SOLON ROBINSON, 1849 301 



drels, to prejudice the people of the free States against 

 the South." 



Now, by way of offset to these, allow me to read the 

 following extract from a letter of Mr. Brooks,^ editor of 

 the New York Express, to show that even in slavery- 

 hating, abolition-loving Massachusetts, slaves, yea, negro 

 slaves, were not only held, but bought and sold, "like 

 beasts in the market." But as they did not knock out 

 their front teeth, I suppose it was no sin. The extract is 

 headed 



"OLD BOSTON ADVERTISEMENTS. 



"July 8, 1771 — To be sold, a hearty, likely negro boy, 

 about twenty years of age; has had the small pox; can 

 do any sort of work ; would make an excellent servant in 

 the country." 



"April 19, 1731 — To be sold by public vendue, on 

 Wednesday next, at the Heart and Crown, in Cornhill, 

 Boston, sundry sorts of household goods, beds, pots and 

 kettles, brass and iron ware, and a young negro woman, 

 seasoned to the country." — N. E. Weekly Journal. 



"July 5, 1742 — To be sold, a young, likely, strong and 

 healthy negro woman, that is an excellent cook, and can 

 do all sorts of business." — Boston Evening Post. 



July 5 1742 — Any person that has one or more negro 

 men to dispose of, will hear of a customer by inquiring 

 of the printer." 



"Sept. 20, 1742— To be sold (among a boat's furni- 

 ture), a likely negro man, aged twenty-eight, who has 

 followed the sail-making trade eight years." — Boston 

 Evening Post. 



"Feb. 18, 1771 — To be sold at auction, a sprightly 



^ Erastus Brooks, born January 31, 1815, at Portland, Maine. 

 Founded The Yankee at Wiscasset, Maine. Editor and proprietor 

 of the Haverhill Gazette; editorial manager, Nerv York Express, 

 1840. Member, New York General Assembly and State Board of 

 Health. Interested in all movements to benefit Indians. Trustee, 

 Cornell University. Died at Richmond, Staten Island, November 25, 

 1886. National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 6:47-48 (1896 

 ed.). 



