This was a Virginia slave-auction, at which the bones, sinews,
blood, and nerves of a young girl of eighteen were sold for $500;
her moral character for $200; her superior intellect for $100; the
benefits supposed to accrue from her having been sprinkled and
immersed, together with a warranty of her devoted Christianity,
for $300; her ability to make a good prayer for $200; and her
chastity for $700 more. This, too, in a city thronged with
churches, whose tall spires look like so many signals pointing to.
heaven, but whose ministers preach that slavery a God-ordained
institution!
The slaves were speedily separated, and taken along by their
respective masters. Jennings, the slave-speculator, who had
purchased Agnes and her daughter Marion, with several of the
other slaves, took them to the county prison, where he usually
kept his human cattle after purchasing them, previous to starting
for the New Orleans market.
Linwood had already provided a place for Isabella, to which she was
taken. The most trying moment for her was when she took leave of
her mother and sister. The "Good-by" of the slave is unlike that
of any other class in the community. It is indeed a farewell
forever. With tears streaming down their cheeks, they embraced and
commanded each other to God, who is no respecter of persons, and
before whom master and slave must one day appear.
CHAPTER III
THE SLAVE SPECULATOR.
DICK Jennings the slave-speculator, was one of the few Northern
men, who go to the South and throw aside their honest mode of
obtaining a living and resort to trading in human beings.
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