During his child hood years he spent much of his time playing in the woods by his grandmothers cabin. Through out those years he never thought of himself as a slave although his grandmother did speak of an Old Master. At age 6 his grandmother told him they were going on a long journey and it was at that time Frederick was delivered to the Old Masters mansion. When they approached the home Frederick was informed that the 3 children playing in the front yard were his brother and sisters, Perry, Sara and his sister and Eliza. His grandmother told him to join his siblings and he did so reluctantly. After a while one of the children yelled out that his grandmother was gone and with that he fell to the ground and wept. Frederick would soon learn the harsh world of slave children. The slave children of Aaron were fed cornmeal mush in a trough witch they were called to, Douglas later wrote like so many pigs. The children made homemade spoons with oyster shells and had to compete with the other children for food. The only articles of clothing they were provided with was a linen T-shirt that hung to their knees. The children were provided no beds or warm blankets. On cold winter nights they would huddle together on the floor of the kitchen in order to keep warm.
One night Frederick was awakened by the scream of a women getting whipped. He peered though a crack in the wall of the kitchen only to see Aaron beating his aunt Hester Baily. Frederick was terrified by what he saw but forced himself to watch the entire ordeal. This would not be the last whipping Frederick would witness and in some cases he even felt the wrath of these beatings.
Because of Frederick's natural charm he was chosen to be Daniel Lloyd's companion, the youngest son of the plantation owner. His natural charm would be his ticket out of slavery. With that position he became friends with Lucretia Auld, Aaron Anthony's daughter. Lucretia married a ship captain by the name of Thomas Auld.
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