“This was but the beginning of troubles. A sense of insecurity made the sale of slaves more vigorous than ever. Charlotte’s children were sold, one by one--no two together--the boys for the sugar country,--the girls for--‘the New Orleans market,’ whence they were dispersed, she never knew where. “‘All gone!’ she said; ‘where I could never see ’em nor hear from ’em. I don’t even know where one of ’em is!’ “‘And Violet?’ “‘O yes,--I mean all but Violet. She’s all I’ve got in the world, and I want to keep her. I begged Missus to let me keep jist one! and she said if I could get any body to buy her for me, I might have her,--for you know I couldn’t own her myself, ’cause I’m a slave.’ “‘But you are no longer a slave, Momma Charlotte; your mistress by bringing you here voluntarily has freed you,--’ “‘Yes,--I know,--but I promised, you see! And I don’t care to be free. I’m old, and my children’s gone, and my heart’s broke. I ha’n’t no more courage. If I can keep Violet, it’s all I expect. My mistress is good enough to me,--I live pretty easy.’ “Such was Momma Charlotte’s philosophy, but her face told through what sufferings such philosophy had been acquired. A fixed grief sat on her brow; since the judicial murder of her husband she had never been known to laugh,--hardly to smile. Her eyes were habitually cast on the ground, and her voice seemed always on the brink of tears. She was what you call ‘_dissatisfied_,’ I think, Mr. S----.” “O, you have selected an extreme case! those things very seldom happen.” (Seldom!) “After all, you see the poor old thing knew what was right; she showed the right spirit,--” “Yes,--she,--but her _owners_?” Here Mr. S---- was sure he saw a friend at a distance to whom it was necessary he should speak immediately; so he darted off, and I lost the benefit of his defence of the peculiarities of the peculiar institution. Mrs. C. M. Kirkland A NAME, ON BEING ASKED FOR HIS AUTOGRAPH. Why ask a Name? Small is the good it brings; Names are but breath; _deeds_, DEEDS alone are Things. Horace Mann. WEST NEWTON, OCT. 23, 1852. TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY.