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    266 SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH.

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    <> Savannah, 4th March.—Here In This Hou...

    slavery : it is no evil ; very far from it ; quite a blessing to the African & c . " And another gentleman chimed in _" I have lived all

    my life , the slave states , and I assure you it , is a good _institu-^ tion . " They both went on to say that families were very rarely

    separated and begged me to write a fair view of the case , I assured them I should not write a book on America , and _.

    could say little about the actual condition of the slave . . I _coxild onlsay that the principle of slavery was unjustand that every

    slave y had a right to run away , & e . And I went , into my cabin , and found Polly there , the black , real black woman , whom I have

    mentioned to you before . I said to her , " Polly , how many times have you been sold ? " " Twice . " " Have you any children ? " _"I

    had three ; God only knows where two of them are—my master sold them . We lived in Kentucky;—one , my darling , he sold

    South . She is in one of those fields perhaps , picking with those poor creatures you saw . Oh dear ! mum , we poor creatures have need to

    " believe in God ; for if God Almighty - will not be good tons some daywhy were we born ? When I hear of His delivering- His

    peop , from bondage , I know it means the poor African . " Her voice was so husky I could hardly understand her ; but it seems her

    master promised to keep one child , and then sold it without telling her : and when she asked in agony " Where is my child ? " the

    master said it was " hired out . " But it , never came back . I foundshe was a member of a church I had visited in Louisville . She

    isaid to me on parting , " Never forget me ; never forget what we suffer . Do all you can to alter it . " A free mulattoa very

    intelligent man , told me some things too horrible to write , ; he was a sort of uppei waiter over all the rest and much trusted "by the

    captain . His master was his father ; lie had bought himself of his own father . He told me there was no career for free negroes;—no

    rights , no public position . I find Mrs . B is divorced from her husband . The

    Kentucky divorce is very easy : for adultery , for cruelty , for desertion ,, for slanderor even for _piiblic ridicule . I believe Mrs . B

    obtained her , divorce on the ground that her husband had held her up to public ridicule by publishing certain private letters of hers

    against her wishes . There was a good deal of conversation about heras she was the most interesting woman onboard and sang very

    sweetl , y . The gentlemen all said she would marry again , and that no man would think the divorce any impediment . The Californian

    divorce is also quite easy ; and Mr . C told me of cases in his own family . I asked over and over again"Do you think easy

    divorce makes married life _( happier or unhapp , ier than where divorce is impossible ? " They all answered happierexcept one ladywho

    was a Catholic . , ,

    if " I : ! .:. -.... Barbara L . S . Bodicho : nv .

    266 Slavery In The South.

    266 SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1861, page 266, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121861/page/50/