A woman was brought before Mr. Hill a few days before we were there, charged with not being in the field till one hour after the rest of the gang.  She had twins, and appeared before him with a child hanging on each arm.  What an eloquent defence!  He dismissed the complaint.

He mentioned another case, of a woman whose master resided in Spanishtown, but who was hired out by him to some person in the country.  Her child became sick, but her employer refused any assistance.  With it in her arms, she entreated aid of her master.  The monster drove her and her dying little one into the street at night, and she sought shelter with Mr. Hill, where her child expired before morning.  For such horrid cruelty as this, the apprenticeship law provides no remedy.  The woman had no claim for the support of her child, on the man who was receiving the wages of her daily toil.  That child was not worth a farthing to him, because it was no longer his chattel; and while the law gives him power to rob the mother, it has no compulsion to make him support the child.

3.  The complaints are generally of the most trivial and frivolous nature.  They are mostly against mothers for neglect of duty, and vague charges of insolence.  There is no provision in the law to prevent the master from using abusive language to the apprentice; any insult short of a blow, he is free to commit; but the slightest word of incivility, a look, smile, or grin, is punished in the apprentice, even though it were provoked.

4.  There is still much flogging by the overseers.  Last week a girl came to Mr. H. terribly scarred and “slashed,” and complained that her master had beaten her.  It appeared that this was the seventh offence, for neither of which she could obtain a hearing from the special magistrate in her district.  While Mr. H. was relating to me this fact, a girl came in with a little babe in her arms.  He called my attention to a large bruise near her eye.  He said her master knocked her down a few days since, and made that wound by kicking her.

Frequently when complaints of insolence are made, on investigation, it is found that the offence was the result of a quarrel commenced by the master, during which he either cuffed or kicked the offender.

The special magistrates also frequently resort to flogging.  Many of them, as has been mentioned already, have been connected with the army or navy, where corporal punishment is practised and flogging is not only in consonance with their feelings and habits, but is a punishment more briefly inflicted and more grateful to the planters, as it does not deprive them of the apprentice’s time.

5.  Mr. H. says that the apprentices who have purchased their freedom behave well.  He has not known one of them to be brought before the police.