“ [320] by jealousy, is one of the most common causes of the bad treatment of the domestic servants of the South. It is far more common than anybody knows of; for Southern gentlemen, generally, are very partial to colored girls. This makes a continual feud in families.” “ Does not the church take notice of these things whenever they become public?” I inquired.
No! Southern clergymen are no better than worldly folks. I know of my own self about them. I have known Southern ministers, my own self, make impudent advances to me in the very Sunday schools. Colored women know what they are. My mistress used to go home every two or three months. She always took me with her; she would not trust me alone at the Fort. She never tried to strike me at Fort Leavenworth, because her husband would not allow it. When she got home to her father's, she tried to get him to whip me. He refused. One day, when I had her child in my arms, she came up behind me, and struck me with a broom over the head. I had a good mind to throw her child into the fire, but I restrained my temper, and didn't say a word to her. When we got back to Fort Leavenworth, she boasted to Aunt Jennie (her husband's other slave), that she had struck me once and would keep it up now. I heard her, and said, loud enough for her to hear me, that if she ever laid her hand on me again, she would not get off so easy as she did before. After that, she seemed afraid to try. But, one morning, she got angry at me, seized a broom, and attempted to strike me with it. I seized hold of another, and made at her. She didn't dare to strike. She told her husband about it. He tied
