ugh urgently entreated by one of the latter to take
advantage of his present favourable opportunity for escape, he would not
bring himself to do so at the expense of a separation for life from his
beloved relatives.

His period of living on board the steamer having expired, he was again
remitted to field labour, under a burning sun. From that labour, from
which he suffered severely, he was soon removed to the lighter and more
agreeable occupation of house-waiter to his master. About this time Dr.
Young, in the conventional phraseology of the locality, "got religion."
The fruit of his alleged spiritual gain, was the loss of many material
comforts to the slaves. Destitute of the resources of education, they
were in the habit of employing their otherwise unoccupied minds on the
Sunday in fishing and other harmless pursuits; these were now all put an
end to. The Sabbath became a season of dread to William: he was required
to drive the family to and from the church, a distance of four miles
either way; and while they attended to the salvation of their souls
within the building, he was compelled to attend to the horses without
it, standing by them during divine service under a burning sun, or
drizzling rain. Although William did not get the religion of his master,
he acquired a family passion which appears to have been strongly
intermixed with the devotional exercises of the household of Dr.
Young--a love of sweet julep. In the evening, the slaves were required
to attend family worship. Before commencing the service, it was the
custom to hand a pitcher of the favourite beverage to every member of
the family, not excepting the nephew, a child of between four and five
years old. William was in the habit of watching his opportunity during
the prayer and helping himself from the pitcher, but one day letting it
fall, his propensity for this intoxicating drink was discovered, and he
was severely punished for its indulgence.

In 1830, being then about sixteen years of age, William was hired to a
slave-dealer named Walker. This change of employment led the youth away
south and frustrated, for a time, his plans for escape. His experience
while in this capacity furnishes some interesting, though painful,
details of the legalized traffic in human beings carried on in the
United States. The desperation to which the slaves are driven at their
forced separation from husband, wife, children, and kindred, he found to
be a frequent cause of