Reading your excellent and moving article, I can't but be reminded of an account I heard on NPR a number of years ago.

While excavating a slave cemetery in Manhattan, a body of a child about 4 years old was discovered. From the condition of the remains, it was clear that this small child had, very literally, been worked to death.

To repeat, this "happy" child had been worked until his still developing spine was crushed, and his small body was no longer capable of sustaining life.

So not only did his "benevolent masters" give him a life filled with joy and love, but they "encouraged" him to join his creator in heaven before the average child has even learned to tie his shoes.

And from the pain he must have suffered in every second of his brief existence, I suspect he was happy to go.

Thank you, sir.