not stand much violence. Once thoroughly broken
down, _who_ is he that can repair the damage? It may be broken toward
the slave, on Sunday, and toward the master on Monday. It cannot endure
such shocks. It must stand entire, or it does not stand at all. If my
condition waxed bad, that of the family waxed not better. The first
step, in the wrong direction, was the violence done to nature and to
conscience, in arresting the benevolence that would have enlightened my
young mind. In ceasing to instruct me, she must begin to justify herself
_to_ herself; and, once consenting to take sides in such a debate, she
was riveted to her position. One needs very little knowledge of moral
philosophy, to see _where_ my mistress now landed. She finally became
even more violent in her opposition to my learning to read, than was her
husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as _well_
as her husband had commanded her, but seemed resolved to better his
instruction. Nothing appeared to make my poor mistress--after her
turning toward the downward path--more angry, than seeing me, seated in
some nook or corner, quietly reading a book or a newspaper. I have
had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and snatch from my hand such
newspaper or book, with something of the wrath and consternation which a
traitor might be supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot by some
dangerous spy.

Mrs. Auld was an apt woman, and the advice of her husband, and her
own experience, soon demonstrated, to her entire satisfaction, that
education and slavery are incompatible with each other. When this
conviction was thoroughly established, I was{121} most narrowly watched
in all my movements. If I remained in a separate room from the family
for any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of
having a book, and was at once called upon to give an account of myself.
All this, however, was entirely _too late_. The first, and never to be
retraced, step had been taken. In teaching me the alphabet, in the days
of her simplicity and kindness, my mistress had given me the _"inch,"_
and now, no ordinary precaution could prevent me from taking the
_"ell."_

Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon
many expedients to accomplish the desired end. The plea which I mainly
adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of using
my young white playmates, with whom I met in the streets as teachers. I
used to