The first person by whom she was hired was a woman who, though married
and the mother of a family, was still “Miss Susan” to her slaves, as is
customary at the South. This woman was possessed of the good things of
this life, and provided liberally for her slaves–so far as food and
clothing went. But she had been brought up to believe, and to act upon
the belief, that a slave could be taught to do nothing, and _would_ do
nothing but under the sting of the whip. Harriet, then a young girl, was
taken from her life in the field, and having never seen the inside of a
house better than a cabin in the negro quarters, was put to house-work
without being told how to do anything. The first thing was to put a
parlor in order. “Move these chairs and tables into the middle of the
room, sweep the carpet clean, then dust everything, and put them back in
their places!” These were the directions given, and Harriet was left
alone to do her work. The whip was in sight on the mantel-piece, as a
reminder of what was to be expected if the work was not done well.
Harriet fixed the furniture as she was told to do, and swept with all
her strength, raising a tremendous dust. The moment she had finished
sweeping, she took her dusting cloth, and wiped everything “so you could
see your face in ’em, de shone so,” in haste to go and set the table for
breakfast, and do her other work. The dust which she had set flying only
settled down again on chairs, tables, and the piano. “Miss Susan” came
in and looked around. Then came the call for “Minty”–Harriet’s name was
Araminta at the South.

She drew her up to the table, saying, “What do you mean by doing my work
this way, you–!” and passing her finger on the table and piano, she
showed her the mark it made through the dust. “Miss Susan, I done sweep
and dust jus’ as you tole me.” But the whip was already taken down, and
the strokes were falling on head and face and neck. Four times this
scene was repeated before breakfast, when, during the fifth whipping,
the door opened, and “Miss Emily” came in. She was a married sister of
“Miss Susan,” and was making her a visit, and though brought up with the
same associations as her sister, seems to have been a person of more
gentle and reasonable nature. Not being able to endure the screams of
the child any longer, she came in, took her sister by the arm, and said,
“If you do not stop whipping that child, I will leave your house, and
never come back!” Miss Susan declared that “she _would_ not mind, and
she slighted her work on purpose.” Miss Emily said, “Leave her to me a
few moments;” and Miss Susan left the room, indignant. As soon as they
were alone, Miss Emily said: “Now, Minty, show me how you do your work.”
For the sixth time Harriet removed all the furniture into the middle of
the room; then she swept; and the moment she had done sweeping, she took
the dusting cloth to wipe off the furniture. “Now stop there,” said Miss
Emily; “go away now, and do some of your other work, and when it is time
to dust, I will call you.” When the time came she called her, and
explained to her how the dust had now settled, and that if she wiped it
off now, the furniture would remain bright and clean. These few words an
hour or two before, would have saved Harriet her whippings for that day,
as they probably did for many a day after.

While with this woman, after working from early morning till late at
night, she was obliged to sit up all night to rock a cross, sick child.
Her mistress laid upon her bed with a whip under her pillow, and slept;
but if the tired nurse forgot herself for a moment, if her weary head
dropped, and her hand ceased to rock the cradle, the child would cry
out, and then down would come the whip upon the neck and face of the
poor weary creature. The scars are still plainly visible where the whip
cut into the flesh. Perhaps her mistress was preparing her, though she
did not know it then, by this enforced habit of wakefulness, for the
many long nights of travel, when she was the leader and guide of the
weary and hunted ones who were escaping from bondage.

“Miss Susan” got tired of Harriet, as Harriet was determined she should
do, and so abandoned her intention of buying her, and sent her back to
her master. She was next hired out to the man who inflicted upon her the
life-long injury from which she is suffering now, by breaking her skull
with a weight from the scales. The injury thus inflicted causes her
often to fall into a state of somnolency from which it is almost
impossible to rouse her. Disabled and sick, her flesh all wasted away,
she was returned to her _owner_. He tried to sell her, but no one would
buy her. “Dey said dey wouldn’t give a sixpence for me,” she said.