Poor massa, so dey say;
   Down in de heel, so dey say;
   Got no money, so dey say;
   Not one shillin, so dey say;
   God A’mighty bress you, so dey say.

Christmas is a day of feasting, both with white and colored people.  Slaves, who are lucky enough to have a few shillings, are sure to spend them for good eating; and many a turkey and pig is captured, without saying, “By your leave, sir.”  Those who cannot obtain these, cook a ’possum, or a raccoon, from which savory dishes can be made.  My grandmother raised poultry and pigs for sale and it was her established custom to have both a turkey and a pig roasted for Christmas dinner.

On this occasion, I was warned to keep extremely quiet, because two guests had been invited.  One was the town constable, and the other was a free colored man, who tried to pass himself off for white, and who was always ready to do any mean work for the sake of currying favor with white people.  My grandmother had a motive for inviting them.  She managed to take them all over the house.  All the rooms on the lower floor were thrown open for them to pass in and out; and after dinner, they were invited up stairs to look at a fine mocking bird my uncle had just brought home.  There, too, the rooms were all thrown open that they might look in.  When I heard them talking on the piazza, my heart almost stood still.  I knew this colored man had spent many nights hunting for me.  Every body knew he had the blood of a slave father in his veins; but for the sake of passing himself off for white, he was ready to kiss the slaveholders’ feet.  How I despised him!  As for the constable, he wore no false colors.  The duties of his office were despicable, but he was superior to his companion, inasmuch as he did not pretend to be what he was not.  Any white man, who could raise money enough to buy a slave, would have considered himself degraded by being a constable; but the office enabled its possessor to exercise authority.  If he found any slave out after nine o’clock, he could whip him as much as he liked; and that was a privilege to be coveted.  When the guests were ready to depart, my grandmother gave each of them some of her nice pudding, as a present for their wives.  Through my peep-hole I saw them go out of the gate, and I was glad when it closed after them.  So passed the first Christmas in my den.

XXIII.  Still In Prison.

When spring returned, and I took in the little patch of green the aperture commanded, I asked myself how many more summers and winters I must be condemned to spend thus.  I longed to draw in a plentiful draught of fresh air, to stretch my cramped limbs, to have room to stand erect, to feel the earth under my feet again.  My relatives were constantly on the lookout for a chance of escape; but none offered that seemed practicable, and even tolerably safe.  The hot summer came again, and made the turpentine drop from the thin roof over my head.