" I must hold on to that, to preserve a sense of my identity.
Mr. Johnson had just been reading the "Lady of the Lake," and at once
suggested that my name be "Douglass." From that time until now I have
been called "Frederick Douglass;" and as I am more widely known by that
name than by either of the others, I shall continue to use it as my own.
I was quite disappointed at the general appearance of things in New
Bedford. The impression which I had received respecting the character
and condition of the people of the north, I found to be singularly
erroneous. I had very strangely supposed, while in slavery, that few of
the comforts, and scarcely any of the luxuries, of life were enjoyed at
the north, compared with what were enjoyed by the slaveholders of the
south. I probably came to this conclusion from the fact that northern
people owned no slaves. I supposed that they were about upon a level
with the non-slaveholding population of the south. I knew _they_ were
exceedingly poor, and I had been accustomed to regard their poverty as
the necessary consequence of their being non-slaveholders. I had somehow
imbibed the opinion that, in the absence of slaves, there could be no
wealth, and very little refinement. And upon coming to the north, I
expected to meet with a rough, hard-handed, and uncultivated population,
living in the most Spartan-like simplicity, knowing nothing of the ease,
luxury, pomp, and grandeur of southern slaveholders. Such being my
conjectures, any one acquainted with the appearance of New Bedford may
very readily infer how palpably I must have seen my mistake.
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