Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl | Page 7

black, and the child was very fair.
I went into the work house next morning, and saw the cowhide still wet
with blood, and the boards all covered with gore. The poor man lived,
and continued to quarrel with his wife. A few months afterwards Dr.
Flint handed them both over to a slave-trader. The guilty man put their
value into his pocket, and had the satisfaction of knowing that they
were out of sight and hearing. When the mother was delivered into the
trader's hands, she said. "You promised to treat me well." To which he
replied, "You have let your tongue run too far; damn you!" She had
forgotten that it was a crime for a slave to tell who was the father of her

child.
From others than the master persecution also comes in such cases. I
once saw a young slave girl dying soon after the birth of a child nearly
white. In her agony she cried out, "O Lord, come and take me!" Her
mistress stood by, and mocked at her like an incarnate fiend. "You
suffer, do you?" she exclaimed. "I am glad of it. You deserve it all, and
more too."
The girl's mother said, "The baby is dead, thank God; and I hope my
poor child will soon be in heaven, too."
"Heaven!" retorted the mistress. "There is no such place for the like of
her and her bastard."
The poor mother turned away, sobbing. Her dying daughter called her,
feebly, and as she bent over her, I heard her say, "Don't grieve so,
mother; God knows all about it; and HE will have mercy upon me."
Her sufferings, afterwards, became so intense, that her mistress felt
unable to stay; but when she left the room, the scornful smile was still
on her lips. Seven children called her mother. The poor black woman
had but the one child, whose eyes she saw closing in death, while she
thanked God for taking her away from the greater bitterness of life.

III. The Slaves' New Year's Day.
Dr. Flint owned a fine residence in town, several farms, and about fifty
slaves, besides hiring a number by the year.
Hiring-day at the south takes place on the 1st of January. On the 2d, the
slaves are expected to go to their new masters. On a farm, they work
until the corn and cotton are laid. They then have two holidays. Some
masters give them a good dinner under the trees. This over, they work
until Christmas eve. If no heavy charges are meantime brought against
them, they are given four or five holidays, whichever the master or
overseer may think proper. Then comes New Year's eve; and they
gather together their little alls, or more properly speaking, their little
nothings, and wait anxiously for the dawning of day. At the appointed
hour the grounds are thronged with men, women, and children, waiting,
like criminals, to hear their doom pronounced. The slave is sure to
know who is the most humane, or cruel master, within forty miles of
him.
It is easy to find out, on that day, who clothes and feeds his slaves well;

for he is surrounded by a crowd, begging, "Please, massa, hire me this
year. I will work very hard, massa."
If a slave is unwilling to go with his new master, he is whipped, or
locked up in jail, until he consents to go, and promises not to run away
during the year. Should he chance to change his mind, thinking it
justifiable to violate an extorted promise, woe unto him if he is caught!
The whip is used till the blood flows at his feet; and his stiffened limbs
are put in chains, to be dragged in the field for days and days!
If he lives until the next year, perhaps the same man will hire him again,
without even giving him an opportunity of going to the hiring-ground.
After those for hire are disposed of, those for sale are called up.
O, you happy free women, contrast your New Year's day with that of
the poor bond-woman! With you it is a pleasant season, and the light of
the day is blessed. Friendly wishes meet you every where, and gifts are
showered upon you. Even hearts that have been estranged from you
soften at this season, and lips that have been silent echo back, "I wish
you a happy New Year." Children bring their little offerings, and raise
their rosy lips for a caress. They are your own, and no hand but that of
death can take them from you.
But to the slave mother New Year's day comes laden with peculiar
sorrows. She sits on her cold cabin floor, watching the children who
may all be torn from her