Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-07-18

1
inc closely, and able to- describe what she
saw, Her sex brought her specially in con
tact with the slave rOmcH Il man, unless he
had been physician, would have known
nothing Of the most of the sorrows and sut-
| fcrings which were confdcd to her without
scruple. AS we read we wonder how the
women of the South could endure a system
which brought such shame and such pain,
! and worse than pain, on so many of their
sisters we wonder how the wives of slave
holders could bear to see and to know what
was passing about them-or by what art
they managed to shut eyes and cars and
heart. Slavery never appeared so hateful,
nor Shareholders so vulgar and brutal, as in
| these pages, where a woman tells the world
what the black women of the South have so
! long endured.
They are worked in the fields. side by side
with the men. Yet they bear children, too,
II was always thought that the slaves, by
reason of their frugal life, were at least the
hcalthjcst if not the happiest people Of this
country. But physicians who have follow
cd our army to Port Royal found, to their
surprise, that the slaves of South Carolina
were not by no means the strong, hardy pco-
! pie they were commonly supposed. And
now the writer from whom VIC are quoting
reveals to us the dreadful physical suilcrings
of womcn-sufferings caused by the greedy
lnhumanlty OF the mastcr9-which make the
! blood boil to read of.
The slave woman work and breed. They
work in the fields till child is born and
what period an indulgcnt master allowed for
rest after the chid's birth may be gathered
! from this:
lhe women VINO visited me yesterday
evening were all Ill the famlly-Way, and
I ~
came to entreat or me to nave the sentence
(Wnat else can call II = lnoulhcu Whlch
winch condemns them to resume their labor
! OF hoclng IN the nelus three weeks after thelI
confinement. 1hey knew, of course, that
cannot interfere WIN thclr appointed iabor,
and therefore Their sole entreaty was that
would use my influence with MIR. --- to
obtain for them months respite from labor
in the field after childbcaring The princi-
pal spokeswOman, Il woman with bright
sweet, face, called Mary, and very sweet
voice, which is by no means an uncommon
excellence among them, appealed to my own
experience; and while she spoke of my
babies, and my carefully tended, dclicatcly
nurscd and tendcrly watched confinement
and conyalcsccncc, and implOrcd me to have
kind of labor given to them less exhaust
ing during the month after their contine-
mcnt | held the table before me so hard IN
order not to cry that ! think my fingers
ought to have left ii mark on it,
They are encouraged to breed like swine /:
"The relation, indeed resembles as far aS
circumstances can possibly make it do 50,
the short-livcd connection between the ami
NAL and its young. In the first place, every
woman who is pregnant, rs soon as she
chooses to make the fact known to the over
seer, is relieved of certain portion of her
work in the field, which tightening of labor
continues, Of course, as long as she is so bur-
dcncd. On the birth of Il child certain adj
ditions Of clothing and IN additional weekly
ration are bestowed on the family; and
these matters, small as they may seem, act
rs powerful inducements to creatures who
have none of the restraining influence actu-
ating them which belong to the parental
relation among all other people, whether
cNiillc. or sa'"Sc' H"tcoNer' tIey naNc
n,' VI ,f t ,oi 'o'
,,ro,,on,,oo ,,,l ,,o,,,", tI,inI., md ,"t
p,rlI, tn,;". tl". tra ,,,,,ro t.i,,',o',tI, aI,a
nITs - H., ,r,,,,'or 81 Lor ,,ioet,.r,SS Ij,.o
StocI. L, Irir,rin,r nav, sIo,ns irtn tI,n ,rorlh
tLo mora Claims Shn viii boyc ,,no,, liz CON,
siIoratio,, and ,lnod.v,;lI TLi, ,,as ,,n,
f,nti,. n,,;d",,t ,,,o trnn, .l,a ,,or;toriIo,,,
air Hitb ,,L;cb +Lo venom o,un,s ,,odo
bosto to farm, mn Of tlo rur,hcr ot ch;l1ro
,ho,, ,'oi h,.,,o n,I ,Io frn",,nt ,,on,s;l,,,''
iint 'IIa t,.oa I'LL IL '1,
nttnrtion 70 tIn;r chiIIron ovnia;roim(, \ oni
,,iss;, ii,tio ii,rar, for ,.nn amd
,I,,t,. 20, t;,ti.
r. ~" ''" .. ~, ;ii
~ ,,o,I III I'nl;n,o ( '''>''0'''
arntha. tiu,,, ..,,, old ,ro,o ,,;doo,,,
,ithoroI ,rr;ri,Iod ,,;oco of ,ro,,,anIooJ' n,,i'
,,iI tiot' s%a LnI ,rpprl,nl 90 I1'',s 49, I,o,,
-trcrnth had Insted and th,t thc, 2aI sLc
had Sin hccn worth her Keen far ,aiI shn
,NIi.sns tbo, we no .Llc IN iyorl, n,r n,al>n
It'll -, ror r1oSsn -, '
SUoh e tho Ga;',htG'i and o,orotir,, oo,
,.orsation - ,,hici thn sn,tIcr ,,o,,, io,,,,',
,,,ir, y f,,cod =, E.tan to m,I';cE har aI'Id
Ira,,,S oars ,,,,,st hcco,,o occrst0,',aI Smri,
~ (hiroIr,.
N"HIAi''ll o' SLAVE CHILDREN
One would think that, mt any rate, the
masters desire for profit would induce him
to make the mother and their children COM
| Portable, and thus reduce the mortality; but
! even ON so well-managed plantation as
this We read constantly OF the deaths Of
children. ~
In one miserable hut heard that the
baby was just dead it was one of thirteen
many of whom had been, like itself, merci-
| fully removed from the life OF degradation