I believe it refers to swords.
Answer:
is a disease in which the density and quality of bone are reduced.
Explanation:
Douglass learns the white man's power comes from the ability to prevent education to the slaves. The excerpt expresses Douglass' understanding of how education empowers the literate person and by remaining illiterate, unable to read, the master keeps his power against the slave.
A it lends the poem a fairy tale atmosphere