|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 45
CHAPTER XI.
I am not yet done with the obligations of masters to their slaves. I
cannot hastily dismiss the subject. In it I feel an intense interest.
Bear with me, my beloved friends and fellow citizens of the South. For
I assure you, that if I know anything of my own heart, I am prompted
to write by the best of motives and the kindest of feelings. To many
of you I am personally known; and I flatter myself, that those who
know me best, will not suspect me of improper motives or feelings. I
have for you the highest respect, and for you I entertain the kindest
feelings. I long resided in your midst, and was treated with kindness
by you, in all the relations of life, whether private or public; and I
feel myself bound to you by ties of gratitude, which neither time nor
space can separate; by all those tender and endearing associations and
relations in life, which must necessarily grow out of a long residence
in the midst of a generous, humane and hospitable people. My regard
and solicitude for my Southern friends is now a thousand fold greater
than at any previous period of my life. And my anxiety for your peace,
happiness, and permanent prosperity, becomes more and more ardent. But
I must come directly to the point under investigation.
Masters, I conceive, are under obligations to act with reference to
the comfort and happiness of their slaves; and not solely with a view
to their own pecuniary interests. If they fail to provide for their
slaves comfortable houses, clothing suited to their various wants, and
adapted to the varying and changeable seasons of the year, together
with a supply of wholesome and nutritious food, they violate the
commands of God. Their own interests, as well as duty, demand it at
their hands. I do not contend that the master is bound to furnish the
slave with clothing of the same material with which he clothes
himself; nor do I contend, that in all cases, he is bound to provide
for him the precise articles of food, on which he himself subsists.
The occupations of the master and the slave may be different; and
supposing that they are engaged in the same occupation, their
feelings, views, appetites and propensities differ. In other words,
their _wants_ differ. Hence, what would conduce to comfort in the case
of the slave, would not, at all times, suffice for the master's
happiness and comfort.
Here is a fact which is not understood in the free States. Slaves are
happy and content under circumstances in which a white man would be
miserable. They are satisfied and content with food, on which the
better portion of the white race can hardly subsist. Nor would soft
beds and fine houses conduce to their comfort. There are many of them,
who, if they were provided with downy beds, would prefer to repose on
the hearth or the floor. They are by nature a happier people than the
Anglo-Saxon race, and of course, less will suffice for their happiness
and comfort. All that I contend for is, that the health, comfort and
convenience of the slave, should be amply provided for by the master;
or at least as far as practicable. I wish here, as well as elsewhere,
to avoid the error of asking too much, for I have generally observed
through life, that those who ask too much are likely to get nothing. I
shall, therefore, contend for nothing more than the clear, obvious,
and indisputable duty of slaveholders.
Slaves do not, as a general rule, receive that attention in sickness
from their masters, to which they are entitled. Humanity, as well as
interest, should prompt their masters to be a little more attentive to
them, under the afflictive dispensations of Providence. And the
necessity is more apparent from the consideration of the fact, that
slaves are ignorant, and universally entertain opinions in regard to
dieting the sick, which, if practically carried out, will in all
cases, endanger their lives. I allude to the notion prevalent among
them, that the sick are in no danger, so long as they can by any means
induce them to take food. The same error is common among the more
ignorant class of white people; and it constitutes the worst
difficulty that the physician encounters in the treatment of disease.
I once remarked to an ignorant, drunken, degraded son of Belial, that
if he was not a little more cautious in the use of certain articles of
food, he would sooner or later destroy himself. "Oh! there is no
danger," said he, "I shall never die while I can get plenty of fat
'possum to eat, and whiskey to drink." So it is with ignorant persons;
they know that food sustains life, and for that reason they believe,
that as long as they are able to cram it down their throats, there is
no danger.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|