loor of my old master's kitchen, I found myself on
carpets; for the corn bag in winter, I now had a good straw bed, well
furnished with covers; for the coarse corn-meal in the morning, I now
had good bread, and mush occasionally; for my poor tow-lien shirt,
reaching to my knees, I had good, clean clothes. I was really well off.
My employment was to run errands, and to take care of Tommy; to prevent
his getting in the way of carriages, and to keep him out of harm's way
generally. Tommy, and I, and his mother, got on swimmingly together, for
a time. I say _for a time_, because the fatal poison of irresponsible
power, and the natural influence{113} of slavery customs, were not long
in making a suitable impression on the gentle and loving disposition of
my excellent mistress. At first, Mrs. Auld evidently regarded me simply
as a child, like any other child; she had not come to regard me as
_property_. This latter thought was a thing of conventional growth. The
first was natural and spontaneous. A noble nature, like hers, could not,
instantly, be wholly perverted; and it took several years to change the
natural sweetness of her temper into fretful bitterness. In her worst
estate, however, there were, during the first seven years I lived with
her, occasional returns of her former kindly disposition.

The frequent hearing of my mistress reading the bible for she often read
aloud when her husband was absent soon awakened my curiosity in respect
to this _mystery_ of reading, and roused in me the desire to learn.
Having no fear of my kind mistress before my eyes, (she had then given
me no reason to fear,) I frankly asked her to teach me to read; and,
without hesitation, the dear woman began the task, and very soon, by her
assistance, I was master of the alphabet, and could spell words of three
or four letters. My mistress seemed almost as proud of my progress, as
if I had been her own child; and, supposing that her husband would be as
well pleased, she made no secret of what she was doing for me. Indeed,
she exultingly told him of the aptness of her pupil, of her intention to
persevere in teaching me, and of the duty which she felt it to teach
me, at least to read _the bible_. Here arose the first cloud over my
Baltimore prospects, the precursor of drenching rains and chilling
blasts.

Master Hugh was amazed at the simplicity of his spouse, and, probably
for the first time, he unfolded to her the true philosophy of slavery,
and