THE NEGROES' STATE OF MIND, IN 1837.
While Mr. Thome was travelling in the rural districts, he talked with many of the apprentices. He says: "They all thought the apprenticeship very hard; but still, on the whole it was rather better than slavery. Then they were 'killed too bad.' It was all slash, slash! Now, they couldn't be flogged unless the magistrate said so. Still, some masters were very hard; and many of the apprentices were so badly used, that they ran away into the woods. They should all be glad when freedom came.
"They gave a heart-sickening account of the cruelties of the tread-mill. Sometimes their wives were tied on the wheel when they were in a state of pregnancy. They suffered a great deal from that; but they couldn't help it. We asked why they didn't complain to the magistrates. They replied, that the magistrates wouldn't take any notice of their complaints; and besides, it only made the masters treat them worse. One of them said, 'We go to de magistrate, and den, when we come back, massa do all him can to vex us. He wingle (tease) us, and wingle us, and wingle us; de bookkeeper curse us and treaten us; de constable he scold us and call us hard names; and dey all try to make we mad; so we sometimes say someting wrong, and den dey take we to de magistrate for insolence.'
"We asked them what they thought of the household slaves being free in 1838, while they had to remain apprentices two years longer. They said, 'It bad enough; but we know de law make it so; and for peace' sake, we will be satisfy. But we murmur in we minds.' One of the magistrates told us that on several estates the house servants announced their determination to remain apprentices until the field hands were all free; giving as a reason, that they wanted all to have a jubilee together.
"We inquired whether they expected to do as they pleased when they were free. They answered, 'We couldn't live widout de law. In other countries, where dey is free, don't dey have de law?' We asked what they expected to do with the old and infirm. They said, 'We will support dem. Dey brought us up when we was pickaniny, and now we come trong, we must take care of dem.' We asked whether they would work when they were free. They replied, 'In slavery time, we work, even wid de whip; now we work till better; what tink we will do when we free? Wont we work when we get paid!' It was said so earnestly, we couldn't help acknowledging ourselves convinced. Some of them had to travel too far to market, to get back till Sunday. One of them said to us with tears in his eyes, 'I declare to you, massa, if de Lord only spare we to be free, we be much more 'ligious. We be wise to many more tings.'"