Freeland, like Mr. Covey, gave his hands enough to eat, but, unlike
Mr. Covey, he gave them time to take their meals; he worked us hard
during the day, but gave us the night for rest--another advantage to be
set to the credit of the sinner, as against that of the saint. We were
seldom in the field after dark in the evening, or before sunrise in the
morning. Our implements of husbandry were of the most improved pattern,
and much superior to those used at Covey's.

Nothwithstanding the improved condition which was now mine, and the many
advantages I had gained by my new home, and my new master, I was still
restless and discontented. I was about as hard to please by a master,
as a master is by slave. The freedom from bodily torture and unceasing
labor, had given my mind an increased sensibility, and imparted to it
greater activity. I was not yet exactly in right relations. "How be it,
that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and
afterward that which is spiritual." When entombed at Covey's, shrouded
in darkness and physical wretchedness, temporal wellbeing was the grand
_desideratum;_ but, temporal wants supplied, the spirit puts in its
claims. Beat and cuff your slave, keep him hungry and spiritless, and he
will follow the chain of his master like a dog; but, feed and clothe
him well--work him moderately--surround him with physical comfort--and
dreams of freedom intrude. Give him a _bad_ master, and he aspires to a
_good_ master; give him a good master, and he wishes to become his _own_
master. Such is human nature. You may hurl a man so low, beneath
the level of his kind, that he loses all just ideas of his natural
position;{204} but elevate him a little, and the clear conception of
rights arises to life and power, and leads him onward. Thus elevated,
a little, at Freeland's, the dreams called into being by that good man,
Father Lawson, when in Baltimore, began to visit me; and shoots from
the tree of liberty began to put forth tender buds, and dim hopes of the
future began to dawn.

I found myself in congenial society, at Mr. Freeland's. There were Henry
Harris, John Harris, Handy Caldwell, and Sandy Jenkins. [6]

Henry and John were brothers, and belonged to Mr. Freeland. They were
both remarkably bright and intelligent, though neither of them could
read. Now for mischief! I had not been long at Freeland's before I
was up to my old tricks. I early began to address my companions on the
subject