Mr. Pond was very kind to all his servants, as he called them, and a more cheerful group could not be found in the state. It would have been well if the Rev. Robert Stamford and many of his congregation had imitated Mr. Pond in this respect, for his servants worked more faithfully, and were more trustworthy than any others in the vicinity.
There was one thing more that he should have done; he should have made out free papers for them, and let them go when they pleased.
When Lewis mentioned his wish to Sam Tyler, the old man was quite delighted with the honor done to his own literary talent. "But you see,"
said he, "I can tell ye what is a sight better; come over to Ma.s.sa Pond"s Sunday school. I"d "vise ye to ask Ma.s.sa Stamford, and then ye can come every Sunday."
Lewis had a notion that it would not be very easy to get his master"s permission, so the next Sunday he went without permission.
It was a right nice place for little folks and big ones too. Nearly all Mr. Pond"s servants were there punctually. It was held an hour, and Mr.
Pond himself, or one of his sons, was always there. He read the Bible, taught them verses from it, sung hymns with them, and of late, at their urgent solicitation, he had purchased some large cards with the letters and easy readings, and was teaching them all to read.
The first day that Lewis went he crept off very early, before his master was up, telling Aunt Sally where he was going, so that if he should be inquired for she could send Ned after him. Aunt Sally remonstrated, but it was of no avail; he was off, and she really loved him too well to betray him.
That day young master Pond was in the Sunday school, and he spoke very kindly to Lewis, commending his zeal, and asking him to come again. But when he told his father that one of Mr. Stamford"s boys was there, Mr.
Pond"s reply was that "this matter must be looked into."
Mr. Pond was there himself on the next Sunday, and though he spoke very kindly to the boy, yet he told him very decidedly that he must not come there without a written permission from his master. "Well, then, I can"t come at all, sir," said Lewis sorrowfully.
"Ask him, at any rate," was the reply. "I"d like to have you come very well; but I"m afraid he will think I want to steal one of his boys, if I allow you to come here without his consent."
It was with much fear that Lewis made known his wish to his master, and he was received, as he expected to be, with abuse.
"You would like to be a smart n.i.g.g.e.r, I suppose; one of the kind that talks saucy to his master and runs away. I"ll make you smart. I"m smart enough myself for all my n.i.g.g.e.rs; and if they want any more of the stuff, I"ll give them some of the right sort," said he with vulgar wit, as he laid his riding-whip about the shoulders of poor Lewis.
But when Mr. Stamford found that Lewis had already been to Mr. Pond"s Sunday school, he made a more serious matter of it, and the poor boy received his first severe flogging, twenty-five lashes on his bare back.
"I hope now," said Aunt Sally, while dressing his welted and wounded back with wet linen, "that you"ll give up that silly notion of your"n, that of learnin" to read. It"s of no use, and these "ere learned n.i.g.g.e.rs are always gettin" into trouble. I know ma.s.sa"d half kill one, if he had "im. Now, if you belonged to Ma.s.sa Pond "twould be different." And so she went on; but the more she talked the more firmly Lewis made up his mind that he would learn to read if he could, and the words of his mother came to his mind with authority: "If you"re going to be a free man you"ll want to know how to read."
About two months after this he paid another visit to Sam Tyler. Sam"s plot of ground and cabin was near the division line between the two farms, and Lewis took his time to go down there after dark. He asked Sam to teach him to read.
"I should think you"d got enough of that," said Sam. "I shouldn"t think it would pay."
"What would you take for what you know about readin"?" asked Lewis.
"Well, I can"t say as I"d like to sell it, but it would only be a plague to you so long as you belong to Ma.s.sa Stamford."
By dint of coaxing, however, Lewis succeeded in getting him to teach him the letters, taking the opportunity to go to him rainy nights, or when Mr. Stamford was away from home. That was the end of Sam"s help. He had an "idea in his head" that it was not good policy for him to do this without Ma.s.sa Stamford"s consent, after what Mr. Pond had said about Lewis"s coming to Sunday school. Sam was a cautious negro, not so warm-hearted and impulsive as the most of his race. He prided himself on being more like white folks.
Lewis was soon in trouble of another sort. He had found an old spelling-book, and Sam had shown him that the letters he had learned were to be put together to make words. Then, too, he managed to get a little time to himself every morning, by rising very early. So far so good, and his diligence was deserving of success, but the progress he made was very discouraging. C-a-n spelled sane, n-o-t spelled note, and g-o spelled jo. "I sane note jo;" what nonsense! and there was no one that could explain the matter intelligently. He perseveres bravely for a while, finding now and then a word that he could understand; but at last his book was gone from its hiding place; he knew not where to get another; and in short he was pretty much discouraged. These difficulties had cooled his ardor much more than the whip had done, and by degrees he settled down into a state of despondency and indifference that Mr.
Stamford would have considered a matter of the deepest regret, had it befallen one of his own children.
Years pa.s.sed on--long, dreary, cheerless years. Lewis was now a boy of seventeen, rather intelligent in appearance, but melancholy, and not very hearty. In spite of repeated thinnings out by sales at different times to the traders, the number of Mr. Stamford"s slaves had greatly increased, and now the time came when they must all be disposed of. He had accepted a call from a distant village, and must necessarily break up his farming establishment.
It was a sad sight to see these poor people, who had lived together so long, put up at auction and bid off to persons that had come from many different places. Here goes the father of a family in one direction, the mother in another, and the children all scattered hither and thither.
And then it was heartrending to witness their brief partings. Bad as had been their lot with Mr. Stamford, they would far sooner stay with him than be separated from those of their fellow-slaves whom they loved.
A lot at a time were put up in a row, and one after another was called upon the block, and after a few bids was handed over to a new master, to be taken wherever he might choose.
Ned and Jim and Lewis stood side by side in one of those rows. Ned had grown up to be a fine sprightly lad, and the bidding for him was lively.
He was struck down to a Southern trader. Lewis listened despondently while the bidding for Jim was going on, expecting every moment to hear his own name called, when suddenly a strong hand was laid upon his shoulder from behind, and he was drawn from the row. After a thorough examination by a strange gentleman, in company with his master, he was bid to step aside. From some words that he heard pa.s.s between them, he understood that he had been sold at private sale, bartered off for a pair of carriage-horses.
The animals, a pair of handsome bays, were standing near by, and he turned to look at them. "Suppose they were black," said he to himself, "would they be any meaner, less powerful, less valuable, less spirited?
I do not see that color makes much difference with animals, why should it make so much difference among men? Who made the white men masters over us?" He thought long and deeply, but there came no answer.
"Then, too, they are larger than I am, and there are two of them! What makes the difference that I should be higher priced? Ah, I have a _mind_, and it"s my mind that they have sold," he added, with a sudden gleam of thought. "And what have I of my own? Nothing! They buy, and sell, and control soul and mind and body."
Lewis had yet to learn that even the poor slave may with all his soul believe on Jesus, and no master on earth could hinder him. Mr. Stamford had never given his slaves any religious teachings, and perhaps it was just as well that _he_ did not attempt anything of that kind, for he is said to have taught his white congregation that it was no more harm to separate a family of slaves than a litter of pigs. His new master, whose name was Johns, lived about thirty miles distant, and nearly as much as that nearer the boundary line between Ohio and Kentucky, an item which the boy noticed with much satisfaction. On their way home Mr. Johns took special pains to impress on the mind of his new property the fact, that the condition of his being well treated in his new home would be his good behavior. "It"s of no use," he says, "for my boys to go to showing off airs, and setting themselves up. I can"t stand that. But if they are quiet and industrious, I give them as good allowances and as good quarters as anybody."
What Mr. Johns called good behavior in servants, was their doing promptly and precisely just as he told them to, without venturing to think for themselves anything about it. If any of them did venture an opinion before him he shut them up with a cut of the whip or a sharp word, so that the utmost extent of their conversation in his presence was a strict answer to his questions, and "Yes, ma.s.sa," in reply to his commands.
Lewis was destined to a.s.sist in the garden. Mr. Johns was very fond of horticulture, but to have had his head gardener a slave, would have involved the necessity of talking with him, and consulting him too much to consist with his views of propriety. The slaves of families in the far South are not usually treated in this manner, but Mr. Johns was by birth an Englishman. The gardener, then, was a free white man named Spencer, and Lewis found him a very pleasant master. It was not difficult for him to find his way into his good graces, so that Lewis did not suffer so much by the change as he expected. His heart was already hardened by the loss of so many friends, that he took this with unexpected indifference. But he did miss his brother Ned. More than once, in his dreams, did he hear him crying for help; but after a while he heard, through a fellow-slave, that Ned was serving as waiter in a hotel at Louisville. This was the last he ever heard of him.
Besides this, Lewis loved his new work. It was so delightful to see the shrubs, and trees, and plants flourish, and the flowers putting forth their gorgeous displays; and Spencer"s kindness made the heaviest work seem light. It is very easy to serve a man that governs by kindness, but Lewis thought it would be much harder to serve Spencer if he had felt that he was his _owner_.
One morning, going earlier than usual to the garden, he found Miss Ford there, the governess of the children. She was promenading one of the wide alleys, and pensively reading a favorite author. This occurred morning after morning, and Lewis thought he would be so glad if she would only spend a few minutes teaching him to read! He knew that she was from the free states, where they did not keep slaves, and he thought, perhaps, if she knew his desire to read she would help him. But morning after morning pa.s.sed, and she seemed to take very little notice of him. Finally, he one day observed her looking at a beautiful magnolia blossom, the first that had come out. It was quite on the top of the tree. She evidently wanted it, and Lewis drew near, hoping that she would ask him to get it for her, and so she did. Lewis was delighted, she thanked him so kindly. After this he found occasion to say: "I think missus must be very happy, she can read."
The lady looked surprised, and then pitiful. "And would you like to read?"
"Indeed, there is nothing in this world would make me more happy," said Lewis.
"It is a pity so simple a wish cannot be gratified," said she to herself. "Perhaps I could find time; if I thought so I might rise a little earlier. Could you come here by sunrise every morning?"
"O yes, missus, indeed I could."
"Come, then, to-morrow morning."
That was a happy day for Lewis. His first lesson was quite a success. He had not forgotten all his letters. After this he went on prosperously, having a half hour lesson every fair morning.
Lewis studied very hard, and made excellent progress. The difficulties that formerly troubled him now disappeared, for he had a teacher whom he could consult upon every word. Miss Ford gave him a few pence to buy candles with, and all his evenings were spent in a.s.siduous devotion to his new task.
The thoughts of his new acquisitions made him so happy that he worked more diligently, and appeared far more cheerful than formerly. Mr. Johns observed it, and remarked that the boy had turned out "a better bargain than he expected."
When it was known in the house that Miss Ford was teaching Lewis, there was some consultation about it, and Mr. Johns approached the lady with a long face, to talk the matter over. However, she had altogether the advantage of him, for she laughed most uncontrollably at his concern, a.s.sured him that this was her intellectual play, and that she enjoyed the matter very much as she would teaching tricks to a parrot or monkey.
"Surely, now, you would not deprive me of such an innocent amus.e.m.e.nt,"
said she, with mock lamentation.
"No; but my dear Miss Ford," said the gentleman, trying to appear serious, "it is not best for these people to know too much."
"O, that is too good!" she replied, with a laugh. "Do you expect him to rival a Henry Clay or an Andrew Jackson?" and then she went on telling some such funny mistakes and ludicrous blunders of the boy, that Mr.
Johns could resist no longer, and he joined in the laugh. There was evidently no such thing as pinning her fast to serious reasoning on the subject, and as she stood very high in Mr. John"s good graces, he concluded he might about as well let her do as she liked.
She had been a long time in the family, and as they had seen no ultra-abolition traits, they thought her "sound at heart" on that subject. And so she was; for had she known the true situation of the slaves, all the better feelings of her n.o.ble soul would have risen up in rebellion against the groundwork of the abominable "inst.i.tution." But as the slaves were kept very much apart from the family, and by their master"s peculiar training had very little to say when they did make their appearance, she had very little opportunity to study the workings of the system, if she had been disposed to do so, and very little to excite her curiosity about it.
As Lewis by degrees gained the good opinion of his teacher, and flattered her by his rapid progress, so she gradually became interested in his early history, and especially in his early failures in learning to read. She was quite indignant at the opposition he had experienced, and her expressions of surprise at the treatment he received, led him to tell of greater cruelties that he had seen practised on others, and so on to the story of his mother. She took a deep interest in all his details, and he was never at a loss for something to tell.
Could it be that slavery was so bad, that she was surrounded by these suffering creatures, and was doing nothing for them? She made inquiries of others prudently, and found that it was even so, and more too; that even she herself was not at liberty to speak out her sentiments about it. But she could think, and she did think. The great law of human, G.o.d-given _right_ came up before her, and she acknowledged it. These poor creatures had a right to their own personal freedom, and she thought it would be doing G.o.d and humanity a service if she could help them to obtain that freedom. She did not know that in doing thus she would be sinning against the laws of her country, (!) and perhaps she would not have cared much if she had, for she was one of those independent souls that dare to acknowledge the law of right.
For months were these convictions gaining strength, but no opportunity occurred to a.s.sist any of them. Meanwhile she grew pensive and silent, oppressed by the helpless misery which she saw around her on every side.