."

"Why, mamma, do they make them work so late as that?" asked Cornelia.

"Yes, my daughter, in the busy season the poor slaves are often kept out
very late. After they had received the order to return home, Judy, with
aching limbs, joined the other slaves who were wearily wending their way
to the little out-house where the overseer was weighing their cotton. As
they presented their baskets to be weighed, they watched eagerly to see
if their baskets were approved of. Judy gladly heard that hers was the
full weight, and after ascertaining where she was to sleep, and
receiving her allowance of corn, she went to the shed pointed out to
her. She made her cakes for her supper and for the next morning, and
then laid down upon her bed, or rather on a pile of straw with an old
piece of sheet spread over it. Judy was much exhausted, and soon fell
asleep, notwithstanding the roughness of her bed. But it seemed as
though she had scarcely closed her eyes before the plantation bell rang,
and called them to another weary day's work.

"Thus many, many months passed, of toiling from day to day, and from
morning till night. One morning they saw one of the house servants
running toward them; he told them that their master was dead. He had
died suddenly from a fit of appoplexy. The tidings were received by Judy
with joy. You must pardon her, my children, for this man had been a
cruel master to her, and she thought that, as he had neither wife nor
children, his slaves would be sold, and perhaps she would get farther
north, and in the neighborhood of her old home, and might meet with some
of her old friends who would prove that she was free.

"A few days after Mr. Martin's funeral there was a meeting of his heirs,
and they determined to sell the slaves. Accordingly the next morning
they were marched down to the wharf, where they found a boat at anchor,
and all went on board. We will pass over the wearisome trip of several
days, and imagine them to be at the end of their journey at Memphis.
Here they were taken off the boat, and placed in jail until auction day.
In a few days they were again taken out and tied in couples, and taken
to the auction. Judy was sitting very disconsolate, thinking of her past
misfortunes and coming sorrows. The hope of seeing any of her old
friends, or of being reunited with her children, she had almost given
up. The auctioneer called to her, and she stepped on the block. Her
strong and well-proportioned figur