The Ohio star. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1830-1854, 1853-06-15
For the OHIO ST
The Slave Mother.

They DO OF come again.
For the OHIO Star.
The Slave Mother.
What volume of human woe and anguish is
comprehended in that title The hour that marks
the slave mother, comes laden with bitter
thoughts. Her child may be as delicately f,rmsd,
perhaps fair, as is that of her master; the light
Of intelligence and reason may beam more bright
y from its dark eye. and it may display the char
acieriscs ofa mind of more than ordinary stamp;
yet of whit avail all these; they might better
belong to the brute that paris heh Than to being
who hath immortal mind whose every energy
must bend to man self sh will. Alas poor moth
eE! her child like herself is a slave: Ofen as she
returns to her lowIy cabin from the field where
she has spent the long day 10 weary toll. will her
tears flow afresh, as she hears the screams of her
child, for more cruel than death to the mother are
the fast falling blows that will not be stayed for
her pleading. Gu with me to lovely plantation
of the green Savannahs, witness the tears, hear
the grars and prayers that ascend the throne on
high, then ask yourself if for all the wealth and
ease of that aristocruiic planter who but reclines
on his luxuriant couch while his hundred slaves
obey his every nod, you would like to answer to
that God who holds in hishand the scale of jus
ice and equality, for the souls you have wrouged,
and from whom ou have taken Gud's first great
gft, the hirthrght of freedom. But there is one
among that group of aborers upon whose brow is
stamped such unspeakahle anguish that you gaze,
and gaze again, while your heart almost ceases to
beat aud you long to hear her tale Of woe for some
thing whispers to you that it is deep. Go 10 her
cnhi in apd an FyVO oli
orce sported merry there, as dear TO their moth
ers heart as child can be, for though doomed to
toll INCREASINGLY for her master, her susceptible
ties bad become blunted like many, there
was still very much of the romantic love of her
race weiug up from the deep fountain of her
heart, and she loved those babes with more than
usual ardor. while she rsmbed wheo Ahs thought
of the dark doom which was theirs, they would
5000 be torn from her, and she well knew that
/ The impetuasity of their nature would lead them
into evil; she knew ii would be hard for them 10
bear meekly the yoke of servtude.5. But Ali. sor-
row came niltoo quickly to her yearning hsatt--
She saw and felt keenly the cruel blow which fel-
4 Jed her youngest pet to the earth. She knew
| that 10 that moment his doom was sealed. He
had displayed his freedom loving spirit befnre his
all in vain; ss well might he think to stay the rush
ing torrent, as TO crush fn an immortal mind its
native love of freedom. Daily se witnessed their
6 unceasing cruelty, struggling to bear wi h meek
ness and to soprhe, comfort and counsel her child
whose spirit seemed but to gain strength and Wig.
or under the henvy strokes which were intend.
ed to crush, but the spirit of the boy yielded not
4 still firm and dauntless it bowed not to the yoke
of serv tude, while the mothers nightly prayer
was for delveraDee for her self and children from
the hands of their cruel master. Thenecam O
deeper sorrow, her daughter, her lovely and beu
tlful. mothers pride, was torn from her embrace
and sold TO notorious yillan the silken strings o
the heart -harp were rudely broken and its melody
was only fearful thrill. Oh! Mother, we'll mag
yon weep for her, you can know naug CHR of her an.
guish, it is TOO deep for utterance. AS you SIT ir
your own secure homes, by your happy firesides
i with your loved ones around you give one passing
4 thought 10 the slave muther, look ut your owr
ovely daughter and weep for her, and as you ad
n,'re The noble manlinrss aud freedom Of your son
think of the of bondage to whom the privilege.
of our free and enlightened land nre Us a dream d
the Elyeian camps, or rs bright hope never to
he reulzed. Does more daring than others
think to reniz- il by flight! he is hunted from for
esr to frest through swaEip and thicket like some
hurlful wild beast; he may not veniure 10 think q
freedom: sometimes, indeed, the slave mother
has the inestimahe privilege of bathing the lace
trafed feet of her fugitive son in the coong liquid
or of sharing with him her last morsel of food
dealt out to her in menger portions: hut her cnb
in is too closely watched by her Argus Eyet
muster, he must not often seek mothers N
ISOLATION. though young he must have sfron.
heart and iron to bear his lot with fori
tude. And think you there is none of woman
, gentleness in the heart of The slave moiher!-
, Does she not shrink from the storms of life a
5 well as her farer sisters! What can make her t.
, differ, for God has created of one blood all tn,
naops of the earth" Dies she not need thu
/ strong arm Of affection upon which to leanl if NO
|, why tho. tearsand that anguish when the cliel
of the Auctioneer's hammer announcas the hou
of separnrion And too. is not their MS much natiy
3 intellect and talent displayed by some of tho du,l
sons of Africa as ofthnse of our more favored land
/ What was Africa and her sons once! She th,
land of Literature and Arts they the honorei stu
dents and poets, do we not even now pay defer
,ence to Euclid! and have his posterity go far de
generated us TO become to us servants. considered
as but little above the beasts and hardly as wei
!, trealedl Think you who hold your fellow men j,
bondage, ofths coming judgment which awaits ua
when He who said .do unto others as you woul,
that others should do unto you willrender to al
their jus. deserts. S, J. c.
Freedeaa, Portage Co. o.