""Judy, you have become dissatisfied with me, and I have got you a new master."
"Judy was frightened, and attempted to run, but one of them caught her, and dragging her to a trap door, let her down. Little Charley, not knowing what had become of his mother, began to cry, but one of the men held him and told him to stop making such a noise.
"Judy remained in the cellar until a vessel came along, and she was then taken out, and a handkerchief tied tightly over her mouth to prevent her from screaming or making any noise. She was then hurried on board of the boat, with a cargo of slaves bound for the far South. It seemed now as if her "cup of bitterness was full." As she was on the deck, in grief and terror, she heard some one calling "Mother! mother!" and on looking up, there was her darling boy. She asked him how he came there; he answered:
""A naughty man that put you down in the cellar carried me to his house, and locked me up, and then brought me here."
[Ill.u.s.tration: WAITING TO BE SOLD.]
"Poor Judy! she knew in a moment that both were to be sold, and no language can describe her anguish; her free papers were left behind, and another one of her children, her little daughter f.a.n.n.y. She did not know what would become of her, or where she was going. After sailing for several weeks, they arrived at a place which she thinks was called Vicksburg; here they were taken off the boat, and carried to the auction rooms, where a sale was then going on. In a little while after they came in, a gentleman walked up to them, and after looking at little Charley, placed him on the block. Poor Judy"s heart was almost bursting; but when she saw a man buy and carry away the pride and joy of her heart, she became frantic, and screamed after him, but he was picked up and carried from her sight. It was too much for her; all was a mist in a moment, and she sank senseless to the floor. When she revived she found herself lying on an old pile of cotton in one corner of the auction rooms. The auctioneer, seeing that she had arisen, bade her stand in the pen, along with the other negroes. Judy mechanically obeyed, and took her place with the others, and was sitting like one in a dream, when she was aroused by a man slapping her on the back.
""Come, look spry, old woman," said he.
""Could you look spry, ma.s.sa, if your child, your son you loved as well as your life, was torn away from you? O G.o.d!" said she, burying her face in her hands, "have mercy on me, and help me to be resigned."
""Yes, I"ll make you resigned," said he, sneeringly, slapping her across the back. "Now you follow me, and don"t let me hear a word out of your head."
"Judy obeyed, and after arriving at the wharf, they went on board a vessel that was bound for New Orleans. In about a week after they had started, they arrived at Mr. Martin"s plantation, where Judy saw about one hundred and fifty slaves at work in the field. Without being allowed a moment to rest herself, after her long walk from the boat, she was given a basket and ordered to the field. Poor Judy"s head was aching severely, and when she was exposed to the scorching rays of the sun of the south, her temples throbbed wildly, and O! how she longed for some quiet shady place, where she could bathe her fevered brow and rest her weary limbs. But she must not think of stopping a moment to rest, for the eyes of the brutal overseer were upon her, and the thought of the stinging lash, the smart and pain, came across her mind, and urged her on, and made her work with greater swiftness than before. At last the weary, weary day drew to a close, and it was getting quite dark, and the dew was beginning to fall, and Judy was expecting every moment to hear the order for them to return home. But still they worked on, and hour after hour pa.s.sed, until it was almost midnight, and not till then did the joyful summons come for them to stop."
"Why, mamma, do they make them work so late as that?" asked Cornelia.
"Yes, my daughter, in the busy season the poor slaves are often kept out very late. After they had received the order to return home, Judy, with aching limbs, joined the other slaves who were wearily wending their way to the little out-house where the overseer was weighing their cotton. As they presented their baskets to be weighed, they watched eagerly to see if their baskets were approved of. Judy gladly heard that hers was the full weight, and after ascertaining where she was to sleep, and receiving her allowance of corn, she went to the shed pointed out to her. She made her cakes for her supper and for the next morning, and then laid down upon her bed, or rather on a pile of straw with an old piece of sheet spread over it. Judy was much exhausted, and soon fell asleep, notwithstanding the roughness of her bed. But it seemed as though she had scarcely closed her eyes before the plantation bell rang, and called them to another weary day"s work.
"Thus many, many months pa.s.sed, of toiling from day to day, and from morning till night. One morning they saw one of the house servants running toward them; he told them that their master was dead. He had died suddenly from a fit of appoplexy. The tidings were received by Judy with joy. You must pardon her, my children, for this man had been a cruel master to her, and she thought that, as he had neither wife nor children, his slaves would be sold, and perhaps she would get farther north, and in the neighborhood of her old home, and might meet with some of her old friends who would prove that she was free.
"A few days after Mr. Martin"s funeral there was a meeting of his heirs, and they determined to sell the slaves. Accordingly the next morning they were marched down to the wharf, where they found a boat at anchor, and all went on board. We will pa.s.s over the wearisome trip of several days, and imagine them to be at the end of their journey at Memphis.
Here they were taken off the boat, and placed in jail until auction day.
In a few days they were again taken out and tied in couples, and taken to the auction. Judy was sitting very disconsolate, thinking of her past misfortunes and coming sorrows. The hope of seeing any of her old friends, or of being reunited with her children, she had almost given up. The auctioneer called to her, and she stepped on the block. Her strong and well-proportioned figure, and comely, though dejected and sad appearance, instantly raised a dozen bids. First here, now there, might be heard the voice of the compet.i.tors; the noise of the hammer ceased, and Judy was the property of Mr. Carter. After his purchase Mr. Carter was taking Judy to the boat, when she felt some one catching hold of her arm; she turned around and immediately recognized the person as a gentleman whom she had known while living with Mrs. Madison"s daughter.
He said to her:
""Why, Judy, where are you going?"
"She answered in a kind of wicked despair:
""To h.e.l.l, I believe."
"This gentleman inquired about her condition, and finally rescued her, and sent her to Vincennes, where she labored for many years and found some good friends, but she never felt safe after she had been stolen away from there. She made inquiries about her children, but never learned anything of them. Not having anything to attach her to Vincennes, she left and came to Terra Haute, where she resided a little while, and then came further into the interior of the state.
"Her children are scattered, and gone she knows not where; and after a long life of toil and suffering she is here, old, infirm, and a beggar.
Every wrinkle on her brow could tell a tale of suffering; her youth is gone; her energies are all spent, and her long life of toil has been for naught."
Mrs. Ford ceased, her tears were falling fast, and the children were sobbing around her. The fire, from neglect, had gone out, and there were only a few smoking embers left in the fire-place, reminding them of the time that had been spent in hearing "AUNT JUDY"S STORY."
[Ill.u.s.tration: AUNT JUDY.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: "ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"]
"ME NEBER GIB IT UP!"
"Please, ma.s.sa, teach me to read!" said an aged negro one day to a missionary in the West Indies.
The missionary said he would do so, and the negro became his scholar.
But. the poor old man, trained in ignorance through threescore years, found it difficult to learn. He tried hard, but made little progress.
One day the missionary said:
"Had you not better give it up?"
"No, ma.s.sa," said the negro, with the energy of a n.o.ble nature, "me neber gib it up till me die!"
He then pointed to these beautiful words in his Testament: "G.o.d so loved the world that he gave his only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "There," he added, with deep feeling, "it is worth all de labor to be able to read _dat one single verse_!"
n.o.ble, G.o.dly old man! Though once a slave he had a freeman"s soul, and richly merited that freedom which England so righteously gave to her West Indian slaves some years ago. Let us hope the time is not far distant in which the colored people of our own happy land will also all be free, all able to read the Bible, all possess that soul freedom with which Christ makes his disciples free. G.o.d has many dear children among the slaves, many of whom feel that slavery is worse than death. May he in his wisdom provide for their early deliverance from the terrible yoke which is about their necks!
THE END.
18 April, 1860