When informed that Tabby was
dead, she answered, 'I am glad of it, for she has worried my life out
of me.' But Tabby's highest good was probably not the end proposed by
Mrs. M-, for no one supposed she meant to kill her. Tabby was
considered quite lacking in good sense, and no doubt belonged to that
class at the South, that are silly enough to 'die of moderate
correction.'
A mob collected around the house for an hour or two, in that manner
expressing a momentary indignation. But was she treated as a
murderess? Not at all! She was allowed to take boat (for her
residence was near the beautiful Ohio) that evening, to spend a few
months with her absent friends, after which she returned and remained
with her husband, no one to 'molest or make her afraid.'
Had she been left to the punishment of an outraged conscience from
right motives, I would have 'rejoiced with exceeding joy'. But to see
the life of one woman, and she a murderess, put in the balance against
the lives of three millions of innocent slaves, and to contrast her
punishment with what I felt would be the punishment of one who was
merely suspected of being an equal friend of all mankind, regardless of
color or condition, caused my blood to stir within me, and my heart to
sicken at the thought. The husband of Mrs. M- was absent from home, at
the time alluded to; and when he arrived, some weeks afterwards,
bringing beautiful presents to his cherished companion, he beheld his
once happy home deserted, Tabby murdered and buried in the garden, and
the wife of his bosom, and the mother of his child, the doer of a
dreadful deed, a murderess!
When Isabella went to New York City, she went in company with a Miss
Grear, who introduced her to the family of Mr.
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