After I had learned to read, I was very fond of reading newspapers, when I could get them. One day in the year 1830, I picked up a piece of old newspaper containing the speech of J. Q. Adams, in the U. S. Senate, upon a petition of the ladies of Massachusetts, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. This I kept hid away for some months, and read it until it was so worn that I could scarce make out the letters.
While reading this speech, my heart leaped with joy. I spent many Sabbaths alone in the woods, meditating upon it. I then found out that there was a place where the negro was regarded as a man, and not as a brute; where he might enjoy the “inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”; and where he could walk unfettered throughout the length and breadth of the land.
These thoughts were constantly revolving in my mind, and I determined to see, ere long, the land from whence echoed that noble voice; where man acknowledged a difference between his brother man and a beast; and where I could “worship God under my own vine and fig tree, with none to molest or make afraid.”
Little did Mr. Adams know, when he was uttering that speech, that he was “opening the eyes of the blind”; that he was breaking the iron bands from the limbs of one poor slave, and setting the captive free. But bread cast upon the waters, will be found and gathered after many days.
But Mr. Adams has gone from hope to reward, and while his mortal body is laying in the dust of the earth, awaiting the summons for the re-union of soul and body, his spirit is with God in his kingdom above.
CHAP. VII.
Near our plantation lived as cruel a planter as ever God suffered to live, named doctor Jackson; who was the owner of a large farm, with several slaves. He was destitute of heart, soul, and conscience; while his wife was of the same character. She often induced him to ill-treat the slaves, especially those about the house; she being as ready to complain of them, as he was to punish them.
One day, she became displeased with Sarah, her cook, and wanted her husband to whip her. She said to Sarah, “I swear I will make your master whip you, as soon as he comes to the house”; to which Sarah replied, “Those who will swear, will lie!” This reply she reported to the doctor upon his return; upon which he tied Sarah up and whipped her, until the flesh so cleaved from the bone, that it might easily have been scraped off with the hand; while the blood stood in puddles under her feet.
After taking her down, he anointed her lacerated back with a mixture of grease and tar, which was a new application; the usual one being strong brine. For a long time after this, the poor creature could neither walk nor stand, and it was dreadful to see her crawling about in such painful agony. To Mrs. Jackson, however, it was a delightful sight, for she seemed to gloat over the sight of such bloody, mangled victims. Her cook had often before been flogged, but never so much to her satisfaction.