uch, and den Sally go away wid de young
missy. A week after dat de bust up come. De officers dey come down and
seize de place, and a little while after dey sell all de slabes. Dat
was a terrible affair, to see de husbands and de wives and de children
separated and sold to different masters. De young massa he not dere
at sale. Dey say he pretty nigh break him heart, but he ought to hab
thought ob dat before. Me sure dat de ole gentleman and de ole missy
pretty nigh turn in deir grabe at de thought ob all de hands they was so
kind to sold away.

"Dat de curse of slabery, sar. Me trabel a good deal, and me tink dat
no working people in de world are so merry and happy as de slabe in a
plantation wid a good massa and missy. Dey not work so hard as de white
man. Dey have plenty to eat and drink, dey hab deir gardens and deir
fowls. When dey are sick dey are taken care ob, when dey are ole they
are looked after and hab nothing to do. I have heard people talk a lot
of nonsense about de hard life of de plantation slabe. Dat not true,
sar, wid a good massa. De slabe hab no care and he bery happy. If all
massas were good, and dere were a law dat if a plantation were broken up
de slabes must be sold in families together, me tell you dat de life on
a plantation a thousand times happier dan de life ob a black man in
his own country. But all masters are not good. Some neber look after de
slabes, and leabe all to overseers, and dese bery often bad, cruel men.
But worst of all is when a sale comes. Dat terrible, sar. De husban'
sold to Alabama, de wife to Carolina, de children scattered trough de
States. Dis too bad, sar, dis make ob slabery a curse to de black men.

"Well, sar, we all sold. Me fetch high price and sold to a planter in
Missouri. Sam no like dat. Dat a long way from the frontier. Tree years
Sam work dar in plantation. Den he sold again to a man who hab boats on
de riber at New Orleans. Dar Sam work discharging de ships and working
de barges. Dar he come to learn for sure which de British flag. De times
were slack, and my massa hire me out to be waiter in a saloon. Dat place
dey hab dinners, and after dinner dey gamble. Dat war a bad place, mos'
ebery night quarrels, and sometimes de pistols drawn, and de bullets
flying about. Sam 'top dar six months; de place near de riber, and de
captains ob de ships often come to dine.

"One young fellow come bery often, and one day Sam saw tree or four men
he knew to be Texas horse