Journal of Dr GFW

Riding by the house today, which I visited yesterday, I could not forbear reflecting on such conduct. Now this man has a poor plantation and a large number of slaves, and they are not half fed and do not make sufficient for sustenance even at that. They will steal because they are starved and must be punished when this master, who inflicted the blows, is the very cause of these thefts. It cannot be right. I here see his sons, fully grown, and doing no business. They are in no employment. No man should raise his children thus. There are several young ladies that have not a suit of everyday clothes fit to be seen in company and do not work. And were you to see one of them on Sunday at church attended by a female slave, you would imagine her father to be worth thousands, but you cannot think so if you examine the house. It must be a sin for parents to raise a family of sons and daughters in this idle manner.