CITY ANNOYANCES—PLANTATION REGRETS—MY MISTRESS, MISS SOPHA—HER
HISTORY—HER KINDNESS TO ME—MY MASTER, HUGH AULD—HIS SOURNESS—MY
INCREASED SENSITIVENESS—MY COMFORTS—MY OCCUPATION—THE BANEFUL EFFECTS
OF SLAVEHOLDING ON MY DEAR AND GOOD MISTRESS—HOW SHE COMMENCED TEACHING
ME TO READ—WHY SHE CEASED TEACHING ME—CLOUDS GATHERING OVER MY BRIGHT
PROSPECTS—MASTER AULD’S EXPOSITION OF THE TRUE PHILOSOPHY OF
SLAVERY—CITY SLAVES—PLANTATION SLAVES—THE CONTRAST—EXCEPTIONS—MR.
HAMILTON’S TWO SLAVES, HENRIETTA AND MARY—MRS. HAMILTON’S CRUEL
TREATMENT OF THEM—THE PITEOUS ASPECT THEY PRESENTED—NO POWER MUST COME
BETWEEN THE SLAVE AND THE SLAVEHOLDER.
Once in Baltimore, with hard brick pavements under my feet, which
almost raised blisters, by their very heat, for it was in the height of
summer; walled in on all sides by towering brick buildings; with troops
of hostile boys ready to pounce upon me at every street corner; with
new and strange objects glaring upon me at every step, and with
startling sounds reaching my ears from all directions, I for a time
thought that, after all, the home plantation was a more desirable place
of residence than my home on Alliciana street, in Baltimore. My country
eyes and ears were confused and bewildered here; but the boys were my
chief trouble. They chased me, and called me _“Eastern Shore man,”_
till really I almost wished myself back on the Eastern Shore. I had to
undergo a sort of moral acclimation, and when that was over, I did much
better. My new mistress happily proved to be all she _seemed_ to be,
when, with her husband, she met me at the door, with a most beaming,
benignant countenance. She was, naturally, of an excellent disposition,
kind, gentle and cheerful. The supercilious contempt for the rights and
feelings of the slave, and the petulance and bad humor which generally
characterize slaveholding ladies, were all quite absent from kind
“Miss” Sophia’s manner and bearing toward me. She had, in truth, never
been a slaveholder, but had—a thing quite unusual in the south—depended
almost entirely upon her own industry for a living. To this fact the
dear lady, no doubt, owed the excellent preservation of her natural
goodness of heart, for slavery can change a saint into a sinner, and an
angel into a demon. I hardly knew how to behave toward “Miss Sopha,” as
I used to call Mrs. Hugh Auld. I had been treated as a _pig_ on the
plantation; I was treated as a _child_ now. I could not even approach
her as I had formerly approached Mrs. Thomas Auld. How could I hang
down my head, and speak with bated breath, when there was no pride to
scorn me, no coldness to repel me, and no hatred to inspire me with
fear? I therefore soon learned to regard her as something more akin to
a mother, than a slaveholding mistress. The crouching servility of a
slave, usually so acceptable a quality to the haughty slaveholder, was
not understood nor desired by this gentle woman. So far from deeming it
impudent in a slave to look her straight in the face, as some
slaveholding ladies do, she seemed ever to say, “look up, child; don’t
be afraid; see, I am full of kindness and good will toward you.” The
hands belonging to Col. Lloyd’s sloop, esteemed it a great privilege to
be the bearers of parcels or messages to my new mistress; for whenever
they came, they were sure of a most kind and pleasant reception. If
little Thomas was her son, and her most dearly beloved child, she, for
a time, at least, made me something like his half-brother in her
affections. If dear Tommy was exalted to a place on his mother’s knee,
“Feddy” was honored by a place at his mother’s side. Nor did he lack
the caressing strokes of her gentle hand, to convince him that, though
_motherless_, he was not _friendless_. Mrs. Auld was not only a
kind-hearted woman, but she was remarkably pious; frequent in her
attendance of public worship, much given to reading the bible, and to
chanting hymns of praise, when alone. Mr. Hugh Auld was altogether a
different character. He cared very little about religion, knew more of
the world, and was more of the world, than his wife. He set out,
doubtless to be—as the world goes—a respectable man, and to get on by
becoming a successful ship builder, in that city of ship building. This
was his ambition, and it fully occupied him. I was, of course, of very
little consequence to him, compared with what I was to good Mrs. Auld;
and, when he smiled upon me, as he sometimes did, the smile was
borrowed from his lovely wife, and, like all borrowed light, was
transient, and vanished with the source whence it was derived. While I
must characterize Master Hugh as being a very sour man, and of
forbidding appearance, it is due to him to acknowledge, that he was
never very cruel to me, according to the notion of cruelty in Maryland.
The first year or two which I spent in his house, he left me almost
exclusively to the management of his wife. She was my law-giver. In
hands so tender as hers, and in the absence of the cruelties of the
plantation, I became, both physically and mentally, much more sensitive
to good and ill treatment; and, perhaps, suffered more from a frown
from my mistress, than I formerly did from a cuff at the hands of Aunt
Katy. Instead of the cold, damp floor of my old master’s kitchen, I
found myself on carpets; for the corn bag in winter, I now had a good
straw bed, well furnished with covers; for the coarse corn-meal in the
morning, I now had good bread, and mush occasionally; for my poor
tow-lien shirt, reaching to my knees, I had good, clean clothes. I was
really well off. My employment was to run errands, and to take care of
Tommy; to prevent his getting in the way of carriages, and to keep him
out of harm’s way generally. Tommy, and I, and his mother, got on
swimmingly together, for a time. I say _for a time_, because the fatal
poison of irresponsible power, and the natural influence of slavery
customs, were not long in making a suitable impression on the gentle
and loving disposition of my excellent mistress. At first, Mrs. Auld
evidently regarded me simply as a child, like any other child; she had
not come to regard me as _property_. This latter thought was a thing of
conventional growth. The first was natural and spontaneous. A noble
nature, like hers, could not, instantly, be wholly perverted; and it
took several years to change the natural sweetness of her temper into
fretful bitterness. In her worst estate, however, there were, during
the first seven years I lived with her, occasional returns of her
former kindly disposition.
The frequent hearing of my mistress reading the bible for she often
read aloud when her husband was absent soon awakened my curiosity in
respect to this _mystery_ of reading, and roused in me the desire to
learn. Having no fear of my kind mistress before my eyes, (she had then
given me no reason to fear,) I frankly asked her to teach me to read;
and, without hesitation, the dear woman began the task, and very soon,
by her assistance, I was master of the alphabet, and could spell words
of three or four letters. My mistress seemed almost as proud of my
progress, as if I had been her own child; and, supposing that her
husband would be as well pleased, she made no secret of what she was
doing for me. Indeed, she exultingly told him of the aptness of her
pupil, of her intention to persevere in teaching me, and of the duty
which she felt it to teach me, at least to read _the bible_. Here arose
the first cloud over my Baltimore prospects, the precursor of drenching
rains and chilling blasts.
Master Hugh was amazed at the simplicity of his spouse, and, probably
for the first time, he unfolded to her the true philosophy of slavery,
and the peculiar rules necessary to be observed by masters and
mistresses, in the management of their human chattels. Mr. Auld
promptly forbade continuance of her instruction; telling her, in the
first place, that the thing itself was unlawful; that it was also
unsafe, and could only lead to mischief. To use his own words, further,
he said, “if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell;” “he
should know nothing but the will of his master, and learn to obey it.”
“if you teach that nigger—speaking of myself—how to read the bible,
there will be no keeping him;” “it would forever unfit him for the
duties of a slave;” and “as to himself, learning would do him no good,
but probably, a great deal of harm—making him disconsolate and
unhappy.” “If you learn him now to read, he’ll want to know how to
write; and, this accomplished, he’ll be running away with himself.”
Such was the tenor of Master Hugh’s oracular exposition of the true
philosophy of training a human chattel; and it must be confessed that
he very clearly comprehended the nature and the requirements of the
relation of master and slave. His discourse was the first decidedly
anti-slavery lecture to which it had been my lot to listen. Mrs. Auld
evidently felt the force of his remarks; and, like an obedient wife,
began to shape her course in the direction indicated by her husband.
The effect of his words, _on me_, was neither slight nor transitory.
His iron sentences—cold and harsh—sunk deep into my heart, and stirred
up not only my feelings into a sort of rebellion, but awakened within
me a slumbering train of vital thought. It was a new and special
revelation, dispelling a painful mystery, against which my youthful
understanding had struggled, and struggled in vain, to wit: the _white_
man’s power to perpetuate the enslavement of the _black_ man. “Very
well,” thought I; “knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I
instinctively assented to the proposition; and from that moment I
understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom. This was just
what I needed; and I got it at a time, and from a source, whence I
least expected it. I was saddened at the thought of losing the
assistance of my kind mistress; but the information, so instantly
derived, to some extent compensated me for the loss I had sustained in
this direction. Wise as Mr. Auld was, he evidently underrated my
comprehension, and had little idea of the use to which I was capable of
putting the impressive lesson he was giving to his wife. _He_ wanted me
to be _a slave;_ I had already voted against that on the home
plantation of Col. Lloyd. That which he most loved I most hated; and
the very determination which he expressed to keep me in ignorance, only
rendered me the more resolute in seeking intelligence. In learning to
read, therefore, I am not sure that I do not owe quite as much to the
opposition of my master, as to the kindly assistance of my amiable
mistress. I acknowledge the benefit rendered me by the one, and by the
other; believing, that but for my mistress, I might have grown up in
ignorance.
I had resided but a short time in Baltimore, before I observed a marked
difference in the manner of treating slaves, generally, from which I
had witnessed in that isolated and out-of-the-way part of the country
where I began life. A city slave is almost a free citizen, in
Baltimore, compared with a slave on Col. Lloyd’s plantation. He is much
better fed and clothed, is less dejected in his appearance, and enjoys
privileges altogether unknown to the whip-driven slave on the
plantation. Slavery dislikes a dense population, in which there is a
majority of non-slaveholders. The general sense of decency that must
pervade such a population, does much to check and prevent those
outbreaks of atrocious cruelty, and those dark crimes without a name,
almost openly perpetrated on the plantation. He is a desperate
slaveholder who will shock the humanity of his non-slaveholding
neighbors, by the cries of the lacerated slaves; and very few in the
city are willing to incur the odium of being cruel masters. I found, in
Baltimore, that no man was more odious to the white, as well as to the
colored people, than he, who had the reputation of starving his slaves.
Work them, flog them, if need be, but don’t starve them. These are,
however, some painful exceptions to this rule. While it is quite true
that most of the slaveholders in Baltimore feed and clothe their slaves
well, there are others who keep up their country cruelties in the city.
An instance of this sort is furnished in the case of a family who lived
directly opposite to our house, and were named Hamilton. Mrs. Hamilton
owned two slaves. Their names were Henrietta and Mary. They had always
been house slaves. One was aged about twenty-two, and the other about
fourteen. They were a fragile couple by nature, and the treatment they
received was enough to break down the constitution of a horse. Of all
the dejected, emaciated, mangled and excoriated creatures I ever saw,
those two girls—in the refined, church going and Christian city of
Baltimore were the most deplorable. Of stone must that heart be made,
that could look upon Henrietta and Mary, without being sickened to the
core with sadness. Especially was Mary a heart-sickening object. Her
head, neck and shoulders, were literally cut to pieces. I have
frequently felt her head, and found it nearly covered over with
festering sores, caused by the lash of her cruel mistress. I do not
know that her master ever whipped her, but I have often been an eye
witness of the revolting and brutal inflictions by Mrs. Hamilton; and
what lends a deeper shade to this woman’s conduct, is the fact, that,
almost in the very moments of her shocking outrages of humanity and
decency, she would charm you by the sweetness of her voice and her
seeming piety. She used to sit in a large rocking chair, near the
middle of the room, with a heavy cowskin, such as I have elsewhere
described; and I speak within the truth when I say, that these girls
seldom passed that chair, during the day, without a blow from that
cowskin, either upon their bare arms, or upon their shoulders. As they
passed her, she would draw her cowskin and give them a blow, saying,
_“move faster, you black jip!”_ and, again, _“take that, you black
jip!”_ continuing, _“if you don’t move faster, I will give you more.”_
Then the lady would go on, singing her sweet hymns, as though her
_righteous_ soul were sighing for the holy realms of paradise.
Added to the cruel lashings to which these poor slave-girls were
subjected—enough in themselves to crush the spirit of men—they were,
really, kept nearly half starved; they seldom knew what it was to eat a
full meal, except when they got it in the kitchens of neighbors, less
mean and stingy than the psalm-singing Mrs. Hamilton. I have seen poor
Mary contending for the offal, with the pigs in the street. So much was
the poor girl pinched, kicked, cut and pecked to pieces, that the boys
in the street knew her only by the name of _“pecked,”_ a name derived
from the scars and blotches on her neck, head and shoulders.
It is some relief to this picture of slavery in Baltimore, to say—what
is but the simple truth—that Mrs. Hamilton’s treatment of her slaves
was generally condemned, as disgraceful and shocking; but while I say
this, it must also be remembered, that the very parties who censured
the cruelty of Mrs. Hamilton, would have condemned and promptly
punished any attempt to interfere with Mrs. Hamilton’s _right_ to cut
and slash her slaves to pieces. There must be no force between the
slave and the slaveholder, to restrain the power of the one, and
protect the weakness of the other; and the cruelty of Mrs. Hamilton is
as justly chargeable to the upholders of the slave system, as
drunkenness is chargeable on those who, by precept and example, or by
indifference, uphold the drinking system.