ighest bidder. Mrs. Slator had cash
enough, that her husband and master left, to purchase the liberty of
herself and children; but on her attempting to do so, the pusillanimous
scoundrel, who had robbed them of their freedom, claimed the money as
his property; and, poor creature, she had to give it up. According to
law, as will be seen hereafter, a slave cannot own anything. The old
lady never recovered from her sad affliction.

At the sale she was brought up first, and after being vulgarly
criticised, in the presence of all her distressed family, was sold to a
cotton planter, who said he wanted the "proud old critter to go to his
plantation, to look after the little woolly heads, while their mammies
were working in the field."

When the sale was over, then came the separation, and

"O, deep was the anguish of that slave mother's heart,
When called from her darlings for ever to part;
The poor mourning mother of reason bereft,
Soon ended her sorrows, and sank cold in death."

Antoinette, the flower of the family, a girl who was much beloved by
all who knew her, for her Christ-like piety, dignity of manner, as well
as her great talents and extreme beauty, was bought by an uneducated
and drunken salve-dealer.

I cannot give a more correct description of the scene, when she was
called from her brother to the stand, than will be found in the
following lines--

"Why stands she near the auction stand?
That girl so young and fair;
What brings her to this dismal place?
Why stands she weeping there?

Why does she raise that bitter cry?
Why hangs her head with shame,
As now the auctioneer's rough voice
So rudely calls her name!

But see! she grasps a manly hand,
And in a voice so low,
As scarcely to be heard, she says,
"My brother, must I go?"

A moment's pause: then, midst a wail
Of agonizing woe,
His answer falls upon the ear,--
"Yes, sister, you must go!

No longer can my arm defend,
No longer can I save
My sister from the horrid fate
That waits her as a SLAVE!"

Blush, Christian, blush! for e'en the dark
Untutored heathen see
Thy inconsistency, and lo!
They scorn thy God, and thee!"

The low trader said to a kind lady who wished to purchase Antoinette
out of his hands, "I reckon I'll not sell the smart critter for ten
thousand dollars; I always wanted her for my own use." The lady,
wishing to remonstrate with him,