Always It Gave Me A Pang That

The Slave Girl Is Reared In An Atmosphere Of Licentiousness And Fear.

During The First Years Of My Service In Dr. Flint's Family, I Was Accustomed To Share Some Indulgences With The Children Of My Mistress

I Was Ordered To Go For Flowers, That My Mistress's House Might Be Decorated For An Evening Party. I Spent The Day Gathering Flowers And Weaving Them Into Festoons, While The Dead Body Of My Father Was Lying Within A Mile Of Me. What Cared My Owners For That? He Was Merely A Piece Of Property. Moreover, They Thought He Had Spoiled His Children, By Teaching Them To Feel That They Were Human Beings. This Was Blasphemous Doctrine For A Slave To Teach; Presumptuous In Him, And Dangerous To The Masters.

Hot Weather Brings Out Snakes And Slaveholders, And I Like One Class Of The Venomous Creatures As Little As I Do The Other.

But I Now Entered On My Fifteenth Year - A Sad Epoch In The Life Of A Slave Girl. My Master Began To Whisper Foul Words In My Ear. Young As I Was, I Could Not Remain Ignorant Of Their Import