Time Once Lost: She Once Was An Angel...

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"When The Student Is Ready The Teacher Will Appear; When The Student Is Truly Ready, The Teacher Will Disappear" ― Tao Te Ching

Sometimes, appearance can be accurate: the kindest heart and finest feelings the new mistress has it all. A weaver by trade, the woman never had a slave under her control before. Because of the constant engagement with her business, she had been preserved from the cruel, dehumanizing effects of slavery. However brief the shower of love and kindness may be, she, to the young Frederick Douglass, was a godsend.

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The New Practices

Frederick was astonished at her goodness. And, he scarcely knew know how to behave toward her as the woman was entirely unlike any other white woman he had ever seen. In those days, slaves would show servility by crouching. His early instruction was now out of place: he realized that she was disturbed by the crouching servility, and it's never a means to gain her favor. He realized also that she didn't deem it unmannerly for a slave to look at her face.

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The Infectious Smiles

The woman was such an angel of heavenly smiles, in the face, and of tranquil music, in the voice. She brought a piece of heaven down to earth. The woman treated the slaves in the manner she thought she should treat another fellow human being; and the slaves, even the meanest ones, were put at ease in her presence: "no slave left without feeling better after having seen her face."

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The Ugly Truths At The Core Of Slavery

Frederick Douglass knew her as Mrs. Auld. Soon after he came to live with Mrs. Auld and her husband, he was taught the English alphabets by Mrs. Auld. Next, he's assisted by her to spell words of three to four letters. When this learning activity was going on, and when the husband came to know about it, the husband at once forbade the learning activity, reasoning that it's not only unlawful but unsafe also ― for the future of the children of the slave owners ― to educate the slaves. The husband was "deeply sensible of the truths" that lie at the core of slavery.

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The Ideological Sentiments

Alas, things were about to change. Someone poisoned the ears of the woman and "stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering," and the woman's angelic face was about to forever change into that of... a demon. Alas, the bad idea "called into existence an entirely new train of thought," changing an angel into a monster.

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The Mental Switch Required By Slavery

Now, Mrs. Auld would be more alert than her own husband in trying to prevent Frederick Douglass from making progress in his learning. The same child that she previously commenced teaching was the same child that she now prevented from learning.

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Conclusion

In spite of the epistemic injustice, Frederick Douglass would become a social reformer and author of incisive antislavery writings, with his prominence resulted in his being the most photographed American in the 19th century.

I am a firm believer of the ancient saying, "The master will appear when the student is ready". Irrespective of the hostile mental switch that occurred in Mrs. Auld, the fact remains that Mrs. Auld had had taught Frederick Douglass the basics of education at a time Frederick Douglass needed it.

You can call me weird but I believe that cosmic forces ― think of divine providences ― can interfere in the human affairs and do the job of unceasingly molding and shaping human characters and destinies.

References
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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