The new era., 1860-02-23
Little Lucy.

Little Lucy.
She was little girl of ten, small OF
her age-and because God had given
her black skin, she was Slave. She
was pure African. with face and a
nose in the very extreme of the peculi-
arity Of that race. And no one ever
regretted SO much as little Lucy that she
was not white. We seem to see her
now .,eted on the brick hearth, her
knees elevated to level with her chin,
her slender fingers clasplSss her horny
toes. that had never known comior: OF
shoe or sock. Before the blazing fire,
throughout the long wlGs.er evening.
there she would sit, looking ur now a.nd
then wistfully, to catch our eye raise!s
from book, or writing, that she might
indulge her love of volubility. Her
words would be after this fashion -
go, Miss Minnie, / does wish Use
white. Ilay wake all OBJ de night, look
ing troo de holes in de roof, up whar
de stars are, and wishin and wishin Use
white. Onest thought l be white sure
'nough. Anut Kizzy she glib me some
flour. and | run down to de spring. and
| wet de -four eber SO nice wild water,
and rub it ober my face and neck. O
/ rub it OH hard, and thinks l l sure be
white now-be grand white lady. run
way off and hide-cause Misses, she
see me-oo-and lay all night long
'tother side one great dead log. OF
dref1ul skeered. thu't ole black man
come arter me mor'en onest, and den
tho't he no take me-he tink Use white
chile. | wake in de mornun, and run
eber SO fast, to look in de spring, to see
how white / is. o, Miss Minnie, but
did feel SO orful, when sees l no white
at all, and jes as black and ugly as eber
Den jes hate mysef, and I say rs no.
thin but poor little ole black niger
no counties wish rs dead, and in
blessed Heben wild my nanny dat
neber did see."
And the mournful eyes OF the truly
ugly little dwarf swan in tears from hu-
man emotion.
Little Lucy was an orphan, without
brother or sister. With no one to care
for her, she had been from her infancy
the abused slave Of slares. And this is
bitterly sad and cruel condition indeed.
Her little shoulders were made to bear
great burdens, and she had toted''
upon her head, from the spring to the
kitchen, buckets of water, not only un-
til the wool was worn from her crown,
but that crown itself was hard as a pet
rifaction To save her value as slave,
she was at length rescued from this
abuse, and brought into the house. She
was assigned to us as special little maid
of all our errands. She was indeed a
curiosity. Sometimes she would come
in shyly and Silly, saying, Miss Min
ME, does ye see these yer eggs" dis
closing one. two or three, from some
inconceivable hiding place in the thin
relics of her dress. and proceeding to
bury them in ashes. continue
g | coined honestly by desc yer--I
did. You see Aunt Kizzy, she has lots
OBJ hens, and dey lays eggs audacious
| tho't knew how you liked EN- toasted
in de ashes, so | jes fotched EN- along. f"
Andthe poor little unsel6sh being woe
insist upon our acceptance of her gift
offering, though ipoor and scanty had
been her own supper's fare.
Like most of her race, she was ad-
dictcd to theft, 1--WE think the holders Of
slaves are responsible for their sins,
and frequently yielded to the temptation
of appropriating to herself little articles
Of trifing value. She was readily in
duced to confession and rendition, by a
representation that her "mammy in
Heben," of whom she was necessarily
talking, was sorry and weeping over her
misconduct. w9a
Many a mirthfuI reminiscence of her
comes up, which we must forbear nara
ting. Poor little Lucy! When we
parted with her forever on bright June
morning, in beautiful Southern Virgin
ia, she stood weeping sadly, few PAGES
from the carriage. wiping the fast roll.