sessed of
uncommon candor and fairness, was soon quieted by his arguments and
representations. It was a side of the subject which he never had
heard,--never had thought on; and he immediately told the Quaker that,
if his slave would, to his own face, say that it was his desire to be
free, he would liberate him. An interview was forthwith procured, and
Nathan was asked by his young master whether he had ever had any reason
to complain of his treatment, in any respect.

"No, Mas'r," said Nathan; "you've always been good to me."

"Well, then, why do you want to leave me?"

"Mas'r may die, and then who get me?--I'd rather be a free man."

After some deliberation, the young master replied, "Nathan, in your
place, I think I should feel very much so, myself. You are free."

He immediately made him out free papers; deposited a sum of money in the
hands of the Quaker, to be judiciously used in assisting him to start
in life, and left a very sensible and kind letter of advice to the young
man. That letter was for some time in the writer's hands.

The author hopes she has done justice to that nobility, generosity, and
humanity, which in many cases characterize individuals at the South.
Such instances save us from utter despair of our kind. But, she asks any
person, who knows the world, are such characters _common_, anywhere?

For many years of her life, the author avoided all reading upon or
allusion to the subject of slavery, considering it as too painful to
be inquired into, and one which advancing light and civilization would
certainly live down. But, since the legislative act of 1850, when she
heard, with perfect surprise and consternation, Christian and humane
people actually recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into
slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens,--when she heard, on all
hands, from kind, compassionate and estimable people, in the free states
of the North, deliberations and discussions as to what Christian duty
could be on this head,--she could only think, These men and Christians
cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never
be open for discussion. And from this arose a desire to exhibit it in a
_living dramatic reality_. She has endeavored to show it fairly, in its
best and its worst phases. In its _best_ aspect, she has, perhaps,
been successful; but, oh! who shall say what yet remains untold in that
valley and shadow of death, that lies the other side?

To you, generou