Chips fragments and vestiges Author:Gail Hamilton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I've thought, too, of the many pleasant hours I've spent 'mid shady trees and verdant bowers, In culling all the sweet and pretty flowers For friends at home. ... more » I've thought of many a lively, sportive run My dear, kind father had with "little son," When the hard labor of the day was done, At my sweet home. But now, alas ! this happiness is gone, I look on every side — all are unknown. Oh ! in this dreary world I am alone, Without a home. SLAVERY O, Afric's sons in bondage stand, Fettered and chained from foot to hand, Driven along from street to street, Considered slaves by those they meet. And when they're sold and settled, then They work much more like brutes than men ; Their owners stand with whip in hand, While they sweat upon his land. And when they lag, from want of rest, The whip unto their back is prest; They smart with pain, he will not save. Oh! it is hard to be a slave. And when their daily round of toil Is finished on the owner's soil, They turn into some hovel mean, That's neither tidy, nice, or clean. And when their scanty food they eat, The hard ground serves them for a seat. This is the life the slave must lead And have no time to write or read. Their owners think not of their food, They think not of their slave's best good, They think not of the pain they gave. But, oh ! 'tis hard to be a slave. INDEPENDENCE (1845) H ! what is Independence ? Perhaps some child may say, I hear them tell a great deal Of Independent day. When our forefathers lived, There were many cruel kings Who did provoke them sadly, By many wicked things. They would not give them freedom, Yet made them taxes pay ; They had governors who ruled them In an oppressive way. Their kings would give them charters, And some were good and wise; But there ...« less