Thirty years a slave From bondage to freedom The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter . sible for him to have permitted the lashing-, beat-ing- and lacerating- of his slaves, much more the hir-ing of an irresponsible brute, by the year, to performthis barbarous service for him. The McGees werecharitable — as they interpreted the word — werealwa)s ready to contribute to educational and mis-sionary funds, while denying-, under the severestpenalties, all education to those most needing- it, andall true missionary effort—the spiritual enlightenmentfor whi
Thirty years a slave From bondage to freedom The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter . sible for him to have permitted the lashing-, beat-ing- and lacerating- of his slaves, much more the hir-ing of an irresponsible brute, by the year, to performthis barbarous service for him. The McGees werecharitable — as they interpreted the word — werealwa)s ready to contribute to educational and mis-sionary funds, while denying-, under the severestpenalties, all education to those most needing- it, andall true missionary effort—the spiritual enlightenmentfor which they were famishing-. Then our masterslacked that fervent charity, the love of Christ in theheart, which if they had possessed they could nothave treated us as they did. They would have remem-bered the g-olden rule: Do unto others as ye wouldthat men should do to you. Possessing- absolute 190 THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE. power over the bodies and souls of their slaves, andgrown rich from their unrequited toil, they becamepossessed by the demon of avarice and pride, and lostsight of the most vital of the Christly # ,M CHAPTER AFTER SLAVERY, COMING NORTH. As before stated, we arrived in Memphis on theFourth of July, 1865, My first effort as a freemanwas to g-et something- to do to sustain myself andwife and a babe of a few months, that was born atthe salt works. I succeeded in g^etting a room for us,and went to work the second day driving a public car-riag-e. I made enough to keep us and pay our roomrent. By our economy we manag-ed to get on verywell. I worked on, hoping- to g-o further north, feel-ing somehow that it would be better for us there;when, one da}- I ran across a man who knew my wifesmother. He said to me: Why, your wifes motherwent back up the river to Cincinnati. I knew her welland the people to whom she belonged. This in-formation made us eager to take steps to find wife was naturally anxious to follow the cluethus obtained, in hopes
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectslaveryunitedstates
