Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-02-19
From The Liberty Bell for 1877.
The ChildleSS Mother.
ny j. E.

lIO NlllulCDO mUlUCl.
ny J. E. sNoDGRAss.
After practising my profession for a year
or two In Virginia, amid the scenes of nv
boyhood's mountain-circled home, | removed
to W~llllamsport, a quiet little village on the
Maryland side of the romantic Potomac
During my residence in the latter place. AN
incident occurred, the relation of which will.
perhaps serve a useful purpose, while fur
nishlng, as have been requested to do. ga
page for the Liberty Bell.'
At the dawn of day in early sprinr. I
was startled from slumbers rendered perhans
unusually profound by the labors of the pre-
vlous day.. The cause was a scream, which
violently cleft the cold air with its piorcing
agony. instantly sprang to my feet. onlv
to have my ears saluted by shrieks still more
startling. So loud had the voice now be.
come, that it seemed to startle from the bosom
Of the quiet river echoes such as had nerbons
never been heard since the DAYS when lis
CLASSY tide used to reflect the war-whoop or
the Indian and the scream of the panther,
The voice could readily be distinguished
as that of a female, though coarse and barsb
in its tones. 1t soon ceased, however. as if
stiied by the very intensity of the AGONY il
had expressed. On subsequent INQUIRY IF a
servant, | obtained the following solution of
the soul-troubling mystery.
lna hut, a square or Two distant, had lived.
for some time, a colored woman. the mother
of two children, whose wants she had spn-
piled with the labor of her own hands. She
had regarded herself as a 60 free woman -
free as the air Of the surrounding hills-and
she was so regarded by all who knew her
But she had no :" free papers" having omitted
TO secure them, it was said, through over con.
ildence in the source from which she had re-
ceived a verbal pledge of freedom-a fatal
omission too frequently made by the virtual
ly freed.
Little did that sable woman dream, amid
the quiet darkness which enwrapt her toll
worn frame in Inconsistencies, that a still
harder lot-O, how hard a one-was so near
its awaiting! She was aroused at early dawn
by a rap at her humble door. She responded
TO the signal and babe the visitants enter
They did so; but for what purpose, suppose
you. reader? To talk of work to be done bv
those who are glad to task leave to TOLL, or
utter other words of cheer! No-alas! No.
ditlerentthe errand on which they came.
of them claimed her as his "chattel."
md ordered her to be seized as his slave"
t was done, and she was conveyed, with her
Oldest child, to the county Jail, some six miles
Instant, there TO await the "highest bidder "
the blood and bones of his fellow men!
Was it the fact of being sold to Georgia,
hat caused those unearthly shrieks ! " YOU
us that not a common thing in Mary
and z"
1t is far too common, | answer with shame;
'ut 1t was not that which caused such intense
.gony. The cause was far worse even than
hat. | will tell.
Nesting warmly in that mothers bosom,
that sadly terminated night, had lain
babe, but a few weeks old-a babe which,
'oiored though it was, and doomed to be-
as deep-hued as its sable mother. was
her baby still, with all the tender aud help
ess ways of a ~babv-and that mother loved
I as fondly as the fairest skinned mother of
his land could love her own. But it was
leemed an incumJrance to its mother in the
'lave-mart. So they tore it rudely from her
BOSOM! 1t was TINT which caused the shrek
ot agoniZed affection,-the speechless utter
of a mothers bereaved and tortured soul
\ es, they tore that tender child from its mo-
her, and she became the inmate of a gloomy
Prison
"For what cause :" you ask. "Had the
committed any crime?"
Not the least possible crime was she guilty
If, except it really be a crime to wear a black
But she was a slave-atle least she was
claimed as such. Besides, you see they on
y transferred her from one prison to another
for what is slavery but imprisonment? In
act 1t is generally Imprisonment of the worst
ind-imprisonment for life.
What became Of the babe q" some anx-
GUS mother impatiently asks.
cannot anSyvar fnrtbor ,h,o A.. :. .-
eft with a colored woman, who promised its
mother to take care of it. This, it is proba-
lie, she was allowed to do until it was old
nough for the "Southern market"
Mothers OF the land-ye who have borne
hildren, and felt the feeble pulsations of
heir little hearts respond to your own-know
not how TO commiserate that cruelty
ereft mother! | trust that you do. Then
lead earnestly for the cause of the slave!-
strengthen the hands of your husbands, and
athers, and brothers, amid their stern con-
Iict with the giant Wrcng-amid their self
.enials and their sufferings-in the face of
rivate malice and public scorn! Woman
an do much, if faithful to her mission-so
much that, with the cooperation of the wives
nd mothers, and daughters of our guilty
and, the "Liberty Bell " would soon cease
0 send forth such heart-rending tones as the
hrieks of the Childless Mother.
Baltimore.