you a wife?" "I did, but her master was a very bad man and
was opposed to me, and was against my coming to his place to see my
wife, and he persuaded her to take another husband in preference to me;
being in his hands she took his advice." "How long ago was that?" "Very
near twelve months; she got married last fall." "Had you any children?"
"Yes." "How many?" "Five." "Where are they?" "Three are with Joel Luck,
her master, one with his sister Eliza, and the other belongs to Judge
Hudgins, of Bowling Green Court House." "Do you ever expect to see them
again?" "No, not till the day of the Great I am!" "Did you ever have any
chance of schooling?" "Not a day in my life." "Can you read?" "No, sir,
nor write my own name." "What do you think of Slavery any how?" "I think
it's a great curse, and I think the _Baptists_ in _Richmond_ will go to
the deepest hell, if there is any, for they are so wicked they will work
you all day and part of the night, and _wear cloaks and long faces_, and
try to get all the work out of you they can by telling you about Jesus
Christ. All the extra money you make they think you will give to hear
talk about Jesus Christ. Out of their extra money they have to pay a
white man _Five hundred dollars a year for preaching_." "What kind of
preaching does he give them?" "He tells them if they die in their sins
they will go to hell; don't tell them any thing about their elevation;
he would tell them obey their masters and mistresses, for good servants
make good masters." "Did you belong to the Baptist Church?" "Yes, Second
Baptist Church." "Did you feel that the preaching you heard was the true
Gospel?" "One part of it, and one part burnt me as bad as ever insult
did. They would tell us that we must take money out of our pockets to
send it to Africa, to enlighten the African race. I think that we were
about as blind in Richmond as the African race is in Africa. All they
want you to know, is to have sense enough to say master and mistress,
and _run_ like lightning, when they speak to you, to do exactly what
they want you to do," "When you made up your mind to escape, where did
you think you would go to?" "I made up my mind not to stop short of the
British protection; to shake hands with the _Lion's_ paw." "Were you not
afraid of being captured on the way, of being devoured by the
abolitionists, or of freezing and starving in Canada?" "Well, I had
often thought that I would be in a bad condition to come here, with