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Show Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. VII. rriiE LOVER. "'\VHY docs the slave ever love? "\iVhy allo\v the ten. dril of the heart to twine aroun<l ol>jccts ·which 1nay at any 1no1ncnt l.>e ·wrenched a\vay by the hand of violence'? 'Vl10n separations come by the hand of death, the pious soul can bow in resignation, and say, "Not my will, but thine be done, 0 Lord!" But \Yhcn the ruthless hand of man strikes the blo\v, regardless of the n1iscry he causes, it is hard to be subn1bsivc. I dill not reason thus when I was a young girl. Youth \rill be youth. I loved, and I indulged the hope that tl1c dark cloud· around 1ne \Yould turn out a bright lining. I forgot that in the land of n1y birth the ; shadows arc too dense for light to penetrate. A land "\Vhere laughter is not mirth; nor thought the mind; Nor words a language; nor e'en men mankind. \Vhcrc cries reply to curses, shrieks to blows, And each is tortured in hi separate hell." There was in the neighborhood a young colored car· pentcr; a free born 1nan. "\V c had been \\·ell acquainted in childhood, and frequently rnet together afterwards. "\Ve beca1ne rnutually attached, and he proposed to Inarry n1e. I loved hi1n \vith all the ardor of a young girl's first loYe. But ·when I reflected that I was a sla-.;;c, and that the laws gave no sanction to ~ the n1arriage of ·uch, rny heart sank \Vithin 1ue. My lover wanted to buy 1nc; but I kne·w that Dr. Flint The Lover. 59 was too wilful and arbitrary a 1nan to consent to that arraugmnent. Fron1 hi1n, I wa · sure of experiencing all sorts of o1>po ·ition, and I had nothing to hope from n1y 111i tress. She \Youl<.l have been deligl1 ted to have got rid of rnc, but not in that way. It \\·oulJ have relieveu her rnind of a burden if she could have seen me sold to son1e distant state, but if I ·was marriecl ncar home I should be just as rnuch in her husband's power as I had prcvjously been,- for the husband of a slave has no po\ver to protect her. ~Ioreo\~cr, n1y Inistrc s, like n1any others, ecn1ecl to think that sla vcs luu1 no right to any fan1ily ties of their O\Vn ; that they were created n1erely to \vait upon the fa1nily of the mi tress. I once heanl her abuse a young slave girl, who told her that a colored n1an \ranted to nu~ke h er his ·wife. "I \vill have you peeled anl1 pickled n1y lady," said he, "if I ever h ear yon n1cntion that subject again. Do you snppo:c that I will hnse you Lending my chilJren \vith the chiluren of that nigger'?" The girl to \vho1;1 she ·aiJ this ha,cl a 1nulatto ehil<l, of cour e not acknowledged Ly its faLher. The poor black rnan \vho loved her \vonlu haYe been proud to acknowledge hi· helple:s off: ·pring. ~larry and anxious were the thoughts I revolYecl in n1y mind. I \Vas at a, loss what to do. Above all things, I \Vas de ·irous to . ·pare n1y lo-rer the insull s that hac1 cut so deeply into 1ny O\Vn .·onl. I talk ell with 1ny grandtnother abont jt, and partly Lolli her u1y fear~. I dicl not clare to tell her tho 1vor~t. She had long su. pected all \Ya · not right, and if I confir1ned her suspicions I knew a torm ·would rise Lhat \vould prove the overthrow of ull 1ny hopes. |