I have said in the following pages, that my condition as a slave was
comparatively a happy, indeed a highly favored one; and to this
circumstance is it owing that I have been able to come up from bondage and
relate the story to the public; and that my wife, my mother, and my seven
children, are here with me this day. If for any thing this side the
invisible world, I bless heaven, it is that I was not born a plantation
slave, nor even a house servant under what is termed a hard and cruel
master.

It has not been any part of my object to describe slavery generally, and
in the narration of my own case I have dwelt as little as possible upon
the dark side--have spoken mostly of the bright. In whatever I have been
obliged to say unfavorable to others, I have endeavored not to overstate,
but have chosen rather to come short of giving the full picture--omitting
much which it did not seem important to my object to relate. And yet I
would not venture to say that this publication does not contain a single
period which might be twisted to convey an idea more than should be
expressed.

Those of whom I have had occasion to speak, are regarded, where they are
known, as among the most kind men to their slaves. Mr. Smith, some of
whose conduct will doubtless seem strange to the reader, is sometimes
taunted with being an abolitionist, in consequence of the interest he
manifests towards the colored people. If to any his character appear like
a riddle, they should remember that, men, like other things, have "two
sides," and often a top and a bottom in addition.

While in the South I succeeded by stealth in learning to read and write a
little, and since I have been in the North I have learned more. But I need
not say that I have been obliged to employ the services of a friend, in