s no record of another meeting between mother and son. She
probably died shortly afterward, because if she had been within walking
distance, he certainly would have seen her again. Her memory in his
child's mind was always that of a real and near personality. When he
became older, and conscious of his superiority to his fellows, he was
wont to say: "I am proud to attribute my love of letters, such as I may
have, not to my presumed Anglo-Saxon father, but to my sable,
unprotected, and uncultivated mother." Thus, after his mother died,
his vivid imagination kept before him her image, as she appeared to him
that last time he saw her, through all his struggles for a fuller and
freer life for himself and his race.

With the loss of his mother and grandmother, he came more and more to
realize the peculiar relation in which he and those about him stood to
Colonel Lloyd and Captain Anthony. His active mind soon grasped the
meaning of "master" and "slave." While still a lad, longing for a
mother's care, he began to feel himself within the grasp of the curious
thing that he afterward learned to know as "slavery." As he grew older
in years and understanding, he came also to see what manner of man his
master was. He described Captain Anthony as a "sad man." At times he
was very gentle, and almost benevolent. But young Douglass was never
able to forget that this same kindly slave-holder had refused to
protect his cousin from a cruel beating by her overseer. The spectacle
he had witnessed, when this beautiful young slave was whipped, had made
a lasting and painful impression upon him. Vaguely he began to
recognize the outlines of the institution which at once permitted, and
to a certain degree made necessary, these cruelties. It was at this
point that he began to speculate on the origin and nature of slavery.
Meanwhile he became, in the course of his life on the plantation, the
witness of other scenes quite as harrowing, and the memory mingled with
his reflections, and embittered them.

During this time an event occurred which gave a new direction and a new
impetus to the thoughts and purposes slowly taking form within him.
This event was the successful escape of his Aunt Jennie and another
slave. It caused a great commotion on the plantation. Nothing could
happen in a Southern community that excited so many and such varied
emotions as the escape of a slave from bondage: terror and revenge,
hope and fear, mingled with