UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

the
small
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
137
These papers of South Carolina are not Some vulgarjestswere passedon his color,and
exceptional ones
; theymay be matched two hundred dollars
by
was bid for him ; but the audience
said
hundredsof papers from any other " that it was not enough to
state.
beginon for
such a likely young nigger." Several remarked
Let the reader now stop one minute,and that they " would not have him as a gift." Some
look over againthese two weeks' advertisements.
This is not
"
novel-writing this is
fact. See thesehuman beings tumbled people. I asked him if it was more wrong than
promiscuously
to sellblack people.
out before the publicwith
He made no reply. Before
he was sold,his mother rushed from the house
upon the portico,crying,in frantic grief,
" My
bedsteads, "c. "c; and Christian son, 0 ! my boy,they will take away my dear "
"
Here her voice was lost,as she was rudelypushed
horses,mules șecond-hand buggies, cottonseed,
ladies, in the same newspaper, saying that
they prayerfully study God's word, and
believetheir institutionshave his sanction !
Does he suppose that here, in these two
weeks țherehave been no scenes of suffering ?
Imaginethe distressof these families" the
nights of anxietyof these mothers and
children, wives and husbands,when these
sales are about to take place ! Imaginethe
multitude. The land beingsoldțhe auctioneer's
loud voice was heard, " Bringup the niggers!'''' accordance with God's word !
A shade of astonishment and affright passed over Supposeit be conceded now that "the
their faces,as they stared firstat each other,and
then at the crowd of family
purchasers,whose attention
relationisprotected, as far as possible."
was now directed to them. When the horrible The question still arises, How far
truth was revealed to their minds that they itpossible
is
? Advertisements of were
salesto the
to be sold,and nearest relationsand friendsparted number of those we have quoted,more or
forever țhe effectwas indescribably agonizing.
Women snatched up
their babes,and ran screaming
less, appear from week to week in the same
into the huts. Children hid behind the huts papers, in the same neighborhood ; and professional
and trees,and the men stood in mute despair. traders make it their business to
The auctioneer stood on the portico of the house, attend them,and buy up
and the '" men and boys" victims. Now, if
were rangingin the the inhabitantsof a
yard for inspection. It was announced that
givenneighborhood
no
warranty of soundness was given, and purchaserschargethemselveswith the care to see that
must examine for themselves. A few old men no families are separated in thiswhirl of
were sold at pricesfrom .thirteento twenty-five auctioneering,
would fancythat
dollars,and it was
they
painfulto see old men, bowed could have very littlelse to do. It is a
with years of toil and suffering, stand up to be the
jestof brutal tyrants, and to hear them tell their
diseaseand worthlessness, fearing that theywould
traders for the southern market.
nature,that the distressand
be boughtby anguish of these
A white boy, about fifteen poor, helpless creatures
years old,was placeddoes often raise
on the stand. His hair was brown and up forthem friends
straight,
among
his skin exactly the same hue as other the generous-hearted.
white Southern men often
persons,
and no discernible trace of negro features
in his countenance.
said a white niggerwas more trouble than he was
worth. One man said it was
wrong to sell ivhite
back and the door closed. The sale was not for a
moment
interrupted,
and none of the crowd appeared
to be in the leastaffected by the scene.
The poor boy,afraid to cry before so many strangers,
who showed no signs of sympathy or pity,
trembled,and wiped the tears from his cheeks
with his sleeves. He was sold for about two
hundred and fifty dollars. During the
sale țhe
quartersresounded with cries and lamentations
that made my heart ache. A woman was next
called
scenes of the
by
sales! A young lady,a friend
name. She gave
her infant one wild
embrace before
of the writer, who spent a winter in Carolina,
leaving itwith an old woman, and
hastened mechanically to obey the call ; but
described to her the sale of a woman stopped, threw her arms aloftșcreamed and was
and unable
her
to move.
children. When the littlegirl,
seven
years of age, was put on the One of my companionstouched
block,
my shoulder
and said, " Come, let us leave here ; I can bear no
she fellinto spasms with fear and excitement. more." We left the ground. The man who
She was taken off" recovered and put
drove our carriage from Petersburg had two sons
back "
spasms came back "
threetimes who^belongedto the "
estate
boys. He
obtained a
the experiment was tried,and at last the
promise that theyshould not be sold.
He was asked if they
sale of the child was deferred!
were his onlychildren ; he
answered,"All that's left of eight." Three
See also the following, from Dr. Elwood others had be^n sold to the south,and he would
never see or
Harvey,editorof a western paper, to the
hear from them again.
As Northern
Pennsylvania Freeman. Dec. people do not see such
25,1846.
things,
theyshould hear of them often enough to keep
We attended a sale of land and other them awake to the
property,
sufferings of the victims of
near Petersburg, Virginia, and
their indifference.
unexpectedlysaw
slaves sold at publicauction. The slaves were Such are the common
told theywould not be sold,and were
incidents, not the
collected
in front of the admitted
quarters,gazingoh the assembled
cruelties, of an institutionwhich
peoplehave broughtthemselves to feelisin
fact,and a most honorable one to our common
human
go to the extent of their means, and beyond
their means, to arrest the cruel operations