St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1862-05-15
he Slaves In North Carolina.

F ,..a -, / -. A /
\ An officer IN New England regiment,
now On service With Burnside, writes ID
his father letter, which appears en- RE
Hartford Press, and from which We ex-
tract the following.
was in : negro house yesterday, and had
some conversation with the inmates. I asked
one gray-hsired, old negress II she had ever
had children sold away from her. sold Dey
all sold! 'ohil'dn, an grsndohild DIN, an great
srasdeAiran, <dey sold eb'ry one!' She clasp
ed her bony hands over her head and looked
up - she spoke-''Dere was one-de lust ono
de only granchilel hab lef. %He neber know
ed his nanny. I took him when he dat little.
I bringed him to Massa, and say; 'sAassa,
die my little .grandchile, may l keep him
bout hsah :" And he say,
~ don't care what you do wid him. ~
So take him he dot Httls. Den ono NOR.
min, when he al rolled up in blanket, tween
my knees, Massa Green com'd in an say, ''s'
'Dis boy sold!" and dey take Him away -
Oh, Lord Jesus help mo to pray" ,
i cant begin to Dc justice to the way In
nestness Of voice and gesture which made it
itors who cringe just as abjectly az ever before
thair old masters and howl IL such oensterns-
ton whenever it seems likely that the war
may interfere, directly or indirectly with
their pet devi!try-I wish some Of them could
have heard and seen her.
A few moments after stout negro man, sp-
parently Is or 26 years old, came in he had
an intelligent face, but downcsst, logged
expression, as of man who felt injustice.
asked him if the slaves of the vicinity con.
sidered themselves free, now that their 90.
iers were gone. "Well, they didn't quite
know about that-some men said that by and
by they'd all come back and take them again "
His master, he said. was an officer in the
rebel army. l tAld him he might be sure Of
one thing that no slave would ever be re-
turned to master who had been in arms
against US; that, whatever was done at the
close Of the war, he was cafe, q free man, b
you'd all question. You ought to have seen
his face light up. ''De Lord grant it," said
he. -
told him I hoped it would be 90 with all; :,
that the objection made to it was, that the
freed slaves would abuse their freedom, COM
NIT crimes, and, at best, be q good for moth.
ing idle set Of vagabonds, and asked him if he
thought it would be the case. ''Well," he said
''there were bad men everywhere; some
would be idle; but most of them. after work.
ing hard all their lives without encoura cement
would work harder with an object before
them.',
~ have been brought up to work." said he,
land shouldn't feel easy without something
to do. know can take care Of myself
and he looked, as he said it, ten times the man
that most CT those Southern whites are or ever
will be. Had he ever tried to escape! No, he
had wife and child and . man would do
fright smart" before he'd leave them.
made further inquiries about the old wom-
ans grandchild. He is now, it seems, some
where near Raleigh. She seemed wonderfully
comforted when told her We meant to 20 up
there by-and by, and hoped she should find
him. She seemed to take it in the light Of 4
promise; and l heard her, just before went
out, talking to herself,
'Bress de Lord, bress de Lord! shall see
ny grandchile again!'
Poor, old creature! hope she won't be
disappointed!
could fill pages with what theee slaves
said to me, but this is enough for sample.
The man was of more than ordinary intelli.
gence, unable like oil the rest, to read or write
but one who had thought, and felt deeply the
wrong done to himself and his race
1t can't be but that this war will kill Slavery;
and if it does, cost what it will of our blood,
and your tears, and of every mans money, it
won't be too much. Don't you think 90 2. I
kno,0 you do. Not that I've changed my
ideas as to the ultomate object Of the war;
but am more firmly convinced than ever, that
the destruction Of Slavery is one of the means
indispensable to that end.