But that is no reason why you should ill-use them : but only why you should pity them , and be kind to them , and hope that some day they will wake up , and be ashamed of their nasty , dirty , lazy , stupid life , and try to amend , and become something better once more . For , perhaps , if they do so , then after 379,423 years , nine months , thirteen days , two hours , and twenty-one minutes -LRB- for aught that appears to the contrary -RRB- , if they work very hard and wash very hard all that time , their brains may grow bigger , and their jaws grow smaller , and their ribs come back , and their tails wither off , and they will turn into water-babies again , and perhaps after that into land-babies ; and after that perhaps into grown men . You know they wo n't ? Very well , I daresay you know best . But you see , some folks have a great liking for those poor little efts . They never did anybody any harm , or could if they tried ; and their only fault is , that they do no good -- any more than some thousands of their betters . But what with ducks , and what with pike , and what with sticklebacks , and what with water-beetles , and what with naughty boys , they are `` sae sair hadden doun , '' as the Scotsmen say , that it is a wonder how they live ; and some folks ca n't help hoping , with good Bishop Butler , that they may have another chance , to make things fair and even , somewhere , somewhen , somehow . Meanwhile , do you learn your lessons , and thank God that you have plenty of cold water to wash in ; and wash in it too , like a true Englishman . And then , if my story is not true , something better is ; and if I am not quite right , still you will be , as long as you stick to hard work and cold water . HAPTER I UNCLE TOM AND LITTLE HARRY ARE SOLD Very many years ago , instead of having servants to wait upon them and work for them , people used to have slaves . These slaves were paid no wages . Their masters gave them only food and clothes in return for their work . When any one wanted servants he went to market to buy them , just as nowadays we buy horses and cows , or even tables and chairs . If the poor slaves were bought by kind people they would be quite happy . Then they would work willingly for their masters and mistresses , and even love them . But very often cruel people bought slaves . These cruel people used to beat them and be unkind to them in many other ways . It was very wicked to buy and sell human beings as if they were cattle . Yet Christian people did it , and many who were good and kind otherwise thought there was no wrong in being cruel to their poor slaves . ` They are only black people , ' they said to themselves .
` Black people do not feel things XXXXX we do . '
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