American Antislavery Writings by Various

Author:Various [Basker, James G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781598532142
Publisher: Library of America
Published: 2012-11-25T19:52:00+00:00

from The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom

Scene 5.—ROOM IN A SMALL COTTAGE ON THE POPLAR FARM, (Ten miles from Muddy Creek, and owned by Dr. Gaines.)

Enter MELINDA, R.

Melinda. Here I am, watched, and kept a prisoner in this place. Oh, I would that I could escape, and once more get with Glen. Poor Glen! He does not know where I am. Master took the opportunity, when Glen was in the city with his master, to bring me here to this lonely place, and fearing that mistress would know where I was, he brought me here at night. Oh, how I wish I could rush into the arms of sleep!—that sweet sleep, which visits all alike, descending, like the dews of heaven, upon the bond as well as the free. It would drive from my troubled brain the agonies of this terrible night.

Enter DR. GAINES, L.

Dr. Gaines. Good evening, Melinda! Are you not glad to see me?

Melinda. Sir, how can I be glad to see one who has made life a burden, and turned my sweetest moments into bitterness?

Dr. G. Come, Melinda, no more reproaches! You know that I love you, and I have told you, and I tell you again, that if you will give up all idea of having Glen for a husband, I will set you free, let you live in this cottage, and be your own mistress, and I’ll dress you like a lady. Come now, be reasonable!

Melinda. Sir, I am your slave; you can do as you please with the avails of my labor, but you shall never tempt me to swerve from the path of virtue.

Dr. G. Now, Melinda, that black scoundrel Glen has been putting these notions into your head. I’ll let you know that you are my property, and I’ll do as I please with you. I’ll teach you that there is no limit to my power.

Melinda. Sir, let me warn you that if you compass my ruin, a woman’s bitterest curse will be laid upon your head, with all the crushing, withering weight that my soul can impart to it; a curse that shall cling to you throughout the remainder of your wretched life; a curse that shall haunt you like a spectre in your dreams by night, and attend upon you by day; a curse, too, that shall embody itself in the ghastly form of the woman whose chastity you will have outraged. Command me to bury myself in yonder stream, and I will obey you. Bid me do any thing else, but I beseech you not to commit a double crime,—outrage a woman, and make her false to her husband.

Dr. G. You got a husband! Who is your husband, and when were you married?

Melinda. Glen is my husband, and I’ve been married four weeks. Old Uncle Joseph married us one night by moonlight. I see you are angry; I pray you not to injure my husband.

Dr. G. Melinda, you shall never see Glen again. I have bought him from Hamilton, and I will return to Muddy Creek, and roast him at the stake.

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