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1046 READER RESPONSES, 1881-93

might have envied. After reading the biographies of most of the great men, I have
come to the conclusion that obstacles in the path are the best incentives to those who
would climb the hill of fame. If Douglass had been born in the North, a free man, he
would probably never have risen above some humble position; but where every step
he made cost him a blow, he determined to conquer, and he did. The story of his life
is told in the simplest and most straightforward manner. I have never read a book on
the subject of slavery, not even "Uncle Tom's Cabin," that made that institution
appear so awful. Douglass does not seem to be straining after a sensation . There is
no attempt at word painting. He gives the facts just as they were, and they need no
coloring to make them more terrible.

Who his father was Douglass never knew, and his mother he only saw once, I
believe. Then she walked twelve miles and back in the night to see him for a few
minutes. His grandmother, who seemed to have a better position than usually fell to
the lot of slaves, took care of him until he was seven years old; then he was sent to
the "old master's." This "old master" was Captain Aaron Anthony, who was the
"chief clerk and butler" on the home plantation of Colonel Lloyd, the owner of the
"great house." Douglass belonged to Colonel Lloyd, an immensely wealthy man
who owned a thousand slaves, and lived in Oriental splendor on the eastern shore of
Maryland. The description of the manner of living at this mansion reads like a
romance. Fifteen noiseless slaves glided about the dining room waiting upon the
guests, or fanning them with large fans as they ate. A "Yankee" tutor taught the
young people, who spent their leisure in every sort of enjoyment. Colonel Lloyd was
a kind husband and father, but he would have none but brutes as overseers of his
slaves, and would even take the whip in his own hand and beat his most devoted and
faithful servants. Douglass was accustomed to see men and women beaten in the
most cruel manner from his earliest childhood. The first woman he ever saw beaten
was his own cousin, who was tied up with her arms over her head, and lashed until
her back was cut to the bone and the floor was red with her blood. The crime for
which she suffered this terrible punishment was having spoken to a young negro
with whom she was in love, but of whom her owner did not approve. As a child
Douglass escaped severe floggings, hut when he grew up and displayed what was
considered too independent a spirit, he was beaten as cruelly as any other slave, and
more so than most because he resisted. He did not shirk his work, and as he was a
big, strong fellow, he accomplished a great deal, and made himself valuable to his
master. When he was hired out he brought good wages home to the master, but even
this did not make him show any solicitude for his health or well-being. The man who
employed him was the worst sort of a brute, yet Douglass tells us that he went to
church and prayed with the loudest. When Douglass was working one day, he fell
twice to the ground from exhaustion and real illness. Instead of letting him rest, his employer hit him over the head with a stick of wood and kicked him with all his
might. I should think a selfish motive, if nothing else, would have made him more
considerate. You wouldn't want to maim a horse if he was temporarily laid up, and