ways had meant to have me, from the first time he saw
me; and that he had drawn Henry on, and got him in debt, on purpose to
make him willing to sell me. That he got him in love with another woman;
and that I might know, after all that, that he should not give up for a
few airs and tears, and things of that sort.

"I gave up, for my hands were tied. He had my children;--whenever I
resisted his will anywhere, he would talk about selling them, and he
made me as submissive as he desired. O, what a life it was! to live with
my heart breaking, every day,--to keep on, on, on, loving, when it was
only misery; and to be bound, body and soul, to one I hated. I used to
love to read to Henry, to play to him, to waltz with him, and sing to
him; but everything I did for this one was a perfect drag,--yet I was
afraid to refuse anything. He was very imperious, and harsh to the
children. Elise was a timid little thing; but Henry was bold and
high-spirited, like his father, and he had never been brought under, in
the least, by any one. He was always finding fault, and quarrelling with
him; and I used to live in daily fear and dread. I tried to make the
child respectful;--I tried to keep them apart, for I held on to those
children like death; but it did no good. _He sold both those children_.
He took me to ride, one day, and when I came home, they were nowhere to
be found! He told me he had sold them; he showed me the money, the price
of their blood. Then it seemed as if all good forsook me. I raved and
cursed,--cursed God and man; and, for a while, I believe, he really was
afraid of me. But he didn't give up so. He told me that my children were
sold, but whether I ever saw their faces again, depended on him; and
that, if I wasn't quiet, they should smart for it. Well, you can do
anything with a woman, when you've got her children. He made me submit;
he made me be peaceable; he flattered me with hopes that, perhaps, he
would buy them back; and so things went on, a week or two. One day, I
was out walking, and passed by the calaboose; I saw a crowd about the
gate, and heard a child's voice,--and suddenly my Henry broke away from
two or three men who were holding the poor boy screamed and looked into
my face, and held on to me, until, in tearing him off, they tore the
skirt of my dress half away; and they carried him in, screaming 'Mother!
mother! mother!' There was one man stood there seemed to pity me. I
offered him all the money I had, if