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Show 208 UNCLE TO:I\118 CABIN: OR, live in daily fear nncl dread. I tried to make the child respectful; - I tried to keep them np:1rt, fbr I held on to those children like death; but it did no good. lle sold both those c!tildran. He took me to ride, one day, and when I ca.mc home, they were nowhere to be found ! He told me he had sold them; he showed me the money, the pnce of then· blood. 'l'hcn it sccmccl as if all good forsook me. I raved and cursed,- cursed God and man; and, for a. while, I believe, he rmlly was afraid of me. But he didn't give up so. lie told me that my chilurcn were sold, but whether I ever saw their faces again, depended on him; and that, if I wasn't quiet, they should smart for it. Well, you can do anything with a, woman, when you 'vo got her children. lie mu.de me submit; he made me be pcacci.1blc; he flattered me with hopes tlmt, perhaps, he would buy them back; and so things went on, a week or two. One day, I was out walking, and passed by the calaboose; I saw a crowd about the gate, and heard a child's voice,- and suddenly my Henry broke away from two or three men who were holding him, and ran, screaming, :mel ca.uO'ht my dress. ~l_lhcy came up to him, swearing dreadfully; and0 onc man, whose face I shall never forget, told him tlwt he wouldn't get away so; that he was going with him into the calaboose, and be 'd get a lesson there he'd never forget. I tried to beg and plead,- they only laughed; the poor boy screamed and looked into my f<tco, and hchl on to me, until, in tearing l>im off, they tore the skirt of my dress half away ; and they carried him in, screaming ':Mother! mother! mother!' There was one man stood there seemed to pity me. I oflCred him all the money I bad, if he'd only interfere. Ile shook his head, and said that the boy had been impudent and disobedient, ever since he bought him; that he was going to brenk him in, once for all. I turned amlran i and every step of the way, I LH'l: AOlONG Till!: I.OWl~Y . 209 thought that I hea.rd him scream. I got into the house; ran, all out of breath, to the parlor, where I found Tiutler. I told him, and begged him to go and interfere. lie only laughed, and told me the boy had got his deserLs. lie 'd got to be broken in,- the sooner the better i '"'·hat did I expect 1' he asked. "It seemed to me something in my head snapped, at that moment. I felt dizzy and furious. I remember seeing a great sharp bowie-knife on tho table i I remember something about catching it, and Hying upon him; and then all grew dark, and I didn't know any more- not for days and days. "'Vbcn I came to myself, I was in a nice room,- but not mine. An old black woman tended me; and a doctor came to see me, and there was a great deal of care taken of me. After a while, I found that he had gone away, and left me at this bouse to be sold; and that's why they took such pnins with me. "I didn't mean to get well, and hoped I shouldn't; but, in spite of me, the fever went off, and I grew healthy, and finally got up. 'L'hen, they made me dress up, every day; and gentlemen used to come in and stand and smoke their cigars, and look at me, and ask questions, and debate my price. I was so gloomy and silent, that none of them wanted me. rrhey threatened to whip me, if I wasn't gayer, and didn't take some pains to make myself agreeable. At length, one da.y, came a. gentleman named Stuart. He seemed to ha.\•e some feeling for me; ho saw that something dreadful was on my heart, and he came to see me alone, a. great many times, and finally persuaded me to tell him. He bought me, at last, and promised to do all he could to find and buy back my children. He went to the hotel where my Henry was; they told him he had been sold to a planter up on Pearl river ; that \"OL. II. 18"" |
