I Went Into Some Of Their
Cottages On The Estate Which I Visited, And Was Not In The Least
Surprised To Find Them Preferable In Size, Furniture, And All
Material Comforts To The Dwellings Of Most Of Our Own Agricultural
Laborers.
Any comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky
slave and an English ditcher and delver would be preposterous.
The
Kentucky slave never wants for clothing fitted to the weather. He
eats meat twice a day, and has three good meals; he knows no limit
but his own appetite; his work is light; he has many varieties of
amusement; he has instant medical assistance at all periods of
necessity for himself, his wife, and his children. Of course he
pays no rent, fears no baker, and knows no hunger. I would not have
it supposed that I conceive slavery with all these comforts to be
equal to freedom without them; nor do I conceive that the negro can
be made equal to the white man. But in discussing the condition of
the negro, it is necessary that we should understand what are the
advantages of which abolition would deprive him, and in what
condition he has been placed by the daily receipt of such
advantages. If a negro slave wants new shoes, he asks for them, and
receives them, with the undoubting simplicity of a child. Such a
state of things has its picturesquely patriarchal side; but what
would be the state of such a man if he were emancipated to-morrow?
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