led on each of them.

He had four children, and after each had received a plantation, the rest
were called state places, and these could not be sold until all the
grandchildren should become of age; after they all had received places,
the rest could be sold.

One of the places was called Biglake. The slaves on these places were
treated more cruelly than on those where the owner lived, for the
overseers had full sway.

One day the overseer at Biglake punished the slaves so that some of them
fell exhausted. When he came to the two men, Cyrus and Stepney, they
resisted, but were taken by force and severely punished. A few days
afterwards the overseer died, and those two men were taken up and hanged
on the plantation without judge or jury.

After that another overseer was hired, with orders to arm himself, and
every slave who did not submit to his punishment was to be shot
immediately. At times, when the overseer was angry with a man he would
strike him on the head with a club and kill him instantly, and they
would bury him in the field. Some would run away and come to M.R.
Singleton, my master, but he would only tell them to go home and behave.
Then they were handcuffed or chained and carried back to Biglake, and
when we would hear from them again the greater part would have been
murdered. When they were taken from master's place, they would bid us
good bye and say they knew they should be killed when they got home.

Oh! who can paint the sad feeling in our minds when we saw these, our
own race, chained and carried home to drink the bitter cup of death from
their merciless oppressors, with no one near to say, "Spare him, God
made him," or to say, "Have mercy on him, for Jesus died for him." His
companions dared not groan above a whisper for fear of sharing the same
fate; but thanks that the voice of the Lord was heard in the North,
which said, "Go quickly to the South and let my prison-bound people go
free, for I have heard their cries from cotton, corn and rice
plantations, saying, how long before thou wilt come to deliver us from
this chain?" and the Lord said to them, "Wait, I will send you John
Brown who shall be the key to the door of your liberty, and I will
harden the heart of Jefferson Davis, your devil, that I may show him and
his followers my power; then shall I send you Abraham Lincoln, mine
angel, who shall lead you from the land of bondage to the land of
liberty." Our fathers all died in "the wilderness,"