Page:The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive.djvu/350

 the day at the pen, the object being to keep the people as cheerful, and to put them into as good plight, as possible. Yet some scenes would occur there — such as the separation of mothers and children hitherto kept together — rather distressing to a man of sensibility, like himself; so said Colter, laying his hand upon his heart, with a sort of theatrical, mocking air, which made it difficult to tell whether he was in jest or earnest. "To confess the truth," he added, "I always had a foolish susceptibility about me to the tears of women and children, which a little unsuited me for the business. Not being by any means pious, — I've tried my hand at several things, first and last, but have had too much respect for the memory of my mother, who instilled into my youthful mind a great veneration for religion, to make any pretensions to that, — I was not able, like my partner Gouge, to shelter myself behind St Paul and the patriarchs; and my natural, carnal, unconverted heart, as Gouge said, would sometimes betray me into very bad bargains.

"Tn fact, the first serious quarrel that I had with my partners — and which led to my going out of the concern — grew out of an incident of that sort. McGrab had brought in a superior lot of people from North Carolina, and among them an uncommonly fine young woman, with a nice little boy, just old enough to talk — very light mulattoes; in fact, they might have passed for white. The deep melancholy of her great black eyes, and, in spite of a sadness which no smile ever enlivened, the sweet expression of her face, made an impression on my susceptible heart the very first moment that I saw her. I should have desired to retain her as my own, but this I knew was a piece of extravagance to which my partners would never consent, especially as I was already indebted to the firm for two other girls selected from the stock. She had evidently been raised very delicately, the body servant of a lady whose goods had been sold on execution; and McGrab, relaxing into