Start out on my Travels to Hunt a New Master--Find Mr. Dansley--Hire to
Him--Thirty Dollars per Month for my Master and Five Dollars for
Myself--Wilson Astonished--Appointed Superintendent of Dansley's
Farm--Rules and Regulations--Peace and Tranquillity--My Moral Labors
Successful--Prayer and Social Meetings--Meetings in the Woods--Quarrel
and Fight like very Brothers--Time comes to be Moved to Another Field of
Labor.
It was customary in the slave states to allow slaves to hire themselves
for their masters to such as the slaves themselves desired to work for.
Sometimes this arrangement was made to save the master trouble. In my
case I was instructed to find a place to work at thirty dollars per
month and board, and then to return and report to Wilson, who would then
give the necessary permission in writing, which would stand as a
contract between him and my employer.
My first object was to find a Christian man to hire to who would allow
me to pray and preach on all proper occasions, and who would rather
assist me than hinder me in my efforts to make Christians of the
blacks. I cared nothing for the manual labor I had to do, if I could
only be placed in a position to do my great Master's work. His work was
my life-labor. On this particular account I was very careful who I
applied to. In a day or two I applied to Mr. Dansley, whose plantation
was about eighteen miles from Wilson's, and who had been recommended to
me as being the kind of man I was hunting for. Mr. Dansley questioned me
closely, and examined me as to my reasons for wanting to hire out, and
why my master wished me to hire out when there was plenty of work on his
own place for me to do. I confessed frankly that I could read and write,
and knew something about figures, and was desirous to serve God and do
his work by preaching, and in every other way in my power; that my
master was afraid that I would demoralize his other slaves by learning
them to read and write and by preaching to them, and in order that I
might not do that he wanted me off the plantation; that he could not
sell me because I was the property of his wife, and that she would not
consent to have me sold out of the family. "If those are faults, as
considered by Mr. Wilson, I am very well satisfied that you will perform
your part of the contract notwithstanding; yet what Mr. Wilson is
pleased to consider faults in you I deem good points in your character
and disposition, therefore I will hire you, hoping that your duty to God
will include your duty to me under the contract of hire." I told him
that was my understanding of my duty to God; that it comprised, in my
condition of servitude, my duty to my slave-master. I informed Mr.
Dansley that my master, Wilson, wanted thirty dollars per month for my
services, and that I wanted five dollars per month for myself, making in
all thirty-five dollars per month. He was satisfied to pay that amount,
and gave me a letter to carry to Wilson stating that he would hire me at
thirty dollars per month, yet he agreed with me that he would pay me,
besides, five dollars per month.
When Wilson gave me instructions to hire myself out at not less than
thirty dollars per month, he hoped I would fail, from the fact that
wages for field-hands were only twenty-five dollars per month; and when
I went back with Mr. Dansley's letter so soon, he was somewhat
surprised. He would have opened his eyes with wonder if he had known
that Dansley was to pay me five dollars per month extra. He gave me a
written permission to work for Mr. Dansley as long as Dansley should
want me. I immediately went to Dansley's, and stayed with him nine
months--nine months of contented time.
I found my new master every way worthy of any confidence I might repose
in him. In moderate circumstances, he used prudence and diligence in his
business transactions and farm operations. He was one of those kind of
men some of which may be found in almost every community--an unassuming,
industrious, Christian gentleman.
For his farm-force he hired men, both white and black; and when his work
pushed him he would require his cook and house-maid, the only slaves he
owned, to assist in the fields. At the time of my commencing to work for
him he had white men hired who were worse, if any thing, in their habits
of shiftless laziness than the lazy blacks. These whites, whom the
negroes usually termed "white trash," were, as a general thing, the most
vicious, brutal, thieving, shiftless, and lazy human beings imaginable.
They were ignorant in the greatest degree, and would not work so long as
they could obtain food to sustain life in any other way. They deemed it
an honor to be noticed civilly by a respectable negro, and would fawn
and truckle to the behests of any one who had the physical courage to
command them. Such people can be found in no place except the South.
They are a result of the system of slavery and slave-laws, and
slave-owners are responsible for their condition. Such were the kind of
men I had to work with. These men would quarrel and wrangle among
themselves, and would consume time and neglect their work. When the
house-servants were at work in the field, they would insult and misuse
them in every conceivable manner, and it was with great difficulty that
Mr. Dansley could get his work done properly and in season. Knowing I
had been a farm-superintendent on Wilson's plantation for a number of
years, Mr. Dansley immediately appointed me to the same position on his
farm, which accounts for his readiness and willingness to pay me high
wages.
This was a new kind of position for me, and it required considerable
thought and management for me to get matters properly arranged in my
mind. "Bossing" white hands and working with them, so as to make their
labors profitable for my employer, was no easy task. The farm-work was
carried on somewhat similar to the way in which large farms are worked
in the northern states, and it required great prudence and watchful care
to avoid waste and save all the crops. I arranged my rules of conduct,
hours of labor, etc., for the hands, and submitted them to Mr. Dansley
for his approval. Mr. Dansley left the matter entirely with me; and,
after trial, I found my rules were not sufficiently stringent, and that
if I expected to successfully "carry on" that farm I would have to make
rules with penalties attached, the men I had to deal with caring little
or nothing for mild, persuasive laws. I therefore drew up the following
rules, and presented them to Mr. Dansley, and requested him to make them
stipulations in the contracts of hire with his men. He approved them,
and acceded to my request.
1. Quarreling and using vulgar and profane language is strictly
forbidden on the farm, and any hand or hands violating this rule shall
be discharged or corrected, in the discretion of the superintendent.
2. Obedience to the just orders of the superintendent is essential to
the profitable conduct of the farm; therefore, disobedience to the
orders of the superintendent shall be followed by the discharge of the
hand or hands so offending, or his or their correction, in the
discretion of the superintendent.
3. Each and every hand hereby binds himself to obey the just orders of
the superintendent and the rules herein established, and upon the
discharge of any hand or hands, by the superintendent, one month's wages
shall be forfeited.
These rules were signed by the hands, that is, they "made their mark;"
but I signed my name, being the only negro hand on the place and the
only one who could write.
Peace and tranquillity reigned on that farm thereafter, and better crops
were not raised in the county. My whole study and aim was to do
right--to be just to my hands and do my duty to my employer. I relied on
God's help, and prayerfully asked his guidance in every and all
difficulties and emergencies, and my success is attributable to that
help which is always given when properly asked for.
The men I had to deal with were more to be pitied than blamed. They were
entirely ignorant of any but the most crude principles of right, and
were taught from their childhood only such rude notions as prevailed
among the ignorant. When I talked to them of Jesus they seemed
astonished. They did not even know that punishment would meet them
hereafter for their sins committed in this life, and were puzzled and
perplexed with the plan of salvation until after I had repeatedly
explained it to them; in fact, I taught them the history of man, from
Adam down to the coming of our Savior, and taught them the religion of
Jesus. Better-behaved men or better hands were not to be found in the
neighborhood after they learned the way to Jesus, and many happy times
we did have on that farm at our prayer--meetings and social gatherings.
All of us would meet at some convenient place on the farm, every
Sabbath-day, and would spend the time profitably, in exhortation and
prayer. The master and mistress were always there, and worked with a
will in the cause of Christ, and I would exhort and preach to the best
of my ability. Sometimes Mr. Dansley would read a chapter from the Bible
and comment thereon, and sometimes his wife would read and comment. All
of us prayed, and some of the white hands became, in a short time,
earnest public prayers. They had found the fount of true happiness, and
would drink largely therefrom on all occasions.
Our regular Sunday meetings soon became known in the neighborhood, and
the neighbors and their slaves would come and worship with us, until our
congregations became so large that Mr. Dansley allowed me to take the
hands and clear away a nice place in the woods, and make seats and a
stand, where we held our meetings regularly thereafter every Sunday, in
the forenoon, afternoon, and at night; besides, we held a social
prayer-meeting every Wednesday evening. These meetings were productive
of great good to the community and to individuals. In this way I
brought men and women to God even while in a condition of slavery, and
required to labor six days in the week in the grain and cotton fields.
If I, a slave, could accomplish this much, how much should the favored
preachers of the country accomplish? This is a hard question to answer,
however, and I shall not insist on its consideration, as every preacher
can not be a Lorenzo Dow, a John Smith, or a James Findley.
Among the field-hands under me were two brothers, white men, who, when I
first took charge of the farm were maliciously wicked toward each other,
and were almost constantly quarreling just like brothers(!). Before
three months had elapsed, under my kind of treatment, they were praying,
acting Christians, and remained so as long as I knew them.
From this time down to the present writing I have been a zealous worker
in the Lord's vineyard, and shall remain in the harness as long as God
wills.
Regarding doctrinal points of theology I knew nothing, and my whole
stock of theological works could have been carried in a vest pocket, in
the shape of one or two tracts which fell in my way, and which I read,
studied, and preserved. I had a Bible, and that alone served me as the
guide in my ministry, and furnished me with all the arguments necessary
to the conversion of sinners and their redemption.
Our congregation at Mr. Dansley's was not organized into a church, and I
did not attempt to receive members into the church of Christ. I doubted
my authority to do so, and any efforts on my part in that direction
would have been immediately stopped by the preachers and members of the
white churches. But this did not deter me from preaching and exhorting.
I believed firmly that God required of me the labor I performed, and I
was so much interested and taken up in my work that I did not stop to
consider what the consequences would be to myself. My only consideration
was, "Where can I find an opportunity to do good and save souls." I
asked no pay for my services as a preacher, and never received any;
hence I usually found congregations awaiting me at my appointments made
up of all classes, white and black, and from all churches organized in
the community. My discourses were sometimes off-hand and sometimes
studied. It is true my studied discourses were, in the main, original,
and taken wholly from the Bible, yet they were none the less effective,
because they were earnest and honest. My language was that of the
southern blacks and uneducated whites at the beginning of my labors as
an exhorter, but after hard study and training I improved myself greatly
in this respect, and gained the reputation of being as correct in my
pronunciation of English words as the majority of the white preachers. I
am not yet entirely free from dialectic pronunciation, and never expect
to be; but I find that this very defect, if so it may be called, adds
force to my sermons, and gives them a distinctness not otherwise
attainable. Therefore I make use of my very faults to do good.
I had hoped to stay with Mr. Dansley as long as he could find it
profitable to hire me; and so far I had been of great use to him. I had
placed his whole farm in a good state of repair, and had matured and
saved his crops in such a manner that his profits were much larger than
they ever were before in any one season. I had the goodwill and
confidence of the hands, both white and black, who worked under me, and
was an instrument in the hands of God in spreading the religion of Jesus
Christ in the neighborhood; consequently I was happy and contented, with
plenty of all kinds of work to do. But I had accomplished my mission at
this place, and it pleased God to remove me to another field of labor,
where the harvest was ripe and ready for the reaper. I never
complained; on the contrary, I rejoiced that God was not done with me,
and had plenty for me to do. When I had thoroughly worked one field of
labor, I deemed my immediate services no longer required, and was glad
when removed where more work was to be done in God's moral vineyard. Of
course I formed intimate associations in every locality in which I was
placed, and was prone to leave them; but I was content to do the will of
God in every particular, whether that will was expressed through the
slave-laws and James Wilson or otherwise.
I was a slave, and was compelled to labor for the profit of my owner,
which I performed diligently and faithfully; I was a child of God, and
owed him duty and obedience, which I performed earnestly and constantly.
From my slave-owners I expected and received no reward or remuneration;
from God I received no pay as I labored, but my great reward is yet to
come. I have been a depositor in God's bank, from which I expect to draw
largely at the final settlement.