Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-02-21
Ali sfeilaneous.
A TALK WITH A SLAVE WOMAN.

lnree INJURED collars was the price, and a num-
Der OF persons subscribed each q little, 50 that he
soon raised the money. This week the old wo.
man came on by steamer, and called upon q num-
Der OF those who had befriended her. She is a
tall person, though aOw bent a little. let black, Of
about 90 yenrs of age, with a most intelligent ex-
preston of face, and n largo benevolent pair OF
spectacles over her great nose. She talks without
hardly n trace of negro aeccnt-our friend. Mr..
Godkiu, of the Daily News, who had Just been IN
the South, says, with q much hotter accent than
the Southern whites. Ilor voice is very rich, and
she so over flows in feeling and expression, that
she almost runs into a kind of sermon-style con
tinually. She is Of full African blood. was born
IN slavery, and cannot read or write a word, and
in all external respects, must be n fair sample OF
thc class. The conversation we had With her was
deeply interesting.
Our first questions were about the Journey, &C.,
and then about ler son, the preacher. Il hoin't
seen him afore for twenty.six years." she said,
land now he's a~-holding forth the word of the
Lor' ~ and she gave a deep breath of thankful
ness. ~ woke up yesterday mornin' and | kind
of forgot where | was-aud | was so frightened.
l thou ght | was back again in the old planta' ion.
and l was a trusti'n all to The Lor', just as l used
to do when ] remembered. and then my soul jist
went up in praise and Thanksgiving to the Lor'
Jesus. 1t was all sunrise in me-"
"Where are your other children ?"
az had nine on 'cm-and two | don't know
whore they is--tho others | do know"
"She means they are in heaven" said the friend
who came with her.
when were you separated from them ?"
q it's a long tune ~aGo-maybe it's thirty
years-and yet IFS all just as if | could see it
now. They was all down near the camp-my
father and my mother, aud my sister and broders,
and the old man (her hnsband) aud the child rem
they was togoder. This was in Nor Carolina.
You see, master died suddenly, and we all had to
be sold off anywhere, so | was sent down to Ala
bama You'll think it s strange, but didn't cry
one tear then-no, no not a tear. | cannot tell
you what | felt. They left me just one child of all
on 'em. | thanked the Lur' | had always brought
'em up in the fear Of God and His ways. They
hadn' gone to balls, or any of them places, and |
sent 'em to Sunday School, and l whipped 'em
just when they deserved it. But the Lor' has bles-
sed it some"
We drew her out about this.
"Weli, before this | was a gay sort O. c%retur,
and l didn't pray as much ms | ought to, and |
needed the chaStenip' hand Of the L0r'. Now, az.
ter l had been n 'roikin' through the lo,clqnd of sor-
ro'c, it was all different somehow. | kind Of felt
l could give up all to Him. | used to pray in the
mornin' and in the eyenin,' and just leave every
thin to the good LOr,' and | would think of Him
all the day. And | prayed for the poor master
and missus,' cause l said they has riches and
'ceitfulness Of world about them, and ] have moth.
ing. And | thought in a little while the Bride
groom cometh, and this will all be over, and then
the black will have his sins washed away in
blood of the Redeemer a well as the white man
hiNJ " pOOhtlY Nv nam 4 W muGu ltIlIlhitlIhI
] didnt't care for eatin' or drinkin'-the others
had their minneapolis and cakes-but ! had always
just as liv' have my crusS with this blessin' of
God. And sometimes in the night l couldn't sleep
for prayin' and thinkin' of the Lor' Jesus. At
fust, | had such temptations there was q GREEN
in just like snakes about me. agoin' of horses,
hickety-bit-bu | didn't mind it, and I kept on
prayin, and they left me"
Gould you read your Bible, Mrs. W ?"
ooh, no nary word of the Bible with my eyes.
D. .--l .---l - - - -.
in the meetins, and they'd come no to me just Ms
if they was in fire. Oh, the blessed love of Jesus
If I'd been like the rest, and hadn't thought so
much of the Lor'. and had been beat SO, l should
ha' gone to heil!'
you would have killed your master, you
mean ?"
"Oh. Lord, no! I should have killed myself"
"Were you badly treated ?"
"Not by Massa but Massa Jcames, at the end
OF the long Acknowledgment, it was terrible to
hear the screamin' and whippin'-they really
couldn'nt do all the work. AND on the Sundays
the poor creatures used to come around the kitch
en-, | was cook you know, and they'd say, Aunt
Sally, give us somethin' to eat, and somehow /
was dltqys Minkin about the Lor' Jesus-how ne
saved the fragments and 'stibuted 'um to the three
thousand, and | used to save every piece Of fat and
bone and all and give it to EN- ~
IVA there any Sunday School or meetings
there 2"
mo, sir; they didn't Ie. us have no Sunday
School, but we had n good meetin' and a real God.
fearin' preacher. Still the poor creatures was so
tired on the sundays: sometimes all they
could do was to lie down and Just sleep, and do
their washin' now and then. 1t was wrong, but
no wonder, alter such a weeks work. Sometimes
we had preachers, who were always talkin' Just
TO please the massas, and at first | was concerned
but %afterward | said, Every tub must stand on its
own bottom, and Gcd for US all, and they must be
left to their own ways 7"
"Were Won ever whinned 7o
"Only once. 1t was somehow so. There was a
new piece of merino in Miss Susey's bureau,
and it had kind O. slipped down behind, and Jane
she's the chambermaid, she said | stole it and
Massa he just whipped me-"
"On your bare body ?"
Eyes, | was just stripped. and if I had any
thing | had five hundred lashes. / couldn't sleep
on my back for three weeks. When Massa found
it was a mistake, he said he'd take oath afore TIE
Lord and neber whip me again, and he neber did,
and that's sixteen years ago"
'Did your mistress ever whip you %
"Oh. yes she'd hit me with a stick of wood on
the head, sometimes. but not often. Oh, how |
have prayed the Lor' for her and massa! When
| was a comm off, missus, she first took me out to
the Toulouse, and we had n season-of PRAYER
there together. Oh, how she did beseech the
throne o'grace che wept, and she prayed for such
blessin's on me all the way, everywhere, and I no.
ticed everywhere, they came on me jist as she
prayed"
Dlu you over near anything about the lnsurrec-
tion-the negroes killing their masters !"
oh, no they never would. They is cowed
completely. We've always heard that sometime
the day of jubilee would come. Some people say
its an army some it's the Lpr' Himself will come
in judgement on the great white throne. We al
ways pray that the stumblin' blocks may be NOV
ed. / always said the Lor' God-no matter what
they say-neber could have ordained me to be a
slave but lie suffers it, and the Lor' Jesus, He
suffered worse things, aud why shouldn't | suffer
a while if lie wills it 2"
"Did you ever hear of Fremont or of the cleo
tian for President, or hear the masters talking at
table about abolition 7"
mo, sir neber. neber heerd of his name
When they's talkin' anything dangerous at table
they always stop. Sometimes | was kind %o'artfnl,
aud heerd little but they never would let us see
not even q newspaper, and there vas only one ex-
pection in our plantation who could read. When
L was in the fowlhouse with missus, she said 10
me. says she. Now, Aunt Sally. Won tell me hefore