t is customary to put her and the children
out yearly to the person who will maintain them for the least money,
the person taking them having the benefit of whatever work the woman
can do. But my sister was put to herself in the woods. She had a bit
of ground cleared, and was left to hire herself out to labor. On the
ground she raised corn and flax; and obtained a peck of corn, some
herrings, or a piece of meat, for a day's work among the neighboring
owners. In this way she brought up her children. Her husband could
help her but little. As soon as each of the children became big
enough, it was sold away from her.

After parting thus with five, she was sold along with the sixth,
(about a year and a half old,) to the speculators; these are persons
who buy slaves in Carolina and Virginia, to sell them in Georgia and
New Orleans. After travelling with them more than one hundred miles,
she made her escape, but could not obtain her child to take it with
her. On her journey homeward she travelled by night, and hid herself
in thick woods by day. She was in great danger on the road, but in
three weeks reached the woods near us: there she had to keep herself
concealed: I, my mother, and her husband, knew where she was: she
lived in a den she made for herself. She sometimes ventured down to my
mother's hut, where she was hid in a hollow under the floor. Her
husband lived ten miles off; he would sometimes set off after his
day's work was done, spend part of the night with her, and get back
before next sunrise: sometimes he would spend Sunday with her. We all
supplied her with such provisions as we could save. It was necessary
to be very careful in visiting her; we tied pieces of wood or bundles
of rags to our feet, that no track might be made.

In the wood she had three children born; one of them died. She had not
recovered from the birth of the youngest when she was discovered and
taken to the house of her old master.

She was afterwards sold to Culpepper, who used her very cruelly. He
was beating her dreadfully, and the blood was streaming from her head
and back one day when I happened to go to his house. I was greatly
grieved, and asked his leave to find a person to buy her: instead of
answering me, he struck at me with an axe, and I was obliged to get
away as fast as I could. Soon after this he failed, and she was
offered for sale in Norfolk; there Mr. Johnson bought her and her two
children, out of friendship for me: he tre