Chapter 6
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|  My new mistress proved to be all she appeared | |
| | when I first met her at the door,—a woman of the | |
| | kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had | |
| | a slave under her control previously to myself, and | |
| | prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon | |
| | her own industry for a living. She was by trade a | |
| | weaver; and by constant application to her business, | |
| | she had been in a good degree preserved from the | |
| | blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery. I was | |
| | utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew | |
| | how to behave towards her. She was entirely unlike | |
| | any other white woman I had ever seen. I could not | |
| | approach her as I was accustomed to approach other | |
| | white ladies. My early instruction was all out of | |
| | place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable | |
| | a quality in a slave, did not answer when manifested | |
| | toward her. Her favor was not gained by it; she | |
| | seemed to be disturbed by it. She did not deem it | |
| | impudent or unmannerly for a slave to look her in | |
| | the face. The meanest slave was put fully at ease | |
| | in her presence, and none left without feeling bet- | |
| | ter for having seen her. Her face was made of heav- | |
| | enly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music. | |
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| | But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to | |
| | remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power | |
| | was already in her hands, and soon commenced its | |
| | infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influ- | |
| | ence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that | |
| | voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of | |
| | harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave | |
| | place to that of a demon. | |
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| | Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. | |
| | Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the | |
| | A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in | |
| | learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just | |
| | at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out | |
| | what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld | |
| | to instruct me further, telling her, among other | |
| | things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to | |
| | teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further, | |
| | he said, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take | |
| | an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey | |
| | his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would | |
| | ~spoil~ the best nigger in the world. Now," said he, "if | |
| | you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to | |
| | read, there would be no keeping him. It would for- | |
| | ever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once be- | |
| | come unmanageable, and of no value to his master. | |
| | As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great | |
| | deal of harm. It would make him discontented and | |
| | unhappy." These words sank deep into my heart, | |
| | stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, | |
| | and called into existence an entirely new train of | |
| | thought. It was a new and special revelation, ex- | |
| | plaining dark and mysterious things, with which my | |
| | youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled | |
| | in vain. I now understood what had been to me a | |
| | most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man's | |
| | power to enslave the black man. It was a grand | |
| | achievement, and I prized it highly. From that mo- | |
| | ment, I understood the pathway from slavery to free- | |
| | dom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a | |
| | time when I the least expected it. Whilst I was sad- | |
| | dened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind | |
| | mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruc- | |
| | tion which, by the merest accident, I had gained | |
| | from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty | |
| | of learning without a teacher, I set out with high | |
| | hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trou- | |
| | ble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner | |
| | with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife | |
| | with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, | |
| | served to convince me that he was deeply sensible | |
| | of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best | |
| | assurance that I might rely with the utmost confi- | |
| | dence on the results which, he said, would flow from | |
| | teaching me to read. What he most dreaded, that | |
| | I most desired. What he most loved, that I most | |
| | hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be | |
| | carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be | |
| | diligently sought; and the argument which he so | |
| | warmly urged, against my learning to read, only | |
| | served to inspire me with a desire and determina- | |
| | tion to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as | |
| | much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to | |
| | the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the | |
| | benefit of both. | |
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| | I had resided but a short time in Baltimore before | |
| | I observed a marked difference, in the treatment of | |
| | slaves, from that which I had witnessed in the coun- | |
| | try. A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with | |
| | a slave on the plantation. He is much better fed and | |
| | clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown | |
| | to the slave on the plantation. There is a vestige of | |
| | decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb | |
| | and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so | |
| | commonly enacted upon the plantation. He is a des- | |
| | perate slaveholder, who will shock the humanity of | |
| | his non-slaveholding neighbors with the cries of his | |
| | lacerated slave. Few are willing to incur the odium | |
| | attaching to the reputation of being a cruel master; | |
| | and above all things, they would not be known as | |
| | not giving a slave enough to eat. Every city slave- | |
| | holder is anxious to have it known of him, that he | |
| | feeds his slaves well; and it is due to them to say, | |
| | that most of them do give their slaves enough to eat. | |
| | There are, however, some painful exceptions to this | |
| | rule. Directly opposite to us, on Philpot Street, lived | |
| | Mr. Thomas Hamilton. He owned two slaves. Their | |
| | names were Henrietta and Mary. Henrietta was | |
| | about twenty-two years of age, Mary was about four- | |
| | teen; and of all the mangled and emaciated creatures | |
| | I ever looked upon, these two were the most so. His | |
| | heart must be harder than stone, that could look | |
| | upon these unmoved. The head, neck, and shoulders | |
| | of Mary were literally cut to pieces. I have fre- | |
| | quently felt her head, and found it nearly covered | |
| | with festering sores, caused by the lash of her cruel | |
| | mistress. I do not know that her master ever whipped | |
| | her, but I have been an eye-witness to the cruelty of | |
| | Mrs. Hamilton. I used to be in Mr. Hamilton's house | |
| | nearly every day. Mrs. Hamilton used to sit in a large | |
| | chair in the middle of the room, with a heavy cow- | |
| | skin always by her side, and scarce an hour passed | |
| | during the day but was marked by the blood of one | |
| | of these slaves. The girls seldom passed her without | |
| | her saying, "Move faster, you ~black gip!~" at the same | |
| | time giving them a blow with the cowskin over the | |
| | head or shoulders, often drawing the blood. She | |
| | would then say, "Take that, you ~black gip!~" con- | |
| | tinuing, "If you don't move faster, I'll move you!" | |
| | Added to the cruel lashings to which these slaves | |
| | were subjected, they were kept nearly half-starved. | |
| | They seldom knew what it was to eat a full meal. | |
| | I have seen Mary contending with the pigs for the | |
| | offal thrown into the street. So much was Mary | |
| | kicked and cut to pieces, that she was oftener called | |
| | "~pecked~" than by her name. | |
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