The simple idyl of their loves was unbroken by any stain ordisappointment, and yet always shadowed with the very deepest anxiety for thefuture. Though treated with the utmost indulgence, she was legally aslave, and so was the boy of whom she became the mother. Cojo, her uncle,was a captain among the rebels against whom her husband fought. And up tothe time when Stedman was ordered back to Holland, he was unable topurchase her freedom; nor could he, until the somewhat last moment, procurethe emancipation of his boy. His perfect delight at this last triumph,when obtained, elicited some satire from his black friends. "While thewell-thinking few highly applauded my sensibility, many not only blamedbut publicly derided me for my paternal affection, which was called aweakness, a whim." "Nearly forty pretty boys and childs were left toperpetual slavery by their parents of my acquaintance, and many of themwithout being so much as once inquired after at all."