"I have been richer than many whites--to some of whom I have lent
money. And my good and tender mistress never commands us to do
anything, but makes us do everything by only saying, 'Please to do it.'
How shall I leave you? give me by the year what you will, in the name
of a freeman or a slave, it is of little consequence to me--I shall
never be happy but with you--I will never leave you."
"Well, James, I consent to what thou desirest; after thy manumission
shall have passed through the necessary forms, I will hire thee by the
year; but take at least one of relaxation; it is a great epoch of thy
life; celebrate it with joy, and rest by doing whatsoever thou wilt."
"No master! it is seed time--I will take my pleasure another time--one
day only shall be a holiday in my family. Then, since you will have it
so, I will accept my liberty; and my first action, as a free man, is
to take your hand, my master, press it between mine, and lay it on my
heart, where the attachment and gratitude of James will not cease until
that ceases to beat; and until that moment be assured that no laborer
in the county of Kent will be more industrious than he who henceforth
shall be called FAITHFUL JAMES."
EZEKIEL COSTON.
Aged upwards of eighty-three years, related to Samuel Canby, of
Wilmington, Delaware, in 1825, the following circumstances of his
freedom from his master, the late Warner Mifflin, a Quaker: and it may
be observed, that he always supported an unblemished character:
That he was born a slave in the family of Daniel Mifflin, of Accomack
county, Virginia, with whom he lived until about twenty years of age;
about which period Warner Mifflin (son of Daniel) married a daughter
of John Kensey's, of West River, Maryland, and settled near Camden, in
the State of Delaware. Ezekiel, and five other slaves, were given him
by his father; there were also a number of slaves belonging to his wife
brought into the family.
He lived with Warner Mifflin about eighteen months, when he put him on
a plantation of his to work it, about six miles from his residence,
where he continued about four years a slave. At this period Ezekiel was
informed by his master that he had concluded to set his slaves free;
and very soon after his master came to his residence, and calling him
from the field where he was ploughing, they sat down together, when
he told Ezekiel his mind had long been uneasy with holding slaves, and
that he must let him go.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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