MASTER—VALUATION AND DIVISION OF ALL THE PROPERTY, INCLUDING THE
POWERLESSNESS OF THE SLAVES TO DECIDE THEIR OWN DESTINY—A GENERAL
OWNER—MY RETURN TO BALTIMORE—JOY UNDER THE ROOF OF MASTER HUGH—DEATH
MASTER HUGH’S—REASONS FOR REGRETTING THE CHANGE—A PLAN OF ESCAPE
ENTERTAINED.
I must now ask the reader to go with me a little back in point of time, in my humble7 story, and to notice another circumstance that entered into my slavery experience, and which, doubtless, has had a share in deepening my horror of slavery, and increasing my hostility8 toward those men and measures that practically uphold the slave system.
It has already been observed, that though I was, after my removal from Col. Lloyd’s plantation9, in form the slave of Master Hugh, I was, in fact, and in law, the slave of my old master, Capt. Anthony. Very well.
In a very short time after I went to Baltimore, my old master’s youngest son, Richard, died; and, in three years and six months after his death, my old master himself died, leaving only his son, Andrew, and his daughter, Lucretia, to share his estate. The[136] old man died while on a visit to his daughter, in Hillsborough, where Capt. Auld and Mrs. Lucretia now lived. The former, having given up the command of Col. Lloyd’s sloop10, was now keeping a store in that town.
Cut off, thus unexpectedly, Capt. Anthony died intestate; and his property must now be equally divided between his two children, Andrew and Lucretia.
The valuation and the division of slaves, among contending heirs, is an important incident in slave life. The character and tendencies of the heirs, are generally well understood among the slaves who are to be divided, and all have their aversions and preferences. But, neither their aversions nor their preferences avail them anything.
On the death of old master, I was immediately sent for, to be valued and divided with the other property. Personally, my concern was, mainly, about my possible removal from the home of Master Hugh, which, after that of my grandmother, was the most endeared to me. But, the whole thing, as a feature of slavery, shocked me. It furnished me anew insight into the unnatural12 power to which I was subjected. My detestation of slavery, already great, rose with this new conception of its enormity.
That was a sad day for me, a sad day for little Tommy, and a sad day for my dear Baltimore mistress and teacher, when I left for the Eastern Shore, to be valued and divided. We, all three, wept bitterly that day; for we might be parting, and we feared we were parting, forever. No one could tell among which pile of chattels13 I should be flung. Thus early, I got a foretaste of that painful uncertainty14 which slavery brings to the ordinary lot of mortals. Sickness, adversity and death may interfere15 with the plans and purposes of all; but the slave has the added danger of changing homes, changing hands, and of having separations unknown to other men. Then, too, there was the intensified16 degradation17 of the spectacle. What an assemblage! Men and women, young and old, married and single; moral and intellectual beings, in open contempt of their humanity, level at a blow with[137] horses, sheep, horned cattle and swine! Horses and men—cattle and women—pigs and children—all holding the same rank in the scale of social existence; and all subjected to the same narrow inspection18, to ascertain19 their value in gold and silver—the only standard of worth applied20 by slaveholders to slaves! How vividly21, at that moment, did the brutalizing power of slavery flash before me! Personality swallowed up in the sordid22 idea of property! Manhood lost in chattelhood!
After the valuation, then came the division. This was an hour of high excitement and distressing23 anxiety. Our destiny was now to be fixed24 for life, and we had no more voice in the decision of the question, than the oxen and cows that stood chewing at the haymow. One word from the appraisers, against all preferences or prayers, was enough to sunder25 all the ties of friendship and affection, and even to separate husbands and wives, parents and children. We were all appalled26 before that power, which, to human seeming, could bless or blast us in a moment. Added to the dread of separation, most painful to the majority of the slaves, we all had a decided27 horror of the thought of falling into the hands of Master Andrew. He was distinguished28 for cruelty and intemperance29.
Slaves generally dread to fall into the hands of drunken owners. Master Andrew was almost a confirmed sot, and had already, by his reckless mismanagement and profligate30 dissipation, wasted a large portion of old master’s property. To fall into his hands, was, therefore, considered merely as the first step toward being sold away to the far south. He would spend his fortune in a few years, and his farms and slaves would be sold, we thought, at public outcry; and we should be hurried away to the cotton fields, and rice swamps, of the sunny south. This was the cause of deep consternation31.
The people of the north, and free people generally, I think, have less attachment32 to the places where they are born and brought up, than have the slaves. Their freedom to go and come,[138] to be here and there, as they list, prevents any extravagant33 attachment to any one particular place, in their case. On the other hand, the slave is a fixture34; he has no choice, no goal, no destination; but is pegged35 down to a single spot, and must take root here, or nowhere. The idea of removal elsewhere, comes, generally, in the shape of a threat, and in punishment of crime. It is, therefore, attended with fear and dread. A slave seldom thinks of bettering his condition by being sold, and hence he looks upon separation from his native place, with none of the enthusiasm which animates36 the bosoms37 of young freemen, when they contemplate38 a life in the far west, or in some distant country where they intend to rise to wealth and distinction. Nor can those from whom they separate, give them up with that cheerfulness with which friends and relations yield each other up, when they feel that it is for the good of the departing one that he is removed from his native place. Then, too, there is correspondence, and there is, at least, the hope of reunion, because reunion is possible. But, with the slave, all these mitigating39 circumstances are wanting. There is no improvement in his condition probable,—no correspondence possible,—no reunion attainable40. His going out into the world, is like a living man going into the tomb, who, with open eyes, sees himself buried out of sight and hearing of wife, children and friends of kindred tie.
In contemplating41 the likelihoods and possibilities of our circumstances, I probably suffered more than most of my fellow servants. I had known what it was to experience kind, and even tender treatment; they had known nothing of the sort. Life, to them, had been rough and thorny42, as well as dark. They had—most of them—lived on my old master’s farm in Tuckahoe, and had felt the reign43 of Mr. Plummer’s rule. The overseer had written his character on the living parchment of most of their backs, and left them callous44; my back (thanks to my early removal from the plantation to Baltimore) was yet tender. I had left a kind mistress[139] at Baltimore, who was almost a mother to me. She was in tears when we parted, and the probabilities of ever seeing her again, trembling in the balance as they did, could not be viewed without alarm and agony. The thought of leaving that kind mistress forever, and, worse still, of being the slave of Andrew Anthony—a man who, but a few days before the division of the property, had, in my presence, seized my brother Perry by the throat, dashed him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped him on the head, until the blood gushed45 from his nose and ears—was terrible! This fiendish proceeding46 had no better apology than the fact, that Perry had gone to play, when Master Andrew wanted him for some trifling47 service. This cruelty, too, was of a piece with his general character. After inflicting48 his heavy blows on my brother, on observing me looking at him with intense astonishment49, he said, “That is the way I will serve you, one of these days;” meaning, no doubt, when I should come into his possession. This threat, the reader may well suppose, was not very tranquilizing to my feelings. I could see that he really thirsted to get hold of me. But I was there only for a few days. I had not received any orders, and had violated none, and there was, therefore, no excuse for flogging me.
At last, the anxiety and suspense50 were ended; and they ended, thanks to a kind Providence51, in accordance with my wishes. I fell to the portion of Mrs. Lucretia—the dear lady who bound up my head, when the savage52 Aunt Katy was adding to my sufferings her bitterest maledictions.
Capt. Thomas Auld and Mrs. Lucretia at once decided on my return to Baltimore. They knew how sincerely and warmly Mrs. Hugh Auld was attached to me, and how delighted Mr. Hugh’s son would be to have me back; and, withal, having no immediate11 use for one so young, they willingly let me off to Baltimore.
I need not stop here to narrate53 my joy on returning to Baltimore, nor that of little Tommy; nor the tearful joy of his mother;[140] nor the evident saticfaction(sic) of Master Hugh. I was just one month absent from Baltimore, before the matter was decided; and the time really seemed full six months.
One trouble over, and on comes another. The slave’s life is full of uncertainty. I had returned to Baltimore but a short time, when the tidings reached me, that my friend, Mrs. Lucretia, who was only second in my regard to Mrs. Hugh Auld, was dead, leaving her husband and only one child—a daughter, named Amanda.
Shortly after the death of Mrs. Lucretia, strange to say, Master Andrew died, leaving his wife and one child. Thus, the whole family of Anthonys was swept away; only two children remained. All this happened within five years of my leaving Col. Lloyd’s.
No alteration54 took place in the condition of the slaves, in consequence of these deaths, yet I could not help feeling less secure, after the death of my friend, Mrs. Lucretia, than I had done during her life. While she lived, I felt that I had a strong friend to plead for me in any emergency. Ten years ago, while speaking of the state of things in our family, after the events just named, I used this language:
Now all the property of my old master, slaves included, was in the hands of strangers—strangers who had nothing to do in accumulating it. Not a slave was left free. All remained slaves, from youngest to oldest. If any one thing in my experience, more than another, served to deepen my conviction of the infernal character of slavery, and to fill me with unutterable loathing55 of slaveholders, it was their base ingratitude56 to my poor old grandmother. She had served my old master faithfully from youth to old age. She had been the source of all his wealth; she had peopled his plantation with slaves; she had become a great-grandmother in his service. She had rocked him in infancy57, attended him in childhood, served him through life, and at his death wiped from his icy brow the cold death-sweat, and closed his eyes forever. She was nevertheless left a slave—a slave for life—a slave in the hands of strangers; and in their hands she saw her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, divided, like so many sheep, without being gratified with the small privilege of a single word, as to their or her own destiny. And, to cap the climax58 of their base ingratitude and fiendish barbarity, my grandmother, who was now very old, having outlived my old master and all his children, having seen the beginning and end of all of them, and her present owners finding she[141] was of but little value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age, and complete helplessness fast stealing over her once active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there in perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to die! If my poor old grandmother now lives, she lives to suffer in utter loneliness; she lives to remember and mourn over the loss of children, the loss of grandchildren, and the loss of great-grandchildren. They are, in the language of the slave’s poet, Whittier—
Gone, gone, sold and gone,
To the rice swamp dank and lone,
Where the slave-whip ceaseless swings,
Poison with the falling dews,
Where the sickly sunbeams glare
Gone, gone, sold and gone
To the rice swamp dank and lone,
From Virginia hills and waters—
The hearth63 is desolate64. The children, the unconscious children, who once sang and danced in her presence, are gone. She gropes her way, in the darkness of age, for a drink of water. Instead of the voices of her children, she hears by day the moans of the dove, and by night the screams of the hideous65 owl66. All is gloom. The grave is at the door. And now, when weighed down by the pains and aches of old age, when the head inclines to the feet, when the beginning and ending of human existence meet, and helpless infancy and painful old age combine together—at this time, this most needful time, the time for the exercise of that tenderness and affection which children only can exercise toward a declining parent—my poor old grandmother, the devoted67 mother of twelve children, is left all alone, in yonder little hut, before a few dim embers.
Two years after the death of Mrs. Lucretia, Master Thomas married his second wife. Her name was Rowena Hamilton, the eldest68 daughter of Mr. William Hamilton, a rich slaveholder on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, who lived about five miles from St. Michael’s, the then place of my master’s residence.
Not long after his marriage, Master Thomas had a misunderstanding with Master Hugh, and, as a means of punishing his brother, he ordered him to send me home.[142]
As the ground of misunderstanding will serve to illustrate69 the character of southern chivalry70, and humanity, I will relate it.
Among the children of my Aunt Milly, was a daughter, named Henny. When quite a child, Henny had fallen into the fire, and burnt her hands so bad that they were of very little use to her. Her fingers were drawn71 almost into the palms of her hands. She could make out to do something, but she was considered hardly worth the having—of little more value than a horse with a broken leg. This unprofitable piece of human property, ill shapen, and disfigured, Capt. Auld sent off to Baltimore, making his brother Hugh welcome to her services.
After giving poor Henny a fair trial, Master Hugh and his wife came to the conclusion, that they had no use for the crippled servant, and they sent her back to Master Thomas. Thus, the latter took as an act of ingratitude, on the part of his brother; and, as a mark of his displeasure, he required him to send me immediately to St. Michael’s, saying, if he cannot keep “Hen,” he shall not have “Fred.”
Here was another shock to my nerves, another breaking up of my plans, and another severance72 of my religious and social alliances. I was now a big boy. I had become quite useful to several young colored men, who had made me their teacher. I had taught some of them to read, and was accustomed to spend many of my leisure hours with them. Our attachment was strong, and I greatly dreaded73 the separation. But regrets, especially in a slave, are unavailing. I was only a slave; my wishes were nothing, and my happiness was the sport of my masters.
My regrets at now leaving Baltimore, were not for the same reasons as when I before left that city, to be valued and handed over to my proper owner. My home was not now the pleasant place it had formerly74 been. A change had taken place, both in Master Hugh, and in his once pious75 and affectionate wife. The influence of brandy and bad company on him, and the influence of slavery and social isolation76 upon her, had wrought77 disastrously78 upon the[143] characters of both. Thomas was no longer “little Tommy,” but was a big boy, and had learned to assume the airs of his class toward me. My condition, therefore, in the house of Master Hugh, was not, by any means, so comfortable as in former years. My attachments79 were now outside of our family. They were felt to those to whom I imparted instruction, and to those little white boys from whom I received instruction. There, too, was my dear old father, the pious Lawson, who was, in christian80 graces, the very counterpart of “Uncle” Tom. The resemblance is so perfect, that he might have been the original of Mrs. Stowe’s christian hero. The thought of leaving these dear friends, greatly troubled me, for I was going without the hope of ever returning to Baltimore again; the feud81 between Master Hugh and his brother being bitter and irreconcilable82, or, at least, supposed to be so.
In addition to thoughts of friends from whom I was parting, as I supposed, forever, I had the grief of neglected chances of escape to brood over. I had put off running away, until now I was to be placed where the opportunities for escaping were much fewer than in a large city like Baltimore.
On my way from Baltimore to St. Michael’s, down the Chesapeake bay, our sloop—the “Amanda”—was passed by the steamers plying83 between that city and Philadelphia, and I watched the course of those steamers, and, while going to St. Michael’s, I formed a plan to escape from slavery; of which plan, and matters connected therewith the kind reader shall learn more hereafter.
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1
appraised
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| v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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4
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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8
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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14
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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15
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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16
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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18
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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19
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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20
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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21
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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22
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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23
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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25
sunder
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| v.分开；隔离；n.分离，分开 | |
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26
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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27
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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28
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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29
intemperance
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| n.放纵 | |
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30
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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31
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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fixture
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| n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款 | |
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pegged
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| v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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36
animates
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| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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37
bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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38
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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39
mitigating
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| v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的现在分词 ) | |
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40
attainable
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| a.可达到的，可获得的 | |
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41
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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42
thorny
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| adj.多刺的，棘手的 | |
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43
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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44
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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45
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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46
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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47
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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48
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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49
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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50
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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51
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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52
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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53
narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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54
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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55
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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56
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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57
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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58
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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59
noisome
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| adj.有害的，可厌的 | |
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60
strews
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| v.撒在…上( strew的第三人称单数 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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61
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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62
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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65
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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66
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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67
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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70
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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71
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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severance
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| n.离职金；切断 | |
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73
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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74
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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77
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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79
attachments
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| n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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81
feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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82
irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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83
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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