My Bondage and My Freedom The Givens Collection

by Douglass, Frederick; Wright, John S.

• ISBN13: 9780743460590
• ISBN10: 0743460596
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-27
• Publisher: Washington Square Press

Summary

My Bondage and My Freedomis the second of three published autobiographies from one of the most brilliant and eloquent abolitionists and human rights activists in American history.The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slavewas published ten years before in 1845, whileThe Life and Times of Frederick Douglasswas published twenty-five years later.

Author Biography

Frederick Douglass was born a slave and escaped to freedom in his twenties. My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) was written after he had established himself as a newspaper editor. In this book, Douglass expands upon his previous accounts of his years as a slave. With great psychological penetration, he probes the long-term and corrosive effects of slavery and comments upon his active resistance to the segregation he encounters in the North.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface	p. 1
Introduction	p. 5
Life as a Slave
The Author's Childhood
Place of Birth	p. 21
Character of the District	p. 21
Time of Birth--My Grandparents	p. 21
Character of My Grandmother	p. 23
The Log Cabin--Its Charms	p. 23
First Knowledge of Being a Slave	p. 24
Old Master--Griefs and Joys of Childhood	p. 25
Comparative Happiness of the Slave-Boy and His White Brother	p. 25
The Author Removed from His First Home
The Name "Old Master" a Terror	p. 29
Home Attractions--Dread of Being Removed from Tuckahoe	p. 30
The Journey to Col. Lloyd's Plantation	p. 31
Scene on Reaching Old Master's	p. 32
First Meeting with My Brothers and Sisters	p. 32
Departure of Grandmother--Author's Grief	p. 33
The Author's Parentage
Author's Father Shrouded in Mystery	p. 35
My Mother--Her Personal Appearance	p. 36
Her Situation--Visits to Her Boy	p. 37
Cruelty of "Aunt Katy"--Threatened Starvation	p. 38
My Mother's Interference	p. 39
Her Death	p. 39
Her Love of Knowledge	p. 40
Penalty for Having a White Father	p. 40
A General Survey of the Slave Plantation
Slaveholding Cruelty Restrained by Public Opinion	p. 43
Isolation of Lloyd's Plantation	p. 44
Beyond the Reach of Public Opinion	p. 45
Religion and Politics Alike Excluded	p. 45
Natural and Artificial Charms of the Place	p. 46
The "Great House"	p. 47
Etiquette among Slaves	p. 49
The Comic Slave-Doctor	p. 50
Praying and Flogging	p. 50
Business of Old Master	p. 52
Sufferings from Hunger	p. 53
Jargon of the Plantation	p. 54
Family of Col. Lloyd--Mas' Daniel	p. 55
Family of Old Master--Social Position	p. 55
Gradual Initiation into the Mysteries of Slavery
Growing Acquaintance with Old Master--His Character	p. 57
Evils of Unrestrained Passion--A Man of Trouble	p. 58
Supposed Obtuseness of Slave-Children	p. 58
Brutal Outrage on My Aunt Milly by a Drunken Overseer	p. 59
Slaveholders' Impatience at Appeals Against Cruelty	p. 59
Wisdom of Appealing to Superiors	p. 60
Attempt to Break Up a Courtship	p. 62
Slavery Destroys All Incentives to a Virtuous Life	p. 62
A Harrowing Scene	p. 63
Treatment of Slaves on Lloyd's Plantation
The Author's Early Reflections on Slavery	p. 65
Conclusions at Which he Arrived	p. 65
Presentiment of One Day Being a Freeman	p. 66
Combat Between an Overseer and a Slave-Woman	p. 67
Nelly's Noble Resistance	p. 68
Advantages of Resistance	p. 69
Mr. Sevier, the Brutal Overseer, and His Successors	p. 70
Allowance-Day on the Home Plantation	p. 70
The Singing of the Slaves No Proof of Contentment	p. 71
Food and Clothing of the Slaves	p. 73
Naked Children	p. 74
Nursing Children Carried to the Field	p. 75
Description of the Cowskin	p. 75
Manner of Making the Ash Cake--The Dinner Hour	p. 75
Contrast at the Great House	p. 77
Life in the Great House
Comfort and Luxuries--Elaborate Expenditure	p. 79
Men and Maid Servants--Black Aristocracy	p. 81
Stable and Carriage House	p. 81
Deceptive Character of Slavery	p. 82
Slaves and Slaveholders Alike Unhappy	p. 82
Fretfulness and Capriciousness of Slaveholders	p. 82
Whipping of Old Barney by Col. Lloyd	p. 83
William Wilks, a Supposed Son of Col. Lloyd	p. 84
Curious Incident--Penalty of Telling the Truth	p. 86
Preference of Slaves for Rich Masters	p. 87
A Chapter of Horrors
Austin Gore--Sketch of His Character	p. 89
Absolute Power of Overseers	p. 90
Murder of Denby--How It Occurred	p. 91
How Gore Made Peace with Col. Lloyd	p. 92
Murder of a Slave-Girl by Mrs. Hicks	p. 93
No Laws for the Protection of Slaves Can Be Enforced	p. 95
Personal Treatment of the Author
Miss Lucretia Auld--Her Kindness	p. 97
A Battle with "Ike," and Its Consequences	p. 98
Beams of Sunlight	p. 99
Suffering from Cold--How We Took Our Meals	p. 99
Orders to Prepare to Go to Baltimore--Extraordinary Cleansing	p. 100
Cousin Tom's Description of Baltimore	p. 101
The Journey	p. 102
Arrival at Baltimore	p. 103
Kindness of My New Mistress--Little Tommy	p. 103
A Turning Point in My History	p. 104
Life in Baltimore
City Annoyances--Plantation Regrets	p. 105
My Improved Condition	p. 105
Character of My New Master, Hugh Auld	p. 106
My Occupation--Increased Sensitiveness	p. 107
Commencement of Learning to Read--Why Discontinued	p. 108
Master Hugh's Exposition of the True Philosophy of Slavery	p. 108
Increased Determination to Learn	p. 109
Contrast between City and Plantation Slaves	p. 110
Mrs. Hamilton's Brutal Treatment of Her Slaves	p. 110
"A Change Came o'er the Spirit of my Dream."
Knowledge Acquired by Stealth	p. 113
My Mistress--Her Slaveholding Duties	p. 113
Deplorable Effects on Her Character	p. 114
How I Pursued My Education--My Tutors	p. 116
My Deliberations on the Character of Slavery	p. 116
The Columbian Orator and Its Lessons	p. 117
Speeches of Chatham, Sheridan, Pitt, and Fox	p. 118
Knowledge Ever Increasing--My Eyes Opened	p. 119
How I Pined for Liberty	p. 120
Dissatisfaction of My Poor Mistress	p. 120
Religious Nature Awakened
Abolitionists Spoken of	p. 123
Eagerness to Know What the Word Meant	p. 123
The Enigma Solved--Turner's Insurrection	p. 125
First Awakened on the Subject of Religion	p. 125
My Friend Lawson--His Character and Occupation	p. 126
Comfort Derived from His Teaching	p. 126
New Hopes and Aspirations	p. 127
The Irishmen on the Wharf--Their Sympathy	p. 128
How I Learned to Write	p. 128
The Vicissitudes of Slave Life
Death of Young Master Richard	p. 131
Author's Presence Required at the Division of Old Master's Property	p. 132
Attachment of Slaves to Their Homes	p. 133
Sad Prospects and Grief	p. 133
General Dread of Master Andrew--His Cruelty	p. 134
Return to Baltimore--Death of Mistress Lucretia	p. 135
My Poor Old Grandmother--Her Sad Fate	p. 136
Second Marriage of Master Thomas	p. 137
Again Removed from Master Hugh's	p. 137
Regrets at Leaving Baltimore	p. 138
A Plan of Escape Entertained	p. 139
Experience in St. Michael's
The Village and Its Inhabitants	p. 141
Meteoric Phenomena--Author's Impressions	p. 141
Character of My New Master and Mistress	p. 142
Allowance of Food--Sufferings from Hunger	p. 143
Stealing and Its Vindication	p. 144
A New Profession of Faith	p. 145
Morality of Free Society Has No Application to Slave Society	p. 145
Southern Camp-Meeting--Master Thomas Professes Conversion	p. 147
Hopes and Suspicions	p. 148
The Result--Faith and Works Entirely at Variance	p. 148
No More Meal Brought from the Mill--Methodist Preachers	p. 149
Their Utter Disregard of the Slaves--An Exception	p. 150
A Sabbath School Instituted	p. 151
How Broken Up and by Whom	p. 152
Cruel Treatment of Cousin Henny by Master Thomas	p. 152
Differences with Master Thomas, and the Consequences	p. 153
Edward Covey--His Character	p. 154
Covey, the Negro Breaker
Journey to My New Master's	p. 155
Meditations by the Way	p. 155
View of Covey's Residence--The Family	p. 156
Awkwardness as a Field Hand	p. 157
First Adventure at Ox Driving	p. 157
Unruly Animals--Hair-Breadth Escapes	p. 159
Oxen and Men--Points of Similarity	p. 160
Sent Back to the Woods	p. 161
Covey's Manner of Proceeding to Whip	p. 161
His Cunning and Trickery--Severe Labor	p. 162
Family Worship	p. 163
Shocking Contempt for Chastity--An Illustration	p. 164
Author Broken Down--His Only Leisure Time	p. 165
Freedom of the Ships and His Own Slavery Contrasted	p. 165
Anguish beyond Description	p. 167
Another Pressure of the Tyrant's Vice
Experience at Covey's Summed Up	p. 169
Scene in the Treading Yard	p. 170
Author Taken Ill	p. 170
Unusual Brutality of Covey	p. 171
Escape to St. Michael's--Suffering in the Woods	p. 172
The Case Prejudged--Driven Back to Covey's	p. 174
Circumstances Narrated to Master Thomas--His Bearing	p. 175
The Last Flogging
A Sleepless Night--Return to Covey's	p. 177
His Conduct--Again Escape to the Woods	p. 178
Deplorable Spectacle--Night in the Woods	p. 178
An Alarm--A Friend, Not an Enemy	p. 179
Sandy's Hospitality--The Ash Cake Supper	p. 180
A Conjuror--His Advice--The Magic Root	p. 180
Want of Faith--The Talisman Accepted	p. 181
Meeting with Covey--His Sunday Face	p. 182
His Manner on Monday--A Defensive Resolve	p. 182
A Rough and Tumble Fight	p. 183
Unexpected Resistance	p. 184
Covey's Ineffectual Commands for Assistance	p. 184
The Victory and its Results	p. 186
Effects upon My Own Character	p. 186
New Relations and Duties
Change of Masters--Resolve to Fight My Way	p. 189
Ability to Read a Cause of Prejudice	p. 190
Manner of Spending the Holidays	p. 190
The Effects--Sharp Hit at Slavery	p. 191
A Device of Slavery	p. 192
Difference between Master Freeland and Covey	p. 194
An Irreligious Master Preferred--The Reasons Why	p. 195
The Reverend Rigby Hopkins	p. 195
Catalogue of Floggable Offenses	p. 196
Rivalry among Slaves Encouraged	p. 197
Improved Condition at Freeland's	p. 198
Reasons for Continued Discontent	p. 198
Congenial Society--The Sabbath School	p. 199
Its Members--Necessity for Secrecy	p. 200
Affectionate Relations of Master and Pupils	p. 202
Confidence and Friendship among Slaves	p. 202
Slavery the Inviter of Vengeance	p. 202
The Run-Away Plot
New Year's Thoughts and Reflections	p. 205
Again Hired by Freeland	p. 206
Still Devising Plans for Gaining Freedom	p. 206
A Solemn Vow--Plan Divulged to the Slaves	p. 207
Arguments in Its Support--The Scheme Gains Favor	p. 208
Danger of Discovery--Difficulty of Concealment	p. 209
Skill of Slaveholders--Suspicion and Coercion	p. 209
Hymns with a Double Meaning	p. 210
Author's Confederates--His Influence over Them	p. 211
Preliminary Consultations--Pass-Words	p. 212
Conflict of Hopes and Fears--Ignorance of Geography	p. 212
Survey of Imaginary Difficulties	p. 213
Effect upon Our Minds	p. 213
Sandy Becomes a Dreamer	p. 215
Route to the North Laid Out--Objections Considered	p. 215
Frauds Practiced on Freeman--Passes Written	p. 216
Anxieties as the Time Drew Near	p. 217
Appeals to Comrades--A Presentiment	p. 218
The Betrayal Discovered	p. 218
Manner of Arresting Us	p. 219
Resistance Made by Henry Harris--Its Effects	p. 220
Unique Speech of Mrs. Freeland	p. 222
Our Sad Procession to Easton	p. 222
Passes Eaten--The Examination at St. Michael's	p. 223
No Evidence Produced--Who Was the Betrayer?	p. 224
Dragged Behind Horses--The Jail a Relief	p. 224
A New Set of Tormentors	p. 225
Release of My Companions	p. 226
Author Taken Out of Prison and Sent to Baltimore	p. 227
Apprenticeship Life
Nothing Lost by the Attempt to Run Away	p. 229
Reasons for Sending the Author Away	p. 230
Unlooked for Clemency in Master Thomas	p. 230
Return to Baltimore--Change in Little Tommy	p. 231
Trials in Gardiner's Ship Yard	p. 231
Desperate Fight with the White Apprentices	p. 233
Conflict between White and Black Labor	p. 233
Description of the Outrage	p. 235
Conduct of Master Hugh	p. 237
Testimony of a Colored Man Nothing	p. 238
Spirit of Slavery in Baltimore	p. 238
Author's Condition Improves	p. 239
New Associates--Benefits Derived Therefrom	p. 240
How to Make a Contented Slave	p. 240
My Escape from Slavery
Manner of Escape Not Given--Reasons why	p. 243
Craftiness and Malice of Slaveholders	p. 243
Want of Wisdom in Publishing Details of Escape	p. 244
Suspicions Implied by Master Hugh's Manner	p. 246
Difficulty of Escape--Discontent	p. 247
Author Allowed to Hire His Time	p. 247
A Gleam of Hope--Hard Terms	p. 248
Author Attends Camp Meeting without Permission	p. 249
Anger of Master Hugh Thereat	p. 249
Plans of Escape Accelerated Thereby	p. 250
Painful Thoughts of Separation from Friends	p. 252
The Attempt Made--Its Success	p. 252
Life as a Freeman
Liberty Attained
Author a Wanderer in New York--Feelings on Reaching That City	p. 253
An Old Acquaintance Met	p. 254
Unfavorable Impressions--Loneliness and Insecurity	p. 255
Apology for Slaves Who Return to Their Masters	p. 255
Make Known My Condition--David Ruggles	p. 257
Author's Marriage--Removal to New Bedford	p. 257
Kindness of Nathan Johnson--Change of Name	p. 257
Dark Notions of Northern Civilization Enlightened	p. 259
Contrast between the North and the South	p. 260
Colored People in New Bedford	p. 261
An Incident Illustrating Their Spirit	p. 261
The Author Finds Employment	p. 262
Denied Work at His Trade	p. 263
The First Winter at the North	p. 263
Proscription in the Church	p. 264
An Incident at the Communion Table	p. 265
First Acquaintance with the Liberator	p. 266
Character of Its Editor	p. 267
Prompt Attendance at Anti-Slavery Meetings	p. 267
Introduced to the Abolitionists
Anti-Slavery Convention at Nantucket	p. 269
Author's First Speech	p. 269
Becomes a Public Lecturer	p. 270
Youthful Enthusiasm	p. 271
Difficulties in His Position	p. 271
His Fugitive Slaveship Doubted	p. 272
Publishes His Narrative--Danger of Recapture	p. 273
Advised Not to Publish His Story	p. 274
Twenty-one Months in Great Britain
Good Arising Out of Unpropitious Events	p. 275
Embarks for England--Denied Cabin Passage	p. 275
Mob on Board the Cambria--Happy Introduction to the British Public	p. 276
Letter to Mr. Garrison	p. 277
"We Don't Allow Niggers in Here"	p. 280
Time and Labors Abroad	p. 282
Freedom Purchased--Free Papers	p. 283
Abolitionists Displeased with the Ransom	p. 283
How the Author's Energies Were Directed in Great Britain	p. 284
Reception Speech in Finsbury Chapel, London	p. 284
Character of the Speech Defended	p. 285
Causes Contributing to My Success	p. 286
The Free Church of Scotland--Its Position	p. 287
Agitation of the Slavery Question	p. 288
Debates in the General Assembly--"Send Back the Money"	p. 288
Dr. Cunningham's Speech--A Striking Incident	p. 290
The World's Temperance Convention--Collision with Dr. Cox	p. 292
Proposed Testimonial to the Author	p. 292
Project of Establishing a Newspaper	p. 293
Return to America--Again Denied Cabin Passage	p. 294
Various Incidents
Unexpected Opposition to My Newspaper Enterprise	p. 298
The Objections to It--Their Plausibility Admitted	p. 298
Motives for Going to Rochester	p. 299
A Change of Opinions--Causes Leading to It	p. 300
Prejudice Against Color--The "Jim Crow Car"	p. 302
An Amusing Domestic Scene	p. 303
The Author in High Company	p. 305
Elevation of the Free People of Color--Pledge for the Future	p. 306
Containing Extracts from Speeches, Etc.
Reception Speech at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England	p. 309
Dr. Campbell's Reply	p. 321
Letter to His Old Master	p. 323
The Nature of Slavery	p. 331
Inhumanity of Slavery	p. 337
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?	p. 343
The Internal Slave Trade	p. 348
The Slavery Party	p. 353
The Anti-Slavery Movement	p. 359
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Chapter One

Life as a Slave.

The Author's Childhood.

PLACE OF BIRTH -- CHARACTER OF THE DISTRICT -- TUCKAHOE -- ORIGIN OF THE NAME -- CHOPTANK RIVER -- TIME OF BIRTH -- GENEALOGICAL TREES -- MODE OF COUNTING TIME -- NAMES OF GRANDPARENTS -- THEIR POSITION -- GRANDMOTHER ESPECIALLY ESTEEMED -- "BORN TO GOOD LUCK" -- SWEET POTATOES -- SUPERSTITION -- THE LOG CABIN -- ITS CHARMS -- SEPARATING CHILDREN -- AUTHOR'S AUNTS -- THEIR NAMES -- FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF BEING A SLAVE -- "OLD MASTER" -- GRIEFS AND JOYS OF CHILDHOOD -- COMPARATIVE HAPPINESS OF THE SLAVE-BOY AND THE SON OF A SLAVEHOLDER.

In Talbot county, Eastern Shore, Maryland, near Easton, the county town of that county, there is a small district of country, thinly populated, and remarkable for nothing that I know of more than for the worn-out, sandy, desert-like appearance of its soil, the general dilapidation of its farms and fences, the indigent and spiritless character of its inhabitants, and the prevalence of ague and fever.

The name of this singularly unpromising and truly famine stricken district is Tuckahoe, a name well known to all Marylanders, black and white. It was given to this section of country probably, at the first, merely in derision; or it may possibly have been applied to it, as I have heard, because some one of its earlier inhabitants had been guilty of the petty meanness of stealing a hoe -- or taking a hoe -- that did not belong to him. Eastern Shore men usually pronounce the wordtook,astuck;Took-a-hoe,therefore, is, in Maryland parlance,Tuckahoe.But, whatever may have been its origin -- and about this I will not be positive -- that name has stuck to the district in question; and it is seldom mentioned but with contempt and derision, on account of the barrenness of its soil, and the ignorance, indolence, and poverty of its people. Decay and ruin are everywhere visible, and the thin population of the place would have quitted it long ago, but for the Choptank river, which runs through it, from which they take abundance of shad and herring, and plenty of ague and fever.

It was in this dull, flat, and unthrifty district, or neighborhood, surrounded by a white population of the lowest order, indolent and drunken to a proverb, and among slaves, who seemed to ask,"Oh! what's the use?"every time they lifted a hoe, that I -- without any fault of mine -- was born, and spent the first years of my childhood.

The reader will pardon so much about the place of my birth, on the score that it is always a fact of some importance to know where a man is born, if, indeed, it be important to know anything about him. In regard to the time of my birth, I cannot be as definite as I have been respecting theplace.Nor, indeed, can I impart much knowledge concerning my parents. Genealogical trees do not flourish among slaves. A person of some consequence here in the north, sometimes designatedfather,is literally abolished in slave law and slave practice. It is only once in a while that an exception is found to this statement. I never met with a slave who could tell me how old he was. Few slave-mothers know anything of the months of the year, nor of the days of the month. They keep no family records, with marriages, births, and deaths. They measure the ages of their children by spring time, winter time, harvest time, planting time, and the like; but these soon become undistinguishable and forgotten. Like other slaves, I cannot tell how old I am. This destitution was among my earliest troubles. I learned when I grew up, that my master -- and this is the case with masters generally -- allowed no questions to be put to him, by which a slave might learn his age. Such questions are deemed evidence of impatience, and even of impudent curiosity. From certain events, however, the dates of which I have since learned, I suppose myself to have been born about the year 1817.

The first experience of life with me that I now remember -- and I remember it but hazily -- began in the family of my grandmother and grandfather, Betsey and Isaac Baily. They were quite advanced in life, and had long lived on the spot where they then resided. They were considered old settlers in the neighborhood and, from certain circumstances, I infer that my grandmother, especially, was held in high esteem, far higher than is the lot of most colored persons in the slave states. She was a good nurse, and a capital hand at making nets for catching shad and herring; and these nets were in great demand, not only in Tuckahoe, but at Denton and Hillsboro, neighboring villages. She was not only good at making the nets, but was also somewhat famous for her good fortune in taking the fishes referred to. I have known her to be in the water half the day. Grandmother was likewise more provident than most of her neighbors in the preservation of seedling sweet potatoes, and it happened to her -- as it will happen to any careful and thrifty person residing in an ignorant and improvident community -- to enjoy the reputation of having been born to "good luck." Her "good luck" was owing to the exceeding care which she took in preventing the succulent root from getting bruised in the digging, and in placing it beyond the reach of frost, by actually burying it under the hearth of her cabin during the winter months. In the time of planting sweet potatoes, "Grandmother Betty," as she was familiarly called, was sent for in all directions, simply to place the seedling potatoes in the hills; for superstition had it, that if "Grandmamma Betty but touches them at planting, they will be sure to grow and flourish." This high reputation was full of advantage to her, and to the children around her. Though Tuckahoe had but few of the good things of life, yet of such as it did possess grandmother got a full share, in the way of presents. If good potato crops came after her planting, she was not forgotten by those for whom she planted; and as she was remembered by others, so she remembered the hungry little ones around her.

The dwelling of my grandmother and grandfather had few pretensions. It was a log hut, or cabin, built of clay, wood, and straw. At a distance it resembled -- though it was much smaller, less commodious and less substantial -- the cabins erected in the western states by the first settlers. To my child's eye, however, it was a noble structure, admirably adapted to promote the comforts and conveniences of its inmates. A few rough, Virginia fence-rails, flung loosely over the rafters above, answered the triple purpose of floors, ceilings, and bedsteads. To be sure, this upper apartment was reached only by a ladder -- but what in the world for climbing could be better than a ladder? To me, this ladder was really a high invention, and possessed a sort of charm as I played with delight upon the rounds of it. In this little hut there was a large family of children: I dare not say how many. My grandmother -- whether because too old for field service, or because she had so faithfully discharged the duties of her station in early life, I know not -- enjoyed the high privilege of living in a cabin, separate from the quarter, with no other burden than her own support, and the necessary care of the little children, imposed. She evidently esteemed it a great fortune to live so. The children were not her own, but her grandchildren -- the children of her daughters. She took delight in having them around her, and in attending to their few wants. The practice of separating children from their mothers, and hiring the latter out at distances too great to admit of their meeting, except at long intervals, is a marked feature of the cruelty and barbarity of the slave system. But it is in harmony with the grand aim of slavery, which, always and everywhere, is to reduce man to a level with the brute. It is a successful method of obliterating from the mind and heart of the slave, all just ideas of the sacredness ofthe family,as an institution.

Most of the children, however, in this instance, being the children of my grandmother's daughters, the notions of family, and the reciprocal duties and benefits of the relation, had a better chance of being understood than where children are placed -- as they often are -- in the hands of strangers, who have no care for them, apart from the wishes of their masters. The daughters of my grandmother were five in number. Their names were JENNY, ESTHER, MILLY, PRISCILLA, and HARRIET. The daughter last named was my mother, of whom the reader shall learn more by-and by.

Living here, with my dear old grandmother and grandfather, it was a long time before I knew myself to bea slave.I knew many other things before I knew that. Grandmother and grandfather were the greatest people in the world to me; and being with them so snugly in their own little cabin -- I supposed it be their own -- knowing no higher authority over me or the other children than the authority of grandmamma, for a time there was nothing to disturb me; but, as I grew larger and older, I learned by degrees the sad fact, that the "little hut," and the lot on which it stood, belonged not to my dear old grandparents, but to some person who lived a great distance off, and who was called, by grandmother, "OLD MASTER." I further learned the sadder fact, that not only the house and lot, but that grandmother herself, (grandfather was free,) and all the little children around her, belonged to this mysterious personage, called by grandmother, with every mark of reverence, "Old Master." Thus early did clouds and shadows begin to fall upon my path. Once on the track -- troubles never come singly -- I was not long in finding out another fact, still more grievous to my childish heart. I was told that this "old master," whose name seemed ever to be mentioned with fear and shuddering, only allowed the children to live with grandmother for a limited time, and that in fact as soon as they were big enough, they were promptly taken away, to live with the said "old master." These were distressing revelations indeed; and though I was quite too young to comprehend the full import of the intelligence, and mostly spent my childhood days in gleesome sports with the other children, a shade of disquiet rested upon me.

The absolute power of this distant "old master" had touched my young spirit with but the point of its cold, cruel iron, and left me something to brood over after the play and in moments of repose. Grandmammy was, indeed, at that time, all the world to me; and the thought of being separated from her, in any considerable time, was more than an unwelcome intruder. It was intolerable.

Children have their sorrows as well as men and women; and it would be well to remember this in our dealings with them. SLAVE-children are children, and prove no exceptions to the general rule. The liability to be separated from my grandmother, seldom or never to see her again, haunted me. I dreaded the thought of going to live with that mysterious "old master," whose name I never heard mentioned with affection, but always with fear. I look back to this as among the heaviest of my childhood's sorrows. My grandmother! my grandmother! and the little hut, and the joyous circle under her care, but especially she, who made us sorry when she left us but for an hour, and glad on her return -- how could I leave her and the good old home?

But the sorrows of childhood, like the pleasures of after life, are transient. It is not even within the power of slavery to writeindeliblesorrow, at a single dash, over the heart of a child.

The tear down childhood's cheek that flows,

Is like the dew-drop on the rose --

When next the summer breeze comes by,

And waves the bush -- the flower is dry.

There is, after all, but little difference in the measure of contentment felt by the slave-child neglected and the slaveholder's child cared for and petted. The spirit of the All Just mercifully holds the balance for the young.

The slaveholder, having nothing to fear from impotent childhood, easily affords to refrain from cruel inflictions; and if cold and hunger do not pierce the tender frame, the first seven or eight years of the slave-boy's life are about as full of sweet content as those of the most favored and petted white children of the slaveholder. The slave-boy escapes many troubles which befall and vex his white brother. He seldom has to listen to lectures on propriety of behavior, or on anything else. He is never chided for handling his little knife and fork improperly or awkwardly, for he uses none. He is never reprimanded for soiling the table-cloth, for he takes his meals on the clay floor. He never has the misfortune, in his games or sports, of soiling or tearing his clothes, for he has almost none to soil or tear. He is never expected to act like a nice little gentleman, for he is only a rude little slave. Thus, freed from all restraint, the slave-boy can be, in his life and conduct, a genuine boy, doing whatever his boyish nature suggests; enacting, by turns, all the strange antics and freaks of horses, dogs, pigs, and barn-door fowls, without in any manner compromising his dignity, or incurring reproach of any sort. He literally runs wild; has no pretty little verses to learn in the nursery; no nice little speeches to make for aunts, uncles, or cousins, to show how smart he is; and, if he can only manage to keep out of the way of the heavy feet and fists of the older slave boys, he may trot on, in his joyous and roguish tricks, as happy as any little heathen under the palm trees of Africa. To be sure, he is occasionally reminded, when he stumbles in the path of his master -- and this he early learns to avoid -- that he is eating his"white bread,"and that he will be made to"see sights"by-and-by. The threat is soon forgotten; the shadow soon passes, and our sable boy continues to roll in the dust, or play in the mud, as bests suits him, and in the veriest freedom. If he feels uncomfortable, from mud or from dust, the coast is clear; he can plunge into the river or the pond, without the ceremony of undressing, or the fear of wetting his clothes; his little tow-linen shirt -- for that is all he has on -- is easily dried; and it needed ablution as much as did his skin. His food is of the coarsest kind, consisting for the most part of cornmeal mush, which often finds it way from the wooden tray to his mouth in an oyster shell. His days, when the weather is warm, are spent in the pure, open air, and in the bright sunshine. He always sleeps in airy apartments; he seldom has to take powders, or to be paid to swallow pretty little sugar-coated pills, to cleanse his blood, or to quicken his appetite. He eats no candies; gets no lumps of loaf sugar; always relishes his food; cries but little, for nobody cares for his crying; learns to esteem his bruises but slight, because others so esteem them. In a word, he is, for the most part of the first eight years of his life, a spirited, joyous uproarious, and happy boy, upon whom troubles fall only like water on a duck's back. And such a boy, so far as I can now remember, was the boy whose life in slavery I am now narrating.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by Frederick Douglass, In the Clerk?s Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York.

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Excerpted from My Bondage and My Freedom: The Givens Collection by Frederick Douglass
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