{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_9941/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_9941","id":"gutenberg_9941","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9941","summary":null,"tags":["African American Writers","African American clergy -- Mississippi -- Biography","African Americans -- Mississippi -- Biography","African Americans -- Mississippi -- Religion","Category: Biographies","Category: History - American","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of the United Brethren in Christ (1800-1889) -- Clergy -- Biography","Enslaved persons -- Mississippi -- Biography","Enslaved persons -- Mississippi -- Social life and customs","Enslaved persons' writings, American -- Mississippi","Fugitive slaves -- Mississippi -- Biography","Plantation life -- Mississippi -- History -- 19th century","Slavery -- Mississippi -- History","Thompson, Charles, 1833-"],"text":"Produced by Dave Morgan and PG Proofreaders\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHY OF A SLAVE\n\nBeing The Experiences Of Rev. Charles Thompson,\nA Preacher Of The United Brethren Church,\n\nWHILE A SLAVE IN THE SOUTH.\n\nTogether With Startling Occurrences Incidental To Slave Life.\n\n\n\n1875.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nIn publishing this book I hope to do good not only to my own race, but\nto all who may read it. I am not a book-maker, and make no pretensions\nto literary attainments; and I have made no efforts to create for myself\na place in the literary, book-making ranks. I claim for my book\ntruthfulness and honesty of purpose, and upon that basis it must succeed\nor fail. The Biography of a Slave is called for by a very large number\nof my immediate acquaintances, and, I am assured, will meet with such\nreception as to justify the expense I have incurred in having it printed\nand bound. To the members of the United Brethren Church, white as well\nas colored, I look for help in the sale and circulation of my work, yet\nI am satisfied I will receive commendable patronage from members of all\nChristian churches everywhere.\n\nThe book is written in the narrative style, as being much better suited\nto the tastes and capacities of my colored readers, and I have used\nsimple and plain English language, discarding the idiomatic and\nprovincial language of the southern slaves and ignorant whites,\nexpecting thereby to help educate the blacks in the use of proper\nlanguage.\n\nI am indebted to William H. Rhodes, Esq., attorney at law, of Newman,\nDouglas County, Illinois, for his valuable assistance in the preparation\nof my manuscript for the printer. He has re-written the whole of it for\nme, and has otherwise assisted me in the matter of placing the book\nbefore the public.\n\nCHARLES THOMPSON.\n\nNewman, Illinois, Aug., 1874.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nCharles Thompson, born in Atala County, Mississippi--Division of\nKirkwood's slaves among his six Children--The writer and his two sisters\nfall to Mrs. Wilson--The parting between mother and child--Deprived of a\nfond mother forever--Old Uncle Jack--Wilson buys Uncle Ben from\nStrucker--Uncle Ben runs away and is hunted with blood-hounds--Two\nhundred dollars reward.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nNot sent to hell by Wilson--Mrs. Wilson protects me, to whom I\nbelong--Sent to school with the children--The school-children teach me\nto read and write--What came of it--Mount that mule or I'll shoot\nyou--I mounted the mule--A start for the railroad to work--I dismount\nand take to the woods--I owe allegiance to God and my country only.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nCaught, tried, and taken back home to James Wilson--My mistress saves me\nfrom being whipped--I go to the railroad and work one month\nprecisely--Go back home--Wilson surprised--Left the railroad at\n3 o'clock A.M.--Did not want to disturb Leadbitter's rest--Sent to Memphis\nwith a load of cotton--Afraid of the slave-pens and slave-auction--Start\nfor home--Not sold--Pray, sing, and shout--Get home and ordered to hire\nmyself out.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nStart out on my travels to hunt a new master--Find Mr. Dansley--Hire to\nhim--Thirty dollars per month for my master and five dollars for\nmyself--Wilson astonished--Appointed superintendent of Dansley's\nfarm--Rules and regulations--Peace and tranquillity--My moral labors\nsuccessful--Prayer and social meetings--Meetings in the woods--Quarrel\nand fight like very brothers--Time comes to be moved to another field of\nlabor.\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nJames Wilson comes along--Wants me to go with him to Saulsbury,\nTennessee, to help build a house for a grocery-store--Takes me along\nwith him--Wilson taken sick--I take care of him--He gels well--I make\nanother attempt to escape from slavery--What came of it.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nWas hired to Mr. Thompson, and adopted his name--Opened regular\nmeetings, and preached on the plantation and other places--Took unto\nmyself a wife--Was purchased by Thompson, duly installed on the\nplantation, and invested with authority--Various means and plans\nresorted to by the overseer to degrade me in the eyes of Mr.\nThompson--Driven, through persecution, to run away--Return back to my\nmaster.\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHY OF A SLAVE.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nCharles Thompson, born in Atala County, Mississippi--Division of\nKirkwood's Slaves Among his Six Children--The Writer and his Two Sisters\nFall to Mrs. Wilson--The Parting Between Mother and Child--Deprived of a\nFond Mother Forever--Old Uncle Jack--Wilson Buys Uncle Ben from\nStrucker--Uncle Ben Runs Away and is Hunted with Blood-Hounds--Two\nHundred Dollars Reward.\n\n\nI was a slave, and was born in Atala County, Mississippi, near the town\nof Rockford, on the third day of March, 1833. My father and mother both\nbeing slaves, of course my pedigree is not traceable, by me, farther\nback than my parents. Our family belonged to a man named Kirkwood, who\nwas a large slave-owner. Kirkwood died when I was about nine years old,\nafter which, upon the settlement of the affairs of his estate, the\nslaves belonging to the estate were divided equally, as to value, among\nthe six heirs. There were about seventy-five slaves to be divided into\nsix lots; and great was the tribulation among the poor blacks when they\nlearned that they were to be separated.\n\nWhen the division was completed two of my sisters and myself were cast\ninto one lot, my mother into another, and my father into another, and\nthe rest of the family in the other lots. Young and slave as I was, I\nfelt the pang of separation from my loved and revered mother; child that\nI was I mourned for mother, even before our final separation, as one\ndead to me forever. So early to be deprived of a fond mother, by the\n\"law,\" gave me my first view of the curse of slavery. Until this time I\ndid not know what trouble was, but from then until the tocsin of freedom\nwas sounded through the glorious Emancipation Proclamation by the\nimmortal Abraham Lincoln, I passed through hardship after hardship, in\nquick succession, and many, many times I have almost seen and tasted\ndeath.\n\nI bade farewell to my mother, forever, on this earth. Oh! the pangs of\nthat moment. Even after thirty years have elapsed the scene comes\nvividly to my memory as I write. A gloomy, dark cloud seemed to pass\nbefore my vision, and the very air seemed to still with awfulness. I\nfelt bereaved, forlorn, forsaken, lost. Put yourself in my place; feel\nwhat I have felt, and then say, God is just; he will protect the\nhelpless and right the wronged, and you will have some idea of my\nfeelings and the hope that sustained me through long and weary years of\nservitude. My mother, my poor mother! what must she have suffered. Never\nwill I forget her last words; never will I forget the earnest prayers of\nthat mother begging for her child, and refusing to be comforted. She had\nfallen to the lot of Mrs. Anderson, and she pleaded with burning tears\nstreaming down her cheeks, \"He is my only son, my baby child, my\nyoungest and the only son I have; please let me have him to go with me!\"\n\nAnderson spoke roughly to her and told her to hold her peace; but with\nher arms around me she clung to me and cried the louder, \"Let me have my\nchild; if you will let me have my baby you may have all the rest!\"\n\nMothers can realize this situation only, who have parted with children\nwhom they never expected to see again. Imagine parting with your dearest\nchild, never to see it again; to be thrown into life-servitude in one\npart of the country and your dear child in the same condition six\nhundred miles away. Although my mother was black, she had a soul; she\nhad a heart to feel just as you have, and I, her child, was being\nruthlessly torn from her by inexorable \"law.\" What would you have done\nif you had been in her place? _She_ prayed to God for help.\n\nMy kind old father consoled and encouraged my mother all he could, and\nsaid to her, \"Do not be discouraged, for Jesus is your friend; if you\nlack for knowledge, he will inform you, and if you meet with troubles\nand trials on your way, cast all your cares on Jesus, and don't forget\nto pray.\" The old man spoke these words while praying, shouting, crying,\nand saying farewell to my mother. He had, in a manner, raised nearly all\nthe colored people on the plantation; so he had a fatherly feeling for\nall of them. The old man looked down on me, and said, \"My child, you are\nnow without a father and will soon be without a mother; but be a good\nboy, and God will be father and mother to you. If you will put your\ntrust in him and pray to him, he will take you home to heaven when you\ndie, where you can meet your mother there, where parting will be no\nmore. Farewell.\" I was then taken from my mother, and have not seen or\nheard of her since--about twenty-nine years ago. Old Uncle Jack, as my\nfather was called by the plantation people, spoke words of comfort to\nall of us before we were parted.\n\nThe lot of human chattels, of which I was one, was taken to their new\nhome on Wilson's plantation, in the same county as the Kirkwood\nplantation. Wilson told my sisters and myself that our mother and\nourselves were about six hundred miles apart.\n\nAfter I had been in my new home about two years, Wilson bought my uncle\nBen from a man named Strucker, who lived in the same neighborhood, but\nhe did not buy uncle Ben's wife. Two years later Wilson moved to another\nplantation he owned in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, about one hundred\nmiles distant from his Atala County plantation. Ben not being willing to\ngo so far from his wife, ran away from his master. Wilson, however, left\nword that if any one would catch and return Ben to him, he would pay two\nhundred dollars. This was a bait not to be resisted. The professional\nslave-hunters, with their blood-hounds, were soon on the track. They\nfailed to get the poor hunted man, though. Ben was a religious,\nGod-fearing man, and placed firm reliance on the help of the Almighty,\nin his serious trials, and never failed to find help when most needed.\nHe stayed under cover in the woods, in such lurking places as the nature\nof the country provided, in the day time, and at night would cautiously\napproach his wife's cabin, when, at an appointed signal, she would let\nhim in and give him such food and care as his condition required. The\nslaves of the South were united in the one particular of helping each\nother in such cases as this, and would adopt ingenious telegrams and\nsignals to communicate with each other; and it may well be believed that\nthe inventive genius of the blacks was, as a general thing, equal to all\nemergencies, and when driven to extremities they were brave to a fault.\nBen's wife, in this instance, used the simple device of hanging a\ncertain garment in a particular spot, easily to be seen from Ben's\ncovert, and which denoted that the coast was clear and no danger need be\napprehended. The garment and the place of hanging it had to be changed\nevery day, yet the signals thus made were true to the purpose, and saved\nuncle Ben from capture. Uncle Ben was closely chased by the hounds and\ninhuman men-hunters; on one occasion so closely that he plunged into a\nstream and followed the current for more than a mile. Taking to the\nwater threw the hounds off the scent of the track. Before reaching the\nstream, uncle Ben was so closely pursued that one of the men in the gang\nshot at him, the bullet passing unpleasantly close to him. His wife\nheard the hounds and the gun-shot. This race for life and liberty was\nonly one of a continued series, and was repeated as often as\nblood-hounds could find a track to follow. At night Ben was very much\nfatigued and hungry, and his only hope of getting anything to eat was to\nreach his wife's cabin. How to do this without being observed, was the\nquestion. As well as he was able, about midnight he left his retreat and\napproached the cabin. It was too dark to see a signal if one had been\nplaced for him in the usual manner. After waiting for some time a bright\nlight shot through the cracks in the cabin for an instant, and was\nrepeated at intervals of two or three minutes, three or four times. This\nwas the night-signal of \"all right\" agreed upon between uncle Ben and\nhis wife, and was made by placing the usual grease light under a vessel\nand raising the vessel for a moment at intervals. Ben approached the\ncabin and gave _his_ signal by rapping on the door three times, and\nafter a short pause three more raps. Thus they had to arrange to meet;\nthe husband to obtain food to sustain life, and the wife to administer\nto him. On this particular night their meeting was unusually impressive.\nShe had heard the death-hounds, the sound of the gun-shot, and she knew\nthe yelps of the hounds and the shot were intended for Ben, her\nhusband. With no crime laid to him, he was hunted down as a wild beast.\nMade in God's own image, he is made a slave, a brute, an outcast, and an\noutlaw because his skin is black. Thus they met, Ben and his wife. After\nthe usual precautions and mutual congratulations they both kneeled\nbefore the throne of God and thanked him for their preservation thus\nfar, and throwing themselves upon his goodness and bounty, asked help in\ntheir need and safety in the future. Without rising from his knees, Ben,\neven in the anguish of his heart, consoled his wife, remarking, \"that\nthe darkest hour is always just before daylight.\"\n\nThe blacks of the South have their own peculiar moral maxims, applicable\nto all situations in life, and the slaves not knowing how to read\ncommitted such Bible truths as were read to them from time to time. It\nis true they were generally superstitious in a great degree, as all\nignorant persons are; yet their native sense of right led them to adopt\nthe best and most religious principles, dressed in homely \"sayings,\"\ntheir circumstances permitted.\n\nBen dare not stay very long at a time in his wife's cabin, as a strict\nwatch was constantly kept, that the runaway might be apprehended.\nBidding his wife farewell, Ben hastened back to one of a number of his\nhiding-places, there to stay through the day, unless routed out by the\nblood-hounds. He was fortunate, however, in the help of God, for his\nsafety, and the efforts of the hounds and the hounds' followers were\nfutile.\n\nFinally, Wilson gave up chasing Ben with blood-hounds, and resolved to\ntry a better and more human method. He bought Ben's wife and left her\nwith Strucker, with instructions to send her and Ben to his plantation\nif Ben was willing for the arrangement. Ben soon got word of how matters\nstood with reference to himself, and concluded if he could live with his\nwife on the same plantation that it was the very best he could do, so he\nacceded to the wishes of Wilson, and was sent with his wife to Wilson.\n\nThe happiness of this couple was unbounded when they found they could\nonce more live together as God intended they should, and the poor wife\nin her great gratitude cried, \"God is on our side!\" Ben replied that he\nhad told her on one occasion that God was on their side, and that \"the\ndarkest hour was just before day.\"\n\nThe usual expression used by the blacks when a runaway returned to his\nmaster was that he \"had come out of the woods;\" that is, he had left his\nhiding place in the woods and returned to the plantation to work.\n\nWhen I heard that uncle Ben had come out of the woods, and was coming to\nlive on our plantation, my joy knew no bounds. On the day when he was\nexpected to arrive I got permission to go out on the road some distance\nand meet them. Early in the morning I caught a horse and started. Every\nwagon I met filled me with hope and fear blended; hope that the wagon\ncontained my uncle and aunt, and fear that it did not. I rode on, on,\non, all that day, until my heart was sick with hope deferred. I had\nreceived orders before starting that if I did not meet them that day to\nreturn home. But I was so far from home, and with straining my eyes to\ncatch a glimpse of my uncle, added to my keen disappointment in not\nseeing them, made me feel tired, sick, and worn out. So I stopped at a\nfriendly cabin that night, after telling the inmates who I was and what\nmy errand was. Early the next morning I was out, and the anxiety to see\nmy uncle was so great I thought I would ride out the road a short\ndistance in the hope of meeting him, notwithstanding my orders to return\nhome. After traveling about an hour I met the wagon containing uncle\nBen and his wife. The joy of that moment to me is inexpressible. Having\nbeen deprived of mother and father he was the only relative my sisters\nand myself could ever have any hopes of seeing again. My heart rejoiced\nexceedingly. I was, as it were, a new boy entirely, so overcome was I.\nWe all arrived home that same day, and it was a much more pleasant trip\nthan I had taken the day before. On that day it was all anxiety, mixed\nwith hope and fear; to-day it was all joy and thanksgiving, again\nproving uncle Ben's saying that \"the darkest hour is always just before\nday.\" My sisters were simply wild with joy when we arrived. They ran out\nthe road to meet, us crying, \"There comes uncle Ben; we have one more\nfriend!\" We were all comforted and rejoiced to a very great extent, and\nwe felt indeed that we had \"one more friend\" with us. We were as happy\nas slaves could be, and spent all the time we could together--uncle Ben,\nhis wife, my sisters, and myself.\n\nBut Wilson harbored a grudge toward uncle Ben because he had to buy his\nwife in order to get him, and had said that if he ever got Ben after he\nran away he would whip him to death. He treated Ben very well for the\ntime being, but about a year after he had got him home he began to put\nhis plans into operation for severely punishing him. He was afraid of\nBen's prayers. Although Wilson would not have hesitated a moment to have\nput any plan into execution he may have conceived, under ordinary\ncircumstances, yet praying Ben, while defending himself by appeals to\nAlmighty God was stronger than with carnal weapons in his hands. Wilson\nproceeded cautiously and laid snares for Ben. Uncle Ben was one of the\nbest hands on the plantation, and religiously performed the labor\nalloted him truly and persistently. He obeyed his overseer and Wilson in\nall things pertaining to his manual occupation, and obeyed God to the\nvery best of his ability in this as in everything else. But Wilson\nwanted to punish Ben, and was determined to do so. He knew that Ben was\na faithful slave to labor, and was reliable, yet he wished to break\nBen's spirit--his manhood, the God part of him. Wilson did not seem to\nknow that he was not fighting Ben in his scheme of revenge but that he\nwas fighting God in Ben, and that although he punished Ben to the death\nhe would be conquered himself, and more severely punished than he could\never hope to punish Ben. But Wilson was mad, infatuated, and\nsatanically determined. Precautious preparations were made by Wilson to\ninsure success in his revengeful scheme, and after having obtained the\naid of several neighbors who were what might be called professional\nslave-whippers, he deemed his undertaking to punish and conquer Ben\nfully ripe for execution. Ben being a field hand was busily employed\npicking cotton, with a prayerful heart, and a watchful eye on Wilson.\nFrom Wilson's actions Ben was sure something was going to occur which\nwould nearly concern him, and having been hunted like a beast he had\nbecome suspicious and on his guard all the time. Having a feeling of\npresentiment, he was uneasy, and, as was usual with him, he kneeled down\nand asked God to protect him from the machinations of his enemies, and\ngive him heart, courage, and strength to overcome the evil intended him.\nWhile praying he was startled by the snort of a horse, and on looking\naround to ascertain the cause of the noise he discovered himself almost\nsurrounded by armed men on horseback. No time to think now; the time for\naction had arrived. Ben knew at once the flight was for life. Better,\nhowever, was death than to be thus hunted and harassed. Bounding through\nthe field he gained a friendly covert, and seemingly by mere chance he\neluded his pursuers and the hounds. Ben thanked God for his deliverance.\nWilson with his heartless band were again baffled, and with man-hunting\nand disappointments in his man-chase he became furious. Ben stayed in\nthe woods about four weeks, and during all this time my sisters, Ben's\nwife, and myself were kept in close confinement, to keep us from\ncommunicating with Ben or rendering him any assistance. Thus all of us\nhad to suffer. But we were only slaves.\n\nWilson finally took Ben's wife to a man in Oxford, about twenty-five\nmiles distant, and came back circulating the word among the blacks that\nhe had sold her. Wilson had made arrangements at Oxford with some\nprofessional slave-hunters to catch Ben if he ever came to see his wife,\nfor which purpose she had been taken there.\n\nAfter a time Ben was informed that he and his wife had been sold by\nWilson to a man in Oxford, and of course believing such to be the fact,\nhe went there to see her, and make arrangements for the future. His wife\nwas told by the man with whom Wilson had left her that he had bought\nboth her and Ben, and wished her to get Ben to \"come out of the woods.\"\nLaboring under this delusion, Ben was month. The cabin was surrounded\nby armed men, when Ben was overpowered, chained, and put in jail for\nsafe keeping until Wilson should come after him. Living in the woods so\nlong and the harsh treatment he was now receiving wore Ben down\nconsiderably; yet, believing that \"the darkest hour is just before day,\"\nhe relied on God's help in his misery.\n\nWilson came for Ben in due time, and after chaining him securely around\nthe neck he fastened one end of the chain to the rear of his buggy and\nliterally, a part of the time, dragged him to Holly Springs, about\nthirty miles from Oxford, where he sold him to a man who had the\nreputation of being the hardest master in the country. Wilson afterwards\ntook Ben's wife home. Thus they were separated,--Ben and his\nwife,--never to meet again on this earth.\n\nWilson told me when he got home that he had sent Ben to hell, and that\nhe would send me there too. Infatuated man; he supposed he had done with\nBen for the very worst; he thought he had as much power over the souls\nof his slaves as he had under \"the laws\" over their bodies. He found,\nhowever, in time, that God was with us, and in his good time he\ndelivered us from our bondage and punished our persecutors as they\ndeserved.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nNot sent to hell by Wilson--Mrs. Wilson protects me, to whom I\nbelong--Sent to school with the children--The school-children teach me\nto read and write--What came of it--Mount that mule or I'll shoot you--I\nmounted the mule--A start for the railroad to work--I dismount and take\nto the woods--I owe allegiance to God and my country only.\n\n\nThe monotonous tedium of routine slave-labor was very often broken by\nsome scene of cruelty to one or another of the poor blacks, either by\nthe master or his overseer; and woe unto the luckless one if the master\nshould happen to be in a good mood to break bones. Although slaves were\nworth money in the South at that time, yet the ungovernable passions of\nsome if not most masters found free vent in cruelty to their own\nproperty--that is, their slaves. This was the case with Wilson, and no\nopportunity was missed by him to make a poor black feel the effects of\nhis brutish nature and passions. His wife, on the other hand, made every\neffort to protect the blacks on the plantation as much as possible. When\nWilson threatened to send me to hell, as he had tried to send uncle\nBen, Mrs. Wilson came forward in my behalf and saved me from her\nhusband's unwarranted wrath by telling him that she wished \"Charles to\naccompany her children to school and take such care of them as might be\nrequired.\" It was customary in the South for families who owned slaves\nto send one or more of them with their children when they attended\nschool as waiters, or personal servants, and as I belonged to Mrs.\nWilson, being an inherited chattel, Wilson acceded to her demand, and I\nwas sent along with the children when they went to school. I was not\nallowed to sit with the white children in school, but I \"loafed around\nhandy,\" ready for a call from either of my young mistresses.\n\nThe \"laws,\" the enlightened laws of the southern states, prohibited,\nunder heavy penalties, the education of a slave, or even a negro,\nalthough free; yet some of us, under very disadvantageous circumstances,\nlearned to read and write.\n\nIt has always been a kind of habit with me to \"be doing something\" all\nthe time, and when not actually employed in some active work I would\nmake use of my time for some good purpose; and while \"loafing around\"\nthat school-house it occurred to me as being strange that the white\nchildren should be compelled to sit and study hour after hour, while us\nlittle darkies \"loafed around\" and did nothing. Why couldn't we lighten\nour young masters and mistresses of that labor as well as other kinds of\nlabor? I determined that my young mistresses should not be made slaves\nof by the school-master, but that I would do that work for them, as they\nwere generally so kind to me. So I proposed the matter to them, and they\nwere tremendously pleased; at least they laughed and chatted a great\ndeal about me getting their lessons for them, which so elated me that I\ncould not avoid turning handsprings and somersaults all the way home\nthat evening, my joy being so great at the idea of doing my mistresses\nthe favor of taking such great labor off their hands as getting their\nlessons. I did not doubt my ability to perform the work, for I was\nstout, hearty, and large for my age, and could almost make a full hand\nin the field. Such was my idea at that time of getting lessons. However,\nthe next day my young mistresses told me the school-master would not\nallow me to study their lessons for them, but that I might take a book\nand sit outside of the school-house and study there, but that I must be\nsure and not let any one see me. Why not? Why should _I_ not study\nlessons in the school-house for my young mistresses? Because it is\nagainst the \"law\" for slaves to learn to read and write. Well, that is\ncurious. A person, because he is a slave, must not study lessons; must\nnot learn to read and write because it is against the \"law.\" What law?\n\nMy mistress used often to read to the children from a book which told\nabout Jesus, and Mary, and Lazarus, and Peter, and Paul; and how Jesus\nwas our Savior, and shed his precious blood for the redemption of all\nwho believed him and would obey his commands; and how Jesus said,\n\"Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of\nheaven.\" Did the \"law\" prohibit me from studying lessons out of a book\nabout Jesus, and learning to read about Jesus as my mistress did? When\nmy mistress sent my young mistresses to Jesus wouldn't she send me along\nwith them just the same as she sent me to school with them? I reckon so.\nSuch was my reasoning; and I determined to assist my young mistresses in\ngetting their lessons, law or no law, let the consequences be what they\nmay.\n\nI received the book and went out from the school-house a short distance,\nand secured myself from observation in a shady place. I opened the\nbook--a spelling-book it was. Hallo! here's a dog and a cat, and here's\na sheep too, and right here in the corner is a yoke--a regular ox-yoke.\nWell, now, this _is_ nice. So I got my first idea of what a book\ncontained by the pictures in a spelling-book. The print in the book\nmeant something, I was sure, and my mind was employed until recess in\nendeavors to make out what the print and pictures were intended for. The\nscholars came out at recess, and my mistresses gave me such instructions\nas they were able, which gave me a start ahead that enabled me to\nmemorize the first six letters of the alphabet by the time school\ndismissed for noon.\n\nI began to be deeply interested in \"studying lessons,\" and was soon,\nafter hard study, complete master of the alphabet. I could repeat it\nforwards and backwards, and could instantly tell the name of any letter\npointed out to me. My mistresses seemed to take great pleasure in\nteaching me, and I was very anxious to learn. I soon found that I could\nunderstand in a great measure the instructions the teacher gave to the\ndifferent scholars, by which I profited. I sat in the back part of the\nhouse, behind the scholars, with my young mistress' old book in my hand,\nand held it so that nobody could see it, and studied constantly day\nafter day, which soon advanced me beyond some of the white children\nolder than myself in learning. I learned to spell and read; and my\nappetite for knowledge increasing, my young mistress set copies for me,\nand by the time the school-term was out I could spell, read, and write.\n\nSlaves on large plantations in the South were worked in gangs, under the\ngeneral supervision of the overseer or slave-owner. The gangs were\nplaced under the immediate supervision of a trusty and intelligent\nslave, whose duty it was to see that each hand performed his or her\nallotted task, to weigh cotton during the picking season, and to direct\nthe slaves in their labor, and were called field superintendents or\nbosses. This was my position on the plantation a short time after school\nwas out for the term.\n\nFor the first few days after my term at school as waiter for my young\nmistresses, I was ordered into the field to pick cotton, but was shortly\nplaced over the hands as \"boss\" and cotton-weigher. Each picker had a\n\"stint\" or daily task to perform; that is, each of them was required to\npick so many pounds of cotton, and when in default were unmercifully\nwhipped. I had the cotton of each hand to weigh, three times each day,\nand had to keep the weights of each hand separate and correctly in my\nmind and report to Wilson every night. I dare not let Wilson or any of\nthe slaves know that I knew anything about figures or could read or\nwrite, for a knowledge of those rudiments of education was considered\ncriminal in a slave. The slaves were nearly always jealous and envious\nof a \"boss\" of their own color, and left no pretext untried to bring a\n\"boss\" into disrepute with the master and consequent corporal\npunishment. And should I make a misstatement of the weight of any one\nhand's cotton, that hand would know it. Therefore at the time I am now\nwriting of I had the weights of about three hundred baskets of cotton to\nreport to Wilson every day. This was hard mind-work for me, but I\nmastered the situation and escaped supersedure and punishment. I held\nthe position of field-superintendent about nine years, and performed my\nduties faithfully and honestly, to the satisfaction of my master and the\nhands under me generally.\n\nWhy was I so faithful and dutiful to my slave master? Simply because I\nwas doing my duty to God and acting in obedience to the commands of\nChrist; for my book taught me to do good and shun evil--to obey the\nrevealed will of God no matter what position I might be placed in. As a\nslave I loved to do the will of the Master in heaven; as a responsible\nhuman being I could do no less.\n\nI improved my knowledge, whenever opportunity occurred, and it was but a\nshort time, comparatively, until I found out for myself, by searching\nthe Scriptures clandestinely, the great truths that Jesus taught. I\nread, pondered, and began the work of self-regeneration. I read that God\nrequired of me to do certain things; that unless I obeyed the commands\nof Jesus I could expect no help from God. I found that I was commanded\nto \"do,\" and not stand still and wait for others to \"do\" for me. The way\nseemed to open before me plainly and unmistakably, and engraved the\ncommand to \"do\" firmly in my heart, in the simple words, \"Do the will of\nGod.\" I obeyed the commands of our Savior in all the essentials of\nrepentance, baptism, and in everything, and began the real work of my\nlife--of living and being a servant of God and a faithful follower of\nJesus Christ. My field of labor was my own heart, which I endeavored to\nrender pure in the sight of God. But a short time elapsed when my work\nwithin myself began to bear fruit in my efforts to redeem my\nfellow-slaves from sin and make them children of God. I labored with\nthem in a spirit of brotherly love, and urged them, in season and out\nof season, to come to Jesus. My labors were not in vain, for a great\nmany were brought to the altar of prayer through my exertions, and were\nforgiven.\n\nWilson found out that I could read and write. During the time of\ncotton-picking, the last season I was superintendent, a protracted\nmeeting was held in the neighborhood, and my master and mistress\nattended regularly. The only time I could go was on Sunday, and I looked\nforward to that day with hope and pleasure. On Saturday evening my\nmaster stayed to church, and did not expect to return home until Sunday\nevening. My report of weights were on my mind, and I became somewhat\nuneasy about the result if I should attempt to remember them until the\nfollowing Monday. What to do under the circumstances I did not know; yet\nI knew that \"where there was a will there was a way.\" I was afraid to\nset the weights down for fear of detection and punishment. I hesitated\nand tried to think of some safe way out of the dilemma. I knew if I let\nthe matter rest over Sunday I would not remember the weights, for the\nreason that my mind was so employed and taken up with the religious\nrevival that was then going on in the neighborhood, in which I was very\nmuch interested on my own account and on account of my fellow-slaves. I\nprayed to God to direct me right. The overseer used a slate on which to\nset down the weights of cotton, which was hanging in his cabin. I took\nthe slate down, made the entries of weights with the names of the\npickers, and hung it up again. During the next day (Sunday) the overseer\ncame home, and found the slate with the entries on it I had made. He was\nsomewhat surprised. When Wilson came home he was duly informed of the\nfact. I was called, and ordered into _the presence_. I knew it was\nunlawful for me to know how to write, and I dreaded the consequences of\nmy rash act, yet I unhesitatingly, and with a courage that surprised me,\nwent to the house.\n\n\"Who wrote these names and weights on this slate, Charles?\" asked Mr.\nWilson.\n\n\"I did it, sir,\" I answered.\n\n\"How and when did you learn to write?\"\n\n\"During the time I attended my young mistresses to school, sir.\"\n\nWilson looked at me long and angrily, and remarked that I had kept that\nfact secret for a long time, and that as I had learned to read and write\nhe could not help it. \"But you must remember, Charles,\" he continued,\n\"that the law is that if any negro shall be found writing, his\nforefinger shall be cut off at the first joint.\"\n\nMy time had now come for my first punishment, I thought. A day or two\nafter I heard Wilson, while in conversation with the overseer, say, \"It\nwill not do to let Charles stay with the rest of the negroes, or he will\nlearn them all to read and write, and then we might as well set them\nfree.\"\n\nWhat was to be done with me for my unpardonable crime? All kinds of\nsurmises and speculations entered my mind. What was to be my fate?\nBelonging to Mrs. Wilson--her property--I was placed in charge of her\nson James, who employed me at teaming, that is, hauling cotton, lumber,\netc.\n\nIn this occupation I became pretty well acquainted with the surrounding\ncountry and the people, and was very well satisfied with matters\ngenerally as they then stood. But I was soon to learn that my young\nmaster was only anxious to carry out the plans of his father, and was\ndetermined to punish, or, as they pleased to term it, \"break me,\" merely\nbecause I was related to Ben--because I was able to read and write as\nwell if not better than James Wilson himself.\n\nI was told one day by James that he had hired me to a man in Pontotoc to\nwork in a livery-stable, and that I must come to his plantation without\ndelay. When I arrived I was informed that instead of going to Pontotoc I\nshould go to the railroad then building through Mississippi, and work\nfor Mr. Leadbitter. I expostulated with my master, and urged him, with\nall the pleas and arguments at my command, to allow me to remain on the\nplantation or go to Pontotoc, but to no avail. He whipped out his\nsix-shooter, raving and swearing, and bade me mount one of two mules\ninstanter or he would shoot me on the spot. I mounted the mule.\n\nMy reasons for not wanting to go to the railroad to work were good.\nThere was plenty to do on the plantation, and there was no good cause\nfor sending me away. I feared rough usage at the railroad, and rougher\nassociations. I had by this time become the religious teacher of all the\nwell-disposed slaves in the neighborhood, and I was so much interested\nin my labors that I doomed my great Master's work of too much importance\nto be driven away from it without a struggle. I was no coward, and was\nalways ready to stand out to the end against all opposition, when my\nduty as a humble follower of Jesus was in question. Therefore my\nreluctance to be driven from my place of usefulness. However, I got on\nthe mule and started, in company with a colored man who was going with\nme to bring the mules back. After traveling four or five miles, and when\nat a convenient place, I dismounted from the mules and told my companion\nI was going no farther with him, and that if Wilson wanted any one to go\nto the railroad to work he might go himself; and I \"took to the woods.\"\n\nThis was the first time I ever attempted to escape and gain my freedom.\nWhether I was right or wrong I shall not say, only I ask you to put\nyourself in my place as I was then situated, and draw your own\nconclusions. It is true I had formed dear and near associations, and the\nold neighborhood had been the scene of my trials and triumphs. My master\nhad been uniformly kind, as much so at least as his disposition would\nallow, yet I felt, although my skin was black, I was entitled to and\ndeserved freedom to worship God according to the dictates of my own\nconscience, and to teach others the way to everlasting life. I felt that\nI was a man made after God's own image, and that no one had any right to\na property in me as a mere chattel, all human laws to the contrary\nnotwithstanding. I did not deem that I was a criminal, and that I was\nescaping from penal servitude; but that I was one of God's children,\nescaping from a worse than Egyptian bondage. I rightfully owed\nallegiance to God and my country only. So I run away.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nCaught, Tried, and Taken Back Home to James Wilson--My Mistress Saves me\nfrom Being Whipped--I go to the Railroad and Work one Month\nPrecisely--Go Back Home--Wilson Surprised--Left the Railroad at 3\no'clock A.M.--Did not Want to Disturb Leadbitter's rest--Sent to Memphis\nwith a Load of Cotton--Afraid of the Slave-pens and Slave-auction--Start\nfor Home--Not Sold--Pray, Sing, and Shout--Get Home and Ordered to Hire\nmyself out.\n\n\nThe peculiar feelings one has who is a \"runaway\" are indescribable. I\nfelt every bit an outcast, and was frightened by the least noise or the\nsight of any person, and the yelp of a hound was terror to me. I skulked\nand hid in the woods all day until night, when I concluded to go to\ntown, get something to eat, and make my arrangements for the future.\n\nWhen the \"hoy,\" who was sent by Wilson with me, returned and repeated to\nhim my words, vengeance was sworn against me, and the hounds were turned\nloose for immediate chase. I went to the town of Pontotoc, and while\nthere refreshing myself in a cabin I heard hounds whining. That was\nsufficient to inform me that I was trapped. What to do I did not know,\nbut went to the door with the intention of making my escape, if\npossible, when I was met by James Wilson and five other persons fully\narmed. Resistance was useless, the hounds would have caught me before I\ncould have run a hundred yards, even if I could have escaped the\nbullets. I surrendered, and was securely tied by James Wilson and his\ngang and taken back to the plantation. Dire threats were made against\nme, but my mistress, James' mother, saved me again. She informed her son\nthat \"Charles belonged to her; that Charles' mother had placed him,\nunder the care of God, in her custody, and that she did not intend to\nhave him beaten.\"\n\nJames insisted on \"breaking\" me, as he termed it, and finally prevailed\non his mother, with promises, that if she would let him deal with me he\nwould \"break\" me without whipping me. She consented. James came to the\ncabin where I was tied and chained, and told me that he did not desire\nto whip me, but that if I did not go to the railroad to work every slave\non the plantation would become demoralized, and they would all do as\nthey pleased. His words and manner were very kind and conciliatory, yet\nI took them for what they were worth, and did not believe him; for he\nwould have whipped me severely if he had dared do so. His reasoning\nregarding the poor, ignorant slaves on the plantation, however, was to\nthe point. In their ignorance they would suppose that if I could do as I\npleased and not be punished, they could do the same; and they would, in\nall probability, create an insurrection which would result in their own\ndestruction. For their sakes I acceded to James' wishes. He told me that\nif I would go to the railroad and work for Leadbitter one month, that I\nmight after that time hire myself out to whom I pleased and for as long\na time as I pleased.\n\nI was given a letter to Leadbitter, and immediately started on foot for\nthe railroad. When I arrived there I handed the letter to Mr.\nLeadbitter, who asked me how long I had come to stay with him. I told\nhim one month. He broke the letter open, and after reading it informed\nme that James Wilson stated in the letter that I was to stay as long as\nhe wanted me. This was a piece of intelligence that learned me that\nJames Wilson would lie, and from that time forward I had no confidence\nin his truthfulness. I did not know what was best to do, but finally\nmade up my mind to fulfill and make good my promise, and trust to the\nfuture to compel James Wilson to perform his. I thought this the right\ncourse. I did not deem that I would be justified in breaking my promise\nbecause Wilson was unreliable and broke his. I concluded that if\nLeadbitter kept me longer than one month he would have to be smarter\nthan I gave him credit for being. I asked Leadbitter how many days there\nwere in that month.\n\nI went to work, and kept account of the days. I worked carefully. The\ntime passed slowly and wearily. My associations were of the worst\ncharacter possible, and my co-laborers were of that lowest class of\nsouthern blacks whose ignorance and waywardness render them most of the\ntime more than brutal. I made every effort to do good among them, and\nendeavored to preach to them on several occasions, but was interrupted\nand deterred by the whites, who forbade my preaching. I talked to the\nblacks, however, whenever opportunity occurred, and I hope that my\nlabors for Jesus were not in vain.\n\nThe last day of my month came and passed. It was Friday. On Saturday\nmorning, about three o'clock, I started for home, and with rapid walking\nI reached my destination about two hours after sunrise. When I reached\nthe plantation I \"cut across lots,\" and passed through the field where\nWilson was at work with the hands. I approached, unobserved by him, and\nspoke to him. He looked at me with astonishment, and in surprise asked,\n\"What are you doing here?\"\n\n\"You told me to stay one month; I done so,\" I answered.\n\n\"Did Mr. Leadbitter know when you left?\"\n\n\"I do not know, sir,\" I replied. \"I left at three o'clock this morning,\nand did not think it worth while to disturb Mr. Leadbitter's rest.\"\n\n\"Three o'clock!\" exclaimed Wilson.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" I quietly answered.\n\n\"You ran away, did you?\"\n\n\"No, sir, I did not run away. I stayed as long as you required me to\nstay, when, in obedience to your expressed promises, I came home.\"\n\nJames Wilson made some remark I could not understand, but finally said\nthat as I had come home he had some work for me to do before I could\nhire myself out. I felt somewhat easy in my mind, and waited to be set\nto work. But when he afterwards told me he wanted me to take a load of\ncotton to Memphis, my heart misgave me, I felt sure, in my mind, that I\nwas to be sold from the slave-pens at Memphis. The grand trial time had\nnow come for me, and the teachings of my mother and uncle Ben and uncle\nJack before and at our final separation came to me in full force. They\ntaught me, before I could read for myself, that in trouble I should rely\nimplicitly on the help of my Savior, and that I should pray without\nceasing. To God I immediately turned for guidance and help, and asked\nthat my every step might be directed by him, and that he should protect\nme from my enemies and persecutors.\n\nI felt that I was being persecuted for Jesus' sake, for I was promised,\ntime and again, that if I would quit preaching and talking to the slaves\non religious subjects, I should be advanced and my life made easy and\ncomfortable. I refused the offers, because my Master's work was of more\nimportance than my ease. I was impressed, deeply, with the great\nresponsibilities resting upon me, and was determined to preach and teach\nwhile I had strength and opportunity to do so. I may have been mistaken\nwith regard to the cause of my persecution by the Wilsons, but I think\nnot. I do not really believe that any one is persecuted for Christ's\nsake in this day and age of the world, in a Christian country, except in\nthe South before the rebellion. I have heard men, and, I am almost\nashamed to say, preachers, proclaim that they were persecuted because of\ntheir adherence to the cause of Christ, when they were not persecuted\nat all on any account, except probably on account of some wrong act of\ntheir own. Paul and the apostles were persecuted, and early Christians\nwere persecuted, but who ever heard of a citizen of the United States\nbeing persecuted because he was a follower of Jesus! But slaves in the\nSouth were persecuted and punished severely for preaching the gospel of\nChrist, not on that very account probably, but because it would teach\nthe slaves obedience to a higher power than the inhuman laws of the\nsouthern states as they then existed. Paul was persecuted for preaching\nthe redemption of mankind through the blood of the Savior, by pagans and\ngentiles. I was persecuted for the same reasons by the slave-owners of\nthe South, and for endeavoring to lead the benighted blacks to Jesus.\nThere seems to be some likeness in the positions of Paul and myself. I\nfelt that was the case, at any rate.\n\nMy mind was distressed with the fear that I was being sent to Memphis\nonly to be sold to the highest bidder. After addressing the throne of\nGod for help and deliverance I felt relieved, and determined that, come\nwhat would, I would use my best talents and exertions for my heavenly\nMaster wherever I might be. Relieved, I set about making preparations\nfor my trip to Memphis, with a prayerful heart. Two of us were going in\ncompany, each with a load of cotton. We started on Monday morning, and\ntraveled along without unusual trouble or delay for three days over\nhilly and rough roads, when we camped for the night within a mile of\nHolly Springs, in Mississippi, and about fifty-five miles from home.\n\nIt will be remembered that uncle Ben was sold by Wilson to a man who\nlived in and near Holly Springs. I was anxious to see uncle Ben, if\npossible, and began making inquiries regarding his whereabouts. A\ncolored man came along the road, driving a team, of whom I inquired.\nAfter a little time he said a preacher named Ben Harris lived in a house\nclose by, at the same time pointing to it. Upon further inquiries I\nlearned that Ben had taken another wife. This may seem rather criminal,\nand may appear to be a clear case of bigamy against uncle Ben; but when\nit is remembered that masters compelled their slaves to live together as\nman and wife, without ceremony, for the purpose only of breeding\nchildren, and that Ben had no say in the matter, he will be held\nblameless. The laws of the southern states did not recognize the legal\nrelations of man and wife between slaves, therefore they could not\ncommit the crime of bigamy. If Ben was morally guilty, he was forced\ninto his guilt by law and general custom. I had not seen Ben for about\nten years, and was so overjoyed at the prospect of seeing him that I\ncould scarcely wait until night, for I was informed that he would not be\nat his cabin until night. After attending to my affairs about town I\nwaited until sundown, when I went to the house indicated by my\ninformant. Not being certain that the person who lived in the cabin was\nmy uncle, I necessarily had to make inquiries. A colored woman met me at\nthe door, and answered such questions as I asked, from which I was\nsatisfied that Ben lived here. I informed the woman who I was and that\nBen was my uncle, and that I had called, in passing on my way to\nMemphis, to see him. She cordially invited me to enter the cabin, and\ntold me that Ben was out feeding the horses and would shortly be in. I\nhad to wait but a little while when Ben came in. He supposed me to be\nsome passing stranger, and did not recognize me. After some desultory\nconversation I told him who I was and how I came to be there. Our\nmeeting, after mutual recognition, was affectionate and cordial. We\ntalked over old times and related our experience since we parted at the\nWilson plantation. We kneeled at the family altar, and each poured out\nhis soul's thanksgiving to God for his goodness to us, having, before I\nleft, a season of soul-reviving prayer.\n\nThus we knelt, uncle Ben, his wife, and I, poor slaves in the chains of\nbondage, really and earnestly thanking God for the many blessings we\nreceived. Strange, was it not? when men and women rolling in wealth and\nall the luxuries and happiness that wealth could purchase, did not even\ndeign to notice the source from whence all their blessings flowed. They\nhad life and liberty, and were unrestrained in the pursuit of happiness,\nyet not once did they thank the great Giver of all their good. Then what\nhad we, poor wretches, to thank God for? For everything we enjoyed,--for\nlife, for the blessed plan of salvation, for our senses of seeing,\nhearing, and feeling, for our hearts with which to love him, for our\nhumanity, for the great gifts of sunshine, rain, regulated seasons,\nthe moon, the stars, the earth, the trees, the brooks, the\nrivers,--everything truly enjoyable we thanked God for. We thanked him\nfor health and strength to do his work. Then we had a great deal to\nthank Almighty God for, although slaves. How many of you ever think to\nthank God for sunshine or for reason? Let me illustrate. A gentleman\nwas passing along the highway, when he was met by a poor maniac, who\naccosted him, saying, \"What do you thank God for?\" The gentleman being\nsurprised by the abrupt question did not reply immediately, when the\nmaniac continued, \"Then thank God for your reason; mine is gone; I'm\nmad--a maniac.\" This was something the gentleman had never thought of\nbefore, and it opened to his mind an entirely new source of\nthankfulness. We are apt to forget that we are not slaves, not blind,\ndeaf, or dumb, and not insane; yet should we lose any one of our five\nsenses we would then know how to be thankful for and appreciate that\nsense should we regain it. Then thank God for everything, your very\nexistence included. Suppose the sun would stop in his course and not\nshine on the earth but for one day. What consternation and grief there\nwould be throughout the world! Then suppose that after twenty-four hours\nthe sun should burst upon us in all his refulgence and glorious\nmagnificence. What a shout of joy would greet his appearance, and glad\nhearts would pour out thanks upon thanks to the great Giver for the\nneedful sunshine. Then let us be thankful for all the great blessings\nbestowed upon us by our heavenly Father, and serve him with all our\nhearts, in whatever position in life we may be placed. Uncle Ben and I\ndid _then_, and we do _yet_.\n\nAfter a prolonged conversation and a good and refreshing season of\nprayer I took my departure for my camp, never expecting to meet my\nrelative again, and never have.\n\nWe started next morning on our way to Memphis, and traveled into\nMemphis, after three days, on a very fine road for the South, known as\nthe state-line road. We drove to the cotton-yard, unloaded, and received\nthe receipts for the cotton, and put up for the night at a wagon-yard. I\nspent this night in prayer and supplication that God would save me from\nthe slave-pen and the auctioneer's block; and my prayers were responded\nto in my protection. The next morning we started for home by what was\nknown as the pigeon-roost route, in order to save toll and other\nexpenses.\n\nThe weight on my mind was removed, and I felt happy and thankful. I was\nnot sold from the shambles. I prayed, I sung, and I shouted by turns. We\narrived at home, and I waited patiently for my next order.\n\nMy young master soon informed me, however, that I might hire myself out,\nif I could find and one that would hire me. Good! God was on my side.\nWith a light heart and truly happy I set about my preparations to hire\nmyself out; and the very first thing I did was to go to my cabin and\nthank God for his goodness, and ask for his protection and guidance.\nAlways praying? Yes, I was always at it. My heart was big with love to\nGod.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nStart out on my Travels to Hunt a New Master--Find Mr. Dansley--Hire to\nHim--Thirty Dollars per Month for my Master and Five Dollars for\nMyself--Wilson Astonished--Appointed Superintendent of Dansley's\nFarm--Rules and Regulations--Peace and Tranquillity--My Moral Labors\nSuccessful--Prayer and Social Meetings--Meetings in the Woods--Quarrel\nand Fight like very Brothers--Time comes to be Moved to Another Field of\nLabor.\n\n\nIt was customary in the slave states to allow slaves to hire themselves\nfor their masters to such as the slaves themselves desired to work for.\nSometimes this arrangement was made to save the master trouble. In my\ncase I was instructed to find a place to work at thirty dollars per\nmonth and board, and then to return and report to Wilson, who would then\ngive the necessary permission in writing, which would stand as a\ncontract between him and my employer.\n\nMy first object was to find a Christian man to hire to who would allow\nme to pray and preach on all proper occasions, and who would rather\nassist me than hinder me in my efforts to make Christians of the\nblacks. I cared nothing for the manual labor I had to do, if I could\nonly be placed in a position to do my great Master's work. His work was\nmy life-labor. On this particular account I was very careful who I\napplied to. In a day or two I applied to Mr. Dansley, whose plantation\nwas about eighteen miles from Wilson's, and who had been recommended to\nme as being the kind of man I was hunting for. Mr. Dansley questioned me\nclosely, and examined me as to my reasons for wanting to hire out, and\nwhy my master wished me to hire out when there was plenty of work on his\nown place for me to do. I confessed frankly that I could read and write,\nand knew something about figures, and was desirous to serve God and do\nhis work by preaching, and in every other way in my power; that my\nmaster was afraid that I would demoralize his other slaves by learning\nthem to read and write and by preaching to them, and in order that I\nmight not do that he wanted me off the plantation; that he could not\nsell me because I was the property of his wife, and that she would not\nconsent to have me sold out of the family. \"If those are faults, as\nconsidered by Mr. Wilson, I am very well satisfied that you will perform\nyour part of the contract notwithstanding; yet what Mr. Wilson is\npleased to consider faults in you I deem good points in your character\nand disposition, therefore I will hire you, hoping that your duty to God\nwill include your duty to me under the contract of hire.\" I told him\nthat was my understanding of my duty to God; that it comprised, in my\ncondition of servitude, my duty to my slave-master. I informed Mr.\nDansley that my master, Wilson, wanted thirty dollars per month for my\nservices, and that I wanted five dollars per month for myself, making in\nall thirty-five dollars per month. He was satisfied to pay that amount,\nand gave me a letter to carry to Wilson stating that he would hire me at\nthirty dollars per month, yet he agreed with me that he would pay me,\nbesides, five dollars per month.\n\nWhen Wilson gave me instructions to hire myself out at not less than\nthirty dollars per month, he hoped I would fail, from the fact that\nwages for field-hands were only twenty-five dollars per month; and when\nI went back with Mr. Dansley's letter so soon, he was somewhat\nsurprised. He would have opened his eyes with wonder if he had known\nthat Dansley was to pay me five dollars per month extra. He gave me a\nwritten permission to work for Mr. Dansley as long as Dansley should\nwant me. I immediately went to Dansley's, and stayed with him nine\nmonths--nine months of contented time.\n\nI found my new master every way worthy of any confidence I might repose\nin him. In moderate circumstances, he used prudence and diligence in his\nbusiness transactions and farm operations. He was one of those kind of\nmen some of which may be found in almost every community--an unassuming,\nindustrious, Christian gentleman.\n\nFor his farm-force he hired men, both white and black; and when his work\npushed him he would require his cook and house-maid, the only slaves he\nowned, to assist in the fields. At the time of my commencing to work for\nhim he had white men hired who were worse, if any thing, in their habits\nof shiftless laziness than the lazy blacks. These whites, whom the\nnegroes usually termed \"white trash,\" were, as a general thing, the most\nvicious, brutal, thieving, shiftless, and lazy human beings imaginable.\nThey were ignorant in the greatest degree, and would not work so long as\nthey could obtain food to sustain life in any other way. They deemed it\nan honor to be noticed civilly by a respectable negro, and would fawn\nand truckle to the behests of any one who had the physical courage to\ncommand them. Such people can be found in no place except the South.\nThey are a result of the system of slavery and slave-laws, and\nslave-owners are responsible for their condition. Such were the kind of\nmen I had to work with. These men would quarrel and wrangle among\nthemselves, and would consume time and neglect their work. When the\nhouse-servants were at work in the field, they would insult and misuse\nthem in every conceivable manner, and it was with great difficulty that\nMr. Dansley could get his work done properly and in season. Knowing I\nhad been a farm-superintendent on Wilson's plantation for a number of\nyears, Mr. Dansley immediately appointed me to the same position on his\nfarm, which accounts for his readiness and willingness to pay me high\nwages.\n\nThis was a new kind of position for me, and it required considerable\nthought and management for me to get matters properly arranged in my\nmind. \"Bossing\" white hands and working with them, so as to make their\nlabors profitable for my employer, was no easy task. The farm-work was\ncarried on somewhat similar to the way in which large farms are worked\nin the northern states, and it required great prudence and watchful care\nto avoid waste and save all the crops. I arranged my rules of conduct,\nhours of labor, etc., for the hands, and submitted them to Mr. Dansley\nfor his approval. Mr. Dansley left the matter entirely with me; and,\nafter trial, I found my rules were not sufficiently stringent, and that\nif I expected to successfully \"carry on\" that farm I would have to make\nrules with penalties attached, the men I had to deal with caring little\nor nothing for mild, persuasive laws. I therefore drew up the following\nrules, and presented them to Mr. Dansley, and requested him to make them\nstipulations in the contracts of hire with his men. He approved them,\nand acceded to my request.\n\n1. Quarreling and using vulgar and profane language is strictly\nforbidden on the farm, and any hand or hands violating this rule shall\nbe discharged or corrected, in the discretion of the superintendent.\n\n2. Obedience to the just orders of the superintendent is essential to\nthe profitable conduct of the farm; therefore, disobedience to the\norders of the superintendent shall be followed by the discharge of the\nhand or hands so offending, or his or their correction, in the\ndiscretion of the superintendent.\n\n3. Each and every hand hereby binds himself to obey the just orders of\nthe superintendent and the rules herein established, and upon the\ndischarge of any hand or hands, by the superintendent, one month's wages\nshall be forfeited.\n\nThese rules were signed by the hands, that is, they \"made their mark;\"\nbut I signed my name, being the only negro hand on the place and the\nonly one who could write.\n\nPeace and tranquillity reigned on that farm thereafter, and better crops\nwere not raised in the county. My whole study and aim was to do\nright--to be just to my hands and do my duty to my employer. I relied on\nGod's help, and prayerfully asked his guidance in every and all\ndifficulties and emergencies, and my success is attributable to that\nhelp which is always given when properly asked for.\n\nThe men I had to deal with were more to be pitied than blamed. They were\nentirely ignorant of any but the most crude principles of right, and\nwere taught from their childhood only such rude notions as prevailed\namong the ignorant. When I talked to them of Jesus they seemed\nastonished. They did not even know that punishment would meet them\nhereafter for their sins committed in this life, and were puzzled and\nperplexed with the plan of salvation until after I had repeatedly\nexplained it to them; in fact, I taught them the history of man, from\nAdam down to the coming of our Savior, and taught them the religion of\nJesus. Better-behaved men or better hands were not to be found in the\nneighborhood after they learned the way to Jesus, and many happy times\nwe did have on that farm at our prayer--meetings and social gatherings.\nAll of us would meet at some convenient place on the farm, every\nSabbath-day, and would spend the time profitably, in exhortation and\nprayer. The master and mistress were always there, and worked with a\nwill in the cause of Christ, and I would exhort and preach to the best\nof my ability. Sometimes Mr. Dansley would read a chapter from the Bible\nand comment thereon, and sometimes his wife would read and comment. All\nof us prayed, and some of the white hands became, in a short time,\nearnest public prayers. They had found the fount of true happiness, and\nwould drink largely therefrom on all occasions.\n\nOur regular Sunday meetings soon became known in the neighborhood, and\nthe neighbors and their slaves would come and worship with us, until our\ncongregations became so large that Mr. Dansley allowed me to take the\nhands and clear away a nice place in the woods, and make seats and a\nstand, where we held our meetings regularly thereafter every Sunday, in\nthe forenoon, afternoon, and at night; besides, we held a social\nprayer-meeting every Wednesday evening. These meetings were productive\nof great good to the community and to individuals. In this way I\nbrought men and women to God even while in a condition of slavery, and\nrequired to labor six days in the week in the grain and cotton fields.\nIf I, a slave, could accomplish this much, how much should the favored\npreachers of the country accomplish? This is a hard question to answer,\nhowever, and I shall not insist on its consideration, as every preacher\ncan not be a Lorenzo Dow, a John Smith, or a James Findley.\n\nAmong the field-hands under me were two brothers, white men, who, when I\nfirst took charge of the farm were maliciously wicked toward each other,\nand were almost constantly quarreling just like brothers(!). Before\nthree months had elapsed, under my kind of treatment, they were praying,\nacting Christians, and remained so as long as I knew them.\n\nFrom this time down to the present writing I have been a zealous worker\nin the Lord's vineyard, and shall remain in the harness as long as God\nwills.\n\nRegarding doctrinal points of theology I knew nothing, and my whole\nstock of theological works could have been carried in a vest pocket, in\nthe shape of one or two tracts which fell in my way, and which I read,\nstudied, and preserved. I had a Bible, and that alone served me as the\nguide in my ministry, and furnished me with all the arguments necessary\nto the conversion of sinners and their redemption.\n\nOur congregation at Mr. Dansley's was not organized into a church, and I\ndid not attempt to receive members into the church of Christ. I doubted\nmy authority to do so, and any efforts on my part in that direction\nwould have been immediately stopped by the preachers and members of the\nwhite churches. But this did not deter me from preaching and exhorting.\nI believed firmly that God required of me the labor I performed, and I\nwas so much interested and taken up in my work that I did not stop to\nconsider what the consequences would be to myself. My only consideration\nwas, \"Where can I find an opportunity to do good and save souls.\" I\nasked no pay for my services as a preacher, and never received any;\nhence I usually found congregations awaiting me at my appointments made\nup of all classes, white and black, and from all churches organized in\nthe community. My discourses were sometimes off-hand and sometimes\nstudied. It is true my studied discourses were, in the main, original,\nand taken wholly from the Bible, yet they were none the less effective,\nbecause they were earnest and honest. My language was that of the\nsouthern blacks and uneducated whites at the beginning of my labors as\nan exhorter, but after hard study and training I improved myself greatly\nin this respect, and gained the reputation of being as correct in my\npronunciation of English words as the majority of the white preachers. I\nam not yet entirely free from dialectic pronunciation, and never expect\nto be; but I find that this very defect, if so it may be called, adds\nforce to my sermons, and gives them a distinctness not otherwise\nattainable. Therefore I make use of my very faults to do good.\n\nI had hoped to stay with Mr. Dansley as long as he could find it\nprofitable to hire me; and so far I had been of great use to him. I had\nplaced his whole farm in a good state of repair, and had matured and\nsaved his crops in such a manner that his profits were much larger than\nthey ever were before in any one season. I had the goodwill and\nconfidence of the hands, both white and black, who worked under me, and\nwas an instrument in the hands of God in spreading the religion of Jesus\nChrist in the neighborhood; consequently I was happy and contented, with\nplenty of all kinds of work to do. But I had accomplished my mission at\nthis place, and it pleased God to remove me to another field of labor,\nwhere the harvest was ripe and ready for the reaper. I never\ncomplained; on the contrary, I rejoiced that God was not done with me,\nand had plenty for me to do. When I had thoroughly worked one field of\nlabor, I deemed my immediate services no longer required, and was glad\nwhen removed where more work was to be done in God's moral vineyard. Of\ncourse I formed intimate associations in every locality in which I was\nplaced, and was prone to leave them; but I was content to do the will of\nGod in every particular, whether that will was expressed through the\nslave-laws and James Wilson or otherwise.\n\nI was a slave, and was compelled to labor for the profit of my owner,\nwhich I performed diligently and faithfully; I was a child of God, and\nowed him duty and obedience, which I performed earnestly and constantly.\nFrom my slave-owners I expected and received no reward or remuneration;\nfrom God I received no pay as I labored, but my great reward is yet to\ncome. I have been a depositor in God's bank, from which I expect to draw\nlargely at the final settlement.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nJames Wilson Comes Along--Wants me to go with Him to Saulsbury,\nTennessee, to Help Build a House for a Grocery-Store--Takes me Along\nwith Him--Wilson Taken Sick--I Take Care of Him--He gets Well--I make\nanother Attempt to Escape from Slavery--What Came of it.\n\n\nOne day James Wilson came to Mr. Dansley's, and said he had come for me\nto go with him to Saulsbury, Tennessee, where he was going to start a\ngrocery, and that he wished my assistance in erecting a building\ntherefor. He informed me, at the same time, that as soon as the building\nwas finished, I might return to Mr. Dansley and stay with him as long as\nhe wanted me. He had another colored man with him, and desired to go\nright away. All I had to do was to obey, so without further ado I bade\nfarewell to the people of the plantation, and went with Wilson. The\nparting made me feel sad, for a time.\n\nThe word grocery, as applied in the South, has a far different meaning\nthan that intended in the North. A grocery in the South is a place\nwhere whisky and other intoxicating beverages are sold, and, as a\ngeneral thing, at these places the planters and others congregate to\ndrink, carouse, gamble, quarrel, and fight. This was the kind of grocery\nJames Wilson was going to start in Saulsbury, and the thought of aiding\neven under protest and unwillingly in the establishment of one of these\nhells caused me much anxiety. I made every effort to get relieved from\nthis odious work, but without avail.\n\nWe immediately began the erection of the grocery-building, on our\narrival at Saulsbury, and made good progress for a while. The boards we\nused in the building had to be sawed by us two slaves with a whipsaw. We\ndug a deep trench in the ground, and laid the log to be sawed into\nboards lengthwise over the trench, and one of us would stand in the\ntrench under the log and the other on top of the log. In this way we\nworked, day after day, until we had a sufficient number of boards to\naccommodate our wants.\n\nThe Almighty, it seemed to me, interfered with our work. James Wilson\nwas taken down very sick in the midst of our efforts to create this\nadditional devil's den, and was totally unable to leave his bed. I had\nto take care of him, and the work on the grocery-house was necessarily\nstopped. As soon as he was able to be moved I took him to the Sulphur\nSprings, not many miles away, and nursed him carefully and attentively\nuntil he was able to be about again.\n\nThis sickness of Wilson I deemed a warning to him, and endeavored to\nimpress as much on his mind; but I was cursed and reviled for my pains.\nI availed myself of every opportunity to dissuade him from his evil\npurpose, but failed. He was determined to start a grocery, and start a\ngrocery he would and did. I cleared my skirts and conscience in the\nbusiness, however, as far as I could under the circumstances; yet a\n\"still small voice\" seemed to whisper to me that I was doing very wicked\nand sinful acts in helping to further the grocery iniquity. I was, in a\nmanner, forced to work, yet I was uneasy and troubled in my mind. Others\nmay think I was blameless; that I was a slave and not accountable for\nacts my master commanded me to do. This seemed very specious reasoning,\nbut still I felt guilty, and sent fervent and prayerful petitions to the\nthrone of grace for forgiveness and fortitude to withstand temptation,\nwhich enable me to do the will of my great Master regardless of the\nconsequences that might ensue to me from the effects of Wilson's wrath\nor resentment.\n\nWe finished the building in about two months from the time we first\nwent to Salisbury, and prepared to return home.\n\nIt was here that I first saw a complete railroad and a locomotive with a\ntrain of cars. My fellow-slave, on hearing the whistle of the locomotive\nfor the first time, was very much frightened, and jumped over the log he\nwas hewing, with the exclamation, \"Good God! what is that?\" and started\nto run. I stopped him, and, explaining to him what the loud, shrill\nshriek meant, quieted his fears. We both went to the depot and examined\nthe locomotive and cars with great curiosity and interest.\n\nJames Wilson, being still weak with his late sickness, was compelled to\nride in the wagon he had brought from home, and I rode his saddle-horse.\nOn the way, Wilson informed me that I was to attend the grocery at\nSalisbury, and that he expected me to make money out of the concern. My\nvery soul revolted at the bare idea of being a whisky-vender, and my\nimmediate determination was not to be one. My mind was made up to \"take\nto the woods\" on the first favorable opportunity. I said nothing,\nhowever, but kept my own counsel.\n\nWe traveled slowly, by reason of the master's sickness; and when we\nstopped for the night I found that the saddle I had been riding had hurt\nthe horse's back. Wilson was furious, and swore he would take as much\nhide from my back when we got home as the saddle had taken from the\nhorse's back.\n\nThe next day after leaving Salisbury we arrived at Mr. Dansley's. In\nconversation, I heard Wilson tell Mr. Dansley that he intended to take\nme home with him.\n\nI claimed the fulfillment of his promise from Wilson, and asked him if\nhe was not going to let me work for Mr. Dansley, according to agreement.\nThis so enraged Wilson that he pulled out his six-shooter, and\nexclaimed:\n\n\"Mount that horse, you ---- black rascal!\"\n\nI did so.\n\nFearful that the horse's back would become incurably sore if I rode him\nwith his back in the condition it was, I suggested that the horse had\nbetter be led. Wilson therefore ordered me into the wagon to drive the\nteam, and required Havely, my fellow-slave, to walk,--intending we\nshould take turns. After awhile Havely exchanged places with me, and\nwhile walking along in rear of the wagon it occurred to me that this\nwould be as favorable an opportunity as I would soon again get for\nmaking my escape from Wilson and slavery.\n\nI \"took to the woods\" without attracting the attention of either Wilson\nor Havely, and made good my escape, for the time at least.\n\nI made my way back to Mr. Dansley's and told him my reasons for\nendeavoring to effect my escape from slavery, and that the immediate\ncause of my present attempt was to keep myself clear of the accursed sin\nof whisky-selling. My motives were applauded, but my judgment was\ncondemned.\n\nHow could I ever expect to escape to a country where I could be a free\nman? Even should I escape to the northern states the fugitive slave law,\nwhich was then in full force, would remand me back to slavery, and it\nwas a long, tedious, and perilous journey to Canada. I was going to make\nthe attempt at any rate.\n\nIt was agreed between us that Mr. Dansley should buy me of Wilson if he\ncould, and that I should stay and work for him at the rate of\nthirty-five dollars per month until I had re-imbursed Mr. Dansley, when\nI should have my freedom papers. It would have required about four years\nfor me to pay for myself at those rates, as Wilson \"priced\" me at\nsixteen hundred dollars.\n\nThe negotiations for my purchase by Mr. Dansley failed, and I was left\nto my exertions to get to Canada the best way I could. I was secreted\nduring this time about Dansley's farm, and was aroused to a sense of my\ncondition one day by reading a hand-bill which was posted on a tree on\nthe road close to Mr. Dansley's house, of which the following is a copy:\n\n  \"ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD!\"\n\n  \"Charles, a slave, has disappeared from the plantation of\n  the undersigned, in Pontotoc County. The above reward\n  will be given for his apprehension and return to me alive.\n\n  \"JAMES WILSON.\"\n\nThis settled the matter. The reward was soon known over the whole\ncountry, and every slave-hunter was on the chase to gain the reward. I\n\"laid close\" and waited to escape from that part of the country, so that\nI might not compromise Mr. Dansley. He was already under surveillance by\nslave-owners, and was in danger of being driven from the country; in\nfact, threats of lynching had been made against him.\n\nThe last day I was there I lay hid in some cotton-pens, close to the\nhouse, when two men came on the hunt of me. They had their blood-hounds\nwith them, and demanded permission of Dansley to search his house. The\npermission was granted, when the men began the search. I could see and\nhear all that was going on, and trembled for my safety. I put myself on\nthe mercy of the Almighty and resigned myself entirely into his hands.\nThe search was made all over the premises, including the cotton-pens in\nwhich I was hid; but God was on my side, and I was saved from their\nclutches. I earnestly thanked God for my deliverance on this occasion.\n\nAs soon as dark came I emerged from my hiding-place, and, after being\nsupplied with what provisions I could conveniently carry, I bid good-by\nto Christian Dansley and his family, and started on my perilous journey\nto the free states and Canada.\n\nMy progress was necessarily slow and wearisome, being compelled to\ntravel altogether at night. The first point I designed making on my\njourney was Memphis, where I hoped to find means of escape to Illinois.\n\nI had plenty of time for meditation and prayer, and my thoughts were\nnaturally concentrated on my deplorable condition all the time. My past\nlife came up in review before me, and while sorrowfully wandering\nthrough the woods I would compare myself to persecuted Christians in the\ndays of the apostles and the early evaneglists. The blessed Savior was\npersecuted in his very infancy and had to be hid by his parents. They\nhad to flee for life; I was fleeing for liberty. What had I to complain\nof? Jesus was with me and would protect me. God had delivered him from\nthe very tomb of death; why need I fear? With these reflections in my\nmind I would feel revived and refreshed with the consolation that while\nthere was life in me there was hope for me. The words of the poet came\nto my memory, wherein he says:\n\n  \"Neither will he upbraid you,\n    Though often your request;\n  He'll give you grace to conquer,\n    And take you home to rest.\"\n\nThe consolation and help I received from my meditations sustained me\nthrough all my trials and hardships, and I plodded my weary way along\nwith God in my heart and bright hopes for the future. I knew if I drew\nnigh unto God he would draw nigh unto me; and that if I would let the\nword of Christ dwell in me I would be rich in all wisdom. Yet I was\naware I should suffer persecution if I lived godly in Jesus Christ;\ntherefore I determined to continue in the things which I had learned.\n\nOn Sunday night I arrived at Holly Springs. Uncle Ben lived there, and I\nwas anxious to see him and obtain through his assistance, if possible,\nrest and food. I had proceeded only a little way toward his house when I\nmet a colored man and began conversation with him. I learned that the\nreward Wilson had offered for me had arrived at Holly Springs before me,\nand that persons were on the lookout for me. The colored man seemed to\nhave a suspicion that I was a runaway, and was disposed to aid me all in\nhis power. To keep out of the way of slave-hunters was my object, and I\nknew that the contemplated visit to Uncle Ben was fraught with too much\ndanger to be further thought of.\n\nFearful that the negro would betray me, yet feeling somewhat safe for\nthe present, I sat down to think and rest myself. I knew that if I was\ncaught Wilson would flay me, as he had threatened to do, for making his\nsaddle-horse's back sore, but that if I could once get through to\nMemphis I would be enabled, through the assistance of friends, to make\nmy way North. Yet I wanted to see Uncle Ben again, and tried to hit upon\nsome plan to accomplish that object; but I failed, and started on the\nroad again.\n\nAfter traveling a short time I came to a house by the road-side. The\nkitchen stood about twenty yards from the main building, and had a\nwindow in the back part of it. I was very hungry, and debated in my mind\nas to the manner in which I should proceed to obtain food. To ask for it\nwas too risky, and I was fearful that if I was seen by any of the\npersons about the house I would be apprehended and put in the nearest\njail as a runaway. Looking in at the window I saw a colored woman; and\non a table a meal was prepared, which, it seemed, was being held in\nreadiness for the arrival of some one. I waited patiently, hoping the\ncolored woman would leave the kitchen for some purpose; but she sat\nquietly waiting.\n\nAfter awhile the master and mistress arrived, it seems, from a visit.\nShortly the mistress of the house came in and ordered the supper.\nFortunately for me the supper was to be carried into the \"big house,\"\nand the cook, taking her hands full of things, left the kitchen and went\ninto the house. I immediately sprung through the window, promiscuously\nemptied the meat and bread into my sack, and left the kitchen the same\nway before the return of the cook, just in time to escape detection.\n\nI crouched in the shade of the cabin fearing to move, when I heard the\ncook exclaim:\n\n\"Good gracious! some one hab tuk and turned in an' tuk all de bread an'\nmeat.\"\n\nHer cries brought the household to the kitchen, and during the racket I\nmade my escape to the road and a more peaceful neighborhood. I walked\nbriskly for a couple of miles, when I stopped and satisfied my ravenous\nhunger.\n\nThis was my first theft of something to eat. Before this I had been\nfortunate enough to obtain supplies of food from friendly slaves, but\nfor the twenty-four hours previous to my raid on the kitchen I had eaten\nnothing. I make no excuse for this immoral act, and ask no one to say I\ndid right. I only did what perhaps any one else, under the same\ncircumstances, would have done. I was too weak from hunger and other\ncauses to withstand the temptation of obtaining the food as I did. As\nsoon as my appetite was satisfied, however, my sin rose up before me in\nall its enormity; I felt distressed; and it came vividly in my mind, \"In\nthat Christ hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that\nare tempted.\" Oh, what had I done! I had lost God's help in this my hour\nof trial. I prayed for forgiveness, and asked God to direct and protect\nme. Yet I felt uneasy and depressed,--not that my faith in Jesus was any\nthe less, but that my sin would bring its own punishment.\n\n  \"There is many a pang to pursue me;\n    They may crush, but they shall not contemn--\n  They may torture, but shall not subdue me,--\n    'Tis of God I think--not of them.\"\n\nAbout daylight I reached a forest in which I could conceal myself during\nthe day. I slept soundly, being undisturbed, until dark, when I\nproceeded onward. While traveling _that night_ I was compelled to pass a\nlarge plantation. I was afraid some white person would see me,\ntherefore I avoided every one,--not being able to distinguish, in the\ndark, a white from a black person. However, about daylight I met a\ncolored boy, who procured some food for me and directed me to a\ncotton-pen close by, where I could hide and sleep during the day. When\nnight came--it was Thursday night--I crawled out of the pen and started\nfor another night's walk. I made very good time that night, and walked\nto within nine miles of Memphis. I was afraid to go on into Memphis in\nthe day-time, consequently I slept in the woods that day without\nanything to eat, my supply of food being exhausted.\n\nI was very much exhausted, and suffered greatly from hunger. When night\ncame I started again. After proceeding on my way about two miles I came\nto the village of Mt. Pleasant, where I thought to obtain something to\neat. I had passed nearly through the village without seeing any one; but\nfinally I saw a man who I mistook for a colored man. I accosted him,\nwhen, to my chagrin and disappointment, he was a white man. I felt that\nI had already betrayed myself; and through my fright and want of\nsteadiness I was again in bonds.\n\nThe man asked me numerous and various questions, as to where I came\nfrom, where I was going, who I belonged to, etc.\n\nI again sinned, and paid the penalty. I lied to the man. I told him I\nbelonged to a man by the name of Potts, and that I was going to his\nplantation.\n\nQuite a number of persons soon gathered around me, and by repeated\nquestions entrapped me. Inquiries were made as to the health of Mr.\nPotts' family, and of Mr. Potts in particular. I stated that the family\nwere well and that Mr. Potts was as well as usual.\n\nIt turned out that several of the persons present knew the Potts family,\nand that Mr. Potts had died two months previously.\n\nI was immediately arrested and placed in a secure place, tied and\nchained to the floor.\n\nThus sin brought me into trouble. Had I trusted to God and not been in\ntoo great haste to get something to eat, he would have helped me. My\nweakness made me forget that I should not lie to any one, seeing that I\nhad put off the old man with his deeds. In my great need of\nstrengthening food, Christ would have succored me had I not forgotten to\npray to him and ask his help, for \"a man can receive nothing except it\nbe given him from heaven.\"\n\nIn nearly all the villages of the South, and on most of the large\nplantations, were slave-jails, where runaway and refractory slaves were\nincarcerated. These jails were usually a double pen, the inside pen\nbeing covered with a roof, and the top of the outside pen being covered\nwith sharp iron spikes. Between the pens one or more savage dogs were\nusually kept. This was the kind of place I was now placed in.\n\nHungry, worn out with my journey, and nearly naked, I soon fell asleep\nfrom sheer exhaustion and slept soundly until morning.\n\nAfter I had eaten my breakfast I was taken out of jail at Mt. Pleasant\nand started back to Holly Springs, well ironed and guarded, where I was\nrecognized as Wilson's slave. Wilson was notified of my apprehension.\nAfter laying in the jail at Holly Springs about three weeks Wilson came\nfor me. I had made several attempts in that time to escape, but did not\nsucceed.\n\nI was ironed and compelled to walk, which, in my exhausted state, was\ntoo much for me, and I was taken violently sick on the road, when Wilson\nprocured a conveyance and hauled me the balance of the way home. A\nphysician was immediately summoned, who ordered my shackles removed.\n\nAfter the irons were removed I regained my spirits, and entertained\nhopes of being able to make another attempt to regain my liberty. I was\nvery sick for several days.\n\nAbout two o'clock on the last morning I stayed there I awoke and felt\nfresh, and found that my strength had in a great measure returned. Upon\nlooking around the moonlit room I found that I was alone. To escape was\nmy very first intention. Getting out of bed I examined the window to the\ncabin, when I found I could raise it easily. I gathered what clothes I\ncould find, as well as a blanket from the bed, and climbing through the\nwindow made my escape unobserved. I did not stop to put on my clothes\nuntil I had got two or three miles from the plantation.\n\nI stayed in the woods about three weeks, when I returned to my master\nand asked his forgiveness, and promised that I would never run away\nagain. I was forgiven.\n\nDuring my three weeks' starving and hiding in the woods I had ample time\nfor reflection and thought. Prayerfully I considered my situation and\nasked God's help to direct me. I came to the conclusion that I was\nentirely wrong in my course. God, for his own good purpose, had placed\nme in bondage, and in his good time he would relieve me either by death\nor emancipation. My hardships, I felt, were by reason of my disobedience\nto God's will. Although I was a slave God had given me my task in his\nvineyard as a slave, and I should have fronted the wrath of my master,\nWilson, rather than that of God. I felt that I was doing wrong, and\nafter prayerful consideration I determined to do right, and go back to\nthe plantation and patiently await God's time to set me free.\n\nWilson received me as kindly as his nature would permit, and treated me\nas he did the other slaves and as if I had never been disobedient to him\nand ran away. I felt better, and knew then that I was right in the sight\nof my heavenly Father. My views underwent a change for the better while\nI was an outcast in the woods, and after that I was better fitted to do\nmy allotted work for God.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nWas hired to Mr. Thompson, and adopted his name--Opened regular\nmeetings, and preached on the plantation and other places--Took unto\nmyself a wife--Was purchased by Thompson, duly installed on the\nplantation, and invested with authority--Various means and plans\nresorted to by the overseer to degrade me in the eyes of Mr.\nThompson--Driven, through persecution, to run away--Returned back to my\nmaster.\n\n\nA short time after I came in from the woods Wilson determined to hire me\nto a man named Thompson, who lived about twenty miles away. I made no\nobjection, and was duly hired for the term of three years.\n\nI adopted the name \"Thompson,\" from my new master, which I have since\nretained.\n\nThe slaves of the South are usually named like brutes, with only one\nname for a designation, and it became customary among the slaves to\nadopt the surname of their masters. I had never adopted the name of\nWilson, because I disliked the man; but as soon as I was hired to Mr.\nThompson I took his name, therefore I was henceforth known as Charles\nThompson. The adoption of a name by myself may appear strange to a\ngreat many of my readers, yet when it comes to be considered that I was\na human chattel, with no rights or privileges of American citizenship,\nand that I was without a name, except simply \"Charles,\" no surprise will\nbe felt.\n\nI labored faithfully and honestly for Mr. Thompson during my term of\nservice, and endeavored in all things to do my duty. I made such efforts\nas I could to bring the slaves on the plantation to Jesus, and\ninaugurated regular and stated meetings. I preached and exhorted on the\nplantation and at other places where I could gather the negroes to hear\nme; and I felt that I was the means in God's hands of redeeming precious\nsouls. In these meetings I had helpers from among the most intelligent\nof the slaves, and made such progress that at all our meetings we would\nhave a number of God-fearing whites to pray with us.\n\nDuring my term of hired service with Mr. Thompson I married a colored\ngirl and added the responsibilities of a husband to my various cares.\n\nThe marriage of slaves was a mere formality among themselves, there\nbeing nothing legal, according to the laws of the southern states, about\nthe ceremony or marriage contract. The slaves cohabited together in most\ninstances with the express or implied consent of their masters; and as\nthe masters did not regard the marriage of their slaves as anything,\nwives and husbands were constantly in danger of being separated forever.\n\nBut the slaves themselves instituted a ceremony which they considered\nmorally binding, as far as they were concerned; and the slave-owners\ndeemed it prudent to gratify their slaves by a recognition, in some\ndegree, of the marital relations that might exist among them. Therefore\na certain set of rules came into operation, by general consent,\ngoverning the visits of the husband to the wife when owned by different\nmasters. When the wife of a slave lived not more than five miles from\nhis master he could visit her once a week; when she lived not more than\nten miles away, he could go to see her once in two weeks; and when she\nlived twenty or more miles away he could go to see her only once in two\nmonths.\n\nAt the expiration of my term of service I was loth to leave my wife at\nThompson's, and go back to Wilson's, and strenuously objected, knowing\nthat I could get to see her only once in two months.\n\nWilson having learned that I was not desirous of returning to him, wrote\nto Mr. Thompson to send me home as soon as the last day of my service\nexpired; but Mr. Thompson was desirous of retaining me, and made\nefforts to that effect. He sent me to Wilson to learn the price set for\nme. I arrived in due time, when Wilson informed me that he would sell me\nto Thompson, but that he would not take less than twelve hundred\ndollars, cash.\n\nThe proposition did not seem to please Thompson, but after a time he\nconcluded to buy me, and sent his son to Wilson with the purchase money.\nThe purchase at that particular time was lucky for me, as Wilson had\nwritten Thompson a very abusive letter, and it was received by Mr.\nThompson on the evening of the day on which his son went to Wilson's to\nbuy me. The bargain was made, however, and I was duly transferred to my\nnew master, by delivery and a bill of sale. The personal matter between\nWilson and Thompson soon blew over, and I was duly installed on the\nplantation as one of the chattel fixtures.\n\nI seemed to take a new lease of life from this time, and determined, if\npossible, to profit by former experiences and shun every appearance of\nill-nature and evil intentions, and to gain the confidence of my new\nmaster, that I might better do the work of my heavenly Master. All\nnature seemed lovely to me, and I was happy in doing my duty and\nobliging the will of God.\n\nI was invested with authority on the plantation by Mr. Thompson, and\nwas required to keep an eye on the overseer, and to report any\nenormities that might be committed by him.\n\nMr. Thompson was a wealthy planter and kept a general overseer, besides\nthe usual field bosses; yet there were other slaves on the plantation\nwho had the confidence of the master and were put at such service as\nrequired intelligence and integrity.\n\nThe position in which I was now placed was difficult and onerous; but I\ndid my duty to the very best of my ability, and satisfactorily to my\nmaster. The overseer soon found out that I was _his_ overseer; and he\nused every means, and various plans, to drive me to do something that\nwould degrade me in the eyes of Mr. Thompson. It was only by reason of\nthe greatest forbearance and the very closest attention to my duties\nthat I escaped his machinations; and by attending to everything with the\nmost scrupulous care he could find no fault with me, that had truth for\nits foundation. But the constant and pertinacious maliciousness of the\noverseer, and my own weakness, eventually brought me to grief.\n\nAs a rule, when a bad and wicked man undertakes any species of\ndevilishness he generally prevails, for a time, and is apparently\nsuccessful in his schemes; and should he meet with failure at the onset\nhis want of success only maddens him to greater exertions and more\npersistent efforts. Being urged by the devil, and the devil being a hard\ndriver, he either rushes to his own destruction or destroys the\nhappiness or lives of others. Thus I was placed in the crucible for\nfurther refinement and regeneration. My humanity gave way for some time;\nbut God was with me, and in the end I prevailed. The overseer's name was\nHines, and he belonged to that class of southern whites who are noted\nfor their ignorance and brutality. He could read and write a\nlittle,--just enough to make out a negro's pass or a receipt for money\npaid on account of his employer. In this respect I was far in advance of\nhim, of which my master was aware, and which was one of the causes of\nHines' excessive hatred of me, and of his great desire to \"put me down\nand make me know my place,\" as he termed it. He was very irreligious,\nand entirely wanting in every attribute of a Christian. He was also what\nin the South is termed a \"bully\"--that is, he was free to use his\npistols on the slightest occasion, when among his equals, but when in\nthe presence of his superiors he was a cringing sycophant and coward. He\nwas a real coward, at best, in all places. He did not want me on the\nplantation; and he was determined that he would so harrass me that I\nwould become as reckless and devilish as himself, and thereby compel my\nmaster to send me to a slave-market to be sold.\n\nHines concocted various tales and reported them to Mr. Thompson,\nrelating to my alleged insubordination, laziness, refusal to work, etc.,\nbut all to no effect. Finally he told my master that I was so\ndisobedient that the rest of the slaves were affected by my conduct, and\nthat I would ruin all the slaves on the plantation unless severe means\nwere used to conquer me.\n\nMy master informed Hines, after hearing his story, that Jack, a\nfellow-servant of mine in my younger days, had killed Prince, another\nfellow-servant, on Wilson's plantation, several years before; that I\nmight be imbued with the same spirit; and that if he undertook to\nchastise me he might meet with the same fate of Prince.\n\nThis murder occurred after I had been sold by Wilson to Thompson, but\nbeing permitted to return to Wilson's plantation once a year to visit\nand preach to my old flock, I learned the facts regarding the matter.\n\nJack belonged to a neighbor of Wilson's by the name of Scott, and having\ndone something displeasing to Scott he wished to tie him up and whip\nhim. Jack refused to be whipped by Scott or any one else, when Prince\nwas called upon by his master (Scott) to help him secure Jack. Prince\nwas reluctant, but was commanded two or three times to take hold of\nJack and hold him. Jack told him not to approach him at the peril of his\nlife; but not heeding Jack's warning he made the effort to tie Jack,\nwhen he was stabbed to the heart with a knife in Jack's hand, and\nexpired almost instantly. Jack made his escape for a short time, but was\ncaptured and immediately hanged without a trial or an opportunity to\nmake any defense. Jack was captured in a corn-crib on Wilson's\nplantation, which made Thompson suppose the murder had been committed\nthere.\n\nThis recital, which was made in substance to Hines by my master, cowed\nthe overseer considerably, and a house-servant who was present during\nthe conversation afterwards told me that Hines' face turned white as a\nsheet, and he trembled like a leaf.\n\nMy master knew his overseer was a coward, and that if he could work upon\nhis fears by supposing me to be too high-spirited to stand a whipping,\nhe would probably save me from Hines' malice, and keep the overseer to\nhis work. Good overseers were hard to get in the South. An intelligent\nChristian man would not have such a position under any circumstances,\nand the very best of the \"poor white trash\" who _would_, were unreliable\nand brutish; therefore Mr. Thompson had to do the very best he could\nunder the circumstances. He did not believe Hines; yet he had to humor\nhim, in a measure.\n\nAfter a few days Hines reported to Mr. Thompson that he had heard me say\nthat I would never be whipped by him or any other overseer on the\nplantation, as long as I had life to resist, which was a most malicious\nfalsehood. What I did tell Hines was, that I would so conduct myself and\nso perform my work that he nor any other overseer on the plantation\nshould never have cause to chastise me.\n\nThe falsehood inflamed my master, and in his wrath he told Hines to whip\nme for the first offense I might commit, or kill me in the attempt.\n\nArmed with this instruction, Hines was in high glee; yet he dare not\nattempt anything without first laying well his plans and making sure of\nsufficient force to carry them out. The next morning he charged me to\npick six hundred pounds of cotton and deliver it at the weighing-house\nat night, under penalty, for a failure, of one hundred lashes on my bare\nback with a rawhide.\n\nThis would not have been an extraordinary task in good cotton; but where\nwe had to work that day the cotton was poor, and in that field the crop\nwas not more than half a one. However, I worked hard against fate all\nday, and prayed to Almighty God to help me in my hour of need, and keep\nme steadfast. I knew I was to be punished not for any fault or misdoing,\nbut simply to gratify a brute in human shape, and my inferior in\nintellect, morality, and physical strength. The burden was hard to bear,\nyet I prayed for strength to bear it. When called from the field to the\nweighing-house I was kept waiting until all the other slaves had their\ncotton weighed. When mine was weighed I was told by Hines that I had\nonly picked four hundred pounds. I verily believed this to be untrue,\nand felt convinced that I had picked at least five hundred pounds, for I\nwas one of the best, if not the best, cotton-pickers in the country; and\nI had labored faithfully and rapidly all day, and did not lose a\nminute's time, unnecessarily.\n\nHines turned to me and said, Go to your quarters; I will settle with you\nin the morning.\n\nNow began new trials. My duty and my Christianity instructed me to face\nthe undeserved and unjust punishment manfully. The devil and my human\nnature told me to run away. I became weak. The fear of the disgrace of a\nwhipping was too much for me, and I succumbed to the evil one.\n\nI made such arrangements as I could, and concealed myself on the\nplantation, before daylight the next morning, so that I could take an\nearly start in the night and travel behind my pursuers instead of before\nthem. My wife knew of my hiding-place, and when night came she sought me\nand reported what had been done for my capture.\n\nHines seemed, she said, to be more cheerful than usual in the morning\nwhen he found I was gone, and hastened to report the good news, as he\nthought, to Mr. Thompson. After some conversation between them it was\ndetermined by my master to obtain the services of a professional\nslave-hunter, and follow me with hounds. The slave-hunter was sent for\nand came with his pack of dogs that same day about noon. The hunt was\nimmediately begun, and the country was then being scoured in all\ndirections for my tracks.\n\nThis information put me on my guard, and gave me time to consider what\ndirection I had better take in my flight. I had provide myself a\npreparation called \"smut\" among the negroes, which, when spread thinly\non the soles of the shoes or feet, destroyed that peculiar scent by\nwhich blood-hounds are enabled to follow the trail of a man or a beast.\nAfter bidding my wife farewell I smeared my shoes with \"smut\" and\nstarted in the direction of the hills, beyond which was a large swamp,\nthe refuge of many a poor runaway.\n\nOn my way I had to pass through innumerable thickets of underbrush and\nbriers, and by reason thereof I tore my already much-worn clothes almost\ninto shreds, and lacerated my flesh severely, especially on my arms and\nlegs. I arrived in the swamp, however, without being followed by the\ndogs, and while proceeding slowly and dejectedly along, my steps were\nsuddenly stopped by a fierce and loud growl. I was frightened, to be\nsure, yet I knew scarcely what to do. The growl proceeded from a bear, I\nfelt fully assured, for bears roamed through the hills and swamps of\nMississippi. But with presence of mind I retreated slowly from the\npresence of Mr. and Mrs. Bruin, and not being followed by the bears my\nfears on that score were removed.\n\nAbout this time it began to rain; and the night was one of those black,\nforeboding nights that novelists love so well to depict in their\ndescriptions of storms. The lightning flashed with a vividness that\nlighted up the dismal swamps with a weird and horrible brightness; the\nthunder rolled peal upon peal, making to me a pandemonium, real and\nfeeling; the pitiless rain pelted me unmercifully and constantly, with\nthat persistence that made it almost unendurable to me. I sat down at\nthe root of a large tree, not to shelter myself from the rain but to\nprotect myself from the attack of any wild animal that should approach\nme. There I sat the rest of the long night, unfriended, alone,\nforsaken,--a hunted outcast.\n\n  \"Man's inhumanity to man\n  Makes countless thousands mourn.\"\n\nThe condition in which I was now placed rendered me indeed a pitiable\nobject. I waited and longed for morning to come; but the long, slow\nminutes passed lazily along without regard to my sufferings or wishes.\nAfter a long time, to me, I heard a rooster crow, and the welcome sound\nbrought me to my feet in an instant. I started in the direction of the\nsound, and approached warily. Having walked a short distance I reached\nthe edge of the swamps, or rather a dry spot or oasis in the swamp, and\nby the faint glimmer of day, which was just breaking, I could see the\noutlines of a house. The cock continued to crow, which seemed to invite\nme to approach, and which I construed into a good omen,--at least I\nreally felt good at the sight of the house, even though it might contain\nthose who would chain me and take me back to my master. I noticed that a\npublic road ran along close to the house; and after going on the road,\nin approaching the house I was discovered by a dog, belonging to the\nhouse, who set up a furious barking. Fearing to stay and make my wants\nknown I again sought \"cover\" in the swamp. I stayed in the swamp that\nday and ate such berries, roots, and nuts as I could find. I had plenty\nof time for prayer and meditation. I was alone with God, and prayed to\nhim for help in my distress, and for direction. I became convinced that\nI had done wrong in running away, and deemed that I had sinned against\nGod. I had been a runaway and an outcast before, and had came to right\nconclusions; yet I had turned from the path of duty, and was even now\nbeing punished for my sin. I determined to return to my master and take\nthe consequences of my acts in running away. I asked God to have mercy\non me and pardon my sins, and protect me from the wrath of my master and\nthe maliciousness of Hines. Having fully made up my mind to return to\nThompson and make such efforts as I could to allay the punishment I\nexpected to receive, I set about perfecting my plans to get there\nwithout being apprehended by the slave-hunters, who were then, I have no\ndoubt, hunting for me. My master had offered a reward for my return to\nhis plantation; and should any one arrest me and take me home, although\nI might be returning on my own accord, they would receive the reward and\nI would have to make up the amount to my master in extra labor and\nextra punishment. To avoid this was now my object.\n\nAt night I left the swamp and went to the road, intending to travel home\nthat night--thinking I was not more than ten or twelve miles away from\nthere. I was uncertain which way to go; but I finally started off on the\nroad, hoping that I was going in the direction of Thompson's. The rain\nwas pattering down; but I traveled briskly all that night, and about\nday-break I came to a plantation. I entered one of the slave-cabins and\ntold the inmates I was lost, hungry, and tired, and asked them for\nsomething to eat. One of the colored men spoke to a woman who appeared\nto be his wife, and told her to get me something to eat, and that he\nwould go and get some pine to put on the fire. His actions, and the\nmanner in which he spoke, aroused my suspicions, and being fearful that\nhe intended to betray me, I left the cabin directly after he did, and\nsought an asylum in the woods, where I stayed during that day. Thus \"the\nwicked flee when no one pursueth.\"\n\nAt night I found the same road I had traveled the day before, and\nstarted again to try and get to Thompson's. I knew that I was wrong, and\nthat I was traveling away from instead of toward Thompson's; therefore I\nconcluded to make inquiries at the first opportunity. After traveling\nthree or four miles I came to a cabin in which there was a light\nshining through the cracks between the logs. Approaching the cabin, I\nintended to enter; but being enabled to see the inmates through the\ncracks I discovered three white men sitting around the fire, so I turned\nto leave. As I was passing the corner of the cabin a colored woman came\nto the door for some purpose, and saw me. She jumped back into the\ncabin, at the same time exclaiming, \"Here's a runaway nigger!\"\n\nI immediately ran for the road; but a dog--not a blood-hound--followed\nme, and while getting over the fence between the cabin and the road he\ncaught me by the breeches leg. I shook him off and ran for the woods.\n\nThe white men were slave-hunters, and were after me particularly, as I\nlearned afterwards. They followed me closely by the sound of the\ncrackling of brush, and put the dogs they had with them on my track.\nThese dogs, fortunately for me, were in the cabin at the time I\napproached it. As soon as I heard the first yelp of a blood-hound I\n\"smutted\" my shoe-soles, and soon threw them off the scent. The white\nmen followed me about three or four miles. Finally, finding I would not\nget away from them by running, I stopped, and making my way into a dense\nthicket of briers I sat down. The white men stopped a short distance\nfrom me and listened, I suppose, for the sound of brush cracking. After\nwaiting a short time one of them started off in the direction they had\ncome, leaving the others still waiting,--using this ruse in order to\nthrow me off my guard, so as to enable the remaining ones to ascertain\nwhere I was by the noise I would make in walking. I was too close to\nthem; and from the noise I heard from where they were standing I knew\nthey had a dog with them, and that they were only waiting for me to move\nto begin the chase again. I sat perfectly quiet, and waited patiently\nfor the remaining whites and the dog to leave. After a time the men\nbegan to move about through the brush, coming still closer to me. I\nheard them talking, when one of them said, \"We ought to catch the nigger\nif we have to run him all night.\" \"No\" said the other, \"we should let\nhim alone to-night, and start him up in the morning, when we can have\ndaylight for the chase, and not run him to-night, for we might run him\noff and never catch him.\"\n\nAfter a short parley they concluded to get some more dogs and be on the\nground before daylight, so as to make sure of me. As soon as they had\ngone out of my hearing I emerged from the brier thicket. I found my\nlimbs had become sore and benumbed from the exposure and hardships I\nhad undergone, and I was intensely hungry. I worried along, however, to\nget out of that neighborhood as soon as possible. The sky was now clear,\nthe air frosty, and my rags were but a scant protection to me. After\nwalking awhile I found my soreness began to leave me, when I began to\naccelerate my pace. I had to walk as fast as I could, and exercise my\nlimbs all I could, in order to keep warm. After walking some time I came\nto a plantation. Upon reconnoitering, I found an old house, and\napproaching it with the intention of seeking a little rest in it during\nthe remainder of the night and the next day, I saw a light in it. I went\nin, however, and found it to be the workshop of the plantation, and five\ncolored men were there putting handles in their axes. I asked them for\nsomething to eat, and was about to tell them the truth regarding myself,\nwhen one of the negroes hurried me out of the cabin, saying he would get\nme something to eat. After we got out he told me I was very imprudent,\nfor if I had told the negroes who I was and that I was a runaway, they\nwould have taken me themselves. He got me some meat and bread, and after\nI had told him who I was and that I wanted to find my way back to\nThompson's, he put me on the right road and gave me such directions as I\nrequired.\n\nI found that I was about fifty miles from Thompson's plantation, and\nthat it would require two nights' hard walking to get there. I felt very\nmuch discouraged, and grieved considerably to myself. However, having\nsatisfied the cravings of my appetite, I plucked up courage and started\non my long return walk with renewed energy.\n\nAfter traveling about five miles I came to a little town. I was afraid\nto go through it on account of the liability of being apprehended; and I\ndid not like to go around it for fear of getting lost again. I\ndetermined to risk going through the place, and, by avoiding every one,\nescape detection. There was quite an excitement here by reason of an\nepidemic sickness among the children, and about every other house had a\nlight in it. I passed through the town with fear; but I escaped arrest\nand felt like rejoicing over my good fortune, not once thinking of any\ndangers or hardships that might lay before me.\n\nAfter I got through the town I came to a considerable stream, with a\nbridge across it, the name of which I am unable to give; but on the\nopposite end of the bridge from the town there is a road-way, or levee,\nthrown up across the \"bottom\" for about two miles. At the time I\ncrossed, the stream was very much swelled from the recent rains, and the\nwater extended all over the bottom on each side of the road-grade, and\nto within two or three feet of the top of it. This grade I had to cross;\nand I was greatly afraid that I would meet some one. I started across,\nand when about half way over the grade, or levee, I heard hounds baying\nahead of me; and the sounds seemed to be approaching me, I became very\nmuch frightened, and turned and fled back to the bridge, when, just as I\nwas stepping on it, I heard men's voices, and stopped, when I found they\nwere coming across the bridge toward me. I concluded I would rather face\nthe blood-hounds than the white men, so I made my way back over the\ngrade as hurriedly as I could. I reached the end of the grade without\nmeeting the hounds and turned off into the woods. After walking a short\ndistance I heard the hounds again, and the sound of their yelps was\nnearing me rapidly. I turned my course immediately, and ran as fast as I\nwas able for three or four hundred yards, when I saw distinctly, in the\nstarlight, a man running nearly toward me. My heart leaped into my\nthroat, as it were, and I made ready for battle. But the man proved to\nbe a poor runaway like myself, and the one whom the hounds were after. I\nhad got into a field, and the runaway passed through the same field\nwithout noticing me. I kept on in an opposite direction from the one\nwhich he had taken, and crossed the fence on the other side of the field\njust in time to hear one of the slave-hunters say, \"There he is now; I\nheard him getting over the fence.\" I threw myself on the ground and\nawaited results. The dogs were \"hot\" on the other slave's track, and\nwere running at a great rate, which induced the slave-hunters to think\ntheir companion was mistaken. So, to my great relief and pleasure, they\nstarted on after the hounds. I was nearly exhausted by my exertions\nduring the night, and as it was now nearly morning I lay on the ground\nfor a time to rest and recuperate my worn-out energies a little.\n\nIn a short time I got up, and after looking around I saw the outlines of\nplantation houses in the distance. On going to them I found a\nresting-place in a fodder-loft, in the horse-lot of the plantation. I\nensconced myself in the fodder, when I again heard the infernal yelps of\nthe blood-hounds, and the more infernal yelps of the white pursuers\nurging the hounds after the poor runaway. The hounds soon after caught\nthe poor wretch, whose cries for mercy were heart-rending and piteous.\nMy situation was perilous; yet I had hopes that the other slave being\nrun down and caught would save me, from the fact that the hunters were\nnot aware of the presence of another runaway in the immediate\nneighborhood.\n\nThe day wore slowly away, and being very weak from hunger and fatigue I\nwas unable to gain that rest my wasted body required. I slept two or\nthree hours, however, and had ample time for reflection. The bridge\nwhere I had been so completely hemmed in the night before was impressed\ndeeply upon my memory; and the agony of mind while on the bridge was\nstill troubling me. I relied on a loving heavenly Father in my troubles\nand trials, and brought to my mind the condition of the children of\nIsrael when about to be overwhelmed by the hosts of Pharaoh on the shore\nof the Red Sea. God delivered them, and I believed he would deliver me.\nMy faith was strong.\n\nNight came at last, when I cautiously emerged from my hiding-place and\ncontinued my journey toward home. I ran and walked about twenty-five\nmiles, and did not find any familiar objects to lead me to suppose I was\nin the neighborhood of my master's plantation, when I began to look\nabout for a place of concealment in which to spend another weary and\nlonesome day. Walking slowly along, after a short time my attention was\nattracted by sounds as if some one was pounding a hard substance. On\nstopping and listening, I soon heard some person calling hogs. The\nvoice seemed familiar. Upon further investigation I began to recognize\nobjects, and soon ascertained that I was \"at home.\" Now that I had got\nback \"home,\" new troubles arose in my mind. I would be punished\nseverely, without doubt.\n\nInstead of going to \"the quarters\" I went directly to my master's\nplantation, in the hope that I could enlist my mistress in my behalf,\nand thus have the way made smooth for me. My master was not at home,\nfortunately, and my mistress heard my story and prayers for forgiveness.\nShe promised to intercede with my master for me, but that I must promise\nnot to run away again, which I did. She bade me to go and hide myself in\nthe stable loft, and not to leave there until she sent for me. Soon\nafter, my master came home. In conversation with him my mistress\nbroached the subject as to my whereabouts. He told her that he believed\nI had got to the free states and was lost to him; however, that if any\nof the slaves on the plantation knew where I was they should get me word\nthat if I would come back I should not be punished, and that I should be\nforgiven. In that case my mistress said she would insure my return\nspeedily.\n\nMatters were soon arranged, and I was re-instated in my former position\non the plantation. But severe trials were soon to overtake me, and what\nI had already gone through was but an atom in comparison with what I\nafterwards suffered from the hands of my master, and by reason of my\ncondition of slavery.\n\nThus ended my earlier experiences as a slave, from my earliest\nrecollection down to the time of my return to Thompson's plantation.\n\nI propose to continue this biography, and include the whole in book\nform. This pamphlet is printed for the purpose of enabling me to raise\nmoney to continue my work and paying for printing the whole in a book\nsubstantially and neatly bound.\n\nTo the friends of the colored race I appeal for help in this matter,\nhoping that sufficient interest is taken to insure the accumulation of\nsufficient funds for my purpose.\n\nThe remainder will contain my full experience as a minister of the\ngospel, and incidents relating to my efforts and the efforts of my\nco-workers in building up the church of Christ among the former slaves\nof the South, and such suggestions as I may deem proper to aid to raise\nthe standard of intelligence among negroes.","title":"Biography of a Slave, Being the Experiences of Rev. Charles Thompson, a Preacher of the United Brethren Church, While a Slave in the South.: Together with Startling Occurrences Incidental to Slave Life.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":21893}