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.
Douglass vividly describes the violent reactions of his mistress when she discovered him reading.
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More from Frederick Douglass
It was perhaps better for the country and for mankind that the good man could not know the end from the beginning.
Land is not worth much where there are no people to occupy it, and a mule is not worth much where there is no one to drive him.
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.
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.