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Show 120 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. can1c • o 11d }1c hurri ed out of the house. I suffered 111, u. in conscq nonce of thi. trcatn1 \nt ; lJut I begged rny friend , to let lllC die, rath 1' than nd for. the uuctor. There was nothing I drcadc<l so n1uch as Ins pre ·once. My life was sparcJ; and I was glad ~ r th~ sake o.f rny little ones. Ilad it not been for the c t1c to hfc, I should have been glad to be released lJy death, though I had liYcd only nineteen years. Alway.· it gaYc rnc a pang that 1ny children had no lawful clairu to a narnc. ~'h eir fath r offereu his; lntt, if I had wi ·hod to accept the offer, I dar u not ·while my lnastcr liYcd. n[orcovcr, I knC\~ i~ \VOulcl not be accepted at th ir bapti:-3111. 1l- C hn ~tlan JUlnlc Lhey were at least cnti tlGd to ; and \Ve resol Yed to call n1y boy for our dcuT good BcHjatnin, ·who ha<l gone far away frorn u ·. My grmHhnothcr hclongcd to the lntrch ; and she was very tlc irons f haYing the children christened. I knew Dr. Flint \\'Ould forbid it, and I did not venture· to attmnpt it. But chance favored n1c. lie was called to visit a patient out of town, and was obliged to be absent during Sundfty. "Now i tl1e ti1nc," sai<l n1y granchnothcr ; " \VC ·wjll take the children to church a11d hasc thctn ehri~tcncd." When I entered the church, recollections of rny mother can1e over tnc, and I fel t subdued in spi rit. There she had presented Inc for 1Japti~1n , \vithont any reason to feel asha1ncd. She had been n1arri c<1, and had such lco·al rio·ht as slaYerv all o\\·s to a slr~se. ~ b ~ The vow had at least been .·acre(l to her, an<l ~he hnd never violated thorn. I was glac1 ::;he was not aliYe, to know under what different circtunstances her grand- ( l ' .. r • • r - Another l.ink to I~ife. 121 children were presented for bapt.is1n. Why had n1y lot been so diHerent frotn n1y n1olhcr's ? Ilr1• n1astcr had died \\-'hen she \ras a child; and . he rctnainecl with her rni strcss till she rnarried. She "\ras ncYcr in the power of any n1astcr ; anJ thus she escaped one class of the evils that generally fall upon slusos. "\Vhen rny baby \vas ahout to be clui -tenc<l, the fonncr n1i ·tre ·s of 1ny father stepped up to 1nci and proposed to give it her Christian na1no. 'r o thi · I added the urna1ne of n1y father, wl1o hacl hin1 ·elf 110 legal right to it ; for my grandfather on the paternal side ·was a "\vhitc gcni.lcn1a1L \VJ1at tangled skeins arc the gcncalog;ies of slaYery ! I loYcd 1ny futhcr; but it Inortificd 1nc to be olJlige<l to bestow his llainc on 1ny chilJren . \Vhen we left the church, rny father's old 1nistrcss invited rnc to go hou1c wi th her. She clasped a gold chain ronnel n1y baby's neck. I thaukc<.l her for this kindnc s; Lut I <lid 110t like the etnhl 111. I ·wanted no chain to be fa 'toned on n1y daughter, not e\",.en if its links \verc of gold. IIow earnestly I prayed that she n1ight never feel the \\·eight of sla\·cry's chain, whose iron entercth into the soul ! 11 |