Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America | Page 3

to eat out of it which the
former grinding had left. In severe frosts, I was compelled to go into
the fields and woods to work, with my naked feet cracked and bleeding
from extreme cold: to warm them, I used to rouse an ox or hog, and
stand on the place where it had lain. I was at that place three years, and
very long years they seemed to me. The trick by which he kept me so
long was this: the court house was but a mile off. At hiring day, he
prevented me from going till he went himself and bid for me. On the
last occasion, he was detained for a little while by other business; so I
ran as quickly as I could, and got hired before he came up.
Mr. George Furley was my next master; he employed me as a car-boy
in the Dismal Swamp; I had to drive lumber, &c. I had plenty to eat and
plenty of clothes. I was so overjoyed at the change, that I then thought I
would not have left the place to go to heaven.
Next year I was hired by Mr. John Micheau, of the same county, who
married my young mistress, one of the daughters of Mr. Grandy, and
sister of my present owner. This master gave us very few clothes, and
but little to eat. I was almost naked. One day he came into the field, and

asked why no more work was done. The older people were afraid of
him; so I said that the reason was, we were so hungry we could not
work. He went home and told the mistress to give us plenty to eat, and
at dinner-time we had plenty. We came out shouting for joy, and went
to work with delight. From that time we had food enough, and he soon
found that he had a great deal more work done. The field was quite
alive with people striving who should do most.
He hired me for another year. He was a great gambler. He kept me up
five nights together, without sleep night or day, to wait on the gambling
table. I was standing in the corner of the room, nodding for want of
sleep, when he took up the shovel and beat me with it; he dislocated my
shoulder, and sprained my wrist, and broke the shovel over me. I ran
away, and got another person to hire me.
This person was Mr. Richard Furley, who, after that, hired me at the
court house every year till my master came of age. He gave me a pass
to work for myself; so I obtained work by the piece where I could, and
paid him out of my earnings what we had agreed on; I maintained
myself on the rest, and saved what I could. In this way I was not liable
to be flogged and ill used. He paid seventy, eighty, or ninety dollars a
year for me, and I paid him twenty or thirty dollars a year more than
that.
When my master came of age, he took all his colored people to himself.
Seeing that I was industrious and persevering, and had obtained plenty
of work, he made me pay him almost twice as much as I had paid Mr.
Furley. At that time the English blockaded the Chesapeake, which
made it necessary to send merchandise from Norfolk to Elizabeth City
by the Grand Canal, so that it might get to sea by Pamlico Sound and
Ocracock Inlet. I took some canal boats on shares; Mr. Grice, who
married my other young mistress, was the owner of them. I gave him
one half of all I received for freight; out of the other half I had to
victual and man the boats, and all over that expense was my own profit.
Some time before this, my brother Benjamin returned from the West
Indies, where he had been two years with his master's vessel. I was
very glad to hear of it, and got leave to go see him. While I was sitting
with his wife and him, his wife's master came and asked him to fetch a
can of water; he did so, and carried it into the store. While I was
waiting for him, and wondering at his being so long away, I heard the

heavy blows of a hammer: after a little while I was alarmed, and went
to see what was going on. I looked into the store, and saw my brother
lying on his back on the floor, and Mr. Williams, who had bought him,
driving staples over his wrists and ankles; an iron bar was afterwards
put across his breast, which was also held down by staples. I asked
what