The Narrative of Lunsford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N.C. | Page 4

Lucy
Williams, a slave of Thomas Devereaux, Esq., an eminent lawyer in the
place; but failed in my undertaking. Then I thought I never would
marry; but at the end of two or three years my resolution began to slide
away, till finding I could not keep it longer I set out once more in
pursuit of a wife. So I fell in with her to whom I am now united, MISS
MARTHA CURTIS, and the bargain between us was completed. I next
went to her master, Mr. Boylan, and asked him, according to the
custom, if I might "marry his woman." His reply was, "Yes, if you will
behave yourself." I told him I would. "And make her behave herself!"
To this I also assented; and then proceeded to ask the approbation of
my master, which was granted. So in May, 1828, I was bound as fast in
wedlock as a slave can be. God may at any time sunder that band in a
freeman; either master may do the same at pleasure in a slave. The
bond is not recognized in law. But in my case it has never been broken;
and now it cannot be, except by a higher power.
When we had been married nine months and one day, we were blessed
with a son, and two years afterwards with a daughter. My wife also
passed from the hands of Mr. Boylan into those of MR. BENJAMIN B.
SMITH, a merchant, a member and class-leader in the Methodist
church, and in much repute for his deep piety and devotion to religion.
But grace (of course) had not wrought in the same manner upon the
heart of Mr. Smith, as nature had done upon that of Mr. Boylan, who
made no religious profession. This latter gentleman used to give my
wife, who was a favorite slave, (her mother nursed every one of his
own children,) sufficient food and clothing to render her comfortable,
so that I had to spend for her but little, except to procure such small
articles of extra comfort as I was prompted to from time to time. Indeed
Mr. Boylan was regarded as a very kind master to all the slaves about
him; that is, to his house servants; nor did he inflict much cruelty upon
his field hands, except by proxy. The overseer on his nearest plantation
(I know but little about the rest) was a very cruel man; in one instance,
as it was said among the slaves, he whipped a man to death; but of
course denied that the man died in consequence of the whipping. Still it
was the choice of my wife to pass into the hands of Mr. Smith, as she
had become attached to him in consequence of belonging to the same

church, and receiving his religious instruction and counsel as her
class-leader, and in consequence of the peculiar devotedness to the
cause of religion for which he was noted, and which he always seemed
to manifest.--But when she became his slave, he withheld both from
her and her children, the needful food and clothing, while he exacted
from them to the uttermost all the labor they were able to perform.
Almost every article of clothing worn either by my wife or children,
especially every article of much value, I had to purchase; while the
food he furnished the family amounted to less than a meal a day, and
that of the coarser kind. I have no remembrance that he ever gave us a
blanket or any other article of bedding, although it is considered a rule
at the South that the master shall furnish each of his slaves with one
blanket a year. So that, both as to food and clothing, I had in fact to
support both my wife and the children, while he claimed them as his
property, and received all their labor. She was house servant to Mr.
Smith, sometimes cooked the food for his family, and usually took it
from the table, but her mistress was so particular in giving it out to be
cooked, or so watched it, that she always knew whether it was all
returned; and when the table was cleared away, the stern old lady
would sit by and see that every dish (except the very little she would
send into the kitchen) was put away, and then she would turn the key
upon it, so as to be sure her slaves should not die of gluttony. This
practice is common with some families in that region; but with others it
is not. It was not so in that of her less pious master, Mr. Boylan, nor
was it precisely so at my master's. We used to have corn bread enough,
and some meat. When I was a