sometimes he called other physicians. Slaves frequently sickened and died,
but I never knew any provision made to administer to them the comforts, or
to offer to them the hopes of the gospel, or to their friends after their
death.

* * * * *

_There is no one feature of slavery to which the mind recurs with more
gloomy impressions, than to its disastrous influence upon the families of
the masters, physically, pecuniarily, and mentally._

It seems to destroy families as by a powerful blight, large and opulent
slave-holding families, often vanish like a group of shadows at the third
or fourth generation. This fact arrested my attention some years before I
escaped from slavery, and of course before I had any enlightened views of
the moral character of the system. As far back as I can recollect, indeed,
it was a remark among slaves, that every generation of slaveholders are
more and more inferior. There were several large and powerful families in
our county, including that of my master, which affords to my mind a
melancholy illustration of this remark. One of the wealthiest slaveholders
in the county, was General R., a brother-in-law to my master. This man
owned a large and highly valuable tract of land, called R.'s Manor. I do
not know how many slaves he owned, but the number was large. He lived in a
splendid mansion, and drove his coach and four. He was for some years a
member of Congress. He had a numerous family of children.

The family showed no particular signs of decay until he had married a
second time, and had considerably increased his number of children. It
then became evident that his older children were not educated for active
business, and were only destined to be a charge. Of sons, (seven or