Mohave County miner., 1888-12-22
KENTUCKY SLAVERY.
THE OWNERS or SLAVES 0ENER-
ALLY TREATED THEM KINDLY.

Dsiian Days-Easy Lifs Of the Coiored
Field Hands--str0ag Attachment Ise-
tween tbs Biseks and Whites.
To the average New England youth who
went TO Kentucky TO teach school any where
from thirty 10 Atty years ago the slaves sp-
peared to have pretty easy time Of IT, They
did not work like the sons OF well 10 do
farmers In Maine and Vermont They had
moro moacy md moro time for enjoyment
Mason county at the time lived there had
a very large slave population. As compared
with tho white population. believe Il was
as large M In any part of the south, except q
few parishes I'm South Carolina. expected
10 witness much cruelty, but I never did.
The owners Of slaves generally treated them
kindly. They certainly did not overwork
them. ! well remember the nrst time
walked out from the village among the
farms / saw fifteen able bodied negroes sit
ting like 10 many black crows ON the top rail
OF a fence at one end Of cornfleld. IL wns
little after 10 In the morning. There was
no slave driver, with whip In hand, mounted
| on 4 horse, as had expected to see. The
men who were resting, aud whose mulcs
were eating corn leaves, were sent out to
plow corn. asked the man who was near
est to me IL anything Was the matter. "Oh,
no, massa," be answered: '.we was Jess
awaiting for de horn TO blow for dinner
found that was about sample OF tho way
slaves worked, or rather rested.
On Saturday I was surprised TO find most
Of the negro population in town. Many Of
them brought In wood cut on massa's PLACE,
which they sold and received the pay for.
Tho money they spent Us they chose Others
were dressed In their Sunday clothes and had
come into town simply TO have good time.
found that nearly every slave had q plot Of
| ground Of bis own on which be. raised TO-
| bac,,o, sweet potatoes and other things, which
be sold for the purpose Of obtaining spending
niouey. Tho two weeks that included the
| winter holidays was the time of jubilee when
nearly every slave worked for whom be chose
and had the money he earned II masters
| and fnistresses desired 10 have their own
boys ard girls work at home during the holi-
| day season It was necessary to engage them
some time In advance. Such opportunities
| for earning money were unknown 10 boys
| old friend and myself could testify %.
The next thing that struck me as very
strange was the strong attachment that ex-
L
the same home. Nearly every male slave re
garded his owner as the greatest man In the
| country. He took pride In him and bossted
about him whenever there was IN oppor-
tunity. II he was treated pretty strictly or
even severely be still thought massa was q
mighty big man who hadn't time to waste
over common people. Almost every slave,
Old or young, looked ON missus ~ q saint,
L n n. - a sl.
| crn woman who was nj The head OF largo
1 family of whites and blacks Was IN q worse
condition OF slavery than any person abnt
| the plantation. There was birth, marriage
or death in the family almost every week.
She was the confbdant Of every one and tho
person relied upon for advice and assistance.
Her time was anybodys but her own. She
WIS literally "the servant Of servsnts" Her
| responsibilities were many and varied 5hs
had little time for reading, rest, recreation
or society.
The quarrels Of slaves belonging on differ
ent farms were generally taken up BY thar
masterx No white man could abuse slave
belonging TO another with impunity. He
was called to answer for hts act N promptly
- II be had mistreated . son. In tracing up
the cause OF enmitiss between white families
generally found them to be connected with
the treatment Of siaves Two nice girls In
my school never talked together, noticed,
though they belonged 70 the saIns class and
we're general fayorites ] wondered at this
and inquired about H. I learned that the
grandfathsr Of ono OF the girls, while In .
passion, struck the favorite servant Of ths
grandfather Of the other girl and declined to
apologize for IT. This occurred before my
pupils were born Both parties to the quar-
rel had long been dead, but the quarrel was
not settled, and question II II Is now.
There wss Law. In Kentucky, a. In other
southern states. that forbid giving instruc-
tion 10 slaves in reading and writing. Still,
was convinced that all the bright negroes
who wanted 70 learn 10 read did %. Il 10
very dinicult to keep psrsons from acquiring
knowledge Of written language. X books
and papers are exposed persons win learn to
read them. I noticed that colored boy
who Ind dozen letters to deliver ut differ
ent places left each at the right place. Whsn
. white child was being instructed In read-
Ing at homo half dozen little blacks would
be learning. A little white boy or girl who
played "keeping school" had negro children
for pupils. A slave who learned how 10 read
fssvas not long In learning now 10 use a map.
| In one short lesson he found out where Can
| ada was and what state le would have 70
pass through 10 get there.
Mild as was the system of slavery that pre-
vailed In kentucky, there were some who es-
capped from II. They were not, as is gener-
ally supposed in the north, those who wers
worked very hard, were denied all pwivi-
leges and pleasures, and were beaten for lit
tie or no cause The class that ran away
comprised the pettei or spoiled negroes, who
had many privileges and ways Of making
money, but who did very little work, those
who had 30 hard a reputation that they had
no friends and wanted 10 try their luck in a
new place, those who had committed petty
crimes and were undiscovered, and those
who had made unhappy marriages. II there
were two sai.os.s for the same dusky damscl
one would sorscrifae tell tho other that his
master was emSs.--s::.sgsI and that there was
danger Of his being sold and sent down the
river. He knew that il be could scare his
rival into running away he could secure tho
prize both werc seeking Love II disturb
| Ing element In the hearts that beat under
black as well as under white skins. - Rodney
WEIGH in Chicago TincS
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