Part 2 (1/2)

It was now about the middle of June, the weather excessively warm, and from eleven o'clock, A M, until late in the afternoon, the sand about our residence was so hot that we could not stand on it with our bare feet in one posture, more than one or two minutes The whole country, so far as I could see, appeared to be a dead plain, without the least variety of either hill or dale The pine was so far the predo timber of the forest, that at a little distance the entire woods appeared to be co confined to the is, and determined to venture out into the fields of the plantation, and see the ly, after I hadmeal upon corn cakes, I sallied out in the direction which I had seen the slaves of the plantation take at the ti a path through a small field of corn, which was so tall as to preventbeyond it, I soon arrived at the field in which the people were at ith hoes ah, and had forh in it without breaking it Expecting to pass the remainder of my life in this kind of labor, I felt anxious to know the evils, if any, attending it, and more especially the manner in which the slaves were treated on the cotton estates

The people now beforethe cotton with hoes, and when I approached them, they scarcely took time to speak to me, but continued their labor as if I had not been present As there did not appear to be any overseer with thest the reeable to hilad to becolad to be acquainted with me, but master Tom did not allow him to talk much to people when he was at work I asked him where his master Tom was; but before he had time to reply, sa in the direction of the sound, I sawunder the shade of a sassafras tree, at the distance of about a hundred yards fro it unsafe to continue in the field without the permission of its lord, I approached the sassafras tree, with my hat in my hand, and in a very humble manner, asked leave to help the people work awhile, as I was tired of staying about the house and doing nothing He said he did not care; I o and ith them awhile, but I must take care not to talk tooauthority ona hoe froirl, told her to pull up weeds, and I would take her row for her When we arrived at the end of the rohich ere then hilling, master Tom, who still held his post under the sassafras tree, called his people to coh I had already brokenwhat their breakfast was co which contained about five gallons, ater in it, and a gourd lying by it; near this was a basket h to hold more than a peck It contained the breakfast of the people, covered by soreat bay tree of the South When the leaves were removed, I found that the supply of provisions consisted of one cake of corn- about half a pound, for each person This bread had no sort of seasoning, not even salt, and constituted the only breakfast of these poor people, who had been toiling froht o'clock There was no cake forto irl, whose hoe I had taken in the field, offered me a part of her cake, which I refused After the breakfast was despatched, we again returned to our work; but the et another hoe which lay at soain I continued in the field until dinner, which took place about one o'clock, and was the same, in all respects, as the breakfast had been

Master Toer of the two brothers who returned fro of our arrival at this place,--he left the field about ten o'clock, and was succeeded by his elder brother, as overseer for the ree of superintendents, my companions became more loquacious, and in the course of an hour or two, I had become familiar with the condition ofer brother; and that whilst the former remained in the field they would be at liberty to talk as lect their work One of the e, and as the foreman of the field, told me that he had been born in South Carolina, and had always lived there, though he had only belonged to his present master about ten years I asked him if his master allowed him no meat, nor any kind of provisions except bread; to which he replied that they never had any meat except at Christmas, when each hand on the place received about three pounds of pork; that from Septerowth, they had an allowance of potatoes as long as the crop held out, which was generally until about March; but that for the rest of the year, they had nothing but a peck of corn a week, with such weeds and other vegetables as they could gather froreens--that their master did not allow the this luxury, was, by working on Sundays for the neighboring planters, who paid them in money at the rate of fifty cents per day, hich they purchased salt and some other articles of convenience

This man told me that his master furnished him with two shi+rts of tow linen, and two pair of trowsers, one of woollen and the other of linen cloth, one woollen jacket, and one blanket every year That he received the woollen clothes at Christmas, and the linen at Easter; and all the other clothes, if he had any, he was obliged to provide for hi on Sunday He said, that for several years past, he had not been able to provide any clothes for himself; as he had a ith several save only one suit of clothes in the year to the mother, and none of any kind to the children, which had co clothes for his family, and such little necessaries as were called for by his wife from time to time He had not had a shoe on his foot for several years, but in winter made a kind of moccasin for himself of the bark of a tree, which he said was abundant in the swaood ropes, and tolerable moccasins, sufficient at least to defend the feet froh not to keep them dry

The old man whom I have alluded to before, was in the field with the others, though he was not able to keep up with his row He had no clothes on hi in tatters fro on them but petticoats, made of coarse tow-cloth, and the woman, as the mother of the children, wore the remains of a tow-linen shi+ft, the front part of which was entirely gone; but a piece of old cotton bagging tied round her loins, served the purposes of an apron The younger of the two boys was entirely naked

The ood sense for the condition of life in which fortune had placed him, and spoke to me freely of his hard lot I observed that under his shi+rt, which was very ragged, he wore a piece of fine linen cloth, apparently part of an old shi+rt, wrapped closely round his back, and confined in front by strings, tied down his breast I asked hientleive his reply in his oords as well as I can recollect them, at a distance of near thirty years

”I have always been a hard working er in my time It is not possible for abut a peck of corn a week to eat, and not feel hungry When a ry,) he et I have not tasted meat since last Christmas, and we have had to work uncommonly hard this summer Master has a flock of sheep, that run in the woods, and they coht to sleep in the lane near the house Teeks ago last Saturday, e quit work at night, I was very hungry, and as ent to the house we passed along the lane where the sheep lay There were nearly fifty of them, and some were very fat The teht one of them, cut its head off with the hoe that I carried on ht, when all was still about the house, I went out with a knife, took the sheep into the woods, and dressed it by the light of theit up, placed it in the great kettle over a good fire, intending to boil it and divide it, when cooked, between ry as I was) and myself Unfortunately for st his friends that day, had not returned at bed-ti, at the ti fire under the kettle, I heard the sound of the feet of a horse co the lane

The kitchen walls were open so that the light of my fire could not be concealed, and in aat the front of the house Conscious of er, I strippedkettle, so as wholly to conceal the flesh of the sheep I had scarcely completed this act of precaution, when master Tom burst into the kitchen, and with a terrible oath, asked reat fire in the kitchen I replied, 'I aet it clean' 'Washi+ng your shi+rt at this tiht!' said he, 'I will let you know that you are not to sit up all night and be lazy and good for nothing all day There shall be no boiling of shi+rts here on Sundayhis cane into the kettle, he raised my shi+rt out and threw it on the kitchen floor

”He did not at first observe the mutton, which rose to the surface of the water as soon as the shi+rt was re the shi+rt a kick towards the door, he again turned his face to the fire, and seeing a leg standing several inches out of the pot, he deot thisthat I was detected, and that the whole ry, and a my supper' 'What is it you have in here?' 'A sheep,' said I, and as the words were uttered, he knockedme severely, ordered me to crossin the kitchen, and answered the double purpose of a clothes line and a cord to tie us e were to be whipped He put out the fire under the kettle, drewro boys to put his horse in the stable, and went to his bed The cord was bound so tightly roundthe blood had burst out under er nails; but I suppose my master slept soundly for all that I was afraid to call any one to come and release ht overtake me

”I was per after sunrise the nextSunday, was quiet and still;permitted to take their rest after the severe toil of the past week, andno occasion to rise to call the hands to the field, did not think of interrupting theirslumbers, to release me from my painful confinement However, when the sun was risen about an hour, I heard the noise of persons reat house, and soon after a loud and boisterous conversation, which I well knew portended no good to th they all three came into the yard where I lay lashed to the post, and approaching me,the sheep I told them none--that it was entirely my own act--and that none of my fellow-slaves had any hand in it This was the truth; but if any of my companions had been concerned with me, I should not have betrayed them; for such an act of treachery could not have alleviated the dreadful punishment which I kneaited me, and would only have involved them in the same misery

”They called me a thief, loaded me with oaths and imprecations, and each one proposed the punishment which he deemed the most appropriate to the enormity of the crime that I had committed Master Tom was of opinion, that I should be lashed to the post at the foot of which I lay, and that each of ive reased hickory _gad_, until I had received, in the whole, two hundred and fifty lashes on my bare back, and that he would stand by, with the whip in his hand, and _compel_ theiven up, as it would probably render ain for several weeks

Myfor a month, with the whip; but my old master said, this would be attended with too much trouble, and besides, it would keep , and proposed, in his turn, that I should not be whipped at all, but that the carcass of the sheep should be taken fro up in the kitchen loft without salt; and that I should be compelled to subsist on this putrid mutton without any other food, until it should be consu masters, and would have been adopted, had notthe intended punishment, loudly objected to it, because the mutton would, in a day or two, create such an offensive stench, that she andmistresses would not be able to remain in the house My rateful sheep thief, who, after all her kindness in giving me soup and war every thing I could get hold of She then said to ht not to be passed over in a slight manner, and that as crimes, such as this, concerned the whole country, ht to be public for the purpose of example; and advised him to havenotice to the neighborhood to co with theht be witnesses to the consequences of stealing sheep

”They then returned to the house to breakfast; but as the pain in atures of the cord hich I was bound, was greater than I could bear, I now felt exceedingly sick, and lost all knowledge of my situation They told me I fainted; and when I recoveredin the shade of the house, with my hands free, and all the white persons inaround me As soon as I was able to stand, the rope was tied round ain fastened to the mill post My mistress said I had only pretended to faint; andfor before night He was faithful to his prorass in the shade of the house

”As soon as breakfast was over,ive notice to their friends of what had happened, and to invite them to come and see ave ed one of the black boys whoit from a puddle in the lane My mistress has always been very cruel to all her black people

”I remained in this situation until about eleven o'clock, when one of ave me a piece of jonny-cake about the size ofme at the same time, that my fellow-slaves had been permitted to re-boil the mutton that I had left in the kettle, and make their breakfast of it, but that her ive me any part of it It ell for them that I had parboiled it with my shi+rt, and so defiled it that it was unfit for the table of my master, otherwise, no portion of it would have fallen to the black people--as it was, they had as much meat as they could consume in two days, for which I had to suffer

”About twelve o'clock, one ofmasters returned, and soon afterwards the other came home I heard theive notice ofplanters, and that several of the with theht be able to report to their co

”It was late in the afternoon before any of the gentlemen came; but, before five o'clock, there were more than twenty white people, and at least fifty black ones present, the latter of whom had been cost others, an overseer fro estate attended; and to him arded the office of executioner I was stripped of my shi+rt, and the waist-band of my trousers was drawn closely round me, below my hips, so as to expose the whole of th

”It sees of ra-hide, for the overseer had two of these in his hands, each about four feet long; but one of the gentleht bruise my back so badly, that I could not work for sometime; perhaps not for a week or two; and as I could not be spared froested a different plan, by which, in his opinion, the greatest degree of pain could be inflicted one planter, and had uided by his counsels, and my master said he would subment and experience in such cases He then desired my allon of water, and desired the overseer to lay aside his thongs of raw-hide, and put a new cracker of silk, to the lash of his negro whip

Whilst these preparations were being made, each of my thumbs were lashed closely to the end of a stick about three feet long, and a chair being placed beside the mill post, I was compelled to raise my hands and place the stick, to which my thuhteen inches square; the chair was then taken fro by the thumbs, with round My two great toes were then tied together, and dran the post as far as my joints could be stretched; the cord was passed round the post two or three times and securely fastened In this posture I had no power of motion, except inainst the side of the post

”The pepper tea was now brought, and poured into a basin to cool, and the overseer was desired to give me a dozen lashes just above the waist-band; and not to cover a space of more than four inches on my back, from the waist-band upwards He obeyed the injunction faithfully, but slowly, and each crack of the as followed by a sensation as painful as if a red hot iron had been drawn across iven, the operation was suspended, and a black ashes inpepper tea, which was yet so hot that he could not hold his hand in it This doubly-burning liquid was thrown intose After a delay of ten minutes, by the watch, I received another dozen lashes, on the part of ashes of the for, pepper tea was applied toular intervals, until I had received ninety-six lashes, and my back was cut and scalded from end to end Every stroke of the whip had drawn blood; ; my back burned as if it had been covered by a coat of hot e coals; and I felt htered by the butcher and are flayed whilst yet half alive My face was bruised, and ony, I had not been able to refrain froainst the post

”Vainly did I beg and implore for ing upon my thumbs, an hour and a half, but it appeared to s would never end At length, however, my feet were unbound, and afterwards my hands; but when released from the cords, I was so far exhausted as not to be able to stand, and my thumbs were stiff and motionless I was carried into the kitchen, and laid on a blanket, whereatme that my wounds were only skin deep, said I had coht to be thankful that it was not worse with roan so loud, nor make so much noise, and left me to myself I lay in this condition until it was quite dark, by which ti ofsoreness, which rendered htest ht with her about half a pound of fat bacon, which she made one of the black women roast before the fire on a fork, until the oil ran freely from it, and then rub it warreased from the neck to the hips, effectually An old blanket was then thrown over ht alone

Such was the terror stricken into h they loved and pitied ht

”My strength was gone, and I at length fell asleep, from which I did not awake until the horn was blown the next , to call the people to the corn crib, to receive their weekly allowance of a peck of corn I did not rise, nor attempt to join the other people, and shortly afterwards entle tone of voice, asked me if I was dead I answered hi soet upon htened when hesuddenly seized with an apprehension that I was dead, his heart had becos, but with the fear of losing his best field hand; but when he saw ht, the recollection of the lost sheep revived in his ainst the author of its death