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Show Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. x. A PERILOUS pASSAGE IN TilE SLA. VE GIRL'S Ll:b-,E. AFTER my lover went away, Dr. Flint contrived a new I 1a n. TIC Scclllcd to have an idea that my fear of 1ny 111i ·tress wa his grcate t obsta~le. In tl.1e blandest t 1 e tol<..l 1110 one. , that he was gontg to bu1ld. a small 1 . hou ·c for me in a secluded place., four m1lcs away from the town. 'r shuddered; but I was constrained to li.:ten, while he talked of his intention to gi.v? me a hon1e of n1y own, and to n1ake a lady of 1nc. I-I1thcrto, I had escaped n1y dreaded fate, by being in the 1ni.d t of people. !fy grand1nother had ~h-eady had ]n?h word · ·with 1ny nutstcr about 1ne. She had told. lnm pretty plainly what she thou~ht _of his cha:·actcr, and there was considerable gossip 111 the nc1ghborhood about our afTairs, to which the opcn-n1onthcJ jealousy of l\frs. Flint contributed. not a little. \Yhcn n1y nu1- ter saiu he was going to build a hon c for n1c, and that he could do it with little trouble and cxpcn ·c, I \Ya. in hopes so1nething would happen to frustrate hi sehc1ne; but I soon heard that the house \Va actually begun. I vowed before tny ~faker that I woul<l 1icvcr enter it. I had rather toil on the plantation fron1 da\vn till clark; I had rather liYc and die in j·::til, than u rag on, fro1n day to day, through such a li-riug death. I ·was determined that the nut.tcr, ·whmn I :o hatetJ and loathed, who had Llightcu the pro::;pccts of n1y youth, auu nw.de .. A perilous Paflage in the Slave Girl's Life. 83 my lifo a desert, sh ould not, after n1y long strugglr. with hi1u, ~uecccJ at last in tra1I1pli11g his victi111 undPr his feet. I would do any thing, 0v ry thing, for thu f;akc of defeating hi1n. \Vhat could I do? l thought and thought, till 1 bccan1c desperate, anJ 1nadc a plunge into the abyss. And now, reader, I come to a period. in n1y unhappy lifo, which I \VOulcl gladly forget if I could. rrhe remembrance fills me \Vith sorro\v ancl shan1c. I t pains me to tell you of it; but I have pro1ni~cJ to tell you the truth, and I ·will do it hone tly, let it coft n1c what it may. I ·will not try to screen ntysolf ])ohind the plea of con1pulsion fron1 a 1naster; for it \Vas not so. Neither can I plead ignorance or though Llessnoss. For years, 1ny 1uastcr had done hi: ut1nost to pollute n1y 1nind \vith foul i1nao·c.·, and to destroy the pure principles inculcated hy 111y gratHhnotltcr, and the good n1i:tre~s of n1y child hood. 'I' he influences of slavery had had the san1e clieet on 1ne that they had on other young girhi ; they hacl 1nacle 1nc prematurely knowin g, concerning the evil ways of the world. I lnlC\V \vhat I Jid, and I Jid it with deliberate calculation. But, 0, ye happy \VOincn, who. e purity has been sheltered from childhood., ·who have been free to choo~c the objects of your affection, who c ho1nc: arc protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate ·lave girl too severely! If slavery had been aboli. ·heel, 1, also, could have married the 1nan of n1y choice; I could. haYc had a hon1c shielded by the la"' ; ancl I ·houlcl have hccn spared the painful ta ·k of confessing what I an1 now about to relate; but all 1ny prospects had been blighted |