The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI
I had the same task with those who had been field hands all their lives; but I was too proud to flinch or comlain. I exerted myself to the utmost, so that even Mr tubbs had no fault to find, but on the contrary, pronounced me, more than once, a "right likely hand."
The cabin which I shared with Billy, had a very leaky roof; and as the weather was rainy, we found it by no means comfortable. At length, we determined one day, to repair it; and to get time to do so, we exerted ourselves to get through our tasks at an early hour.
We had finished about four o'clock in the afternoon, and were returning together to the town, — for so we called the collection of cabins, in which the servants lived. Mr Stubbs met us, and having inquired if we had finished om tasks, he muttered something about our not having half enough to do, and ordered us to go and weed his garden. Billy submitted in silence, for he had been too long under Mr Stubbs's jurisdiction, to think of questioning his commands. But I ventured to say, in as respectful a manner as I could, that as we had finished our regular tasks, it seemed very hard to give us this additional work. This put Mr Stubbs into a furious passion, and he swore twenty oaths, that I should both weed the garden and be whipped into the bargain. He sprang from his horse, and catching me by the collar of my shirt, the only dress I had on, he began to lay upon me with his whip. It was the first time, since I had ceased to be a child, that [ had been exposed to this degrading torture. The pain was great enough; the idea of being whipped was sufficiently bitter; but these were nothing in comparison with the sharp and burning sense of the insolent injustice that was done me. It was with the utmost difficulty, that I restrained myself from springing upon my brutal tormentor, and dashing him to the ground. But alas! — I was a slave. What in a freeman, is a most justifiable act of self-defence, becomes in a slave, unpardonable insolence and rebellion. I griped my hands, set my teeth firmly together, and bore the injury the best I could. I was then turned into the garden, and the moon happening to be full, I was kept there weeding till near midnight.
The next day was Sunday. The Sunday's rest is the sole and single boon for which the American slave is indebted to the religion of his master. That master, tramples under foot every other precept of the Gospel without the slightest hesitation, but so long as he does not compel his slaves to work on Sundays, he thinks himself well entitled to the name of a Christian. Perhaps he is so, — but if he is, a title so easily purchased can be worth but little.
I resolved to avail myself of the Sunday's leisure to complain to my master of the barbarous treatment I had experienced the day before, at the hands of Mr Stubbs. Colonel Moore received me with a coolness and distance, quite unusual in him, — for generally he had a smile for every body, especially for his slaves. However, he heard my story, and even condescended to declare that nothing gave him so much pain as to have his servants unnecessarily or unreasonably punished, and that he never would suffer such things to take place upon his plantation. He then bade me go about my business, having first assured me, that in the course of the day, he would see Mr Stubbs and inquire into the matter. This was the last 1 heard from colonel Moore. That same evening, Mr Stubbs sent for me to his house, and having tied me to a tree before his door, gave me forty lashes, and bade me complain at the house again, if I dared. "It's a hard case~indeed," he added, "if I can't lick a cursed nigger's insolence out of him, without being obliged to give an account of it!"
Insolence! — the tyrant's ready plea!
If a poor slave has been whipped and miserably abused, and no other apology for it can be thought of, the rascal's 'insolence' can be always pleaded, — and when pleaded, is enough in every slave-holder's estimation, to excuse and justify any brutality. The slightest word, or look, or action, that seems to indicate the slave's sense of any injustice that is done him, is denounced as insolence, and is punished with the most unrelenting severity.
This was the second time I had experienced the discipline of the lash; — but I did not find the second dose any more agreeable than the first. A blow is esteemed among freemen, the very highest of indignities; and low as their oppressors have sunk them, it is esteemed an indignity among slaves. Besides — as strange as some people may think it — a twisted cowhide, laid on by the hand of a strong man, does actually inflict a good deal of pain, especially if every blow brings blood.
I will leave it to the reader's own feelings to imagine, what no words can sufficiently describe, the bitterness of that man's misery, who is every hour in danger of experiencing this indignity and this torture. When he has wrought — up his fancy, — and let him thank God, from the very bottom of his heart, that in his case, it is only fancy, — to a lively idea of that misery, he will have taken the first step, towards gaining some notion, however faint and inadequate, of what it is, to be a slave!
I had now learned a lesson, which every slave early learns, — I found that I did not enjoy even the privilege of complaining; and that the only way to escape a reiteration of injustice, was to submit in silence to the first infliction I did my best to swallow this bitter lesson, and to acquire a portion of that hypocritical humility, so necessary to a person in my unhappy condition. Humility, and whether it be real or pretended, they care but little, is esteemed by masters, the great and crowning virtue of a slave ; for they understand by it, a disposition to submit, without resistance or complaint, to every possible wrong and indignity ; to reply to the most opprobrious and unjust accusation’ with a soft voice and a smiling face; to take kicks, cuffs and blows as though they were favors ; to kiss the foot that treads you to the dust!
This sort of humility was a virtue, with which, I must confess, nature had but scantily endowed me; nor did I find it so easy as 1 might have desired, to strip myself of all the feelings of a man. It was like quitting the erect carriage which I had received at God’s hand, and learning to crawl on the earth like a base reptile. This was indeed a hard lesson. But an American overseer is a stern teacher, and if I learned but slowly, it was not the fault of Mr Stubbs.