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Show Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. will be co1npellcd to realize that she is no longcl' a chi.ld. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it ·wiU prove her greatest curse. That ·which con1n1auds n.<l. miration in the white woman only hastens tho clcgradation of the fetnale slave. I know· that so1nc arc too 1nuch brutalized by slavery to feel the lnuniliation of their po. ition ; but n1any slaves feel it 1nost acutely, and shrink frotn the n1cmory of it. I cannot tell how much I sufJcrcd in the presence of these ·wrong , nor how I atn still pained by the retrospect. ~Iy 1na ·tor met me at every turn, rCininding tnc that I belonged to hi1n, and swearing by heaven and earth that he would c0111pcl 1110 to subtnit to hin1. lf I went out for a breath of fresh air, after a day of unwearied toil, his footsteps dogged 1110. If I knelt by 1ny 111othcr's grave, his dark shadow fell on n1e even there. The light heart which nature ha<l given me becatno heayy ·with sad forebodin gs. The other slaYo in lJlY nut.·tcr's house noticed the change. 1Iany of thetn pitied 1nc; but none dared to ask the cause. They hau no need to inquire. 'They knew too well the guilty practices under that roof; and they ·were a'vare that to ·peak of thcn1 'vas an offence that never ·wont unpunished. I longed for sotnc one to confide in. I would have ' given the world to have laid 1ny head on n1y grandnlothcr's faithful boson1, and told her all my troubles. But Dr. ],lint wore he ·would kill 1nc, if I \vas not as silent as the grave. Then, although my granchnothcr ·was all in all to rnc, I feared her as \Yell as loYe<l her. I had been accustomed to look up to her with a rc- 1 spcct bordering upon awe. I was very young, and felt shan1cfaccd about telling her such impure things, The Trials of Girlhood. 47 especially as I know· her to be very strict on such subjects. ~IorooYor, . he \ra. · a ·wotuan of a high f:ipirit. She was u sually very q nic t in her clen1cn nor ; !Jut if her inuignation \Vas once rouse<l, it \Vas not very easily quelled. I had been tolcl that she once chased a white gcn tletnan vvith a loaued pistol, be can ·o he insulted one of her daughters. I dreaded the consequences of a violent outbreak ; and l>oth pride and fear kept me silent. But though I dicl not confiLlc in my grand1nothcr, an<l even evaded her vigilant ·watchfulness and inquiry, her presence in the ncjghborhoocl was some protection to n1e. 'l.,hough she hacl been a slave, Dr. Flint \Vas afraid. of her. Ilo dreaded her scorching roLukos. ltforcovcr, she wa::; known ancl patronizc<l by 1nany people ; and he diu not wi ·h to have his villany n1adc public. It was lucky for 1nc that I did not li ·ro on a di taut plantation, but in a town not so large that tho inhalJitants were ignorant of each other's affairs. Bad as arc the laws and customs i~ a slavoholuing co1nn1unity, tho doctor, as a professional n1an, dcolnod it prudent to keep up so1no outward show of decency. 0, what days and nights of fear and sorrow that man caused 1no ! Reader, it is not to awaken syinpathy for 1nysolf that I an1 tolling yon truthfully ·what I suffered in slavery. I do it to kindle a flame of ~ompassion in your hearts for n1y sister who arc still In bondage, suffering as I once suifcrod. • I once sa\v two beautiful children playing togetl1cr. One was a fair ·white child ; the other \Va her slave and also her sister. \Vhcn I saw thctn c1nbracin~ each other, and heard their joyous laughter, I turned |
