My plays and sports, most of the time, took me from the corn and tobacco fields, where the great body of the hands were at work, and where scenes of cruelty were enacted and witnessed.

But, after the whipping of Aunt Esther, I saw many cases of the same shocking nature, not only in my master's house, but on Col.
Lloyd's plantation.

One of the first which I saw, and which greatly agitated me, was the whipping of a woman belonging to Col.

Lloyd, named Nelly.

The offense alleged against Nelly, was one of the commonest and most indefinite in the whole catalogue of offenses usually laid to the charge of slaves, viz: "impudence." This may mean almost anything, or nothing at all, just according to the caprice of the master or overseer, at the moment.