Rodrick: Jonny was here tobramycin and dexamethasone opthalmic suspension Seventeen-year-old Tonisha Owens stared wide-eyed at the faded script on an 1854 letter. It was once carried years ago by another 17-year-old — a slave named Frances. The letter was written by a plantation owner's wife to a slave dealer, saying that she needed to sell her chambermaid to pay for horses. But Frances didn't know how to read or write, and didn't know what she carried.