CHAPTER III.
_My Courtship and Marriage .-- Change of owner .-- My first born .-- Its sufferings .-- My wife abused .-- My own anguish._ The circumstances of my courtship and marriage, I consider to be among the most remarkable events of my life while a slave.

To think that after I had determined to carry out the great idea which is so universally and practically acknowledged among all the civilized nations of the earth, that I would be free or die, I suffered myself to be turned aside by the fascinating charms of a female, who gradually won my attention from an object so high as that of liberty; and an object which I held paramount to all others.
But when I had arrived at the age of eighteen, which was in the year of 1853, it was my lot to be introduced to the favor of a mulatto slave girl named Malinda, who lived in Oldham County, Kentucky, about four miles from the residence of my owner.

Malinda was a medium sized girl, graceful in her walk, of an extraordinary make, and active in business.

Her skin was of a smooth texture, red cheeks, with dark and penetrating eyes.

She moved in the highest circle[2] of slaves, and free people of color.