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Show 162 f:'lllcn a victim to the manager of the estate. How far this cause influenced the exasperated mothe r, I did not learn. I heard of an estate managed Ly an indi vidual who was conoidered as sing ularly succcs:;;fu l, and who was able to govern the slaves without the usc of the whip. I was anxious to see hirn , and tru:;tcd that some discovery had been made favorable to humanity. I asketl him how he was able to dispcn::;c with corporal punishment. H e r eplied to rnc, with a very determined look, 't The slaves know that the work must Uc done, and that it is better to do it without punishment than with it." Ill other worris, the certa inty and dread of chastisement were so irnprc.;;;scd on them that they llC\'Cr in ..:!urrctl it. I then ti.mJHI that the s laves 0 11 this " ·e ll munaged estate decrca:'ed in nurn bcr. I a~ked the CtHI::e. H e replied, w ith perfel't frankness and enFc, "The gang is not large enough Cor the cst:.~te.ll ln other wonl.s, they were not equal to the work of the plantation and yf't were made to do it, thoutih with the certainty of abridg ing lire. On thi5 p i nutation the hu t5 were uncommon ly convenient. There was an unu ~; uul air of neatnc~s. A s uperficia l oh;-;e J·,·cr would have ca lled tho f" laves happy. Yet they were li\•ing under a se\'erc, snbdulng disciplinr, and were overworked to a degree that shortened li1C. I cannot forget my feeling5 on visiting a hospital belon ging tu the plantation of a ge ntlcn1an highly esteemed for hi ;:; virtue5, and whose rnann crs un<l conversation expressed much benevolence nnrl consciemiousnes: s. "\'Vhen I enterc1l with him the hospital, the fir.:;t ol1jeet on '"'hi('h my l"!)'e fe ll was n 163 young woman, very ill, prohahly approaching rleath. She was Stl'ctchcd on the floor. Her hcnd rested on something like a pillow; but her body and lim!Js were extended on the hard !Joards. The owner, 1 doubt not, h::ul , at Jous t, as much kindness as myself; hut he was so used to see the slaves Ji,,ing without common ~om forts, ~hat the idea of unkindness in the present In stance 1lJ(l not enter his mind. The se ve rest blow I ever saw gjvcn to a slave was inflict~d by a colored driver on a yo ung gi rl , who, on rernov111g a load of wood from a horse, hnd let a stick fall against the animal's leg. I remonst rated with the man, as soon as an opportunity oflOred, against his inhumanity. He said, ".lVIassa, I have tl10 care of ~he. horse, and the.managcr lick me if it get hurt." Thts answer cxplamcd to me the common remark, that the black drivers are more cr uel than the whites. I saw where the cruelty bPgan. I once hear~l some slaves, who had been taken hy law from then· master, singi ng a song of their own ·composition, and at the end of ev-ery stanza they joined whh a complaining tone in a choru:o:, of which the bun1en was, " \Vo got no Massa." Here seemed n striking proof of attnehment to the mnste1·; but on inquiry into the rest of the song, I found it was an angry repetition of the severiti es which they were s uffering from the new s uperintendent. 'I' hey wanted their master as an escape from c ruelty. Facts of tl1is kind; which make no noise, which escape o1· mislead a casual observer, help to show the character of slavery more than occ·asional excesses of cruelty though these must be frequent. They show how deceptive nrc the appearances of good con nected with it; and how much may be suffered under |