|
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 3
Dr. Young subsequently removed to a farm near St. Louis, in the same
State. Having been elected a Member of the Legislature, he devolved the
management of his farm upon an overseer, having, what to his unhappy
victims must have been the ironical name of "Friend Haskall." The mother
and child were now separated. The boy was levied to a Virginian named
Freeland, who bore the military title of Major, and carried on the
plebeian business of a publican. This man was of an extremely brutal
disposition, and treated his slaves with most refined cruelty. His
favourite punishment, which he facetiously called "Virginian play," was
to flog his slaves severely, and then expose their lacerated flesh to
the smoke of tobacco stems, causing the most exquisite agony. William
complained to his owner of the treatment of Freeland, but, as in almost
all similar instances, the appeal was in vain. At length he was induced
to attempt an escape, not from that love of liberty which subsequently
became with him an unconquerable passion, but simply to avoid the
cruelty to which he was habitually subjected. He took refuge in the
woods, but was hunted and "traced" by the blood-hounds of a Major
O'Fallon, another of "the chivalry of the South," whose gallant
occupation was that of keeping an establishment for the hire of
ferocious dogs with which to hunt fugitive slaves. The young slave
received a severe application of "Virginia play" for his attempt to
escape. Happily the military publican soon afterwards failed in
business, and William found a better master and a more congenial
employment with Captain Cilvers, on board a steam-boat plying between
St. Louis and Galena. At the close of the sailing season he was levied
to an hotel-keeper, a native of a free state, but withal of a class
which exist north as well as south--a most inveterate negro hater. At
this period of William's history, a circumstance occurred, which,
although a common incident in the lives of slaves, is one of the keenest
trials they have to endure--the breaking up of his family circle. Her
master wanted money, and he therefore sold Elizabeth and six of her
children to seven different purchasers. The family relationship is
almost the only solace of slavery. While the mother, brothers, and
sisters are permitted to meet together in the negro hut after the hour
of labour, the slaves are comparatively content with their oppressed
condition; but deprive them of this, the only privilege which they as
human beings are possessed of, and nothing is left but the animal part
of their nature--the living soul is extinguished within them. With them
there is nothing to love--everything to hate. They feel themselves
degraded to the condition not only of mere animals, but of the most
ill-used animals in the creation.
Not needing the services of his young relative, Dr. Young hired him to
the proprietor of the _St. Louis Times_, the best master William ever
had in slavery. Here he gained the scanty amount of education he
acquired at the South. This kind treatment by his editorial master
appears to have engendered in the heart of William a consciousness of
his own manhood, and led him into the commission of an offence similar
to that perpetrated by Frederick Douglass, under similar
circumstances--the assertion of the right of self-defence. He gallantly
defended himself against the attacks of several boys older and bigger
than himself, but in so doing was guilty of the unpardonable sin of
lifting his hand against white lads; and the father of one of them,
therefore, deemed it consistent with his manhood to lay in wait for the
young slave, and beat him over the head with a heavy cane till the
blood gushed from his nose and ears. From the effects of that treatment
the poor lad was confined to his bed for five weeks, at the end of which
time he found that, to his personal sufferings, were superadded the
calamity of the loss of the best master he ever had in slavery.
His next employment was that of waiter on board a steam-boat plying on
the Mississippi. Here his occupation again was pleasant, and his
treatment good; but the freedom of action enjoyed by the passengers in
travelling whithersoever they pleased, contrasted strongly in his mind
with his own deprivation of will as a slave. The natural result of this
comparison was an intense desire for freedom--a feeling which was never
afterwards eradicated from his breast. This love of liberty was,
however, so strongly counteracted by affection for his mother and
sisters, that although urgently entreated by one of the latter to take
advantage of his present favourable opportunity for escape, he would not
bring himself to do so at the expense of a separation for life from his
beloved relatives.
His period of living on board the steamer having expired, he was again
remitted to field labour, under a burning sun. From that labour, from
which he suffered severely, he was soon removed to the lighter and more
agreeable occupation of house-waiter to his master. About this time Dr.
Young, in the conventional phraseology of the locality, "got religion."
The fruit of his alleged spiritual gain, was the loss of many material
comforts to the slaves. Destitute of the resources of education, they
were in the habit of employing their otherwise unoccupied minds on the
Sunday in fishing and other harmless pursuits; these were now all put an
end to. The Sabbath became a season of dread to William: he was required
to drive the family to and from the church, a distance of four miles
either way; and while they attended to the salvation of their souls
within the building, he was compelled to attend to the horses without
it, standing by them during divine service under a burning sun, or
drizzling rain. Although William did not get the religion of his master,
he acquired a family passion which appears to have been strongly
intermixed with the devotional exercises of the household of Dr.
Young--a love of sweet julep. In the evening, the slaves were required
to attend family worship. Before commencing the service, it was the
custom to hand a pitcher of the favourite beverage to every member of
the family, not excepting the nephew, a child of between four and five
years old. William was in the habit of watching his opportunity during
the prayer and helping himself from the pitcher, but one day letting it
fall, his propensity for this intoxicating drink was discovered, and he
was severely punished for its indulgence.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|