“‘It wore upon me so I grew poor through fear and grief. I would look out and see the two hundred slaves come into the back yard to be fed with rice, and they had the value of about a quart of rice a day, I guess.
“‘Every day, more or less would be whipped till the blood run to the ground; and every day fresh blood could be seen on the block,—and what for I never found out, for I darn’t ax any body, and I had no liberty of saying any thing to the field hands.
‘“I used often to look out of the window to see people pass and repass, and see if I couldn’t see somebody that I knew; and I finally got sick, and was kept down some time, and I jist dragged about and darn’t say one word, for I should have been put on the plantation for bein’ sick! and I meant to do the best I could till I dropped down dead; but the almost whole cause on it was grief, and the rest was cruel hardship. Well, things got so, I thought I must die soon, and in the height of my sorrow, I looked out and see Samuel Macy—Master Macy’s second son, walkin’ along the street, and I could hardly believe my eyes; and I was stand in’ in the door, and I catches the broom, and goes down the steps a sweepin’, and calls him by name as he comes along, and I tells him a short story, and he says ‘I’ll git thee free, only be patient a few weeks.’ I neither sees nor hears a word on him for over four weeks, but I was borne up by hope, and that made my troubles lighter. Well, in about four weeks, one day, jist arter dinner, there comes a gentleman and raps at the front door, and I goes and opens the door, and there stood old Master Macy, and I flies and hugs him, and he says ‘how does thee do, Susan?’ I couldn’t speak, and as soon as I could I tells my story; and Master Macy then speaks to mistress, who heard the talk and had come out of the parlor, and says, ‘this girl is a member of my family, and I shall take her,’ and then master come in and abused Master Macy dreadfully; but he says, ‘come along with me, Susan;’ and, without a bonnet or anything on to go out with I took him by the hand, and went down to the ship; and, afore I had finished my story, an officer comes and takes old Master Macy, and he leaves me in the care of his son Samuel, aboard, and he was up street about three hours, tendin’ a law-suit, and then he come back, and about nine o’clock that evenin’ we hauled off from that cussed shore, and in two weeks we reached New York, and here I am, in Master Macy’s old kitchen.
“‘Well, he watches for this slave ship that stole me, and one day he come in and said he had taken it, and had five men imprisoned; and the next court had them all imprisoned for life, and there they be yit. And now there’s no man, gentle or simple, that gits me to do an arrant out of sight of the house. Bought wit is the best, but I bought mine dreadful dear. When I got back the whole family cried, and Mistress Macy says,
“‘Let us rejoice! for the dead is alive, and the lost is found.”’
CHAPTER II.
Kidnappin’ in New York—Peter spends three years in Hartford—couldn’t help thinkin’ of Solena—Hartford Convention—stays a year in Middletown—hires to a man in West Springfield—makes thirty-five dollars fishin’ nights—great revival in Springfield—twenty immersed—sexton of church in Old Springfield—religious sentiments—returns to New York—Solena again—Susan Macy married—pulls up for the Bay State again—lives eighteen months in Westfield—six months in Sharon—Joshua Nichols leaves his wife—Peter goes after him and finds him in Spencertown, New York—takes money back to Mrs. Nichols—returns to Spencertown—lives at Esq. Pratt’s—Works next summer for old Captain Beale—his character—falls in love—married—loses his only child—wife helpless eight months—great revival of 1827—feels more like gittin’ religion—“One sabba’day when the minister preached at me”—a resolution to get religion—how to become a christian—evening prayer-meeting—Peter’s convictions deep and distressing—going home he kneels on a rock and prayed—his prayer—the joy of a redeemed soul—his family rejoice with him.
Peter. “Well, I sot a hearin’ Susan’s story till midnight, and that brought back old scenes agin, and there I sot and listened to her story till I had enemost cried my eyes out of my head, and I have only gin you the outline. And that kidnappin’ used to be carried on that way in New York year after year, and it’s carried on yit. ☜ [[15]] Why, they used to steal away any and every colored person they could steal, and this is all carried on by northern folks tu, and it’s fifty times worse than Louisiana slavery.
[15]. It became so common in New York that there was no safety for a colored person there, and philanthropy and religion demanded some protection for them against such a shocking system.—At last there was a vigilance committee organized for the purpose of ascertaining the names and residences of every colored person in the city; and this committee used regularly to visit all on the roll, and almost every day some one was missing. The result has been that several hundreds of innocent men and women and children have been retaken from their bondage, from the holds of respectable merchantmen in New York, to the parlours of southern gentry in New-Orleans. The facts which have been brought out by this committee are awful beyond description.—It is one of the noblest, and most patriotic and efficient organization on the globe. But their design expands itself beyond the protection and recovery of kidnapped friends;—it also lifts a star of guidance and promise upon the path of the fugitive slave; it helps him on his way to freedom, and not one week passes by without witnessing the glorious results of this humane and benevolent institution, in the protection of the free or the redemption of the enslaved. The Humane Society, whose object is to recover to life those who have been drowned, enlists the patronage and encomiums of the great and good, and yet this Vigilance Committee are insulted and abused by many of the public presses in New York, and most of the city authorities.—Why? Slavery has infused its deadly poison into the heart of the North.