On our journey here there were a great many slaves in the car with us,
coming to pass their Sunday at Lexington. They seemed exceedingly merry,
and one, whom papa sat next, said he had accumulated $950, and that when
he got $1900, he would be able to purchase his freedom. He said his
master was a rich man, having $300,000, and that he was very well
treated; but that some masters did behave very badly to their slaves,
and often beat them whether they deserved it or not. From the specimen
we had of those in the cars, they seemed well-conditioned men, and all
paid the same fare that we did, and were treated with quite as much
attention. They seem to get some sort of extra wages from their masters
besides their food and raiment, out of which they can lay by if they are
provident, so as to be able to purchase their freedom in time; but they
do not seem always to care about this, as one man here has $4000, which
would much more than suffice to buy his freedom; but he prefers
remaining a slave. We shall probably see a good deal more of the
condition of the slaves within the next few days, so I shall say no more
upon the subject at present, excepting that all this does not alter the
view which we cannot help taking of the vileness of the institution,
though it certainly does not appear so very cruel in practice as it is
often represented to be by the anti-slavery party.
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