The supper was soon ready, and though I have feasted since, with honorables, lord mayors and aldermen, over the sea, my supper on ash cake and cold water, with Sandy, was the meal, of all my life, most sweet to my taste, and now most vivid in my memory.
Reflecting on his life, Douglass contrasts the simple meal shared with a fellow slave during his escape with later grand feasts, emphasizing the profound significance of that moment of kindness.
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More from Frederick Douglass
I wished it was possible I could remain small all my life, knowing that the sooner I grew large the shorter would be my time to remain with them.
The father might be a white man, glorying in the purity of his Anglo-Saxon blood, and his child ranked with the blackest slaves.
Our very lack of preparation for the conflict disposed us to look for some other than the way of blood out of the difficulty.
Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.” I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.