If a slave is unwilling to go with his new master, he is whipped, or locked up in jail, until he consents to go, and promises not to run away during the year. If he lives until the next year, perhaps the same man will hire him again, without even giving him an opportunity of going to the hiring-ground. After those for hire are disposed of, those for sale are called up. With you it is a pleasant season, and the light of the day is blessed. Friendly wishes meet you every where, and gifts are showered upon you.
Children bring their little offerings, and raise their rosy lips for a caress.
But to the slave mother New Year's day comes laden with peculiar sorrows. On one of these sale days, I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction-block. The children were sold to a slave-trader, and their mother was bought by a man in her own town. Before night her children were all far away. I met that mother in the street, and her wild, haggard face lives to-day in my mind.