He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well.
In his autobiography, Douglass describes the brutal and absolute authority of an overseer, Mr. Gore, on the plantation.
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It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.
I believed I should get enough to eat at Covey’s, even if I suffered in other respects, and this to a hungry man is not a prospect to be regarded with indifference.
It was in the air, and men breathed it and were permeated by it, often when they were quite unconscious of its presence.