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PHOEBE MOREL
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Was the daughter of a
wealthy planter in Georgia, who had imprudently
contracted marriage with a beautiful Creole - a slave on
his father's estate. The mother of Phoebe
died during the infancy of the child, whose father had
her educated and attended with the most affectionate
solicitude. He had, however, omitted to execute
the necessary forms for her manumission, and the sad
consequence of his neglect was that, immediately after
his death, his legal representatives claimed the
unfortunate Phoebe as a portion of their
property. She did not long survive the indignity;
for within a few months of her father's decease, her
lifeless body was discovered floating down the dark
waters of the Savannah.
I HAD a dream, a happy
dream,
I thought that I was free -
That in my own bright land again
A home there was for me;
Savannah's tide dashed bravely on,
I saw wave roll o'er wave,
But in my full delight I woke,
And found I was a slave.I
never knew a mother's love,
Yet happy were my days,
For by my own dear father's side
I sung my simple lays.
He died, and heartless strangers came
Ere clos'd o'er him the grave,
They tore me, weeping, from his side,
And claimed me as their slave.
And this was in a
Christian land,
Where men kneel oft to pray;
The vaunted home of liberty,
Where lash and chain hold sway.
O, give me back my Georgian cot;
It is not wealth I crave;
O, let me live in freedom's light,
Or die if still a slave.
Sold |
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Leeds Anti-slavery
Series. No. 77
Sold by W. and F. G. CASH, 5,
Bishopsgate Street, London; and by JANE JOWETT, Friends'
Meeting Yard, Leeds, at 1s. 2. per 100.
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