The Anti-Slavery Alphabet
Listen, little children, all, Listen to our earnest call: You are very young, 'tis true, But there's much that you can do. Even you can plead with men That they buy not slaves again, And that those they have may be Quickly set at liberty. They may hearken what _you_ say, Though from _us_ they turn away. Sometimes, when from school you walk, You can with your playmates talk, Tell them of the slave child's fate, Motherless and desolate. And you can refuse to take Candy, sweetmeat, pie or cake, Saying "no"--unless 'tis free-- "The slave shall not work for me." Thus, dear little children, each May some useful lesson teach;
was possessed of a liberal share. The society of Emily and other ladies
he seemed to shun. The gentle influence of domestic life seemed entirely
wasted upon him. Colonel Dumont was forced to believe his brother a
misanthrope, and no longer strove to soften his character. Emily
regarded his coldness as his natural manner, and left him to the full
enjoyment of his eccentricity. Between persons of such opposite
dispositions there could be, of course, but little sympathy, and that
little was entirely upon one side.
The demon of Jaspar's nature displayed itself in the cane-field and in
the sugar-house, which Colonel Dumont rarely visited, having intrusted
the entire management of the estate to him, his own attention being
occupied by the exterior business of the plantation, and by his city
possessions. The poor negro, who was compelled to submit to cruel usage
and short fare, knew Jaspar's nature better than uncle or niece. His
advent among them had been the era from which they dated the life of
misery they led--a life so different from that they had been accustomed
to under the superintendence of the more Christian brother.
Jaspar Dumont managed the "negro stock" in the true spirit of a demon,
and as such the "hands" learned to regard him. Runaways, which, under
the mild management of his brother, were rarely known, were common now;
and almost the only amusement Jaspar knew was to hunt them down with
rifle and bloodhound.
This state of things Colonel Dumont saw, but he did not appreciate the
Listen, little children, all, Listen to our earnest call: You are very young, 'tis true, But there's much that you can do. Even you can plead with men That they buy not slaves again, And that those they have may be Quickly set at liberty. They may hearken what _you_ say, Though from _us_ they turn away. Sometimes, when from school you walk, You can with your playmates talk, Tell them of the slave child's fate, Motherless and desolate. And you can refuse to take Candy, sweetmeat, pie or cake, Saying "no"--unless 'tis free-- "The slave shall not work for me." Thus, dear little children, each May some useful lesson teach;