But supposing it was otherwise; supposing they were provided for
with as much liberality as are the working classes at the North,
what is that when put into the balance with all the ills they suffer?
What comfort is it, when a wife is torn from her husband, or a mother
from her children, to know that each is to have enough to eat?
None at all. The most generous provision for the body can not satisfy
the longings of the heart, or compensate for its bereavements.
They suffer, also, a constant dread and fear of change,
which is not the least of their torturing troubles.
A kind owner may be taken away by death, and the new one be harsh
and cruel; or necessity may compel him to sell his slaves,
and thus they may be thrown into most unhappy situations.
So they live with a heavy cloud of sorrow always before them,
which their eyes can not look through or beyond. There is no hope--
no EARTHLY hope--for this poor, oppressed race.
Their minds, too, are starved. No education, not even the least,
is allowed. It is a criminal offense in some of the States to teach
a slave to read. Now, if they could be made to exist without any
consciousness of intellectual capacity, it would not be so bad.
But this is impossible.
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