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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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room of some filthy tavern, or some low haunt of vulgar debauchery. The great difference is, that the table and chair cannot feel, and the man can; for even a le- gal enactment that he shall be “taken, reputed, adjudged in law, to be a chattel per- sonal,” cannot blot out his soul, with its own private little world of memories, hopes, loves, fears, and desires. Mr. Simon Legree, Tom’s master, had purchased slaves at one place and an- other, in New Orleans, to the number of eight, and driven them, handcuffed, in couples of two and two, down to the good steamer Pirate, which lay at the levee, ready for a trip up the Red River. Having got them fairly on board, and the boat being off, he came round, with that air of efficiency which ever characterized him, to take a review of them. Stop- ping opposite to Tom, who had been attired for sale in his best broadcloth suit, with well-starched linen and shining boots, he briefly expressed himself as fol- lows: “Stand up.” Tom stood up. “Take off that stock!” and, as Tom, encumbered by his fetters, proceeded to do it, he assisted him, by pulling it, with no gentle hand, from his neck, and put- ting it in his pocket. Legree now turned to Tom’s trunk, which, previous to this, he had been ran- sacking, and, taking from it a pair of old pantaloons and a dilapidated coat, which |
