r abuse of me fell upon me like
the blows of the false prophet upon his ass; she did not know that an
_angel_ stood in the way; and--such is the relation of master and slave
I could not tell her. Nature had made us _friends;_ slavery made us
_enemies_. My interests were in a direction opposite to hers, and we
both had our private thoughts and plans. She aimed to keep me ignorant;
and I resolved to know, although knowledge only increased my discontent.
My feelings were not the result of any marked cruelty in the treatment I
received; they sprung from the consideration of my being a slave at all.
It was _slavery_--not its mere _incidents_--that I hated. I had been
cheated. I saw through the attempt to keep me in ignorance; I saw that
slaveholders would have gladly made me believe that they were merely
acting under the authority of God, in making a slave of me, and in
making slaves of others; and I treated them as robbers and deceivers.
The feeding and clothing me well, could not atone for taking my liberty
from me. The smiles of my mistress could not remove the deep sorrow that
dwelt in my young bosom. Indeed, these, in time, came only to deepen
my sorrow. She had changed; and the reader will see that I had changed,
too. We were both victims to the same overshadowing evil--_she_, as
mistress, I, as slave. I will not censure her harshly; she cannot
censure me, for she knows I speak but the truth, and have acted in
my opposition to slavery, just as she herself would have acted, in a
reverse of circumstances.

CHAPTER XII. _Religious Nature Awakened_

ABOLITIONISTS SPOKEN OF--MY EAGERNESS TO KNOW WHAT THIS WORD MEANT--MY
CONSULTATION OF THE DICTIONARY--INCENDIARY INFORMATION--HOW AND WHERE
DERIVED--THE ENIGMA SOLVED--NATHANIEL TURNER'S INSURRECTION--THE
CHOLERA--RELIGION--FIRST AWAKENED BY A METHODIST MINISTER NAMED
HANSON--MY DEAR AND GOOD OLD COLORED FRIEND, LAWSON--HIS CHARACTER AND
OCCUPATION--HIS INFLUENCE OVER ME--OUR MUTUAL ATTACHMENT--THE COMFORT
I DERIVED FROM HIS TEACHING--NEW HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS--HEAVENLY
LIGHT AMIDST EARTHLY DARKNESS--THE TWO IRISHMEN ON THE WHARF--THEIR
CONVERSATION--HOW I LEARNED TO WRITE--WHAT WERE MY AIMS.

Whilst in the painful state of mind described in the foregoing chapter,
almost regretting my very existence, because doomed to a life of
bondage, so goaded and so wretched, at times, that I was even tempted to
destroy my own life, I was keenly sensitive and eager to know any,
an