s book.

CHAPTER V. _Gradual Initiation to the Mysteries of Slavery_

GROWING ACQUAINTANCE WITH OLD MASTER--HIS CHARACTER--EVILS OF
UNRESTRAINED PASSION--APPARENT TENDERNESS--OLD MASTER A MAN OF
TROUBLE--CUSTOM OF MUTTERING TO HIMSELF--NECESSITY OF BEING AWARE OF
HIS WORDS--THE SUPPOSED OBTUSENESS OF SLAVE-CHILDREN--BRUTAL
OUTRAGE--DRUNKEN OVERSEER--SLAVEHOLDER'S IMPATIENCE--WISDOM OF APPEALING
TO SUPERIORS--THE SLAVEHOLDER S WRATH BAD AS THAT OF THE OVERSEER--A
BASE AND SELFISH ATTEMPT TO BREAK UP A COURTSHIP--A HARROWING SCENE.

Although my old master--Capt. Anthony--gave me at first, (as the reader
will have already seen) very little attention, and although that little
was of a remarkably mild and gentle description, a few months only were
sufficient to convince me that mildness and gentleness were not the
prevailing or governing traits of his character. These excellent
qualities were displayed only occasionally. He could, when it suited
him, appear to be literally insensible to the claims of humanity, when
appealed to by the helpless against an aggressor, and he could himself
commit outrages, deep, dark and nameless. Yet he was not by nature worse
than other men. Had he been brought up in a free state, surrounded by
the just restraints of free society--restraints which are necessary to
the freedom of all its members, alike and equally--Capt. Anthony might
have been as humane a man, and every way as respectable, as many who
now oppose the slave system; certainly as humane and respectable as are
members of society generally. The slaveholder, as well as the slave, is
the victim of the slave{62} system. A man's character greatly takes its
hue and shape from the form and color of things about him. Under the
whole heavens there is no relation more unfavorable to the development
of honorable character, than that sustained by the slaveholder to the
slave. Reason is imprisoned here, and passions run wild. Like the fires
of the prairie, once lighted, they are at the mercy of every wind, and
must burn, till they have consumed all that is combustible within their
remorseless grasp. Capt. Anthony could be kind, and, at times, he even
showed an affectionate disposition. Could the reader have seen him
gently leading me by the hand--as he sometimes did--patting me on the
head, speaking to me in soft, caressing tones and calling me his "little
Indian boy," he would have deemed him a kind old man, and really,
almost fatherl