It happened on this wise. In those long journeys
he was allowed to take, he was the 'business guest' of a slave-
owner, who was pleased with his resourcefulness at such an age.
He was the object of curious attention, and was treated as
'company' at table. On the estate was a young negro just his own
age, and as intelligent as he. Young John struck up an
acquaintance with him, and could not fail to contrast the fashion
in which he himself was pampered with the way the young darkie
was coarsely treated with scant fare and ill-housing. His
frequent thrashings seemed to bruise young John's spirit as much
as they did his flesh. They were not always administered with
the orthodox whip, but with a shovel or anything else that came
first to hand. Young John pondered long upon this contrast, and
tells us how the iniquity of slavery was borne in upon his young
heart, and he was drawn to this little coloured playmate, who had
neither father nor mother known to him. The Bible was the final
court of appeal in the Brown family, and the verdict of that
court was that they two--the slave and the guest--were brothers,
so henceforth the instinct of fraternal loyalty drew young John
to 'swear eternal war with slavery.
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