I have been solicited by very many friends, to give my narrative to the
public. Whatever my own judgment might be, I should yield to theirs. In
compliance, therefore, with this general request, and in the hope that
these pages may produce an impression favorable to my countrymen in
bondage; also that I may realize something from the sale of my work
towards the support of a numerous family, I have committed this
publication to press. It might have been made two or three, or even six
times larger, without diminishing from the interest of any one of its
pages--_indeed with an increased interest_--but the want of the pecuniary
means, and other considerations, have induced me to present it as here
seen. Should another edition be called for, and should my friends advise,
the work will then be extended to a greater length.
I have not, in this publication attempted or desired to argue anything. It
is only a simple narration of such facts connected with my own case, as I
thought would be most interesting and instructive to readers generally.
The facts will, I think, cast some light upon the policy of a slaveholding
community, and the effect on the minds of the more enlightened, the more
humane, and the _Christian_ portion of the southern people, of holding and
trading in the bodies and souls of men.
I have said in the following pages, that my condition as a slave was
comparatively a happy, indeed a highly favored one; and to this
circumstance is it owing that I have been able to come up from bondage and
relate the story to the public; and that my wife, my mother, and my seven
children, are here with me this day. If for any thing this side the
invisible world, I bless heaven, it is that I was not born a plantation
slave, nor even a house servant under what is termed a hard and cruel
master.
It has not been any part of my object to describe slavery generally, and
in the narration of my own case I have dwelt as little as possible upon
the dark side--have spoken mostly of the bright. In whatever I have been
obliged to say unfavorable to others, I have endeavored not to overstate,
but have chosen rather to come short of giving the full picture--omitting
much which it did not seem important to my object to relate. And yet I
would not venture to say that this publication does not contain a single
period which might be twisted to convey an idea more than should be
expressed.
Those of whom I have had occasion to speak, are regarded, where they are
known, as among the most kind men to their slaves. Mr. Smith, some of
whose conduct will doubtless seem strange to the reader, is sometimes
taunted with being an abolitionist, in consequence of the interest he
manifests towards the colored people. If to any his character appear like
a riddle, they should remember that, men, like other things, have "two
sides," and often a top and a bottom in addition.
While in the South I succeeded by stealth in learning to read and write a
little, and since I have been in the North I have learned more. But I need
not say that I have been obliged to employ the services of a friend, in
bringing this Narrative into shape for the public eye. And it should
perhaps be said on the part of the writer, that it has been hastily
compiled, with little regard to style, only to express the ideas
accurately and in a manner to be understood.