Every Where The Years Bring To All

Death Is Better Than Slavery.

I Was Ordered To Go For Flowers, That My Mistress's House Might Be Decorated For An Evening Party. I Spent The Day Gathering Flowers And Weaving Them Into Festoons, While The Dead Body Of My Father Was Lying Within A Mile Of Me. What Cared My Owners For That? He Was Merely A Piece Of Property. Moreover, They Thought He Had Spoiled His Children, By Teaching Them To Feel That They Were Human Beings. This Was Blasphemous Doctrine For A Slave To Teach; Presumptuous In Him, And Dangerous To The Masters.

The Beautiful Spring Came; And When Nature Resumes Her Loveliness, The Human Soul Is Apt To Revive Also.

Always It Gave Me A Pang That My Children Had No Lawful Claim To A Name.

During The First Years Of My Service In Dr. Flint's Family, I Was Accustomed To Share Some Indulgences With The Children Of My Mistress