THE SABLE CLOUD:

A SOUTHERN TALE,

WITH NORTHERN COMMENTS.

BY THE AUTHOR OF"A SOUTH-SIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY."

"I did not err, there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night"

MILTON'S COMUS

BOSTON:TICKNOR AND FIELDS.MDCCCLXI

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by

TICKNOR AND FIELDS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGESTEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H O HOUGHTON

CONTENTS.

PAGECHAPTER I.DEATH AND BURIAL OF A SLAVE'S INFANT 1

CHAPTER II.NORTHERN COMMENTS ON SOUTHERN LIFE 5

CHAPTER III.MORBID NORTHERN CONSCIENCE 32

CHAPTER IV.RESOLUTIONS FOR A CONVENTION 53

CHAPTER V.THE GOOD NORTHERN LADY'S LETTER FROM THE SOUTH 59

CHAPTER VI.QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 118

CHAPTER VII.OWNERSHIP IN MAN.—THE OLD TESTAMENT SLAVERY 150

CHAPTER VIII.THE TENURE 177

CHAPTER IX.DISCUSSION IN PHILEMON'S CHURCH AT THE RETURN OF ONESIMUS 205

CHAPTER X.THE FUTURE 239

CHAPTER I.

DEATH AND BURIAL OF A SLAVE'S INFANT.

"The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master."

A Southern gentleman, who was visiting in New York, sent me, with hisreply to my inquiries for the welfare of his family at home, thefollowing letter which he had just received from one of his marrieddaughters in the South.

The reader will be so kind as to take the assurance which the writerhereby gives him, that the letter was received under the circumstancesnow stated, and that it is not a fiction. Certain names and the dateonly are, for obvious reasons, omitted.

THE LETTER.

MY DEAR FATHER,—

You have so recently heard from and about those of us left here, andthat in a so much more satisfactory way than through letters, that itscarcely seems worth while to write just yet. But Mary left Kate's poorlittle baby in such a pitiable state, that I think it will be a reliefto all to hear that its sufferings are ended. It died about ten o'clockthe night that she left us, very quietly and without a struggle, and atsunset on Friday we laid it in its last resting-place. My husband and Iwent out in the morning to select the spot for its burial, and findingthe state of affairs in the cemetery, we chose a portion of ground andwill have it inclosed with a railing. They have been very careless inthe management of the ground, and have allowed persons to inclose andbury in any shape or way they chose, so that the whole is cut up in away th

...