aw, and they were separated from him. Jane, the oldest of the
girls, as we have before mentioned, was very handsome, bearing a close
resemblance to her cousin Clotelle. Alreka, though not as handsome as
her sister, was nevertheless a beautiful girl, and both had all the
accomplishments that wealth and station could procure.

Though only in her fifteenth year, Alreka had become strongly attached
to Volney Lapie, a young Frenchman, a student in her father's office.
This attachment was reciprocated, although the poverty of the young man
and the extreme youth of the girl had caused their feelings to be kept
from the young lady's parents.

The day of sale came, and Mr. Morton attended, with the hope that
either the magnanimity of the creditors or his own little farm in
Vermont might save his nieces from the fate that awaited them. His
hope, however, was in vain. The feelings of all present seemed to be
lost in the general wish to become the possessor of the young ladies,
who stood trembling, blushing, and weeping as the numerous throng gazed
at them, or as the intended purchaser examined the graceful proportions
of their fair and beautiful frames. Neither the presence of the uncle
nor young Lapie could at all lessen the gross language of the officers,
or stay the rude hands of those who wished to examine the property thus
offered for sale. After a fierce contest between the bidders, the girls
were sold, one for two thousand three hundred, and the other for two
thousand three hundred and fifty dollars. Had these girls been bought
for servants only, they would in all probability have brought not more
than nine hundred or a thousand dollars each. Here were two beautiful
young girls, accustomed to the fondest indulgence, surrounded by all
the refinements of life, and with the timidity and gentleness which
such a life would naturally produce, bartered away like cattle in the
markets of Smithfield or New York.

The mother, who was also to have been sold, happily followed her
husband to the grave, and was spared the pangs of a broken heart.

The purchaser of the young ladies left the market in triumph, and the
uncle, with a heavy heart, started for his New England home, with no
earthly prospect of ever beholding his nieces again.

The seizure of the young ladies as slaves was the result of the
administrator's having found among Dr. Morton's papers the bill-of-sale
of Marion which he had taken when he purchased her. He had doubt