He tried to find out something from everybody. He
learned to write by copying letters on fences and walls and challenging
his white playmates to find his mistakes; and at night, when no one
suspected him of being awake, he copied from an old copy-book of his
young friend Tommy. Before he had formulated any plans for freedom for
himself, he learned the important trick of writing "free passes" for
runaway slaves.
Notwithstanding his progress in gaining knowledge, his considerate
master and kind mistress, his loving companion in Tommy, his good home,
food, and clothes, he was not happy or contented. None of these things
could stifle his yearning to be free. He has aptly described his own
feelings at this time in speaking of Mrs. Auld: "Poor lady, she did not
understand my trouble, and I could not tell her. Nature made us
friends, but slavery made us enemies. She aimed to keep me ignorant,
but I resolved to know, although knowledge only increased my misery.
My feelings were not the result of any marked cruelty in the treatment
I received. It was slavery, not its mere incidents, I hated. Their
feeding and clothing me well could not atone for taking my liberty from
me.
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