Chapter: My children grew finely; and Dr. Flint would often say to me, with an
exulting smile. "These brats will bring me a handsome sum of money one of
these days."

I thought to myself that, God being my helper, they should never pass into
his hands. It seemed to me I would rather see them killed than have them
given up to his power. The money for the freedom of myself and my children
could be obtained; but I derived no advantage from that circumstance. Dr.
Flint loved money, but he loved power more. After much discussion, my
friends resolved on making another trial. There was a slaveholder about to
leave for Texas, and he was commissioned to buy me. He was to begin with
nine hundred dollars, and go up to twelve. My master refused his offers.
"Sir," said he, "she don't belong to me. She is my daughter's property, and
I have no right to sell her. I mistrust that you come from her paramour. If
so, you may tell him that he cannot buy her for any money; neither can he
buy her children."

The doctor came to see me the next day, and my heart beat quicker as he
entered. I never had seen the old man tread with so majestic a step. He
seated himself and looked at me with withering scorn. My children had
learned to be afraid of him. The little one would shut her eyes and hide
her face on my shoulder whenever she saw him; and Benny, who was now nearly
five years old, often inquired, "What makes that bad man come here so many
times? Does he want to hurt us?" I would clasp the dear boy in my arms,
trusting that he would be free before he was old enough to solve the
problem. And now, as the doctor sat there so grim and silent, the child
left his play and came and nestled up by me. At last my tormentor spoke.
"So you are left in disgust, are you?" said he. "It is no more than I
expected. You remember I told you years ago that you would be treated so.
So he is tired of you? Ha! ha! ha! The virtuous madam don't like to hear
about it, does she? Ha! ha! ha!" There was a sting in his calling me
virtuous madam. I no longer had the power of answering him as I had
formerly done. He continued: "So it seems you are trying to get up another
intrigue. Your new paramour came to me, and offered to buy you; but you may
be assured you will not succeed. You are mine; and you shall be mine for
life. There lives no human being that can take you out of slavery. I would
have done it; but you rejected my kind offer."

I told him I did not wish to get up any intrigue; that I had never seen the
man who offered to buy me.

"Do you tell me I lie?" exclaimed he, dragging me from my chair. "Will you
say again that you never saw that man?"

I answered, "I do say so."

He clinched my arm with a volley of oaths. Ben began to scream, and I told
him to go to his grandmother.

"Don't you stir a step, you little wretch!" said he. The child drew nearer
to me, and put his arms round me, as if he wanted to protect me. This was
too much for my enraged master. He caught him up and hurled him across the
room. I thought he was dead, and rushed towards him to take him up.

"Not yet!" exclaimed the doctor. "Let him lie there till he comes to."

"Let me go! Let me go!" I screamed, "or I will raise the whole house." I
struggled and got away; but he clinched me again. Somebody opened the door,
and he released me. I picked up my insensible child, and when I turned my
tormentor was gone. Anxiously, I bent over the little form, so pale and
still; and when the brown eyes at last opened, I don't know whether I was
very happy. All the doctor's former persecutions were renewed. He came
morning, noon, and night. No jealous lover ever watched a rival more
closely than he watched me and the unknown slaveholder, with whom he
accused me of wishing to get up an intrigue. When my grandmother was out of
the way he searched every room to find him.

In one of his visits, he happened to find a young girl, whom he had sold to
a trader a few days previous. His statement was, that he sold her because
she had been too familiar with the overseer. She had had a bitter life with
him, and was glad to be sold. She had no mother, and no near ties. She had
been torn from all her family years before. A few friends had entered into
bonds for her safety, if the trader would allow her to spend with them the
time that intervened between her sale and the gathering up of his human
stock. Such a favor was rarely granted. It saved the trader the expense of
board and jail fees, and though the amount was small, it was a weighty
consideration in a slavetrader's mind.

Dr. Flint always had an aversion to meeting slaves after he had sold them.
He ordered Rose out of the house; but he was no longer her master, and she
took no notice of him. For once the crushed Rose was the conqueror. His
gray eyes flashed angrily upon her; but that was the extent of his power.
"How came this girl here?" he exclaimed. "What right had you to allow it,
when you knew I had sold her?"

I answered, "This is my grandmother's house, and Rose came to see her. I
have no right to turn any body out of doors, that comes here for honest
purposes."

He gave me the blow that would have fallen upon Rose if she had still been
his slave. My grandmother's attention had been attracted by loud voices,
and she entered in time to see a second blow dealt. She was not a woman to
let such an outrage, in her own house, go unrebuked. The doctor undertook
to explain that I had been insolent. Her indignant feelings rose higher and
higher, and finally boiled over in words. "Get out of my house!" she
exclaimed. "Go home, and take care of your wife and children, and you will
have enough to do, without watching my family."

He threw the birth of my children in her face, and accused her of
sanctioning the life I was leading. She told him I was living with her by
compulsion of his wife; that he needn't accuse her, for he was the one to
blame; he was the one who had caused all the trouble. She grew more and
more excited as she went on. "I tell you what, Dr. Flint," said she, "you
ain't got many more years to live, and you'd better be saying your prayers.
It will take 'em all, and more too, to wash the dirt off your soul."

"Do you know whom you are talking to?" he exclaimed.

She replied, "Yes, I know very well who I am talking to."

He left the house in a great rage. I looked at my grandmother. Our eyes
met. Their angry expression had passed away, but she looked sorrowful and
weary--weary of incessant strife. I wondered that it did not lessen her
love for me; but if it did she never showed it. She was always kind, always
ready to sympathize with my troubles. There might have been peace and
contentment in that humble home if it had not been for the demon Slavery.

The winter passed undisturbed by the doctor. The beautiful spring came; and
when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.
My drooping hopes came to life again with the flowers. I was dreaming of
freedom again; more for my children's sake than my own. I planned and I
planned. Obstacles hit against plans. There seemed no way of overcoming
them; and yet I hoped.

Back came the wily doctor. I was not at home when he called. A friend had
invited me to a small party, and to gratify her I went. To my great
consternation, a messenger came in haste to say that Dr. Flint was at my
grandmother's, and insisted on seeing me. They did not tell him where I
was, or he would have come and raised a disturbance in my friend's house.
They sent me a dark wrapper, I threw it on and hurried home. My speed did
not save me; the doctor had gone away in anger. I dreaded the morning, but
I could not delay it; it came, warm and bright. At an early hour the doctor
came and asked me where I had been last night. I told him. He did not
believe me, and sent to my friend's house to ascertain the facts. He came
in the afternoon to assure me he was satisfied that I had spoken the truth.
He seemed to be in a facetious mood, and I expected some jeers were coming.
"I suppose you need some recreation," said he, "but I am surprised at your
being there, among those negroes. It was not the place for _you_. Are you
_allowed_ to visit such people?"

I understood this covert fling at the white gentleman who was my friend;
but I merely replied, "I went to visit my friends, and any company they
keep is good enough for me."

He went on to say, "I have seen very little of you of late, but my interest
in you is unchanged. When I said I would have no more mercy on you I was
rash. I recall my words. Linda, you desire freedom for yourself and your
children, and you can obtain it only through me. If you agree to what I am
about to propose, you and they shall be free. There must be no
communication of any kind between you and their father. I will procure a
cottage, where you and the children can live together. Your labor shall be
light, such as sewing for my family. Think what is offered you, Linda--a
home and freedom! Let the past be forgotten. If I have been harsh with you
at times, your willfulness drove me to it. You know I exact obedience from
my own children, and I consider you as yet a child."

He paused for an answer, but I remained silent. "Why don't you speak?"
said he. "What more do you wait for?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Then you accept my offer?"

"No, sir."

His anger was ready to break loose; but he succeeded in curbing it, and
replied, "You have answered without thought. But I must let you know there
are two sides to my proposition; if you reject the bright side, you will be
obliged to take the dark one. You must either accept my offer, or you and
your children shall be sent to your young master's plantation, there to
remain till your young mistress is married; and your children shall fare
like the rest of the negro children. I give you a week to consider it."

He was shrewd; but I knew he was not to be trusted. I told him I was ready
to give my answer now.

"I will not receive it now," he replied. "You act too much from impulse.
Remember that you and your children can be free a week from to-day if you
choose."

On what a monstrous chance hung the destiny of my children! I knew that my
master's offer was a snare, and that if I entered it escape would be
impossible. As for his promise, I knew him so well that I was sure if he
gave me free papers, they would be so managed as to have no legal value.
The alternative was inevitable. I resolved to go to the plantation. But
then I thought how completely I should be in his power, and the prospect
was appalling. Even if I should kneel before him, and implore him to spare
me, for the sake of my children, I knew he would spurn me with his foot,
and my weakness would be his triumph.

Before the week expired, I heard that young Mr. Flint was about to be
married to a lady of his own stamp. I foresaw the position I should occupy
in his establishment. I had once been sent to the plantation for
punishment, and fear of the son had induced the father to recall me very
soon. My mind was made up; I was resolved that I would foil my master and
save my children, or I would perish in the attempt. I kept my plans to
myself; I knew that friends would try to dissuade me from them, and I would
not wound their feelings by rejecting their advice.

On the decisive day the doctor came, and said he hoped I had made a wise
choice.

"I am ready to go to the plantation, sir," I replied.

"Have you thought how important your decision is to your children?" said
he.

I told him I had.

"Very well. Go to the plantation, and my curse go with you," he replied.
"Your boy shall be put to work, and he shall soon be sold; and your girl
shall be raised for the purpose of selling well. Go your own ways!" He left
the room with curses, not to be repeated.

As I stood rooted to the spot, my grandmother came and said, "Linda, child,
what did you tell him?"

I answered that I was going to the plantation.

"_Must_ you go?" said she. "Can't something be done to stop it?"

I told her it was useless to try; but she begged me not to give up. She
said she would go to the doctor, and remind him how long and how faithfully
she had served in the family, and how she had taken her own baby from her
breast to nourish his wife. She would tell him I had been out of the family
so long they would not miss me; that she would pay them for my time, and
the money would procure a woman who had more strength for the situation
than I had. I begged her not to go; but she persisted in saying, "He will
listen to _me_, Linda." She went, and was treated as I expected. He coolly
listened to what she said, but denied her request. He told her that what he
did was for my good, that my feelings were entirely above my situation, and
that on the plantation I would receive treatment that was suitable to my
behavior.

My grandmother was much cast down. I had my secret hopes; but I must fight
my battle alone. I had a woman's pride, and a mother's love for my
children; and I resolved that out of the darkness of this hour a brighter
dawn should rise for them. My master had power and law on his side; I had a
determined will. There is might in each.

 Continued Persecutions Harriet realized she would rather see her children killed than fall into the hands of Dr. Flint. Her children grew to fear him. One day he came to say that her lover had asked to buy her but that he had refused. Harriet said she did not know the man he was speaking of, and Dr. Flint grew so enraged that he pushed her son Benny across the room, knocking him out. Following this the Dr. became even more intense in his persecutions. This treatment of Harriet even began to wear her grandmother down, who had spent a life witnessing "incessant strife. The Dr. finally told Harriet that he planned on setting her and her children up on his plantation in a cottage of their own with only minimal work to do. If she refused that offer, he would send them all to his son's plantation where they would be treated as all slaves were. After thinking about it, and realizing she needed to foil her master and save her children, she told him she would go to his son's plantation. This information devastated her grandmother, who begged her to reconsider, but Harriet had "secret hopes" and "woman's pride" and felt that she could figure out a way to save her children without resorting to following the whims of Dr. Flint

