And who was the father of Jake? Don’t know. But may it not be possible that he was a Governor, or some other big personage? Perhaps, while Jake is being sold at auction to the highest bidder, his natural brothers and sisters are sitting in splendid parlors, or in the drawing-room of some fashionable hotel, ‘up North.’ May not one of Jake’s natural brothers be a Judge of the Supreme Court, and the other a learned minister of the gospel? How does it happen that, while one of the children of the same father is a rich and high-standing favorite of the people, the other child is sold at public auction, like a valuable mule? Can it be the little difference in their color? Well, let the former brother stay for some years in South America, or in some other warm climate, and I am sure his color would show no great difference from that of his brother who is sold at auction. Why, then, shall the one brother be treated as a beast, and the other brother as a gentleman? Can any one of my learned readers solve this problem for me?
No. 32. Willis, field hand, 24 years, sold for $1350—and
No. 32½. Lucy Scott, field hand, 25. She is not placed upon the platform. Why? We cannot say; but the distressed face of the poor woman tells us that she has been sold privately to a personage, of whom they say that he is a member of the church, but who in reality may prove to be a demon.
No’s 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37.
A very good-looking pair is first put upon the platform. Davy, a good vegetable-gardener, 50 years old, and his wife Harriet, about 45, together with their daughters, Cassy and Scilla, twins, 14 years, and Amy, 12 years. Really, I would give something if you could see the daguerreotype of this family standing upon the platform, to be sold at auction. But, no—I recall the wish. Thank God that you cannot see that picture, because it would haunt you like a dreadful vision.
I remember an event which I heard related while I was in France. A young French lady had occasion to visit a picture gallery. Her eyes fell upon a large picture, representing the martyrs thrown before wild beasts, at the time of the Roman Emperor Dioclesian. The expression of agony in the features of the bleeding Christians was so fearfully given, that the maiden fell into hysterics, and she never recovered from the effect of her terror.
I will not attempt to imagine the anguish and horror that my fair female readers would have felt, if they could have witnessed the picture of that poor distressed family—the despairing features of those three innocent girls upon that slaughter-bench, like three faultless lambs offered for sacrifice! All five were sold for $3000.
No. 38. Big Bill, cooper, 55 years, and
No. 39. Winey, his wife—(to sell a wife at auction!—what a sacrilege of the sacred name!) 54 years old. Both together were sold for $1850.
No. 40. Tom, field hand, 28 years, and