I think pa might
+forgive you just this once."
+
+"Yes, so do I," broke in Bell; "pa ought to let you stay, because little
+Fanny won't have any father to come and see at our house, and I like her
+to play with me."
+
+"I'se afeard Fanny won't play any more," said Mark sadly. "She is berry
+sick; de doctor said it was de scarlet fever, and the oder night, when I
+was up home, she was out of her head and didn't know me."
+
+"Why, is she sick?" asked Bell; "I didn't know that; I'll ask mamma if I
+can't go and see her when I get home. But mamma says maybe you'll come
+back one of these days. Won't you, Mark?"
+
+"No, honey, I don't ever 'spec to get back; and if I do, it will be a
+long, long time. It's so far down where I'se sold to, down the Arkansas
+river, I believe."
+
+"Are you sold there, Mark?" inquired Mrs. Jennings.
+
+"Yes, missus, and I don't know what'll come of poor Hasty when she knows
+it. She was here dis morning, and said that you had gone to Massa
+Nelson's, and was going to try to get me off; but I knowed how it would
+be; but I couldn't bar to cast her down when she was so hopeful like, so
+I didn't tell her I was sold. O Missus Jennings! do please comfort de
+poor soul, she's so sick and weak, she can hardly bar up. I used to give
+her all the arnings I got from people, but I can't give her any more. O
+Lord! it comes nigh breakin' me down when I think of it," said Mark, the
+big tears coursing down his face.
+
+"Don't cry, Mark," said little Bell, "Eddie and I will save up our
+money, and by the time we are big, we'll have enough to buy you; then
+I'll send Eddie down to bring you home."
+
+"Yes," said Eddie, "and mamma will give us many a picayune, when we tell
+her what it's for."
+
+Mrs. Jennings had been an interested spectator of the scene, and would
+have remained longer with Mark, to comfort him; but as it was after the
+dinner hour, she feared Mrs. Nelson would be anxious about the children,
+so she told them it was time to go, and that they must part with Mark.
+
+"Well, Mark, if we _must_ go," said the children, throwing their arms
+around his neck, "Good by."
+
+"Good by, dear children," he said, "and please be kind to my poor little
+Fanny, that will soon have no father."
+
+"We will," they answered, as they sadly passed from the yard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The following morning that sun rose warm and bright. All was bustle and
+excitement on the levee. Its broad top was crowded with drays and cabs
+conveying the freight and passengers to and from the steamboats, that
+lay compactly wedged together at its edge.
+
+About ten o'clock the bell of the "Aldon Adams" announced that its time
+for starting had come. The cabs threaded their way through the piles of
+goods and bales of cotton to the plank, and delivered their loads of
+travelers flitting to the sunny South. The last package of freight was
+being carried aboard, and everything was ready for the start. But all
+who are going have not arrived. A sad procession is marching down to the
+boat. It is M'Affee's gang! the men handcuffed, the women and children
+walking double file, though not fettered. A little apart from the rest
+we recognise Mark, and by his side walks Hasty. Little is said by
+either, but O! they feel the more. At last they reached the plank that
+was to separate them forever, yes, forever.
+
+At that same spot farewells had been exchanged; farewells, sad and
+tearful. Yet amid these tears, and with this sadness, hope whispered of
+a glad meeting in the future--of a joyful reunion. But here there was no
+such hope. Each felt that for them all was despair. Hark! the shrill
+whistle and the impatient puffing of the steam, tell them they must
+part. The rest have taken their places on the deck, and they too are
+standing on the levee alone.
+
+[Illustration: HASTY'S GRIEF.]
+
+"Come, come, quit your parleying. Don't you see they are hauling in the
+plank! Jump aboard, Mark, and don't look so glum. I'll git you another
+gal down in Arkansas," said the trader.
+
+Had he seen the look which Hasty cast upon him, he might have been
+admonished by those words of Oriental piety; "Beware of the groans of a
+wounded soul. Oppress not to the utmost a single heart, for a solitary
+sigh has the power to overturn a world."
+
+She turned from the trader, and, with a sob, as though the heart springs
+were snapped, she threw herself into her husband's arms. Again, and
+again he pressed her to his heart, then gently unclasping her hands, he
+tottered along the plank, and nearly had he ended his saddened life in
+the rolling stream below, but the ready hand of his owner caught him,
+and hurried him aboard.
+
+The plank was hauled aboard, and in an instant the boat was moving out
+into the stream. The passengers congregated on the hurricane deck,
+cheered, and waved their handkerchiefs to friends on shore, and her crew
+answered the shouts of those on the other boats as she rapidly passed
+them. Few saw, and those who did, without noting, the sorrowing woman,
+who, leaning against a bale of goods, with one hand shading her eyes,
+and the other pressed hard upon her heart, watching the receding boat,
+until it turned a bend in the river, and was hidden from her sight. Yet
+no watcher borne away upon the boat, nor any sorrowing one left upon the
+shore, turned away, as the last traces of the loved ones faded, with a
+heavier heart, or a feeling of such utter loneliness as did poor Hasty.
+Despairingly, she turned toward home. No tears, no choking sobs; but
+only that calm, frozen look to which tears and sobs would have been
+a relief.
+
+The light, elastic step of but a week before was gone. She stopped not
+now to gaze into the gay windows, or to watch the throng of promenaders;
+but, with an unsteady pace, wended her way slowly to her humble home in
+the lower part of the city.
+
+"Stop, Aunt Hasty," said a colored woman belonging to Mrs. Nelson,
+"missus gave me leave to cum down here dis afternoon to go home with
+you, kase she said you would take it so hard parting with your ole man."
+
+Hasty looked up as she heard the well known voice of the kind-hearted
+Sally.
+
+"O! Sally," she said, "I'se got no home now; they has taken him away
+that made me a home, and I don't keer for nothing now."
+
+"You mustn't be down-hearted, Hasty," she said, "but look right up to de
+Lord. He says, Call on me in de day of trouble, and I will, hear ye; and
+cast your burden on me, and I will care for ye. And sure enough dis is
+your time ob trouble, poor crittur."
+
+"Yes," she answered, "and it has been my time of trouble ever since Mark
+was sold, and I has prayed to de Lord, time after time, to raise up
+friends to save Mark from going; but ye see how it is, Sally."
+
+"Yes, I sees, Hasty, but ye mustn't let it shake your faith a bit, kase
+de Lord will bring it all right in his time."
+
+Thus talking, and endeavoring to console her, Sally accompanied Hasty to
+her now desolate home. As she entered the room, the low moan of her
+child fell upon her ear, and awoke her to the necessity of action. It
+was well that there existed an immediate call on her, or her heart would
+have sunk under the heavy burden of sorrow. She went hastily to the side
+of the little sufferer, and passing her cold hand over the burning
+forehead of her child, whispered soothing words of endearment.
+
+"Is father come?" asked Fanny. "Ise been dreamin', and I thought for
+sure he was here. 'Aint this his night to come home, mother?"
+
+"No, honey, dis is Friday night," answered Hasty. "But never mind about
+father now, but go to sleep, there's a good girl."
+
+And sitting down by the side of her child, Hasty, with a mother's
+tenderness, soothed her to sleep. All that long night she sat, but no
+sleep shed a calm upon her heart; but when morning came exhausted nature
+could bear up no longer, and she sank into a short but troubled slumber.
+
+    By the sick bed of her child,
+      In her cabin lone and drear.
+    Listening to its ravings wild,
+      Dropping on it many a tear,
+    Sat the mother, broken-hearted;
+      Every hope was in its shroud.
+    From her husband she'd been parted,
+      And to earth with grief she's bow'd.
+    Now within her ear is ringing
+      Drearily hope's funeral knell,
+    And the night wind wild is singing
+      Mournfully, the word _farewell_.
+
+Day broke, and still mother and child slept on. Hasty's over-charged
+heart and brain were for the first time, for some days, lulled to
+forgetfulness. If this relief had not come, without doubt one would have
+broken, and the other been lost in madness. Fanny was the first to
+awake. The crisis of the disease had passed; the fever no longer
+scorched her veins, and her mind no longer wandered. She was, however,
+as weak as an infant, and as incapable of attending to her wants. For
+the first time for many days she felt a desire for food, and raising
+herself partly up, called to her mother to get her breakfast.
+
+The voice of her child roused Hasty from her dreams of peace, to the
+dread realities of her bereavement. For a few moments she could not
+recall her scattered senses, but soon the remembrance of yesterday
+crowded upon her mind, and the anguish depicted upon her face showed
+that they had lost nothing of their intensity during their
+short oblivion.
+
+"Why Fanny, child, is you awake? And de fever all gone, too? How is yer
+dis mornin', dear?" asked Hasty.
+
+"O! I feel a heap better, mother," answered Fanny; "and I think I will
+be pretty near well by the time pappy comes to-night."
+
+Every word her child uttered fell as a leaden weight upon her heart. Her
+mind instinctively reverted to the last time her husband had been there.
+Then no thought of separation clouded their minds, but together they
+watched beside their sick child, beguiling the long hours of the night
+with hopeful and loving converse. Then she thought of the incidents of
+the week as they followed each other in quick succession, the news of
+his sale, the trader's pen, the parting; all, all seemed burned upon her
+brain in coals of living fire, and with a moan of agony she sank
+insensible upon the bed.
+
+A few moments after Mrs. Jennings entered the room. Ever since visiting
+Mark, and witnessing his anguish, she had constantly thought of Hasty,
+and longed for an opportunity of consoling her, and rendering her any
+assistance in her power. Feeling this morning uneasy at not hearing from
+her, she determined to go and see her. After some difficulty she at last
+found her, and, as we have seen, arrived very opportunely. Instantly,
+upon seeing the state of affairs, Mrs. Jennings ordered her coachman to
+go for a physician, while she and her maid, whom she had brought with
+her, used every means to restore Hasty to consciousness, and in a short
+time they succeeded in their efforts.
+
+The doctor arrived shortly after, and advised rest and quiet as the best
+restoratives to her shattered nerves. The wants of Fanny were also
+attended to, and the cravings of her appetite satisfied from a basket of
+food which the thoughtful care of Mrs. Jennings had provided. Mrs.
+Jennings's next thought was to procure a nurse for Hasty. Here she had
+no difficulty, for the neighbors of Hasty willingly offered their
+services. Selecting one who appeared thoughtful and tidy, Mrs. Jennings
+returned home with a heart lightened by a consciousness of duty well
+performed.
+
+For some days Hasty lay in a kind of stupor, without taking any notice
+of transpiring events, or seeming to recur to those of the past. She was
+daily supplied with various little dainties and luxuries suitable to an
+invalid, and received many other attentions from the kind-hearted Mrs.
+Jennings. Fanny's health improved each day, and, as the buoyancy of
+youth threw off the remains of disease, she regained her strength, and
+at the end of the following week she was able to take almost the entire
+charge of her mother. Hasty's eyes followed every movement of her child
+with the in tensest eagerness, as if fearing that she too would be
+taken from her.
+
+When Fanny was fully recovered she learned the fate of her father. She
+did not weep, or sob, or complain, but for the first time she realized
+the shadow that slavery had cast over her; and the change was
+instantaneous, from the mirthful, happy child, to the anxious, watchful
+slave girl. Hereafter there was to be no trusting confidence, no
+careless gayety, but this consciousness of slavery must mingle with
+every thought, with every action.
+
+One day, about a week after Hasty was taken sick, her mistress entered
+her room. This lady was the widow of a Frenchman, one of the early
+settlers of St. Louis, who had, by persevering industry, gained a
+competency. Before he had an opportunity of enjoying it he died, and
+left his property, consisting of a dwelling, five or six negroes, and
+a good sum in the stocks, to his widow. Mrs. Le Rue, on breaking up
+housekeeping, allowed Hasty to hire her time for two dollars a week,
+on condition that at the end of each month the required sum was to be
+forthcoming, and in the event of failure, the revocation of the
+permission was to be the inevitable consequence.
+
+The monthly pay-day found Hasty prostrated on a bed of sickness, and of
+course it passed without the payment of the stipulated sum. This was the
+immediate cause of her visit.
+
+The anxiety depicted in the countenance of Mrs. Le Rue did not arise
+from any sympathy for the emaciated and suffering woman before her, but
+only from that natural vexation with which a farmer would regard the
+sudden falling lame of a valuable horse. The idea of commiserating
+Hasty's condition as a human being, as a sister, never for a moment
+occurred to her; indeed, the sickness of the little poodle dog, which
+she led by a pink ribbon, would have elicited far more of the sympathies
+of her nature. In Hasty she saw only a piece of property visibly
+depreciated by sickness.
+
+"What is the matter with you, girl? Why have you not come to pay me my
+money?" she asked harshly, as she took the seat that Fanny had carefully
+dusted off.
+
+"O missus! I'se been too sick to work dis two weeks; but I'se got five
+dollars saved up for you, and if ever I get well I kin pay you the
+rest soon."
+
+"Pay the rest soon! Yes, you look very much like that. You are just
+making a fool of yourself about your husband; that is the way you
+niggers do. You are just trying to cheat me out of the money. I'll never
+let one of my women get married again."
+
+While the much-injured lady was delivering this speech, the poodle, who
+had been intently watching the face of his mistress, and thinking some
+one must be the offender, sprang at Fanny, viciously snapping at her
+feet. She, poor girl, had watched every expression in the face of her
+mistress, with the same anxiety as the courtiers of the sultan watch
+that autocrat, who holds their lives and fortunes in his hand; and
+surprised at this assault from an unlooked-for quarter, she jumped
+aside, and in doing so trod upon the paw of her tormentor, and sent him
+howling to the lap of his mistress.
+
+This was the last drop that caused the cup of wrath to overflow. Without
+heeding the protestations of Fanny, she seized her by the arm, and boxed
+her ears soundly.
+
+"What did you tread upon the dog for, you great clumsy nigger? I'll
+teach you what I'll do, if you do anything of the kind again; I'll give
+you a good whipping."
+
+Then turning to Hasty, whose feeble nerves had been intensely excited by
+this scene, she said: "I want you to get to work again pretty soon, and
+not lie there too lazy to work. You need not think I am going to lose my
+money by your foolishness. I shall expect your month's payment as usual,
+and if I don't get it, I will hire you out like the rest. And there is
+another thing I have to say; you are not going to keep this lazy girl
+here to hinder you, and to spend money on. A lady I know wants just such
+a girl to go to the door, and to wait on her, who will give me two
+dollars a month for her, and it is quite time she was doing something. I
+will not take her away now, but next week do you tidy her up and send
+her to me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Hasty was dying. She knew that it was to be so. For herself it was a
+release which she hailed gladly; but the thought of leaving her child
+rent her heart with anguish. She could see what the lot of that poor
+waif of childhood, cast upon the sea of Southern despotism, would be,
+and she longed to protect her from it. Yet what is a slave mother's
+protection to her child? What blow can she arrest? What temptation
+avert? None. Even a mother's claim is unrecognized, and the child's
+affection unregarded. Hasty's strength gradually declined until Sunday,
+when, feeling that death was near, she sent Fanny for Mrs. Jennings, for
+the purpose of bidding her farewell, and asking her protection for her
+daughter. Mrs. Jennings, on learning from Fanny the condition of Hasty,
+immediately complied with the request. On entering the room she was
+surprised and shocked at the ravages that mental and bodily suffering
+had made on the once handsome woman. Seating herself by the bedside,
+Mrs. Jennings inquired in what way she could ease the mind of the dying
+mother. With earnestness did Hasty plead that her child might be rescued
+from her present condition. She entreated Mrs. Jennings to buy Fanny
+from Mrs. Le Rue, and bring her up in the fear of God, and beyond the
+reach of a slave girl's perils.
+
+All this Mrs. Jennings promised, and with many a word of comfort she
+smoothed the passing of the immortal spirit into the unknown country.
+She pointed to the Saviour, and told of his wondrous love, of the
+equality of all in his sight, and of the saving power of his grace
+extended to all, whether bond or free.
+
+Just as the sun threw his last rays upon the spires of the city, Hasty's
+spirit was released, and she was _free_. Fanny gave herself up to a
+child's grief, and refused to be comforted. To the slave, the affections
+are the bright spots in his wilderness of sorrow and care; and as an
+Arab loves the oasis the better that it is in the midst of the desert,
+so the slave centers the whole strength of his nature in his loved ones,
+the more so that he is shut out from the hopes of wealth, the longings
+of ambition, and the excitements of a freeman's life.
+
+Mrs. Jennings verified her promise to Hasty, and soon after her death
+purchased Fanny. But her whole soul revolted at a system which could
+cause the suffering she had seen; and in the course of a few months she
+prevailed upon her husband to close his business in St. Louis, and
+remove to Chicago, where she is an active worker among the anti-slavery
+women in that liberty-loving city. She has instilled the principles of
+freedom for all men into the minds of her children, and recently wrote
+the following verses for them on the occasion of the celebration of the
+Fourth of July:
+
+    "Little children, when you see
+      High your country's banner wave,
+    Let your thoughts a moment be
+      Turned in pity on the slave.
+
+    "When with pride you count the stars,
+      When your hearts grow strong and brave,
+    Think with pity of the scars
+      Borne in sorrow by the slave.
+
+    "Not for him is freedom's sound;
+      Not for him the banners wave;
+    For, in hopeless bondage bound,
+      Toils the sad and weary slave.
+
+    "All things round of freedom ring--
+      Winged birds and dashing wave;
+    What are joyous sounds to him
+      In his chains, a fettered slave?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: AUNT JUDY'S HUSBAND CAPTURED See page 133]
+
+
+
+
+AUNT JUDY'S STORY:
+
+A STORY FROM REAL LIFE.
+
+
+BY MATILDA G. THOMPSON.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+"Look! look! mother, there comes old Aunt Judy!" said Alfred, as an old
+colored woman came slowly up the gravel walk that led to the handsome
+residence of Mr. Ford, of Indiana.
+
+The tottering step, the stooping back, and glassy eye, betokened extreme
+age and infirmity. Her countenance bore the marks of hardship and
+exposure; while the coarse material of her scanty garments, which
+scarcely served to defend her from the bleak December wind, showed that
+even now she wrestled with poverty for life. In one hand she carried a
+small pitcher, while with the other she leaned heavily on her
+oaken stick.
+
+"She has come for her milk," said little Cornelia, who ran out and took
+the pitcher from the woman's hand.
+
+"Let me help you, Auntie, you walk so slow," said she.
+
+"Come in and warm yourself, Judy," said Mrs. Ford, "it is cold and damp,
+and you must be tired. How have you been these two or three days?"
+
+"Purty well, thank ye, but I'se had a touch of the rheumatiz, and I find
+I isn't so strong as I was," said Judy, as she drew near the grate, in
+which blazed and crackled the soft coal of the West, in a manner both
+beautiful and comforting.
+
+Mrs. Ford busied herself in preparing a basket of provisions, and had
+commenced wrapping the napkin over it, when she paused and leaned toward
+the closet, into which she looked, but did not seem to find what she
+wanted, for, calling one of the boys, she whispered something to him. He
+ran out into the yard and down the path to the barn; presently he
+returned and said,
+
+"There are none there, mother."
+
+"I am very sorry, Judy, that I have not an egg for you, but our hens
+have not yet commenced laying, except Sissy's little bantam," said
+Mrs. Ford.
+
+Now Cornelia had a little white banty, with a topknot on its head and
+feathers on its legs, which was a very great pet, of course; and Sissy
+had resolved to save all banty's eggs, so that she might hatch only her
+own chickens. "For," said she, "if she sets on other hen's eggs, when
+the chickens grow big they will be larger than their mother, and then
+she will have so much trouble to make them mind her."
+
+Now, when she heard her mother wish for an egg, the desire to give one
+to Judy crossed her mind, but it was some moments before she could bring
+herself to part with her cherished treasure. Soon, however, her
+irresolution vanished, and she ran quickly to her little basket, and
+taking out a nice fresh egg, she laid it in Judy's hand, saying,
+
+"There, Judy, it will make you strong."
+
+Mrs. Ford marked with a mother's eye the struggle going on in the mind
+of her daughter, but determined not to interfere, but let her decide for
+herself, unbiased by her mother's wishes or opinions. And when she saw
+the better feeling triumph, a tear of exquisite pleasure dimmed her eye,
+for in that trifling circumstance she saw the many trials and
+temptations of after life prefigured, and hoped they would end as that
+did, in the victory of the noble and generous impulses of the heart.
+
+When the basket was ready, and Aunt Judy regaled with a nice cup of tea,
+one of the boys volunteered to carry it home for her, a proposal which
+was readily assented to by Mrs. Ford, whose heart was gladdened by every
+act of kindness to the poor and needy performed by her children, and who
+had early taught them that in such deeds they obeyed the injunction of
+our Saviour: "Bear ye one another's burdens."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Several weeks had passed away since Judy's visit, when, one day, as
+Cornelia stood leaning her little curly head against her mother's
+knee, she said:
+
+"Mother, who is Judy? Has she a husband or children?"
+
+"I do not know of any, my daughter. She may have some living; but you
+know Judy was a slave, and they have probably been sold away from her,
+and are still in slavery."
+
+"In slavery, mother! and _sold_? Why, do they sell little children away
+from their mothers?"
+
+"Yes, Cornelia, there are persons guilty of such a wicked thing; mothers
+and children, and whole families, are often separated from each other,
+never, perhaps, to meet again!"
+
+"So Judy was a slave, mother?"
+
+"Yes, Cornelia, she was: and from all I have learned of her history, I
+am sure she has led a very unhappy and sorrowful life."
+
+"O! now I understand what you meant when you said that she had a thorny
+path through life. Have you ever heard her history, mother? if you have,
+won't you tell it to us?"
+
+"Yes, do, mother, do!" exclaimed the children together.
+
+"I should like very much to gratify you, my dear children, but it is not
+in my power to do so, as I am not very well acquainted with her history.
+But I will tell you how we can arrange it. Judy will he here to-night,
+as, I promised to give her some Indian cakes, of which she is very fond,
+and I have no doubt that she will tell you the story of her sad life."
+
+The idea of hearing Judy's story occupied the mind of the children all
+the afternoon, and the evening was looked forward to with great
+impatience by them.
+
+It was twilight, and Mrs. Ford and the children had gathered around the
+warm, comfortable grate to await the return of papa. The wind whistled
+without, and the snow-flakes fell silently and steadily to the
+frozen ground.
+
+"Mother, can't I bring in the lights?" asked Cornelia, who was getting a
+little impatient; only a little, for Cornelia was remarkable for her
+sweet and placid disposition.
+
+"Yes, dear, I think you may. Hark! yes, that is his footstep in the
+hall. Go, Alfred, and tell Bessie to bring up the tea. And you,
+Cornelia, bring your father's dressing-gown and slippers to the fire."
+
+"Yes, wife, let us have some of Bessie's nice hot tea, for I am chilled
+through and through; and such a cutting wind! I thought my nose would
+have been blown off; and what would my little girl have said if she had
+seen her papa come home without a nose? Would you have run?" asked
+Mr. Ford.
+
+"No, indeed, papa, if your nose were blown off, and your teeth all
+pulled out, and you were like 'Uncle Ned,' who had 'no eyes to see, and
+had no hair on the top of his head,' I would just get on your lap as I
+do now; so you see you could not frighten me away if you tried ever so
+hard," said Cornelia, laughingly.
+
+Supper was hastily dispatched, by the children, who were eager and
+impatient for the coming of Aunt Judy.
+
+"O mother! _do_ you think she will come?" asked Alfred, as his mother
+arose from the table to look at the weather.
+
+"Well, indeed, Alfred, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I think there
+is little probability of seeing Judy to-night."
+
+"Why, no, mother, I thought that as soon as I saw what a stormy night it
+was; and although it will disappoint us very much, I hope she will not
+come," said little Cornelia.
+
+"Why, how you talk, sis! _Not come_, indeed! Humph! I hope she _will_,
+then. This little snow wouldn't hurt me, so it wouldn't hurt her," said
+the impetuous Alfred.
+
+"You must remember, my son, that Judy is old and infirm, and subject, as
+she says, to a 'touch of the rheumatiz.' But I am sorry that she has not
+come to-night. She may be sick; I think I will call down and see her
+to-morrow," said Mrs. Ford, drawing out the table and arranging the
+shade on the lamp, so that the light fell on the table and the faces of
+those around it. They were cheerful, happy faces, and everything around
+them wore the same look; and from the aspect of things, it seemed as if
+they were going to spend a pleasant and profitable evening.
+
+"Dear papa, tell us a story with a poor slave in it, won't you? and I
+will give you as many kisses as you please," said Cornelia, twining her
+arms around her father's neck.
+
+"No, no, papa, not about the slave, but the poor Indian, who has been
+far worse treated than the slave was or ever will be. Only to think of
+the white people coming here, plundering their villages, and building on
+their hunting grounds, just as if it belonged to them, when all the
+while it was the Indians'. Now, if they had bought it and paid for it,
+honorably, as William Penn did, it would have been a different thing;
+but they got it meanly, and I'm ashamed of them for it," said Alfred,
+his eyes flashing and his cheeks glowing with indignation.
+
+"All that you have said is true, my son, but the Indians were also
+guilty of great cruelty toward the white people," said Mr. Ford.
+
+"But, papa, don't you think the Indians had good cause for their hatred
+to the whites?" asked Harry.
+
+"Why, Harry, they had no reason sufficient to justify them in their
+cruel and vindictive course; but they did no more than was to be
+expected from an entirely barbarous nation, and I am sure they had no
+good example in the conduct of the white people, from whom much better
+behavior might have been expected."
+
+"Well, papa, what were some of the wrongs that the Indians endured!"
+
+"The Indians regarded the whites as intruders, and maddened by some acts
+of injustice and oppression committed by the early settlers, they
+conceived a deadly hatred, which the whites returned with equal
+intensity; and for each crime committed by either of them, the opposite
+party inflicted a retribution more terrible than the act which provoked
+it, and the Indian, being less powerful, but equally wicked, was
+the victim."
+
+"Well, although I think the Indians were very wicked, I pity them, but I
+feel a great deal more for the poor slave," said little Cornelia.
+
+"I think they were very cruel, sis, but I still think that they were
+very badly treated," said Alfred.
+
+"There is no doubt of that," answered his father; "but, my son, when you
+began the argument you said that you thought the Indians were more
+deserving of compassion than the Africans. Now this is the difference.
+The Indians were always a warlike and treacherous race; their most
+solemn compacts were broken as soon as their own purposes had been
+served. And they were continually harassing the settlers; indeed they
+have not ceased yet, for at the present time they are attacking and
+murdering the traders who cross the plains, if they are not well armed,
+and in sufficiently large companies to keep them in check. Now the
+Americans had never this cause of complaint against the Africans, for,
+although like all heathen, they were debased, and were cruel and warlike
+among each other, they never annoyed us in America. And the Americans
+had not, therefore, even this insufficient excuse for enslaving them.
+The Indians were robbed of their lands, and driven from their homes; but
+the Africans not only lost their country, but were compelled to work in
+slavery, for men to whom they owed no allegiance, in a different
+climate, and with the ever-galling thought that they were once free. It
+argues well for their peaceable disposition, that they have not long ago
+revolted, and by a terrible massacre shaken off their yoke as they did
+in St. Domingo. Now, which was the worst used in this case?"
+
+"O! the slave, papa. I willingly surrender," said Alfred, laughing.
+
+"Well, if you have finished, I move we go to bed, and thence to the land
+of dreams," said Mrs. Ford, rising and putting away her sewing.
+
+It was unanimously agreed that this was the best plan, and, after giving
+thanks to God for his many mercies, they retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+"Good morning, father," said Alfred; "I have been thinking that I
+surrendered too soon last night; I did not bring out all my forces,
+because I forgot something I heard that old Baptist minister say when he
+was lecturing here a few days ago. He said that the Creek Indians would
+not send the poor fugitives back to their masters. It is true they made
+a treaty with our government to do so, but they had too much humanity to
+keep it; and for not doing so, the government withheld two hundred and
+fifty thousand dollars, which was due to the Indians for some lands, and
+used it to pay the masters. But that made little difference to them, for
+they still persisted in disobeying the 'Fugitive Slave Law.' Now don't
+you think _that_ was a good trait in their character?"
+
+"Yes, Alfred, I do; they manifested a very generous and humane
+disposition."
+
+"Well, but I think it was very dishonorable for them to break any
+treaty," said Harry.
+
+"You see, Harry, there is where you and I differ. I think it a great
+deal better to break a bad promise than to keep it, answered Alfred.
+
+"Come into breakfast, papa," said Cornelia, peeping her little curly
+head in at the door, "Mamma wants you to come right away, because she
+has to go to Judy's."
+
+"Very well, we will go now, and not keep mother waiting. Just look at
+the snow! How it sparkles! Jack Frost has been here, for the windows are
+all covered and the water in the pitcher is frozen."
+
+"Yes, papa, and see what funny shapes the icicles are in, and the trees
+and bushes look as if they had their white dresses on," said
+little Cornelia.
+
+"It will be a splendid morning for a sleigh-ride. Would you like to take
+one, mother?" asked Harry, after their breakfast was over and family
+prayer ended.
+
+"Yes, my son, I should; I have to go to Judy's this morning; so we can
+take the children to school first, and then pay my visit. I should like
+to have the sleigh at the door pretty early, as I have several places to
+go to after coming from Judy's."
+
+"Very well, mother, you shall have it immediately. Now bundle sis up
+warm, for there is a cutting wind, and I think it looks like snowing
+again. And O! mother, I had nearly forgotten it, there was a poor Irish
+family coming off the boat last night, who seemed destitute of both
+clothing and food. If we have time this morning, won't you go and
+see them?"
+
+"Perhaps I will," said his mother; and Harry ran off, but soon returned,
+calling, "Come, mother, the sleigh is waiting, and the horse looks as if
+he was in a hurry to be off."
+
+"Yes, Harry, I am coming; I only went back to get a little milk for
+Judy; she is so weak that I think she needs it."
+
+"O mother!" said Alfred as they drove along, "what is more enlivening
+than the merry jingling of the sleigh bells on a clear frosty day?"
+
+"It is, indeed, very pleasant, Alfred; but while we are enjoying our
+pleasant winter evenings, and our many sleigh rides, the thought comes
+to our minds that however much we may like the winter time, there are
+hundreds in our city who think of its approach with fear and trembling,
+and who suffer much from cold and hunger, until the pleasant spring time
+comes again. But you were telling me, Henry, about those poor people,
+and I was too much occupied to attend to you. Do you know where they
+live?" asked Mrs. Ford.
+
+"Yes, just along the bank, mother; it is a wretched-looking house, and
+very much exposed. Poor things! I pitied them very much; they appeared
+so destitute, and even the children had a care-worn look on their
+thin faces."
+
+"What! in that old house, Harry?" exclaimed Alfred. "Why the windows
+have hardly any panes in them, and there are great holes in the walls."
+
+"Yes, Ally, that is the place, and it is, as you say, a rickety old
+house; but I suppose it is the best they can get. But here we are at
+school, Ally; you get out first, and I will hand sissy out to you. Take
+hold of her hand, for the path is slippery."
+
+The children alighted, and then Harry and his mother, after a pleasant
+ride round the city, drove up to Aunt Judy's cottage.
+
+"O Miss Ford! am dat you? Now who'd a thought on't? I'se sure you's de
+best woman I ever see'd; now jist tell me what you cum'd out on sich a
+day as dis for!" asked old Judy as Mrs. Ford entered the cottage. As for
+Harry, he drove the horse hack to the stable until noon, when he was to
+call for his mother on his way from school with Ally and Cornelia.
+
+"Why, Judy, we came to see you; I thought that if you were sick, I could
+perhaps comfort you."
+
+"Wal, I _has_ been sick wid de rheumatiz. O marcy! I'se had sich orful
+pains all through me, and dats de reason I didn't cum last night. But,
+bless us! honey, here I'se been standing telling you all my pains and
+aches, and letting you stand in your wet feet; now come to de fire,
+my child."
+
+"My feet are not wet, Auntie, only a little cold. Harry brought me
+around in the sleigh, and we were well wrapped up. Now, Judy, here are a
+few things for you, some tea and sugar, a loaf of bread, and a bit
+of bacon."
+
+"Thanks, Missy Ford, I'se so glad to see a little tea; it's so long
+since I tasted any. And a bit of bacon too! Wal, now I _will_ have
+a dinner!"
+
+"Do not wait till dinner time, Judy; I want you to make a cup of tea
+now, and rouse yourself up, and try to recollect all that has passed and
+happened to you since your childhood, for I promised the children that I
+would tell them your history."
+
+"Yes, missy, I'll try," said Judy, taking her little cracked earthen
+teapot, and making her tea.
+
+After it was made, and Judy was refreshed with a good breakfast, she
+began and told Mrs. Ford the history of her sorrows and troubles, which
+we will let Mrs. Ford tell to the children herself. It was quite a long
+narrative.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Judy had just finished speaking when they were interrupted by the
+entrance of Harry, who had returned for his mother. Judy followed them
+to the sleigh, for she said she "must cum out and see de chil'en, spite
+of her rheumatiz."
+
+"Auntie," said little Cornelia, "have my little banty's eggs hatched
+yet?" Cornelia had sent the little banty and her eggs to aunt Judy, that
+the chickens might be hatched under her care.
+
+"Laws, yes, honey, I'll go in and get 'em for you to see; but I think
+you had bettor not take them home yet, till they get bigger," said Judy,
+going back into the house. In a little while she appeared with a little
+covered basket in her hand. She unwrapped the flannel from around the
+basket, and there lay six beautiful little white banties.
+
+"O mamma! look at the little things! Are they not little beauties?" said
+Cornelia, picking up one of them, and laying its soft feathery head to
+her cheeks.
+
+"Yes, my dear; but you must give them back, and not keep Auntie waiting
+in the cold."
+
+Cornelia hesitated a little while, and then was giving it back
+reluctantly, when her mother gently said, "Cornelia!" and she instantly
+returned the basket to Judy.
+
+After they were all seated in the sleigh, and Harry had touched the
+horse with the whip, they heard some one calling after them, and on
+looking behind there was poor old Judy carrying two hot bricks in
+her hand.
+
+"Get out, Ally, and take them from her, and do not let her come so far
+in the snow."
+
+But while he was getting free from the entanglement of the buffalo skin,
+Judy had come up, and, handing them to Mrs. Ford, said:
+
+"Here, Missy, is these ar bricks. I heated 'em for you, and forgot 'em
+till you was gone; take 'em honey; you's got more than a mile to go, and
+I knows you will be cold."
+
+Mrs. Ford thanked her, but gently reproved her for exposing herself.
+They watched her as she trudged back in the snow, and then waving their
+hands to her as she disappeared in the turn of the road, Harry touched
+the horse, and in a few minutes they seemed as if they were actually
+flying over the frozen surface.
+
+When they arrived at home Bessie had a smoking dinner on the table for
+them, which they partook of with great relish. After they had finished
+their dinner, their mother said that as they had but one session at
+school, they would have ample time to perform their tasks before
+tea-time. Harry was to chop the wood, while Alfred was to pile it on the
+porch; and Cornelia would finish the garters that she was kniting as a
+Christmas present for papa. And after that they were to study their
+lessons for the next day, so that they would be at leisure in the
+evening. All cheerfully obeyed, and before tea-time their tasks were all
+performed and lessons learned.
+
+After the tea-things had been removed, "Now," said Mr. Ford,
+
+    'Stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
+    Let fall the curtain, and wheel the sofa round,'"
+
+"And be ready for Aunt Judy's story," added Alfred. "Come, mother, come;
+we are all waiting."
+
+"Have a little patience, my son, I will be there in a few minutes."
+
+She soon reappeared, and was greeted with "three cheers" from the
+children, and seating herself in the large comfortable rocking-chair,
+she began:
+
+"On the eastern side of the beautiful Roanoke was the residence of Mr.
+Madison, and here the first few years of Judy's life was passed. She had
+a kind master, and, while in his service, had a very happy time. She
+had, like most of her race, a strong native talent for music, and was
+frequently called upon to exercise it by singing songs, and dancing, for
+the amusement of General Washington and the other officers of the
+Revolution who visited at her master's house. Judy was then quite young,
+and greatly enjoyed a sight of the soldier's gay uniform.
+
+"Her master died when she was a child. Her mistress was then in very ill
+health, and little Judy spent most of the time in her room, in
+attendance upon her. One day her mistress was seized with a violent fit
+of coughing. Judy ran to her assistance, and finding that the cough did
+not yield to the usual remedies, called for help, but before aid was
+obtained, Mrs. Madison was dead! She died with her arms around the neck
+of her faithful attendant.
+
+"Mrs. Madison had made provision for the emancipation of Judy, and after
+her death she received her free papers, which she carefully guarded.
+
+"After her mother's death, the daughter of Mrs. Madison determined to
+remove to Kentucky, and Judy, being much attached to her and the family,
+accompanied them.
+
+"Soon after her arrival there, Judy married a slave on the plantation of
+Mr. Jackson, which was several miles distant from that of Judy's
+mistress. John's master was very cruel to him; he would not allow him to
+leave the estate, nor was Judy permitted to come to see him; and thus
+they lived apart for several months; but the brutal treatment of his
+master at last rendered John desperate, and he determined to run away.
+It was a fearful risk, but if he succeeded, the prize, he thought, would
+be sufficient compensation.
+
+"One morning he had a pass from his master to go to a neighboring town
+on business, and he thought this a good opportunity to execute the
+project he had so long entertained. He started, and traveled all night,
+and lay concealed in the woods all day, and on the third day after he
+had left home he ventured on to the estate of Judy's mistress. He went
+into one of the hen-houses, and it was not long before he saw Judy come
+out to feed the poultry. She was very much frightened when she saw him,
+and thought of the consequences that might arise from his master's rage
+if he found him. However, she hid him in the barn, supplying him with
+food at night. He stayed there more than a week, intending to leave
+Kentucky after his master's pursuit should have ceased. But one morning
+his master came to the house, and told Judy's mistress that one of his
+slaves was concealed on the place, and asked permission to hunt him,
+which was granted. He soon found him by the aid of one of the slaves
+who had noticed Judy carrying food to the barn, and watched her till he
+had discovered her husband, and then informed against him."
+
+"O how mean to betray him!" exclaimed Alfred.
+
+"Yes, Ally, it was; but I suppose it was the hope of reward that induced
+him to be guilty of such a base act."
+
+"And _was_ he rewarded?" asked Cornelia, "for I am sure if he was he did
+not deserve it."
+
+"I do not know that he was, my daughter," answered Mrs. Ford. "John was
+taken to jail and locked up until his master should return home. Judy
+obtained a permit to enter the jail, and stayed with him in the cold,
+damp cell, cheering him with her presence. She could not bear the
+thought of being again separated, and determined to accompany him, let
+the consequences be what they might. Her husband was taken to a
+blacksmith's shop on the next day after his recapture, and a heavy pair
+of handcuffs placed upon him, and a chain (having at the end a large
+iron ball) was then fastened to his leg to prevent him from running, and
+in this condition they started for home. They walked for six days, she
+with her infant in her arms, and he, heavily loaded with irons. And she
+told me that often her dress was one cake of ice up to her knees, the
+snow and rain being frozen on her skirts. Her husband's shoes soon gave
+way, and his feet bled profusely at every step. Judy tore off her skirt,
+piece by piece, to wrap them in, for she loved him tenderly. But the
+anguish of their bodies was nothing in comparison with that of their
+minds. Fear for the consequences of the attempt, and regret that it had
+not been successful, filled their hearts with grief, and they journeyed
+on with no earthly hope to cheer them.
+
+"Just think, my children, what they must have suffered through those
+long dreary days, John going back to slavery and misery, and Judy not
+knowing what her own fate might be. But she had comforted herself with
+the thought that when John's master saw what a condition he was in, he
+would relent toward him. But she was sadly mistaken, for he took him,
+weary, sick, and suffering, as he was, and whipped him cruelly, and then
+left him in an old shed."
+
+[Illustration: HANDCUFFING JUDY'S HUSBAND]
+
+"O mamma!" said little Cornelia, burying her face in her mother's lap,
+and sobbing aloud, "Do they do such wicked things?"
+
+"I wish I had hold of him," said Alfred, "wouldn't I give it to him?"
+
+"I should feel very much grieved if I saw you harm him in any way, Ally.
+Do you forget what our blessed Saviour said about returning good for
+evil?" asked his mother.
+
+"Well, but mother, I am sure it would have been no more than fair just
+to give him a good cowhiding, so as it did not kill him."
+
+"No more than he deserved, perhaps, but, my son, you should remember
+that Jesus taught us that we should forgive the greatest injuries.
+
+"After this cruel treatment of John, Judy, with the aid of one of the
+other slaves who sympathized with her and John, carried him to a little
+hut that was not so much exposed as the one in which he had previously
+lain. He had a razor with which he had attempted to kill himself, but
+Judy came in at that moment, and as he was very weak, she easily took it
+from him; but he said:
+
+"'O let me die! I would rather be in my grave, than endure this over
+again.'
+
+"He was sick and helpless a long time, but he would have suffered much
+more if Judy had not been free, and had it in her power to nurse him.
+There is many a poor slave that has fallen a victim to this kind of
+barbarity, with no eye to witness his distress but his heavenly Father's.
+
+"To add to John's misery was the brutal treatment of a little brother; a
+smart active child of eight years of age, who was owned by the same man.
+Mr. Jackson was a great drunkard, and when under the influence of liquor
+no crime was too great for him. One day, for some slight offense, he
+took the child, marked his throat from ear to ear, and then cut the rims
+of his ears partly off and left them hanging down. A little while after
+this, a gentleman, who had been in the habit of visiting at the house,
+rode up, and noticing the child's throat, asked him how it happened. He
+said, "Massa did it." The gentleman was so enraged, that he immediately
+mounted his horse, rode away, and had him arrested.
+
+"When John was able to leave his bed, his mistress, a kind and humane
+woman, whose slave he had been before her marriage, took him and hid him
+in a cave that was on the plantation, and supplied him with food,
+intending to send him away as soon as she could do so safely.
+
+"He was there several weeks, and his master supposed he had again
+escaped, and was hid somewhere in the woods, but he had become so much
+dissipated that he took no interest in his business affairs, and never
+explored the hiding-places on his own plantation. One day a gentleman by
+the name of Mr. Lawrence, of Vincennes, came to Mr. Jackson's to
+purchase a servant to take with him to Indiana.
+
+"Why, mother, I thought that they would not allow any one to hold slaves
+here," said Ally.
+
+"No, they do not, my son, but this gentleman was to take him as a bound
+servant for a term of years, and he probably supposed that poor John's
+legal rights would not be very carefully examined. John was sold in the
+woods for a small sum. After the bargain was concluded, Mr. Lawrence
+asked if the slave had a wife on the plantation, and was told that he
+had. Judy was pointed out to him. He asked her if she knew where her
+husband was, and she told him that she did; for she thought it was
+better for him to leave his cave, as it was damp and comfortless. So
+that night, with new hope in her heart, Judy went to his lone and dreary
+hiding-place, and told him of the bargain. Any change was a relief to
+him, and he came willingly out, and made preparations for going with Mr.
+Lawrence. He waited until his master was in bed, and too deeply
+stupefied with liquor to heed what was passing, and then came to the
+place appointed. Mrs. Jackson gave him some clothes, and made what
+provision she could for his comfort on the way. John had a horse given
+him to ride upon, but Judy was taken no notice of; yet she determined to
+walk the three days' journey, rather than be separated from John.
+
+"Mr. Lawrence, when he perceived Judy was following them, tried to
+persuade her to return, for she had a young child with her, and he was
+afraid she would be troublesome. He told her that after her husband was
+settled in Vincennes, he would send for her, but she had learned to
+place no confidence in promises made to a slave; so she resolved she
+would go, believing if she lost sight of her husband she would never see
+him again.
+
+"They had to cross the Ohio in a ferry boat, and Judy strained every
+nerve to reach it before them. She did so; and hurrying up the stairs
+with her baby, she clasped the railings, resolved to stay there, unless
+compelled by violence to leave the boat. But no one noticed her, and she
+arrived safely on the other side. After walking some miles, poor Judy
+became tired and weary, and her strength failed her, and she was afraid
+that after all she had gone through, for the sake of her husband, she
+would be left at last. But she thought she would make another effort, so
+she told Mr. Lawrence that if he would buy her a horse to ride upon, she
+would bind herself to him for six months after they arrived in Indiana.
+He agreed to do so, and bought her a horse. After they reached
+Vincennes, and Judy had worked out her six months, she again bound
+herself to him to serve out her husband's time, for he was very weak and
+feeble, and was suffering with a severe cough, and Judy longed to see
+him own his own body. But God freed him before the year was out. He had
+suffered so much from severe whipping and abuse of every kind that he
+wasted away and died of consumption.
+
+"After his death Judy remained with his master for some time, but she
+finally became dissatisfied, and longed to go back to Mrs. Madison's
+daughter, and see her home once more. She mentioned this to Mr.
+Lawrence, but he took no notice of it until, one day, he came to her
+and said:
+
+"'Judy, I want you to come down to the auction rooms, I have bought a
+few things to-day, and I want you to carry them home; and you might as
+well bring little Charley along with you, he can help you.'
+
+"The little Charley here spoken of was a smart child of five or six
+years of age. Judy and Charley accompanied Mr. Lawrence to the rooms.
+When they arrived there Judy observed a number of strange-looking men
+who appeared to be earnestly conversing on some subject which interested
+Mr. Lawrence deeply. But Judy suspected nothing, and had begun arranging
+the things so that she could carry them more conveniently, when her
+master turned round to her and said:
+
+"'Judy, you have become dissatisfied with me, and I have got you a new
+master.'
+
+"Judy was frightened, and attempted to run, but one of them caught her,
+and dragging her to a trap door, let her down. Little Charley, not
+knowing what had become of his mother, began to cry, but one of the men
+held him and told him to stop making such a noise.
+
+"Judy remained in the cellar until a vessel came along, and she was then
+taken out, and a handkerchief tied tightly over her mouth to prevent her
+from screaming or making any noise. She was then hurried on board of the
+boat, with a cargo of slaves bound for the far South. It seemed now as
+if her 'cup of bitterness was full.' As she was on the deck, in grief
+and terror, she heard some one calling 'Mother! mother!' and on looking
+up, there was her darling boy. She asked him how he came there;
+he answered:
+
+"'A naughty man that put you down in the cellar carried me to his house,
+and locked me up, and then brought me here.'
+
+[Illustration: WAITING TO BE SOLD.]
+
+"Poor Judy! she knew in a moment that both were to be sold, and no
+language can describe her anguish; her free papers were left behind, and
+another one of her children, her little daughter Fanny. She did not know
+what would become of her, or where she was going. After sailing for
+several weeks, they arrived at a place which she thinks was called
+Vicksburg; here they were taken off the boat, and carried to the auction
+rooms, where a sale was then going on. In a little while after they came
+in, a gentleman walked up to them, and after looking at little Charley,
+placed him on the block. Poor Judy's heart was almost bursting; but when
+she saw a man buy and carry away the pride and joy of her heart, she
+became frantic, and screamed after him, but he was picked up and carried
+from her sight. It was too much for her; all was a mist in a moment, and
+she sank senseless to the floor. When she revived she found herself
+lying on an old pile of cotton in one corner of the auction rooms. The
+auctioneer, seeing that she had arisen, bade her stand in the pen, along
+with the other negroes. Judy mechanically obeyed, and took her place
+with the others, and was sitting like one in a dream, when she was
+aroused by a man slapping her on the back.
+
+"'Come, look spry, old woman,' said he.
+
+"'Could you look spry, massa, if your child, your son you loved as well
+as your life, was torn away from you? O God!' said she, burying her face
+in her hands, 'have mercy on me, and help me to be resigned.'
+
+"'Yes, I'll make you resigned,' said he, sneeringly, slapping her across
+the back. 'Now you follow me, and don't let me hear a word out of
+your head.'
+
+"Judy obeyed, and after arriving at the wharf, they went on board a
+vessel that was bound for New Orleans. In about a week after they had
+started, they arrived at Mr. Martin's plantation, where Judy saw about
+one hundred and fifty slaves at work in the field. Without being allowed
+a moment to rest herself, after her long walk from the boat, she was
+given a basket and ordered to the field. Poor Judy's head was aching
+severely, and when she was exposed to the scorching rays of the sun of
+the south, her temples throbbed wildly, and O! how she longed for some
+quiet shady place, where she could bathe her fevered brow and rest her
+weary limbs. But she must not think of stopping a moment to rest, for
+the eyes of the brutal overseer were upon her, and the thought of the
+stinging lash, the smart and pain, came across her mind, and urged her
+on, and made her work with greater swiftness than before. At last the
+weary, weary day drew to a close, and it was getting quite dark, and the
+dew was beginning to fall, and Judy was expecting every moment to hear
+the order for them to return home. But still they worked on, and hour
+after hour passed, until it was almost midnight, and not till then did
+the joyful summons come for them to stop."
+
+"Why, mamma, do they make them work so late as that?" asked Cornelia.
+
+"Yes, my daughter, in the busy season the poor slaves are often kept out
+very late. After they had received the order to return home, Judy, with
+aching limbs, joined the other slaves who were wearily wending their way
+to the little out-house where the overseer was weighing their cotton. As
+they presented their baskets to be weighed, they watched eagerly to see
+if their baskets were approved of. Judy gladly heard that hers was the
+full weight, and after ascertaining where she was to sleep, and
+receiving her allowance of corn, she went to the shed pointed out to
+her. She made her cakes for her supper and for the next morning, and
+then laid down upon her bed, or rather on a pile of straw with an old
+piece of sheet spread over it. Judy was much exhausted, and soon fell
+asleep, notwithstanding the roughness of her bed. But it seemed as
+though she had scarcely closed her eyes before the plantation bell rang,
+and called them to another weary day's work.
+
+"Thus many, many months passed, of toiling from day to day, and from
+morning till night. One morning they saw one of the house servants
+running toward them; he told them that their master was dead. He had
+died suddenly from a fit of appoplexy. The tidings were received by Judy
+with joy. You must pardon her, my children, for this man had been a
+cruel master to her, and she thought that, as he had neither wife nor
+children, his slaves would be sold, and perhaps she would get farther
+north, and in the neighborhood of her old home, and might meet with some
+of her old friends who would prove that she was free.
+
+"A few days after Mr. Martin's funeral there was a meeting of his heirs,
+and they determined to sell the slaves. Accordingly the next morning
+they were marched down to the wharf, where they found a boat at anchor,
+and all went on board. We will pass over the wearisome trip of several
+days, and imagine them to be at the end of their journey at Memphis.
+Here they were taken off the boat, and placed in jail until auction day.
+In a few days they were again taken out and tied in couples, and taken
+to the auction. Judy was sitting very disconsolate, thinking of her past
+misfortunes and coming sorrows. The hope of seeing any of her old
+friends, or of being reunited with her children, she had almost given
+up. The auctioneer called to her, and she stepped on the block. Her
+strong and well-proportioned figure, and comely, though dejected and sad
+appearance, instantly raised a dozen bids. First here, now there, might
+be heard the voice of the competitors; the noise of the hammer ceased,
+and Judy was the property of Mr. Carter. After his purchase Mr. Carter
+was taking Judy to the boat, when she felt some one catching hold of her
+arm; she turned around and immediately recognized the person as a
+gentleman whom she had known while living with Mrs. Madison's daughter.
+He said to her:
+
+"'Why, Judy, where are you going?'
+
+"She answered in a kind of wicked despair:
+
+"'To hell, I believe.'
+
+"This gentleman inquired about her condition, and finally rescued her,
+and sent her to Vincennes, where she labored for many years and found
+some good friends, but she never felt safe after she had been stolen
+away from there. She made inquiries about her children, but never
+learned anything of them. Not having anything to attach her to
+Vincennes, she left and came to Terra Haute, where she resided a little
+while, and then came further into the interior of the state.
+
+"Her children are scattered, and gone she knows not where; and after a
+long life of toil and suffering she is here, old, infirm, and a beggar.
+Every wrinkle on her brow could tell a tale of suffering; her youth is
+gone; her energies are all spent, and her long life of toil has been
+for naught."
+
+Mrs. Ford ceased, her tears were falling fast, and the children were
+sobbing around her. The fire, from neglect, had gone out, and there were
+only a few smoking embers left in the fire-place, reminding them of the
+time that had been spent in hearing "AUNT JUDY'S STORY."
+
+[Illustration: AUNT JUDY.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: "ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"]
+
+
+
+
+"ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"
+
+
+"Please, massa, teach me to read!" said an aged negro one day to a
+missionary in the West Indies.
+
+The missionary said he would do so, and the negro became his scholar.
+But. the poor old man, trained in ignorance through threescore years,
+found it difficult to learn. He tried hard, but made little progress.
+One day the missionary said:
+
+"Had you not better give it up?"
+
+"No, massa," said the negro, with the energy of a noble nature, "me
+neber gib it up till me die!"
+
+He then pointed to these beautiful words in his Testament: "God so loved
+the world that he gave his only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth
+on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "There," he added,
+with deep feeling, "it is worth all de labor to be able to read _dat one
+single verse_!"
+
+Noble, godly old man! Though once a slave he had a freeman's soul, and
+richly merited that freedom which England so righteously gave to her
+West Indian slaves some years ago. Let us hope the time is not far
+distant in which the colored people of our own happy land will also all
+be free, all able to read the Bible, all possess that soul freedom with
+which Christ makes his disciples free. God has many dear children among
+the slaves, many of whom feel that slavery is worse than death. May he
+in his wisdom provide for their early deliverance from the terrible yoke
+which is about their necks!
+
+THE END.
+
+18 April, 1860
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Child's Anti-Slavery Book, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10464 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #10464 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10464)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Child's Anti-Slavery Book, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Child's Anti-Slavery Book
+       Containing a Few Words About American Slave Children and Stories
+       of Slave-Life.
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 15, 2003 [EBook #10464]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD'S ANTI-SLAVERY BOOK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Audrey Longhurst and PG Distributed Proofreaders.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A SLAVE FATHER SOLD AWAY FROM HIS FAMILY.]
+
+
+
+THE CHILD'S ANTI-SLAVERY BOOK
+
+
+CONTAINING A
+
+Few Words about American Slave Children.
+
+AND
+
+STORIES OF SLAVE-LIFE.
+
+
+TEN ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+A FEW WORDS ABOUT AMERICAN SLAVE CHILDREN
+
+LITTLE LEWIS--THE STORY OF A SLAVE BOY
+
+MARK AND HASTY
+
+AUNT JUDY'S STORY--A STORY FROM REAL LIFE
+
+ME NEBER GIVE IT UP
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations.
+
+
+A SLAVE FATHER SOLD AWAY FROM HIS FAMILY.
+
+LITTLE LEWIS SOLD.
+
+WHIPPING A SLAVE.
+
+HUNTING RUNAWAY SLAVES.
+
+HASTY'S GRIEF.
+
+AUNT JUDY'S HUSBAND CAPTURED.
+
+HANDCUFFING JUDY'S HUSBAND.
+
+WAITING TO BE SOLD.
+
+AUNT JUDY.
+
+"ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"
+
+
+
+
+A FEW WORDS ABOUT AMERICAN SLAVE CHILDREN.
+
+
+Children, you are free and happy. Kind parents watch over you with
+loving eyes; patient teachers instruct you from the beautiful pages of
+the printed book; benign laws, protect you from violence, and prevent
+the strong arms of wicked people from hurting you; the blessed Bible is
+in your hands; when you become men and women you will have full liberty
+to earn your living, to go, to come, to seek pleasure or profit in any
+way that you may choose, so long as you do not meddle with the rights of
+other people; in one word, _you are free children_! Thank God! thank
+God! my children, for this precious gift. Count it dearer than life. Ask
+the great God who made you free to teach you to prefer death to the loss
+of liberty.
+
+But are all the children in America free like you? No, no! I am sorry to
+tell you that hundreds of thousands of American children are _slaves_.
+Though born beneath the same sun and on the same soil, with the same
+natural right to freedom as yourselves, they are nevertheless SLAVES.
+Alas for them! Their parents cannot train them as they will, for they
+too have MASTERS. These masters say to them:
+
+"Your children are OURS--OUR PROPERTY! They shall not be taught to read
+or write; they shall never go to school; they shall not be taught to
+read the Bible; they must submit to us and not to you; we shall whip
+them, sell them, and do what else we please with them. They shall never
+own themselves, never have the right to dispose of themselves, but shall
+obey us in all things as long as they live!"
+
+"Why do their fathers let these masters have their children? My father
+wouldn't let anybody have me," I hear one of my little free-spirited
+readers ask.
+
+Simply, my noble boy, because they can't help it. The masters have
+banded themselves together, and have made a set of wicked laws by which
+nearly four millions of men, women, and children are declared to be
+their personal chattels, or property. So that if one of these slave
+fathers should refuse to let his child be used as the property of his
+master, those wicked laws would help the master by inflicting cruel
+punishments on the parent. Hence the poor slave fathers and mothers are
+forced to silently witness the cruel wrongs which their helpless
+children are made to suffer. Violence has been framed into a law, and
+the poor slave is trodden beneath the feet of the powerful.
+
+"But why did those slaves let their masters bring them into this state?
+Why didn't they fight as our forefathers did when they threw off the
+yoke of England's laws?" inquires a bright-eyed lad who has just risen
+from the reading of a history of our Revolution.
+
+The slaves were not reduced to their present servile condition in large
+bodies. When our ancestors settled this country they felt the need of
+more laborers than they could hire. Then wicked men sailed from England
+and other parts of Europe to the coast of Africa. Sending their boats
+ashore filled with armed men, they fell upon the villages of the poor
+Africans, set fire to their huts, and, while they were filled with
+fright, seized, handcuffed, and dragged them to their boats, and then
+carried them aboard ship.
+
+This piracy was repeated until the ship was crowded with negro men,
+women, and children. The poor things were packed like spoons below the
+deck. Then the ship set sail for the coast of America. I cannot tell you
+how horribly the poor negroes suffered. Bad air, poor food, close
+confinement, and cruel treatment killed them off by scores. When they
+died their bodies were pitched into the sea, without pity or remorse.
+
+After a wearisome voyage the survivors, on being carried into some port,
+were sold to the highest bidder. No regard was paid to their
+relationship. One man bought a husband, another a wife. The child was
+taken to one place, the mother to another. Thus they were scattered
+abroad over the colonies. Fresh loads arrived continually, and thus
+their numbers increased. Others were born on the soil, until now, after
+the lapse of some two centuries, there are nearly four millions of negro
+slaves in the country, besides large numbers of colored people who in
+various ways have been made free.
+
+You can now see how easy it was for the masters to make the wicked laws
+by which the slaves are now held in bondage. They began when the slaves
+were few in number, when they spoke a foreign language, and when they
+were too few and feeble to offer any resistance to their oppressors, as
+their masters did to old England when she tried to oppress them.
+
+I want you to remember one great truth regarding slavery, namely, that a
+slave is a human being, held and used as property by another human
+being, and that _it is always_ A SIN AGAINST GOD _to thus hold and me a
+human being as property_!
+
+You know it is not a sin to use an ox, a horse, a dog, a squirrel, a
+house, or an acre of land as property, if it be honestly obtained,
+because God made these and similar objects to be possessed as property
+by men. But God did not make _man to be the property of man_. He never
+gave any man the right to own his neighbor or his neighbor's child.
+
+On the contrary, he made all men to be free and equal, as saith our
+Declaration of Independence. Hence, every negro child that is born is as
+free before God as the white child, having precisely the same right to
+life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as the white child. The law
+which denies him that right does not destroy it. It may enable the man
+who claims him as a slave to deprive him of its exercise, but the right
+itself remains, for the wicked law under which he acts does not and
+cannot set aside the divine law, by which he is as free as any child
+that was ever born.
+
+But if God made every man, woman, and child to be free, and not
+property, then he who uses a human being as property acts contrary to
+the will of God and SINS! Is it not so, my children?
+
+Yet that is what every slaveholder does. _He uses his slaves as
+property_. He reckons them as worth so many dollars, just as your father
+sets a certain money value on his horse, farm, or merchandise. He sells
+him, gives him away, uses his labor without paying him wages, claims his
+children as so many more dollars added to his estate, and when he dies
+wills him to his heirs forever. And this is SIN, my children--a very
+great sin against God, a high crime against human nature.
+
+Mark what I say! the sin of slavery does not lie merely in whipping,
+starving, or otherwise ill-treating a human being, but in using him as
+property; in saying of him as you do of your dog: "He is my property. He
+is worth so much money to me. I will do what I please with him. I will
+keep him, use him, sell him, give him away, and keep all he earns, just
+as I choose."
+
+To say that of a man is sin. You might clothe the man in purple, feed
+him on manna from heaven, and keep him in a palace of ivory, still, if
+you used him as your property, you would commit sin!
+
+Children, I want you to shrink from this sin as the Jews did from the
+fiery serpents. Hate it. Loathe it as you would the leprosy. Make a
+solemn vow before the Saviour, who loves the slave and slave children as
+truly as he does you, that you will never hold slaves, never apologize
+for those who do. As little Hannibal vowed eternal hatred to Rome at the
+altar of a false god, so do you vow eternal enmity to slavery at the
+altar of the true and living Jehovah. Let your purpose be, "I will
+rather beg my bread than live by the unpaid toil of a slave."
+
+To assist you in carrying out that purpose, and to excite your sympathy
+for poor slave children, the following stories were written. The
+characters in them are all real, though their true names are not always
+given. The stories are therefore pictures of actual life, and are worthy
+of your belief.
+
+D.W.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE LEWIS SOLD.]
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE LEWIS:
+
+The Story of a Slave Boy.
+
+
+BY JULIA COLMAN.
+
+
+"A, B, C," said little Lewis to himself, as he bent eagerly over a
+ragged primer. "Here's anoder A, an' there's anoder, an' there's anoder
+C, but I can't find anoder B. Missy Katy said I must find just so many
+as I can. Dear little Missy Katy! an' wont I be just so good as ever I
+can, an' learn to read, an' when I get to be a man I'll call myself
+white folks; for I'm a most as white as Massa Harry is now, when he runs
+out widout his hat; A, B, C." And so the little fellow ran on, thinking
+what a fine man he would be when he had learned to read.
+
+Just then he heard a shrill laugh in the distance, and the cry, "Lew!
+Lew! where's Lew?"
+
+It was Katy's voice, and tucking his book in his bosom, he ran around
+the house toward her with light feet; for though she was often cross and
+willful, as only daughters sometimes are, she was the only one of the
+family that showed him even an occasional kindness. She was, withal,
+a frolicsome, romping witch, and as he turned the corner, she came
+scampering along right toward him with three or four white children at
+her heels, and all the little woolly heads of the establishment,
+numbering something less than a score.
+
+"Here, Lew!" she said, as she came in sight, "you take the tag and run."
+
+With a quick movement he touched her outstretched hand, and he would
+have made the others some trouble to catch him, for he was the smartest
+runner among the children; but as he turned he tripped on a stone, and
+lay sprawling. "Tag," cried Hal, Katy's cousin, as he placed his feet on
+the little fellow's back and jumped over him. It was cruel, but what did
+Hal care for the "little nigger." If he had been at home he would have
+had some little fear of breaking the child's back, for his father was
+more careful of his _property_ than Uncle Stamford was.
+
+Before Lewis could rise, two or three of the negro boys, who were always
+too ready to imitate the vices of their masters, had made the boy a
+stepping stone, and then Dick, his master's eldest son, came down upon
+him with both knees, and began to cuff him roundly.
+
+"So, you black scamp, you thought you'd run away with the tag, did you!"
+Just then he perceived the primer that was peeping out of Lewis's shirt
+bosom. "Ha! what's here?" said he; "a primer, as I live! And what are
+you doing with this, I'd like to know?"
+
+"Missy Katy give it to me, and she is teaching me my letters out of it.
+Please, massa, let me have it again," said he, beseechingly, as Dick
+made a motion as if to throw it away. "I would like to learn how
+to read."
+
+"You would, would you!" said Dick. "You'd like to read to Tom and Sam,
+down on a Louisiana plantation, in sugar time, when you'd nothing else
+to do, I suppose. Ha, ha, ha!" and the young tyrant, giving the boy a
+vigorous kick or two as he rose, stuffed the book into his own pocket,
+and walked off.
+
+Poor Lewis! He very well knew the meaning of that taunt, and he did not
+open his mouth. No threat of a dark closet ever frightened a free child
+so much as the threat of being sold to a Southern plantation terrifies
+the slave-child of Kentucky.
+
+Lewis walked slowly toward the kitchen, to see Aunt Sally. It was to her
+he used to go with all his troubles, and sometimes she scolded, and
+sometimes she listened. She was very busy dressing the vegetables for
+dinner, and she looked cross; so the little fellow crept into the
+chimney corner and said nothing; but he thought all the more, and as he
+thought, the sad tears rolled down his tawny cheeks.
+
+"What is the matter now, little baby?" was Aunt Sally's tender inquiry.
+
+Lewis commenced his pitiful tale; but as soon as Aunt Sally heard that
+it was about learning to read, she shut him up with "Good enough for
+you! What do you want of a book? Readin' isn't for the likes of you; and
+the less you know of it the better."
+
+This was poor sympathy, and the little fellow, with a half-spiteful
+feeling, scrambled upon a bench near by, and tumbled out of the window.
+He alighted on an ash-heap, not a very nice place to be sure, but it was
+a retired corner, and he often hid away there when he felt sad and
+wanted to be alone. Here he sat down, and leaning his head against the
+side of the house, he groaned out, "My mother, O my mother! If you ain't
+dead, why don't you come to me?"
+
+By degrees he calmed down, and half asleep there in the sunshine, he
+dreamed of the home that he once had. His mother was a noble woman, so
+he thought. Nobody else ever looked so kindly into his face; he was sure
+nobody else ever loved him as she did, and he remembered when she was
+gay and cheerful, and would go all day singing about her work. And his
+father, he could just remember him as a very pleasant man that he used
+to run to meet, sometimes, when he saw him coming home away down the
+road; but that was long ago. He had not seen him now for years, and he
+had heard his mother say that his father's master had moved away out of
+the state and taken him with him, and maybe he would never return. Then
+Lewis's mother grew sad, and stopped her singing, though she worked as
+hard as ever, and kept her children all neat and clean.
+
+And those dear brothers and sisters, what had become of them? There was
+Tom, the eldest, the very best fellow in the world, so Lewis thought. He
+would sit by the half hour making tops, and whistles, and all sorts of
+pretty playthings. And Sam, too! he was always so full of fun and
+singing songs. What a singer he was! and it was right cheerful when Sam
+would borrow some neighbor's banjo and play to them. But they were all
+gone; and his sad, sweet-faced, lady-like sister Nelly, too, they were
+all taken off in one day by one of the ugliest negro-drivers that ever
+scared a little slave-boy's dreams. And it was while his mother was away
+from home too. How she did cry and take on when she came back and found
+them all gone, and she hadn't even the chance to bid them good-by! She
+said she knew her master sent her off that morning because he was going
+to sell her children.
+
+Lewis shuddered as he thought of that dreadful night. It was hardly two
+years ago, and the fearful things he heard then burned into his soul
+with terrible distinctness. It seemed as if their little cabin was
+deserted after that, for Tom, and Sam, and Nelly were almost grown up,
+and the rest were all little ones. The next winter his other sister,
+Fanny, died; but that wasn't half so sad. She was about twelve years
+old, and a blithesome, cheerful creature, just as her mother had been.
+He remembered how his master came to their cabin to comfort them, as he
+said; but his mother told him plainly that she did not want any such
+comfort. She wished Nelly was dead too. She wished she had never had any
+children to grow up and suffer what she had. It was in vain her master
+tried to soothe her. He talked like a minister, as he was; but she had
+grown almost raving, and she talked to him as she never dared to do
+before. She wanted to know why he didn't come to console her when she
+lost her other children; "three all at once" she said, "and they're ten
+times worse than dead. You never consoled me then at all. Religion?
+Pooh! I don't want none of _your_ religion."
+
+And now she, too, was gone. She had been gone more than a year. It was
+said that she was hired out to work in another family; but it wasn't so.
+They only told her that story to get her away from the children
+peaceably. She was sold quite a distance away to a very bad man, who
+used her cruelly.
+
+Ned, who was some two years younger than Lewis, and the only brother he
+had left, was a wild, careless boy, who raced about among the other
+children, and did not seem to think much about anything. Lewis often
+wished he could have somebody to talk with, and he wondered if his
+mother would ever come back again.
+
+Had he been a poet he might have put his wishes into verses like the
+following, in which Mrs. Follen has given beautiful expression to the
+wishes of such a slave boy as Lewis:
+
+THE SLAVE BOY'S WISH.
+
+    I wish I was that little bird,
+      Up in the bright blue sky,
+    That sings and flies just where he will,
+      And no one asks him why.
+
+    I wish I was that little brook,
+      That runs so swift along,
+    Through pretty flowers and shining stones,
+      Singing a merry song.
+
+    I wish I was that butterfly,
+      Without a thought or care,
+    Sporting my pretty, brilliant wings,
+      Like a flower in the air.
+
+    I wish I was that wild, wild deer,
+      I saw the other day,
+    Who swifter than an arrow flew,
+      Through the forest far away.
+
+    I wish I was that little cloud,
+      By the gentle south wind driven,
+    Floating along so free and bright,
+      Far, far up into heaven.
+
+    I'd rather be a cunning fox,
+      And hide me in a cave;
+    I'd rather be a savage wolf,
+      Than what I am--a slave.
+
+    My mother calls me her good boy,
+      My father calls me brave;
+    What wicked action have I done,
+      That I should be a slave?
+
+    I saw my little sister sold,
+      So will they do to me;
+    My heavenly Father, let me die,
+      For then I shall be free.
+
+So talking to himself he fell into a doze, and dreamed about his mother.
+He thought her large serious eyes were looking into his, and her long
+black hair falling over his face. His mother was part Indian and part
+white, with only just enough of the black to make her hair a little
+curly. It don't make much difference what color people are in the slave
+states. If the mothers are slaves the children are slaves too, even if
+they are nine-tenths white.
+
+From this pleasant dream Lewis was roused by a splash of cold water, and
+Aunt Sally, with her head out of the window, was calling, "Here you lazy
+nigger! come here and grind this coffee for me." And the little boy
+awoke to find himself a friendless orphan, in a cold world with a
+cruel master.
+
+The next morning Lewis was playing about the yard with as good a will as
+any of the young negroes. Children's troubles don't last long, and to
+see him turning somersets, singing Jim Crow, and kicking up a row
+generally, you would suppose he had forgotten all about the lost primer
+and his mother too.
+
+He was in the greatest possible glee in the afternoon, at being sent
+with another boy, Jim, to carry a package to Mr. Pond's. Then he was
+trusted, so he put himself on his dignity, and did not turn more than
+twenty somersets on the way. In coming back, as they had no package to
+carry, they took it into their heads to cut across lots, though it was
+no nearer than the road. Still it made them plenty of exercise in
+climbing fences and walking log bridges across the brooks. While doing
+this they came in sight of some white pond-lilies, and all at once it
+occurred to Lewis that it would be right nice to get some of them for
+Miss Katy, to buy up her good-will, for he was afraid she would be very
+angry when she found that he had lost the primer. So he waded and
+paddled about till he had collected quite a handful of them, in spite of
+Jim's hurrying up, and telling him that he would get his head broke, for
+missus had told them to be quick.
+
+When he had gathered a large handful he started on the run for home,
+stopping only once or twice to admire the fragrant, lovely flowers; and
+he felt their beauty quite as much, I dare say, as Miss Katy would.
+
+When they were passing the quarters, as the place is called where the
+huts of the slaves are built, Aunt Sally put her head out of the cabin
+door, and seeing him, she called out, "Here, Lew, here's your mother."
+
+The boy forgot his lilies, dropped them, and running to the door, he saw
+within a strange woman sitting on a bench. Was _that_ his mother? She
+turned her large dark eyes for a moment upon him, and then she sprang to
+meet him. His little heart was ready to overflow with tears of joy, and
+he expected to be overwhelmed with caresses, just as you would if you
+should meet your mother after being separated from her more than a year.
+
+Imagine his terror, then, as she seized him rudely by the wrists and
+exclaimed, "It's you, is it? a little slave boy! I'll fix you so they'll
+never get you!"
+
+Then she picked him up in her arms and started to run with him, as if
+she would throw him into the well. The little fellow screamed with
+fright. Aunt Sally ran after her, crying at the top of her voice,
+"Nancy, O Nancy! don't now!" And then a big negro darted out of the
+stables, crying "Stop her there! catch her!"
+
+All this hubbub roused the people at the house, and Master Stamford
+forthwith appeared on the verandah, with a crowd of servants of all
+sizes. Amid the orders, and cries, and general confusion that followed,
+Nancy was caught, Lewis was taken away, and she was carried back to the
+cabin, while the big negro was preparing to tie her. As she entered the
+cabin, her eye caught sight of a knife that lay there, and snatching it
+up, she gave herself a bad wound with it. Poor woman, she was tired of
+her miserable life. I don't wonder that she wanted to die.
+
+Was it right, you ask, for her to take her own life? Certainly not. But
+let us see what led to this attempt.
+
+For a long time she had been separated from Lewis and Ned, the last of
+her children that remained to her. To be sure, the other three were
+probably living somewhere, and so was her husband. But she only knew
+that they had gone into hopeless servitude, where she knew not. Indeed,
+she did not know but that they were already dead, and she did not expect
+ever to hear, for slaves are seldom able to write, and often not
+permitted to when they can. If there had only been hope of hearing from
+them at some time or other she could have endured it. But between her
+and those loved ones there rested a thick cloud of utter darkness;
+beyond that they might be toiling, groaning, bleeding, starving, dying
+beneath the oppressor's lash in the deadly swamp, or in the teeth of the
+cruel hounds, and she could not have the privilege of ministering to the
+least of their wants, of soothing one of their sorrows, or even dropping
+a silent tear beside them. If she could have heard only _one_ fact about
+them it would have been some relief. But she could not enjoy even this
+poor privilege. And then came the dead, heavy stillness of despair
+creeping over her spirits.
+
+Do you wonder that she became perfectly wild, and beside herself at
+times? How would you feel if all you loved best were carried off by a
+cruel slave-driver, and you had _no hope_ of hearing from them again in
+this world?
+
+During these dreadful fits of insanity she would bewail the living as
+worse than dead, and pray God to take them away. Then she would curse
+herself for being the mother of slave children, declaring that it would
+be far better to see them die in their childhood, than to see them grow
+up to suffer as she had suffered.
+
+She lived only a few miles from her old home; but her new master was an
+uncommonly hard man, and would not permit her to go and see her
+children. He said it would only make her worse, and his slaves should
+learn that they were not to put on airs and have whims. It was their
+business to live for him. Didn't he pay enough for them, and see that
+they were well fed and clothed, and what more did they want? This he
+called kind treatment. Very kind, indeed, not to allow a mother to go
+and see her own children! But when she was taken with those insane
+spells, and would go on so about her children that she was not fit to
+work, indeed could not be made to work, it was finally suggested to him
+that a visit to her children would do her good.
+
+This was the occasion of her present visit, and it was because she was
+insane that she attempted to take her own life. The wound, however, was
+not very deep, and Nancy did not die at this time. After the doctor had
+been there and dressed her wound, and affairs had become quiet, Lewis
+stole to the door of the cabin. He was afraid to go in. He hardly knew,
+any of the time, whether that strange wild woman could be his mother,
+only they told him she was. There was blood spattered here and there on
+the bare earth that served as a floor to the cabin, and on a straw
+mattress at one side lay the strange woman. Her eyes were shut, and now
+that she was more composed, he saw in the lineaments of that pale face
+the features of his mother; But her once glossy black hair had turned
+almost white since she had been away, and altogether there was such a
+wild expression that he was afraid, and crept quietly away again.
+
+He then went to find his brother, who, of course, did not remember so
+much about her. But it was touching to see the two little lone brothers
+stand peeping in wonderingly at their own mother, who was so changed
+that they hardly knew her. Then they went off behind the kitchen to talk
+about it, and cry over it.
+
+The strange big negro was Jerry, who belonged to the same master with
+Nancy, and he had come to bring her down. He was afraid that his master
+would be very angry if he should go back without her; but the doctor
+said the woman must not be moved for a week, and he wrote a letter for
+Jerry to carry borne to his master, while Nancy remained.
+
+The next day, as they gained a little more courage, the brothers crept
+inside of the cabin. Their mother saw them, and beckoned them to her
+bed-side. She could scarcely speak a word distinctly, but taking first
+one and then the other by the hand, she said inquiringly: "Lewis?"
+"Lewis?" "Ned?"
+
+They sat there at the bed-side by the hour that day. Sometimes she would
+hold their hands lovingly in hers; then again she would lay her hand
+gently on the heads of one and the other, and her eyes would wander
+lovingly over their faces, and then fill with tears.
+
+After a day or two little restless, fun-loving Ned grew tired of this,
+and ran out to play; but Lewis stayed by his mother, and she was soon
+able to talk with him.
+
+She showed him her wrists where they had been worn by the irons, and her
+back scarred by the whip, and she told him of cruelties that we may not
+repeat here. She talked with him as if he were a man, and not a child;
+and as he listened his heart and mind seemed to reach forward, and he
+became almost a man in thought. He seemed to live whole years in those
+few days that he talked with his mother. It was here that the fearful
+fact dawned upon him as it never had before. _He was a slave_! He had no
+control over his own person or actions, but he belonged soul and body to
+another man, who had power to control him in everything. And this would
+not have been so irksome had it been a person that he loved, but Master
+Stamford he hated. He never met him but to be called by some foul
+epithet, or booted out of the way. He had no choice whom he would serve,
+and there would be no end to the thankless servitude but death.
+
+"Mother," said the boy, "what have we done that we should be treated so
+much worse than other people?"
+
+"Nothing, my child, nothing. They say there is a God who has ordered all
+this, but I don't know about that." She stopped; her mother's heart
+forbade her to teach her child infidel principles, and she went on in a
+better strain of reasoning. "Perhaps he allows all this, to try if we
+will be good whether or no; but I am sure he cannot be pleased with the
+white folk's cruelty toward us, and they'll all have to suffer for it
+some day."
+
+Then there was a long pause, when both mother and son seemed to be
+thinking sad, sad thoughts. Finally the mother broke the silence by
+saying: "Well, here we are, and the great question is how to make the
+best of it, if there is any best about it."
+
+"I know what I'll do, mother," said Lewis earnestly, "I'll run away when
+I'm old enough."
+
+"I hope you may get out of this terrible bondage, my child," said the
+mother; "but you had better keep that matter to yourself at present. It
+will be a long time before you are old enough. There is one thing about
+it, if you're going to be a free man, you'll want to know how to read."
+
+Lewis's heart was full again, and he told his mother the whole story of
+the primer.
+
+"And did Missy Katy never ask about it afterward?" inquired the mother.
+
+"No, she never has said a word about it."
+
+"O well, she don't care. There are some young missies with tender hearts
+that do take a good deal of pains to teach poor slaves to read; but she
+isn't so, nor any of massa's family, if he is a minister. He don't care
+any more about us than he does about his horses. You musn't wait for any
+of them; but there's Sam Tyler down to Massa Pond's, he can read, and if
+you can get him to show you some, without letting massa know it, that'll
+help you, and then you must try by yourself as hard as you can."
+
+Thus did the poor slave mother talk with her child, trying to implant in
+his heart an early love for knowledge.
+
+But the time soon came when Nancy was well enough to go back to her
+cruel servitude. This visit had proved a great good to little Lewis. The
+entire spirit of his thoughts was changed. He was still very often
+silent and thoughtful, but he was seldom sad. He had a fixed purpose
+within, which was helping him to work out his destiny.
+
+His first effort was to see Sam Tyler. This old man was a very
+intelligent mulatto belonging to Mr. Pond. For some great service
+formerly rendered to his master, he was allowed to have his cabin, and
+quite a large patch of ground, separated from the other negroes, and all
+his time to himself, except ten hours a day for his master. His master
+had also given him a pass, with which he could go and come on business,
+and the very feeling that he was trusted kept him from using it to run
+away with.
+
+Mr. Pond was very kind to all his servants, as he called them, and a
+more cheerful group could not be found in the state. It would have been
+well if the Rev. Robert Stamford and many of his congregation had
+imitated Mr. Pond in this respect, for his servants worked more
+faithfully, and were more trustworthy than any others in the vicinity.
+There was one thing more that he should have done; he should have made
+out free papers for them, and let them go when they pleased.
+
+When Lewis mentioned his wish to Sam Tyler, the old man was quite
+delighted with the honor done to his own literary talent. "But you see,"
+said he, "I can tell ye what is a sight better; come over to Massa
+Pond's Sunday school. I'd 'vise ye to ask Massa Stamford, and then ye
+can come every Sunday."
+
+Lewis had a notion that it would not be very easy to get his master's
+permission, so the next Sunday he went without permission.
+
+It was a right nice place for little folks and big ones too. Nearly all
+Mr. Pond's servants were there punctually. It was held an hour, and Mr.
+Pond himself, or one of his sons, was always there. He read the Bible,
+taught them verses from it, sung hymns with them, and of late, at their
+urgent solicitation, he had purchased some large cards with the letters
+and easy readings, and was teaching them all to read.
+
+The first day that Lewis went he crept off very early, before his master
+was up, telling Aunt Sally where he was going, so that if he should be
+inquired for she could send Ned after him. Aunt Sally remonstrated, but
+it was of no avail; he was off, and she really loved him too well to
+betray him.
+
+That day young master Pond was in the Sunday school, and he spoke very
+kindly to Lewis, commending his zeal, and asking him to come again. But
+when he told his father that one of Mr. Stamford's boys was there, Mr.
+Pond's reply was that "this matter must be looked into."
+
+Mr. Pond was there himself on the next Sunday, and though he spoke very
+kindly to the boy, yet he told him very decidedly that he must not come
+there without a written permission from his master. "Well, then, I can't
+come at all, sir," said Lewis sorrowfully.
+
+"Ask him, at any rate," was the reply. "I'd like to have you come very
+well; but I'm afraid he will think I want to steal one of his boys, if I
+allow you to come here without his consent."
+
+It was with much fear that Lewis made known his wish to his master, and
+he was received, as he expected to be, with abuse.
+
+"You would like to be a smart nigger, I suppose; one of the kind that
+talks saucy to his master and runs away. I'll make you smart. I'm smart
+enough myself for all my niggers; and if they want any more of the
+stuff, I'll give them some of the right sort," said he with vulgar wit,
+as he laid his riding-whip about the shoulders of poor Lewis.
+
+But when Mr. Stamford found that Lewis had already been to Mr. Pond's
+Sunday school, he made a more serious matter of it, and the poor boy
+received his first severe flogging, twenty-five lashes on his bare back.
+
+"I hope now," said Aunt Sally, while dressing his welted and wounded
+back with wet linen, "that you'll give up that silly notion of your'n,
+that of learnin' to read. It's of no use, and these 'ere learned niggers
+are always gettin' into trouble. I know massa'd half kill one, if he had
+'im. Now, if you belonged to Massa Pond 'twould be different." And so
+she went on; but the more she talked the more firmly Lewis made up his
+mind that he would learn to read if he could, and the words of his
+mother came to his mind with authority: "If you're going to be a free
+man you'll want to know how to read."
+
+About two months after this he paid another visit to Sam Tyler. Sam's
+plot of ground and cabin was near the division line between the two
+farms, and Lewis took his time to go down there after dark. He asked Sam
+to teach him to read.
+
+"I should think you'd got enough of that," said Sam. "I shouldn't think
+it would pay."
+
+"What would you take for what you know about readin'?" asked Lewis.
+
+"Well, I can't say as I'd like to sell it, but it would only be a plague
+to you so long as you belong to Massa Stamford."
+
+By dint of coaxing, however, Lewis succeeded in getting him to teach him
+the letters, taking the opportunity to go to him rainy nights, or when
+Mr. Stamford was away from home. That was the end of Sam's help. He had
+an "idea in his head" that it was not good policy for him to do this
+without Massa Stamford's consent, after what Mr. Pond had said about
+Lewis's coming to Sunday school. Sam was a cautious negro, not so
+warm-hearted and impulsive as the most of his race. He prided himself on
+being more like white folks.
+
+Lewis was soon in trouble of another sort. He had found an old
+spelling-book, and Sam had shown him that the letters he had learned
+were to be put together to make words. Then, too, he managed to get a
+little time to himself every morning, by rising very early. So far so
+good, and his diligence was deserving of success, but the progress he
+made was very discouraging. C-a-n spelled sane, n-o-t spelled note, and
+g-o spelled jo. "I sane note jo;" what nonsense! and there was no one
+that could explain the matter intelligently. He perseveres bravely for a
+while, finding now and then a word that he could understand; but at last
+his book was gone from its hiding place; he knew not where to get
+another; and in short he was pretty much discouraged. These difficulties
+had cooled his ardor much more than the whip had done, and by degrees he
+settled down into a state of despondency and indifference that Mr.
+Stamford would have considered a matter of the deepest regret, had it
+befallen one of his own children.
+
+Years passed on--long, dreary, cheerless years. Lewis was now a boy of
+seventeen, rather intelligent in appearance, but melancholy, and not
+very hearty. In spite of repeated thinnings out by sales at different
+times to the traders, the number of Mr. Stamford's slaves had greatly
+increased, and now the time came when they must all be disposed of. He
+had accepted a call from a distant village, and must necessarily break
+up his farming establishment.
+
+It was a sad sight to see these poor people, who had lived together so
+long, put up at auction and bid off to persons that had come from many
+different places. Here goes the father of a family in one direction, the
+mother in another, and the children all scattered hither and thither.
+And then it was heartrending to witness their brief partings. Bad as had
+been their lot with Mr. Stamford, they would far sooner stay with him
+than be separated from those of their fellow-slaves whom they loved.
+
+A lot at a time were put up in a row, and one after another was called
+upon the block, and after a few bids was handed over to a new master, to
+be taken wherever he might choose.
+
+Ned and Jim and Lewis stood side by side in one of those rows. Ned had
+grown up to be a fine sprightly lad, and the bidding for him was lively.
+He was struck down to a Southern trader. Lewis listened despondently
+while the bidding for Jim was going on, expecting every moment to hear
+his own name called, when suddenly a strong hand was laid upon his
+shoulder from behind, and he was drawn from the row. After a thorough
+examination by a strange gentleman, in company with his master, he was
+bid to step aside. From some words that he heard pass between them, he
+understood that he had been sold at private sale, bartered off for a
+pair of carriage-horses.
+
+The animals, a pair of handsome bays, were standing near by, and he
+turned to look at them. "Suppose they were black," said he to himself,
+"would they be any meaner, less powerful, less valuable, less spirited?
+I do not see that color makes much difference with animals, why should
+it make so much difference among men? Who made the white men masters
+over us?" He thought long and deeply, but there came no answer.
+
+"Then, too, they are larger than I am, and there are two of them! What
+makes the difference that I should be higher priced? Ah, I have a
+_mind_, and it's my mind that they have sold," he added, with a sudden
+gleam of thought. "And what have I of my own? Nothing! They buy, and
+sell, and control soul and mind and body."
+
+Lewis had yet to learn that even the poor slave may with all his soul
+believe on Jesus, and no master on earth could hinder him. Mr. Stamford
+had never given his slaves any religious teachings, and perhaps it was
+just as well that _he_ did not attempt anything of that kind, for he is
+said to have taught his white congregation that it was no more harm to
+separate a family of slaves than a litter of pigs. His new master, whose
+name was Johns, lived about thirty miles distant, and nearly as much as
+that nearer the boundary line between Ohio and Kentucky, an item which
+the boy noticed with much satisfaction. On their way home Mr. Johns took
+special pains to impress on the mind of his new property the fact, that
+the condition of his being well treated in his new home would be his
+good behavior. "It's of no use," he says, "for my boys to go to showing
+off airs, and setting themselves up. I can't stand that. But if they are
+quiet and industrious, I give them as good allowances and as good
+quarters as anybody."
+
+What Mr. Johns called good behavior in servants, was their doing
+promptly and precisely just as he told them to, without venturing to
+think for themselves anything about it. If any of them did venture an
+opinion before him he shut them up with a cut of the whip or a sharp
+word, so that the utmost extent of their conversation in his presence
+was a strict answer to his questions, and "Yes, massa," in reply to
+his commands.
+
+Lewis was destined to assist in the garden. Mr. Johns was very fond of
+horticulture, but to have had his head gardener a slave, would have
+involved the necessity of talking with him, and consulting him too much
+to consist with his views of propriety. The slaves of families in the
+far South are not usually treated in this manner, but Mr. Johns was by
+birth an Englishman. The gardener, then, was a free white man named
+Spencer, and Lewis found him a very pleasant master. It was not
+difficult for him to find his way into his good graces, so that Lewis
+did not suffer so much by the change as he expected. His heart was
+already hardened by the loss of so many friends, that he took this with
+unexpected indifference. But he did miss his brother Ned. More than
+once, in his dreams, did he hear him crying for help; but after a while
+he heard, through a fellow-slave, that Ned was serving as waiter in a
+hotel at Louisville. This was the last he ever heard of him.
+
+Besides this, Lewis loved his new work. It was so delightful to see the
+shrubs, and trees, and plants flourish, and the flowers putting forth
+their gorgeous displays; and Spencer's kindness made the heaviest work
+seem light. It is very easy to serve a man that governs by kindness, but
+Lewis thought it would be much harder to serve Spencer if he had felt
+that he was his _owner_.
+
+One morning, going earlier than usual to the garden, he found Miss Ford
+there, the governess of the children. She was promenading one of the
+wide alleys, and pensively reading a favorite author. This occurred
+morning after morning, and Lewis thought he would be so glad if she
+would only spend a few minutes teaching him to read! He knew that she
+was from the free states, where they did not keep slaves, and he
+thought, perhaps, if she knew his desire to read she would help him. But
+morning after morning passed, and she seemed to take very little notice
+of him. Finally, he one day observed her looking at a beautiful magnolia
+blossom, the first that had come out. It was quite on the top of the
+tree. She evidently wanted it, and Lewis drew near, hoping that she
+would ask him to get it for her, and so she did. Lewis was delighted,
+she thanked him so kindly. After this he found occasion to say: "I think
+missus must be very happy, she can read."
+
+The lady looked surprised, and then pitiful. "And would you like to
+read?"
+
+"Indeed, there is nothing in this world would make me more happy," said
+Lewis.
+
+"It is a pity so simple a wish cannot be gratified," said she to
+herself. "Perhaps I could find time; if I thought so I might rise a
+little earlier. Could you come here by sunrise every morning?"
+
+"O yes, missus, indeed I could."
+
+"Come, then, to-morrow morning."
+
+That was a happy day for Lewis. His first lesson was quite a success. He
+had not forgotten all his letters. After this he went on prosperously,
+having a half hour lesson every fair morning.
+
+Lewis studied very hard, and made excellent progress. The difficulties
+that formerly troubled him now disappeared, for he had a teacher whom he
+could consult upon every word. Miss Ford gave him a few pence to buy
+candles with, and all his evenings were spent in assiduous devotion to
+his new task.
+
+The thoughts of his new acquisitions made him so happy that he worked
+more diligently, and appeared far more cheerful than formerly. Mr. Johns
+observed it, and remarked that the boy had turned out "a better bargain
+than he expected."
+
+When it was known in the house that Miss Ford was teaching Lewis, there
+was some consultation about it, and Mr. Johns approached the lady with a
+long face, to talk the matter over. However, she had altogether the
+advantage of him, for she laughed most uncontrollably at his concern,
+assured him that this was her intellectual play, and that she enjoyed
+the matter very much as she would teaching tricks to a parrot or monkey.
+"Surely, now, you would not deprive me of such an innocent amusement,"
+said she, with mock lamentation.
+
+"No; but my dear Miss Ford," said the gentleman, trying to appear
+serious, "it is not best for these people to know too much."
+
+"O, that is too good!" she replied, with a laugh. "Do you expect him to
+rival a Henry Clay or an Andrew Jackson?" and then she went on telling
+some such funny mistakes and ludicrous blunders of the boy, that Mr.
+Johns could resist no longer, and he joined in the laugh. There was
+evidently no such thing as pinning her fast to serious reasoning on the
+subject, and as she stood very high in Mr. John's good graces, he
+concluded he might about as well let her do as she liked.
+
+She had been a long time in the family, and as they had seen no
+ultra-abolition traits, they thought her "sound at heart" on that
+subject. And so she was; for had she known the true situation of the
+slaves, all the better feelings of her noble soul would have risen up in
+rebellion against the groundwork of the abominable "institution." But as
+the slaves were kept very much apart from the family, and by their
+master's peculiar training had very little to say when they did make
+their appearance, she had very little opportunity to study the workings
+of the system, if she had been disposed to do so, and very little to
+excite her curiosity about it.
+
+As Lewis by degrees gained the good opinion of his teacher, and
+flattered her by his rapid progress, so she gradually became interested
+in his early history, and especially in his early failures in learning
+to read. She was quite indignant at the opposition he had experienced,
+and her expressions of surprise at the treatment he received, led him to
+tell of greater cruelties that he had seen practised on others, and so
+on to the story of his mother. She took a deep interest in all his
+details, and he was never at a loss for something to tell.
+
+Could it be that slavery was so bad, that she was surrounded by these
+suffering creatures, and was doing nothing for them? She made inquiries
+of others prudently, and found that it was even so, and more too; that
+even she herself was not at liberty to speak out her sentiments about
+it. But she could think, and she did think. The great law of human,
+God-given _right_ came up before her, and she acknowledged it. These
+poor creatures had a right to their own personal freedom, and she
+thought it would be doing God and humanity a service if she could help
+them to obtain that freedom. She did not know that in doing thus she
+would be sinning against the laws of her country, (!) and perhaps she
+would not have cared much if she had, for she was one of those
+independent souls that dare to acknowledge the law of right.
+
+For months were these convictions gaining strength, but no opportunity
+occurred to assist any of them. Meanwhile she grew pensive and silent,
+oppressed by the helpless misery which she saw around her on every side.
+
+One evening when Lewis came for his lesson he brought her an anonymous
+note. The writer professed to take a deep interest in the intelligent
+young slave Lewis, and asked the question if she would be willing to do
+anything to advance his freedom.
+
+She unhesitatingly replied that she would be very glad to do so. Lewis
+knew where to carry the note, and she soon had an interview with the
+writer, Mr. Dean, of whom she had heard as the worst abolitionist in the
+neighborhood. Arrangements were soon made for running off the boy.
+
+Miss Ford was to get leave of Mr. Johns to send Lewis to a neighbor of
+Mr. Dean's on an errand for herself in the evening. As this would keep
+him quite late, and he was to report to her on his return, no one else
+would be likely to miss him until morning. He was to proceed at once to
+Mr. Dean's house, whence, with face and hands dyed, and his clothes
+changed, he was to go with Mr. Dean in the capacity of a servant to
+Cincinnati, and he should then run his own chance of escape. In its main
+features the plan worked well, and Lewis escaped.
+
+The next morning, when Lewis was missed at the house of his master,
+suspicion immediately fell upon Miss Ford. The plot was so simple that
+the truth could not well be concealed; but nothing was said about it
+until they might find some tangible evidence, and this was soon afforded
+by the imprudence of Dean. Two mornings after this he came to the garden
+fence by the arbor where she usually spent the morning, and threw over a
+note containing the words, "All right, and no suspicion."
+
+But he was mistaken about the "no suspicion." He himself would have been
+arrested at the moment of his return, for one of his neighbors had seen
+and recognized them in Cincinnati; but they waited and watched to see if
+by some chance Miss Ford might not also be implicated. And it was done.
+There were more observers than he dreamed of, and Miss Ford, who from
+her window saw the note fall, saw it picked up a moment after by Mr.
+Johns himself. Mr. Dean was arrested before he reached home again, and
+both he and Miss Ford were sent to jail. Complaints were preferred
+against them, but many months passed before they were brought to trial.
+When at last the trial came off, Mr. Dean was sentenced to imprisonment
+for ten years, and five thousand dollars fine. Miss Ford's sentence was
+five years' imprisonment, but the governor finally granted a reprieve of
+the last two years.
+
+After many adventures Lewis reached Boston, where he still lives, for
+aught I know, with a nice little woman of his own color for a wife, and
+three smart little boys. He labored so diligently in the cultivation of
+his mind that he became qualified for a teacher, and has been for a long
+time engaged in that pleasant and profitable occupation. But best of
+all, he has become a sincere Christian, rejoicing in the privilege of
+worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience, with
+none to molest nor make him afraid. He has heard once more from his
+parents. His father's master had returned to the neighborhood where his
+mother was, and they were again living together. His mother's mind was
+restored to sanity. She was more "like herself" than she had been before
+since the early days of their married life. In her later years she was
+brought to taste of the "liberty wherewith Christ has made us free," and
+went to her home above to be comforted after all her sufferings, while
+her cruel masters who enjoyed their ease here shall be tormented.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: WHIPPING A SLAVE.]
+
+[Illustration: HUNTING RUNAWAY SLAVES.]
+
+
+
+
+MARK AND HASTY;
+
+OR,
+
+SLAVE-LIFE IN MISSOURI.
+
+
+BY MATILDA G. THOMPSON.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The facts narrated in the following pages occurred in St. Louis a few
+years ago. They were communicated to the author by a friend residing
+temporarily in that city.
+
+
+
+
+MARK AND HASTY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+On a bright and pleasant morning in the month of November, Mrs. Jennings
+and her children were sitting in one of the bedrooms of a handsome
+dwelling in St. Louis. It was evident that preparations were being made
+for a long journey. Two large trunks, strapped and corded, stood in the
+center of the room, while folded and unfolded articles of clothing lay
+in confusion on the floor and chairs.
+
+"Katy," said Mrs. Jennings to a colored girl, who had just entered the
+room, "I wish you would bring in the other trunk, so that it will be
+ready for the children's clothes when Hasty comes."
+
+"Yes, missus," said Kate, and then, as she was leaving the room, she
+turned and said: "There's Hasty comin' in de gate, though she aint got
+de clothes wid her; 'pears to me she looks awful sorrowful."
+
+"Why, Hasty, what is the matter?" inquired Mrs. Jennings, as a pretty,
+but sad-looking mulatto woman made her appearance at the door.
+
+"O missus!" she said, "you must please 'scuse me, kase I hasn't de
+clothes done; but I'se been so nigh distracted dis week, dat I aint had
+heart nor strength to do anything. My husband has been sold down South,
+and I specs I'll never see him again if he once get down dar, kase dey
+never gets back."
+
+"Why, how did that happen, Hasty?" asked Mrs. Jennings. "Mark has always
+been such a trusty servant, and has lived so long in the family, that I
+thought nothing would have induced Mr. Nelson to part with him."
+
+"Yes, missus, I knows all dat. Mark has been the faithfulest sarvant dat
+his massa ever had. But ye see, on Saturday night when he cum down to
+see me, little Fanny was berry sick, and I had been out washin' all day,
+and Mark wanted me to go to bed, but I didn't; and we both sat up all
+night wid de chile. Well, early de next morning he started for his
+massa's, and got dere about church time, kase he had a good piece to
+walk. Den he hauled out de carriage, and fed de horses, and while dey
+was eatin', de poor crittur fell asleep. And after bit, Massa Nelson got
+mighty uneasy, kase he had to wait for de carriage, so he sent one of de
+men out to see whar Mark was; and dey found him asleep and went in and
+told his massa. Den he sent for Mark to cum into de parlor, and when he
+went in Massa Nelson axed him what right had he to go sleep, when it was
+time for de carriage to be round. And Mark said dat his chile had been
+sick, and he had sat up all night wid it, and dat was what made him so
+sleepy. Den Massa Nelson said he had no right to sit up, if it was gwine
+to interfere wid his work. And Mark stood right up and looked Massa
+Nelson in de face, and said: 'Massa Nelson, I think I hab as much right
+to sit up wid my sick chile, as you had to sit up de other night wid
+little Massa Eddie.' O my sakes alive! but Massa Nelson was mad den; he
+said: 'You, you black nigger, dare to talk to me about rights;' and he
+struck Mark over de face wid de big carriage whip, and said 'he'd 'tend
+to him in de mornin'.'"
+
+"And did Mark say nothing more than that?" inquired Mrs. Jennings;
+thinking that Hasty, like any other wife, would endeavor to hide her
+husband's faults.
+
+"No, missus, dat was every ting he said, and just went away and got de
+carriage round for Massa Nelson to go to church. Well, de next mornin'
+Massa Nelson told him to put on his coat and follow him, and he toted
+him down to old M'Affee's pen, and sold him to go down some river way
+down South; and I have cum dis mornin'," she said, looking up
+inquiringly into Mrs. Jennings's face, "to see if you, Missus, or Massa
+Jennings, wouldn't do something for him."
+
+"Well, Hasty, I'm sorry, very sorry for you," said Mrs. Jennings; "but
+don't be down-hearted; I will postpone going East this week, and see
+what can be done for you; and if my husband can't buy Mark, he probably
+knows some one who wants a trusty servant, such as I know Mark to be.
+However, Hasty, you may be assured that I will do all in my power to
+prevent your husband from going."
+
+Hasty dried her tears, and with many thanks took her departure, feeling
+much comforted by the confident tone with which Mrs. Jennings spoke.
+
+After Hasty had gone, Mrs. Jennings pondered, as she had never before
+done, on the evil effects of slavery. She thought of Hasty's grief, as
+poignant as would have been her own, had her husband been in Mark's
+place, and which had changed that usually bright countenance to one
+haggard with suffering. She thought of the father torn from his wife and
+child; of the child fatherless, though not an orphan; of that child's
+future; and as it presented itself to her, she clasped her own little
+girl closer to her heart, almost fearing that it was to share that
+future. Ah! she was putting her "soul in the slave soul's stead."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Mrs. Jennings, true to her promise, acquainted Mr. Jennings with the
+transaction, and entreated him to make an effort immediately to rescue
+Mark from his fearful doom.
+
+"Well, my dear," he answered, "it appears that the boy has been
+impudent, and I don't know that it would be right for me to interfere,
+but Mark has always been such a good servant that if I had been his
+master I would have overlooked it, or at least would not have punished
+him so severely. However, I'll go down to M'Affee and see about him."
+
+Accordingly, the next morning, he went down to the slave "pen" to see
+the trader. He found him at the door of his office, a sleek, smiling,
+well-dressed man, very courteous and affable, having the appearance of a
+gentleman.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Jennings," said the trader, "what can I do for you
+to-day?"
+
+"Why, M'Affee, I called down to see about a boy named Mark, one of
+Nelson's people. I heard you had him for sale, and as he is a good sort
+of a fellow, I wouldn't mind buying him, if you are reasonable."
+
+"Want to keep him in St. Louis?" inquired the trader.
+
+"O! certainly, I want him for a coachman; ours gets drunk, and my wife
+will not allow him to drive her."
+
+"Well, Mr. Jennings, I am very sorry, but the fact is, Mr. Nelson was
+very angry at Mark, and pledged me not to sell him in the State. You see
+he was impudent, and you know that can't be allowed at all. I am right
+sorry, but I dare say I can suit you in one quite as good. There's
+Hannibal, one of Captain Adam's boys, he is a--
+
+"No matter, I don't want him," interrupted Mr. Jennings; "I am not
+particular about purchasing this morning. I only wanted him to please my
+wife; she will be very much disappointed, as she has his wife washing
+for her, and she will be in great distress at parting with her husband."
+
+"Yes, yes, I see! It's a pity niggers will take on so. I am sorry I
+can't accommodate Mrs. Jennings. If you should want a coachman, I should
+be glad if you would call down, as I have a good stock on hand of
+strong, healthy boys."
+
+"Yes, when I want one I will give you a call. But do you really think
+that Mr. Nelson would refuse to have him remain even in the State? I
+really would like to keep the poor fellow from going down South, if I
+paid a hundred or two more than he is worth."
+
+"O! there is no chance for him. Mr. Nelson was positive in his
+instructions. I don't think you need take the trouble to ask him, as I
+am almost sure he will refuse."
+
+"Then I suppose nothing can be done. Good morning," said Mr. Jennings.
+
+"Good morning, sir; I am sorry we can't trade."
+
+Mr. Jennings went home, and acquainted his wife with the result of his
+mission. She was a kind mistress to her slaves, and had seen but little
+of the horrors of slavery. To be sure, she had heard of instances of
+cruelty, but they had made but little impression on her, and had soon
+been forgotten. But here was a case which outraged every womanly feeling
+in her breast, a case of suffering and wrong, occurring to persons in
+whom she was personally interested, and she was aroused to the
+wickedness of the system which allowed such oppression.
+
+In the evening Hasty came up to see if anything had been done for her
+relief. As she entered the room, the sorrowful expression of Mrs.
+Jennings's face brought tears into her eyes, for she felt there was
+no hope.
+
+"O poor Hasty!" said Mrs. Jennings.
+
+"Don't say no more, missus, I see what's comin'. Poor Mark will go down
+South. Seems to me I knowed it would be so from de fust. O dear! it'll
+go nigh breaking me down. Tears like I can't stand it no how," said
+Hasty, sobbing aloud.
+
+Mrs. Jennings waited till the first burst of bitter grief was over, and
+then tried to comfort her as well as she was able, but she felt how hard
+it was to assuage such grief as this. She spoke to her of the hope of
+seeing her husband again in this world, and of the certainty at least,
+if both tried to do the will of God, of meeting in heaven. But her
+efforts were unavailing, and her consoling words fell on a heart that
+would not be comforted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+When Mrs. Jennings awoke the next morning, her first thoughts were of
+Hasty, and she determined that the day should not pass over without her
+making another effort for Mark. Accordingly, after breakfast she ordered
+the carriage, intending to make a visit to Mr. Nelson's.
+
+"Where are you going, Maggie?" inquired Mr. Jennings of his wife, as he
+heard her give the order.
+
+"I am going to Mr. Nelson's about Mark," she answered.
+
+"Why, my dear, I told you what M'Affee said, that Nelson was implacable.
+And besides, I am afraid he will think it impertinent in you to meddle
+with his affairs."
+
+"I shall make an apology for my visit," she answered, "but I cannot rest
+satisfied until I hear a direct refusal from his own lips. His conduct
+toward Mark seems more like revenge than punishment. I do not think he
+can persist in it."
+
+"Well, I give you credit for your perseverance," he said, laughingly,
+"but I am afraid you will come home disappointed."
+
+"If I do," she replied, "I shall feel less conscience-stricken than if I
+had remained at home, knowing that I have done all in my power to
+prevent his going."
+
+As Mrs. Jennings rode along she felt that she had a disagreeable duty to
+perform, but, like a true Christian woman, she shrunk not, but grew
+stronger as she approached the dwelling of the lordly oppressor, and she
+prayed to God for strength to be true to him and to the slave. When she
+arrived, she entered the house of Mr. Nelson with strong hopes, but,
+much to her disappointment, was informed that he had left the city, and
+would be absent for some weeks. Her next thought was to see his wife, if
+she was at home. The servant said that his mistress was at home, but
+doubted if she could be seen.
+
+"Present my card to her," said Mrs. Jennings, "and say to her that I
+have called on business, and will detain her but a few moments if she
+will see me."
+
+The servant retired with the card, and in a few moments returned, saying
+that Mrs. Nelson would be glad to see her in the sitting-room. When Mrs.
+Jennings entered the room she apologized for the intrusion to a
+handsome, though slightly careworn lady, who arose to receive her.
+
+"Madame," said Mrs. Jennings, "I have called on you this morning in
+relation to your servant Mark. I hope you will not think it impertinent
+in me to interfere in this matter, but I am very much interested in him.
+His wife has been my laundress for several years, and is exceedingly
+distressed at the idea of being separated from him. She came to me
+yesterday, and told me that he had been impertinent, and that Mr. Nelson
+intended selling him down South. I promised to use what influence I had
+to keep him in the city. And I have called this morning to see if I
+could persuade Mr. Nelson to overlook this offense, pledging myself for
+his future good conduct, for I really think that this will be a lesson
+to him that he will never forget."
+
+"I can appreciate and sympathize with your feelings." said Mrs. Nelson,
+"for I have myself endeavored to change my husband's determination. But
+he is a rigid disciplinarian, and makes it a rule never to overlook the
+first symptom of insubordination in any of the servants. He says if a
+servant is once permitted to retort, all discipline ceases, and he must
+be sold South. It is his rule and he never departs from it. O! I
+sometimes feel so sick when I see the punishments inflicted that seem
+necessary to keep them in subjection. But we wives can do nothing,
+however great our repugnance may be to it. The children have begged me
+to take them to see Mark before he goes. I heard from one of the
+servants that his owner intended starting to-morrow, so that this will
+be the only opportunity they will have to see him, and I think I will
+gratify them and let them go."
+
+Mrs. Nelson rang the bell, and in a few moments Sally had the children
+ready.
+
+"I intended to go down myself," said Mrs. Jennings, "and if you have no
+objections, I will take the children down in my carriage, as it is
+waiting at the door."
+
+"O, I thank you, that will suit me very well," said Mrs. Nelson, "as my
+engagements this morning will hardly permit me to go, and I was almost
+afraid to trust them with any of the other servants, now that Mark
+has gone."
+
+Mrs. Jennings and the children immediately entered the carriage and
+drove to the yard. As the carriage drew up before the door, Mr. M'Affee
+came out and assisted the party to alight, and on hearing the business,
+summoned Mark to them.
+
+"O! Massa Eddie and Missy Bell," said he joyfully, "I'se so glad you cum
+to see poor Mark; I was afeard I would never see you again."
+
+"O yes," said Eddie, "we came as soon as mamma told us about it. You see
+we didn't know it until yesterday, when we went out to ride, and that
+cross old Noah drove us, and we couldn't tell what it meant; so as soon
+as we came home Bell asked mother about it, and she said that you had
+been naughty, and papa sent you away. But I don't care; I think pa might
+forgive you just this once."
+
+"Yes, so do I," broke in Bell; "pa ought to let you stay, because little
+Fanny won't have any father to come and see at our house, and I like her
+to play with me."
+
+"I'se afeard Fanny won't play any more," said Mark sadly. "She is berry
+sick; de doctor said it was de scarlet fever, and the oder night, when I
+was up home, she was out of her head and didn't know me."
+
+"Why, is she sick?" asked Bell; "I didn't know that; I'll ask mamma if I
+can't go and see her when I get home. But mamma says maybe you'll come
+back one of these days. Won't you, Mark?"
+
+"No, honey, I don't ever 'spec to get back; and if I do, it will be a
+long, long time. It's so far down where I'se sold to, down the Arkansas
+river, I believe."
+
+"Are you sold there, Mark?" inquired Mrs. Jennings.
+
+"Yes, missus, and I don't know what'll come of poor Hasty when she knows
+it. She was here dis morning, and said that you had gone to Massa
+Nelson's, and was going to try to get me off; but I knowed how it would
+be; but I couldn't bar to cast her down when she was so hopeful like, so
+I didn't tell her I was sold. O Missus Jennings! do please comfort de
+poor soul, she's so sick and weak, she can hardly bar up. I used to give
+her all the arnings I got from people, but I can't give her any more. O
+Lord! it comes nigh breakin' me down when I think of it," said Mark, the
+big tears coursing down his face.
+
+"Don't cry, Mark," said little Bell, "Eddie and I will save up our
+money, and by the time we are big, we'll have enough to buy you; then
+I'll send Eddie down to bring you home."
+
+"Yes," said Eddie, "and mamma will give us many a picayune, when we tell
+her what it's for."
+
+Mrs. Jennings had been an interested spectator of the scene, and would
+have remained longer with Mark, to comfort him; but as it was after the
+dinner hour, she feared Mrs. Nelson would be anxious about the children,
+so she told them it was time to go, and that they must part with Mark.
+
+"Well, Mark, if we _must_ go," said the children, throwing their arms
+around his neck, "Good by."
+
+"Good by, dear children," he said, "and please be kind to my poor little
+Fanny, that will soon have no father."
+
+"We will," they answered, as they sadly passed from the yard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The following morning that sun rose warm and bright. All was bustle and
+excitement on the levee. Its broad top was crowded with drays and cabs
+conveying the freight and passengers to and from the steamboats, that
+lay compactly wedged together at its edge.
+
+About ten o'clock the bell of the "Aldon Adams" announced that its time
+for starting had come. The cabs threaded their way through the piles of
+goods and bales of cotton to the plank, and delivered their loads of
+travelers flitting to the sunny South. The last package of freight was
+being carried aboard, and everything was ready for the start. But all
+who are going have not arrived. A sad procession is marching down to the
+boat. It is M'Affee's gang! the men handcuffed, the women and children
+walking double file, though not fettered. A little apart from the rest
+we recognise Mark, and by his side walks Hasty. Little is said by
+either, but O! they feel the more. At last they reached the plank that
+was to separate them forever, yes, forever.
+
+At that same spot farewells had been exchanged; farewells, sad and
+tearful. Yet amid these tears, and with this sadness, hope whispered of
+a glad meeting in the future--of a joyful reunion. But here there was no
+such hope. Each felt that for them all was despair. Hark! the shrill
+whistle and the impatient puffing of the steam, tell them they must
+part. The rest have taken their places on the deck, and they too are
+standing on the levee alone.
+
+[Illustration: HASTY'S GRIEF.]
+
+"Come, come, quit your parleying. Don't you see they are hauling in the
+plank! Jump aboard, Mark, and don't look so glum. I'll git you another
+gal down in Arkansas," said the trader.
+
+Had he seen the look which Hasty cast upon him, he might have been
+admonished by those words of Oriental piety; "Beware of the groans of a
+wounded soul. Oppress not to the utmost a single heart, for a solitary
+sigh has the power to overturn a world."
+
+She turned from the trader, and, with a sob, as though the heart springs
+were snapped, she threw herself into her husband's arms. Again, and
+again he pressed her to his heart, then gently unclasping her hands, he
+tottered along the plank, and nearly had he ended his saddened life in
+the rolling stream below, but the ready hand of his owner caught him,
+and hurried him aboard.
+
+The plank was hauled aboard, and in an instant the boat was moving out
+into the stream. The passengers congregated on the hurricane deck,
+cheered, and waved their handkerchiefs to friends on shore, and her crew
+answered the shouts of those on the other boats as she rapidly passed
+them. Few saw, and those who did, without noting, the sorrowing woman,
+who, leaning against a bale of goods, with one hand shading her eyes,
+and the other pressed hard upon her heart, watching the receding boat,
+until it turned a bend in the river, and was hidden from her sight. Yet
+no watcher borne away upon the boat, nor any sorrowing one left upon the
+shore, turned away, as the last traces of the loved ones faded, with a
+heavier heart, or a feeling of such utter loneliness as did poor Hasty.
+Despairingly, she turned toward home. No tears, no choking sobs; but
+only that calm, frozen look to which tears and sobs would have been
+a relief.
+
+The light, elastic step of but a week before was gone. She stopped not
+now to gaze into the gay windows, or to watch the throng of promenaders;
+but, with an unsteady pace, wended her way slowly to her humble home in
+the lower part of the city.
+
+"Stop, Aunt Hasty," said a colored woman belonging to Mrs. Nelson,
+"missus gave me leave to cum down here dis afternoon to go home with
+you, kase she said you would take it so hard parting with your ole man."
+
+Hasty looked up as she heard the well known voice of the kind-hearted
+Sally.
+
+"O! Sally," she said, "I'se got no home now; they has taken him away
+that made me a home, and I don't keer for nothing now."
+
+"You mustn't be down-hearted, Hasty," she said, "but look right up to de
+Lord. He says, Call on me in de day of trouble, and I will, hear ye; and
+cast your burden on me, and I will care for ye. And sure enough dis is
+your time ob trouble, poor crittur."
+
+"Yes," she answered, "and it has been my time of trouble ever since Mark
+was sold, and I has prayed to de Lord, time after time, to raise up
+friends to save Mark from going; but ye see how it is, Sally."
+
+"Yes, I sees, Hasty, but ye mustn't let it shake your faith a bit, kase
+de Lord will bring it all right in his time."
+
+Thus talking, and endeavoring to console her, Sally accompanied Hasty to
+her now desolate home. As she entered the room, the low moan of her
+child fell upon her ear, and awoke her to the necessity of action. It
+was well that there existed an immediate call on her, or her heart would
+have sunk under the heavy burden of sorrow. She went hastily to the side
+of the little sufferer, and passing her cold hand over the burning
+forehead of her child, whispered soothing words of endearment.
+
+"Is father come?" asked Fanny. "Ise been dreamin', and I thought for
+sure he was here. 'Aint this his night to come home, mother?"
+
+"No, honey, dis is Friday night," answered Hasty. "But never mind about
+father now, but go to sleep, there's a good girl."
+
+And sitting down by the side of her child, Hasty, with a mother's
+tenderness, soothed her to sleep. All that long night she sat, but no
+sleep shed a calm upon her heart; but when morning came exhausted nature
+could bear up no longer, and she sank into a short but troubled slumber.
+
+    By the sick bed of her child,
+      In her cabin lone and drear.
+    Listening to its ravings wild,
+      Dropping on it many a tear,
+    Sat the mother, broken-hearted;
+      Every hope was in its shroud.
+    From her husband she'd been parted,
+      And to earth with grief she's bow'd.
+    Now within her ear is ringing
+      Drearily hope's funeral knell,
+    And the night wind wild is singing
+      Mournfully, the word _farewell_.
+
+Day broke, and still mother and child slept on. Hasty's over-charged
+heart and brain were for the first time, for some days, lulled to
+forgetfulness. If this relief had not come, without doubt one would have
+broken, and the other been lost in madness. Fanny was the first to
+awake. The crisis of the disease had passed; the fever no longer
+scorched her veins, and her mind no longer wandered. She was, however,
+as weak as an infant, and as incapable of attending to her wants. For
+the first time for many days she felt a desire for food, and raising
+herself partly up, called to her mother to get her breakfast.
+
+The voice of her child roused Hasty from her dreams of peace, to the
+dread realities of her bereavement. For a few moments she could not
+recall her scattered senses, but soon the remembrance of yesterday
+crowded upon her mind, and the anguish depicted upon her face showed
+that they had lost nothing of their intensity during their
+short oblivion.
+
+"Why Fanny, child, is you awake? And de fever all gone, too? How is yer
+dis mornin', dear?" asked Hasty.
+
+"O! I feel a heap better, mother," answered Fanny; "and I think I will
+be pretty near well by the time pappy comes to-night."
+
+Every word her child uttered fell as a leaden weight upon her heart. Her
+mind instinctively reverted to the last time her husband had been there.
+Then no thought of separation clouded their minds, but together they
+watched beside their sick child, beguiling the long hours of the night
+with hopeful and loving converse. Then she thought of the incidents of
+the week as they followed each other in quick succession, the news of
+his sale, the trader's pen, the parting; all, all seemed burned upon her
+brain in coals of living fire, and with a moan of agony she sank
+insensible upon the bed.
+
+A few moments after Mrs. Jennings entered the room. Ever since visiting
+Mark, and witnessing his anguish, she had constantly thought of Hasty,
+and longed for an opportunity of consoling her, and rendering her any
+assistance in her power. Feeling this morning uneasy at not hearing from
+her, she determined to go and see her. After some difficulty she at last
+found her, and, as we have seen, arrived very opportunely. Instantly,
+upon seeing the state of affairs, Mrs. Jennings ordered her coachman to
+go for a physician, while she and her maid, whom she had brought with
+her, used every means to restore Hasty to consciousness, and in a short
+time they succeeded in their efforts.
+
+The doctor arrived shortly after, and advised rest and quiet as the best
+restoratives to her shattered nerves. The wants of Fanny were also
+attended to, and the cravings of her appetite satisfied from a basket of
+food which the thoughtful care of Mrs. Jennings had provided. Mrs.
+Jennings's next thought was to procure a nurse for Hasty. Here she had
+no difficulty, for the neighbors of Hasty willingly offered their
+services. Selecting one who appeared thoughtful and tidy, Mrs. Jennings
+returned home with a heart lightened by a consciousness of duty well
+performed.
+
+For some days Hasty lay in a kind of stupor, without taking any notice
+of transpiring events, or seeming to recur to those of the past. She was
+daily supplied with various little dainties and luxuries suitable to an
+invalid, and received many other attentions from the kind-hearted Mrs.
+Jennings. Fanny's health improved each day, and, as the buoyancy of
+youth threw off the remains of disease, she regained her strength, and
+at the end of the following week she was able to take almost the entire
+charge of her mother. Hasty's eyes followed every movement of her child
+with the in tensest eagerness, as if fearing that she too would be
+taken from her.
+
+When Fanny was fully recovered she learned the fate of her father. She
+did not weep, or sob, or complain, but for the first time she realized
+the shadow that slavery had cast over her; and the change was
+instantaneous, from the mirthful, happy child, to the anxious, watchful
+slave girl. Hereafter there was to be no trusting confidence, no
+careless gayety, but this consciousness of slavery must mingle with
+every thought, with every action.
+
+One day, about a week after Hasty was taken sick, her mistress entered
+her room. This lady was the widow of a Frenchman, one of the early
+settlers of St. Louis, who had, by persevering industry, gained a
+competency. Before he had an opportunity of enjoying it he died, and
+left his property, consisting of a dwelling, five or six negroes, and
+a good sum in the stocks, to his widow. Mrs. Le Rue, on breaking up
+housekeeping, allowed Hasty to hire her time for two dollars a week,
+on condition that at the end of each month the required sum was to be
+forthcoming, and in the event of failure, the revocation of the
+permission was to be the inevitable consequence.
+
+The monthly pay-day found Hasty prostrated on a bed of sickness, and of
+course it passed without the payment of the stipulated sum. This was the
+immediate cause of her visit.
+
+The anxiety depicted in the countenance of Mrs. Le Rue did not arise
+from any sympathy for the emaciated and suffering woman before her, but
+only from that natural vexation with which a farmer would regard the
+sudden falling lame of a valuable horse. The idea of commiserating
+Hasty's condition as a human being, as a sister, never for a moment
+occurred to her; indeed, the sickness of the little poodle dog, which
+she led by a pink ribbon, would have elicited far more of the sympathies
+of her nature. In Hasty she saw only a piece of property visibly
+depreciated by sickness.
+
+"What is the matter with you, girl? Why have you not come to pay me my
+money?" she asked harshly, as she took the seat that Fanny had carefully
+dusted off.
+
+"O missus! I'se been too sick to work dis two weeks; but I'se got five
+dollars saved up for you, and if ever I get well I kin pay you the
+rest soon."
+
+"Pay the rest soon! Yes, you look very much like that. You are just
+making a fool of yourself about your husband; that is the way you
+niggers do. You are just trying to cheat me out of the money. I'll never
+let one of my women get married again."
+
+While the much-injured lady was delivering this speech, the poodle, who
+had been intently watching the face of his mistress, and thinking some
+one must be the offender, sprang at Fanny, viciously snapping at her
+feet. She, poor girl, had watched every expression in the face of her
+mistress, with the same anxiety as the courtiers of the sultan watch
+that autocrat, who holds their lives and fortunes in his hand; and
+surprised at this assault from an unlooked-for quarter, she jumped
+aside, and in doing so trod upon the paw of her tormentor, and sent him
+howling to the lap of his mistress.
+
+This was the last drop that caused the cup of wrath to overflow. Without
+heeding the protestations of Fanny, she seized her by the arm, and boxed
+her ears soundly.
+
+"What did you tread upon the dog for, you great clumsy nigger? I'll
+teach you what I'll do, if you do anything of the kind again; I'll give
+you a good whipping."
+
+Then turning to Hasty, whose feeble nerves had been intensely excited by
+this scene, she said: "I want you to get to work again pretty soon, and
+not lie there too lazy to work. You need not think I am going to lose my
+money by your foolishness. I shall expect your month's payment as usual,
+and if I don't get it, I will hire you out like the rest. And there is
+another thing I have to say; you are not going to keep this lazy girl
+here to hinder you, and to spend money on. A lady I know wants just such
+a girl to go to the door, and to wait on her, who will give me two
+dollars a month for her, and it is quite time she was doing something. I
+will not take her away now, but next week do you tidy her up and send
+her to me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Hasty was dying. She knew that it was to be so. For herself it was a
+release which she hailed gladly; but the thought of leaving her child
+rent her heart with anguish. She could see what the lot of that poor
+waif of childhood, cast upon the sea of Southern despotism, would be,
+and she longed to protect her from it. Yet what is a slave mother's
+protection to her child? What blow can she arrest? What temptation
+avert? None. Even a mother's claim is unrecognized, and the child's
+affection unregarded. Hasty's strength gradually declined until Sunday,
+when, feeling that death was near, she sent Fanny for Mrs. Jennings, for
+the purpose of bidding her farewell, and asking her protection for her
+daughter. Mrs. Jennings, on learning from Fanny the condition of Hasty,
+immediately complied with the request. On entering the room she was
+surprised and shocked at the ravages that mental and bodily suffering
+had made on the once handsome woman. Seating herself by the bedside,
+Mrs. Jennings inquired in what way she could ease the mind of the dying
+mother. With earnestness did Hasty plead that her child might be rescued
+from her present condition. She entreated Mrs. Jennings to buy Fanny
+from Mrs. Le Rue, and bring her up in the fear of God, and beyond the
+reach of a slave girl's perils.
+
+All this Mrs. Jennings promised, and with many a word of comfort she
+smoothed the passing of the immortal spirit into the unknown country.
+She pointed to the Saviour, and told of his wondrous love, of the
+equality of all in his sight, and of the saving power of his grace
+extended to all, whether bond or free.
+
+Just as the sun threw his last rays upon the spires of the city, Hasty's
+spirit was released, and she was _free_. Fanny gave herself up to a
+child's grief, and refused to be comforted. To the slave, the affections
+are the bright spots in his wilderness of sorrow and care; and as an
+Arab loves the oasis the better that it is in the midst of the desert,
+so the slave centers the whole strength of his nature in his loved ones,
+the more so that he is shut out from the hopes of wealth, the longings
+of ambition, and the excitements of a freeman's life.
+
+Mrs. Jennings verified her promise to Hasty, and soon after her death
+purchased Fanny. But her whole soul revolted at a system which could
+cause the suffering she had seen; and in the course of a few months she
+prevailed upon her husband to close his business in St. Louis, and
+remove to Chicago, where she is an active worker among the anti-slavery
+women in that liberty-loving city. She has instilled the principles of
+freedom for all men into the minds of her children, and recently wrote
+the following verses for them on the occasion of the celebration of the
+Fourth of July:
+
+    "Little children, when you see
+      High your country's banner wave,
+    Let your thoughts a moment be
+      Turned in pity on the slave.
+
+    "When with pride you count the stars,
+      When your hearts grow strong and brave,
+    Think with pity of the scars
+      Borne in sorrow by the slave.
+
+    "Not for him is freedom's sound;
+      Not for him the banners wave;
+    For, in hopeless bondage bound,
+      Toils the sad and weary slave.
+
+    "All things round of freedom ring--
+      Winged birds and dashing wave;
+    What are joyous sounds to him
+      In his chains, a fettered slave?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: AUNT JUDY'S HUSBAND CAPTURED See page 133]
+
+
+
+
+AUNT JUDY'S STORY:
+
+A STORY FROM REAL LIFE.
+
+
+BY MATILDA G. THOMPSON.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+"Look! look! mother, there comes old Aunt Judy!" said Alfred, as an old
+colored woman came slowly up the gravel walk that led to the handsome
+residence of Mr. Ford, of Indiana.
+
+The tottering step, the stooping back, and glassy eye, betokened extreme
+age and infirmity. Her countenance bore the marks of hardship and
+exposure; while the coarse material of her scanty garments, which
+scarcely served to defend her from the bleak December wind, showed that
+even now she wrestled with poverty for life. In one hand she carried a
+small pitcher, while with the other she leaned heavily on her
+oaken stick.
+
+"She has come for her milk," said little Cornelia, who ran out and took
+the pitcher from the woman's hand.
+
+"Let me help you, Auntie, you walk so slow," said she.
+
+"Come in and warm yourself, Judy," said Mrs. Ford, "it is cold and damp,
+and you must be tired. How have you been these two or three days?"
+
+"Purty well, thank ye, but I'se had a touch of the rheumatiz, and I find
+I isn't so strong as I was," said Judy, as she drew near the grate, in
+which blazed and crackled the soft coal of the West, in a manner both
+beautiful and comforting.
+
+Mrs. Ford busied herself in preparing a basket of provisions, and had
+commenced wrapping the napkin over it, when she paused and leaned toward
+the closet, into which she looked, but did not seem to find what she
+wanted, for, calling one of the boys, she whispered something to him. He
+ran out into the yard and down the path to the barn; presently he
+returned and said,
+
+"There are none there, mother."
+
+"I am very sorry, Judy, that I have not an egg for you, but our hens
+have not yet commenced laying, except Sissy's little bantam," said
+Mrs. Ford.
+
+Now Cornelia had a little white banty, with a topknot on its head and
+feathers on its legs, which was a very great pet, of course; and Sissy
+had resolved to save all banty's eggs, so that she might hatch only her
+own chickens. "For," said she, "if she sets on other hen's eggs, when
+the chickens grow big they will be larger than their mother, and then
+she will have so much trouble to make them mind her."
+
+Now, when she heard her mother wish for an egg, the desire to give one
+to Judy crossed her mind, but it was some moments before she could bring
+herself to part with her cherished treasure. Soon, however, her
+irresolution vanished, and she ran quickly to her little basket, and
+taking out a nice fresh egg, she laid it in Judy's hand, saying,
+
+"There, Judy, it will make you strong."
+
+Mrs. Ford marked with a mother's eye the struggle going on in the mind
+of her daughter, but determined not to interfere, but let her decide for
+herself, unbiased by her mother's wishes or opinions. And when she saw
+the better feeling triumph, a tear of exquisite pleasure dimmed her eye,
+for in that trifling circumstance she saw the many trials and
+temptations of after life prefigured, and hoped they would end as that
+did, in the victory of the noble and generous impulses of the heart.
+
+When the basket was ready, and Aunt Judy regaled with a nice cup of tea,
+one of the boys volunteered to carry it home for her, a proposal which
+was readily assented to by Mrs. Ford, whose heart was gladdened by every
+act of kindness to the poor and needy performed by her children, and who
+had early taught them that in such deeds they obeyed the injunction of
+our Saviour: "Bear ye one another's burdens."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Several weeks had passed away since Judy's visit, when, one day, as
+Cornelia stood leaning her little curly head against her mother's
+knee, she said:
+
+"Mother, who is Judy? Has she a husband or children?"
+
+"I do not know of any, my daughter. She may have some living; but you
+know Judy was a slave, and they have probably been sold away from her,
+and are still in slavery."
+
+"In slavery, mother! and _sold_? Why, do they sell little children away
+from their mothers?"
+
+"Yes, Cornelia, there are persons guilty of such a wicked thing; mothers
+and children, and whole families, are often separated from each other,
+never, perhaps, to meet again!"
+
+"So Judy was a slave, mother?"
+
+"Yes, Cornelia, she was: and from all I have learned of her history, I
+am sure she has led a very unhappy and sorrowful life."
+
+"O! now I understand what you meant when you said that she had a thorny
+path through life. Have you ever heard her history, mother? if you have,
+won't you tell it to us?"
+
+"Yes, do, mother, do!" exclaimed the children together.
+
+"I should like very much to gratify you, my dear children, but it is not
+in my power to do so, as I am not very well acquainted with her history.
+But I will tell you how we can arrange it. Judy will he here to-night,
+as, I promised to give her some Indian cakes, of which she is very fond,
+and I have no doubt that she will tell you the story of her sad life."
+
+The idea of hearing Judy's story occupied the mind of the children all
+the afternoon, and the evening was looked forward to with great
+impatience by them.
+
+It was twilight, and Mrs. Ford and the children had gathered around the
+warm, comfortable grate to await the return of papa. The wind whistled
+without, and the snow-flakes fell silently and steadily to the
+frozen ground.
+
+"Mother, can't I bring in the lights?" asked Cornelia, who was getting a
+little impatient; only a little, for Cornelia was remarkable for her
+sweet and placid disposition.
+
+"Yes, dear, I think you may. Hark! yes, that is his footstep in the
+hall. Go, Alfred, and tell Bessie to bring up the tea. And you,
+Cornelia, bring your father's dressing-gown and slippers to the fire."
+
+"Yes, wife, let us have some of Bessie's nice hot tea, for I am chilled
+through and through; and such a cutting wind! I thought my nose would
+have been blown off; and what would my little girl have said if she had
+seen her papa come home without a nose? Would you have run?" asked
+Mr. Ford.
+
+"No, indeed, papa, if your nose were blown off, and your teeth all
+pulled out, and you were like 'Uncle Ned,' who had 'no eyes to see, and
+had no hair on the top of his head,' I would just get on your lap as I
+do now; so you see you could not frighten me away if you tried ever so
+hard," said Cornelia, laughingly.
+
+Supper was hastily dispatched, by the children, who were eager and
+impatient for the coming of Aunt Judy.
+
+"O mother! _do_ you think she will come?" asked Alfred, as his mother
+arose from the table to look at the weather.
+
+"Well, indeed, Alfred, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I think there
+is little probability of seeing Judy to-night."
+
+"Why, no, mother, I thought that as soon as I saw what a stormy night it
+was; and although it will disappoint us very much, I hope she will not
+come," said little Cornelia.
+
+"Why, how you talk, sis! _Not come_, indeed! Humph! I hope she _will_,
+then. This little snow wouldn't hurt me, so it wouldn't hurt her," said
+the impetuous Alfred.
+
+"You must remember, my son, that Judy is old and infirm, and subject, as
+she says, to a 'touch of the rheumatiz.' But I am sorry that she has not
+come to-night. She may be sick; I think I will call down and see her
+to-morrow," said Mrs. Ford, drawing out the table and arranging the
+shade on the lamp, so that the light fell on the table and the faces of
+those around it. They were cheerful, happy faces, and everything around
+them wore the same look; and from the aspect of things, it seemed as if
+they were going to spend a pleasant and profitable evening.
+
+"Dear papa, tell us a story with a poor slave in it, won't you? and I
+will give you as many kisses as you please," said Cornelia, twining her
+arms around her father's neck.
+
+"No, no, papa, not about the slave, but the poor Indian, who has been
+far worse treated than the slave was or ever will be. Only to think of
+the white people coming here, plundering their villages, and building on
+their hunting grounds, just as if it belonged to them, when all the
+while it was the Indians'. Now, if they had bought it and paid for it,
+honorably, as William Penn did, it would have been a different thing;
+but they got it meanly, and I'm ashamed of them for it," said Alfred,
+his eyes flashing and his cheeks glowing with indignation.
+
+"All that you have said is true, my son, but the Indians were also
+guilty of great cruelty toward the white people," said Mr. Ford.
+
+"But, papa, don't you think the Indians had good cause for their hatred
+to the whites?" asked Harry.
+
+"Why, Harry, they had no reason sufficient to justify them in their
+cruel and vindictive course; but they did no more than was to be
+expected from an entirely barbarous nation, and I am sure they had no
+good example in the conduct of the white people, from whom much better
+behavior might have been expected."
+
+"Well, papa, what were some of the wrongs that the Indians endured!"
+
+"The Indians regarded the whites as intruders, and maddened by some acts
+of injustice and oppression committed by the early settlers, they
+conceived a deadly hatred, which the whites returned with equal
+intensity; and for each crime committed by either of them, the opposite
+party inflicted a retribution more terrible than the act which provoked
+it, and the Indian, being less powerful, but equally wicked, was
+the victim."
+
+"Well, although I think the Indians were very wicked, I pity them, but I
+feel a great deal more for the poor slave," said little Cornelia.
+
+"I think they were very cruel, sis, but I still think that they were
+very badly treated," said Alfred.
+
+"There is no doubt of that," answered his father; "but, my son, when you
+began the argument you said that you thought the Indians were more
+deserving of compassion than the Africans. Now this is the difference.
+The Indians were always a warlike and treacherous race; their most
+solemn compacts were broken as soon as their own purposes had been
+served. And they were continually harassing the settlers; indeed they
+have not ceased yet, for at the present time they are attacking and
+murdering the traders who cross the plains, if they are not well armed,
+and in sufficiently large companies to keep them in check. Now the
+Americans had never this cause of complaint against the Africans, for,
+although like all heathen, they were debased, and were cruel and warlike
+among each other, they never annoyed us in America. And the Americans
+had not, therefore, even this insufficient excuse for enslaving them.
+The Indians were robbed of their lands, and driven from their homes; but
+the Africans not only lost their country, but were compelled to work in
+slavery, for men to whom they owed no allegiance, in a different
+climate, and with the ever-galling thought that they were once free. It
+argues well for their peaceable disposition, that they have not long ago
+revolted, and by a terrible massacre shaken off their yoke as they did
+in St. Domingo. Now, which was the worst used in this case?"
+
+"O! the slave, papa. I willingly surrender," said Alfred, laughing.
+
+"Well, if you have finished, I move we go to bed, and thence to the land
+of dreams," said Mrs. Ford, rising and putting away her sewing.
+
+It was unanimously agreed that this was the best plan, and, after giving
+thanks to God for his many mercies, they retired.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+"Good morning, father," said Alfred; "I have been thinking that I
+surrendered too soon last night; I did not bring out all my forces,
+because I forgot something I heard that old Baptist minister say when he
+was lecturing here a few days ago. He said that the Creek Indians would
+not send the poor fugitives back to their masters. It is true they made
+a treaty with our government to do so, but they had too much humanity to
+keep it; and for not doing so, the government withheld two hundred and
+fifty thousand dollars, which was due to the Indians for some lands, and
+used it to pay the masters. But that made little difference to them, for
+they still persisted in disobeying the 'Fugitive Slave Law.' Now don't
+you think _that_ was a good trait in their character?"
+
+"Yes, Alfred, I do; they manifested a very generous and humane
+disposition."
+
+"Well, but I think it was very dishonorable for them to break any
+treaty," said Harry.
+
+"You see, Harry, there is where you and I differ. I think it a great
+deal better to break a bad promise than to keep it, answered Alfred.
+
+"Come into breakfast, papa," said Cornelia, peeping her little curly
+head in at the door, "Mamma wants you to come right away, because she
+has to go to Judy's."
+
+"Very well, we will go now, and not keep mother waiting. Just look at
+the snow! How it sparkles! Jack Frost has been here, for the windows are
+all covered and the water in the pitcher is frozen."
+
+"Yes, papa, and see what funny shapes the icicles are in, and the trees
+and bushes look as if they had their white dresses on," said
+little Cornelia.
+
+"It will be a splendid morning for a sleigh-ride. Would you like to take
+one, mother?" asked Harry, after their breakfast was over and family
+prayer ended.
+
+"Yes, my son, I should; I have to go to Judy's this morning; so we can
+take the children to school first, and then pay my visit. I should like
+to have the sleigh at the door pretty early, as I have several places to
+go to after coming from Judy's."
+
+"Very well, mother, you shall have it immediately. Now bundle sis up
+warm, for there is a cutting wind, and I think it looks like snowing
+again. And O! mother, I had nearly forgotten it, there was a poor Irish
+family coming off the boat last night, who seemed destitute of both
+clothing and food. If we have time this morning, won't you go and
+see them?"
+
+"Perhaps I will," said his mother; and Harry ran off, but soon returned,
+calling, "Come, mother, the sleigh is waiting, and the horse looks as if
+he was in a hurry to be off."
+
+"Yes, Harry, I am coming; I only went back to get a little milk for
+Judy; she is so weak that I think she needs it."
+
+"O mother!" said Alfred as they drove along, "what is more enlivening
+than the merry jingling of the sleigh bells on a clear frosty day?"
+
+"It is, indeed, very pleasant, Alfred; but while we are enjoying our
+pleasant winter evenings, and our many sleigh rides, the thought comes
+to our minds that however much we may like the winter time, there are
+hundreds in our city who think of its approach with fear and trembling,
+and who suffer much from cold and hunger, until the pleasant spring time
+comes again. But you were telling me, Henry, about those poor people,
+and I was too much occupied to attend to you. Do you know where they
+live?" asked Mrs. Ford.
+
+"Yes, just along the bank, mother; it is a wretched-looking house, and
+very much exposed. Poor things! I pitied them very much; they appeared
+so destitute, and even the children had a care-worn look on their
+thin faces."
+
+"What! in that old house, Harry?" exclaimed Alfred. "Why the windows
+have hardly any panes in them, and there are great holes in the walls."
+
+"Yes, Ally, that is the place, and it is, as you say, a rickety old
+house; but I suppose it is the best they can get. But here we are at
+school, Ally; you get out first, and I will hand sissy out to you. Take
+hold of her hand, for the path is slippery."
+
+The children alighted, and then Harry and his mother, after a pleasant
+ride round the city, drove up to Aunt Judy's cottage.
+
+"O Miss Ford! am dat you? Now who'd a thought on't? I'se sure you's de
+best woman I ever see'd; now jist tell me what you cum'd out on sich a
+day as dis for!" asked old Judy as Mrs. Ford entered the cottage. As for
+Harry, he drove the horse hack to the stable until noon, when he was to
+call for his mother on his way from school with Ally and Cornelia.
+
+"Why, Judy, we came to see you; I thought that if you were sick, I could
+perhaps comfort you."
+
+"Wal, I _has_ been sick wid de rheumatiz. O marcy! I'se had sich orful
+pains all through me, and dats de reason I didn't cum last night. But,
+bless us! honey, here I'se been standing telling you all my pains and
+aches, and letting you stand in your wet feet; now come to de fire,
+my child."
+
+"My feet are not wet, Auntie, only a little cold. Harry brought me
+around in the sleigh, and we were well wrapped up. Now, Judy, here are a
+few things for you, some tea and sugar, a loaf of bread, and a bit
+of bacon."
+
+"Thanks, Missy Ford, I'se so glad to see a little tea; it's so long
+since I tasted any. And a bit of bacon too! Wal, now I _will_ have
+a dinner!"
+
+"Do not wait till dinner time, Judy; I want you to make a cup of tea
+now, and rouse yourself up, and try to recollect all that has passed and
+happened to you since your childhood, for I promised the children that I
+would tell them your history."
+
+"Yes, missy, I'll try," said Judy, taking her little cracked earthen
+teapot, and making her tea.
+
+After it was made, and Judy was refreshed with a good breakfast, she
+began and told Mrs. Ford the history of her sorrows and troubles, which
+we will let Mrs. Ford tell to the children herself. It was quite a long
+narrative.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Judy had just finished speaking when they were interrupted by the
+entrance of Harry, who had returned for his mother. Judy followed them
+to the sleigh, for she said she "must cum out and see de chil'en, spite
+of her rheumatiz."
+
+"Auntie," said little Cornelia, "have my little banty's eggs hatched
+yet?" Cornelia had sent the little banty and her eggs to aunt Judy, that
+the chickens might be hatched under her care.
+
+"Laws, yes, honey, I'll go in and get 'em for you to see; but I think
+you had bettor not take them home yet, till they get bigger," said Judy,
+going back into the house. In a little while she appeared with a little
+covered basket in her hand. She unwrapped the flannel from around the
+basket, and there lay six beautiful little white banties.
+
+"O mamma! look at the little things! Are they not little beauties?" said
+Cornelia, picking up one of them, and laying its soft feathery head to
+her cheeks.
+
+"Yes, my dear; but you must give them back, and not keep Auntie waiting
+in the cold."
+
+Cornelia hesitated a little while, and then was giving it back
+reluctantly, when her mother gently said, "Cornelia!" and she instantly
+returned the basket to Judy.
+
+After they were all seated in the sleigh, and Harry had touched the
+horse with the whip, they heard some one calling after them, and on
+looking behind there was poor old Judy carrying two hot bricks in
+her hand.
+
+"Get out, Ally, and take them from her, and do not let her come so far
+in the snow."
+
+But while he was getting free from the entanglement of the buffalo skin,
+Judy had come up, and, handing them to Mrs. Ford, said:
+
+"Here, Missy, is these ar bricks. I heated 'em for you, and forgot 'em
+till you was gone; take 'em honey; you's got more than a mile to go, and
+I knows you will be cold."
+
+Mrs. Ford thanked her, but gently reproved her for exposing herself.
+They watched her as she trudged back in the snow, and then waving their
+hands to her as she disappeared in the turn of the road, Harry touched
+the horse, and in a few minutes they seemed as if they were actually
+flying over the frozen surface.
+
+When they arrived at home Bessie had a smoking dinner on the table for
+them, which they partook of with great relish. After they had finished
+their dinner, their mother said that as they had but one session at
+school, they would have ample time to perform their tasks before
+tea-time. Harry was to chop the wood, while Alfred was to pile it on the
+porch; and Cornelia would finish the garters that she was kniting as a
+Christmas present for papa. And after that they were to study their
+lessons for the next day, so that they would be at leisure in the
+evening. All cheerfully obeyed, and before tea-time their tasks were all
+performed and lessons learned.
+
+After the tea-things had been removed, "Now," said Mr. Ford,
+
+    'Stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
+    Let fall the curtain, and wheel the sofa round,'"
+
+"And be ready for Aunt Judy's story," added Alfred. "Come, mother, come;
+we are all waiting."
+
+"Have a little patience, my son, I will be there in a few minutes."
+
+She soon reappeared, and was greeted with "three cheers" from the
+children, and seating herself in the large comfortable rocking-chair,
+she began:
+
+"On the eastern side of the beautiful Roanoke was the residence of Mr.
+Madison, and here the first few years of Judy's life was passed. She had
+a kind master, and, while in his service, had a very happy time. She
+had, like most of her race, a strong native talent for music, and was
+frequently called upon to exercise it by singing songs, and dancing, for
+the amusement of General Washington and the other officers of the
+Revolution who visited at her master's house. Judy was then quite young,
+and greatly enjoyed a sight of the soldier's gay uniform.
+
+"Her master died when she was a child. Her mistress was then in very ill
+health, and little Judy spent most of the time in her room, in
+attendance upon her. One day her mistress was seized with a violent fit
+of coughing. Judy ran to her assistance, and finding that the cough did
+not yield to the usual remedies, called for help, but before aid was
+obtained, Mrs. Madison was dead! She died with her arms around the neck
+of her faithful attendant.
+
+"Mrs. Madison had made provision for the emancipation of Judy, and after
+her death she received her free papers, which she carefully guarded.
+
+"After her mother's death, the daughter of Mrs. Madison determined to
+remove to Kentucky, and Judy, being much attached to her and the family,
+accompanied them.
+
+"Soon after her arrival there, Judy married a slave on the plantation of
+Mr. Jackson, which was several miles distant from that of Judy's
+mistress. John's master was very cruel to him; he would not allow him to
+leave the estate, nor was Judy permitted to come to see him; and thus
+they lived apart for several months; but the brutal treatment of his
+master at last rendered John desperate, and he determined to run away.
+It was a fearful risk, but if he succeeded, the prize, he thought, would
+be sufficient compensation.
+
+"One morning he had a pass from his master to go to a neighboring town
+on business, and he thought this a good opportunity to execute the
+project he had so long entertained. He started, and traveled all night,
+and lay concealed in the woods all day, and on the third day after he
+had left home he ventured on to the estate of Judy's mistress. He went
+into one of the hen-houses, and it was not long before he saw Judy come
+out to feed the poultry. She was very much frightened when she saw him,
+and thought of the consequences that might arise from his master's rage
+if he found him. However, she hid him in the barn, supplying him with
+food at night. He stayed there more than a week, intending to leave
+Kentucky after his master's pursuit should have ceased. But one morning
+his master came to the house, and told Judy's mistress that one of his
+slaves was concealed on the place, and asked permission to hunt him,
+which was granted. He soon found him by the aid of one of the slaves
+who had noticed Judy carrying food to the barn, and watched her till he
+had discovered her husband, and then informed against him."
+
+"O how mean to betray him!" exclaimed Alfred.
+
+"Yes, Ally, it was; but I suppose it was the hope of reward that induced
+him to be guilty of such a base act."
+
+"And _was_ he rewarded?" asked Cornelia, "for I am sure if he was he did
+not deserve it."
+
+"I do not know that he was, my daughter," answered Mrs. Ford. "John was
+taken to jail and locked up until his master should return home. Judy
+obtained a permit to enter the jail, and stayed with him in the cold,
+damp cell, cheering him with her presence. She could not bear the
+thought of being again separated, and determined to accompany him, let
+the consequences be what they might. Her husband was taken to a
+blacksmith's shop on the next day after his recapture, and a heavy pair
+of handcuffs placed upon him, and a chain (having at the end a large
+iron ball) was then fastened to his leg to prevent him from running, and
+in this condition they started for home. They walked for six days, she
+with her infant in her arms, and he, heavily loaded with irons. And she
+told me that often her dress was one cake of ice up to her knees, the
+snow and rain being frozen on her skirts. Her husband's shoes soon gave
+way, and his feet bled profusely at every step. Judy tore off her skirt,
+piece by piece, to wrap them in, for she loved him tenderly. But the
+anguish of their bodies was nothing in comparison with that of their
+minds. Fear for the consequences of the attempt, and regret that it had
+not been successful, filled their hearts with grief, and they journeyed
+on with no earthly hope to cheer them.
+
+"Just think, my children, what they must have suffered through those
+long dreary days, John going back to slavery and misery, and Judy not
+knowing what her own fate might be. But she had comforted herself with
+the thought that when John's master saw what a condition he was in, he
+would relent toward him. But she was sadly mistaken, for he took him,
+weary, sick, and suffering, as he was, and whipped him cruelly, and then
+left him in an old shed."
+
+[Illustration: HANDCUFFING JUDY'S HUSBAND]
+
+"O mamma!" said little Cornelia, burying her face in her mother's lap,
+and sobbing aloud, "Do they do such wicked things?"
+
+"I wish I had hold of him," said Alfred, "wouldn't I give it to him?"
+
+"I should feel very much grieved if I saw you harm him in any way, Ally.
+Do you forget what our blessed Saviour said about returning good for
+evil?" asked his mother.
+
+"Well, but mother, I am sure it would have been no more than fair just
+to give him a good cowhiding, so as it did not kill him."
+
+"No more than he deserved, perhaps, but, my son, you should remember
+that Jesus taught us that we should forgive the greatest injuries.
+
+"After this cruel treatment of John, Judy, with the aid of one of the
+other slaves who sympathized with her and John, carried him to a little
+hut that was not so much exposed as the one in which he had previously
+lain. He had a razor with which he had attempted to kill himself, but
+Judy came in at that moment, and as he was very weak, she easily took it
+from him; but he said:
+
+"'O let me die! I would rather be in my grave, than endure this over
+again.'
+
+"He was sick and helpless a long time, but he would have suffered much
+more if Judy had not been free, and had it in her power to nurse him.
+There is many a poor slave that has fallen a victim to this kind of
+barbarity, with no eye to witness his distress but his heavenly Father's.
+
+"To add to John's misery was the brutal treatment of a little brother; a
+smart active child of eight years of age, who was owned by the same man.
+Mr. Jackson was a great drunkard, and when under the influence of liquor
+no crime was too great for him. One day, for some slight offense, he
+took the child, marked his throat from ear to ear, and then cut the rims
+of his ears partly off and left them hanging down. A little while after
+this, a gentleman, who had been in the habit of visiting at the house,
+rode up, and noticing the child's throat, asked him how it happened. He
+said, "Massa did it." The gentleman was so enraged, that he immediately
+mounted his horse, rode away, and had him arrested.
+
+"When John was able to leave his bed, his mistress, a kind and humane
+woman, whose slave he had been before her marriage, took him and hid him
+in a cave that was on the plantation, and supplied him with food,
+intending to send him away as soon as she could do so safely.
+
+"He was there several weeks, and his master supposed he had again
+escaped, and was hid somewhere in the woods, but he had become so much
+dissipated that he took no interest in his business affairs, and never
+explored the hiding-places on his own plantation. One day a gentleman by
+the name of Mr. Lawrence, of Vincennes, came to Mr. Jackson's to
+purchase a servant to take with him to Indiana.
+
+"Why, mother, I thought that they would not allow any one to hold slaves
+here," said Ally.
+
+"No, they do not, my son, but this gentleman was to take him as a bound
+servant for a term of years, and he probably supposed that poor John's
+legal rights would not be very carefully examined. John was sold in the
+woods for a small sum. After the bargain was concluded, Mr. Lawrence
+asked if the slave had a wife on the plantation, and was told that he
+had. Judy was pointed out to him. He asked her if she knew where her
+husband was, and she told him that she did; for she thought it was
+better for him to leave his cave, as it was damp and comfortless. So
+that night, with new hope in her heart, Judy went to his lone and dreary
+hiding-place, and told him of the bargain. Any change was a relief to
+him, and he came willingly out, and made preparations for going with Mr.
+Lawrence. He waited until his master was in bed, and too deeply
+stupefied with liquor to heed what was passing, and then came to the
+place appointed. Mrs. Jackson gave him some clothes, and made what
+provision she could for his comfort on the way. John had a horse given
+him to ride upon, but Judy was taken no notice of; yet she determined to
+walk the three days' journey, rather than be separated from John.
+
+"Mr. Lawrence, when he perceived Judy was following them, tried to
+persuade her to return, for she had a young child with her, and he was
+afraid she would be troublesome. He told her that after her husband was
+settled in Vincennes, he would send for her, but she had learned to
+place no confidence in promises made to a slave; so she resolved she
+would go, believing if she lost sight of her husband she would never see
+him again.
+
+"They had to cross the Ohio in a ferry boat, and Judy strained every
+nerve to reach it before them. She did so; and hurrying up the stairs
+with her baby, she clasped the railings, resolved to stay there, unless
+compelled by violence to leave the boat. But no one noticed her, and she
+arrived safely on the other side. After walking some miles, poor Judy
+became tired and weary, and her strength failed her, and she was afraid
+that after all she had gone through, for the sake of her husband, she
+would be left at last. But she thought she would make another effort, so
+she told Mr. Lawrence that if he would buy her a horse to ride upon, she
+would bind herself to him for six months after they arrived in Indiana.
+He agreed to do so, and bought her a horse. After they reached
+Vincennes, and Judy had worked out her six months, she again bound
+herself to him to serve out her husband's time, for he was very weak and
+feeble, and was suffering with a severe cough, and Judy longed to see
+him own his own body. But God freed him before the year was out. He had
+suffered so much from severe whipping and abuse of every kind that he
+wasted away and died of consumption.
+
+"After his death Judy remained with his master for some time, but she
+finally became dissatisfied, and longed to go back to Mrs. Madison's
+daughter, and see her home once more. She mentioned this to Mr.
+Lawrence, but he took no notice of it until, one day, he came to her
+and said:
+
+"'Judy, I want you to come down to the auction rooms, I have bought a
+few things to-day, and I want you to carry them home; and you might as
+well bring little Charley along with you, he can help you.'
+
+"The little Charley here spoken of was a smart child of five or six
+years of age. Judy and Charley accompanied Mr. Lawrence to the rooms.
+When they arrived there Judy observed a number of strange-looking men
+who appeared to be earnestly conversing on some subject which interested
+Mr. Lawrence deeply. But Judy suspected nothing, and had begun arranging
+the things so that she could carry them more conveniently, when her
+master turned round to her and said:
+
+"'Judy, you have become dissatisfied with me, and I have got you a new
+master.'
+
+"Judy was frightened, and attempted to run, but one of them caught her,
+and dragging her to a trap door, let her down. Little Charley, not
+knowing what had become of his mother, began to cry, but one of the men
+held him and told him to stop making such a noise.
+
+"Judy remained in the cellar until a vessel came along, and she was then
+taken out, and a handkerchief tied tightly over her mouth to prevent her
+from screaming or making any noise. She was then hurried on board of the
+boat, with a cargo of slaves bound for the far South. It seemed now as
+if her 'cup of bitterness was full.' As she was on the deck, in grief
+and terror, she heard some one calling 'Mother! mother!' and on looking
+up, there was her darling boy. She asked him how he came there;
+he answered:
+
+"'A naughty man that put you down in the cellar carried me to his house,
+and locked me up, and then brought me here.'
+
+[Illustration: WAITING TO BE SOLD.]
+
+"Poor Judy! she knew in a moment that both were to be sold, and no
+language can describe her anguish; her free papers were left behind, and
+another one of her children, her little daughter Fanny. She did not know
+what would become of her, or where she was going. After sailing for
+several weeks, they arrived at a place which she thinks was called
+Vicksburg; here they were taken off the boat, and carried to the auction
+rooms, where a sale was then going on. In a little while after they came
+in, a gentleman walked up to them, and after looking at little Charley,
+placed him on the block. Poor Judy's heart was almost bursting; but when
+she saw a man buy and carry away the pride and joy of her heart, she
+became frantic, and screamed after him, but he was picked up and carried
+from her sight. It was too much for her; all was a mist in a moment, and
+she sank senseless to the floor. When she revived she found herself
+lying on an old pile of cotton in one corner of the auction rooms. The
+auctioneer, seeing that she had arisen, bade her stand in the pen, along
+with the other negroes. Judy mechanically obeyed, and took her place
+with the others, and was sitting like one in a dream, when she was
+aroused by a man slapping her on the back.
+
+"'Come, look spry, old woman,' said he.
+
+"'Could you look spry, massa, if your child, your son you loved as well
+as your life, was torn away from you? O God!' said she, burying her face
+in her hands, 'have mercy on me, and help me to be resigned.'
+
+"'Yes, I'll make you resigned,' said he, sneeringly, slapping her across
+the back. 'Now you follow me, and don't let me hear a word out of
+your head.'
+
+"Judy obeyed, and after arriving at the wharf, they went on board a
+vessel that was bound for New Orleans. In about a week after they had
+started, they arrived at Mr. Martin's plantation, where Judy saw about
+one hundred and fifty slaves at work in the field. Without being allowed
+a moment to rest herself, after her long walk from the boat, she was
+given a basket and ordered to the field. Poor Judy's head was aching
+severely, and when she was exposed to the scorching rays of the sun of
+the south, her temples throbbed wildly, and O! how she longed for some
+quiet shady place, where she could bathe her fevered brow and rest her
+weary limbs. But she must not think of stopping a moment to rest, for
+the eyes of the brutal overseer were upon her, and the thought of the
+stinging lash, the smart and pain, came across her mind, and urged her
+on, and made her work with greater swiftness than before. At last the
+weary, weary day drew to a close, and it was getting quite dark, and the
+dew was beginning to fall, and Judy was expecting every moment to hear
+the order for them to return home. But still they worked on, and hour
+after hour passed, until it was almost midnight, and not till then did
+the joyful summons come for them to stop."
+
+"Why, mamma, do they make them work so late as that?" asked Cornelia.
+
+"Yes, my daughter, in the busy season the poor slaves are often kept out
+very late. After they had received the order to return home, Judy, with
+aching limbs, joined the other slaves who were wearily wending their way
+to the little out-house where the overseer was weighing their cotton. As
+they presented their baskets to be weighed, they watched eagerly to see
+if their baskets were approved of. Judy gladly heard that hers was the
+full weight, and after ascertaining where she was to sleep, and
+receiving her allowance of corn, she went to the shed pointed out to
+her. She made her cakes for her supper and for the next morning, and
+then laid down upon her bed, or rather on a pile of straw with an old
+piece of sheet spread over it. Judy was much exhausted, and soon fell
+asleep, notwithstanding the roughness of her bed. But it seemed as
+though she had scarcely closed her eyes before the plantation bell rang,
+and called them to another weary day's work.
+
+"Thus many, many months passed, of toiling from day to day, and from
+morning till night. One morning they saw one of the house servants
+running toward them; he told them that their master was dead. He had
+died suddenly from a fit of appoplexy. The tidings were received by Judy
+with joy. You must pardon her, my children, for this man had been a
+cruel master to her, and she thought that, as he had neither wife nor
+children, his slaves would be sold, and perhaps she would get farther
+north, and in the neighborhood of her old home, and might meet with some
+of her old friends who would prove that she was free.
+
+"A few days after Mr. Martin's funeral there was a meeting of his heirs,
+and they determined to sell the slaves. Accordingly the next morning
+they were marched down to the wharf, where they found a boat at anchor,
+and all went on board. We will pass over the wearisome trip of several
+days, and imagine them to be at the end of their journey at Memphis.
+Here they were taken off the boat, and placed in jail until auction day.
+In a few days they were again taken out and tied in couples, and taken
+to the auction. Judy was sitting very disconsolate, thinking of her past
+misfortunes and coming sorrows. The hope of seeing any of her old
+friends, or of being reunited with her children, she had almost given
+up. The auctioneer called to her, and she stepped on the block. Her
+strong and well-proportioned figure, and comely, though dejected and sad
+appearance, instantly raised a dozen bids. First here, now there, might
+be heard the voice of the competitors; the noise of the hammer ceased,
+and Judy was the property of Mr. Carter. After his purchase Mr. Carter
+was taking Judy to the boat, when she felt some one catching hold of her
+arm; she turned around and immediately recognized the person as a
+gentleman whom she had known while living with Mrs. Madison's daughter.
+He said to her:
+
+"'Why, Judy, where are you going?'
+
+"She answered in a kind of wicked despair:
+
+"'To hell, I believe.'
+
+"This gentleman inquired about her condition, and finally rescued her,
+and sent her to Vincennes, where she labored for many years and found
+some good friends, but she never felt safe after she had been stolen
+away from there. She made inquiries about her children, but never
+learned anything of them. Not having anything to attach her to
+Vincennes, she left and came to Terra Haute, where she resided a little
+while, and then came further into the interior of the state.
+
+"Her children are scattered, and gone she knows not where; and after a
+long life of toil and suffering she is here, old, infirm, and a beggar.
+Every wrinkle on her brow could tell a tale of suffering; her youth is
+gone; her energies are all spent, and her long life of toil has been
+for naught."
+
+Mrs. Ford ceased, her tears were falling fast, and the children were
+sobbing around her. The fire, from neglect, had gone out, and there were
+only a few smoking embers left in the fire-place, reminding them of the
+time that had been spent in hearing "AUNT JUDY'S STORY."
+
+[Illustration: AUNT JUDY.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: "ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"]
+
+
+
+
+"ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"
+
+
+"Please, massa, teach me to read!" said an aged negro one day to a
+missionary in the West Indies.
+
+The missionary said he would do so, and the negro became his scholar.
+But. the poor old man, trained in ignorance through threescore years,
+found it difficult to learn. He tried hard, but made little progress.
+One day the missionary said:
+
+"Had you not better give it up?"
+
+"No, massa," said the negro, with the energy of a noble nature, "me
+neber gib it up till me die!"
+
+He then pointed to these beautiful words in his Testament: "God so loved
+the world that he gave his only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth
+on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "There," he added,
+with deep feeling, "it is worth all de labor to be able to read _dat one
+single verse_!"
+
+Noble, godly old man! Though once a slave he had a freeman's soul, and
+richly merited that freedom which England so righteously gave to her
+West Indian slaves some years ago. Let us hope the time is not far
+distant in which the colored people of our own happy land will also all
+be free, all able to read the Bible, all possess that soul freedom with
+which Christ makes his disciples free. God has many dear children among
+the slaves, many of whom feel that slavery is worse than death. May he
+in his wisdom provide for their early deliverance from the terrible yoke
+which is about their necks!
+
+THE END.
+
+18 April, 1860
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Child's Anti-Slavery Book, by Various
+
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