Especially is this done when the slave has
attempted to reach a free state.
In violent thunder-storms, when the whites have got between
feather-beds to be safe from the lightning, I have often seen negroes,
the aged as well as others, go out, and, lifting up their hands, thank
God that judgment was coming at last. So cruelly are many of them
used, that judgment, they think, would be a happy release from their
horrible slavery.
The proprietors, though they live in luxury, generally die in debt:
their negroes are so hardly treated that no profit is made by their
labor. Many of them are great gamblers. At the death of a proprietor,
it commonly happens that his colored people are sold towards paying
his debts. So it must and will be with the masters while slavery
continues: when freedom is established, I believe they will begin to
prosper greatly.
Before I close this Narrative, I ought to express my grateful thanks
to the many friends in the Northern States, who have encouraged and
assisted me: I shall never forget to speak of their kindness, and to
pray for their prosperity.
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