neighbourhod, but the effort was sternly resisted by the masters. They
held a Camp Meeting in the neighbourhood, where many of the slaves
attended. But one of their preachers for addressing words of comfort to
the slaves, was arrested and tried for his life.

My master was very active in this disgraceful affair, but the excellent
man, Rev. Mr. G., was acquitted and escaped out of their hands. Still, it
was deemed by his brethren to be imprudent for him to preach any more in
the place, as some of the more reckless masters swore violence against
him. This good man's name is remembered dearly, till this day, by slaves
in that county. I met with a fugitive about a year ago, who remembered
distinctly the words spoken by Mr. G., and by which his own mind was
awakened to a sense of the value of his soul. He said, in the course of
his preaching, addressing himself to the slaves, "You have precious
immortal souls, that are worth far more to you than your bodies are to
your masters;" or words to that effect. But while these words interested
many slaves, they also made many masters exceedingly angry, and they
tortured his words into an attempt to excite the slaves to rebellion.

Some of my master's slaves who had families, were regularly married, and
others were not; the law makes no provision for such marriages, and the
only provision made by the master was, that they should obtain his leave.
In some cases, after obtaining leave to take his wife, the slave would ask
further leave to go to a minister and be married. I never knew him to deny
such a request, and yet, in those cases where the slave did not ask it, he
never required him to be married by a minister. Of course, no Bibles,
Tracts, or religious books of any kind, were ever given to the slaves; and
no ministers or religious instructors were ever known to visit our
plantation at any time, either in sickness or in health. When a slave was
sick, my master being himself a physician, sometimes attended, and