No. 32½. Lucy Scott, field hand, 25. She is not placed upon the
platform. Why? We cannot say; but the distressed face of the poor woman
tells us that she has been sold privately to a personage, of whom they
say that he is a member of the church, but who in reality may prove to
be a demon.
No’s 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37.
A very good-looking pair is first put upon the platform. Davy, a good
vegetable-gardener, 50 years old, and his wife Harriet, about 45,
together with their daughters, Cassy and Scilla, twins, 14 years, and
Amy, 12 years. Really, I would give something if you could see the
daguerreotype of this family standing upon the platform, to be sold at
auction. But, no--I recall the wish. Thank God that you cannot see that
picture, because it would haunt you like a dreadful vision.
I remember an event which I heard related while I was in France. A
young French lady had occasion to visit a picture gallery. Her eyes
fell upon a large picture, representing the martyrs thrown before wild
beasts, at the time of the Roman Emperor Dioclesian. The expression
of agony in the features of the bleeding Christians was so fearfully
given, that the maiden fell into hysterics, and she never recovered
from the effect of her terror.
I will not attempt to imagine the anguish and horror that my fair
female readers would have felt, if they could have witnessed the
picture of that poor distressed family--the despairing features of
those three innocent girls upon that slaughter-bench, like three
faultless lambs offered for sacrifice! All five were sold for $3000.