on, not
having the fear of God before her eyes, but moved and instigated by the
devil, wickedly, maliciously, and feloniously, on the fourth day of
July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four, at Norfolk, in said County, did teach a certain black girl
named Kate to read in the Bible, to the great displeasure of Almighty
God, to the pernicious example of others in like case offending,
contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and
against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

"VICTOR VAGABOND, Prosecuting Attorney."

"On this indictment Mrs. Douglass was arraigned as a necessary matter
of form, tried, found guilty of course; and Judge Scalaway, before whom
she was tried, having consulted with Dr. Adams, ordered the sheriff to
place Mrs. Douglass in the prisoner's box, when he addressed her as
follows: 'Margaret Douglass, stand up. You are guilty of one of the
vilest crimes that ever disgraced society; and the jury have found you
so. You have taught a slave girl to read in the Bible. No enlightened
society can exist where such offences go unpunished. The Court, in
your case, do not feel for you one solitary ray of sympathy, and they
will inflict on you the utmost penalty of the law. In any other
civilized country you would have paid the forfeit of your crime with
your life, and the Court have only to regret that such is not the law
in this country. The sentence for your offence is, that you be
imprisoned one month in the county jail, and that you pay the costs of
this prosecution. Sheriff, remove the prisoner to jail.' On the
publication of these proceedings, the Doctors of Divinity preached each
a sermon on the necessity of obeying the laws; the New York Observer
noticed with much pious gladness a revival of religion on Dr. Smith's
plantation in Georgia, among his slaves; while the Journal of Commerce
commended this political preaching of the Doctors of Divinity because
it favoured slavery. Let us do nothing to offend our Southern
brethren."

However, at first, we were highly delighted at the idea of having
gained permission to be absent for a few days; but when the thought
flashed across my wife's mind, that it was customary for travellers to
register their names in the visitors' book at hotels, as well as in the
clearance or Custom-house book at Charleston, South Carolina--it made
our spirits droop within us.

So, while sitting in ou