My new mistress Mrs. Auld proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door, a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She was entirely unlike any other white woman I had ever seen. I could not approach her as I was used to approaching other white ladies. My early instructions were all out of place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave, disturbed her. She did not consider it unmannerly for a slave to look her in the face. Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music.

Soon after I went to live with the Aulds, she very kindly started to teach me the A, B, C, and then help me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade her to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger," he said.