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XV. CONTINUED PERSECUTIONS. I thought to
myself that, God being my helper, they should never pass into his hands. It
seemed to me I would rather see them killed than have them given up to his
power. The money for the freedom of myself and my children could be obtained;
but I derived no advantage from that circumstance. Dr. Flint loved money, but
he loved power more. After much discussion, my friends resolved on making
another trial. There was a slaveholder about to leave for Texas, and he was
commissioned to buy me. He was to begin with nine hundred dollars, and go up to
twelve. My master refused his offers. "Sir," said he, "she don't
belong to me. She is my daughter's property, and I have no right to sell her. I
mistrust that you come from her paramour. If so, you may tell him that he
cannot buy her for any money; neither can he buy her children." The doctor came
to see me the next day, and my heart beat quicker as he entered. I never had
seen the old man tread with so majestic a step. He seated himself and looked at
me with withering scorn. My children had learned to be afraid of him. The
little one would shut her eyes and hide her face on my shoulder whenever she
saw him; and Benny, who was now nearly five years old, often inquired,
"What makes that bad man come here so many times? Does he want to hurt
us?" I would clasp the dear boy in my arms, trusting that he would be free
before he was old enough to solve the problem. And now, as the doctor sat there
so grim and silent, the child left his play and came and nestled up by me. At
last my tormentor spoke. "So you are left in disgust, are you?" said
he. "It is no more than I expected. You remember I told you years ago that
you would be treated so. So he is tired of you? Ha! ha! ha! The virtuous madam
don't like to hear about it, does she? Ha! ha! ha!" There was a sting in
his calling me virtuous madam. I no longer had the power of answering him as I
had formerly done. He continued: "So it seems you are trying to get up
another intrigue. Your new paramour came to me, and offered to buy you; but you
may be assured you will not succeed. You are mine; and you shall be mine for
life. There lives no human being that can take you out of slavery. I would have
done it; but you rejected my kind offer." I told him I did
not wish to get up any intrigue; that I had never seen the man who offered to
buy me. "Do you
tell me I lie?" exclaimed he, dragging me from my chair. "Will you
say again that you never saw that man?" I answered,
"I do say so." He clinched my
arm with a volley of oaths. Ben began to scream, I told him to go to his
grandmother. "Don't you
stir a step, you wretch!" said he. The child drew nearer to me, and put
his arms round me, as if he wanted to protect me. This was too much for my
enraged master. He caught him up and hurled him across the room. I thought he
was dead, and rushed towards him to take him up. "Not
yet!" exclaimed the doctor. "Let him lie there till he comes
to." "Let me go!
Let me go!" I screamed, "or I will raise the whole house." I
struggled and got away; but he clinched me again. Somebody opened the door, and
he released me. I picked up my insensible child, and when I turned my tormentor
was gone. Anxiously I bent over the little form, so pale and still; and when
the brown eyes at last opened, I don't know whether I was very happy. All the doctor's
former persecutions were renewed. He came morning, noon, and night. No jealous
lover ever watched a rival more closely than he watched me and the unknown
slaveholder, with whom he accused me of wishing to get up an intrigue. When my
grandmother was out of the way he searched every room to find him. In one of his
visits, he happened to find a young girl, whom he had sold to a trader a few
days previous. His statement was, that he sold her because she had been too
familiar with the overseer. She had had a bitter life with him, and was glad to
be sold. She had no mother, and no near ties. She had been torn from all her
family years before. A few friends had entered into bonds for her safety, if
the trader would allow her to spend with them the time that intervened between
her sale and the gathering up of his human stock. Such a favor was rarely
granted. It saved the trader the expense of board and jail fees, and though the
amount was small, it was a weighty consideration in a slave-trader's mind. Dr. Flint always
had an aversion to meeting slaves after he had sold them. He ordered Rose out
of the house; but he was no longer her master, and she took no notice of him.
For once the crushed Rose was the conqueror. His gray eyes flashed angrily upon
her; but that was the extent of his power. "How came this girl here?"
he exclaimed. "What right had you to allow it, when you knew I had sold
her?" I answered
"This is my grandmother's house, and Rose came to see her. I have no right
to turn any body out of doors, that comes here for honest purposes." He gave me the
blow that would have fallen upon Rose if she had still been his slave. My
grandmother's attention had been attracted by loud voices, and she arrived in
time to see a second blow dealt. She was not a woman to let such an outrage, in
her own house, go unrebuked. The doctor undertook to explain that I had been
insolent. Her indignant feelings rose higher and higher, and finally boiled
over in words. "Get out of my house!" she exclaimed. "Go home,
and take care of your wife and children, and you will have enough to do,
without watching my family." He threw the
birth of my children in her face, and accused her of sanctioning the life I was
leading. She told him I was living with her by compulsion of his wife; that he
needn't accuse her, for he was the one to blame; he was the one who had caused
all the trouble. She grew more and more excited as she went on. "I tell
you what, Dr. Flint," said she, "you ain't got many more years to
live, and you'd better be saying your prayers. It will take 'em all, and more
too, to wash the dirt off your soul." "Do you
know whom you are talking to?" he exclaimed. She replied,
"Yes, I know very well who I am talking to." He left the
house in a great rage. I looked at my grandmother. Our eyes met. Their angry
expression had passed away, but she looked sorrowful and weary—weary of
incessant strife. I wondered that it did not lessen her love for me; but if it
did she never showed it. She was always kind, always ready to sympathize with
my troubles. There might have been peace and contentment in that lovable home
if it had not been for the demon Slavery. The winter
passed undisturbed by the doctor. The beautiful spring came; and when Nature
resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. My drooping hopes
came to life again with the flowers. I was dreaming of freedom again; more for
my children's sake than my own. I planned and I planned. Obstacles hit against
plans. There seemed no way of overcoming them; and yet I hoped. Back came the
wily doctor. I was not at home when he called. A friend had invited me to a
small party, and to gratify her I went. To my great consternation, a messenger
came in haste to say that Dr. Flint was at my grandmother's, and insisted on
seeing me. They did not tell him where I was, or he would have come and raised
a disturbance in my friend's house. They sent me a dark wrapper; I threw it on
and hurried home. My speed did not save me; the doctor had gone away in anger.
I dreaded the morning, but I could not delay it; it came, warm and bright. At
an early hour the doctor came and asked me where I had been last night. I told
him. He did not believe me, and sent to my friend's house to ascertain the
facts. He came in the afternoon to assure me he was satisfied that I had spoken
the truth. He seemed to be in a facetious mood, and I expected some jeers were
coming. "I suppose you need some recreation," said he, "but I am
surprised at your being there, among those negroes. It was not the place for you.
Are you allowed to visit such people?" I understood
this covert fling at the white gentleman who was my friend; but I merely
replied, "I went to visit my friends, and any company they keep is good
enough for me." He went on to
say, "I have seen very little of you of late, but my interest in you is
unchanged. When I said I would have no more mercy on you I was rash. I recall
my words. Linda, you desire freedom for yourself and your children, and you can
obtain it only through me. If you agree to what I am about to propose, you and
they shall be free. There must be no communication of any kind between you and
their father. I will procure a cottage, where you and the children can live
together. Your labor shall be light, such as sewing for my family. Think what
is offered you, Linda—a home and freedom! Let the past be forgotten. If I have
been harsh with you at times, your wilfulness drove me to it. You know I exact
obedience from my own children, and I consider you as yet a child." He paused for an
answer, but I remained silent. "Why don't
you speak?" said he. "What more do you wait for?" "Nothing,
sir." "Then you
accept my offer?" "No,
sir." His anger was
ready to break loose; but he succeeded in curbing it, and replied, "You
have answered without thought. But I must let you know there are two sides to
my proposition; if you reject the bright side, you will be obliged to take the
dark one. You must either accept my offer, or you and your children shall be
sent to your young master's plantation, there to remain till your young
mistress is married; and your children shall fare like the rest of the negro
children. I give you a week to consider of it." He was shrewd;
but I knew he was not to be trusted. I told him I was ready to give my answer
now. "I will not
receive it now," he replied. "You act too much from impulse. Remember
that you and your children can be free a week from to-day if you choose." On what a
monstrous chance hung the destiny of my children! I knew that my master's offer
was a snare, and that if I entered it escape would be impossible. As for his
promise, I knew him so well that I was sure if he gave me free papers, they
would be so managed as to have no legal value. The alternative was inevitable.
I resolved to go to the plantation. But then I thought how completely I should
be in his power, and the prospect was apalling. Even if I should kneel before
him, and implore him to spare me, for the sake of my children, I knew he would
spurn me with his foot, and my weakness would be his triumph. Before the week
expired, I heard that young Mr. Flint was about to be married to a lady of his
own stamp. I foresaw the position I should occupy in his establishment. I had
once been sent to the plantation for punishment, and fear of the son had
induced the father to recall me very soon. My mind was made up; I was resolved
that I would foil my master and save my children, or I would perish in the
attempt. I kept my plans to myself; I knew that friends would try to dissuade
me from them, and I would not wound their feelings by rejecting their advice. On the decisive
day the doctor came, and said he hoped I had made a wise choice. "I am ready
to go to the plantation, sir," I replied. "Have you
thought how important your decision is to your children?" said he. I told him I
had. "Very well.
Go to the plantation, and my curse go with you," he replied. "Your
boy shall be put to work, and he shall soon be sold; and your girl shall be
raised for the purpose of selling well. Go your own ways!" He left the
room with curses, not to be repeated. As I stood
rooted to the spot, my grandmother came and said, "Linda, child, what did
you tell him?" I answered that
I was going to the plantation. "Must you
go?" said she. "Can't something be done to stop it?" I told her it was useless to try; but she begged me not to give up. She said she would go to the doctor, and remind him how long and how faithfully she had served in the family, and how she had taken her own baby from her breast to nourish his wife. She would tell him I had been out of the family so long they would not miss me; that she would pay them for my time, and the money would procure a woman who had more strength for the situation than I had. I begged her not to go; but she persisted in saying, "He will listen to me, Linda." She went, and was treated as I expected. He coolly listened to what she said, but denied her request. He told her that what he did was for my good, that my feelings were entirely above my situation, and that on the plantation I would receive treatment that was suitable to my behavior. My grandmother was much cast down. I had my secret hopes; but I must fight my battle alone. I had a woman's pride, and a mother's love for my children; and I resolved that out of the darkness of this hour a brighter dawn should rise for them. My master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will. There is might in each. |