My mother, my poor aged mother, go
among strangers to toil for a living! No, a
thousand times no ! I would rather work my
fingers to the bone, bend over my sewing till the
film of blindness gathered in my eyes ; nay, even
beg from street to street. I told Mr. Garland so,
and he gave me permission to see what I could
do. I was fortunate in obtaining work, and in a
short time I had acquired something of a reputation
 as a seamstress and dress-maker. The best
ladies in St. Louis were my patrons, and when
my reputation was once established I never
lacked for orders. With my needle I kept bread
in the mouths of seventeen persons for two years
and five months. While I was working so hard
that others might live in comparative comfort,
and move in those circles of society to which
their birth gave them entrance, the thought often
occurred to me whether I was really worth my
salt or not; and then perhaps the lips curled
with a bitter sneer.

From: "Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House"
by Elizabeth Keckley
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