t of this
prophecy.

It is perfectly well understood at the south, that to educate a slave
is to make him discontened(sic) with slavery, and to invest him with a
power which shall open to him the treasures of freedom; and since the
object of the slaveholder is to maintain complete authority over his
slave, his constant vigilance is exercised to prevent everything
which militates against, or endangers, the stability of his authority.
Education being among the menacing influences, and, perhaps, the most
dangerous, is, therefore, the most cautiously guarded against.

It is true that we do not often hear of the enforcement of the law,
punishing as a crime the teaching of slaves to read, but this is not
because of a want of disposition to enforce it. The true reason or
explanation of the matter is this: there is the greatest unanimity of
opinion among the white population in the south in favor of the policy
of keeping the slave in ignorance. There is, perhaps, another reason why
the law against education is so seldom violated. The slave is too poor
to be able to offer a temptation sufficiently strong to induce a white
man to violate it; and it is not to be supposed that in a community
where the moral and religious sentiment is in favor of slavery, many
martyrs will be found sacrificing their liberty and lives by violating
those prohibitory enactments.

As a general rule, then, darkness reigns over the abodes of the
enslaved, and "how great is that darkness!"

We are sometimes told of the contentment of the slaves, and are
entertained with vivid pictures of their happiness. We are told that
they often dance and sing; that their masters frequently give them
wherewith to make merry; in fine, that they have little of which to
complain. I admit that the slave does sometimes sing, dance, and appear
to be merry. But what does this prove? It only proves to my mind, that
though slavery is armed with a thousand stings, it is not able entirely
to kill the elastic spirit of the bondman. That spirit will rise and
walk abroad, despite of whips and chains, and extract from the cup
of nature occasional drops of joy and gladness. No thanks to the
slaveholder, nor to slavery, that the{341} vivacious captive may
sometimes dance in his chains; his very mirth in such circumstances
stands before God as an accusing angel against his enslaver.

It is often said, by the opponents of the anti-slavery cause, that the
condition of the people of I