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240 GLIMPSES INTO A HTJBAI, HOUSE OF BON...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
« . Sor The " E Burthen The Trib Cry Ula...
and to him novel questions . " Whether , as they had not the eoniinon . the sense opportunit and humanit y , by y making to secure 1 it pleasant a valuabl to e her servant to stay whilst , they th th ey oug had ht
she had so little sense as ever to return ? or whether , when the magistrates on the county-bench learned the unfeeling treatment "with
which Sarah had met , he thought that they would insist upon the continuation of _siich outrage upon domestic decency and humanity ?"
Feb . 15 . P . S . It appears that nothing except evidence of bodily injury could
release Sarah from her wretched master _^ who holds the slave whip over her . The clerk to the county-magistrate says that Sarah lias
lost her legal chance by absconding . Before absconding , if she had appealed to the magistrate , she might , for sufficient cause , have
been liberated . This evidence no doubt means broken bones , or unmistakeable physical outrage . The whip of asps and scorpions
applied to the mind , leaving no bodily evidence , would be counted by the magistrates as nothing . Another lawyer , has confirmed
this statement , and both agree that the employment of legal help would be thrown away .
Old Mr . Hardfist retains Sarah's clothes . Two carriers called for them in vain ; her mother also made a fruitless journey to fetch
them , but ten shillings , and two-and-sixpence earnest money are demanded before the delivery of them . The mother was told in
one direction that she would have to put a value on . the clothes— - they are worth about £ 2—and to summon the master before the
County Court . In another direction she was advised , and by a lawyer , too , that she had better go again to Hardfist , and make
as good a , bargain as she could with him ; " for , " said this gentleman , " he is rich , and you are the weakest , who must go to the wall . "
Thus , Mr . Hardfist , through retaining Sarah's clothes , and keepingher in great uncertainty for a month , prevented her seeking a
fresh service . At last , however , her mother , having bought her a few necessary articles of clothing , the poor girl has gone to a
place . It has been decided that it is wisest not even to sue Hardfist in the County Court for her clothes , as the cause would be sure to
be lost , and the expenses lost also ; for her late master can have her On the up day at any Sarah time entered until Mr Martinmas . Hardfist s next service , the the 26 former th November servant .
left , going , poor creature , by an early carrier to N . That very day the girl hired herself again to a place at P whither she
, went ill . The den she left has , it is expected , been the death of her . Two wretched months she has dragged on a sickly existence ,
and now , being unable to work , has returned home the picture of death . Some little time before she was freed from her miserable _jDlace ,
her mistress , in a drunken frenzy , ran after her with a carving-knife _, but as Mary ivas not intoxicatedand rather too nimblethe woman _,
threw the knife at her , which passed , , however , harmlessl , y with a
whizz close to her head . She ran into the yard , and the dame
240 Glimpses Into A Htjbai, House Of Bon...
240 GLIMPSES INTO A HTJBAI _, HOUSE OF BONDAGE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1861, page 240, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061861/page/24/
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