OCR Text |
Show 208 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. When he haLl gone, my granchnothcr ca1nc and asked 1 t I ll do 'I~hc que ti on sccnlccl a lllockcry. W 1a \<VOU C • , 'VhaL could I do? They ·were ~fl'. ~ ands s . laves, and tl · 4}C'"'"t) o love ·whon1he haJ rcprc.·cntc<.lto lOll' lUOll l r rv c.t. c.u UJ ' be dead. Pcrhap. he thought l \vas. l. '~a. · too 1nuch pa1· nec1 an~.{l l)tlz•rleJ to con1c to any dcCl ·1on ; and tho •LJ l 'll ·en \<\'ere carried without uly kno\vleugc. CUll . , · ·1 ~[r... . Sands had a sister fron1 lll1nOL' stay1ng w1t 1 her. This lady, ·who had no children of her O\vn, was so 111uch pleascJ \YiLh Ellen, thaL f5hc offereJ to adopt 11 01.' n 11d brino· her up a she \voulu a daughter. ~fr . <.IJ b . Sanu. \Vantccl to take nenja.lnin. 'Vhcn granchnother reported thj,· to n1 , I \vas trie<l ~hnost bcyonu entlurance. '\'as thi all I \Ya · to gaul by \vhat I had ·ufferccl for the sa,kc of h aving n1y chilJrcn free? rrrne, the prospect seemed fair; but I knew too \vcll how lightly -lavcholJcrs held u ch " parc~1 ~al relation~." If pecuniary trouhlcs should con1c, or 1f the .new w1fc required n1orc 1noncy than coulu conventcnlly lJc spared, n1y children 111ight be thought of as a co~lvenicnt 1ncan of raising fund . I had no trust 111 thee, 0 ,lavery ! Never should I kno\v peace till my children \vere c1nancipatcd ·with all due forn1alitics of law. I was too proud to ask ~fr. 1ands to do any thing for my own benefit; but I could bring 1ny elf to b~co1n~ a supplicant for my children. I rc ~olved to rcnnnd hun of the pro1nisc he had 1nadc 1nc, and to thro·w 1ny ·elf upon his honor for the performance of it. I persuaued n1y grandn1other to go to hitn, and tell hi1n l was not dcaJ, and that I earnestly entreated. hin1 to keep the pron1ise he had n1ade me ; that I had heard of the ' I • New Defl:ination for the Children. recent propoc:::als concerning 1ny children, and did not feel easy to accept thcn1 ; that he had pro1ni:cd to cn1ancipatc tbc1n, and it was time for hi1n to redeem his ph;dgc. I knew there wa so1nc ri.-lc in thus betraying that I \vas in the vicinity; but what will not a mother do for her children? lie recci vccl the 1nc age with surprise, and said, "The children arc fr c. I have never intended to clai1n thmn as ·laves. Linda may decide their fate. In n1y opinion, they l1ad better be sent to the north. I don't think they nrc quite safe here. Dr. Flint boa. i that they arc still in his power. lie says they 'verc his daughter's property, and as she ·was not of age ·when they were sold, the contract is not legally binding." So, then, after all I had endured for thcjr sakes, 1ny poor chilJren ·were between two fires; between n1y old master and their ne·w 1nastcr ! A.nd I 'vas powcrlc s. There was no protecting ar1n of the la\v for 1110 to invoke. 1\Ir. Sands proposed that Ellen honld go, for the present, to so1ne of his relatiYcs, who had re1noved to Brooklyn, Long I ·land. It wa · pro1ni ·eel that she should be ·well taken care of, aud sent to school. I consented to it, as the best arrangmncnt I could rnakc for her. ~ry grand1nothcr, of cour:e, negotiatcu it all; and nfrs. Sand knc"\V of no other per on in the transaction. She proposed that they .-houltl take l~ll n with thc1n to \Vashington, and keep her till they hatl a good chance of sending her, with friendf;, to Brooklyn. She had an infant daughter. I had had a gli1np~c of jt, as the nurse passed with it in her ann . It was not a Pleasant thouo·ht to 1nc that the bonclwo1nau': chilJ b ' should tend her free-born ~i~Ler; but there was no al-l~ ;j< |