female. Their bondage, happily, was nearly always of a light
sort, if any bondage can be light. They were allowed to have a kind
of government of their own; indeed, were encouraged to do so, and no
unreasonable restrictions were placed on their social enjoyment. They
annually elected a king and counselors, and celebrated the event with a
procession. The aristocratic feeling was highly developed in them. The
rank of the master was the slave's rank. There was a great deal of ebony
standing around on its dignity in those days. For example, Governor
Langdon's manservant, Cyrus Bruce, was a person who insisted on his
distinction, and it was recognized. His massive gold chain and seals,
his cherry-colored small-clothes and silk stockings, his ruffles and
silver shoe-buckles, were a tradition long after Cyrus himself was
pulverized.

In cases of minor misdemeanor among them, the negros themselves were
permitted to be judge and jury. Their administration of justice was
often characteristically naive. Mr. Brewster gives an amusing sketch of
one of their sessions. King Nero is on the bench, and one Cato--we are
nothing if not classical--is the prosecuting attorney. The name of the
prisoner and the nature of his offense are not disclosed to posterity.
In the midst of the proceedings the hour of noon is clanged from the
neighboring belfry of the Old North Church. "The evidence was not gone
through with, but the servants could stay no longer from their home
duties. They all wanted to see the whipping, but could not conveniently
be present again after dinner. Cato ventured to address the King: Please
you Honor, best let the fellow have his whipping now, and finish the
trial after dinner. The request seemed to be the general wish of the
company: so Nero ordered ten lashes, for justice so far as the trial
went, and ten more at the close of the trial, should he be found
guilty!"

Slavery in New Hampshire was never legally abolished, unless
Abraham Lincoln did it. The State itself has not ever pronounced
any emancipation edict. During the Revolutionary War the slaves were
generally emancipated by their masters. That many of the negros, who had
grown gray in service, refused their freedom, and elected to spend the
rest of their lives as pensioners in the families of their late owners,
is a circumstance that illustrates the kindly ties which held between
slave and master in the old colonial days in New England.

The institution was acc