No. 74. Cornelius, 8 years.
No. 75. Jane, 7 years.
No. 76. Old Maria, 60 years.
Another tableau, which, if Mr. Keller, the celebrated performer of ‘living tableaux,’ should exhibit in the Academy of Music, in the Athenæum, or in some other public hall of a ‘free city,’ he would certainly take the house by storm, and every nerve of his justice and freedom-loving audience would powerfully vibrate with indignation against the cold-hearted destroyers of family-life and of human rights.
Reader! imagine five persons, standing upon a platform, similar to a funeral pile erected for martyrs. Their color is darker than that of the persons sitting in front of the arena. There are eighty-three human beings, of various colors, and of different ages, bending down their heads, and looking as if they were condemned to death, and were now to be executed. Those five ‘articles for sale at auction’ consist of a father, three children, and their grandmother. Their mother has gone to bear witness, before the holy tribunal of the great Judge of the world, and to accuse the tormentors of her unfortunate people.
James, a strong, intelligent-looking man, gazes in utter despair upon his youngest child, who clings to him in distress. Poor little Jane! At the youthful age of seven, thou shalt already drink the bitter cup! And Johanna! O gentle maiden of sixteen summers! How she covers her eyes with one tip of her head-cloth, grasping her trembling little brother Cornelius by the hand! And what is their father doing? He is raising his eyes—there is one flash—a terrible one!
Tremble, O South! Though that slave is but one, and has no power as a single man, let others join him! Let a million of his brothers rise against their masters’ reign of terror! Let them break their chains! Then, South! it shall be too late to repent! Then thy day of judgment has come!
Old Maria—how pitiful she looks! Poor old grandma! Sixty years have passed over her gray hairs; she has done her duty—(what duty had she to do?)—she has done all she could, without murmuring. She has raised children, nursed grand-children. Never as her own—no, always for her master! She has been always a very meek, a very quiet, good-natured soul. But to-day—had she ever such a feeling of approaching evil? She is not quiet to-day; she trembles every time she glances at her dear family. She is asking herself, ‘Shall I be permitted to go with them? or shall I be sold alone?’
Hear! What said he there—that stately man with his white neckcloth, his gold chain, and large seal thereon? What said he? ‘I do not want the old woman. Sell her alone!’
Yes! that man had the last bid. He paid $3000 for James, Johanna, Cornelius, and Jane; but he won’t buy the old woman. No! he only wants ‘young hands.’ And the old mother, the kind grandma, is torn away from her dear family, and will never see them again. She is sold for $200 to another, and all her happiness is given in the bargain!