CE MADE BY HENRY
HARRIS--ITS EFFECT--THE UNIQUE SPEECH OF MRS. FREELAND--OUR SAD
PROCESSION TO PRISON--BRUTAL JEERS BY THE MULTITUDE ALONG THE
ROAD--PASSES EATEN--THE DENIAL--SANDY TOO WELL LOVED TO BE
SUSPECTED--DRAGGED BEHIND HORSES--THE JAIL A RELIEF--A NEW SET OF
TORMENTORS--SLAVE-TRADERS--JOHN, CHARLES AND HENRY RELEASED--ALONE IN
PRISON--I AM TAKEN OUT, AND SENT TO BALTIMORE.

I am now at the beginning of the year 1836, a time favorable for serious
thoughts. The mind naturally occupies itself with the mysteries of life
in all its phases--the ideal, the real and the actual. Sober people
look both ways at the beginning of the year, surveying the errors of the
past, and providing against possible errors of the future. I, too,
was thus exercised. I had little pleasure{210} in retrospect, and the
prospect was not very brilliant. "Notwithstanding," thought I, "the many
resolutions and prayers I have made, in behalf of freedom, I am, this
first day of the year 1836, still a slave, still wandering in the depths
of spirit-devouring thralldom. My faculties and powers of body and soul
are not my own, but are the property of a fellow mortal, in no sense
superior to me, except that he has the physical power to compel me to
be owned and controlled by him. By the combined physical force of the
community, I am his slave--a slave for life." With thoughts like these,
I was perplexed and chafed; they rendered me gloomy and disconsolate.
The anguish of my mind may not be written.

At the close of the year 1835, Mr. Freeland, my temporary master, had
bought me of Capt. Thomas Auld, for the year 1836. His promptness in
securing my services, would have been flattering to my vanity, had I
been ambitious to win the reputation of being a valuable slave. Even as
it was, I felt a slight degree of complacency at the circumstance. It
showed he was as well pleased with me as a slave, as I was with him as
a master. I have already intimated my regard for Mr. Freeland, and I may
say here, in addressing northern readers--where is no selfish motive for
speaking in praise of a slaveholder--that Mr. Freeland was a man of many
excellent qualities, and to me quite preferable to any master I ever
had.

But the kindness of the slavemaster only gilds the chain of slavery, and
detracts nothing from its weight or power. The thought that men are made
for other and better uses than slavery, thrives best under the gentle
treatment of a kind master. But the