"
Col. A. gave his slaves the liberty to get up a grand dance. Invitations
were sent and accepted, to a large number of slaves on other plantations,
and so, for miles around, all or many of the slaves were in high
anticipation of joining in the great dance, which was to come off on
Easter night. In the mean time, the patrol was closely watching their
movements, and evinced rather a joyful expectancy of the many they
should find there without a pass, and the flogging they would give them
for that, if not guilty of any other offence, and perhaps they might catch
some of the Colonel's slaves doing something for which they could be
taught "to know their place," by the application of the cowhide.
The slaves on Col. A.'s plantation had to provide and prepare the supper
for the expected vast "turn out," which was no light matter; and as slaves
like on such occasions to pattern as much as possible after their master's
family, the result was, to meet the emergency of the case, they _took_
without saying, "by your leave, Sir," some property belonging to their
master, reasoning among themselves, as slaves often do, that it can not be
_stealing_, because "it belongs to massa, and so do _we_, and we only use
one part of his property to benefit another. Sure, 'tis all massa's."
And if they do not get detected in this removal of "massa's property" from
one location to another, they think no more of it.
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