Chandler was a young writer who often wrote abolitionist poems and nonfiction works. This short story is a conversation between two women, Helen and Maria, having tea. The story describes one tragic component about slavery as an institution (a part of society that affects life) that might often go unnoticed- it shows that even though some people do not own slaves, they are still affected by it, even in the north. This was a new and scary way of looking at slavery. Implicit in this story is the realization that while people may be anti-slavery and denounce the system, it is, in fact, a strong institution that is intimately linked to American capitalism. The discussion in this story centers around sugar that is used in their drinks. Pay attention to how something like sugar, can be tied to slavery. What does Chandler suggest people should do? This is a drastic change in thinking about slavery from many of the previous sources, because it speaks specifically to those people who do not own slaves. Truly, the wilderness is far-reaching.
"Dear me, Helen, I cannot conceive why you think that taking a lump of sugar in your tea, or eating a piece of cake, or a preserve, can do any harm to the slaves...I think you must almost starve sometimes!"
"...I should refuse to assist in creating harm. It is indeed very painful to think upon the vast amount of suffering produced by slavery, but not half so painful, cousin, as to assist in producing it. Do not imagine that I think I deserve credit for my abstinence from slave luxuries, or what I suppose you would call necessary articles. I claim none- to partake of them would be to me far the greater punishment...It is amazing to me how any female, who has even a partial knowledge of the horrors of slavery, can be willing to support such a system, or can receive the least enjoyment from the indulgence in comforts and luxuries which are purchased by the sacrifice of so many lives. We shudder to think of the immolation of human beings by savage nations, at the altars of their gods; but when our own gratification is in question, we become careless of the poured out blood of thousands."
"[Helen], do you think I would continue to use slave produce...when I could avoid doing so?"
"The number of the miserable beings who have been deprived of their lives by actual violence is immense. And the cause of slavery, and all its ills, can only be found in the profits of its extorted labor."
"But cousin, all the slave produce I should use in teh whole course of my life would make no difference in the number of slaves. Abstinence would only punish myself, without any benefit to those you show compassion."
"The articles you make sue of cannot be produced without some time and labor, be the quantity what it may. Allowing the labor of a slave for six or twelves years to produce all the various slave grown products which you may use during the course of your life, would not he who was so occupied be in effect your slave, during the time he was thus employed?...You must excuse me for considering that for the time it is necessary to produce the articles you consume, you are a slave-holder; or that you are doing worse, by paying another for the commission of a crime which you would not dare to commit yourself!"
"You speak very plainly, Helen; I will acknowledge that I have taken my last cup of tea without sugar, and that it was not so very bad. But I will talk no more upon the subject now, only to say that if I was fairly convinced you were right, I believe I would give up the use at least of slave sugar."
"...I should refuse to assist in creating harm. It is indeed very painful to think upon the vast amount of suffering produced by slavery, but not half so painful, cousin, as to assist in producing it. Do not imagine that I think I deserve credit for my abstinence from slave luxuries, or what I suppose you would call necessary articles. I claim none- to partake of them would be to me far the greater punishment...It is amazing to me how any female, who has even a partial knowledge of the horrors of slavery, can be willing to support such a system, or can receive the least enjoyment from the indulgence in comforts and luxuries which are purchased by the sacrifice of so many lives. We shudder to think of the immolation of human beings by savage nations, at the altars of their gods; but when our own gratification is in question, we become careless of the poured out blood of thousands."
"[Helen], do you think I would continue to use slave produce...when I could avoid doing so?"
"The number of the miserable beings who have been deprived of their lives by actual violence is immense. And the cause of slavery, and all its ills, can only be found in the profits of its extorted labor."
"But cousin, all the slave produce I should use in teh whole course of my life would make no difference in the number of slaves. Abstinence would only punish myself, without any benefit to those you show compassion."
"The articles you make sue of cannot be produced without some time and labor, be the quantity what it may. Allowing the labor of a slave for six or twelves years to produce all the various slave grown products which you may use during the course of your life, would not he who was so occupied be in effect your slave, during the time he was thus employed?...You must excuse me for considering that for the time it is necessary to produce the articles you consume, you are a slave-holder; or that you are doing worse, by paying another for the commission of a crime which you would not dare to commit yourself!"
"You speak very plainly, Helen; I will acknowledge that I have taken my last cup of tea without sugar, and that it was not so very bad. But I will talk no more upon the subject now, only to say that if I was fairly convinced you were right, I believe I would give up the use at least of slave sugar."