would turn the key upon it, so as to be sure her slaves should not die of
gluttony. This practice is common with some families in that region; but
with others it is not. It was not so in that of her less pious master, Mr.
Boylan, nor was it precisely so at my master's. We used to have corn bread
enough, and some meat. When I was a boy, the pot-liquor, in which the meat
was boiled for the "great house," together with some little corn-meal
balls that had been thrown in just before the meat was done, was poured
into a tray and set in the middle of the yard, and a clam shell or pewter
spoon given to each of us children, who would fall upon the delicious fare
as greedily as pigs. It was not generally so much as we wanted,
consequently it was customary for some of the white persons who saw us
from the piazza of the house where they were sitting, to order the more
stout and greedy ones to eat slower, that those more young and feeble
might have a chance. But it was not so with Mr. Smith: such luxuries were
more than he could afford, kind and Christian man as he was considered to
be. So that by the expense of providing for my wife and children, all the
money I had earned and could earn by my night labor was consumed, till I
found myself reduced to five dollars, and this I lost one day in going to
the plantation. My light of hope now went out. My prop seemed to have
given way from under me. Sunk in the very night of despair respecting my
freedom, I discovered myself, as though I had never known it before, a
husband, the father of two children, a family looking up to me for bread,
and I a slave, penniless, and well watched by my master, his wife and his
children, lest I should, perchance, catch the friendly light of the stars
to make something in order to supply the cravings of nature in those with
whom my soul was bound up; or lest some plan of freedom might lead me to
trim the light of diligence after the day's labor was over, while the rest
of the world were enjoying the hours in pleasure or sleep.

At this time an event occurred, which, while it cast a cloud over the