My Life in the South | Page 5

family from which mother came had trades
of some kind; but she had to take her chance in the field with those who
had to weather the storm. But my readers are not to think that those
whom I have spoken of as having trades were free from punishment,
for they were not; some of them had more trouble than had the field
hands. At times the overseer, who was a white man, would go to the
shop of the blacksmith, or carpenter, and would pick a quarrel with him,
so as to get an opportunity to punish him. He would say to the negro,
"Oh, ye think yourself as good as ye master, ye--" Of course he knew
what the overseer was after, so he was afraid to speak; the overseer,
hearing no answer, would turn to him and cry out, "ye so big ye can't
speak to me, ye--," and then the conflict would begin, and he would
give that man such a punishment as would disable him for two or three
months. The merciless overseer would say to him, "Ye think because
ye have a trade ye are as good as ye master, ye--; but I will show ye
that ye are nothing but a nigger."
I said that my father had two wives and fifteen children: four boys and
three girls by the first, and six boys and two girls by the second wife.
Of course he did not marry his wives as they do now, as it was not
allowed among the slaves, but he took them as his wives by mutual
agreement. He had my mother after the death of his first wife. I am the
third son of his second wife.
My readers would very naturally like to know whether some of the
slaves did not have more than one woman. I answer, they had; for as
they had no law to bind them to one woman, they could have as many
as they pleased by mutual agreement. But notwithstanding, they had a
sense of the moral law, for many of them felt that it was right to have

but one woman; they had different opinions about plurality of wives, as
have the most educated and refined among the whites.
I met one of my fellow negroes one day, who lived next neighbor to us,
and I said to him, "Well, Uncle William, how are you, to-day?" His
answer was "Thank God, my son, I have two wives now, and must try
and make out with them until I get some more." But while you will find
many like him, others would rebuke the idea of having more than one
wife. But, thanks be to God, the day has come when no one need to
plead ignorance, for master and servant are both bound by the same
law.
I did not go to the sand-hill, or summer seat, my alloted time, but
stopped on the plantation with father, as I said that he used to take care
of horses and mules. I was around with him in the barn yard when but a
very small boy; of course that gave me an early relish for the
occupation of hostler, and I soon made known my preference to Col.
Singleton, who was a sportsman, and an owner of fine horses. And,
although I was too small to work, the Colonel granted my request;
hence I was allowed to be numbered among those who took care of the
fine horses, and learned to ride. But I soon found that my new
occupation demanded a little more than I cared for.
It was not long after I had entered my new work before they put me
upon the back of a horse which threw me to the ground almost as soon
as I had reached his back. It hurt me a little, but that was not the worst
of it, for when I got up there was a man standing near with a switch, in
hand, and he immediately began to beat me. Although I was a very bad
boy, this was the first time I had been whipped by any one except father
and mother, so I cried out in a tone of voice as if I would say, this is the
first and last whipping you will give me when father gets hold of you.
When I had got away from him I ran to father with all my might, but
soon found my expectation blasted, as father very coolly said to me,
"Go back to your work and be a good boy, for I cannot do anything for
you." But that did not satisfy me, so on I went to mother with my
complaint and she came out to the man who had whipped