Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-09-29


Itime, I resolved that { would some DAY run
away. The morality Of The act, | dispose Of
as follows ] am myself; you are yourself;
we are two distinct persons, equal persons.
What YOU are l am. You are a man, and so
am I. God created both, and made us sepas
rate beings. | am not by nature bound to
Won, or YOU to me. Nature does not make
your existence depend upon me-, or mine 10
depend upon yours. cannot walk upon
your legs, or you upon mine. cannot
breathe Tor you. or you for me; l must
breathe for myself, and you TOT YOURSELF
We are distinct persons, and are each equal
~ provided with faculties necessary 10 our
individual existence. In lea wing you, l took
nothing but what belonged TO me, and in no
way lessened your means Of obtaining an
honest livelihood. Your faculties remained
yours, and mine became useful TO their right
ful owner. ! therefore see no wrong in any
part OF the Transaction. Ii is true, went of
secretly, but that was more your fault than
mine. Had I let you into the secret, you
would have defeated the enterprise. entirely ;
but for this / should have been really glad TO
have made you acquainted with my intention
to leave.
You may perhaps want to know how l
like my present condition. am free TO say,
| greatly prefer it to that which | occupied
III NtdIN lduu d aus hOWC'tit W w "OehS
preiudiced against that State as such. Its
geography, climate, fertility and products,
are such as 10 make it a very desira Bile abode
for any man and but for the existence OF
Slavery there, il is not impossible that l
might again take up my abode in that State.
It is not that ! love Maryland less, but free
dom more. You will be surprised to learn
that people at the North labor under the
strange delusion that if the slaves were sman-
cipated at the South, they would all flock to
the North. So far from this being the case.
in that event, you would see many old and
familiar faces back again at the South. The
fac, is, there are few here who would not re-
turn to the South in the event Of emancipa-
ton. We want to live in the land Of our
birth, and 10 lay our bones by the side of our
fathers and nothing short Of an intense love
of personal freedom keeps US from the South.
For the sake Of This, most OF US would live
on a crust Of bread and a cup of cold water.
SinceI left you, | have had a rich expert
ence. | have occupied stations which new
er dreamed Of when a slave. Three, out OF ths
ten years since | left you. ! spent as a COM
mon laborer on the wharves of New Bedford,
Massachusetts 1t was there | earned my
first free dollar. 1t was mine. | could
spend it as I pleased. | could bay hams or
herring with it, without asking anybody
That was a precious dollar 10 me. You re-
member when | used to make seven or eight,
or even nine dollars a week in Baltimore,
you would take every cent Off from me ev-
cry Saturday night, saying that | belonged
to YOU, and my earnings also. ] never liked
this conduct on your part-to say the best,
thought it a little mean. | would not have
served you so. But let that pass. was a
little awkward about counting money In
New England fashion when | first landed In
| k,.. n.Ic,rl I 1,l,a tn haua hotra nod rnu
self several times. caught myself saying
ftp, for fourpence, and at one timea man ac-
tually charged me with being a runaway,
whereupon was silly enough TO become
one by running away from him, for | was
f greatly afraid he might adopt measures to
t get me again into Slavery, a condition l then
dreaded more than death.
| soon, however, learned to count money,
as well as to make it, and got on swimming
ly. | married soon after leaving off in fact
was engaged to be married before ] left
!, you. and instead Of finding my companion a
burden, she was truly a helpmeet. She went
to live at service, and | to work on the
wharf, and though we toiled hard the first
winter, we never lived more happy. After
temaining in New Bedford for three years.
, | met Vim. Lloyd Garrison, a person Of
I whom you have possibly heard, as he is pref
~ generally known among slaveholdeSs.-
. He put it into my head that | might make
: myself useful to the cause of the slave by
~devoting a portion of my time to telling my
= own sorrows, and those OF other slaves which
came under my observation. This was the
t commencement of a higher state Of existence
than any to which | had aspired. | was
d thrown into society the most pure, enlighten-
ed and benevolent that the country Affords
Among these | have never forgotten you,
" but invariably made you the topic of my
n conversation-thus giving you all the noto-
70 riety ! could do. ! need not tell you thai
s. The opinion formed of you, in these circles,
is far from being favorable. They have liz
le tie respect for your honesty, and less foE
10 your religion.
o. But ! was going on to relate to you some
lie thing of my interesting experience. l had not
" long enjoyed the excellent society towhich |
have referred. before the light of its excel
ne lence exerted a beneficial influence on my
I'd mind and heart. Much of my early dislike
of white persons was removed, and their
X manners, habits, and customs, SO entirely
We unlike what | had been used 10 10 the kiteh'
u. en-quarters on the plantations of the South
is fairly charmed me, and gave ne a strong
II. disrelish for The coarse and degraded Gus
ct toms OF my former condition.. l therefore
I'd made an effort 81 to improve my mind anC
nv department as TO be somewhat fitted TO the
On station TO which | seemed almost Providen,
e. tally called. The transition from degrade
s. ton to responsibility was indeed great, and
" to get from one to the other without carry
IS ing some marks of ones former condition, is
truly a difficult matter. would not have
of you think that | am now entirely clear o.
Mt all plantation peculiarties, but my friends
n here, while they entertain the strongest dis
III like to them, regard me with that charity Il
le which my past life somewhat entities me
ne so that my condition in this respect is ex
lie oeedinglY pleasant. So far as my domestic