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My
name is Mary Ellen. My father and mother are both dead. I don't
know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time I did not
live with the Conollys. I call Mrs. Conolly mamma. I have never
had but one pair of shoes, but I cannot recollect when that was.
I have had no shoes or stockings this winter. I have never been
allowed to go out of the room where the Conollys were, except
in the night time and only in the yard. I have never had on a
particle of flannel. My bed at night has been only a piece of
carpet stretched on the floor underneath a window, and I sleep
in my underclothes with a quilt over me. I am never allowed to
play with any children or to have any company whatever. Mamma
has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every
day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip a rawhide. The whip
always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black
and blue marks on my head which were made by mamma, and also a
cut on the left side of my forehead under my hair that was made
by a pair of scissors. She often struck me with her scissors and
cut me. I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any
one. I have never been taken on mamma's lap and caressed or petted.
I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did I would get
whipped. I have never had any more clothing than I have at present
to my recollection. I have seen stockings and other clothes in
our room, but was not allowed to put them on. Whenever mamma went
out, I was locked up in the bedroom. I do not know for what I
was whipped. Mamma never said anything to me when she whipped
me. I do not want to go back to live with mamma because she whips
me so. I have no recollection of ever being on the street in my
life.
Frank
Marshall White, "The Epoch of the Child," 215
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