honors of a decorated
sepulture. Rather than believe that your slaves are commonly regarded by
you as your fellow-creatures, having rights which you love to consider,
or, that you do not mercilessly dispose of them to promote your selfish
interests, we, the Northern people, who have had the very best of
teachers on the subject of slavery, learnedly theoretical, reasoning
from the eternal principles of right, would incline to believe that your
interest in the burial of this little slave-babe was merely that which
your own child would feel on seeing her kitten carefully buried at the
foot of the apple-tree.

One thing, however, suggests a difficulty in feeling our way to this
conclusion. I mention it because of the perfect candor which guides the
sentiments and feelings of all Northern people in speaking of slavery
and slave-holders.

The difficulty is this: Who was "poor old Timmy"? Some old slave in your
father's family, I apprehend. You seem sad at finding that his grave is
not in the best place. "The water rises within three feet of the
surface;"--we infer, from the regret which you seem to feel at this,
that you have some care and pity for your old slaves, which extends even
to their graves. But we had well nigh borrowed strength to our
prejudices from this place of old Timmy's grave, and were saying with
ourselves, Thus the slave-holders bury their slaves where the water may
overflow them; but you seem to apologize to your father for Timmy's
having such a poor place for his remains by saying, "His own" (Timmy's)
"family selected his burying-place, and probably did not think of this."
Very kind in you, dear madam, to speak so. "The friends of the slave"
are greatly obliged to you for such consideration. You say, "His own
family selected his burying-place." Do slaves have such a liberty? Can
they go and come in their burying-grounds and choose places for the
graves of their kindred? This is being full as good to your servants, in
this particular, as we are at the North to our domestics. You thought
poor old Timmy's grave was not in a spot sufficiently choice for this
little babe's grave, and, it seems, you inclosed a spot, and inaugurated
it by the burial of this child, for the last resting-place of other
babes, the kindred of this child and of your other servants. This looks
as though there were some domestic permanence in some parts of the South
among the servants of a household; and as though the birth and death o