The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave | Page 8

you can escape with us; and
now, brother, you are on a steamboat where there is some chance for
you to escape to a land of liberty. I beseech you not to let us hinder you.
If we cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the means of keeping
you from a land of freedom."
I could restrain my feelings no longer, and an outburst of my own

feelings, caused her to cease speaking upon that subject. In opposition
to their wishes, I pledged myself not to leave them in the hand of the
oppressor. I took leave of them, and returned to the boat, and laid down
in my bunk; but "sleep departed from my eyes, and slumber from my
eyelids."
A few weeks after, on our downward passage, the boat took on board,
at Hannibal, a drove of slaves, bound for the New Orleans market.
They numbered from fifty to sixty, consisting of men and women from
eighteen to forty years of age. A drove of slaves on a southern
steamboat, bound for the cotton or sugar regions, is an occurrence so
common, that no one, not even the passengers, appear to notice it,
though they clank their chains at every step. There was, however, one
in this gang that attracted the attention of the passengers and crew. It
was a beautiful girl, apparently about twenty years of age, perfectly
white, with straight light hair and blue eyes. But it was not the
whiteness of her skin that created such a sensation among those who
gazed upon her--it was her almost unparalleled beauty. She had been on
the boat but a short time, before the attention of all the passengers,
including the ladies, had been called to her, and the common topic of
conversation was about the beautiful slave-girl. She was not in chains.
The man who claimed this article of human merchandize was a Mr.
Walker,--a well known slave-trader, residing in St. Louis. There was a
general anxiety among the passengers and crew to learn the history of
the girl. Her master kept close by her side, and it would have been
considered impudent for any of the passengers to have spoken to her,
and the crew were not allowed to have any conversation with them.
When we reached St. Louis, the slaves were removed to a boat bound
for New Orleans, and the history of the beautiful slave-girl remained a
mystery.
I remained on the boat during the season, and it was not an unfrequent
occurrence to have on board gangs of slaves on their way to the cotton,
sugar and rice plantations of the South.
Toward the latter part of the summer, Captain Reynolds left the boat,
and I was sent home. I was then placed on the farm under Mr. Haskell,

the overseer. As I had been some time out of the field, and not
accustomed to work in the burning sun, it was very hard; but I was
compelled to keep up with the best of the hands.
I found a great difference between the work in a steamboat cabin and
that in a corn-field.
My master, who was then living in the city, soon after removed to the
farm, when I was taken out of the field to work in the house as a waiter.
Though his wife was very peevish, and hard to please, I much preferred
to be under her control than the overseer's. They brought with them Mr.
Sloane, a Presbyterian minister; Miss Martha Tulley, a neice of theirs
from Kentucky; and their nephew William. The latter had been in the
family a number of years, but the others were all new-comers.
Mr. Sloane was a young minister, who had been at the South but a short
time, and it seemed as if his whole aim was to please the slaveholders,
especially my master and mistress. He was intending to make a visit
during the winter, and he not only tried to please them, but I think he
succeeded admirably. When they wanted singing, he sung; when they
wanted praying, he prayed; when they wanted a story told, he told a
story. Instead of his teaching my master theology, my master taught
theology to him. While I was with Captain Reynolds, my master "got
religion," and new laws were made on the plantation. Formerly, we had
the privilege of hunting, fishing, making splint brooms, baskets, &c. on
Sunday; but this was all stopped. Every Sunday, we were all compelled
to attend meeting. Master was so religious, that he induced some others
to join him in hiring a preacher to preach to the slaves.

CHAPTER V.
My master had family worship, night and morning. At night, the slaves
were called in to attend; but in the mornings, they