my story, through my experience when at
Mr. William Freeland's.

My poor, weather-beaten bark now reached smoother water, and gentler
breezes. My stormy life at Covey's had been of service to me. The things
that would have seemed very hard, had I gone direct to Mr. Freeland's,
from the home of Master Thomas, were now (after the hardships at
Covey's) "trifles light as air." I was still a field hand, and had come
to prefer the severe labor of the field, to the enervating duties of
a house servant. I had become large and strong; and had begun to take
pride in the fact, that I could do as much hard work as some of the
older men. There is much rivalry among slaves, at times, as to which can
do the most work, and masters generally seek to promote such rivalry.
But some of us were too wise to race with each other very long. Such
racing, we had the sagacity to see, was not likely to pay. We had our
times for measuring each other's strength, but we knew too much to keep
up the competition so long as to produce an extraordinary day's work.
We knew that if, by extraordinary exertion, a large quantity of work was
done in one day, the fact, becoming known to the master, might lead him
to require the same amount every day. This thought was enough to bring
us to a dead halt when over so much excited for the race.

At Mr. Freeland's, my condition was every way improved. I was no longer
the poor scape-goat that I was when at Covey's, where every wrong thing
done was saddled upon me, and where other slaves were whipped over my
shoulders. Mr. Freeland was too just a man thus to impose upon me, or
upon any one else.

It is quite usual to make one slave the object of especial abuse, and to
beat him often, with a view to its effect upon others, rather than with
any expectation that the slave whipped will be improved by it, but
the man with whom I now was, could descend to no such meanness and
wickedness. Every man here was held individually responsible for his own
conduct.

This was a vast improvement on the rule at Covey's. There, I{203}
was the general pack horse. Bill Smith was protected, by a positive
prohibition made by his rich master, and the command of the rich
slaveholder is LAW to the poor one; Hughes was favored, because of
his relationship to Covey; and the hands hired temporarily, escaped
flogging, except as they got it over my poor shoulders. Of course, this
comparison refers to the time when Covey _could_ whip me.

Mr.