When the new master claimed this family as his property, the father became furious, and went to his mistress for protection.  “I can do nothing for you now, Harry,” said she.  “I no longer have the power I had a week ago.  I have succeeded in obtaining the freedom of your wife; but I cannot obtain it for your children.”  The unhappy father swore that nobody should take his children from him.  He concealed them in the woods for some days; but they were discovered and taken.  The father was put in jail, and the two oldest boys sold to Georgia.  One little girl, too young to be of service to her master, was left with the wretched mother.  The other three were carried to their master’s plantation.  The eldest soon became a mother; and when the slaveholder’s wife looked at the babe, she wept bitterly.  She knew that her own husband had violated the purity she had so carefully inculcated.  She had a second child by her master, and then he sold her and his offspring to his brother.  She bore two children to the brother and was sold again.  The next sister went crazy.  The life she was compelled to lead drove her mad.  The third one became the mother of five daughters.  Before the birth of the fourth the pious mistress died.  To the last, she rendered every kindness to the slaves that her unfortunate circumstances permitted.  She passed away peacefully, glad to close her eyes on a life which had been made so wretched by the man she loved.

This man squandered the fortune he had received, and sought to retrieve his affairs by a second marriage; but, having retired after a night of drunken debauch, he was found dead in the morning.  He was called a good master; for he fed and clothed his slaves better than most masters, and the lash was not heard on his plantation so frequently as on many others.  Had it not been for slavery, he would have been a better man, and his wife a happier woman.

No pen can give an adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery.  The slave girl is reared in an atmosphere of licentiousness and fear.  The lash and the foul talk of her master and his sons are her teachers.  When she is fourteen or fifteen, her owner, or his sons, or the overseer, or perhaps all of them, begin to bribe her with presents.  If these fail to accomplish their purpose, she is whipped or starved into submission to their will.  She may have had religious principles inculcated by some pious mother or grandmother, or some good mistress; she may have a lover, whose good opinion and peace of mind are dear to her heart; or the profligate men who have power over her may be exceedingly odious to her.  But resistance is hopeless.

   The poor worm
   Shall prove her contest vain.  Life’s little day
   Shall pass, and she is gone!