I have now reached a period of my life when I can give dates. I left Baltimore, and went
to live with Master Thomas Auld, at St. Michael's, in March, 1832. It was now more than
seven years since I lived with him in the family of my old master, on Colonel Lloyd's
plantation. We of course were now almost entire strangers to each other. He was to me a
new master, and I to him a new slave. I was ignorant of his temper and disposition; he
was equally so of mine. A very short time, however, brought us into full acquaintance
with each other. I was made acquainted with his wife not less than with himself. They
were well matched, being equally mean and cruel. I was now, for the first time during a
space of more than seven years, made to feel the painful gnawings of hunger--a
something which I had not experienced before since I left Colonel Lloyd's plantation. It
went hard enough with me then, when I could look back to no period at which I had
enjoyed a sufficiency. It was tenfold harder after living in Master Hugh's family, where I
had always had enough to eat, and of that which was good. I have said Master Thomas
was a mean man. He was so. Not to give a slave enough to eat, is regarded as the most
aggravated development of meanness even among slaveholders. The rule is, no matter
how coarse the food, only let there be enough of it. This is the theory; and in the part of
Maryland from which I came, it is the general practice,--though there are many
exceptions. Master Thomas gave us enough of neither coarse nor fine food. There were
four slaves of us in the kitchen--my sister Eliza, my aunt Priscilla, Henny, and myself;
and we were allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little
else, either in the shape of meat or vegetables. It was not enough for us to subsist upon.
We were therefore reduced to the wretched necessity of living at the expense of our
neighbors. This we did by begging and stealing, whichever came handy in the time of
need, the one being considered as legitimate as the other. A great many times have we
poor creatures been nearly perishing with hunger, when food in abundance lay
mouldering in the safe and smoke-house, and our pious mistress was aware of the fact;
and yet that mistress and her husband would kneel every morning, and pray that God
would bless them in basket and store!
Bad as all slaveholders are, we seldom meet one destitute of every element of character
commanding respect. My master was one of this rare sort. I do not know of one single
noble act ever performed by him. The leading trait in his character was meanness; and if
there were any other element in his nature, it was made subject to this. He was mean; and,
like most other mean men, he lacked the ability to conceal his meanness. Captain Auld
was not born a slaveholder. He had been a poor man, master only of a Bay craft. He came
into possession of all his slaves by marriage; and of all men, adopted slaveholders are the
worst. He was cruel, but cowardly. He commanded without firmness. In the enforcement
of his rules, he was at times rigid, and at times lax. At times, he spoke to his slaves with
the firmness of Napoleon and the fury of a demon; at other times, he might well be
mistaken for an inquirer who had lost his way. He did nothing of himself. He might have
passed for a lion, but for his ears. In all things noble which he attempted, his own
meanness shone most conspicuous. His airs, words, and actions, were the airs, words, and
