I have had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and snatch from my hand such newspaper or book, with something of the wrath and consternation which a traitor might be supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot by some dangerous spy.
Mrs.Auld was an apt woman, and the advice of her husband, and her own experience, soon demonstrated, to her entire satisfaction, that education and slavery are incompatible with each other.

When this conviction was thoroughly established, I was{121} most narrowly watched in all my movements.

If I remained in a separate room from the family for any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book, and was at once called upon to give an account of myself.
All this, however, was entirely _too late_.

The first, and never to be retraced, step had been taken.

In teaching me the alphabet, in the days of her simplicity and kindness, my mistress had given me the _"inch,"_ and now, no ordinary precaution could prevent me from taking the _"ell."_ Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end.