My young master, being very fond of work himself, did not like to see
lazy men around him. Whenever he came to the field, he always busied
himself about something, while the overseer stood with his whip
under his arm, and his hands in his pockets, or sat under a shady
tree and read the newspapers. I well knew this would not last very
long, and had the overseer known his employer as well as I did, he
would not thus have hazarded his best interest by an indulgence in
such laziness, as finally dethroned him.
Master Richard, coming into the field one day, found the overseer,
as usual, sitting at his ease under a pleasant tree, which at once
irritated him. Addressing the overseer, as he was thus enjoying his
comfort, he asked, “Why have not the ploughs been used in this field,
where they are so much needed, instead of yonder, where they are less
needed?”
The overseer made some paltry reply, not so well suited to master’s
dignity, as to the purpose which he had in contemplation, which was
to discharge him immediately; a thing which, according to contract,
he could not do. Directly, upon hearing the answer, he seized a stick
which lay near, and with it aimed a violent blow at the overseer’s
head, which, however, he fortunately dodged, when he ran from the
field, left the plantation, and was seen there no more.
My father was then put overseer, an office which he did not long
fill, as in October following he sickened and died. His death was
much lamented by all his fellow slaves, as well as by his master,
Richard, who gave him every possible attention during his sickness,
employing the best physicians to attend upon him. He called to see
him three or four times each day, and sometimes sat by his bedside
hours at a time, apparently striving to prevent the extinction of the
vital spark; but all to no purpose, for the great Master had called
for him, and he must obey the summons.
My father lived an exemplary life, and died a triumphant death,
leaving to posterity a bright evidence of his acceptance with God.
And, thank heaven, his prayers over me, a careless, hardened sinner,
were not as seed sown upon a rock, but as bread cast upon the waters,
to be seen and gathered after many days.
Immediately after the decease of this faithful slave, master Richard
directed my brother to take his horse and go up to old master’s
plantation, and inform his sister Elizabeth, our mistress, that
his father, John, her slave, was dead. As soon as she received the
tidings, she came in her carriage to her brother’s, but only to look
on the lifeless clay of my father. “Oh!” she exclaimed, as she gazed
upon the lifeless form, “I had rather lose all my other slaves, than
to lose John.”
My brother was now put overseer, and made an excellent one. The
crops, in their abundance, were gathered and safely secured.
We now removed about forty miles to another plantation, in Prince
George county, a neighborhood as different from that we had just
left, as Alabama is from Kentucky. Here our master married a Miss
Barber, very rich and equally cruel. I think she was about as bad
a woman as ever lived. She soon spoiled her husband’s disposition,
inducing in him the practice of the surrounding planters, to whip
occasionally, whether there was a cause or not. They considered
whipping as essential to the good of the soul as the body; and
therefore sometimes indispensably necessary.
My old grey-headed mother, now cook, was the first victim to the
uncontrollable, hellish passions of her new mistress. My mother
had always borne the reputation, in old mistress’s time, of a very
good cook; but she could not suit this tyrannical mistress, do the
best she could. Indeed, nothing was so pleasant to her as the smell
of negro blood! Entering the kitchen, she would beat my mother
with shovel, tongs, or whatever other weapon lay within her reach,
until exhausted herself; then, upon her husband’s return, she would
complain to him, and cause him to strip and whip the victim until she
was unable longer to stand. My feelings, upon hearing her shrieks
and pleadings, may better be imagined than described. Sometimes she
would, in this way, have all her servants whipped.
While upon the other plantation, I spared no exertions to learn
to read and write, both of which I could now do tolerably well;
and although I spent all my Sundays in study, still, master did
not know that I could do either. One day he sent me with a note to
a gentleman, requiring an answer by the bearer. The answer I put
into my pocket with some writing of my own, one of which was the
copy of a pass I had received from my master long before, to go to
visit a friend. This copy I accidentally handed him, instead of the
answering note, not perceiving my mistake until he exclaimed, “What
is this?” Immediately I discovered my mistake, and handed him the
right paper. He kept both. At the time he said no more to me, but
soon communicated the fact to his sister, pressing her to sell me,
which she at length consented to do, empowering him to transact the
business in reference to the sale. The next morning, while I was
preparing feed for the horses in the stables, he, with four other
white men, armed with bludgeons and pistols, came upon me. I looked
about me for some means of resistance, but seeing none, concluded
there was no way for me but to surrender.
My hands were at once tied, after which I was taken to another part
of the barn, where they commenced whipping me; but the switches
proving brittle, two of them were broken at once. This so enraged my
master that he cursed the switches, and swore he had something that
would not break. This was a cowhide, which he went and brought from
the house, I, meanwhile, hanging suspended between the heavens and
the earth, for no crime save what he himself was guilty of, namely,
education. He finally concluded, however, not to whip me, lest it
might injure my sale, and therefore ordered one of the other slaves
to take me down, and prepare me to go to Alexandria.
All being ready, he called for me to be brought out. As I passed
the house door in crossing the yard, bound in chains, his wife came
out and ordered me to stop a moment, while she delivered to me her
farewell message.
“Well, John,” she began, “you are going to be sold!” “Yes, madam, I
suppose so,” was my reply.
“I am sorry,” she continued, “that you are so disobedient to your
master Richard, and if you will promise me to do better, I will plead
with him not to sell you.”
I answered, “Madam, I have done the best I am able for him, and
cannot, to save my life, do better; willingly would I do so, if I
could. I do not know why he wishes to sell me.”
While I was speaking, he came out, being ready to start for the slave
market. He said to his wife, “I don’t wish you to speak to him, for I
am going to sell him; sister Elizabeth gave me leave to do so, and I
shall do it.” “He has promised me to do better, and I do not wish him
sold,” said his wife.
“I don’t want to hear any of his promises, he has made them before,”
was his reply.
While this conversation was going on, a coachman from the lower
plantation rode up, and handed master Richard a note, saying that
Miss Elizabeth had changed her mind, and did not wish me sold, and
that if he did not want me any longer, to send me home to her. Thus
was the affair knocked into a cocked hat.
He took the rope from my hands, and bade me go to work, a command
which I joyfully obeyed; but feeling no gratitude to him, since, had
it been in his power, he would have sold me. I finished my year with
him, after which, on Christmas, I returned to my mistress.