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Show 16 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. }oYe thy neighbor as thyself." "Whatsoever yo would that 111cn should do unto you, do yo even fiO unto the1n.'' But I was h er slave, and I snppo c she did not recognize n1e as her neighbor. I ·would give n1uch to blot ont fro1n 1ny 1ncn1ory that one great ·wrong. As a child, I loYcd 1ny 1ni tress ; and, looking back on the happy clays I spc11t with her, I try to think ·with le s bi ttcrnc ·s of this act of illj u~tice. While I was w·ith her, ·he taught 1no to rcacl and spell ; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of a slaYc, I Llc'"'s her n1Cn1ory. She po scsf'ed but few slaves ; ancl at her death those were all distributed among her relatives. Fi\e of thcn1 were 1ny grandn1othcr's children, and had shared the sa1nc n1ilk that nourished her n1oth er's children. Notwithstanding my gTandn1other's long and faithful serYice to her owners, not one of her chil· dren escaped the auction block. These God-breathing machines arc no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend. The New Mafter and Miftress. II. TilE NE\V nLA 'TER .AND })II TRESS. . DR. FLINT, a physician in the neighborhood had nutrric<l the .·i ·tcr of 1ny 1nistrcs.', and I wa no~v the property of their little daughter. It \Vas not without 1nunnuring that I prepared for 1ny new h01ne; and ·what adclccl to 1ny unhappinc.· ·, ·was the fact that 1ny brother "Villian1 wa · purchas~;d by the a1nc fatnily. l\fy father, by his nature, as ·well a .. uy tho habit of transacting businc s as a skilfLLl n1cchanic, had 1uorc of the feelings of a froo1nan than is conunou an1o11cr b slaves. ~Iy brother 'iva,· a .:piritcd boy; and being ln·ought up under . uch iuflucnccs, he early dote -ted the lUU11C of nul tor and 1ni.trc ._ . One day, ·when his 1hthcr and his 1ni. ·tress both happened. to eall hin1 at the sa1nc ti111c, he hesitated b ct\'v~ccn the two; being perplexed to kno'\v '\Vhich l~tul the strongc:-;t clain1 upon his obedience. IIc finally conclndecl to go to his 1ni - tress. \Vhcn n1y father r eproved hin1 for it, he said, " You both called nic, and I didn't know ·which I ought to go to fir. t." '~Yon arc my child,'' rcplietl our fath er, "and '\vhcn I call you, you .-houlc1 cotne inunccliately, if you have to pass through fire and wa tor." J->oor \Villie ! Ilc \vas ll O'iv to learn his fir. t lesson of obedience to a Ina tor. Granchnothcr tried to cheer us ·with hopeful woru~, and they found au echo in the crecl nlons hea rts or rm.lth. \Vhcn '\VC 011 to red our new hon1o \YO encountered 9* ...J |
