2

the possible transgressions of the week were
never underrated -- but that there were super-
-eragatory stripes for extra sins, or chance
misdemeanors! --

But this was a picturesque exception to the
prevailing mildness of the parental govern-
-ment, & so were the cruelties exercised
upon her slaves by a certain Madam A--
who lived in Sheffield a border-town in
the western part of Massachusetts, exceptional
to the general course of patriarchal govern-
-ment -- This Madam A-- belonged to the
provincial gentry, & didnot live long enough
for the democratic wave to rise to her
high-water mark. Her husband as was, &
is not uncommon in New England, combined the
duties of the soldier & the magistrate, & honorably