“‘What did Mr. Tucker give ’em to you for?’ he says, in rage.
“‘For savin’ Susan’s life, Sir,’ I answers.
“‘_Susan’s life?_ you _devil_! What right has Mr. Tucker got to give _you such_ a suit of clothes, without my liberty? Hand me that coat.’ And I did, but I felt bad.
“Well, he took it, and held it out, and says he, ‘Why, nigger, that’s a better coat than I ever had on my back, _you cuss—you_;’ and at that he took it, and flung it on the floor in rage. I picks it up, and hands it to ‘Lecta, and she puts it in her chist. I had the pleasure of wearing that coat one Sunday more, and then ☞ he took it, and wore it out himself! ☜
“The gals says, ‘Why, father, _how can_ you take away that coat?’
“‘Shet _your_ heads, or you’ll git a tunin’.’
“‘Well, father, but how _’twill look_—and what will _Mr. Tucker’s folks think of you_?’
“‘Shet your dam heads, or I’ll take away the rest of his clothes; for he’s a struttin’ about here as big as a meetin’ house. I’ll do as I please with my _nigger’s things_! ☞ He’s my property!! ☜ It’s a dam pity if _my nigger’s things_ don’t belong to me!’[4] ☜
And with the same propriety, might he say, that his nigger’s _soul_ belonged to him; or, if he possessed salvation by Christ, that his title to heaven belonged to him. With such premises, he could logically prove that he could _kill_ his slave, and do no wrong, as he would innocently kill his ox, or other property. Here we see the legitimate and necessary inference of this barbarous, inhuman and wicked position, that it is right, under certain circumstances, to _own property in man_. A man is not _safe_, as long as he acknowledges this right; for if he believes it _ever_ can exist, he will _exercise_ it as soon as circumstances are favorable, and become one of the most barbarous and abandoned of slaveholders in an hour.]
“Now, Mr. L——, he robbed me of _myself_, then of my _money_, and then of my _clothes_, that a good man gin me for savin’ his darter’s life. Now you see what _mean, means_.
“One day, arter this, I met Mr. Tucker in the road, and says he, ‘Well, Peter, how do you git along?’ ‘Oh! Sir, well ’nough; only master has took my clothes away you gin me, and is a wearin’ them out himself.’
“‘What!’ says he, ‘not them clothes I gin you?’