Page:The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive.djvu/382

 apparently very young, she held in her arms, and caressed with much fondness, a sprightly infant of seven or eight months, quite richly dressed, and of a color a good deal lighter than the mother's.

"Jemima, shouted the auctioneer; "first-rate chambermaid; hold up your head, my dear, and let the gentlemen see you; brought up in one of the first families of Virginia; a good seamstress, too," — reading from a paper or list containing the names and descriptions of the articles on sale, — "only fifteen years of age, warranted sound and healthy in every particular!"

"And do you sell the pappoose too, mother and child in one lot?" asked a thin, squint-eyed, hard-featured fellow.

"You know the law don't allow us," said the auctioneer, with a wink, "to offer the mother and child separately. Whoever buys the girl has the privilege to take the child if he chooses, at the usual rate, — a dollar a pound for sucklings; that's the regular price every where; that you know, old fellow, as well as I. You've bought 'em before now, I reckon."

This drew out a laugh at the expense of the questioner, who, however, did not seem to notice it; and the auctioneer having nodded assent to his inquiry, whether, if not so taken, the child might be had separately, the sale went on.

"Only three hundred dollars offered," cried the auctioneer; "only three hundred dollars for this first-rate chambermaid and seamstress, raised in one of the first families of Virginia, sold for no fault, only to raise the wind."

"Pretty common case with those first Virginia families," said a voice from among the crowd; "they only live by eating their niggers "

"Warranted," — so the auctioneer went on, without noticing the interruption, which raised another laugh among some of the company, — "warranted healthy, sound, and honest."

"But no virgin," responded the voice from the