and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.”[1]
In the picture, on which the evening sun of a long-vanished world here falls, we see, it may safely be said, a relation widely different from that which is painted in the decision of Judge Ruffin. It is a relation of perfect affection and confidence, of complete identity of interest, between the master and the servant. If the analogies of tutor and pupil, master and apprentice, which Judge Ruffin rejects in the case of American Slavery, are not applicable in this case, it is only because the strongest of them is too weak: and assuredly the term “chattel personal” applied to the steward as he stands by the well praying God to be good to his master, would grate strangely on our ears.
This passage illustrates not only the position of the bondman in the family, but the relative position of the son. We see that in the matter of marriage, he was entirely “in his father’s hand.” So in the Roman family, the father could marry any one of his children or of their children, and divorce them, at his pleasure.
