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Show 182 TilE l\IONTHLY OFFERING. That all his fathers laught is vainThat Fredorn's emblem is the chain? Its life-its soul, from slavery drawn 7 False-foul-profane! Go-leach as well Of holy Truth from Falsehood born ! Of Heaven refresh'd by airs from Hell! Of Virtue nursed by open Vice ! Of Demons planting Paradise ! Rail on, then," brethren of the South"y e shall not hear the lru th the lessNo seal is on the Yankee's mouth, No feller on the Yankee's press! From our Green Mountains to the Sea, One voice shall thunder-wE ARE FREE! Narrative of Nehemlnh Caulkins. Continued. There is n practice prevalent among the planters, of let· ting a negro orr from severe and long-continued punishment on account of the intercession of some white person, who pleads in his behalf, that he believes the negro will behave better, that he promises well, and he believes he will keep his promise, &c. The planters sometimes gel tired of punishincr a nerrro, and. wanting his services in the field, they get so~e wl~ile person to come, and, in the presence of the slave, intercede for him. Al one time a negro, named Charles, was confined in stocks in the building where I was at work, and had been severely whipped sev· eraltimes. He begged me to intercede for him and try to get him released. I told him T would; and when h1s mas· ter carne in to whip him again, I went up to h1111 and ~old h:m I had been tall< in<> with Cbo.rles, and he had pronnsed to behave better, &c., ~nd requested him not to punish him any more, but to let him go. He then said to Charles, " As PUBLIC OPINION VS. JUSTICE. 183 ll'lr. Caulkins has been pleading for you, I willlel you go on his account;" and accordingly released him. \"'omen are generally shown some lillie indulgence for three or four weeks previous to chtld-binh ; they are al such limes nol often puni~hed if they do not finish the task assigned th em; it is, in ~orne cases, pa2sed over wilh a se vere reprimand, and sometimes without any notice being taken of it. They are generally, allowed four weeks after the birth of a child, before th.ey arc compelled to go into the field; they then take the chi ld with them, attended some limes by a little girl or boy, from the age of four to six, to lake care of it while-the mother is at work. 'Vhen there is no chi ld lhal can be spared, or not young enough for this serv ice, the mother, after nursing. lays it under a tree, or by the side of a fence, and goes lo her task, returning at stated intervals to nurse it. While I was on this plantation, a liule negro girl, six years of age, destroyed the life of a child "bout lwo months old, which was left in her care. It seems this liu1e nurse, so called, got tired of her charge and the labor of carrying illo the quarters at night,the mother being obliged to work as long as she could see. One even in()' she nursed the infant at sunset as usual, and senl it to th~ quarters. The little girl, on her way home, had to cross a run, or brook, which led down into n swamp; when she came lo lhe brook she followed it into the swamp, then look the infant and plunged it head foremost into the water and mud, where it sluck fa;t; she then left it and went to the negro quarters. When the mother came in from the field, she asked the girl where the child was; she told her she had brought il home, but did not know where it was ; the overseer was immediately informed, search was made, and it was found as abo•e stated, and dead. The liule girl waa shut up in the barn, and confined there two or three weeks, when n •peculator came along and bought her for two hundred dollars. The slaves are obliged to work from daylight till dark, as long as they can see. When they have Laska assigned, |